Onigiri

"Talking"

(Added words in the head or thoughts)

'Whisper'

[Ki Technique/Breathing Form]

"/Talking in another language/"

• POV change •

*Sound*

∆Time and/or Place∆

~Sounds made by a character like a sigh~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Narrator's POV •

Ah... Another beautiful day on Kamado's house. Tanjiro, Raiden, and others started to do their thing.

(As much as I liked to help, I hate it when I'm with her.) Raiden closed his eyes to keep himself calm.

"/Did you say something, shrimp?/" Lily asked as she slightly glared at Rai.

"/Nothing, (chubby) blonde./" Rai sighed afterwards.

Lily glared at Rai as if he said something wrong, which technically he did, he just didn't say it out loud.

Lily, an American, who got lost on the way here. For some reason, Rai didn't believe her, resulting in the too bickering or just plainly ignoring each other.

Well, Rai's instinct wasn't wrong.

(I can't believe it! I made a story with no holes, yet this shrimp didn't took it as it is. I think, this Demon Slayer world was an Alternate Universe since this shrimp appeared even before me.) Lily fell in her thoughts that she bumped into some rough-looking men.

"Oi! Watch were you're going, damn it!" Said the man with a vertical scar on his left eye.

"/I am sorry!/" Lily quickly apologized.

"Huh? An American girl here? It looks like we'll be having a desert, even though she's a little fat, guys!" The man licked his lips as the others he called slowly appeared one by one.

This made Lily shiver for a second. Even though she didn't understand what they said, she knew what their faces made meant.

Luckily, Rai was with her. So, he walked in front of Lily and blocked the way of the group of men.

"Brat, is she your sister or something? In that case, can we have her for the rest of the day? Hehehe~" the man tried to intimidate Rai.

But Rai returned a disgusted look on him.

"Why you little!"

Meanwhile, on the side. A teen with wavy gold hair with red tips that looked like fire was eating on a certain house since he was offered to stay in for the night.

"DELICIOUS!" He shouted vigorously.

"Oh, come on, Rengoku-san! My dishes are not that good! Raiden could easily beat me in cooking." said the woman with a smile on her face.

Rengoku Kyojuro, Flame Pillar, who passed by the village because it was said that one of the demon moon was sighted in a certain village.

"Oh, is that so? He must have rich experience in cooking then!" He replied to the woman.

"No, no, no. He didn't have any rich experience in cooking. He's just the way he is, a very skilled humble cook. Sometimes, he volunteers to cook for the whole village during our small festivals." The woman said and she opened her window and saw someone, "Ah, there he is!"

"Let me see!" Rengoku quickly finished his food and drank the tea, and then looked through the window.

He saw two, so he asked which one of them at which the woman said it was the little one. This made Kyojuro shocked, as no one at that age could just go and easily beat a mother's cooking who have more experience.

Then, after they saw them interact with the visiting men who just stop by to take a rest. They also heard what they talked about.

Kyojuro was about to step in when he felt that the air around the small 15 years old boy had changed.

Then, it happened. A fight broke out, but it was more of a one-sided beatdown at which one of the grown men had wetted himself when Raiden glared fiercely at the last man, who then ran away, leaving all the others.

Kyojuro was impressed by the kid's strength and speed, as well as his attacks that immitated the flowing waves while the speed is extraordinary. Resulting in total beatdown of a group of men.

"That kid is extremely strong!" Kyojuro remarked, "But, I cannot linger any more as I have a job to do!"

Kyojuro prepared all his things and thanked the woman who replied, "Good luck, mister Slayer!"

Back to Raiden and Lily...

The men nearby helped Raiden to place all the men he took down near the forest. Even though it is very harsh to leave them near the forest, it's not like they are leaving them at night to be eaten by demons.

"Hm?" Raiden looked at Lily who had a shocked face, (I think, I have scared her... Or I'm wrong.)

After helping people with some things like repairing knives and other tools as he was an apprentice blacksmith, he then also introduced Lily to all of people he knew in the village which caused both to get irritated as they were being matched to each other.

(I admit, she's cute. But, she have to work on that fat. Either way, I'm not attracted to her in any way.) Raiden then calmed himself down.

(He may be cute because he's a shrimp, but he's a no-no on my list. I want a tall one, around 177cm, handsome, good at cooking, good at housework, and someone who could protect me. He only got one, and I doubt he will in the future.) Lily said in her head until her stomach protested.

She rubbed her stomach and was about to ask Raiden for a food when...

"Here, have some onigiri." Raiden opened a bento box full of onigiri. Lily gladly took one and ate it, which caused her to feel like she was on cloud nine and took some more.

The onigiri that were made were all eaten by Lily who turned to look at Raiden who just closed the bento box.

They arrived back home, back up the mountain, and they did what they needed to do.

Raiden started to cut some woods for Tanjiro and Takeo to burn to make charcoal for tomorrow so they can earn money with how much charcoal they can make when Raiden have been with them. He also took the role of being the pillar of the family along with Tanjiro when Tanjiro's father, Tanjuro, died because of an illness.

Meanwhile, Lily was pondering what to do until she saw a figure who was working very hard as he just carried a tree he had just cut. She saw Raiden removed the branches cleanly and planted the young branches to regrow them.

One thing she knew that is out of place was that, he managed to carry a tree with a height of 132cm. How could a small stature could lift such a huge and heavy thing? Even Tanjiro and Takeo together can't carry that easily.

She watched him work along with Tanjiro and Takeo who burned woods and made charcoals.

Kie suddenly arrived.

• Lily's POV •

I feel useless. I can't even protect myself, I can't even help them as I am sure I can't help them make charcoal due to how fast they can work when they're together.

As I looked at them working, I heard steps and turned to look at Kie who sat down beside me.

"/Does seeing them working together made you feel useless?/" She asked using words I don't know what meant.

I just nodded just because of a gut feeling that she said something about working.

"/How about, helping me with the laundry? After all, I can't have you just wear my old clothes now, can I? It is also to make you feel useful./" She said, and I don't know what she meant, but I nodded.

She smiled, that means it is what is. I will be helping tomorrow! Also, I need to learn Japanese. Sadly, it's the shrimp who could teach me.

• Narrator's POV •

Raiden sneezed, which startled Lily a little. The former thought he caught a cold, but when he touched his forehead, he knew he can't check his own temperature so he decided to ignore it.

After working, he was confronted by Lily who asked him to teach her how to speak japanese fluently.

A few weeks have passed, and Lily learned how to speak a little in japanese, much less in writing, and have poor vocabulary.

Lily: "Damn you, Author!"

Oi! Don't break the fourth wall! And what all I said were true!

Lily: "Me don't care!"

See? You can't even properly speak Japanese! So, don't go breaking the fourth wall, damnit!

Lily: "Fine! In one condition!"

What condition? What is it?

Lily: "Can you Timeskip it at where I am fluent enough in Japanese?"

But... That would make the readers hate such a huge timeskip.

...

. . .

. . .

Okay, fine! I'll do it! But only 4-month timeskip!

"Thank you, author!" Lily said to me.

"Hm? Who are you talking to?" Raiden asked as he noticed that Lily wasn't paying attention.

"Nothing!" She said with a straight face as she looked directly at Raiden's blue eyes with darker shade in the irises.

Emerald green eyes met deep blue eyes. The blonde girl and the spiky black-haired young man stared at each other.

"Okaaaaaay... Let me repeat what I said a while go..." Raiden started the lecture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taisho Secret Reveal! Raiden and Lily's Little Secret

Tanjiro: Heya! Welcome to another Taisho Secret Reveal! Today, another secret is about to be revealed!

Raiden: And this secret is connected to my past.

Tanjiro: Right! Here we go. ~Inhale~ ~exhale~... Did you guys know that Raiden was always looking at the clear blue sky in the previous planets he have been on that his eyes changed in color, making it blue.

Raiden: I know it doesn't seem realistic, but it did happen. Maybe because I drank that potion that was given to me to keep it safe, but I drank it. I don't know what it was supposed to do but, it doesn't matter. It's already safe in me.

Tanjiro: What? Something like that happened? Why didn't you tell us?

Raiden: Because, it wasn't that much of a problem because I escaped the next day I drank it. While in my pod, I stared at the dark blue color of space being lighten up by stars.

Tanjiro: Ah! So, that's why your irises are of darker in shade. But, that's really weird.

Raiden: Yep, really weird. Anyway, my secret was accompanied by Lily's secret as well.

Tanjiro: Right! Here it is. Did you know that she loves eating ramen made by Raiden, even though she deny that she liked it.

Raiden: Really? I didn't know that she liked my ramen.

Tanjiro: And that's it for the Taisho Secret Reveal! Watch out for more secrets in the future chapters!

Raiden: Hey, Tanjiro.

Tanjiro: What is it?

Raiden: Do you think we can pull off funny Demon Slayer Academy in the future?

Tanjiro: I don't know. But I liked the idea. By the way, we were cut off in the previous chapter. How much is your battle power now?

Raiden: It's-

Kie: Raiden, Tanjiro! Dinner's ready!

Raiden & Tanjiro: Coming!