Of Sages and Oni

Chapter 4 - Leaf Man

Y/N POV:
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"And then you add the mask and the hair..." Itto giggled. "It looks just like her!"

"This Kujou Sara person- She took your vision back when the decree was ordered?"

"Yep! But I got it back now. See?" He proudly puffed out his chest to show off his Geo vision that hung from his collar.

I giggled and then immediately went into thought. Geo visions... there weren't many around Sumeru to experiment with, so this could be an opportunity to get some more data for my personal research.

"Do you have a vision too, Y/N?"

"Mhm..." I turned to show Itto my electro vision.

"It's so prettyyyy. Can I touch it?" He made grabbing motions with his hands.

"Sure. Just be careful or you might get zapped." Before anything else could be said, Itto grabbed my vision and looked at it closely. He suddenly let out a yelp and dropped it on the ground. The Oni cradled his hand and let out small whimpers.

"I told you to be careful." I picked my vision off the ground and put it in its rightful place.

"I wassss." We heard some rustling from the bushes behind us. "Oh look who decided to follow us."

Al Haitham let out an annoyed sigh and made his way out of the foliage. "I couldn't just let you take my research partner like that. We just met after all."

"Yeah but don't you pretty much know everything about me already? I answered your questions leaf man."

"Leaf m-" Al Haitham grumbled to himself.

Itto tapped his chin. "Come to think of it. Why don't I ask you a few questions of my own now?"

Al Haitham glared at Itto, almost at his limit. "What do you want to know?"

"I already know both of you are from the Akademiya. Hmm...Ooo! What's your fitness regimen? I honestly thought I was pretty big, but you're about twice my size! Tell me your secrets." Itto smiled.

"My...what?" Al Haitham's face turned a light shade of pink and he froze in place. I lightly tapped his shoulder, and he still didn't move. "My...h-huh?" He shook his head.

"Y/N. I think I broke him."

"You know this is honestly impressive. I've only ever seen him act serious around others." I watched Itto slowly grin. He held his hands out one right beside the other and mimicked flipping the pages off a book. Book? What is he trying t- ohhh. I immediately snuck off and ran back to the camp.

The sounds of Itto talking to the still nervous Al Haitham faded out of range and I arrived at my destination. The book was just sitting out in the open. I smirked and opened up to where he was keeping our homework.

"Let's see... food, color, traditions..." My eyes stopped at a very interesting section in the paper that had been left blank. "Romance?!" The section was littered with all sorts of questions such as desirable traits in partners and mating traditions. Some of the questions asked for very specific details. "Why is any of this important to know at all? I thought we just need to know their culture on a basic level."

I suddenly heard screaming back where I came from and ran towards it. Al Haitham had hung Itto upside down from a tree branch by his foot.

"Let me down!"

"I-Itto?!"

He let out a gasp. "You're back! Now help me down- Come on come on-"

I went over and unhooked his foot from the rope that was keeping him suspended in the air. He fell to the ground with a thud, but he didn't stay there for long. He quickly got up and pulled me into a hug, which as a result landed my face straight in his chest.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I let out a small "Mhm," feeling rather flustered from the sudden contact. I pulled my face away and noticed part of his body paint was missing. My fingers made their way to my face to see it had needed up there.

I felt a pair of muscular arms pull me back. "It's getting late, Y/N. Let's let Itto get home so we can get some shut eye."

"I-I was actually hoping I could stay with you guys. It'd give you a chance to learn more about me for your project right?"

Before I could tell Itto yes, Al Haitham pushed me behind him and spoke. "We only have one tent. You can't stay."

"Oh...well I'll just sleep outside on the ground then. Us Oni are rather hearty creatures after all."

"Are you sure you're fine sleeping outside? We could make room in the tent for you." Al Haitham shot me a look. I could tell he really didn't want Itto to stay and I didn't know why.

"I'm fine with sleeping anywhere."

"Outside it is," the book enthusiast responded. He pulled me back to the camp and Itto just trailed behind the two of us. We made it back to camp and Al Haitham immediately went back to reading his book.

Itto snuck over and whispered in my ear. "Did you find out what the questions were?"

"Uh Heheh...kind of..."

"Tell meeee!" Al Haitham looked over briefly before going back to reading.

"Shh Shh...he'll hear. The questions were about...love and intimacy..."

"Ohhhh....oh- oh..." Itto puffed his cheeks. "Why didn't he say so? We have a few practices that are a little different from humans, but it's pretty much the same I guess."

"Oh. Well I don't remember the exact questions so I can't ask them, but yeah. It's kinda weird that he didn't ask them up front. I wonder why."

Itto shrugged. "So how did you end up upside down in a tree like that? What did you say to him?"

Itto giggled. "I called him leaf man again. Guess he really doesn't like that nickname."

"I think it's funny."

"It's not!" Al Haitham now had his attention on both of us. He closed his book. "Y/N. Do I need to make sure you know as well?"

"N-No!"

"That's what I thought." He walked over and dragged me away from Itto again. "Now let's get some rest."