Shinobu's Pov

While both me and Y/N waited for the girls to come with dinner, we had a quick chat, and honestly, this was a pretty fun one. Since we didn't have any catch up, or any other thing of the sort to do so, we just spent out time talking about silly stuff. It wasn't anything important at all, as we didn't talk about the house, our next mission, or anything of the sort. We just thought about random things, and let ourselves get submerged in the conversation.

It was fun to let loose like this every once in a while, and soon enough, the rest all of the girls arrived with dinner. Now that they were here, we changed a bit of topic, but that didn't make the conversation any less entertaining.

It had been a while since Y/N told them all a story, so almost as soon as Kiyo, Naho and Sumi sat down, they asked him to tell them even more, however, seeing as he had already told them pretty much everything that had happened to him since the two of us meet, I thought that he would have some trouble telling them a story, however, this was extremely far from the truth.

After the three of them asked him for some stories, he told them to let him think about it for a second, and after just a few moments of pondering, he started. Honestly, it was amazing, I don't know from where, but Y/N was suddenly able to tell them some fantastic stories, and entirely different one from the other.

He could start talking about the epic tale of a courageous hero, fighting to save his land, and once he was done with that one, he would change to the fantastic story of a mythical dragon, making a lifelong journey to discover himself, and his place in the universe, only to the change to the most heartfelt romance story, and while the three girls were still a bit sappy about this part, they still enjoyed it nonetheless.

As for me, I honestly didn't pay all that much attention to the stories, but mostly the way in which Y/N was telling them. There was just something in his way of tale telling, the expressions he would show off, the movements of his body, and the little improvised props he would find and use on the fly, that simply made him look mesmerizing at that moment.

His stories were so good that all of them, even Aoi and Kanao, forgot to eat pretty much all the time, so I had to tell them at multiple instances to keep eating, since their food would get cold, however, while they said yes to this, in less than a minute they would get distracted once again, so after some minutes of this repeating over and over again, I just let it slide, and while I did try to focus on my food, it was also hard for me, since I would get slightly lost admiring Y/N, not like I would ever tell him this, but at moments like this, I realized why I had fallen for him to begin with.

After a quite a long while to be honest, I turned to look outside, and I realized that it had suddenly become extremely late, and we were probably late to our mission. "Shoot!" I lightly exclaimed, and while everyone turned to look at me confused, I explained. "Sorry girls, but me and Y/N have to go to our mission. It's late already. Could you please clean everything here?" They were still a bit confused, so they also turned to look outside, and once Y/N realized just how late it was, he almost jumped from his spot, and said.

"Damn, you're right! I didn't think I could spent so much time just talking." He then turned to look at the girls, and then said. "Sorry girls. We'll continue next time, okay?" They were all clearly bummed out by this, since Y/N had actually dropped them off in the middle of a story, but since there was nothing we could do, we all simply told each other our goodbyes, and after me and Y/N confirmed that we had everything we needed, we left for our mission.

We really had to pick up the pace, since it was just a bit before twilight, so both Y/N and I started sprinting as soon as we got out. With the quick pace that we had to keep, we didn't really get the chance to talk between the two of us, but I didn't feel all to bad about that.

From what I could recall, I remembered Y/N's crow telling us that this mission was more like a scout mission, in which we would look over some rumors about a Demon, which probably meant that it would be a bit more relaxed that usual, though, just to be safe, we still tried to make it there as quickly as possible.

Soon enough, we finally arrived at the town, and we could see that we even got there before the sun completely went away, so that felt like a win to me. Either way, the two of us agreed that, before doing anything else, we wanted to make sure that everyone was safe, so Y/N immediately called for his crow, and after he came down, Y/N asked for more details on our mission. "As I already told you, your mission involves confirming multiple rumors about Demon sights and other weird events that have been happening in this town for a few weeks already. From the information we've already gathered though, the Demon seems to appear every few days. It takes some cattle or food for itself, trashes a certain area of the village, and leaves. At first this was all looked over because we believed it was just a band of thugs, and that the town would be able to sort it out, however, a few weeks prior, a body was found, with clear signs of it being eaten by something. And from then on, at least one death was added to the list of recurring damages, which obviously warranted our attention. The last attack was just yesterday, but fortunately, all the villagers were able to hide themselves, and no human casualties were suffered, but they're clearly tired of this, so we want you two to set an outpost here pretty much, and keep the place safe. Then, once the Demon decides to strike once more, you two will be here to stop it." Now that we at least had some intel, both me and Y/N nodded at each other, and so, we were ready to get to work.

Or at least that was the plan, before his crow said. "However, you two have orders to rest for tonight!" This was quite surprising, because up until now, we pretty much had to work every night, and the most amount of break we got was during the day, or when we were injured, so this came off as quite a surprise. "Usually, slayers like you guys only get sent to one or two missions per week. This is so that they don't overwork themselves, and get to fight as long as possible, since, and let's face it, most of them die in their first few missions, however, I can clearly see that that's not the case with the two of you. From your Final Selection I could tell that you two posses incredible potential, so I personally advice for you two to participate in more missions than regular, but they've been enough already, and your mandatory rest is in due." It was a bit surprising to hear this, and I was honestly a bit annoyed to hear that we were given more missions on purpose, but I didn't feel too bad either, since it at least meant that I was better than the rest.

Either way, after saying that, Y/N's crow said that that was it, and sent us to rest, since he wanted us up and about from first hour tomorrow. Not like we could do anything tomorrow before night either way, but I digress.

Now that all was said and done, Y/N's crow left to report our progress, according to what he told us at least, but now that the two of us were alone, Y/N turned to look at me, and asked. "So, what now? Should we head back to the mansion for the night?" Honestly, this sounded like a good idea, since we could easily get back quickly enough if we went back as fast as we came, but honestly, I was also very tired, so I really didn't want to do that again so quickly.

I then let out a sigh, and said. "Nah. That sounds like too much of a hassle right now, so I say we rent a room in the town's inn, and we stay there the night. Then we'll be able to look around tomorrow morning and start standing guard as early as possible." This sounded reasonable for him, so we immediately headed for the inn to get our room.

This was very quick for us to do, since we had already gotten to the outskirts of the town, and since it wasn't very big, we got there in just a few minutes. "Hello, what can I help you with?" Asked us a fairly old man as soon as we crossed through the door of the inn.

While I took a moment to take off my shoes, Y/N walked up to him, since he managed to get his off quicker than me, and then said. "Goodnight, we were wondering if you had any rooms left for tonight? We would like to rent one." Then, as I got done with my shoes, I walked up to the two of them, and could see that the man was looking through a notebook.

It took him a few seconds, but in the end, he said to us. "Luckily for you two, I do have a free room, but it's only an individual one, so I only has one small futon. I can lend you a couple more sheets if you need them, but no more futons, so I hope that's alright." At that moment, I turned to look at Y/N to see what was his opinion on all of this, and honestly, he was both cute, and predictable to be honest.

Almost as soon as the man confirmed that there was only one futon, pretty much implying that we would have to share it, he got lit up in a pretty light but bright blush, as his eyes showed quite a lot of impression. I couldn't help letting out a small chuckle, and then, before Y/N got the chance to answer, I said. "That's alright. We would like to take that room, please." To which the man nodded, and started writing some stuff on his notebook.

At that moment, Y/N seemed to realize what I just did, so he turned to look at me with the same face of impression, to which I could only smile warmly, and even let out a light chuckle, as he only stared at me for a few seconds, and then turned to look away.

I then just rolled my eyes at him, since I really found it cute how much I could still embarrass him, and after some more writing, the man was finally done, and said to us. "Alright then. Just sign here and here please. I like to keep a register of everything here, and here's how much it'll cost you per night." We quickly signed in without any trouble, however, I couldn't say the same for the payment.

Once I looked at the amount, I realized that it was even less than I expected. This made me think that there was no need of splitting the bill, and so, I offered to pay it all, but this didn't really fly with Y/N. Before I even got my hand to my pocket, he said that he wanted to pay for it, since not only did his crow give him his first paycheck earlier today, but he also felt like he had to do so.

On one hand, I could appreciate the consideration, as even I could recognize that this was a king gesture, but at the same time, I felt like I shouldn't let him. I told him that I was grateful for this, but insisted that I pay up, since it was my idea to spend the night here.

I honestly expected him to accept now, since he was usually pretty obedient, but surprisingly, that wasn't the case. Instead of that, he once again said that he should pay, and by this point, I was honestly starting to find it annoying. It wasn't anything serious to be honest, I think I even liked his stubbornness to a certain degree, but honestly, I was tired, and he definitely wasn't helping, so overall, he was being thoughtful, but annoying.

We kept arguing for a little while, not being able to get anywhere really. No matter what one of us said, the other would say something against it, and while sometimes we would use solid arguments, to be fair, most of the time we just kept shifting the bill between us without rime or reason. We just didn't want the other one to pay for it.

It was clear that we weren't getting anywhere, and honestly, by this point, the only argument that came to my head was to take an 'executive' decision or something like that, hoping that it would work, and that he wouldn't say anything against it, however, something happened before I got the chance to do so.

Just as I was about to say that, we both could hear the old man in the counter laugh, so we turned to look at him confused, and after a few seconds of light laughter, he said. "My apologies. It's just that I always enjoy looking young couples argue. They always fight about the smallest things as if they were the most important. You remind me of me and my wife." And after hearing what he said, we both suddenly had pretty bright blushes covering our cheeks, as it came out quite out of nowhere, and while he wasn't wrong, I think the two of us weren't used to it already.

After a few seconds of no one saying anything, the man asked. "Oh, sorry, did I misunderstand the situation? It's something that happens often to me as well." And that's when Y/N lightly exclaimed.

"O-Oh, no. Y-You're right about us. It's just that we're still a pretty recent couple. That's it." He seemed to understand that, and then said.

"I see. Well, you two have my congratulations then." We both thanked him for that, and as he brought up his notebook once more, he said. "Then, how about this. You two have been here for quite a while already, way more than any other couple at least, so how about you split the bill evenly? That way you both get to pay for the other. Sounds fair to me." Honestly, I had though about that possibility already, but I wasn't all that onboard with it from before, since I really wanted to pay for him, since I really wanted to repay him for everything he's done for me up until now, but I really wanted to go to sleep already, so I agreed with this, and after Y/N agreed as well, we continued with the process.

It wasn't long at all though, as we just gave them man the money, and after taking some more notes on his notebook, he took us to our room. "And here it is. Everything you need to sleep is inside the closet. If you need anything else, you can just call me." We then were about to thank him for everything and go in, but there was one last thing he wanted to say. "And by the way, if you two want to have any private 'fun', we just ask that you try to keep it low." And after hearing this, the two of us blushed intensely, as it was something that we definitely didn't expect.

I could see that Y/N wanted to explain everything, but I guess this was simply way too much for him, as he wasn't able to talk almost at all, so instead, I said. "T-That won't be a problem. We aren't at that 'stage' in our relationship yet. We're pretty recent." And once this was explained, we smiled awkwardly, and hoped that he would believe us.

The man then simply looked at us for a few seconds, and then simply shrugged his shoulders. He then turned around, and while he went towards the lobby, we just stood there for a few seconds, holding our breaths from the impression, until we could finally relax again and breath.

After fully catching our breaths back though, we both turned to look at each other, and while looking at Y/N made me naturally happy, at the same time it reminded me of what the man said, making me blush yet again.

This seemed to be the case for Y/N as well, as he smiled warmly at me, just before having a massive blush, and trying to look away as quickly as possible. "W-We should head inside already." He then instantly opened the door and went inside. I simply stayed outside for a few more seconds, catching up with everything, and once it fully registered, I simply let out a chuckle, and went inside with him.

Now that we were there, we took a moment to look around, and see what we were working with, and honestly, it looked pretty good. From just the outside I could tell that this was a pretty clean place, and that was also the case for the lobby, but seeing this was incredible. And it also made the price, that while not expensive, it did seem like a bit too much at the time, totally worth it.

After a bit more of admiring, me and Y/N finally got to the center of the room, which seemed to make him snap a bit once more, as he asked. "A-Alright then. So, would you like to go to sleep?" I then turned to look at him, and nodded. He then walked towards the closet, and then brought out the futon and some sheets.

He then laid them all down for the two of us, and said. "A-Alright then, should we get to sleep?" Looking at him, he was still clearly nervous, surely due to what the man said earlier, which was really funny to see.

I then nodded at his question, since I was honestly really tired, so we quickly prepared to go to sleep. Luckily, the room also included a set of pajamas, which was very good, since I was tired of sleeping on my uniform. We then split for a bit, while Y/N went out of the room and towards the bathroom to change, I stayed and got into my pajamas.

They were surprisingly comfy, as they were clearly quite expensive, which wasn't something I expected from a simple inn like this one. After a few minutes, and once I was fully clothed once more, I took a moment to look closer at the pajamas, when I suddenly heard a knock on the door, then followed by Y/N asking. "Umm, Shinobu, can I come in?" To which I said that it was alright, and honestly let out a chuckle, as I could notice a clear hint of nervousness behind his voice.

Once he came in, I turned to look at him with a smile, and I realized that his pajamas were pretty similar to mine. He still looked nervous about the entire thing, so I got up, and after sitting down on the futon, I instructed him to come with me. It took him a while, but he finally did so.

As the man on the counter said, the futon was only for one, so in order for the two of us to lay there, we had to really squeeze ourselves in there. It was a bit embarrassing, I'll also admit that it was hard to get used to this feeling, but it was also very enjoyable, however, I could tell that it was way harder for him.

His blush was even more intense than mine, and he was starting to sweat quite a bit, which not to be rude about, but I didn't want him to stink all night, so I said. "What's on your mind, Y/N?" This surprised him quite a bit, as he surely didn't expect me to talk like that, so he took a moment to process things, and then said.

"N-Nothing, sorry." And then tried to act as if nothing happened, but I knew that wasn't the case, so I stared intensely at him, looking for him to tell me. He was able to hold himself for a minute I would say, but he finally cracked, even if just a bit. "I-It's jus that, you look very b-beautiful. I l-liked those pajamas on you, and y-your hair also looked very p-pretty." The pajama part seemed obvious to me, given that even I thought that it was pretty, but I was surprised by the hair part. I didn't expect him to compliment it out of nowhere, but I then realized that I had let it down for the night, as I took the pin out, and just let my hair let loose, which wasn't something I did often, and remembering how he acted last time he saw me like that, I could tell that it was something he liked to see.

Hearing this made me let out a chuckle, but at the same time, I could tell that it wasn't everything that was in his mind, as he looked way more embarrassed than he should, especially by this point, so I asked. "Are you still thinking about what the man said?" And after shooting a face of surprise, he took a moment, clearly to think of what to answer, and in the end, the only thing he could do was nod at my question. I completely understood this, as even I thought it about it a bit, but then, I had to ask him. "Would you...Would you like to do it?" And when I asked that, well, looking at his face, calling that surprise would be an understatement, as it was entirely different from any expression I had ever seen from him.

The impression, embarrassment, and surprise that he felt at that moment made him immediately back up, and almost fall from the futon, even though there was literally no place to fall from. It took him quite a while to recover from that, and once he did, he came to lay down with me again, though with a bit more separation this time, and from his way of acting, I could tell that he was trying to act as if nothing happened, but it didn't work, since I just stared at him hard enough, until he finally crumbled once more, and finally had to talk.

He took a deep breath while not looking at me, and once he was ready, he turned back to me, and said. "I think...I think I would like to. I'm really am in love with you, Shinobu, after all, but I still think it's too early for that...I know what we said about not waiting out things, since we don't know how much time we have left, but we also know that we don't want to rush everything, and I think...I think this is one of those things I don't want to rush. I want us to do it at out own pace, so maybe, we wait this one a bit more?" Honestly, while I would be lying if I said that I wasn't curious about the whole thing, I could also very much agree with him that I wanted something as important as this to feel more natural, and not as rush, so I nodded at him, and as I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I said to him.

"Yeah. Let's wait until we're ready."

Chapter End

Taisho Era Rumors

The owner of the inn's name is Hoteru. He's been living at the same village pretty much his entire life, and he's pretty content with that life. He meet his wife when they were kids. At first they used to hate each other's guts, as they would constantly get in each other's throats, but as the years passed, they realized that, out of everyone in the town, they knew each other best than anyone else. In the end, they got married and lived a happy life for many years, until his wife died. After that happened, the man bought his inn, were he decided to spend the rest of his days in peace. And every once in a while, he gets to see young couples that remind him of himself and his wife.

And done! Chapter 52!...Just one year late. Sorry for the joke, but anyway, as I said before, I was planning to upload this chapter, which was due for the past year, as well as this week's chapter, but I wasn't able to finish it in time, but don't worry, I'll keep on working until I manage to upload both chapters for you guys.

Anyway, what did you think about this year's first chapter? I honestly liked it very much, though I'll say that I expected to cover a bit more ground, but that's something that usually happens, so it's not that big of a deal anyway.

Well, with not much else to say, I'm thankful to see you guys here again, and as always, what are you guys' suggestions and feedback? Also, what other comments would you like to leave down below for me? Because I really enjoy reading all of them.

Alright then, with not much else to say, see you in a pinch, SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!!!