Thousand Year Old Cherry Tree

Chapter 11: Butler-Like

For the first time in my life, I've been labelled as a 'Master' by the rest of the swords. However...this particular uchigatana... I never felt like a princess in my entire life until he, Heshikiri Hasebe, arrived.

"My name is Heshikiri Hasebe." The man introduced himself while taking my right hand into his gloved ones, "If it's an order from the master, I will accomplish anything you wish."

He placed his lips against the back of my hand. Surprising me and the swords of the returning sortie party out of nowhere.

"It's like a princess and her knight!" A certain pink-haired tantou pointed out loud.

'Akita, noooo! Don't overcomplicate everything! I shouldn't have told him about the Forget-Me-Not story about the knight and his lady!'

My face reddened after hearing Akita's comment about how Hasebe introduced himself to me, until Kashuu and Yagen pulled me away from Hasebe. Although their faces didn't show it, I can feel like they're angry upon seeing Hasebe's recent action. He seemed pretty attached to the idea that I was indeed his Master even though Yagen was the one who managed to save his sword from the boss they encountered just recently.

"U-Uhh...oh that's right!" I almost forgot to hand Hasebe the chocolates. "Um, Akita could you bring me the bag?"

"Yes." The pink-haired tantou ran back holding a bag of chocolates, except the ribbon was purple this time. Taking the bag from the tantou, I turned over to the uchigatana to hand it over to him. "Here, this is in commemoration for your arrival here." Giving a small smile to Hasebe, I then said. "Welcome to Citadel, Hasebe."

Though what happened afterwards lead to so much. I ended up having to create a new role in the roster of jobs. Now there was an assistant to the Master added on since Hasebe, despite finishing his chores, pursued taking care of anything I was supposed to do. Not only did I feel more useless at the Citadel, I felt like I was being over pampered by Hasebe. I even explained it to him. "Um, Hasebe, you do know that I have to help Shokudaikiri with the others. That's the point of the chores list, to make it fair on everyone."

"But Master!" He still calling me as if I'm a high and godly figure. I'm nothing like one. "You need to rest even if you're trying to be fair to everyone."

"I can understand your concerns Hasebe, but I'm fine." No really I am, I just feel more useless now that Hasebe was doing this out of sheer dedication. Feeling upset from the uchigatana, I took hold of his hands to stop Hasebe from trying to say anymore.

"M-Master?!" He was baffled by my actions on taking his hands into mine. I stared at the uchigatana with earnestly in my eyes as I watched him.

"Hasebe." I muttered his voice in calm tone as I told him. "Please listen to what I have to say. I may be a Master to you and everyone else but I am just a person. From the day I was born to now, I will always be a person."

"And please, respect the fact that I'm just a mere human compared to the rest of you." I saw Hasebe flinch upon hearing me say that. "There will be a day that I will pass away, and so far only a few months have past since I got here, but right now I want to do my best in helping everyone despite having so little to do okay Hasebe?"

"Yuna-sama." He closed his eyes, seeming mildly displeased but he silently gave in as shown by his nod.

"Thank you for understanding, Hasebe." I was going to let go of his hands when a sudden chill ran down my spine.

"Hm...Master and Hasebe, huh?"

Shifting my gaze over to the door, I saw a familiar glasses eyed tantou bearing a menacing aura as well as a certain first sword there too.