36 Shigure (2)

The moment Azuma and Shigure hugged at Ryōzanpaku Akisame felt a presence in his room, he narrowed his eyes and looked around, not finding anything, he only shrugged and continued with his sculpture.

While at Kushinada manor, Mikumo felt the same presence, but she knew exactly what it was, her motherly instinct screaming at her, she whispered.

"Oh my, oh my, it seems I may actually have grandchildren someday."

Had the walls talked they would be scoffing and saying [Please woman, you'll probably outlive your great-great-great-grandchildren.]

._._._._._._.

Back with our couple, a few seconds into the romantic hug, a thought crept inside Shigure, a few seconds later, a nuclear bomb detonated on her mind, she squealed loudly, pushed Azuma away, and slapped him in the face.

To say Azuma was surprised would be underplaying his actual feelings, quickly and sacredly he asked his new girlfriend, "Wha…what happened? I thought everything was okay."

Shigure after slapping her boyfriend away, covered her body with her hands, muttering to herself, "He…saw… me… naked….Oh….god….he..saw..me….naked."

It seems Shigure remembered their first meeting, all embarrassment she would've felt on that occasion, multiplied by recent events were too much for the prodigy of swords.

Tōchūmaru hurriedly returning after hearing the scream and the loud slap, only sighed at their antics, fearing for the future of the couple, but nonetheless quite happy they got together.

After spending more minutes than anyone would believe necessary, Azuma finally calmed Shigure, who for some reason was still holding her body with her hands, almost protecting herself from Azuma's eyes, fearing they had x-ray and could look through her clothes.

The trio started talking, both humans asking about what they did the months they didn't meet, Azuma talking about his new little sister, and her mother, Shigure talking about meeting her father, when Shigure's adopted father came into conversation the atmosphere turned depressing.

Azuma sensing the change in the mood quickly asked Shigure, "What happened?"

She told Azuma, "Father…. passed…away."

All excitement from Azuma disappeared, kind of regretting confessing without even asking about recent events, "Shigure, …..I'm so sorry."

She proceeded to tell him about Hachirobe Kōsaka's death, it seems the man was old, dying of natural causes, however as Shigure told him, he died satisfied.

From what she said, last time Azuma and Shigure met, her father felt his death approaching and called her to pass the rest of the Kōsaka style to her, finally dying with a smile on his face, for finally being able to have a worthy successor to his style in Shigure, as he had numerous disciples before, most of them died before him.

Shigure was still sad about his passing but understood her father was old, and at least had the opportunity to die satisfied, with his daughter beside him. Shigure planned to stay more time at their house, but the news on one of her biological father's swords was too tempting.

Now Azuma did feel like an ass, robbing Shigure's chance to mourn. Shigure seeing Azuma's changing expression quickly told him that he didn't need to feel bad, she had time to mourn him, and she believed he would've been happy for her.

More talking was done, Azuma asked Shigure, "What do you want to do?"

The girl in question only shrugged, never being one to think too far in the future, Azuma simply responded with, "Want to go traveling the world for some months?"

This time Shigure nodded excitedly, with Tōchūmaru having already comfortably between Shigure's breasts, raising his hand, ready for an adventure.

However, Azuma remembering his previous conversation with his mom decided to call her and tell her he would be traveling the world, again, and would probably not be able to see her for a little while.

On the first ring of the phone, without Azuma saying a word at all, his mom answered and told him, "I want to meet her, not today nor tomorrow, but you will present her to me."

Azuma only opened and closed his mouth, asking himself, what sorcery is this? Then Mikumo after saying her piece simply hanged up the phone.

Seeing his expression, Shigure asked him, "What….happened?"

Slightly shaking his head Azuma, still quite scared, "No, nothing, I just feel that aside from my mom being an immortal monster, she is also a witch."

With the witchery done, the trio went traveling, which was simply a vacation for the couple, and a food tasting trip for the mouse.

They went to every place imaginable, starting in Asia, then to Europe, once in Europe, Azuma decided to visit Florián and Ilona. Florián, sometime after her rescue, started treating Azuma as a second child, Azuma gaining a second overprotective mother, while Ilona was shivering in a corner, apparently scared to death due to Tōchūmaru, whispering to herself while shaking "That is no mouse, that is a demon possessing a mouse. How could a mouse be so human-like, it's….it's…unscientific.

Ignoring the traumatized Ilona, Florián was over the moon with Shigure, much like Mikumo, having given up on Azuma actually finding someone. She told Shigure all about Azuma's little adventure in Germany all those years ago.

Shigure after hearing Florian's story, promised to keep an eye on him, while also angrily chasing him, telling him, "You….are…dumb….I….will…make….sure…you…to….keep….you….safe."

Azuma found himself at a loss, that was ten years ago, ten! No need to keep reminding him about every stupid decision he made at sixteen.

Little did he know that once they eventually meet Mikumo, she would tell a lot of things to Shigure, making the girl drag Azuma to train him on anti-weapons skills, much like how her late adopted father trained Akisame.

While our not so newly formed couple traveled the world, time kept passing, OSNF, slowly turning into what it would become, Ogata being expelled from Ryōzanpaku.

Akira Hongō already having killed his friend Suzuki Hajime and joining OSNF much to Sakaki's distress, while also giving Sakaki his signature scar across the nose. Agaard leaving his gym and Apachai, heading off on his own path, joining Yami sometime after.

And many more events happened or were happening that would start leading our story to what we've come to known.