PEACEFUL

二十六

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—· · · · ⋆꒷꒦‧₊˚𓆩♡𓆪˚₊‧꒦꒷⋆ · · · ·—
| ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 27 |
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"Ah."

A breath of relief escaped Gen'ya's mouth as the stone pillar was finally gone after being summoned by his crow.

"You alright? I see Gyomei is a little harsh on his students," Y/n sent a small smile as she patted Gen'ya's shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Gen'ya seemingly shrugged off Gyomei's behavior.

If he were, to be honest, he was downright terrified of the man. Before, all Gen'ya held was respect and admiration for the older pillar. And he was ecstatic to work under him. And even when that didn't work out, he had no fear of the pillar. But after being introduced to Y/n, things took a turn for the worse.

Gyomei never seemed like the type to take a liking to anyone, in particular, he held the same love and support for everyone. But now, Gen'ya could tell how much he would favor Y/n in the future.

If Y/n could make Gyomei sway so easily, Gen'ya didn't even want to imagine how the others were, even his brother.

Though, Gen'ya didn't want to deny the small crush he had already developed for the female. Sure, he was never great with females. Always stuttering and never able to keep eye contact, blushing at any skin-on-skin contact. And sure, that's seemingly how he was with you. But it was different, maybe not completely different, but that's only because Gen'ya wasn't that close to you, yet.

It was obvious Gen'ya didn't stand much of a chance against well, practically everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps, and maybe more, but he had an advantage no one else had. He was your Tsugoku.

Now, his intentions had changed from what he was originally thinking of when he had accepted to be your Tsugoku.

Of course, he still wanted to become stronger, he was going to have to protect you at one point or another. And that's not something he'd want to fail at. He wouldn't be able to stand if—

"Gen'ya!" Y/n exclaimed as she slapped her hands onto his cheeks, squishing his face as she shook him around, "Are you even listening?!"

"Eh—Huh?!" Gen'ya exclaimed as he registered her touching him, losing his previous mindset, "A-Ah Y/n!"

"How am I supposed to teach you if you don't even listen to me?" Y/n scolded him as she let go of the taller boy who brought his own hands up to his cheeks, savoring the sensation of her gentle hands.

"I-I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Are you sure you're alright? Come here," Y/n motioned with her hand for the boy to come closer, which he only did about an inch, still wary of the girl, to which she just rolled her eyes, "God damnit Gen'ya."

Getting a fist full of his uniform, Y/n pulled the boy closer to her causing Gen'ya to flinch as he almost lost his footing. Awestricken at her actions, his wide eyes met hers as his face became bright red, noticing how they were so close, that one more step and their lips would brush up against each other. Genya got euphoric at the simple idea.

Back to reality, Gen'ya observed as Y/n brought up her left hand to his forehead, feeling it as she let out a sigh.

"Good, almost thought you'd caught something, now listen to me, will yah?" Y/n frowned at the boy would vigorously nod his head, wanting to get out of the position before he fainted, "Alright, as I was saying, I know that Tsugoku's are supposed to stay with their teachers, as I assume you had with Gyomei. But my estate will not be finished being built until next month. Therefore I was wondering if you had a place to stay, or if you needed me to figure something out for you?"

"I-I doubt Gyomei will let me stay anymore, so if it's not too much trouble...could you help me out?" Gen'ya composed himself and shuttered at the thought of him asking Gyomei to stay after the whole ordeal.

"Of course. I know you have problems with your brother...but maybe it's best if you stay with him for the time—"

"Sanemi?!" Gen'ya exclaimed as he flinched even saying his name, "I-I'm sorry but I highly doubt Sanemi would even give me the time of day."

"Your relationship with him is that bad? What the hell happened between you two?" Y/n's brows furrowed at the boy who only frowned at her question. Noticing his aura dulling, Y/n grasped his larger hand in hers and held onto it firmly, "I may have just become your teacher but you should know I'm always going to be here for you. If you ever think you want to rebuild your relationship with Sanemi, I would be glad to help in any way I can. Our time is limited here, especially as demon slayers, I would hate to see you two not spend as much time as you have together."

Gen'ya didn't notice as he stared into her e/c orbs, but tears had begun to seep out of his eyes and fall down his face. One after the other until it was too much and he started to sob. Bringing his free hand up to shield his face, he didn't want Y/n to see him like this. Especially only after meeting him hours ago.

"Gen'ya..." Y/n looked at him with sorrow as he continued to cry, she was starting to tear up as well at the memories resurfacing of someone long ago that reminded her of the younger boy, "Come here."

Pulling him into her arms, Gen'ya instantly clung to her with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he sobbed into the crook of her neck.

To keep her head straight, and soothe the younger, Y/n started to run her fingers through some of Gen'ya's soft locks, successfully calming the two of them.

This went on for a few minutes as his cries calmed down and there were only soft sniffles left to be heard. Anxiety started to fill the pit of Gen'ya's stomach as he came to realize what he'd just done. She spoke softly into his ear in hopes to help him relax...

"Gen'ya, tell me about it."