Meeting an Old Acquaintance

"How have you been?" I asked Shizuku who's following behind me while picking up ingredients on the way.

"It was fine, I guess. Uncle Kenpachi is bored again since no one as gutsy as you likes to challenge him. Yachiru is living a peaceful life without you but I'm sure she misses you too." Shizuku said and a memory evoked in my mind as I saw Kenpachi beating my guy down and would often tease Yachiru about her height when they were young.

'Looks like I've got something to do before the summoning.' I thought while glancing at Shizuku.

"Is that so? Then I definitely have to meet him and show him my progress." I said as my fighting spirit flared a little surprising Shizuku. Although she could not see any aura, she could feel it, the changes in the air made her certain about it.

'He's strong.' Shizuku thought to herself.

Noticing the changes in Shizuku's face, I reined in the leaking aura and suppressed it inside.

"Sorry, I got a little excited. Your uncle always beat me and doesn't hold back at all even against a child when I was a kid." I said and Shizuku nodded.

"So, what do you want to eat today? Any favorite dishes? My treat." I said as my wallet is full of cold hard cash. My guy's old man gave him a lot of money for him to use in his new life outside the family, alas, I was the one who'll get to use it.

"I don't have anything in particular." Shizuku said and I nodded at her words and decided to go all out.

My cooking skills are above average since I was forced to make meals for the two of us, my master and I, and I have to make the food edible if I don't want to get tortured by my cooking.

At first, the taste was so horrible that it made my stomach wrenched in pain at night for 3 days straight. I had to leave some time to experiment on cooking before finally making something edible after two weeks of experimentation, I mean, training. I have also asked Zeltretch for some cookbooks so that I'm not always shooting at the dark.

I grabbed the ingredients I need and turned to Shizuku.

"Is there anything you want to buy?" I asked her. She seemed troubled with my question so I followed up.

"Don't worry about it. Its my treat." I insisted and Shizuku looked at me straight in the eye as I did the same. This girl is gaining courage and confidence as she continues interacting with me. Well, it works for me that she's like this to avoid awkward situations like earlier.

"Then... ice cream." Shizuku reluctantly muttered but I could hear it all too well. I grabbed a gallon of strawberry ice cream and placed it in the shopping cart. Her taste with ice cream is the same as mine so she didn't complain about it too much.

"Its going to be for dessert then." I said and bought a few more snacks.

"Aren't you going to be fat if you bought all these snacks?" Shizuku asked me with a slight hesitation on her tone.

"As long as I exercised enough then its alright. You're restricting yourself from these kinds of food?" I asked and she nodded. Although she would sweat a lot when practicing with the sword, she still avoids unhealthy foods as much as possible.

"I see. A shame then." I said sincerely, even Vergil told me that having a cheat day where you can eat anything you wanted is a necessary thing. Its like giving your body a rest.

We didn't say anything anymore as I started lining up to pay for my items. After paying up, we started talking to each other and found out that my house is near their house as she lived in a nearby dojo. We talked a lot about what happened after she distanced herself from me.

"So you met Kaori, Kouki, and Ryutarou back in middle school." I said and she nodded.

"How about you?" Shizuku asked me while I just smiled.

"I just focused on swordsmanship. Although Gramps told me to go to school, I declined and focused on mastering his techniques. Though I didn't go to school, Gramps forced me to read books that are being taught in school. Basically, he forced me to home schooling." I said as Shizuku's face saddened hearing about it.

"Don't worry about it. Its all in the past. No need to get emotional from it." I said while using my off-hand to ruffle her hair which Shizuku dodged.

"I'm not a kid anymore." Shizuku said while I heard an audible 'hmph' from her which made me chuckle.

"We're here." I said as we reached my home.

"Did your Gramps prepared this?" Shizuku asked and I nodded.

Its a medium sized house with simple designs. The old man knew that my guy doesn't like flashy stuff so he made its design as simple as it can be.

"Gramps did prepare ahead of time. His lawyer found me on his grave kneeling. When I first saw the man that introduced himself as his lawyer I was surprised that he found me there since I'm not allowed to come to Gramp's funeral.

The lawyer told me that Gramps said that he should wait for me in his grave, a few hours after the funeral and he did wait for hours until he saw me coming out of my hiding spot and kneeling on his grave. He explained that gramps left me quite a sum of money, a new identity, new school papers, and a house under my name.

Honestly, I was surprised that gramps did it and now, I'm living very well." I said as I unlocked the doors and placed the groceries down.

I unpacked the groceries while Shizuku looked around the house. The house didn't have any complex furniture. Some of the rooms are locked so she assumed that some of them are guest rooms and a storage room. She returned to the living room and saw me preparing for cooking so she went towards me to help out.

"Let me help you." She said as she pulled out a knife from the rack.

"You sure you can do it?" I asked her and she had a smug face when she replied.

"Of course." She said to me.

"Alright, start with the potatoes then. Follow it with the onions, I'll prep the meat to be used." I said and she started peeling the potatoes.

'Color me surprised, although she suppressed her girly attitude, she sure can cook that's for sure.' I thought as I saw how Shizuku peeled the skin masterfully.

Meanwhile I started prepping the meat.

*

"I never thought you're a good cook." Shizuku praised me and the curry in front of her. What we made is curry rice but it is made with a special spice mix that I made back when I was living with Vergil.

'A good husband trait.' Shizuku thought and quickly scolded herself for thinking such thoughts.

"You praise me too much." I said as I took her plate and placed it in the sink.

"Let me do the dishes." Shizuku said but I shook my head.

"Just rest there while I do the dishes and I'll walk you home." I said as I started cleaning up.

Shizuku just continued to stare at me flashes of the past started entering her mind as she remembered the time when we were young. We played together and had a lot of fun. Lastly, a certain memory flashed through Shizuku's eyes. The memory of an oath. An oath of marriage.

Remembering the oath, Shizuku's cheeks started blushing as she tried to shake her head of such thoughts. They just formally reunited after a long time.

She snapped out of her delusions when I spoke up.

"Have you rested, enough? I'll walk you home." I said but Shizuku shook her head.

"Its fine, our house is near so no need to walk with me home." Shizuku said but I just smiled at it.

"I insist. I would be bothered if you didn't get home safe, besides news of night attacks are frequent now. Its dangerous." I said to Shizuku who frowned for a moment before nodding.

'I can take care of myself.' She thought to herself but having someone worry about her and protect her made her feel nice.

"Let's go or it'll be really late if we delayed any further." I said and Shizuku nodded as we wnt out.

Shizuku lead the way as I followed her. We kept on talking about things like favorites and dislikes. Apparently, Shizuku's mortal enemies are bugs. Time passed by and we arrived at the dojo of her grandfather. What surprised me is the person standing in front of the Dojo Gates.

"Yachiru!" Shizuku shouted and a pink haired girl turned around saw Shizuku. Yachiru ran towards Shizuku and jumped as Shizuku caught her. Shizuku started petting her head and Yachiru melted from Shizuku's petting.

"Shizu-cchi, you should head inside and calm your father. He's worried that something happened to you since you didn't come home early. Shizu-cchi, who's he?" Yachiru asked Shizuku while I had a smirk on my face.

"Yachiru, we all grew up and you, you're still a brat." Yachiru's eyes widened at my words. She pointed her index finger at me, at a loss for words. Trembling for a little bit, she finally spoke after thinking of a counter attack.

"Ah! You're the worm that always got squashed by Kenny!" Yachiru said but it didn't cause any effect on me. We haven't fought yet personally so I don't know how strong Kenpachi of this world is.

"The brat who's chest hasn't grown even a little bit." The same arrow that shot Kaori's heart hit Yachiru's heart as well. She glared at me and Shizuku sighed and decided to defuse the situation.

"Can I come in? I want to see that old man Kenpachi." I said but a gruff voice interrupted Shizuku and Yachiru from speaking.

"Brat, you've finally shown your face. Its getting boring lately, how about you accompany me for a while?" The voice said and a tall, muscular man appeared in front of us. The scar on his left eye, his stringy hair, and the eye patch are his most noticeable trait.

"Kenny!" Yachiru shouted and glee but not before showing her tongue to me as she climbed up to Kenpachi's shoulder.

"Uncle Kenpachi." Shizuku bowed down to her uncle.

"You sure you want me to accompany you old man?" I asked and Kenpachi just grinned.

"Quit your yapping and just follow me, brat. Shizuku, go inside and calm your father. He's been venting and ranting for more than an hour already." Kenpachi said and Shizuku nodded and went inside while Kenpachi gestured me to follow him.