Bittersweet ||Chifuyu x Reader||

Four || Candy Apple

-Art by sebin.13 on Instagram-

[Reference to chapter 110]

"You sure you're alright, (Y/N)?" Asked the boy next to me.

My eyebrow twitched in irritation as we walked through thr crowd. "For the one hundredth time, Takashi, I'm okay! It doesn't even hurt anymore," I murmured finally as I looked away.

Christmas was barely a week ago and those following few days passed as quickly as the blink of an eye. Ever since Mitsuya had come home from dropping Takemichi off and saw the bandages on my leg from where my bone had been damaged, he had been worried non-stop. You'd think by the time you're at the New Years festival he'd quit checking on you, right? Wrong.

Yuzuha chuckled softly from the other side of me, "There goes Mitsuya with that worried brotherly act again," Her flower kimono looked pretty under the street lanterns.

"I really doubt it's an act." Hakkai said light-heartedly while looking at the second division captain who was busy arguing with me.

Just then, Mana and Luna ran off, which alerted both Mitsuya and I as we watched the sisters approach a stall which was selling candy apples. The young girls squealed for their brother to buy them some as Mitsuya just chuckled softly on return. He turned back to Hakkai, Yuzuha and I and asked us if we wanted some too.

"Hell yeah!" Hakkai said as he ran to the stall too.

Yuzuha followed him with a small "Sure," While I stayed in the same place.

"I'll pass." I said to Mitsuya. "I'm gonna go take a look around, I'll catch up with you guys later." The purple haired boy nodded at me before going back to pay for the others' apples.

I began walking in the opposite direction, the sound of my wooden clogs clacking against the cobblestone path fluttering in my ears. The place was crowded and the number of people only grew as I went further and further ahead up the hill illuminated by the lanterns of the surrounding stalls.

The smell of hot food pulled me out of my daze. I stuggled to see where I was heading as all the tall people who were walking around me towered over my head like skyscrapers, blocking out the outside world. I was shoved to the left, then to the right, by all these people who were walking in different directions. Suddenly my foot hit against something and I stumbled back and forth while trying to keep my composure.

But all else failed when an elbow hit my back, causing me to fall forward. Before I could even do anything and try to stop myself from falling, a hand gripped the waist of my (F/C) kimono and another one clutching my right wrist. I quickly looked up to see who was holding me and much to my suprise, it was Chifuyu Matsu-weirdo.

He pulled me to the side of the path, where we wouldn't get trampled, and let go of me. "Hm? Oh it's you." Chifuyu mumbled once realising the person he pulled from the dangerous crowd was, in fact, me.

"I see you're doing well." I said crossing my arms- the cuts and bruises that covered his face mere days ago had now completely healed.

"You too," He replied rather awkwardly, trying to keep the conversation. "You aren't limping anymore."

I looked back at the crowd before smiling a little. "Yeah, Takashi made sure that I rested ever since it happened."

Chifuyu hummed before pulling his phone out of the pocket of his hakama and checking the time. As he looked at his screen, I took time to notice how well the dark colour of his kimono complemented his eyes. I averted my gaze when he looked back at me after putting his phone away. "I'm supposed to be meeting Peh-Yan by the shrine. Wanna come with?"

Without having anything to do or anyone to be with, I accepted his offer and we made our way through the sea of families.

"Why were you alone anyways?" The blonde asked in a ways to make conversation.

"I was with Hakkai, Yuzuha, Takashi and his sisters, but they all wanted candy apples, which I wasn't in the mood for, so I left to go explore."

"Oh? You don't like sweet things or something?"

"I prefer more soft deserts. Like cakes and ice cream."

Chifuyu paused, and then stiffled a laugh. "What?" I asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Nothing, you just remind me of someone." He mumbled, the smile never leaving his lips. "You're a lot like Baji, y'know?"

Ah. Keisuke Baji. He was the captain of the first division and was killed during the fight against Valhalla. He was a good guy, and an even better friend. I first met him, along with Emma and Draken, on the day that Mikey let me join the gang all those years ago. As the years went on, there were less and less occasions where I got to talk with him, laugh with him, fight with him; but despite that he never stopped treating me as if we had known each other for all our lives. I truely admired him. I also knew he and Chifuyu were very close, especially since they led the first division together- I was torn when Baji died and could only imagine how much his death affected him.

My eyes closed as I gave the boy a wide smile, "Well, it's an honour to be compared to Baji-san!"

Chifuyu went silent at my response for a moment, blinking thoughtlessly as we walked up the steps, and then his eyes softened, as if he was brought comfort by just the sight of my smile.

As soon as we reached the top step, a booming voice blared in our direction. "Man, what took you so long- oh hey, (Y/N)," It was Peh-Yan, who wore a very detailed kimono, with a big smile.

He rushed over to us, ignoring Chifuyu's presence as he eagerly spoke to me. "It's been a while since I've seen you, and you look so pretty in that kimono!"

"Thank you, Peh-Yan!" I giggled back to the jolly boy.

"I'm right here, ya know!" The neglected Chifuyu yelled in rage.Just then, a small wooden plaque fell at his feet. "Hm? What the hell?" He mumbled while picking up the object.

Peh-Yan and I peered over the boy's shoulder to take a look at what it was, until we heard a familiar cowardly scream coming from behind us. "NOO!!"

"Takemitchy..?" Chifuyu mumbled as the panicked blonde stumbled towards us.

"Chifuyu!? Peh-Yan!? (Y/N)!?" He gasped before his gaze fell to the plaque Chifuyu held. "Gimme that back!" He yelled while suddenly launching towards it, but was too late as Chifuyu had already thrown it high in the air and far, far away.

Takemichi's face fell on horror as he immediately rushed to go after it, cursing Chifuyu while he ran, "You jerk! Why'd you throw it!?"

At that moment, Mitsuya and Hakkai rushed past us, chasing Takemichi, with big grins on their face. Whatever was going on looked like fun, so the three of us followed them too, running through the huge crowd of people. Even Mucho and Smiley ended up joining.

We came to a halt when we saw Mikey picking up Takemichi's ema. As soon as he got it back, the crowd of civilians cheered with excitement, "Ten seconds until the new year!"

Everybody began counting down which made Mikey burst out into a huge grin. "Let's jump together, guys."

As the countdown came within the last five seconds, I found myself standing between Hina and Yuzuha, laughing away at Takemichi's terrified face while he saw the way his ema flew in the air.

Everybody jumped, throwing their hands in the air, as we all came together to make the announcement.

"Happy new year!"