Y/N's Pov

I was simply cooking some food for me and Shinobu when I suddenly heard at my back. "Look who finally came out of hiding." Something that startled me quite a bit, but once I turned around, I could see that it was just Tero and the others, who seemed to be tired from doing something, probably a bit of training outside the house.

After realizing what was actually going on, I felt relieved, and as I went back to what I was doing, I said to them. "Yeah. Sorry about that, I was just busy doing..." At that moment I realized that maybe it was a bit too embarrassing to tell them about everything that went on with me and Shinobu, so I instead said. "...Doing some stuff." I was hoping they would believe me, but judging by the fact that Tero slowly walked up to my side, and had a bit of a smug look in his face, I could easily tell that that was not the case.

Tero stayed there for a couple of seconds, after what he let out a chuckle, as he said. "And did that stuff include Kocho by any chance?" Which finally confirmed my worries, but either way, I just stayed silent while replying with.

"Maybe..." I was nervous as to what they would say about it, but Tero just let out a quick laugh, and then said.

"C'mon, it's alright if you tell. We're friends after all." I was a bit surprised by the enthusiasm in his voice, and that's when Jujun got closer as well and said.

"Yeah, to be honest, we all figured out that you two were together already. We couldn't find you two anywhere, so it was only logical." Lastly, Chugi stood beside Jujun, and exclaimed.

"It's just like Tero said earlier. We all think that you two look good together, so if there's something really going on between the two of you, we would be really happy." I was happy to see how supportive they were since in all truth I was still very worried, but it pretty much all went away after they said those things. I still wasn't going to tell them about everything that happened, but I could at least not be as nervous as I was before.

Now that all that was dealt with, they all became a bit interested into what I was doing, so Tero asked. "Anyway, what you doing? Cooking some food?" I then proceeded to explain that I was feeling very hungry already, but I then realized that I was only making food for two, so there really wouldn't be any left for them. Hearing this, they all let out a chuckle, as Tero teasingly said. "I wonder who the other person is." While showing a pretty smug grin. I then asked them if they would like me to cook some for them as well, as a way to try and change the topic, but they said. "No thanks, we already ate something a while ago, so we're not hungry. By the way, since we can tell what you're planning to do, we will also leave you alone. Enjoy your meal." And with that, they started to walk away, while also leaving me a bit embarrassed about how easy to read I apparently was.

I was just going to leave it at there, but that's when I realized that, since they pretty much already knew what was going on, I could ask them to help with tonight's plan. I then turned around to look at them, and lightly exclaimed. "Hey, guys. Could I ask a favor?" They were intrigued by this, so they turned around to look. I then proceeded to explain what I wanted to do tonight, though leaving out the fact that I was planning to have a date with Shinobu afterwards, however, I think they were already suspecting some things, but were still okay with it.

Once I finished explaining their plan of action, so the operation would go as smoothly as possible, they said that they were okay with it, and so, they left once again. I was relieved to know that they were okay with everything going on between me and Shinobu, and that they were even willing to help out every now and then, just like with this date. It felt reassuring, and at the same time it seemed to take a weight of my shoulders, as now I wouldn't have to hide my relationship with Shinobu or anything, though I would still try to do most of those things in private still, since it was still embarrassing.

Now that all that was dealt with, I turned my attention back to the food, which was pretty much done. I was about to start serving it onto some plates when I heard at my back. "Oh, there you are." And this time, I could easily recognize the voice that said it.

I turned around to look at her, and said. "Hi, Shinobu. I'm preparing us some food, since I got a bit hungry after waking up, and I assumed that you would be as well." She seemed slightly surprised by this, as she then said.

"Great! I was honestly going to suggest you exactly this." This made me let out a chuckle, and as she walked up to my side, she asked if there was anything she could help me with. Since I was pretty much done with the cooking, I just asked her to bring some plates for us, and after she laid them down, I started serving everything down.

It was something quick to do, and in just a couple of minutes, we were fully prepared and so, we took it to the dining room. Once there, we sat infront of each other, and started eating away. I was pretty curious as to what he reaction would be, since this was my first-time cooking for her, so while I eating, I paid constant attention to her, and after a couple of bites, I could tell that she was about to say something.

She seemed to take a moment to taste it thoroughly, and then, with a happy expression, she lightly exclaimed. "Amazing!" Which gave me a huge wave of relief that made me really happy. "Wow, Y/N. I didn't think you could cook something like this. No offense intended obviously, but I mean, this is better than Aoi's cooking, and she's been practicing for quite a while already." She said with excitement, as she also kept munching down on what I served.

This made me let out a chuckle, and as I started to gather a bit for myself in my plate, I said. "Well, truth is that I've also been practicing this for multiple years. First, Mother used to teach me how to cook certain things, or rather I kept interrupting her while she cooked for me, and the only way to keep me away would be for her to explain what she was doing step by step, so I would stay distracted. Furthermore, Master emphasized the importance of knowing how to cook survivalist meals, at least the easy ones, so I picked a lot of things in the way. This dish is actually of my own creation." I then took my first bite of my plate, which I really enjoyed, modesty apart, and after Shinobu took multiple bites at pretty fast pace, she said.

"Well, I would say it's perfect." She then seemed to take a 'break', since I could easily tell that she ate too much too quickly. I was happy to see her like this, since it was clear that she was enjoying herself, and it even brought a chuckle to my mouth, something she took notice of, and even scoffed at it.

I then started to eat more of my plate, since I was really falling behind when compared to her, but at that moment, I heard Shinobu say. "Erm, Y/N, can I ask you something?" This got me a bit worried, since I could tell that she was getting worried about something, and once I turned to look at her, I could see that her expression was even worse, which made a bit scared, and very worried.

I told her that it was alright if she wanted to ask, and after taking some deep breaths, she said. "Well, the thing is, you're always talking about you Mother, and you Master so fondly, but I was wondering, what happened to your Father?" And hearing her say that brought me a lot of memories and thoughts that I didn't have in a really long time, and honestly, I didn't know how to feel about them. "Of course, if something bad happened between the two of you, or if it's something you don't want to talk about for whatever reason, I understand. I was just curious, you know?" While I thought about whether to answer her or not, I looked at her, and I could notice that she was pretty nervous.

For some reason, this made me let out a chuckle, and after taking a deep breath, I felt ready to talk. "It's alright, nothing really happened, so it's okay." I could see her start to relax a bit, but while she felt better, I started getting more nervous, since now it was my turn to talk. "Honestly, I would say it's pretty complicated." I started explaining. "Nothing bad happened between us. He was a caring father, and I looked up to him. Something I didn't like about him though was the fact that he would spend a lot of time away from home working. Something it was just days, every once in a while it was weeks, but there was even one time when he didn't show up for around three months. At times, it did make me feel too separated from him, but even that wasn't as bad as it sounds. Sure, he would spend a lot of time away, but he would always send at least a letter a day, and whenever he was home, he would try to make up for it, either with gifts, or by just focusing on me and Mother. He was good, but I don't think we ever really deepened our bonds. It always stayed superficial." While I said this, a lot of memories came back to me, from the ones were the three of us would spend our time together, which brought back to me feelings of nostalgia, to the times were Father would be away for weeks, and yet, they wouldn't make me feel anything. I wasn't sad, or melancholic, I would just keep living, and mostly focusing on Mother, who I spend even more time with.

Looking at Shinobu, I could see the melancholy in her eyes, and how worried she was about me. As for myself, I wasn't really sure what to tell her now, but she went ahead and asked. "And...Does he know about what's going on? About what you're doing right now?" Right after she said this, I realized why I was so nervous about talking about Father, and why I'm pretty sure I subconsciously shut him out of my mind.

"No." I said with a cold tone, and while also feeling the worst I had ever felt. "When I was going back home, and at the exact moment I decided that I would become a Demon Slayer instead, I told to myself that I would send him a letter at a later date explaining everything, but then, whenever I tried to muster enough courage to do so, I would freeze, or I would never like what I wrote, so I threw it away, and before I realized, at least a year had passed since my 'death', and by that point, I felt too scared to send any cards because...How would you feel, if your son, who you haven't seen in over a year. Who you also think died alongside your wife, suddenly sent you a card, saying that he's alive and just forgot to write home." At that moment, I felt so close to crumbling down, that I just covered my face with my hand, and tried to face away. Even though Shinobu had already seen me crying and vulnerable, something about this time made it feel slightly different, and at the same time, it made me fear what her reaction would be even more.

I just stayed there hidden, until I suddenly felt a hand on top of mine, shortly after followed by a pair of arms enveloping me from both sides. "I would feel relieved, maybe confused and astonished at first, but in the end, I wouldn't feel anything else other than happiness." And with that, I felt reassured and safe with her. I didn't cry this time though, since I was mostly shaken and scared, but I still appreciated her help and simply returned her embrace as hard as I could.

After maybe a minute, I said that I was alright now, so she let go of me, and decided to bring her plate closer to me, she now was sitting right beside me. We smiled warmly at each other, and while she held my hand, she asked. "So, do you think you're ready to write that card now?" Hearing her ask this made me enter some kind of 'deep thinking' mode, and stayed in it for at least a while.

In the end, I wasn't even able to decide, as the only thing I could reply Shinobu with was a shrug off my shoulders. She didn't top there though, as she went ahead and asked. "Would you like to try?" And once again, I was pretty nervous about this question. Fortunately for me, she then moved her hand from my hand to my cheek, and as she directed my gaze right into her eyes, she said. "I'll be there to help you." And just this was enough to make me accept, so I nodded at her, and with a soft smile, she went ahead and said. "Good." And finished it off with a kiss.

She then turned back to her plate and said. "It doesn't have to be today though. We can wait a bit, so you feel better. What about when we get back to the Butterfly Mansion, so it's a more familiar environment and the girls are there to help out if anything happens. What do you say?" And hearing this, just sent through me a wave of relief and calmness that made me feel better in an instant.

It even made me feel even more in love with her than I already was, so I scooted a bit closer to her, laid my head on top of hers, and as I cuddle a bit with her, I said. "That would be perfect. Thank you so much." She just chuckled at me, probably from how serious I was being about this, but she simply replied with.

"You're welcome." And with that, we turned our attention back to our food. Once again, Shinobu was eating pretty fast, from how much she enjoyed the food, and once I barely got to around half of my meal, she suddenly asked me for seconds, and when I turned to look at her plate, I realized that it was completely clean. This surprised me, and I even let out a laugh, something that made her feel a bit embarrassed, and maybe even annoyed, as she looked at me with a stern face and asked what was funny. I told her that it was nothing and just took her plate to fill it up again.

After I handed it to her, she kept the look for a couple more seconds, but it quickly went away once she started eating. I stared for a bit more, looking at how she gleefully ate her food, feeling pretty happy that she was enjoying it, and admittedly quite proud about the fact that it was my food what gave her such smile. A little bit after though, I turned back to my own plate, and ate what was left.

Once I finished with my plate, I turned to look at Shinobu's and realized that it was empty as well. "Want a third round?" However, she just waved her head and said.

"No thanks. I'm full." And with a light chuckle from both sides, we decided to get up and tidy up a bit, while we also thought about what to do for the rest of the day.

The first thing we did was pick up all the plates we used, and then took them to wash. I insisted that she should let me do it, but she replied that, since I was the one that cooked, she should be the one to wash them. This did make a bit of sense to me, but I think I was too stubborn to accept it, so I accepted, and in return, she was also too stubborn to accept, so in the end, we ended up washing the plates together, as we stood side by side on the sink.

It was something nice to do, so while no one really got what they wanted, I think the two of us preferred this result to anything else.

We stayed silent for a little while, as the two of us seemed to simply enjoy the moment, but as we got closer to finishing, Shinobu turned to look at me and asked. "So, what should we do today? There's still a couple hours if sunlight before nigh time, and I think my crow said that the next Demon is actually pretty close by, so we don't have to leave too early." I was currently taking charge of drying off the plates, so while I dried one off with a rag, I said.

"I'm not sure. I was going to suggest some training, but after eating that much, I don't think you're willing to move around for a while." She then got a bit embarrassed, and while trying to look away, she lowly muttered a 'yeah', which made me let out a laugh. She just pouted at this and told me to not make fun of her, but either way, I just wrapped my arms around her, and then asked if she had any suggestions.

She didn't to answer me for the first couple of minutes, but after a little of me insisting, she finally replied with. "Well, as you said, I'm not really in the mood to move around, so I think it would be better for us to lay down for a while and save our energies for tonight. I mean, we're going with a pretty reckless approach, so we better rest, don't we?" I agreed with all of this from her, so I suggested going back to my room, but she said. "No thanks. I think I would prefer to be under the sun for a little while." And since I could relate with this feeling from her, I agreed, and then we walked outside.

Once there, we simply stayed in the house's porch, since it had a great view of not only the forest in front, but also of a pretty field of flowers that was in between the house and the forest. It wasn't as big, or as pretty, as the one back at my country house, but it was still nice to see.

I quickly scanned it for a second to see what type of flowers it had, and after confirming that it had a couple that I was looking for, I said. "Hey, Shinobu, come with me for a bit." She was confused by this, but after I pointed at the field of flowers, she seemed to get what I was going for, and so she followed quickly behind.

Once we got to the batch of flowers, I quickly started looking through them, pulling some out carefully, and also making sure not to harm any others aside from those. I was a bit concentrated in this, so I didn't say anything to Shinobu for a while until she asked. "What are you doing Y/N?" But the cheeky tone in which she said it told me that she in fact knew what I was doing, and was just trying to mess with me.

I found this funny, so I let out a chuckle and replied to her. "Nothing~" Which this time got a chuckle from her instead. Even if there wasn't really a surprise coming for her, I still wanted to keep the secret for a bit, jut for the fun of it.

Once I had all the flowers I needed though, I realized that I wasn't a 100% sure, so I turned around to look a bit at her. This did surprise her, as she even asked. "What are you doing?" This time with true confusion, but I didn't say anything just yet, and after a little bit, I turned back around and just to be sure, I picked a couple more flowers.

Now that I had everything that I needed, I walked her back to the house's porch, and once there, I got to work. It was something I had already practiced for quite a while, and even though I had lost a bit of practice from the time that passed, I could still make it pretty quickly.

Once it was done, I turned to look at Shinobu, without showing her what I did just yet, and then said. "Now, close your eyes." She then rolled her eyes at me, and asked if it was really necessary, since we both know she knew what it was, and she also said that she wanted to see it first, but I insisted. She just laughed at this, but then did so anyway, so I quickly placed it over her head, and after making sure it was well placed, I took her to a closed window, so she could see her reflection, and then said. "Open them." Shinobu then opened her eyes, and took a good look at what I made for her, a flower crown.

Truth be told, the window wasn't the best for her to see the details, especially the colors from the crown, but she still said. "It's beautiful Y/N. I knew you were good with this, but I'm still stunned." I smiled warmly at her praises, since it felt pretty good, and also thanked her for it, after which she asked. "Is it okay if I take it off to look at it better?" I said that it was okay, but I also warned her to be careful, since those things tend to be a bit fragile if they have no support aside from the flowers, and since this was pretty improvised, that was the case right now.

She carefully picked the crown with the very tip of her fingers, and once she put in her line of sight, she took a while to look at it carefully, and ended up saying. "It's truly beautiful." And put it back on.

I wasn't done though, as I said to her. "Now, close your eyes again. I have another surprise." This time she really didn't know what I was planning, so she jut said okay to it, and waited for me to do something. I then took her right hand, and picked one of her fingers. I then wrapped one of my remaining flowers around it, and after a little tweaking, I aid. "You can look now." And she opened her eyes to see a flower ring I made for her as well. "I picked a couple more flowers than I needed, so I made this for you as well. And since we're already at it, here you go. You can keep the last one as a gift." I then handed her one final rose I had, and with that, she was left speechless.

It was clear that she had prepared herself for the crown, but the ring and the extra flower seemed to be a bit too much for her. He looked at the two of them, and after a little while, once she had processed everything that I just did, she said to me. "They're all amazing. Thanks, Y/N." Then the two of us sat side by side on the house's porch swing, and as we admired the scenery, Shinobu said.

"I love you, Y/N."

"I love you too, Shinobu."

Chapter End

Taisho Era Rumors

The one that taught Y/N everything he knows about making flower crowns was of course his mother, but teaching wasn't the only thing she could do. As expected from some teaching a certain skill, she was way better, up to the point were her crowns would be pretty sturdy, even if they were only made of regular flowers, and the combination of colors she used made the flowers pop out o much that some would even say that they were shinning. This resulted in her flower crowns and other accessories being so sought out that whenever she went on holiday, she would pretty much be able of paying for the entire thing with just the revenue from the flowers. She was still rich, so this wasn't necessary, but she enjoyed doing it either way.

Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the delay, but you don't have to worry about a thing. It was just a miscalculation from my part, so to make up for it, I've uploaded this chapter as soon as I got it finished.

This is also a permanent change that will be applied to both of my books. If they aren't updated on their respective day, then I'll try my best to upload it the next day, just so you no longer have to wait another week if I miss the mark by a few hundred words.

Anyway, leave your comments down below please, what do you think of this new Change? Or how are you liking the story so far? I'll be reading you, and looking for the next chapter.

See you in two weeks, SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!!!