ᴍᴜɪᴄʜɪʀᴏ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ : ɴɪᴄʜɪʀɪɴ

Chapter 22- The Swordsmith's Village

Y/n's PoV:

Another day out. This time, on Muichiro's request. 

"We're going to the Swordsmith's Village." He notified me. "Hm? Why?" I queried. 

"There's something I want to find." He hazily answered.

"Strangely vague but okay." I continued to style my hair like Muichiro did the other day but sighed in frustration since my arms couldn't reach far enough behind.

"Mui! Can you help with my hair please?" I called out with a small whine in my voice.

The boy sighed and stopped behind me before putting his hands in my hair and smiling. "Alright..." and after a few whips of hair, it was almost done.

"How do you even know how to style short hair?" He thought in silence for a bit but answered with a light tone. "I don't really know myself. I guess it's a touch memory from my past." 

He styled my hair the way it ought to be and placed the wisteria pin in it. "Beautiful..." He murmured just under his breath but ultimately causing heat to immediately come full-wave over my cheeks. 

I looked away to hide the visible tint of red that stretched over my cheeks and ears but failed as I could hear chuckling from beside me.

  "Let's get going, tomato face~" He sang teasingly. I shook the blush away, responding with giving him a soft punch to his shoulder and standing up on both feet. "Well, what are you waiting for?" 

And after a laugh or two, we headed off.

Y'know the process to get to the village. We went through that and ended up in the village.

"So what exactly are you looking for?" I asked the taller boy curiously, though he reminded silent and averted his gaze away from me and to the sky.

"You should buy something while I go find it." He suggested coldly, making it the perfect set-up for a sly evasion.

I was about to say something about how we should go together but stopped myself and  decided that I shouldn't make a fuss about it. I sighed, looking down as he loosened up his grip on my hand.

He suddenly pinched my chin and made me face him by pulling it up softly. He laid a small but affectionate peck on my lips, patting my head and moving the hair out of my face.

"Smile." He commanded with a grin. And with that he ran off into the forest, leaving me by my lonesome.

I smiled as I looked ahead, putting a finger on my lips and felt the gentle, warm sensation of his lips on mine. I giggled softly and went to the bakery. 'Maybe I should get some bread...' (A/n I want bread now ._.).

Muichiro's PoV:

I ran into the forest, not thinking to look back once, feeling a bit guilty that I had left Y/n alone. 'But it's for her own sake. I can't have her watching me go harsh on someone. If she did see that, I'd probably earn a slap or a karate chop to the back of my neck.

What's the boy's name? Kotetsu? Whatever his name is, I need to find him. He holds the key to the training doll, doesn't he? I need that training doll no matter what.'

Y/n's PoV:

I started munching down on the bread loaves I had bought just a moment ago, my weight sinking into a bench nearby.

'Y'know, I eat a lot. But I don't understand how I don't gain weight. Maybe it's the same for Mitsuri. She's one of the biggest foodies I know but she's still as thin when I first met her. Interesting' 

I thought, inspecting the bite mark I had left on the loaf. "Y/n!"

I heard an energetic male voice greet, snapping me out of my seemingly futile thoughts and resulting in me tilting my head up from my loaf to see who was addressing me. As I tilted my head up I see the burgundy-haired boy I knew as Tanjiro smiling down at me.

"Oh, Tanjiro. How are you and nezuko? I haven't seen you two since the Red Light district." I greeted with a little small and a closed-eyes.

"We're doing just fine. How about you? Where's Muichiro-san?" He asked with with a tilt of his head before turning left and right to look for my blue-haired companion.

"I'm just fine. Muichiro's looking for something. He'll be back later than expected." I answer his question with a small sigh. "I see..."

Both of us had a talk about why the other was there. It seems like Tanjiro broke his sword and was renewing but it seems his swordsmith has gone missing. In exchange, I discussed with him my situation as well.

"It's pretty strange for Muichiro-san to leave you alone. He's usually sticking to you like a dog and it's tail!" He joked with a laugh and his usual kind smile.

Though Tanjiro meant what he said as a joke, somehow something hit me. 'Tanjiro's right. It's weird that Muichiro's leaving me behind. I need to find him. Why am I worried? Maybe he's in trouble? I don't know.'

I gulped and plastered a smile on lips. "Hehe, I guess you are right." I averted my gaze up to the sky above me. 

"Leave and find Muichiro." My mind repeated. 'God, curse me for being mentally weak.'

"Oh, look at that. I should get going now." I said as I stood up from the bench both Tanjiro and I were seated on. "I'll see you next time!" I waved towards him as I took my leave, resulting in him retuning the wave with a tender small.

I looked back ahead and ran into the forest without hesitation, ultimately starting my hunt for Muichiro. 

"Where could that blockhead be?" I asked myself after searching in desperation for about 10 minutes but after a few more minutes, I heard voices from a distance and steadily approached it warily. 

'That voice...' I thought as I analyzed it further but it hit me in a short minute of realization. 'That's Muichiro's!'

after the small eureka moment I ran towards it, wanting to see what the boy I knew as Muichiro was up to.

After a minute of running, I saw him but immediately hid behind a tree trunk as I soon realized he was talking to another person.

I inspected the scene and the person whom he was conversing with was a small boy with a swordsmith's mask on. Based on the looks of it, the boy seemed to be around 10 or so.

I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their discussion but all I could get and remember were the words "training", "doll" and "key".

At this point, I was racking my head in an attempt to recall if Muichiro mentioned anything about training, a doll, and a key.

However, I was immediately pulled out of my pondering by the sound of skin getting cracked and immediately focused my attention towards the scene in front of me.

I went wide-eyed and speechless in a matter of seconds upon laying eyes on the sight before me.

I quivered in disbelief.

"Muichiro...slapping a child...?"

________

AHHH sorry for the lack of updates °∆°
I'm one big lazy person _-_ anyways I'd like to say a few things-

I DIDN'T EXPECT THIS STORY TO GET SO MANY READS AND VOTES AHHHH but seriously thank you everyone for following this story thus far. Hopefully, I can stretch this story out far enough to the ending of the manga but who knows? Nah I'm just joking. I promise to continue this story till the end.

I also really think this story had a drastic change in writing style from the first chapter all the way to this one. I used to have a really simplistic way of writing but damn I really improved. I hope y'all will continue to enjoy this story!

- Author-san.