4

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"I'm so glad you finally agreed to have tea with me!" I say happily, placing the tray down in front of him as I sit on my knees and clap my hands with a wide smile.

He sits cross legged with his arms crossed, and I can feel that his cold glare hasn't faltered once since we entered the mansion grounds. We are sat on the veranda next to the flower garden and the sun shines down onto the beautiful blooming flowers. I pour Haganezuka's tea as he sits there glaring at me, but I ignore it as I'm more excited he agreed to this... just as I planned.

"Here is your tea!" I say offering it to him. He ignores me. Laughing awkwardly I place it in front of him and look around at the snacks I brought out. "Onigiri?" I say offering it to him. No response. Pouting, I observe what else I brought. "Monaka?" I offer one to him, and he slaps it out of my hand making it fall to the ground.

I sit there with my hands clenched together in my lap awkwardly. Each time I sneak a glance up at him, I'm just met with the mask and the glare coming from behind it. Clearing my throat, I go to sip my tea but I yelp as the hot liquid burns my tongue. Laughing awkwardly, I hope to see some sort of positive response from him, but nothing. Sighing, I slump my shoulders and look to the side with a frown.

"Perhaps this was a bad idea... I mean you're a busy man, I shouldn't keep you from your swordsmith duties..." I mumble, my spirits being significantly crushed. I thought I'd be able to get through to him and maybe create some sort of friendship, but he's only responded with hatred...

Haganezuka did not want to do this at all. He didn't want to deliver the sword, and then he got stuck having tea with the brat because she couldn't take no for an answer. The whole situation was so bothersome to him, that the last thing he wanted to do was engage with lively conversation with her.

However, her words and her frown somehow make his stomach tighten. Busy with other swordsmith duties? Yeah right. He wonders what she would think, if she found out that she was his only client.

It's no secret that Haganezuka is a terrible person to be around. He gets along with practically no one, not even people in the village. Heck, even his own parents couldn't deal with him... This carried onto his work... He was such a killjoy, that every demon slayer that was assigned to him would quickly request for someone else as they just couldn't stand him.

His clenched fists relax a little as he feels slightly guilty. Despite all his insults and his aggressiveness towards her, she has been trying her absolute hardest to be friendly towards him. Is it out of pity? Does she somehow know about his lack of friends and she feels obliged to be nice to him out of the goodness of her heart?

"Be gentle with her... she's known more sorrow than any young girl her age should know..."

Takahashi's voice plays in his mind, and he grits his teeth. The old man isn't even here, and he's still pestering him.

He looks over at her, noticing the frown across her face as she fiddles with the band-aid on her cheek. He then looks over at the red scratches and purple bruises on her knees... that he was the cause of. Mustering up all his courage and pushing away all his pride, he clears his throat making her look to him with a hopeful expression.

"Good...tea?" He mumbles and I blink in response. I then giggle softly, feeling my stomach do flips with his words... indicating that I may be getting through to him after all?

"You haven't even had any?" I say laughing and he clears his throat again, sitting up straight and crossing his arms. "Are you sure you're not hungry? I can get you some food, anything you want!" I say and he shakes his head silently. I frown, beginning to eat some onigiri as we sit in silence.

I munch silently, racking my brain on what I can say to try and start a smooth and normal conversation with him. It'd be weird if I just started asking personal questions, but how else can I get to know him if I don't ask questions? Maybe I can somehow start talking about something and hope that it resonates with him and then the conversation flows from there? But I know nothing about his interests... I guess swords could be a good start? Since he does seem so passionate about his swords... Passionate enough to kill someone over them...

He watches as she stares at her lap, taking a bite from the onigiri every so often. She appears to be deep in thought as she furrows her eyebrows and puffs her cheeks out. He grimaces as she gets rice stuck all over her face, and he wonders how it's even possible for someone to eat as messy as her. Maybe if she was concentrating more on what she was doing, she wouldn't get food everywhere.

"S-so how long have you been making swords for?" She suddenly speaks up, which draws his attention away from her rice covered cheeks up to her big black eyes. She smiles nervously and he rolls his eyes, offering a napkin to her while sighing.

"Since I was 14 years old," he says while motioning to his own cheeks, trying to communicate she needs to wipe her face. She seems to understand as her eyes widen and she hurriedly takes the napkin, cleaning the rice as she goes slightly red. He rolls his eyes at her behavior, still counting down to when this nightmare will end and he can go home to his swords.

"That's so young! Did your dad teach you?" She says and he scoffs under his breath. His dad, yeah right.

"No. Takahashi taught me," he says and he watches as her eyes light up at the name.

"Really!? Is that why Mr Takahashi and you are close!?" She leans slightly forward, as if she's more interested in the conversation now and he taps his leg awkwardly.

"I wouldn't say we're close..." He grumbles and she chuckles.

"I was close with Mr Takahashi! He would always scold me whenever I got injured and would tell me to be more careful!" She giggles softly, pointing to the numerous bandages on herself. "If you couldn't tell... this is a pretty regular occurrence... One time Mr Takahashi got so mad at me, he chased me around the mansion five times before finally catching me and smacking my head so hard, it hurt more than the broken arm I had!" She smiles fondly at the memory... and if I didn't know better I would say her fondness of gramps was... nice?

"He... did speak about you often..."

"Really!" She leans forward, making him instinctively lean back. He swears he could see stars in her eyes as her look alone says 'please tell me more'.

"Yeah... He'd always spend extra time on your sword, because he said that if your sword isn't the strongest it could be then you're bound to get killed..." Her smile fades for a second, and for a split moment he worries that he may have upset her. However, not long after she bursts into laughter startling him slightly and he watches confused as she sits back down in her seat.

"Poor Mr Takahashi, I caused him so much worry and for nothing! How is he!? Oh please tell me he will come visit me again!" Haganezuka feels his stomach tighten with guilt. Here she is, counting down the seconds until she can see him again, while in reality he is bedridden with his health declining each day. He wants to tell her the truth, but he knows that it's not what Takahashi wanted.

"Maybe not for awhile... he's very busy. Soon though, he said he'd like to see you again soon..." He mumbles and she sighs.

"Then I will be patient and wait! It's the least I can do since he always forged me amazing swords!" He nods. "By the way, your swords are definitely the best I've ever had!" He looks at her with wide eyes as she smiles brightly at him.

"W-well of course they are!" He looks away with his chest puffed proudly and she giggles.

"In my last battle, it held up very well! I did some of my most complicated attacks and it didn't even get scratched! Even when I went like Hyah... and Kablam.... and Woosh!" He watches with a disgusted face as she jumps to her feet, demonstrating attacks with an imaginary sword. At first he could barely even bear to watch, the second-hand embarrassment being too painful, but as she jumps around the veranda, stumbling over her injured foot every now and again, only to get right back on her feet with even more crazy movements... he can't hold in his soft chuckle.

As I swing my imaginary sword, I swear I'm imagining things as I hear a soft chuckle come from the otherwise grumpy man seated next to me. Smiling widely to myself, I also giggle before tripping over my own feet and falling to the ground. I wince rubbing my knees as his laughter becomes a little louder and I look at him shocked.

"You're laughing at me!" She says with a glare and I clear my throat.

"I'm laughing at how pathetic you are!" I retaliate and she gasps.

"I bet you couldn't do any of that!"

"If I wanted to I could! It's not like you could forge a sword like I can!"

"Well if someone taught me I could! I'd be even better than you!" She jumps back to her feet and puts her hands on her hips triumphantly, making me roll my eyes. I then look down to her feet and she appears to be putting more weight onto the non-injured one.

"Shouldn't you be resting your foot?" I say and she looks down shrugging.

"Probably. I think it should be fine now though... I just haven't been on my feet in a month so they're a little stiff," she snickers, sitting back down and I hum. We then sit in silence for a bit as she sips her now cooled down tea. "What's it like in the swordsmith village?" She says looking at me and I shrug.

"Like any other village."

"But it's so secret and secluded... you must never have to worry about attacks since it's so well hidden!"

"I guess... even if we were attacked, we may not have enough swords to protect ourselves..." She laughs at my attempted joke, and I feel a sense of pride as I watch her smile in amusement.

"If the village was attacked, I can assure you I'd be the first one there to save the day!" I grin behind my mask.

"We're doomed." There it is again, her laughter. She seems to laugh and smile a lot, but it's definitely a lot more satisfactory when I'm the one who makes her laugh.

I mean... what?

"Oh no! It's nearly sundown I didn't realize the time!" She says frantically as she looks up at the pale blue sky which is gradually turning a light shade of orange. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to keep you here for so long, now you have to walk back in the dark forgive me!" She bows her head apologetically and I clear my throat.

"Well let this be a lesson! Don't force someone to have tea with you against their will, it's not a good way to make acquaintances!" She giggles, covering her mouth with her hand.

"But you enjoyed yourself at least a little... right?" I quickly look away from her big eyes, avoiding eye contact.

"Of course not."

I stand, flinging my luggage back onto my back as she follows me to the front gate to see me off.

"Oh wait!" She says before running back into the mansion. I'm tempted to just leave while she's gone so I don't have to listen to her whiny voice anymore, but against my own will I stand out there waiting for her return. Not long after, she comes running back out with something wrapped up in a cloth and a gourd bottle under her arm. She pants, standing in front of me and handing the items to me. "Some food and water for your journey back! An apology for breaking your sword and keeping you here against your will!" She smiles bashfully, waiting for me to take it.

Hesitantly, I take them from her which only makes her smile grow wider, if that was even possible.

"R-right..." I mumble, turning my back to begin the journey home.

"Have a safe trip Mr Haganezuka! Keep up the good work! I'll be rooting for you!" I hear her call out and I look over my shoulder to see her distant figure waving both hands above her head like a lunatic while jumping up and down.

And yet as ridiculous as she looked... it still brought a smile to my face.