Breakable Heaven || Sanemi Shinazugawa x Female Reader

Chapter Four: Of Pretending

We had been walking for some time now, two hours and forty-three minutes to be exact, and the road we were in seemed to lead to nowhere. We had already passed by a bustling town, and as much as I had wanted to stop by and get some snacks, Sanemi had warned (more like threatened) me that it was better to move quickly than to arrive at our destination late, or we'd be in a more dangerous situation earlier than expected.

I hesitantly agreed to this since to be honest, he was right.

Overhead, our crows were leading the way, so I figured that there was no other road that would lead us to our destination aside from the one we were taking.

I stole a glance at Sanemi, who hasn't spoken a word to me ever since we left the town we passed by earlier, and noted that he still maintained the same pace while I was starting to feel a bit tired.

"What the hell is it?"

His voice startled me so much that I figuratively jumped before I asked in curiosity, "Hmm? What is it?"

I heard him sigh before he practically yelled out, "You've been staring at me for the past hour already! Is there something on my damn face?"

He looked so irate that I couldn't help but laugh heartily, temporarily forgetting what had happened before we left for the mission.

"No, no. Nothing of that sort. Don't worry about it," I reassured him when I had finally managed to regain my composure a moment later.

At the same time, I had to hide my embarrassment from being caught red-handed, since I'm sure that he'll find a way to use it against me someday. Sanemi merely grunted in annoyance, and I made a conscious effort not to look at him again after that, and I had to admit that it was almost a herculean task.

The silence was interrupted when Sanemi's crow said, "Just up ahead! Just up ahead!"

True enough, lights could be seen in the far distance, probably around a kilometer away. We were nearing the town where Kagaya had asked us to investigate, and I couldn't stop the feeling of nervousness that gnawed in my stomach.

Sanemi must have noticed this, because he said, "If you're going to back the hell out, it's far too late for that. You have to go through this with me, wife."

I arched an eyebrow as I easily countered, "As if I'll leave you alone, my dear husband."

If crows could sweat-drop, they might have done exactly just that.

_

We arrived at the inn some time later, but before we entered through the main door, I held on to Sanemi's arm and asked, "From this point on, Oyakata-sama specifically told us to act like a married couple to be able to investigate. Are you up to the task, my husband?"

"Tch, you're the one who has to be up to the task, my wife," Sanemi responded sarcastically with a smirk on his lips as his other hand covered my hand that was on his arm.

Suddenly, it became increasingly difficult for me to act as his wife, and we haven't even entered the inn yet.

Before I could say something witty in answer, Sanemi had already opened the door, leaving me with no choice but to smile demurely as we approached the innkeeper behind the counter.

"We'll be staying here for three nights, more or less," Sanemi said harshly, intimidating the poor woman who looked positively scared of him to the point that she was almost hiding behind the counter.

I cleared my throat and added in a soft voice, to save our reputation, "Please, my husband and I have been looking for a place to stay at for some time now. Would you be able to spare us a room?"

I never knew that I could lie as smoothly as that.

The innkeeper's eyes shifted from Sanemi to me, and I could feel her fear melt slowly - I just had to keep up with the polite woman act.

It took her some time before she answered, "Y-yes, we have a room to spare. But as per our policy, we will be requiring a copy of your marriage certificate. You see, this inn only caters to married couples, since our rooms are smaller compared to the others."

I glanced up at Sanemi and gestured for him to show her the document. Sanemi looked like he was about to yell at me (everyone knew how Sanemi hated being ordered what to do apart from Kagaya's direct orders), and I stepped on his toe to keep him from saying something that would give us away.

I knew I was going to pay hell for doing that, but for now, it was important that we keep up with our pretense.

Sanemi wordlessly handed the document to the innkeeper, who checked its contents diligently. She placed a stamp on another piece of paper and jotted something down, seemingly copying something from the document.

"Here you go, my apologies for the slight wait. There have been people who claim to be married and provide us with a fake copy," the innkeeper said as she handed back the document to Sanemi, along with the key to our room.

'So that's why it had to look like the real one,' I thought to myself as I glanced up at Sanemi, who seemed to be thinking of the same thing.

But an unbidden thought entered my mind, 'Or maybe it is the real one.'

"Madam?" the innkeeper asked, effectively breaking my train of thoughts.

"Ah, yes, thank you very much for this," I told her in a rush when it became obvious that Sanemi refused to say anything.

The innkeeper bowed to us and pointed down a hallway where our room was located as she added, "Feel free to use the hot spring during your stay", and I thanked her once more before I lead Sanemi to our room.

The offer was highly tempting though.

"9...10...11...ah, here it is, room number 12," I muttered as I opened the door with the key that the innkeeper gave us.

And of course, I could only stand there by the door in shock. My legs refused to budge, and I know that Sanemi was going to yell at me eventually for being such a roadblock.

But then again, what did I expect? The innkeeper specifically said that they cater specifically to married couples, so it shouldn't have surprised me that there was only one futon.

[Extra: Mitsuri Kanroji's Diary]

Dear Diary,

As the love pillar, I want to take it upon myself to prove that Shinazugawa-san and [Y/N]-san are still very much in love with each other.

What made me say, or rather, think of this?

Well, for one, despite breaking up, they still address each other by their first names. Without any honorifics. Everyone (or at least I think that) probably noticed this already, but didn't say anything in fear of getting Shinazugawa-san mad. We've all also noticed that they've never addressed anyone else in the same manner, leading us to think that it was so natural for the two of them to call each other by their first names.

Another point would be the not so secret glances that they steal from each other, whenever they were in the same area. [Y/N]-san was so painfully obvious that even Shinobu-san and I want to push her to him already, while Shinazugawa-san was discreet, stealing a glance for no longer than two seconds (yes, we timed it), though he did it more frequently.

I hope that they just get back together already. After all, whenever Shinazugawa-san's in a rather foul mood, only [Y/N]-san can calm him down.

See you in my next entry!

[Author's Note]

Hello everyone! I hope you liked this chapter! Please do share your thoughts with me, I'd love to hear them! I also hoped that you enjoyed Kanroji's diary entry 😄 I figured that she'll want to do something to help the two😄 So there you go!