boketto || t. kamado

forty-eight

"...What are you doing?"

"Praying for your future spouse," I replied seamlessly, not even opening my eyes to glance at him as I sat on the porch in front of the garden, legs folded beneath me and palms against one another.

He gave a groan, finally earning my attention as I glanced up toward him. Before he could argue with my words, I just tacked on, "I suppose you might need my charity. Seen as you must be poor after using all your money to pay a person to marry you."

"I did not!" He argued back, hopping onto the ground in front of me and crossing his arms. It felt like the tables had turned, seen as he was usually the one always picking and prodding at me. But in this specific scenario - that being his endeavors with love - I tended to have the upper hand.

"Oh yes," I lamented, placing my hands on my knees and leaning toward him, "I absolutely believe that you just happened to find some person within the past few months that wants to marry you."

Daichi huffed, practically fuming, but managed to be smart enough to hit me back with, "Well, at least I was able to tell the person I'm fond of that I want to be with them."

I felt like my face had been set on fire. We both knew exactly what he had been insinuating and it was something he'd left me alone about for the most part. But it seems he was after blood today and it was working scarily well. He must have some guts.

"Shut up!" I shouted back, but his smirk pushed me forward, "I won't even believe you're engaged until I meet this person!"

"I've met them," A third voice suddenly spoke and I jumped in surprise. I glanced over my shoulder - Aika must've come in with the help of Daichi and just stayed quiet until now. She was sitting patiently with a blanket cast over her legs. With Daichi's help, she could move a tad. But even then we avoided it and tried to set her carefully.

I frowned, "Sensei, are you on my side or not?"

She glanced up towards the ceiling in what I thought must be serious contemplation. She wasn't one for jokes - I suppose maybe that's why I could be dense or not quite as easily amused as the boys. Sometimes Zenitsu would make a joke that would fly right over mine and Inosuke's heads. That was something me and the boar-boy had in common, I suppose.

"I'm simply stating a fact," She calmly said, "I've met Daichi's betrothed. A sweet soul, that one. But you know that's not quite the only reason he's decided to leave the Demon Slayer Corps."

Ah, yes. The topic of conversation from the night before. I hummed in acknowledgment and rephrased what I'd gathered from dinner, "That wound from a few years ago. I'd forgotten about it, frankly."

He hummed with a nod, seeming to understand what I meant. I was being honest; I remember it occurring, and when he'd come home, but I'd barely heard of it since. I had no clue it'd bothered him enough to cause his early retirement. Though I suppose with the short life span of demon slayers, now would be a decent time in his life to retire.

"It all works out, though," Daichi smiled, but I couldn't share the same sentiment even as he explained, "Now there's only one Spirit Breathing swordsman. The tradition lives on. And if you happen to die, at least I can train the next generation."

"Thanks for the confidence," I bitterly said. He shrugged with the same stupid smile of his.

"Y/n," Aika asked, gaining the attention of both myself and my fellow student. She simply stated, "Let's begin."

And so we did, the small moment beside us now as Daichi excused himself to go into town and I picked up my sword. Aika Sensei sat on the porch of the house, within the shade as I swept through her guided movements along the grass. The same things I'd always learned. I went through each breathing style and its specifics. If it wasn't perfect, Aika directed my elbow to be higher or my left foot to shift outward more. Everything is perfected with years of practice and knowledge. They felt like second nature. Something I'd done so much, it was engraved in my bones.