Chapter 20, Midnight Talk

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_Author Pov_

"Yes!?"

Tanjiro turned around and saw your face dangerously close to his. He blushed and you backed away, giggling. Amusement danced in your eyes.

" Tanjiro-kun, you are working hard. I am impressed! " you compliment him. " Your friends are not here though, don't you get lonely all by yourself? "

"No! Because once I've mastered it, I can teach them too! " You were surprised with his answer and smiled. You look up to the sky to take a look at the stars.

" You are very kind, Tanjiro-kun. You remind me of someone. " Your mind wandered off to Kanae.

Tanjiro looks at you and detected guilt, sadness, and anger radiating from you.

" Did something happened between you and that person? " Tanjiro asked, curious to why you are suddenly drowning in so many emotions at once.

" Huh? " You asked, caught off guard.

" You see, I have a good sense of smell and I can detect emotions too. " Tanjiro answered.

You were shocked, to be honest. He's probably the only one who saw through you.

Suddenly, the realization hit him. " Ah! Sorry for asking such personal information. " He'd be lying if he said he isn't curious but if you are not ready to tell him, he decided not to push the matter further.

" ....It's alright."

Silence consumes them as both of them were deep in their thoughts.

" ........That person........was my savior..... " You decided to break the silence by answering his question. " Her name is Kocho Kanae. If it weren't for her, I'd be good as dead by now. When I was nothing but a pest, she reached out to me with such kindness. She took me in and treated me like a normal person. Yet I didn't return her kindness. " You gritted your teeth. Your mind wandered around that time when you didn't shed a single tear when she died. What kind of ungrateful child are you?

Tanjiro almost choked smelling an inhuman amount of guilt radiating from you.

" Also about Nezuko-chan..." You said, changing the subject. You were getting kinda uncomfortable. You didn't want to tell your entire backstory to the person you met not too long ago. " You don't have to worry about her anymore. Out of respect for the Master's wishes, I am sure no one won't lay a hand on her." You resurrected him.

" Let's end the conversation here." You stood up and faced him. " Your Total Concentration breathing has come to a halt." He looks shocked and immediately tries to focus on breathing. You chuckled at this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a couple of days later, you saw Tanjiro training really hard, Using all kind of methods to improve. During those days, Tanjiro is the only who participate the training. For Zenitsu and Inosuke, they just stay in bed or did whatever they wanted. You were there too, of course. You were either training by yourself or giving tips to Tanjiro or just cheering him from the sidelines. Because of training, you two become closer than before. You were kinda disappointed that you can't join him because Aoi told you that you can only participate when Tanjiro beat Kanao.

Today after training, you sense two familiar presences. You look around and saw Zenitsu and Inosuke peeking through at you all from the door.

'' Ah! Zenitsu! Inosuke! ''
Seems like Tanjiro noticed their presences and called out, surprised.

But both of them got flustered and ran away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is the day Tanjiro try to break the gourd using Total Concentration breathing.

He blew the small but hard gourd broke. The triplets who's been helping him train, cutely cheered for him. You also cheered for him and clapped your hand when he finally broke the gourd, feeling happy for him.

'' Y/n! Did you see that?! I did it! '' His eyes sparkled.

You nodded as you went to him. He then tried to hug you but stopped midway. '' What's wrong? '' Y/n asked who's ready to accept his hug. '' Is it okay if i hug you? '' '' Of course! I already told you that I love hugs! '' You said, pulling him into a hug while Tanjiro blushed at the close contract.

'' Now all you have to do is break this big gourd! '' The triplets told Tanjiro.
While Tanjiro was busy with the triplets, you avert you gaze as you look around, sensing another presences.

You crouched down next to Zenitsu and Inosuke who were currently hiding. '' What are you doing? ''
Both of them flinched.

Zenitsu quickly recovered and tried to hug you. '' Y/n-chan~ '' But Tanjiro snatched you out of the way and his face was meet with the hard ground. Zenitsu whined. You felt butterflies in your stomach as you put an hand on it. ' What was that? ' You thought. You were sure that you didn't eat butterflies for breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zenitsu and Inosuke decided to join the training. You told him about Total Concentration Constant.

'' You go like this to make your lungs expand! When that rattles your blood, your bones and muscles will go Boom Boom You gotta stop it! ''

Tanjiro make a cute explanation about how lungs works. You can't help but chuckled at this.

'' And all that's left to do is train like crazy! ''

Color drained from their face and they shooked their head, already gave up.

You went behind Tanjiro and face the two while Tanjiro look at you with a faint blush on his cheek. '' We're talking about a beginner skill, but it's true that one must put on effort in order to master it! '' You explained.

shinobu then stepped in.

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_Taisho Secret_

Author-chan named this book 'Butterflies' because she likes butterflies, no particular reason.

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Butterflies 【K.Tanjiro】Where stories live. Discover now