𝐁𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 ✓

chapter 23 :: kanao tsuyuri

WARNING: this chapter will contain

foul language

Just like that, the duo was back.

Wherever Tanjiro was seen, it was sure that Tamashii was right behind, smiling and watching.

Their moods had also changed considerably, which in turn affected their training. Now it seemed like they had been given an adrenaline burst, and they trained harder than they ever had done before.

Of course, nothing had really changed.

While Tamashii was the wild one with seemingly no sense of direction or purpose, Tanjiro was right behind her, scolding and guiding her in the right direction. They were still inseparable and even when they had their usual arguments, they always seemed to laugh it off.

Zenitsu found this annoying, especially since the two were always chummy with each other, and he expressed this to the girl one night when they witnessed the butterfly triplets beat Tanjiro for the second time that night. It was a pain to see, but as it would turn out it benefited the boy considerably. He became quicker, and could even catch up to Kanao now.

"You two are disgusting," he spat as they sat cross-legged on their beds. "Don't you realize there are other people here who dislike those things? Keep it for the bedroom!"

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing's going on between us Zenitsu," she responded, throwing her pillow at his face. "Besides, are you jealous that you can't have a cool best friend like me?"

The boy scoffed and threw the pillow back in her direction. She dodged it and he scowled in annoyance.

"I'm jealous that Tanjiro gets all the ladies," he grumbled. "This isn't fair."

"You know what else isn't fair?" She grinned and threw herself towards him. "This! Catch Zenitsu!!"

Their bodies collided, and when Aoi walked into the room, all she saw were these two idiots lying on the ground with swirls in their eyes.

What a pain.

With Inosuke and Zenitsu training just as hard thanks to Shinobu once more, somehow it made things a lot less difficult for the strange girl. Even if they bickered a lot when Tanjiro wasn't around (which was often), they worked well enough on their own.

For starters, Inosuke and Tamashii were on better terms. Or well, at least they were no longer trying to kill each other. They still wrestled a lot and Zenitsu once saw the rough boy kick her off the fence during their practice, but that wasn't his business. It's not like the girl hadn't tried surprising the boar boy by shoving his head in the little pool in the garden and―

"Are you insane?! Aoi's gonna kill us!!" he shrieked when the sound of a broken garden statue was heard. The culprits stood before it, clearly unbothered as they continued to push and pull at each other. "STOP IT!!" He tugged at his hair in frustration and decided to flee the scene, knowing full well how the girl would react once she stumbled on his friends.

He did not want to get on Aoi's bad side today.

"So we...have to blow into these?" she cocked an eyebrow and glanced at her friend, eyes narrowed before she returned to the little girls. "And keep blowing till it pops?"

"Breaks!" Naho corrected excitedly. "Tanjiro has been practicing on these since he started his full concentration breathing! And well, since you're training too, we figured you'd like to practice as well." She held up one of the small gourds. "Once you can break one of these, you can move on to the bigger ones." Sumi gestured towards the large gourd in the corner and the older girl deadpanned.