“Sure.”
Haku came in and plopped down on Daichi’s bed. His brother was at his desk, writing something. “What’s that, Nii-san?”
“The mission report for last week’s fire demon battle,” Daichi replied, not taking his eyes off his work.
“Isn’t that due today?”
“Why do you think I’m rushing?”
Haku sighed. “You really need to stop procrastinating. You’re a captain now; you need to start acting like one.”
“I will later, okay?”
“See? There you go procrastinating again!”
“If you would stop patronizing me for five minutes, I’d be able to get this report done!” Daichi growled.
“Sorry.”
Haku was silent for a few minutes so Daichi could concentrate on what he was writing. “Finished!” Daichi exclaimed as he threw down his pen. “Ugh, my hand hurts.”
“That’s what you get for putting it off for so long,” Haku reminded his brother.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Just wondering, did you put everything in your report?”
“Yeah,” Daichi said slowly.
“Including the part where you and the Nerio girl got trapped in that cave for most of the fight?”
Daichi’s face reddened. “I had to say something about it,” he mumbled.
“Your superiors are going to have a field day when they find out.”
“Does it look like I care?”
“You should.”
“Let me make this clear if I haven’t already; I don’t give a damn what those geysers think about me!” Daichi snapped.
Haku furrowed his brow. “Nii-san, what’s gotten into you? You’ve been acting strangely ever since you came back. What happened? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, Haku,” Daichi said. “It’s just…I don’t know. I’ve been questioning things a lot lately. I think it might have something to do with that talk I had with Nerio-chan.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, like what demon slayers stand for and everything. I did some research and found that Nerio-chan’s guardian killed himself after his wife and daughter were killed by a demon slayer named Taro Nii. And Nerio-chan said that Kuro* is still mourning them. Do demon slayers really protect people, or do we just destroy lives?”
“You’ve been thinking about this for awhile, haven’t you?” Haku asked quietly.
“Every day for the past week.”
“Nii-san,” Haku said after a moment of silence, “could you be developing feelings for the Nerio girl?”
“I don’t know,” Daichi groaned. “But I don’t want to.”
“Watch your heart, Nii-san,” Haku advised. “Don’t let your feelings go unchecked and don’t do something you’d regret.”
* * *
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*Daichi still hates Kuro, so there's no chance of him using an honorific for him.
