Butterflies? Or something telling me to run away? || GiyuShino

Chapter 20 | Preparation

She believed in him and trusted him with all her heart.

He would protect this trust for the rest of his life.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

3 years have passed since Tomioka and Kocho became a pair, many things have changed since then.

"Mitsuri! Above you!" Kocho yelled at the pink haired female who was about to get her head sliced off, but somehow managed to flexibly avoid the incoming danger while Iguro butted in from the side and dealt a lethal slice to the demon.

"Are you hurt??" Leaving the dying demon to the other pair at the scene, he quickly rushed over to where Mitsuri had stumbled to after narrowing avoiding death.

Kocho and Tomioka are currently joining the Love and Snake Pillar on a mission, what started off as a simple scouting mission for the Mitsuri pair had become a larger, more complicated extermination of an Upper Moon's den. Since they weren't prepared for an extermination to this scale, Ubuyashiki had notified the other pair who were on a mission nearby to assist.

"Ouch...I'm fine" Mitsuri rubbed her knee that got injured while she was trying to avoid the demon before quickly standing up and looked around on alert "we still need to find the Upper Moon"

"You mean that?" Kocho pointed at Tomioka nearby who was staring blankly at the demon on the ground cursing at him as it slowly melted into the air. Traces of its remaining skin was purple, which was signs that a certain Pillar had used it as a test subject to experiment some of her new poisons on it before letting Tomioka finish it off.

The two other Pillars looked at the scene in front of them speechless, somehow over the years Tomioka had gotten stronger than he already was and Kocho had become more carefree, dealing with demons however she wanted since Tomioka would probably be there to clean up any of the rare failures that she had. It was only after the demon finished turning into ash, that the Water Pillar turned his attention to the rest of the group and walked over.

"All done?" He asked Iguro who nodded in response.

"Should we go rest in the Wisteria House nearby?" Mitsuri's sweet voice echoed in the large forest.

"That's a good idea" Kocho said while yawning then reaching her arms out to stretch a little, going from one mission to the other without rest was certainly exhausting.

The pink haired girl bounced over to her and linked their arms together while starting to make their way to the closest Wisteria House, leaving the two boys trundling behind them. While Kocho wasn't paying attention, she turned around and gave the two a wink before speeding up a little.

"... are you sure your wife is reliable" Tomioka watched the Love Pillar turn back around to chat to Kocho before turning to look at Iguro who sighed, he knew that Mitsuri always loved to mess with other people's relationships - especially her best friend's. They've been married for a year now, he would've thought married life would be enough of a distraction for her to stop poking her nose into other people's private life. Clearly he underestimated her nosy and gossipy personality.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it if things get out of hand" He looked at the male next to him "Tch, why are you so damn nervous"

"I just didn't think we'd be doing this so soon ok?" After 3 years dealing with this guy's relationship problems, the two had become quite familiar with one another. The awkwardness between them had disappeared, and it seems that Tomioka had become more outgoing in general.

"It'll be fine, we're just carrying it out a few days earlier than planned" The two quickened their pace as the girls were standing at the opening of the forest waiting for them to catch up, Mitsuri was waving telling them to hurry up.