Chapter Text
Tsubame woke up that morning in a wisteria house, rested from her trip. She stretched and then slid the door to the room that led to the patio and looked at the clear sky. She smiled lazily, rubbing one eye as her kasugai crow flew in her direction and landed on the floor next to her.
“The town haunted by a demon is 20 kilometers away, hurry up!”
Tsubame chased away the crow with a wave of her hand, “I know, I know, don't scold me.”
“A slayer was sent to assist you,” the crow spoke, flying over the yard of the house, moving away.
"Hey? Wait! tell me more information!”, but the crow had already disappeared from her sight, so it most likely would not appear again until the mission was over, “Damn…..”
“Miss slayer…”, Tsubame turned to the owner of the house, who bowed to her with an uncomfortable grimace from the edge of the open door, “Breakfast is ready.”
Despite the woman's expression, Tsubame smiled at her and nodded. She was used to those looks, because she always stood out that way. Consequences of being a half blood.
…
Tsubame sighed with relief after crossing the entrance of the town that was indicated to her. She couldn't orient herself well without her crow, but after memorizing her last directions, she managed to get there. But she didn’t know if the other slayer who was also assigned that mission was in the place.
“Hello, excuse me,” Tsubame approached a woman who was sweeping, who made a face of displeasure upon seeing her, “Have you seen anyone who dresses like me?”
“If I had seen someone as vulgar as you, I wouldn't be so calm,” the woman spat, entering her house, “This country is getting worse and worse with those immigrants…”
“There was no need to be so harsh,” Tsubame muttered into the air, but far from being discouraged, she looked for other people to ask.
After a while, everyone had walked away from her, which ended up making her feel defeated. Her appearance was evidently mixed race and despised, her eyes bigger than the average japanese's, with a grayish green color and waves in her black hair. But that was a hopeless case, since she couldn't simply change her appearance.
Without encouragement, Tsubame headed to the nearest restaurant, since she hadn’t eaten anything all day and didn’t try her luck at the establishment either. She lifted the entrance curtain, her light blue haori with hexagonal designs fluttering behind her, and swept her eyes quickly around the place, scanning for someone wearing the uniform of the demon slayers. Finding nothing, Tsubame sighed and decided to sit down and order something.
The seated customers and employees sent her glances, causing Tsubame to sit stiffly at her table, despite always having a smile on her face.
“What do you want to order?” asked a cook who came to serve her.
“A pork ramen, please,” Tsubame replied, smiling up at him.
“Err, do you have a way to pay?”
Tsubame remained silent for a second, internally somewhat hurt by the distrust that was held in her, but she decided to respond kindly, taking out of her pocket a bag with money for her expenses, "Of course."
The employee bowed in acceptance of Tsubame's sincerity, and when he turned around, he had to back away abruptly because someone was in his way.
“I want the same thing as her,” the voice said, sullen and direct, which caught Tsubame's attention.
The employee gave a quick bow to the new person standing next to Tsubame's table, then left.
Tsubame opened her eyes in surprise when she saw that it was a young boy with a very unfriendly face, his hair in the shape of a Mohican and his face crossed by a large scar. The boy sat in front of her in silence, and when he noticed that she was looking at him attentively, he growled and bared his teeth.
"What are you staring at?"
“Are you the slayer sent to assist me?”
The boy snorted, mocking her words, “I didn't come to assist sh*t.”
Tsubame didn't react to his rudeness, because she didn’t care about it, “You are quite young…. How old are you?"
The boy crossed his arms, proud, “15.”
“And what rank are you in?” Tsubame clasped her hands and rested her chin, dedicating herself to getting as many answers out of him because apparently he won't tell her anything on his own.
“…”, this time the boy took a while to respond, “Mizunoto…”
“I see.”, she nodded, straightening up in her chair, “As I am Tsuchinoto, refer to me as senpai”
“What the f*ck, I'm not doing that!” the boy exclaimed, banging his fists on the table, drawing the attention of the other customers and the employees.
“Then since I'm 17, call me onee-san.” Seeing that the boy was beginning to have veins on his forehead, she laughed softly and dismissed it with a wave of her hands, “I'm just joking, don't take it seriously. Let me introduce myself, I'm Tsubame.”
The boy looked at her suspiciously, and then spoke under his breath, “Shinazugawa Genya”
“Nice to meet you, Genya, let's get along, okay?” she offered her hand towards him.
Genya looked at the hand extended towards him, then slapped it away.
“That's mean.” Tsubame complained, rubbing her hand.
Both of their orders arrived, and they were struck by the amount of mushrooms in the broth.
“Excuse me, what about the mushrooms?” Tsubame consulted, pointing to the soup.
“They are the specialty of the town. They are so good, you won't be able to stop eating them once you start.”, the employee replied.
Genya ignored the interaction and simply held the chopsticks between his fingers, but before he took a bite, Tsubame stopped his hand halfway.
"Wha-!?"
“Ssh.”, Tsubame indicated with a finger on her lips, looking in the direction of the kitchen, where a large amount of the same type of mushrooms were being cooked, “It's suspicious….”
Genya jerked out of her grasp, looking at the mushrooms in his soup. It was undoubtedly an exaggerated amount, adding to the fact that it was a type of mushroom that he had never seen before, orange with dark blue spots.
He glanced at his surroundings, seeing that the other customers were eating their soup and mushrooms normally, and although he didn't see any relevant changes, something didn't feel right.
“What do we do…?” he whispered in response.
“Let's make a scene,” she quickly responded.
“Eh?” Genya didn't fully understand until the table with the soups on it was thrown to the side, the plates tipping over in the process.
“How are you going to break our engagement just like that!” Tsubame exclaimed, feigning inconsolable sobs, “Did our time together mean nothing to you!?”
Genya went blank for a few seconds, until he finally understood what she was doing. Which filled him with anger.
“You, bastard…” he said through clenched teeth, his eyes red with anger.
“You two get out right now!” exclaimed the one who would be the owner of the restaurant.
Tsubame and Genya were kicked out of the restaurant, without having to pay for the orders or damages.
Genya turned to Tsubame, who was still sobbing exaggeratedly. Having finished the act, she stopped and revealed her face free of tears, then winked and stuck her tongue out at the boy.
"Teehee."
An especially large vein appeared on Genya's temple, “No ‘teehee!’”
…
Both slayers waited for night to fall, hiding behind one of the houses while they ate pieces of dried meat that Tsubame had saved. They couldn't trust the food that was served in the town and they had to feed themselves to have the strength to fight, so they had to resort to that.
Since the sun had not yet set completely, Tsubame wanted to spend the time in a more enjoyable way by talking, “Why did you decide to be a demon slayer?”
“As if I was going to tell you.”, Genya spat, chewing fiercely on the dried meat.
“My family was killed by a demon,” Tsubame suddenly admitted, hugging her legs wrapped in the pants of the demon slayer uniform, “They never treated me well, I survived because they locked me in a windowless room, yet I didn't know how to feel when I found them dead. But thanks to that I discovered the demons and the Demon Slayers Corps, so it's the only thing I have left."
Genya chewed and swallowed, “Why the f*ck are you telling me if I didn't ask you.”
“In case I die today, I want to be remembered.”, she replied, looking at the sky, ignoring Genya's rudeness.
This time Genya stayed silent, looking at the ground with an annoyed grimace, “What is your last name?”
“Huh?” Tsubame replied to him, surprised by his question.
“You only told me your first name, not your last name.” Genya turned to her, looking at her seriously, “You must have one.”
“…” Tsubame was silent, looking towards Genya's small pupils. He seemed to always be angry, but she considered that something about him was more than just anger, “My last name is not important, it belongs to a person I never met and who is dead.”
Genya remained silent for a couple of seconds, thinking, “Your father… was a foreigner?”
“...", Tsubame returned her gaze to the sky, smiling slightly, defeated to accept that part of her, which was despised by many, "You realized that I am a half blood. It doesn't bother you?"
Genya snorted, scoffing at her words, “Why would such nonsense bother me?”
Tsubame looked back at Genya in surprise, and he had gone back to viciously chewing the remaining piece of dried meat. A wave of relief washed over her knowing that he cared little about her origins, which made her laugh euphorically, “Hahaha! You're a good boy, Genya!”
Tsubame wrapped her arms around the boy's shoulders, pulling him into a hug.
"Let go!"
Tsubame was more amused by Genya's surly reaction, but the distant echo of a jingle silenced her.
“It's here.”, she stated in a firm whisper, which surprisingly silenced Genya in an instant.
The tinkling was faint, but it got closer and closer.
Tsubame and Genya peeked out from the side of the house they were hiding in, and saw a man wearing only martial arts pants, golden bracelets on his wrists, and identical anklets on each of his ankles. Unknown protuberances peeked out from the shoulders of the man, who stood against the moonlight. The man walked slowly down the street, as if he were at home, while singing a song
“Time to harvest, harvest, harvest~,” the man hums, knocking on the doors and windows of the houses, “Who is ready to be harvested~?”
The man stopped in front of a house and slowly slid the front door open, laughing darkly.
“You~”
Before the man took a step into the house, Tsubame unsheathed her katana and disappeared from Genya's side, who came out of hiding. Tsubame spun in the air after jumping, using the rotation of her body to boost the force of her attack.
The demon reacted in time and moved away, so Tsubame only managed to cut off his arm.
“Wow~ So they sent slayers to my village. You will be delicious after harvesting you~”
Genya stood at Tsubame's side, aiming a double-barreled shotgun at the demon and drawing his wakizashi.
“Eat sh*t and die!” the boy growled, gritting his teeth.
"Genya..."
The boy turned to the person calling his name, and was horrified by the sight. Tsubame had entered the house and was checking on a person lying on the floor with mushrooms sprouting all over his body. The mushrooms had black heads with red dots, similar to the mushrooms in the soups they had avoided eating.
“He's dead.”, Tsubame determined, standing up and leaving the house, standing guard next to Genya, squeezing the handle of her katana.
The demon laughed, licking his lips as he slowly regenerated his arm, “I was always picky with my food, I could never eat anything that didn't have mushrooms in it, not even when I was human!”
“Be careful, we don't know his abilities.” Tsubame said to Genya, who snapped his teeth in annoyance.
“I know, I'm not stupid.”
“Attack the left, I will go to the right.”
Both slayers did as planned. Genya pointed the barrel of his gun at the demon's head while Tsubame jumped to the demon's side. Genya fired, but failed to decapitate the demon, only shattering half of his skull. Tsubame aimed for the demon's neck, but he covered himself with his forearm, into which her katana stuck.
The clouds cleared and the moonlight invaded the place, then Tsubame realized that the protuberances coming out of the demon's shoulders were the two types of mushrooms they had seen. The ones closest to his neck had black heads with red dots and the next ones were orange with blue dots.
The moment Tsubame noticed the mushrooms, the demon smiled sinisterly with his fangs, and the black mushrooms inflated and let out a bit of spores.
Tsubame opened her eyes and removed her katana from the demon's arm, stepping back a couple of meters, raising one arm to cover Genya, the sleeves of her haori fluttering, "Keep your distance! Try not to breathe near him!"
“I don't need your help!” Genya exclaimed, loading his shotgun to point it back at the demon.
“sh*t, my attacks are only close range…” Tsubame sputtered, staring with her guard up at the demon that was regenerating, “The mushrooms on his shoulders seem to have different functions.”
Genya glanced at Tsubame, noticing that she was starting to worry about the situation they were in. He looked back at the demon, “He feeds the orange ones to the villagers.”
“He eats the black ones after absorbing human blood,” Tsubame continued the idea, “He has the villagers like cattle, feeding them mushrooms so that they grow on them and harvesting them later when they have sprouted.”
The demon swings his newly regenerated arm while laughing, then makes his claws lengthen, “It was easy to give them the mushrooms! I planted them near a temple and they thought they were gifts from the gods! Even if they wanted to stop eating them they couldn't because when they eat one it becomes extremely addictive!”
Tsubame let out a relieved sigh, “Ah! Thank goodness we didn't eat them!”
“Shut up and fight!” Genya shouted with blank eyes, shooting towards the demon.
This time, the demon easily dodged Genya's bullets, making him click his tongue.
“How are we going to kill something we can't get close to?” Genya growled, reloading his shotgun.
“With a distraction,” Tsubame said, earning an incredulous claim from the boy, “I'll attack, you shoot his head.”
“Wait, Tsubame-!”, Genya wanted to stop her, wanting to warn that he was relatively new to using the double-barreled shotgun and could blow her head off, but she didn't have time as Tsubame jumped towards the demon, “sh*t!”
“Crystal Breathing: Second form,” Tsubame recited, preparing her grip on her katana for the attack she was about to make, “Naphthalene Condemnation.”
Speed was essential for this posture, as it was attack after attack to distract the demon from Genya, who was struggling with his own aim. The posture Tsubame was performing was the weakest of the breathing style she had perfected, but it had the biggest range, so she had to make it work to have a chance of killing the demon.
“Ngh!”, complained the demon, who could not be aware of the attacks due to the delay in his regeneration. The cuts were directed at his eyes and ears, they were superficial but annoying, since the speed of the movements didn't give him time to regenerate.
“Genya! now!” Tsubame exclaimed, without stopping.
“I f*cking know!” the boy responded, sweating from the anxiety of aiming correctly, until he finally fired.
The sound of the cannon explosion echoed, as the shot had hit the demon's neck, making Tsubame stop.
Both slayers remained silent, waiting to see the demon's body disintegrate, but noticing that that wasn't happening, they kept their guard up.
The same maniacal laughter they had heard before echoed again, which proved that the demon was indeed still alive, “It's my turn~!”
The demon's staggering body turned and revealed the demon's head hanging from a piece of skin on its neck that wasn't able to be cut. Genya felt frozen, because he was responsible for cutting off his head and he failed to do so.
The demon settled his head back into place and regenerated, then squatted down with his claws raised and jumped in the boy's direction.
“Genya!” Tsubame could not reach the speed of the demon and her hand was raised in the direction of her fellow slayer.
Genya felt the strong burning of the demon's nails piercing his arms, leaving him pinned to the ground as he was crushed by the demon's weight.
“It will be entertaining to see you become an addict~”, hum the demon, removing an orange mushroom from his shoulder. Immediately afterwards, another mushroom grew in the same place, “I will keep you as my pet until harvest you~”
Genya struggled to free himself, but was unsuccessful. His cheeks were squeezed and his mouth was forced open, so that the mushroom was then put into his mouth and he was obliged to eat it.
“Leave him alone, you pervert!” Tsubame exclaimed, brandishing her katana at the demon, who jumped to avoid her and backpedaled.
Tsubame stood between Genya and the demon, sword raised. The boy coughed behind her, choking.
“Are you okay?” Tsubame asked, giving him a quick glance.
But Genya didn't respond, but instead began to breathe heavily.
“It's too late, now he won't be able to stop eating mushrooms, and the more he eats, the faster he will be harvested~” the demon replied, mocking.
“Genya…” Tsubame murmured worriedly.
“Don't make me laugh…” spoke the boy, who was writhing on his knees, clenching his fists tightly against the ground. The strands of his hair grew and the tips turned yellow, “The only one who will die will be you, motherf*cker!”
Tsubame was startled to see Genya raise his head in the direction of the demon, with black sclera and protruding fangs.
“Genya, wha-”, Tsubame was interrupted by Genya.
“I'll be fine! His mushrooms are his blood demon art!” Genya leaned on one knee, tightly holding his wakizashi and barreled shotgun.
“That doesn't make any sense to me!” Tsubame complained in surprise.
“This can't be happening!” the demon shouted this time, looking frustrated for the first time, “Did you become a demon!? Impossible!"
“What's going on, Genya?” Tsubame asked worriedly.
“What happened is that son of a bitch was stupid enough to make the task easier for me.”, he replied, advancing towards the demon, ignoring Tsubame, “Stay out of my way.”
"But-"
Before she could question him, Genya lunged at the demon, brandishing his sword. It was easy for the demon to dodge him, but each time the boy's attacks were more accurate, which was making it difficult for him. At one point, the demon evaded a blow and took the opportunity to attack, resulting in him impaling Genya through the stomach.
“Urk!” Genya vomited blood.
“You're starting to bother me,” the demon growled, lifting Genya's impaled body above the ground, “Die.”
The demon directed an attack with its other arm, directly towards Genya's head. The boy closed his eyes tightly waiting for the blow, but it never came, the next thing he knew he had fallen to the ground.
When Genya opened his eyes again, in front of him was Tsubame's haori fluttering in the breeze. The boy looked down at his body and noticed that the arm that had previously pierced him was still inserted in his stomach, although severed.
Genya pulled the arm out of his stomach, causing him to cough up blood. He looked at the girl, growling, “I didn't need your help.”
"..." Tsubame didn't respond at first, but then turned over her shoulder with a smile, "You're a terrible liar."
Genya's cheeks flushed at the accusation, but his rude response didn’t leave his mouth as he saw dark particles floating in the air. Tsubame noticed them too, and she was horrified.
"Hahahahaha!"
Both slayers turned their gaze to the demon, who was laughing uncontrollably with the withered black mushrooms on his shoulders, and with a cloud of black particles surrounding him.
“You are doomed! In half an hour you will be harvested!”
Genya was confused for a moment, as he didn't feel anything strange in his body, but he quickly attributed it to the fact that since he had eaten part of the demon's body, he became completely immune to his blood demon art, but Tsubame...
“Ugh…” Tsubame lost her balance for a moment, and ended up falling on one of her knees.
“Tsubame!” Genya called, standing up, because his stomach was regenerating and it no longer hurt as much.
Small red bumps began to grow on Tsubame's face and hands under her skin. The swelling of the skin and the pain that it caused was reflected in her trembling limbs.
“I feel it everywhere…” Tsubame explained, rolling up the sleeve of her haori and her uniform, revealing more of the same bulges. That demon's mushrooms were sprouting all over her body, “We don't have much time.”
“No sh*t!” Genya shouted, “If we kill him, his blood art will be undone, so don't cry and let's kill him!”
Tsubame was surprised to notice tears falling from her own eyes. The cold settled in her chest with the mere idea that in half an hour she would die, adding to the fact that she really felt that she didn't have much chance of killing that demon. But the booming voice of the boy next to her, who despite having a frown and clenching his teeth, looked dismayed by what would become of her.
Tsubame wiped her tears with the sleeve of her haori, smiling determinedly at Genya. She was glad to have him in the fight alongside her.
“We have to think of a new strategy.” Genya said, seeing Tsubame get back on her feet.
The katana in Tsubame's hands trembled slightly from the pain she felt as she felt the blood mushrooms growing in her body, but her grip on the handle was firm.
“No, let's use the same one.”, she responded, looking at the demon's frustrated face as he saw her gain strength.
“That didn't work.” Genya growled, lowering his voice so the demon wouldn't hear.
“It didn't work because we attacked separately, we have to do it at the same time.” Tsubame gasped, enduring the burning in her limbs. It felt like hundreds of hot needles stabbing into her body, “I have the strength to perform a breathing style form, but I need you to be the distraction this time.”
“Hah?” Genya grunted, but seeing that she was starting to sweat from the effort made him think about his possibilities, “Are you sure it will kill him?”
Tsubame smirked with a snort, “It's my strongest attack, trust me.”
Genya nodded, standing guard with his wakizashi raised. Both slayers and the demon stood still for a few seconds, flooded with silence. Genya felt his heart beating so loudly he would think the others could hear it, but he focused on waiting for the perfect opportunity.
From a tree, a leaf fell from the branches, fluttered in the wind slowly, and when it touched the ground, the demon propelled itself with the strength of his feet. The demon was confident that he could deal with those slayers, one was careless and the other was weakened.
Genya reacted at the same time, also pushing his feet towards the demon.
Between the two of them they blocked their attacks, the demon with his arms and Genya with his wakizashi, being in a confrontation of strength. The demon used both arms to block the katana, so he couldn't move them, and Genya was so busy blocking the demon that he couldn't aim his shotgun without losing strength in his grip and risking the demon slipping away and getting attacked.
But something felt strange to the demon. Over Genya's shoulder he could see the place where both slayers were previously, but there was no sign of the girl. Where had she gone? The demon must have thought, there was something he had overlooked.
Until the demon finally remembered that before his arms and the boy's wakizashi collided, the boy seemed to lean in in what was the blink of an eye. But now that the demon thought about it, more than a bow, it seemed like something had bent him down, like something applied weight to his back.
Above!
The demon raised his head to confirm his suspicions, since he considered it impossible that the girl who was already in the process of being absorbed by the mushrooms would still have the strength to attack, but in the air, he saw a silhouette with a haori floating in the air, the hexagons of the fabric looking like white crystals shining in the moonlight.
"Crystal Breathing: First form,” Tsubame whispered into the air, closing her eyes for a second to concentrate all the strength of her body in the hands that held the handle of the katana, “Diamond edge.”
Even though she seemed to rise slowly, she descended in a flurry, sliding the blade with pressure against the demon's neck, missing Genya by inches. The cut was in an instant, the severed demon's head fell to the ground at the same time Tsubame landed on the ground, falling to her knees from the exhaustion and pain in her body. That posture was the most difficult of her breathing style and she could only use it once as she used all her strength, but now the effect of using it was worse as she was infected by the fungal spores.
Genya took a few steps back from the decapitated body of the demon, noticing the edges of the demon's skin disintegrating. That made the boy sighed relieved.
All that remained was for the consequences of the blood demon art on Tsubame to disappear, but seeing her cowering and trembling posture made him run towards his fellow slayer.
“Tsubame!” Genya called, holding the girl by the shoulders to get a better look, and was horrified by what he saw.
The bumps on her body, far from fading, were still present, even larger, each bump inflated until breaking the skin at the tip, revealing the first signs of the head of the black mushrooms. This time there were more of those bumps.
“Genya…. Did we kill him…?” Tsubame gasped between moans.
“Yes! We did it but there are no changes in you!” Genya said, laying Tsubame on her back, wrapping an arm around her back to keep her sitting up, “What the f*ck is happening!?”
“There is no point…”, the mocking voice was heard coming from the freshly severed demon head, “The mushrooms are bewitched…. If I die, they will continue to exist..."
The demon's head, half being disintegrated, laughed out loud. Genya gritted his teeth tightly, veins appearing on his forehead. Filled with rage, the slayer took out his shotgun and aimed it at the head, firing until the head disappeared among small pieces of flesh and blood.
“Don't worry, Genya…” Tsubame coughed, smiling at the boy, who despite being a couple of centimeters shorter than her, held her protectively, “Thank you for listening to my story…. I had few companions with whom I shared it, and without a doubt you are the funniest of all.”
Genya growled under his breath, “Idiot, you're not going to die.”
Tsubame laughed softly, patting Genya's hand that was holding her shoulder to keep her up, "You're a good boy..."
Genya remained silent. His hair was short again and his eyes returned to normal. His demon absorption ability was over, returning it to be a common human.
“You never told me your last name.” Genya murmured, settling the girl better on her lap.
Tsubame opened her tired eyes, finding the serious look of the boy. He was so young, and yet so composed before death despite being obviously worried even though he hid it. She smiled weakly at him, remembering the time when she was still too young to understand death.
Tsubame was the fruit of the love of the daughter of an earl and a foreign merchant. Her father was lost at sea and her mother died in childbirth, so Tsubame grew up alone in the mansion of her grandfather the count, who despised her for the disgrace of being born out of wedlock, especially between a Japanese woman and a foreign man. Tsubame was abandoned in the mansion, not even the servants took care of her, but Tsubame never held a grudge against them, she was never smart enough to understand the injustice. She always wondered what it would be like to be part of a family, with a mother and a father, but her only comfort was the portraits of her mother and the letters Tsubame's father sent her mother. Now that she was almost an adult, she recognized the letters that she never knew how to read at the time but remembered clearly. With her current knowledge, Tsubame knew from those letters that her mother dreamed of escaping with her father and that he wanted to take her around the world. Even the last letters that her mother was unable to send, because of the news that her father had been lost at sea, said that she could not wait to meet the child they had created. But above all, Tsubame remembered the signature of her father, whom she once wanted to meet and that now that she is about to die, perhaps she can do it soon.
“Jenner…” Tsubame whispered, feeling tears gathering in her eyes, “I'm Jenner Tsubame.”
Genya nodded silently, observing with disgust the bumps on Tsubame's skin, which didn’t stop growing under her skin. Her face seemed to be paler and more dehydrated, which frustrated Genya even more, feeling guilty since it was to help him that she became infected.
“There must be some way!” Genya exclaimed, cursing under his breath.
With the last of her strength, Tsubame felt through the pockets of her uniform.
“What are you doing?” Genya said, straightening Tsubame to help her.
“Essence of wisteria…” she murmured, taking a cloth sack from one of her pockets, “In case of poisoning…”
“You should have said that!” Genya shouted with white eyes, snatching the piece of cloth with her free hand.
“Tee…hee…” Tsubame laughed, before falling unconscious.
“sh*t, if I don't say anything you don't do anything…” Genya muttered, annoyed, unwrapping the cloth. Of three vials with a purple liquid in each of them, one was broken, the residue being completely absorbed by the cloth they were wrapped in, “sh*t.”
Genya took one of the remaining vials, uncapped it, and poured the liquid onto Tsubame's skin. He waited for a few seconds until he finally saw the bumps dwarfed.
He smiled triumphantly, as that seemed to be working, but he realized that he only had one vial left and that Tsubame had the rest of her body covered in mushrooms ready to grow.
“Hey, wake up.”, he shook the girl in his embrace, but she didn't react, “You have to drink this or you'll die.”
Tsubame stood still, which frustrated Genya even more. The boy turned her face and opened the bottle, in order to let the liquid enter her mouth, but since she wasn't conscious, the liquid slipped out of the corner of her lips.
"Damn it! Do you want me to-!”, Genya was petrified before the words he was going to say and what they meant.
Tsubame was growing paler, her normally olive complexion white as paper, making Genya reflect on his options.
“f*ck…” Genya muttered, defeated. He brought the contents of the bottle to his mouth and held it without swallowing it, then held Tsubame's cheek in his direction to make the task easier. He leaned towards her face and paused for a moment, hesitating about what he was about to do, but Tsubame's haggard expression made him decide. Genya gently opened Tsubame's mouth with the thumb of the hand holding her face, and he pressed his lips into hers, hard enough not to let any drop escape.
Far from being a kiss, no matter how you look at it, it was simply a transfer of medicine. That's what Genya said internally as he slowly transferred the liquid from his mouth to Tsubame's, who swallowed incisively even though she was unconscious.
Having finished, Genya slowly separated from Tsubame, analyzing her state, hoping that all that mental effort had worked after all.
The bumps on Tsubame's face began to disappear, and Tsubame's tired and pained expression began to relax, which made Genya sigh with relief. She would be fine.
…
The next day, Tsubame was better, although her body was still a little sore from the battle.
She was sitting at the entrance of the village inn, watching as the kakushi moved from place to place, handing out medicine to the villagers who were still under the effects of the blood demon art and still addicted to mushrooms.
As soon as the battle ended, the insect hashira appeared on the scene, preparing an antidote, much more useful than the simple essence of wisteria that Tsubame carried, to treat her and the villagers. As the villagers had become addicted, many had to be forced to consume the antidote, and fortunately the effect was immediate, curing them instantly.
While part of the kakushi were in charge of distributing the medicine, the other half was in charge of getting rid of all the remaining mushrooms, burning them. Fortunately, the mushrooms lost the ability to spread spores, so there was no risk of further reproduction.
“Thank goodness you came out alive.”, said Shinobu, the insect hashira, when she reached Tsubame's side, “This place was in very bad condition, you did a good job.”
"I didn't do it alone." Tsubame replied, drawing Shinobu's attention, "I was with a boy of mizunoto rank."
“I see.” Shinobu smiled, “Since I haven't seen him, I thought you did it yourself.”
That seemed to alarm Tsubame, “What? He’s not here?"
“We have checked the surroundings, there is no sign of any other slayer.”
Tsubame thought about it. The last thing she remembered from the night before was Genya scolding her for something she didn’t remember, and then she woke up when it was dawn inside the inn.
“The brat left without saying goodbye!” Tsubame exclaimed, startling everyone nearby.
“You'll have another chance to meet him, if he doesn't die first.” Shinobu said sympathetically, unironically.
“The next time I see him I will give him a piece of my mind.” Tsubame said determinedly, looking at the sky as if that was proof that she was going to keep her words.
Kilometers away, Genya was walking along a path through rice paddies, accompanied by his crow that flew over the road. The boy sneezed and rubbed his nose.
“Have I caught a cold?” he asked himself, remembering the battle he had a few hours ago, “Maybe she gave me something…?”
With that thought, Genya remembered what he didn't want to remember, the exact moment he had to ignore his own boundaries to save a fellow demon slayer, a girl. The memory of the warmth and softness of her lips made Genya touch his own lips thoughtfully.
A wave of embarrassment washed over him from head to toe, this being the first time he had felt that way. He didn't like the feeling that the memory of the contact of his mouth with that girl gave him.
Genya shuddered at his own memories, feeling strangely humiliated.
Feeling ridiculous at the thought that he had given his first kiss, Genya continued on his way to his next mission, not sure if he ever wanted to meet that girl again.
