"Y/N, are you okay? You have been glaring at the rice for some time now." Zenitsu asks, a concerned frown in his face as he watches Y/N staring at the food with a gloomy expression.
"Oh, sorry!"
Y/N jumps in surprise and goes back to eating, slowly chewing the food still with a sad face.
'I wonder what happened, did I do something wrong to her? Should I apologize? But what's the point if I don't even know what I should apologize for?'
It didn't take long for other girls in the room to notice Y/N state, and to start gossiping about it.
"Warabihime oiran start acting like before again, did she and Y/N had a fight?"
"I doubt that was the case, if she really had the nerve to fight with Warabihime, she would've already been gone in a long time, It's what happens to anyone who goes against her."
"Yeah, you're right, it's just that she look so down...."
♡
Zenitsu was now wandering aimlessly around the corridors.
'Improving my shamisen and koto skills won't do me any good, I'm supposed to be looking for Uzui wives Hinatsuru... But what can I do? I've been listening closely, but there's no word about Hinatsuru.'
He puts his hand behind his ears, trying to concentrate better in the sounds around the house.
'Maybe it was the roshu's wife who died four days ago, everyone's sad and isn't talking...'
He goes through all the conversations around the house, most of them useless, but one specific sound managed to caught his attention.
Sniff...sob...
"A girl is crying! That's the most important sound!"
As you would expect of Zenitsu.
He ran to where the sounds were coming from, there was a girl sobbing in the middle of a completely messy room.
"Hey, what a mess! What's going on here?!"
His screams caught the girl attention, she looked back at him, which make him panic even more when he saw her bloodied lips and bruised cheek.
"Huh? Was there a fight in here?! Did someone hit you?! Are you all right?!"
Responding to his rain of questions, she started to cry even more loudly, he exasperated crouched in front of the girl, trying to calm her down.
"Calm down, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, my bad! If you're in some kind of trouble..."
Someone approaches him from behind, he instantly freezes when he notices the sounds of a demon coming from her.
"What are you doing in my room?" Daki looks down at him with a glare.
'It is...? Is it an upper-rank demon? It's a weird sound, but so quiet it's actually scary.'
"Hey, did you hear me? Are you deaf?"
"Oh! Warabihime-san, that girl just arrived a day or two ago." Two girls said to her while trembling, hiding behind the Shoji door.
" So, does that matter to me?" She glares back at them, Zenitsu quickly steps in to divert her attention from the girls.
"I'm sorry! I came on my own! The room was messy, and this girl was crying so..."
"You're ugly. And creepy. Maybe you'd be better off dead, no? What's with that hair color? Trying to stand out? You're right, the room really is a mess, but I left orders to have it cleaned." She walks to the girl who was still crying in the floor, grabbing her ear and harshly pulling it, lifting her of the ground.
"Gyaaaah!"
"Shut up, you! No yelping, just clean up!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I will clean it up right away, forgive me!"
Zenitsu yanks off Daki's arm from the girl, she glares back at him, irritated.
"... What?"
"Please, let her go. Also, if you don't like hurting people, then why are you doing it?"
"! What do you-"
"I can hear your sounds. So, I will ask again. If you don't like hurting them, then why?"
Responding to his question, Daki harshly threw him, making him fly across the room with her strength.
"You know nothing about me to make such assumptions! Don't be so insolent as to ever touch or question me again! This brat is bold and willful. She requires discipline. Harsh discipline."
".... Hime?"
Her glare quickly changes to a scared expression as she hears Y/N voice, she looks behind her to see the girl standing there with a taken aback expression.
Y/N looks at Daki, then at the girl sobbing in the floor, then at the other two girls shaking in fear in the corner, and lastly, at the unconscious Zenitsu covered in bruises.
"Don't tell me you're a....."
She looks back to Daki, her surprised expression now sad.
"Please, say that you are not a demon. Say that it wasn't you who did this."
"I... I'm..."
She clenches her fist, avoiding looking directly at Y/N. She knew that this would happen eventually, but she didn't expect to feel so...sad.
Why? It shouldn't matter if this stupid human is upset with her or not! But in the end, she still is sad. Even when she wants to say that she don't feel anything when she looks at Y/N disappointed eyes, she can't.
Y/N didn't need her to answer, Daki silence was enough to confirm it. Her sad expression immediately gone, and now changed to a serious one as she walked past her and went to check on Zenitsu.
She let escape a relieved sigh when she confirmed that he was only knocked out, she gets up to stand in front of Zenitsu, slightly shaking her head like she was in an internal conflict.
"... It doesn't matter. No. You can't do this. Zenko is an important person to me, even if you are my friend....even if I like you, you can't. You can't hurt her. I won't let you."
Daki eyes go wide with her affirmation.
"....you like me?" She whispered back at Y/N, without knowing what she should do with this new information.
"Warabihime oiran!" The master of the house appears with an exasperated expression, quickly bowing down to her and interrupting their conversation.
"Of course, you are right! These two girls needs discipline! Please forgive me! It's almost opening time! Customers are coming! I will scold them sternly, but for now, please don't bring shame on me."
She looks at him with a cold expression, before putting on a false smile and saying: "Master, raise your head. Is it I who should be sorry, of late, many things have gotten on my nerves. I was too harsh on the girl, after all, she is still new to our house, please tend to her injuries. And the other one will come with me."
She looks back at the two girls, and at the Y/N, still staring at her with a serious expression.
"I must prepare myself, clean up, quickly! And Asami, come with me!"
As Daki turns to leave, Y/N crouches in front of the unconscious Zenitsu and delicately put both of her hands in his cheeks.
"Zenitsu, I don't know if you can hear me right now, you probably can't since you aren't conscious, but I'm sorry. If I had paid more attention, then maybe you wouldn't had gotten hurt just now."
'I know that he's going to be fine, and that he's going to be asleep in most part of the fight against Daki, but.....'
"Stay strong okay? Everything will be fine."
And then, they took him away.
Y/N sighed as she went up and followed Daki, as she entered the room and noticed that the two girls who were supposed to be helping her with the makeup weren't there, she already knew what was coming.
"Y/N...."
She silently walked up to her, slowly changing into her demon form, her worm like obi all around the room.
"I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry..."
And then, everything went black.