~BRAVE~ (Tanjiro X Reader)

Red light

"Zenitsu, you can't write it like that," I said, snatching away the notebook he held in his hands. He was practicing writing so that he could sound more professional in future letters.

"Why not? It sounds good to me." He shrugged. I shook my head and laughed.

"No no. There are no commas! It doesn't sound like a normal sentence. Here, look." I said. I began to write down 'let's eat grandma.' "Do you see what's wrong with this sentence?" I asked him. He scanned it over real quick before shrieking and backing away.

"Who are we gonna eat?!" He screamed. I laughed at his silliness and motioned for him to come back.

"This is why we should add commas," I exclaim. I put a comma after the word eat. "Commas save lives." I nod proudly at my accomplishment to teach simple literature to an idiot. I could see Zenitsu's eyes light up in realization.

"Oh, I get it now." He said before taking back his notebook. Tanjiro laughed at our conversation and I giggled a bit myself. Suddenly, I could feel his body stiffen.

"Kanao?" Tanjiro said out of the blue. My head snapped in his direction. Why would he mention her? Was she here?

"What about Kanao?" I asked. My hand loosened a bit on his hold. We walked through the district streets. People making out, wall pinning, clinging to each other. They were all around.

"I smell her." He said. He memorized her sent? Maybe he did that to everybody.

"Through all of this?" Zenitsu asked. I looked through the area, scanning for the girl. Sure enough, she was wandering out of the district with her bag. I decided it would be best to let go of Tanjiro's hand before he basically broke my heart with his actions to let my hand go himself.

I approached the girl. "Kanao! What are you doing here?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side waiting for an explanation. She smiled when she saw me and the others.

"I was completing a mission here. There's another one I see?" She questioned me. My head nodded vigorously.

"It's been a bit since our last mission. I think it's refreshing. I laughed. She smiled wider and held my hands.

The boys stayed behind to talk about where to go next while I talked to Kanao. But I could tell they took a few glances at us.

"I must go now for my next mission, but I do hope that this one is successful for you." She said. Though I was a bit jealous of her, I did consider her my friend. I squeezed her hands before pulling her into a tight hug. I knew that much is normal affection at least.

"I hope that we get to work together soon. It's been too long." I pulled away from her and she only nodded before making her way down the street once more.

My smile never faltered as I approached the boys they held out a small map of the district. "Don't you think the best course of action would be to take shelter for now? We can gather intel later, when the district is most crowded."

"No. we would lose each other too easily. Plus, when we are in the midst of questioning, the demon could already be possessing more people." Tanjiro backfired on Zenitsu's plan.

"There are far fewer people on the streets! Most of them are busy doing...other things." The yellow haired boy shifted uncomfortably. "The demon mentioned it taking a week for it to completely take over someone so assuming it has already, we have some time." Zenitsu argued.

Inosuke was the only one to notice my existence. "Want to get some food? I know you must be hungry." I asked him. I could practically see the ears of his mask perk up at the sound of food. I tugged at his arm to lead him away from the arguing boys in the middle of the streets and go off into one of the noodle restaurants.

"What do you want to do?" Inosuke asked. I ordered two bowls of udon for the both of us and we sat down to wait.

"About what?" I asked. I played with the ends of my hair in patience and content.

"About the mission. I've learned that I can't go straight forward the hard way," he said while leaning back in his chair. His feet miraculously found comfort in being propped up onto the table

"You know, I've been thinking about it the whole way here but... I can't come up with anything. There's no way to physically touch the demon- Well I wouldn't call them demons." I mumbled. "And I doubt anyone even knows of their existence yet. So I don't really see the point of asking around." My shoulders began to slouch in helplessness.

"Pathetic." Inosuke huffed out.

I don't see him offering up ideas either.

"Order up!" The man at the counter yelled across the restaurant. We were the only ones there. Inosuke jumped up, yearning for his food. He didn't even bring me my own. It wasn't as if I could yell at him though. He had never learned proper etiquette. My hands warmed up with the bowl in them. I began to walk back to my table but the sound of the door bursting open so rudely interrupted my trip back to my table.

"Has anyone said anything yet Ahmida?" An elderly woman asked. She marched over to the man at the counter and roughly grabbed onto his collar. The man dropped the bowl in his arms and raised his hands up in defense.

"I'm sorry Sakae I haven't. Business hasn't exactly been booming..." He chuckled. I sat down at my seat and proceeded to eat. The Boar was already halfway done with his food.

"I'm surprised that old people like them even live here. This place is more for the youth." I brought up to Inosuke as we ate.

The older woman began to sob at the man. She held a paper in her hands and she walked over to the board to replace one that was already there. "This is the most recent picture I could find of my dear Yuka," she said. The woman caressed the paper with care before leaving the restaurant.
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Original release date: June 10 2020
Days until authors birthday/ special chapter: 8