Shinobu Kocho, an eighteen-year-old girl living in Japan, is a young adult who recently lost her sister to a man-eating demon. Due to this event, she has been plagued by intense nightmares about what happened, hiding all her pain behind a smile. Now...
I opened my eyes slowly, feeling the sun streaming through the balcony door touch the covers of my futon. I got up with my hair as messy as usual, but with stable sleep; I had slept well today. However, one thing was bothering my mind and my body... Shinobu had asked me to go out... and in the blacksmith village... is she inviting me... for a date at the hot springs? Or is it just a hint that she wants to see me... no, obviously not, why am I thinking that?... it's probably for personal reasons, and she just called me by chance.
I got up completely, trying to push those thoughts away as much as possible. Then, I dressed in regular clothes, one of the kimonos I had set aside, after all, my uniform was all torn up in the last fight. After getting dressed, I picked up a hair comb that was with the clothes I had set aside yesterday, and with that comb, I started to fix my hair, smoothing it and trying to keep it as loose as possible to make the braids. I spent a whole half-hour doing that, as it had become easy and quick to do out of habit, considering that at first, it took me an hour to do the braids. After getting ready, I finally left my room, walked to the kitchen area, where there was usually breakfast. However, this time Aoi hadn't made any food, I wondered why, but I just let it go, I only grabbed an onigiri that was there in the kitchen, as no one was around to eat it, I made it myself.
After eating the rice ball, I began to walk aimlessly through the mansion; there wasn't much to do at that moment, so memories of the previous day came back to my mind... Shinobu must have left early; she must have forgotten to invite me and gone to the village without me. I guess I stressed out for nothing... but even if I had gone, it would have been in vain. What's happening to you, Mitsuri? I thought to myself, with my head lowered, my lips trembling, and my cheeks slightly pink... lost in thought, I didn't notice that my body collided with something in front of me. In a turn in one of the hallways, I ended up bumping into her, Shinobu Kocho. The Hashira's stature was so low that I only realized that I had bumped into her when she fell on her butt from our collision.
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-"Kocho-san, I'm so sorry, you're so short that I didn't see you..." I said quite embarrassed because in this collision, Shinobu ended up hitting... well, given our heights, you can imagine where it was... anyway, I crouched down and helped her to get up, trying to see if she hadn't been hurt or anything.
-"Yes, I'm fine... don't worry," she replied also with some embarrassment, but with a smile... that smile gave off a sense of anger, not calmness. Could it have been something I said? I thought, getting a little scared, my lips now starting to tremble slightly.
-"Were you... going to the blacksmith village?" I asked, stumbling over some words; the petite Hashira took a breath and let it out in a sigh, removing that scary smile from her face.
"I was waiting for you to wake up..." she said with her head down, not looking me in the eyes, which was good because my cheeks turned even redder. In fact, that made me stutter more in the next words. Shinobu really wants to go to the hot springs with me, I'm sure, she's having lewd thoughts... shame, shame, shame...
