The Flower and the Butterfly

First Mission - Part 1

After my training ended, some time passed... maybe two days... Anyway, I went to this year's final selection. As Mitsuri had told me, the test was difficult, but I managed to pass by killing thirty considerably strong demons. I admit I was scared to kill a demon for the first time, but when your life depends on it, attacking what is in front of you becomes almost a natural instinct. After that, I received a crow, which I named Kage. He's kind of annoying, honestly, I'll roast him at the first opportunity... If only he would stop delivering missions... Anyway, my official nichirin sword will be delivered at the mansion. I was away for a month and a half. How will they react? I thought about all this while walking back to the Butterfly Mansion. I had spent three months there and already felt like I had lived a lifetime in that place.

After a few more steps, I finally arrived. "To think that when I arrived here at the beginning, I was already dead from a walk... Time passed quickly... The distance from the final selection to the Butterfly Mansion is much greater than the distance to my village." As I approached, there was no one at the entrance, no one outside or training. I found it strange, but maybe they were planning a surprise - "But how would they know I was arriving today?" I approached the entrance door and opened it calmly. There was no one in the kitchen either. I started to panic a little - "Did they leave? Where is everyone?" I thought, already imagining a million things that could have happened, which made me more nervous.

-"Hello! Anyone?" I shouted, hoping someone would appear, but got no response. I started running through the rooms looking for someone until I finally found Mitsuri and Shinobu in one of the rooms... where Shinobu was touching Mitsuri's chest while she was still dressed.

-"Am I interrupting?" Both of them screamed in surprise.

-"Hayashi-san, get out of here!" Mitsuri shouted in embarrassment, and I quickly closed the door -What was the context of that?-

The context was that Mitsuri had made a joke about Shinobu being flat, which made her upset, saying, "Of course, with those balloons, there's no competition!" and she touched her. Mitsuri was embarrassed, but Shinobu was a little irritated by her comment, so she didn't care.

-"Shinobu-san, you don't need to squeeze..." she said, red and stuttering a little. That's when Shinobu realized what she was doing and when Hayashi walked in. Neither of them heard him because they were in the back of the mansion, where Shinobu's room was.

After a while, Mitsuri came out of the room still red from the situation, closing the door behind her. She gave a long sigh while I looked at her with a smile and a blank expression.

-"You always arrive at the best time, Hayashi," she said, obviously sarcastic.

-"Thank you, people say that a lot, so I guess it's true," I said, joking about the situation.

-"Don't act like an idiot, Hayashi-san!!" she said, showing her irritation. I couldn't hold back and laughed.

-"I didn't know you liked those things, Kanroji-sensei," I said, teasing her, which made her even more embarrassed.

-"S-silence, that's an order!" she said, stuttering. Shinobu soon came out of the room afterward.

-"Already causing trouble, huh, Hayashi-san?" she said with a smile but was clearly irritated.

-"What can I say?" I laughed as I finished, and both sighed and said:

-"Idiot..." I couldn't stop laughing.

-"Alright, alright, but answer me one thing... Where is everyone?" I was still chuckling but stopped when I finished speaking.

-"... Well, Aoi-san and the girls went to replenish the mansion's food supply. Kanao is somewhere and probably ignored you, and the boys recovered and went on the same mission as Kyojuro-san," Shinobu answered me objectively.