"Have some tea, please." Senjuro says, putting two cups with tea in front of the two.
"… Oh, thank you..... Sorry, I really headbutted your dad… Is he all right?" Tanjiro comments with an ashamed expression.
"Oh yeah, sorry for punching him or whatever."
Y/N was not sorry at all.
"I think he's fine, he woke up and went to buy more sake."
"Oh."
Rengoku is alive, so an awkward atmosphere appeared, since different from the manga there was nothing to talk about.
Y/N takes a sip of the tea, the silence was killing her inside, so she decided to try to lighten the mood.
She side eyed Tanjiro to see him still with a gloomy aura.
"There's no need to be so depressed! Senjuro is a really nice kid, so I'm sure he isn't mad about you causing a concussion to his dad, right?" She says, turning to the boy and smiling at him, he got flustered with the sudden mention of his name and started to talk while stuttering.
"Huh? Y-yeah! I'm not mad at all!"
"See? What a nice boy!" Y/N comments, patting his head like he was a dog.
"Y/N, he's a kid, you can't treat him like a pet!" Tanjiro says, sweat-dropping.
"Uh? That's not how you talk to kids?"
"Wha- of course it is not!"
"But you always talk to your sister like that?"
He then does this expression that make it obvious he didn't even notice he does that.
"What a nice girl, Nezuko! Who's a good girl? Nezuko! Sit!" Y/N mockingly says, imitating his voice.
"S-stop! I don't sound like that! And I never told her to sit like this!" Tanjiro exclaims back, covering the girl's mouth with both of his hands for her to shut up.
"Pfft-"
They turn to look at Senjuro, who was letting out a small laugh at their antics.
"It seems like you two are good friends, I'm happy that my brother got to meet you both."
''We're also happy to have met him!"
"Hmmh pphmm!" Y/N mumbles with her mouth still being covered.
His small smile drops, as he started to talk with a sad expression.
☆
"My brother don't have a tsuguko. A successor. I was supposed to be his tsuguko, as his backup I had to build experience."
Oh! So this dialogue will happen even with Rengoku alive.
"But….my nichirin sword never changed color, if you don't reach a certain level of swordsmanship, the color doesn't change. No matter how hard I trained, I was no good."
Yep, that's the part where he gives up being a swordsman.
"I used to think that my brother was totally unreachable. But, after all what happened in the train and with him losing his eye, I noticed that we are actually more similar than I thought, the difference being that my brother never showed this side of him."
…huh? I don't remember that part being in the manga before?
"So… I want to try it again! I will do my best to change the color of that sword! Doesn't matter how long it takes, I am going to reach him!"
He…he didn't give up?
The story….changed?
Oh my god, it changed! I'm glad Senjuro got an objective for himself, but what if I only made things worse? If he fails again, then he will be able to handle it? I'm concerned, even though he sounds so determined about it.
"Senjuro, have you perhaps considered that the problem isn't your abilities but the breathing type?"
"Huh?"
"What if you are just incompatible with the flame breathing? You could try to learn another type! This would sever the flame hashira succession, but I believe it's worth the try!"
"But…not being able to use the flame breathing is a bit…"
"There's no need to be sad about it! All of us have different body types that handle the total concentration breathing in different ways, for example, I am totally incompatible with all the other breathing types!"
"Eh?! All of them?!"
"Uh-hum! You could try to learn the water one, since it's considered the simplest!"
"Your right….that's- I didn't even think of this possibility…." He says, in deep thought, his eyes filled with realization.
Phew..... I hope this was enough to help him…
"Oh right! I think I know those writings my father often looks at, I'll get them, so wait a moment."
"ah, let me go with you!"
"…? Okay."
Being able to see Kyojuro's house in real life, what an opportunity!
We both walked in the corridor, but a sound called my attention.
I looked at the window to see Kyojuro training with Sanemi, they were…sparring?
"Oh, he's training again?"
"Yeah, ever since he recovered he kept training continually, he wants to quickly get used to fighting with only half of his vision." Senjuro responds, also looking at them.
I look down at my feet, feeling guilty.
"I'm sorry…if had saved him sooner…."
"Don't apologize! My brother told me about how strong the demon was and how you almost died to save him! Both of us feel nothing but gratefulness for you!"
"Senjuro….! Why are you so cute?!"
☆
She wraps her arms around his neck and nuzzle her cheek in his hair.
"I- I also think….you…are…cute…"
Y/N.exe stopped working.
"No! You are way cuter!"
"I think you are…more…!"
"No, you are!"
Sanemi looks at the two screaming at each other. ''Hah? Isn't that the mochi girl? What's her and your brother doing?" He asks to Kyojuro, who was just looking at them with a gloomy expression.
"Jeez, there's no need to be moping around every time you see the girl, I get it that you feel the blame for not properly protecting everyone, but almost dying to save you was also her choice! You have to stop wasting time feeling sorry for yourself and go talk to her already!"
In response, he just looked at him with wide eyes.
"Why do you look so surprised?! It's making me mad!''
"HEEEY! BUG EYES! RENGOKU! HIIII!" She screamed from the window, excitedly waving.
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME THAT!"
"OK DAD!"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT EITHER!"
"Are you two close?" Rengoku asks, Sanemi started to laugh loudly.
"Me and the mochi girl? Close? Good joke!"
"….when I said that to her in the train, she responded in the exact same way as you."
"Ah-"
They both look at window again, but the two were already gone.