stolen time

ch44

the man continued to smile.

"thank you ayame san for agreeing to my request"

Ubuyashiki said as he turned his head towards the shut shoji.

"kyojuro would you like to join us?"

he called out.

"Yes! Please excuse me!"

the shoji slid open revealing kyojuro with an enthusiastic smile as he walked over to sit besides ayame. Flashing her with a proud and bright smile in encouragement.

"I'll be leaving her in your care since you two are already close, and as for the other members I'll find a way to tell them"

"hmm"

kyojuro hummed looking over to ayame as she tilted her head to the side, not understanding what they meant.

"why don't we introduce her in the next pillar meeting oyakata sama!"

ayame froze up at the mention of pillars, a shadow casted over her brows. she may be fine if she met them one by one, but to meet them all at once was a different story.

"i prefer if we skipped that step, i don't want to go through near death experiences twice in a span of less than a week"

she said with a forced closed eye smile.

"i will make sure they don't harm you"

"yes! you can trust oyakata sama and besides I'll be there too"

she groaned still not fond of the idea of having to face people whose whole job is to kill people like her, especially when they're the most skilled out of them all.

"so then when will this be?"

"tomorrow night"

she felt as if thunder struck her, shattering her resolve. Ayame grabbed ahold of the side of kyojuro's haori with her right eye twitching.

"on second thought the corps might not be suited for me"

she shakily said, meanwhile kyojuro chuckled as he clenched his hand into a fist in the air encouraging her.

"it'll be fine"

"kyojuro i doubt everyone in the corps is as weird as you, my head will go flying before you even try to speak"

"ayame san i know you have your worries but it'll be easier for everyone once they get to know you"

ubuyashiki said with an expression that was confident that everything will go smoothly as if he was clairvoyant. she let out a sigh before facing him once more.

"all right then, once my presence is needed please ask kyojuro to summon me i have a spell placed on him, i will prepare for another one in the meantime so it'll be more convenient for you to call me as well"

"alright then we'll discuss matters further when everyone is present"

"hai"

both ayame and kyojuro answered before leaving.

******

noon of the same day

since then kyojuro decided ayame will be living in the rengoku's care, even though she was reluctant to do so at first, she didn't have any other options. There isn't anyone who would willingly take in a demon nor anyone she could trust, so ayame didn't have a choice but to agree at the end.

As compensation for letting her stay she decided to help around the estate, she thought it would've been too tiring to leave such a huge house for senjuro alone to take care of especially since there's an additional person around now.