Drinking from the Fountain (Demon Slayer x Male Reader)

Ch. 6 - Awkward

Timeskip roughly a day and a half

I sigh as Yorokobi laughs, she tricked me into carrying all the bags for the third time. They aren't heavy or anything but it's annoying that I've fallen for the same thing three times.

"All I'm saying is, if I ask you to come here after the second time you should've put two and two together," Yorokobi says through choked laughter.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'll get you back for this." I say through gritted teeth. I didn't appreciate being assigned mule, but admittedly, it was fun seeing her brighten up again. Especially seeing Hayashi lighten her mood.

"No you won't. You can barely land a blow on me anyway." She says wilst puffing her chest confidently. For someone usually so humble, she can be so self-assured.

I shrug, "Eh. I'm getting there." She didn't like the lax answer and puffed her cheeks as she turned back toward the road. She's definetly my age. Definetly not older than me.

We round a slight bend and spot the town over a hill. Much larger than the one before, many more buildings and a funcioning market area. This may take time.

Next to me I hear Yorokobi mutter something, staring at the town on the horizon. I look over my shoulder to see her in a deadpan stare at the distant buildings, counting maybe? "Hey. Yoohoo?" I nudge her and snap her out of it, "You're freaking me out, Yorokobi-chan."

She snaps out of her daze and shakes her head, a small blush tinting her face, "Sorry! Force of habbit. This town was close to where I grew up, so it's familiar. But its grown. There are 17 buildings and most are markets and shops, so the housing must be on the other end of town."

I nod, she got to that fast. She's right though. Hayashi tugs on my pant-leg, vying for my attention, "L/N-san? My feet hurt..."

I stop in my tracks and look down at her. She isn't pleading or anything, but she obviously wants a break or to be carried. I look to Yorokobi and toss both of our bags to her, which she nearly drops. "Alright then, Hayashi-chan. What do you wanna do? Wait here for a while or get a piggy-back ride?"

Her eyes light up at the latter, "I love piggy-back rides! Can I have one?!"

I smile at her innocence. She's such a precious child. "Of course! Let me give your bag to Yorokobi first okay?"

Hayashi gives me an enthusiastic 'okay' while I give Yorokobi a look of triumph. I toss Hayashi's bag to her and drop to a knee, Hayashi nearly topples me by jumping onto my back full force, "Sorry! I got excited."

I grunt a bit while I regain my footing and stand up. "It's okay. Just be a bit more careful next time."

She nods and I adjust her a little to get her comfortable, then we continue onward. We should reach the town by nightfall. A short trek ahead.

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Timeskip when they reach town, roughly 9:45 PM

It took a little longer than I hoped, but we made it. Hayashi is passed out on my shoulder and Yorokobi has grown a bit more pissed that I managed to lay the bags off to her despite her outsmarting me.

What can I say? Improvise adapt and overcome.

"Right, now that we're here we should look for a place to stay. No sense in going demon hunting without being full strength." Yorokobi says.

I nod. I peer over my shoulder and Hayashi is still passed out, breathing softly. I smile, turning toward the open street, "Yea, I guess. I'll probably end up asking around the shops if anyone's noticed anything weird recently."