She was a black-haired girl who looked to be around twelve or thirteen, wearing a pink kimono, with fair skin and a delicate, pretty face.
A smiling fox mask, slightly wider than her small face, was perched at the side of her head, and two little blue flowers painted on it gave her an air of liveliness and charm.
At that moment, her large, beautiful pale-green eyes were watching Shinsuke with a mix of curiosity and shy hesitation.
Makomo.
‘Finally, I’ve been waiting for you.’
He silently said her name to himself, and a hint of amusement crept onto his face.
“I used a Breathing technique, and the blade never even touched that demon, so how did you know I killed one?”
Makomo raised a slender finger and pointed toward the Tang Blade at his waist, her voice still thin and quiet.
“There’s still just a little bit of demon smell on it…
there wasn’t any before.”
“So you’ve been keeping an eye on me this whole time?”
Makomo pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Shinsuke walked forward a couple of steps and stopped at roughly three to five meters from her, watching her with obvious interest.
“I called out to you so many times before and you always ignored me, so what made you willing to show yourself today?”
He tilted his head, his smile edging toward something a little wicked.
“Don’t tell me I had to kill a demon first just to prove myself?”
Being looked at like that made Makomo a little flustered, and she dipped her head slightly, her fingers fidgeting unconsciously with the hem of her kimono, a faint blush seeming to rise on her fair cheeks.
“Actually…
I’ve been pretty curious about you too,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, “but…
Sabito wouldn’t let me…
he said you looked like you weren’t…
weren’t serious…”
“Makomo…
you really just sold me out like that…”
Before her words had even settled, a slightly low voice laced with a helpless laugh rang out abruptly from the top of the boulder.
Makomo hadn’t expected Sabito to chime in, let out a soft little “oh,” and dropped her head even lower, the tips of her ears going red.
“I…
I was just telling the truth…”
As his words faded, the air above the boulder warped slightly, and another figure slowly materialized.
He was a boy who looked a little older than Makomo, with a rare reddish-pink crop of short hair and a fox mask on his face marked with a scar, giving it a somewhat fierce look.
Even behind the mask, it was easy to sense that his gaze was “glaring” at Makomo, and yet completely helpless and fond at the same time.
Sabito.
The future Water Hashira, Giyu’s most precious memory.
Shinsuke understood at once, and the smile on his face grew a little brighter as his gaze moved between the two of them.
Makomo, seemingly trying to ease the awkwardness of being caught out and redirect the conversation, raised her head again and looked at Shinsuke, a string of questions tumbling out of her like little pebbles skipping across water.
“Um…
Shinsuke, I’m really curious!
How did you know we existed?
Even Master doesn’t know we can appear like this…”
“And your blade!” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“It looks like a normal blade, but we can sense something about it…
it’s hollow inside, like there’s some kind of space in there, which is really strange.”
“And what exactly is that Breathing style of yours?
It’s pink…
so strange, but…
when I felt you using it, I found myself wanting to…
wanting to get closer to you…”
Her voice grew quieter with every word until the last few were nearly inaudible, her eyes darting away.
Sabito beside her had finally had enough.
“Hey, Makomo!
Why are you being so humble about this?
When you get down to it, you’re his senior!”
Makomo shot Sabito a look over her shoulder, then quickly turned back, cautiously checking Shinsuke’s expression.
The moonlight fell across his clean, handsome face, catching just right on the knowing smile at the corner of his mouth.
Makomo’s heart leaped (if it still could), and she lowered her head again in a fluster.
Behind her, Sabito rolled his eyes.
He had no idea what had gotten into this girl.
She was usually pretty composed, but one look at Shinsuke and she went completely to pieces.
Shinsuke watched Makomo with an easy smile.
He hadn’t been sure before, but now he knew for certain.
The charm effect of his Harem Breathing worked on humans, demons, and spirits alike.
Judging by the state this girl was in right now, she had probably been sneaking over to spy on him quite a bit while he had been out here cutting that boulder these past weeks.
Interesting.
He had originally been wondering how to draw them out and win Makomo’s trust, and how to eventually convince this little spirit to become his blade spirit.
It seemed like things were going to go a lot more smoothly than he had expected.
All he needed to do was add a little more fuel to the fire.
Shinsuke spoke slowly, his voice carrying a soft, coaxing warmth.
“That curious, are you?”
Makomo nodded eagerly, her little head bobbing up and down like a pecking bird.
This time, even Sabito beside her seemed to tilt his head slightly, showing he was listening.
After all, unlike Tanjiro, who was easy to read at a glance, Shinsuke was far too mysterious, far too strange.
Then Shinsuke smiled.
Not the amused smile from before, but a grin with a distinctly mischievous edge to it.
“I’m not going to tell you.”
Makomo ⊙(・◇・)?: “…Huh?”
She froze, mouth dropping open slightly, pale-green eyes going perfectly round, her whole face written over with pure bewilderment, and the expression was almost unfairly adorable.
Sabito clearly stiffened for a beat too, his mask seeming to turn toward Shinsuke, radiating speechless disbelief.
Shinsuke stretched out the words like he was teasing a little cat.
“Come back here tomorrow.
Wait for me.
I’ll tell you then.”
“But…
but why?” Makomo finally snapped out of her daze, looking up at him with shy, slightly aggrieved eyes.
She had been curious for an entire year, and it had taken everything she had to finally work up the courage to show herself…
“You two watched me talk to myself for a whole year.”
Shinsuke paused and winked at the still-baffled Makomo and the thoroughly exasperated Sabito.
“What’s the matter?
Now that it’s your turn to be curious, you can’t even wait one day?”
With that, he turned and walked back down the mountain without another word.
His figure slipped into the shadows of the trees below and vanished.
The clearing fell quiet again.
Makomo stood in place, staring at the spot where he had disappeared, frozen for several long seconds.
Then her cheeks puffed out, she stamped her little feet twice, and she vanished.
“Honestly.”
Sabito let out a quiet, long-suffering sigh.
“I said it from the start…
that guy isn’t serious about anything.”
The next moment, his figure slowly faded, like moonlight dissolving into the dark, and was gone.
The following evening, after nightfall.
After Tanjiro headed back to rest, Shinsuke appeared at the boulder on the mountaintop right on time.
He stood there, cleared his throat, and called out softly to the seemingly empty surroundings.
“I’m here!”
No answer.
“Makomo?
Sabito?”
Only the calls of birds returning to their roosts.
“Hey, if you don’t come out, I’m actually leaving!” Shinsuke raised his voice.
He waited ten seconds, then genuinely turned around, and started walking back down the mountain.
One step, two steps, three steps…
Just as he was about to step into the shadow of the trees, his figure nearly swallowed by the dark…
“Hey~!”
A voice rang out from behind him, urgent and a little indignant, but soft around the edges.
“Don’t, don’t go~!”
Shinsuke stopped in his tracks, his back to the voice, and felt the corner of his mouth lift before he could stop it.
He turned around, slow and unhurried.
In the night, that slender figure stood watching him, lips in a small pout, her expression somewhere between complaint and anticipation.