キミノカオリ ー Moonlight, Wisteria Petals, and Thunderclap

Wisteria Garden

 While I was recovering from the battle wound, no, the battle loss I have to say, Tanjirou and I went out on a walk. Inosuke was running all around in anger and an urge to fight, and he didn't respond at all when Tanjirou asked him to go on a walk with us. Classic Inosuke. Anyway, so Tanjirou pulled up a wheelchair made out of the same wood as Nezuko-chan's box; he especially asked his teacher Urokodaki-san to build it for me. Truly, how kind he is.

The rain was lightly showering us as we set out on a walk around the butterfly garden. (We were back at Kocho Shinobu-san's mansion to recover from our previous battle.) There were wisteria petals scattering across the place as Tanjirou wheeled me toward a small pond, and I gazed at them like they were alien things, like I've never seen them before.

"Tanjirou. What are those?"

"The flower petals?"

"Flower?"

"Yeah, wisteria. There are a lot of wisteria trees around this area. Shinobu-san planted a lot of them to ward off demons."

"I see."

"Zenitsu. How are you feeling?"

Tanjirou asked me how I was feeling, but I honestly couldn't answer well. I think my brain slowed down a bit after I went through the surgery. When I was silent for a while, Tanjirou came around the wheelchair and put his one knee to the ground, and looked up at me.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah. It's just...."

"You feel sick?"

"No. I feel normal. I just don't feel anything, here."

I bounced my fist off my chest a few times. My words came out really slowly, my physical responses too. It was as if my whole biological clock had slowed down. Tanjirou's eyes looked concerned; he gripped my shoulders.

"Zenitsu."

"Tanjirou....

"I know how hard it must be for you. Losing your legs...."

He winced deeply; I watched his face twisting into a painful expression. I felt something then.

"Tanjirou, don't worry. I'll recover in due time. I don't wanna worry you because of my problem."

Tanjirou suddenly looked at me again. He seemed surprised. I noticed that I was talking at a normal speed again.