・2nd pov
"No matter what, smile."
—
"Hey, hey! Can we go out?" You asked, constantly nudging Yushiro by the side, "Heyyy! Can we? Pleaseeee?"
"Hah? Of course not!" Yushiro retorted, "Weren't you staying here to help Lady Tamayo? Stop goofing around!"
"But I already finished doing my tasks..."
"See! You sho- wait what? Already?"
"She's quite the energetic helper," Tamayo commented as she walked in the room, "I'm sure she's finished with all her tasks half an hour ago, so it wouldn't hurt to go out, am I right? It is midnight so there's no need to worry."
Now feeling as if he has been cornered by not only the annoying [h/c]-haired brat, but also by his beloved Lady Tamayo the boy heaved a sigh, finally giving in and agreed to accompany you to venture outside of town.
He wouldn't admit it, but he understood the need to go outside. After all, he was also succumbed by a disease in his human years just like you.
But ever since he was focused on taking the role of serving Lady Tamayo, he never really found the time to go out unless it was necessary.
Yet here he is, babysitting a teenage demon out in Asakusa.
Was this necessary? Definitely not, but there was no way he could deny the request of Lady Tamayo.
Contrary to Yushiro's crabby attitude, your eyes were practically shining stars as you literally gasped at every stall you passed by. Whether it was an udon, ramen, jewelry, accessory, and charms stall— you name it! You were dramatically gasping at everything.
It wasn't until you found a stall that easily caught your eye, a booth that sold paints. You felt as if a surge of nostalgia came over your body when you saw the familiar carved brushes, the powdered paints, and naked canvases.
The greenette seemed to notice your lack of attention towards your surroundings as you seemed to stare at a cart that sold specifically art related materials.
He poked your shoulder, grabbing your attention and pointed at the stall you were staring at, "You interested in that or something?"
"I am..." You nodded, taking another look at the cart, "But it's not like we have the money for it, right?"
"Do you think we're broke in a shed or something? Of course we have the money, I can buy it!" He barked.
"Wait," You cocked your head to the side, "Really?"
Yushiro simply grunted in response while walking towards the booth, going back and forth with the seller, a bit of hand gestures in the mix and completely leaving you behind in the crowd within a second.
You, in turn, was looking at the boy— elated to say the least.
During your days in the hospital back at your previous life, you picked up the hobby of painting and writing, but mostly painting since it was the most enjoyable for you.
When you finally came to the conclusion that your life will only ever revolve living in a cold and isolated hospital room you were forced to occupy, you obviously found it to be repetitive and dull.
So, you decided to pick up the habit of painting daily.
Your reason?
Well, if you weren't able to go to the outside, why not bring the outside within you?
Paint the outside, draw whatever you see is interesting outdoors, splash light in the dark corners of your canvas, create live creatures you see outside but never inside.
Distract yourself from the fact that you're never able to live like other kids your age.
Having that mindset alone made painting your number one coping mechanism during your days in the hospital, and it felt healthy.
To you, it was more than a form of expression— it was your language.
"Hey," Yushiro called for you.
You turned to him as he started to poke your arm with brushes, paints, and a dozen of blank canvases that were almost ready to be splashed with pigmented colors.
"Here," he propped all the materials in your arms, "Carry these yourself, I'm not gonna do the heavy work. Now come on."
You stared at the supplies in your arms with your lips parted, completely befuddled as you didn't utter a word nor make a step on the concrete pavement. You weren't supposed to feel this excited.
But look at you, gazing at the supplies before you, starting to feel the same youthful excitement from the first time you got your first collection of art materials.
"Did you not hear me? Come on!" Yushiro barked.
"Ah, right!" You squeaked, bowing 90 degrees, "Thank you!"
"That's what I thought, now let's go!"
You speed walked towards the green-haired boy as the two of you trudged the road, somehow talking comfortably without any air of awkwardness around the duo.
Though you were a bit surprised by how casually you were able to chat with Yushiro, not once did you bother to mention it despite being secluded all your life.
Whether it was one giving snarky remarks and the other genuinely complimenting, in some way the two of you were able to mix.
Is this what people call 'opposites attract'?
—
"We're back!" You announced, opening the door along with Yushiro who was by your side.
"Welcome back Y/N, Yushiro," Tamayo smiled, "Did you two find anything of your interest? Asakusa isn't holding anything today, but I'm sure that some of the stalls would be of your fancy."
You grinned sheepishly as you showed off your art supplies to the ravenette, "Yushiro got me painting materials to use, I'm so excited!"
The boy in name rolled his eyes and shrugged, "It's whatever, I don't even understand why people paint anyways, it's a waste of time."
Nevertheless, a light tint brushed over the boy's pale skin that Tamayo didn't fail to notice. He wasn't used to the enthusiasm radiating off your body, which in turn made him embarrassed from not being used to the constant compliments he kept receiving from you.
"I'm sure she's thankful," Tamayo giggled.
Before you could reply, a soft meow interrupted. Turning your head around you caught a glimpse of a very familiar calico cat with bright amber eyes and a paper talisman sticking onto the front of its neck.
"Ah, I see you haven't met Chachamaru yet haven't you?" Tamayo mentioned, walking towards her familiar, "Its our demonized cat, we usually use Chachamaru as a transport mechanism thanks to Yushiro's Blood Demon Art."
"Blood... Demon Art?" You asked, "Is that one of the abilities you get as a demon?"
"Yes, but only if you're a high-leveled demon who has eaten enough humans," Yushiro replied, "Or special cases like me thanks to Lady Tamayo's help. I'm able to consume only a little bit of human blood yet still receive the capabilities of a high-leveled demon."
"And that means you have a chance to get a peek of what yours will be in the near future," Tamayo informed as she gingerly pets the calico.
You were a bit skeptical of getting a chance to see what your Blood Demon Art would be. I mean, you barely even have a week left to live.
But in spite of that, you did find the ability 'Blood Demon Art' to be fascinating.
"Now then, I will be going back to my office to experiment with some of the medicine I've configured last night," the lilac-eyed woman beamed, "You two are free to do whatever you would like, I'm sure you want to play around with the new paints Yushiro has bought for you, yes Y/N?"
You nodded eagerly at Tamayo.
You already had a visual picture of what you wanted to paint at the top of your head. So without sparing a single word, you snatched Chachamaru and Yushiro by the hand and dragged the both of them to a separate room.
"What the hell- what are you doing!?"
You didn't bother to answer as you shut the door and positioned the feline next to the irritated greenette who was spewing a chorus of curses. You didn't seem to mind his words at all since you didn't bother to listen, only focusing on posing the two.
And when you were finally satisfied with the outcome, Yushiro broke out of his pose.
How dare he.
"Aw, why did you do that for?" You whined, "That took awhile to do, you know?"
"No! Why did you drag me here!?"
"Huh? Well to paint you and Chachamaru of course," You replied, making it seem as if it was the most obvious thing ever, "I'm adding in Tamayo and I in the painting even though she's not here in person. But that's fine, she's pretty enough for me to remember how she looks like!"
"Then can't you do the same with me or something? I got things to do!"
You didn't want to admit it but he was correct, if you were able to remember how Tamayo looked like and easily paint her, couldn't you do the same with Yushiro?
The answer: yes, yes you could.
But you wanted to get the chance to know the boy more better, not enough for the two of you to get attached but enough to be on friendly terms since he didn't seem like he wanted to associate himself with anybody besides Tamayo.
Not like you could blame him, she was a very beautiful and sweet woman.
So, you had no choice but to pull out your secret weapon, puppy-dog eyes.
Statistically speaking, you were 90% sure that this wouldn't work, but emotionally? 98%.
(You chose to believe in your statistical percentage to save your ounce of sanity.)
"Pleaseeee...!" You pouted, clasping your hands together.
"Ew, no!"
"Pleaseee!"
"N- No!"
"Plea-"
"Argh, fine!" Yushiro yelled, "Just stop wearing that ugly face!"
"Woohoo!" You cheered, "I knew it would work!"
"It did but in the wrong way, " the boy scoffed, "There's no way someone would actually give in to your face unless they were disgusted like me."
"Still worked, didn't it?"
"Whatever," he snapped back.
Near the end, the two of you conversed as normal for the rest of the day.
The final picture?
It was Lady Tamayo elegantly sitting on a wooden, dark oak chair with Yushiro behind her with his usual scowl-faced expression, his hands on the head of the chair. Chachamaru was also seen on Tamayo's lap while you were shoulder to shoulder with the boy— a gleaming smile on your dull face.
For some reason, it seemed like the feline was the easiest to paint.
—
dear yushiro,
thank you for the painting supplies
you bought for me at asakusa! i greatly
appreciate the gesture, whether it was
friendly or not!
i hope the painting i made for you and lady
tamayo was enough to pay you back, i
really enjoyed making it!
my second day here has been a total
blast! though you were still a bit rude,
your attitude towards me was a little
laid back than before!
sincerely,
y/n
day 2.