Thousand Year Old Cherry Tree

Extra: Chihiro (1)

"What is this scroll?" As I was looking through the scrolls that Yuna managed to translate, a knock soon came upon the door. "Yes?"

"Master, it's Horikawa Kunihiro. Are you busy right now?"

"No, you may enter." It still felt weird being called Master. I'm starting to wonder on how Yuna dealt with being called Master all the time by these swords?

As he entered the room, the smell of tea filled the room. "I made some tea for you, Master."

I smiled at him, "Thank you Horikawa." Out of all of the swords, Horikawa was the most helpful to me. Despite being a complete beginner and being a new Saniwa Sage, he would always remain calm and patient with me.

I felt grateful for having him here. Though the same could be said about Kanesada and Mutsunokami, but their arguments often get on my nerves.

"Hey, Horikawa."

"Yes?"

"Did Yuna ever use this scroll before?" She labelled as memorable for some reason. I don't know why she would do that though.

"Hmm, this scroll. I believe this scroll was used before Kane-san and I were summoned by our former Master." Ah, I see. It would've been nice to know what this scroll was. Yuna only labelled memorable on stuff she treasured.

"It would've been nice to know what this was." As I placed my hand onto the scroll, the said item started shining out of nowhere.

"Huh?!"

"Master!" The next thing I knew, the shadow of what seemed to be a child appeared sitting next to the scroll within the split moment I was pulled into Horikawa's arms in a protective manner.

The light practically blinded our sight, causing both Horikawa and I to fall down to the ground together.

"Ouch!" The impact didn't hurt as much for me, but Horikawa practically taken most of the fall.

Once the light disappeared, I immediately moved away to ask. "A-Are you alright, Horikawa?"

"As long as you're fine, Master." Ugh, Horikawa you're too kind for this world. What did the demon commander, Hijikata Toshizo do to deserve a wakizashi like you?

"Achew." A dainty sneeze sounded, causing the both of us to focus our gaze over to the source. There sitting on the desk where the scroll was wide open, a little girl with dark brown hair tied into twin tails using blue ribbons. Her eyes were blue, almost seemed like she was a foreigner. The girl was wearing a blue blazer with a bright red ribbon and a white skirt. She was wearing black knee socks and brown loafers to finish. But no matter how I look at her, the girl resembled a female version of Horikawa.

I sent a glance at Horikawa, silently telling him that I was going to talk to the girl. Accepting my silent words, Horikawa helped me get up from the ground. I turned to face the little girl, whose eyes continued to stare at us. As if expecting something.

"Hello."

"Mm." The girl replied softly.

"My name is Fubuki Chiyo, what's your name?"

"Fubuki Chihiro." Huh? She has the same surname as me.

"Then...Chihiro-chan, do you want to go downstairs with Horikawa and I?"

Her eyes widened slightly the moment I said Horikawa though. She made quick glances at both Horikawa and I to the point of making a confused expression.

"What's wrong?"

The little girl hesitated, but continued to speak. "Mama, how come you're not calling papa 'sweetie' anymore?"

Eh?

"Mama?" I started to sweat. "Who are you referring to Chihiro-chan?"

She stared at me, tilting her head. "You're my mama."

Then Chihiro pointed her stare at Horikawa, who was completely confused by the terms mama and papa.

"And he's papa."

It felt like a nuclear bomb just landed right now.

"WHAT?!" Mutsunokami, Kanesada, and the other swords I managed to summon were practically stomping their way over to get over to this side of the Citadel.

Chihiro's POV

"Aizen-kun. Hotarumaru-kun" Mama and Papa told me to go with the boy with bright red hair. He along with his brother, although they didn't look brothers, held my hands. Aizen was on my left while Hotarumaru was on my right.

"Yeah, Chihiro-chan?" All three of us stopped, the two brothers stared at me. Waiting for my response. Their staring made me nervous as I tried to ask. "How come mama and papa seemed so shocked with the way I called them?"

"Mmm, I don't really know. I mean we-" He glanced over to Hotarumaru. "We don't have someone like that, but a guardian."

"Guardian?" A spirit animal? A buddha?

"Yes, his name is Akashi Kuniyuki!" Hotarumaru smiled, "Maybe he'll be more active if we take Chihiro-chan to see him."

"Oh! That's a great idea, Hotarumaru!" The both of them soon take me down the hallway. I wonder what kind of person their guardian was?

By the time we reached a pair of sliding doors, the two brothers slammed the doors open to reveal a man wearing glasses. Lying on the ground while eating rice crackers. After taking one bite, the man glanced up to give a small lazy wave. "Nice to see you two excited. But who's the little person with you?"

"Kuniyuki, meet Chihiro-chan!" I felt a little nervous as Aizen pushed me closer to their guardian.

'What do I say?' Their guardian just kept staring at me with a rice cracker in his mouth.

I was expecting a cute spirit animal or a smart buddha monk. Not a lazy glasses man.

Chiyo's POV

"So Konnosuke, what do you think about this scroll here?" I had the scroll laid out on the table where we eat. Horikawa, Kanesada, and Mutsunokami started to question about the scroll I was concerned about. Even my fourth sword, Nakigitsune, stared at the scroll with interest.

"I recall faintly, but Master Yuna translated that this scroll was like a form of summoning."

"Summoning?"

"Yes, but the interesting part to this was that it summoned children from the future. Except these children are the result of a Saniwa Sage and-"

"A sword..." I finished for Konnosuke. My face started heating up, as I kept my focus on the scroll. 'Does that mean...I ended up with Horikawa in one future?!'

I can't even look at Horikawa's direction. Oh god, I call him sweetie in the future too?!

How cheesy am I in that future?!