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"Are you alright!?"

The brown haired boy bursts into the room, followed by his sister who matches his worried expression. They hurry over to the side of my bed, where I sit with bandages all over me and a bashful grin across my cheeks.

"Never better!" I say smiling and they both sigh, before looking at me with an angry expression.

"Every time you go on a mission, Haku and I are left wondering whether you're alive or not!" The girl scolds, smacking me gently over the head as I giggle.

"You're too reckless! That mission could've been completed without any major injuries, and yet here you are once again! The doctor said that if you keep this up, at this rate your body won't be able to keep up with you!" Haku scolds and his sister, Miko, nods her head in agreement. I rub my neck awkwardly, not knowing what to respond with.

"I mean... I won?" I say making the two look at me with glares. I laugh at them before gently hitting my head. "C'mon you guys, I've been through way worse than this! You don't have to worry about me!" I grin as they just sigh. Miko then hugs me which I gladly return.

"Just please stop being so impulsive and start thinking your actions through!" She says grabbing my shoulders and I giggle, nodding my head firmly.

"We were... worried about you..." Haku then says looking to the side and Miko grins.

"Some of us a bit more than others..." She winks, nudging his side as we both laugh at his red face.

"M-Miko! Shut up!" He hisses, storming out of the room as Miko and I giggle together. I then groan, swinging my legs off the edge of the bed as Miko takes a seat next to me.

"Takahashi is gonna kill me! I broke another sword!" I huff, fiddling with the bandage around my stomach.

"Your third one in two months! See, this is because you're too rash!" She says and I slump my shoulders.

"Last time he said to me 'The next time you break one of my swords, I will break you!'" I say, mimicking the angry old man who is my swordsmith. Miko giggles at my impression while patting my back.

"Well... If he tries to break you then just run up a tree or something, I doubt with his frail knees he'd be able to follow you," we laugh some more before I shudder.

"He'd probably circle that tree for days, like a predator hunting it's prey," she teasingly roars and tickles me as we laugh even more together.

"Miss Nakahara?" A kakushi says standing in the doorway making Miko and I turn our attention to him. "Your sword is ready for collection," he says and I whimper as Miko rolls her eyes.

"Well... wish me luck..." I mumble and she snickers.

"Good luck, you'll need it!" I hear her laughter get softer and softer as I follow the Kakushi through the demon slayer corps rehabilitation mansion... Somewhere I spend most of my time.

It's not like I intend to keep getting injured on my missions... but when I'm fighting my wellbeing is the last thing on my mind. I'm not worrying about whether my bones are broken or if I'm bleeding out, they only thing I'm concerned with is defeating the demon. I know it's a dangerous way of thinking and if I could change it I would... I just can't?

"How about you put on my mask, and pretend to be me! His eyesight is bad he may buy it!" I plead the Kakushi as he looks at me with a blank stare. "Please I'm begging you! Mr Takahashi is gonna skin me alive!" I'm on my knees practically clinging onto the Kakushi as he sighs.

"Maybe this will serve as a lesson to be more careful on your missions," he says sternly and I gasp dramatically. He pries my hands off him and walks away, leaving me shuddering at the mere thought of what Takahashi may do to me as this is the fifth sword of his I've broken.

Hugging myself... I slowly make my way to the gate of the rehabilitation mansion, my nerves through the roof. My feet shuffle along the ground as I grimace at the bandage wrapped around my head, from my own fault I suppose.

As I stand at the closed gates, I take one last deep breath.

"Ok Hanako, you got this. You're a trained demon slayer... and he's a little old man half your height... You're not scared of him, he should be scared of you!" I then remember the smack he gave me last time I broke a sword and I practically run for the hills then and there. "Him scared of me? Yeah right."

I slide open the gate, poking only my head out with my eyes squeezed shut.

"Mr Takahashi please I can explain!-" I begin to plead, however I'm interrupted by a deep and smooth voice.

"Miss Nakahara Hanako?" The voice says. I open one eye, to be met with someone who is definitely not the Mr Takahashi I am familiar with. I blink in shock, sliding the gate open fully to observe the stranger in front of me.

"Mr... Takahashi?" I say with a shaky voice.

The man stood in front of me bows, startling me and I take a step back. Once he stands again, I take this moment to observe him entirely. Much like Mr Takahashi, he wears a Hyottoko mask and a scarf which wraps around his head. However this man... is much taller than Mr Takahashi... He wears a woven hat and a sunflower patterned haori.

"My name is Haganezuka, a swordsman alongside Takahashi. I will be replacing him as your swordsmith from here on out," I blink in shock, my jaw dropping.

"Eh!? B-but what about Mr Takahashi!?" I say and Haganezuka makes no movement.

"He requested to be replaced. His words were 'I cannot deal with that brat anymore as she continues to ruin my creations'." I deadpan at his words, laughing awkwardly.

"I see... so you are making my swords now?" I mumble and he nods. I watch as he retrieves my new sword from his luggage, and I watch his every move intrigued. He seems to be very different from Mr Takahashi. Mr Takahashi was constantly scolding me, hitting me and accusing me of trying to give him a heart attack. He did care about me deep down though... I hope...

This Haganezuka seems to be a very calm and composed man... I suppose it'll be a nice change from fearing for my life every single time I break a sword! I will miss Mr Takahashi however, although maybe I was a bit much for the poor guy...

He gets down to his knees, offering the sword up to me and I take it with a wide smile. I excitedly unwrap it, gasping at the beauty of the new sword. I can definitely tell it was made from someone different, as the craftsman ship is unique and nothing like I've ever seen before. I grip it firmly in both hands, watching as the blade turns a pale blue color like my other swords. The handle is white with sakura flowers engraved into it as well as the pattern of a wave engraved into the blade.

"It's absolutely beautiful!" I say in awe, giving a few test swings and grinning as I hear the swift sound it makes in the air.

"I hope that it will be of good use to you," Hagazuka says standing and I quickly put the sword away, bowing firmly to him.

"Thank you very much! I'll take good care of it Mr Haganezuka!" I say before standing to look back up at the tall figure. "You know, you're so different from Mr Takahashi!" I say giggling and Haganezuka tilts his head.

"How so?"

"You're so much more gentle! If this was Mr Takahashi, he'd be chasing me up and down trees trying to smack me for breaking another sword! However, I'm a lot less scared of you! I know that me breaking all my swords won't be that big of a deal with you!" I say laughing and he chuckles softly as well, before abruptly stopping making me awkwardly stop as well.

All of a sudden, it's as if the air around us grows cold and I get chills up and down my spine. I look up at Haganezuka with wide eyes, as the most horrifying aura radiates off of him making me cower under the glare I can feel even from behind the mask.

"Miss Nakahara, I am only going to say this to you once," he takes a step closer, looming over me as I shrink smaller and smaller, hugging myself as if to shield myself from his icy stare. "If you break this sword, I promise that you will fear me 10x more than you ever feared Takahashi. I advise you take great care of this sword as if it was your child, otherwise the consequences you will face from me will be life threatening," I gulp, my throat going dry as my legs shake underneath me.

"Y-yes sir!" I squeak, clutching my chest as he continues to towers over me. He then finally steps back and I bite my tongue as I stand there stunned.

"Good day Miss Nakahara," he says in that calm manner once more, before walking off. I can hear the sound of his footsteps getting softer and softer until his figure disappears completely.

I then fall to my knees, letting out a deep sigh.

"Hey did you get your new sword?" Haku says walking over, jumping slightly as I let out a loud whine, rolling onto my back on the floor and placing a hand over my still racing heart.

"Why do I always get stuck with the crazy swordsmiths!?" I cry out, continuing to be dramatic as Haku sighs and helps me back inside as I sob from fear of what just happened.

Something tells me I am definitely going to fear Haganezuka much more than I ever feared Mr Takahashi.

-

Haganezuka makes his journey back to the swordsmith village, staring down at the ground as he thinks back to the conversation he had with Takahashi, an older swordsmith from the village.

"My client, Nakahara Hanako, I need you to take over as her swordsmith."

His words confused him at first. Haganezuka knows that he... is not a favored swordsmith. His temper is short and he practically cares for nothing but his creations, causing him to lose quite a few number of slayers as clients. He never cared though, or at least that's what he told himself.

"She is reckless, dazed, has her head in the clouds at all times and is constantly putting herself in danger as well as the swords I forge for her. She makes me worry, as I've grown to become quite fond of her as if she's my own daughter. Haganezuka, I'm old... I don't have much time left. I didn't want to tell her, because I know she'd be upset. When the time is right, tell her what happened to me... and give her this..."

Haganezuka scoffs at the conversation.

"Grown to care for her? That makes no sense, she seems immature like a child. She takes such little care of her swords, how could any proud swordsmith be fond of her? I'm getting nervous even thinking about what she'll do to my precious swords..." He grumbles, before stopping in his tracks and sighing.

"She's a good girl. Like many of the demon slayers, she's been through things a girl of her young age should never have experienced. Not even 19, and her life has been filled with sorrow. Please don't be too harsh on her like I was. I know that this is asking a lot of you, but please take care of her... and make sure her swords are top quality like I know you're capable of... Haganezuka Hotaru."

He grips the strap of his basket tightly, gritting his teeth.

"Dammit old man... you just had to drag me into this didn't you?"