There's Nothing Left

CHAPTER XIII - Liquid Memories

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

THIRD PERSON POV

Zenitsu and Genya both eventually pull away from the hug when Mitsuri comes running up the path to them, Zenitsu immediately notices from hearing her footsteps before Mitsuri calls out to them. "Genya-Saaannn!! Zenitsu-Kunnn!!" She cries out. Genya turns around, raising a brow. "...Is that Ms. Kanroji..?" He mumbles, Zenitsu nods. "Probably," He sighs. "But I can't make out the other person I'm hearing... is it you?" asks Zenitsu. Genya raises a brow, "Who? Me?" "Ara ara~ that's impressive for you to be able to sense me, Zenitsu-Kun.." A faint voice from behind the two comes. They both immediately swift around, seeing Shinobu right behind them. "You two have went too far from the village, is it a mission? Master had ordered for you to not go on any missions now Zenitsu-Kun..." She says with her signature intimidating smile, Zenitsu gulps. "Apologies.. we didn't realize how far we were, we were just—" "Talking." Genya finishes for him, backing away a little from embarrassment from being so close to her. "Right.." Zenitsu nods. Shinobu processes this, before her smile drops a little. "You still shouldn't be walking so far, I've mentioned this before.. your body is weak from the coma, Zenitsu-Kun. It'd be a hassle for you if you came across a demon in this state.. atleast take a few weeks to recover." Shinobu warns,   Zenitsu's head slowly drops to the floor with a nod. "I understand, my apologies.." He mutters, Shinobu's smile becomes a little more softer now. "Great! Kanroji is arriving soon... she wants to talk to Zenitsu-Kun, Genya-San do you mind coming with me?" She turns her head to Genya, he gulps and nods. "Perfect! Sayonara~" She grabs Genya's arm and drags him along. (As in result, Genya turns red and tries to get away.) Zenitsu sighs and crosses his arm, waving to them as they leave to the Butterfly Mansion. Soon enough, Mitsuri arrives and stands there panting. "Aaahhh!! Zenitsu-Kuunnn.. everyones so worried, why are you leaving all the sudden?!" She cries out, Zenitsu raises a brow. "Ehh..? Leaving?" He questions, Mitsuri nods. "You're going so far away from us all, just to talk?! Waaaah!! I was hoping we could talk more after what happened!" She sobs and falls to the floor dramatically. Zenitsu smiles a little, "Oh, in that case we can head back to everyone together." He says, helping her up. She immediately nods, to which they eventually start walking.

Mitsuri's mood brightens a lot as soon as they start walking. She turns her head over to Zenitsu and smiles, "Do you remember when we talked the other day? Before you got into the coma? You were sulking and crying on a bench and—" "I don't need a specific detail on what I was doing.." He interrupts, scratching the back of his head. She puts a hand over her mouth, "Kyahhh.. my bad," She giggles. "Continuing on, you said you were stressed out about someone you loved.. not liking you back right?" She finishes, Zenitsu freezes. He didn't expect for her to remember any of that; and this was surely stressing him out again at the thought of that entire thing.. he nods, in which Mitsuri continues. "Come to think of it, you agreed of it being related to love. The memory of whoever it was doesn't come to mind, so," She takes a deep breath, before shouting; "Can you tell me who it is?!" She yells, twirling around and giggling. "My heart flutters at the thought of you having feelings! I wonder who you like, hmm.. could it be Nezuko-Chan? Or, or.. maybee, Kanao! No, Aoi— Kyaaaaa!! Zenitsu-Kuuunnn!!" Mitsuri snickers and blushes as she grabs Zenitsu and shakes him around. "Pleasee, tell me the special girl!! It's so cute knowing that you would finally love someone after all this time!" The giggling and snickering continues, Zenitsu covers his face in embarrassment, as a bunch of thoughts run through his mind. "What if it's not even a girl..?" "Would she think I'm weird?!" "Why does she have to ask this now!?"  He thinks to himself, shaking his head as Mitsuri waits impatiently for an answer with a wide smile on her face. She clasps her hands together, twirling around.  Eventually, Zenitsu thinks of an excuse. Everyone had originally known him for obsessing over Nezuko— so it'd probably be a good enough excuse, there was just one thing bugging him. If he was correct, Mitsuri had read the note according to Tanjiro, so she probably would've already known about the whole "crush" situation. He clears his throat, looking up at her. "...Don't you already know though? Tanjiro said that you were informed on the note." He mutters, Mitsuri stops. She takes a moment to process this, before sulking a little. "Ahh.. right, I know about that. But, I didn't think you meant that romantically.. I mean, atleast not in my vision. I don't think Tanjiro had took it romantically either.."

Zenitsu freezes.

So did his note just have no meaning to Tanjiro? Did Tanjiro just take it platonically? Why would he even write a note to Tanjiro in the first place if it was just platonic? Then he should've wrote a note for everyone else aswell, he felt his heart break into pieces, tiny pieces. It's as if he was going through that same pain again, the feeling of being abandoned, the feeling of fear. It was coming back, everything was coming back. Memories rushed through his mind, beginning to tear up but also hiding his face from Mitsuri. Did he just mean nothing towards Tanjiro? Was it all just a huge lie, to gaslight him into thinking that someone actually cared for him? "...I'm.. so.. ..stupid." He mumbles, as obvious tears fufill his face. He drops to the ground, Mitsuri stops dead in her tracks and looks back at him, running towards him and shaking him, calling out his name. But Zenitsu's lost in his thoughts— was it actually just a setup? Maybe Tanjiro never cared for him, maybe nobody even did. Maybe Mitsuri was just trying to get to know who he likes, and then use it against him. Nobody cared, nobody actually cared.

"Why did I just have to realize that now..?"

-━°⌜ 赤い糸 ⌟°━-

HEL IM SO SORRY THIS WAS SUCH A SHORT CHAPTER COMPARED TO MY RECENT ONES.. BUT HEY WE'RE GETTING AN IMPROVEMENT IN UPDATING ATLEASTTT‼️‼️‼️

WHAT DO Y'ALL SUSPECT WILL HAPPENNN??? I AM SO EXCITED TO WRITE FURTHER CHAPTERS BECAUSE MY MIND IS OVERFLOWED WITH IDEASSSSSSSS (NOT PROOFREADING AGAIN SMH..)

Word Count - 1091