I would rather die | Tomo (genshin) ONGOING

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Chapter 5
Inazuman cuisine

"The worst part about you is that you can't even cook the very basics, who are you supposed to be? The almighty Raiden Shogun?" Tomo rolled his eyes as he prepares the ingredients, "On a scale of one to ten how much do you hate the shogun? Ugh! I should've opted to stay and just get married to Kazuha than stay with an annoying guy like you!" She complains.

"Keep your mouth shut if you don't want me to add your own blood to the stew, seriously, stop acting like a spoiled brat and be grateful that a person like me is helping you...is this what nobles are like in Narukami? I'm a noble myself but does it look like I'm spoiled? No!" He ticked.

Y/n crossed her arms, "You act like my brother" she muttered under her breath.

"Come here" He dragged Y/n by her arm for her to come closer and let her observe the ingredients set on the wooden counter.

"Now, what do you think we'll be making with a fillet of fish, radish, and salt?" He asked. Y/n looked up at him, "Radish and fish stew, right?" She answered he nods.

Tomo lights up the fire and places the pot on top of the fire. He took a knife out and a cutting board. He looks back at y/n, "Wash your hands" he points to a bucket of water by the side.

Y/n carefully follow his instructions, she was never used to someone teaching her how to do household things since all she ever does is stay at home and sip tea or eat Dango, she rarely goes outside ever since her brother passed away.

Tomo asked her to come closer, and she did.

First, he demonstrated how to de-skin the radish with the knife, carefully, until it was all clean, Y/n did the same, and he was surprised to see that she is a fast learner, especially when she did it perfectly on her first try.

"Put them in the pot for me while I take care of the fish, and go outside and check if the tomatoes are already growing" He focused greatly on the fish, cutting it into pieces until it looked good and mouth-watering, carefully cutting the pieces into squares, Y/n on the other hand just followed and did not say a word, she placed the de-skinned radishes first in the pot and let Tomo handle the rest.

She opened the sliding door to his well-taken cared-of garden.

It was autumn and the maple trees were of beautiful red color, must this be Tomo's favorite season?

Tomo places the fish in the pot alongside seasonings and turned the pot's fire to low heat, "learning how to de-skin radish was the first thing she learned to me, I wonder if she'll be able to learn how to handle the sword as well" He took a clean chirirenge and taste tests the stew, and as soon as the flavors develop well the food was ready.

"Y/n! The food is ready" He called out. Y/n was too distracted by the beautiful maple trees in the garden, she found it amusing and calm.

"Y/n?" Tomo went to the door leaned by the doorframe and observed her. "I know they're beautiful, but I don't want the food to run cold"

"Huh? Oh! Right, also the tomatoes are doing well" She hurriedly went back inside, "The wind too is also slowly running cold, winter is nearing and autumn is coming to its end" he sighed and went back inside as well, closing the door behind him.

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"Kazuha, we're doing our best but we can't just seem to find her! We've searched all around Narukami island and got nothing" one of the shogunate members reports.

Kazuha hums, he was concerned about Y/n's safety more than the marriage, heck, even Kazuha never wanted to get married to Y/n either in the first place, so he didn't care much if the marriage was dropped. It was just he never loved Y/n, he was more concerned about if she is doing well or not, and he was afraid that if the Akikaze clan is involved he did not want to be responsible for a death of an innocent.

That's when an idea struck him, what if it did have something to do with the Akikaze clan?

He looked at Heizou's board of suspects, "Who do you think is the main suspect?" Kazuha looked at Heizou.

He hummed, "There was an undercover samurai from the Akikaze clan who was part of the group of shogunate members who'll supposedly escort her to you, alias Hayato, real name: Tomo-- although it's not confirmed yet if it really was someone from the Akikaze clan, the similarities are just almost the same" he showed pictures from news articles or Tomo during his mid-teens and pictures of 'Hayato' taken from a Kamera.

Kazuha's eyes widened, "The said eldest son and the strongest of the clan?!"

"Yes, I believe so, and if I may add, he resides in Kannazuka island, the Akikaze clan is filthy rich too you know? Of course, he has his own estate, or so I heard, I'm only getting this information from past reports" Heizou snaps his finger.

"Then if your theory is right, we should at least interview him. Send shogunate members to his estate with no weapons, we don't want to give him a hostile approach, and if it is confirmed that he has been keeping Y/n in there, then I'm pretty sure she is being heavily tortured or worse, dead."

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"This tastes so good!" Y/n exclaimed, excitement overfilling her at the taste of Tomo's cooking. "Hey, remember to chew, we don't want you to die do we? Eat the rice slowly" He rolled his eyes.

Y/n laughed, "Aww~ Are you worried about me?" she teased, "No...I just don't want to dishonor my family, besides, I wouldn't care if you die" He continued to eat his food.

"Hmph! This is why women don't like you! Nor do you have a dating history because of that stupid attitude of yours" She pouts.

Tomo ticked but didn't bother, he can't comment on it anyway since it was true, wait, did she actually read the book?!

"You're slowly getting way too comfortable with me again, are you?" He sips his water, "Yeah, no, I feel so bad for your future wife to have to deal with you" She grinned.

Tomo slammed the table with his fists, "At least i don't just laze around every day and watch me do all the chores, I may have said you can leave it all to me, but that was my way of telling you to trust me!"

And so their fight continued on, they were like two stray cats fighting over dominance.