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

What Makes Us Grasp the "Now"

"...Tanjirou."

By the time Zenitsu returned to the mansion, it was a completely black night with no Moon. His cheeks were now drenched in sweat, and he panted as he silently tiptoed from room to room looking for Tanjirou.

Then, he found one. A room where his bed was located. Even though it was only the darkness surrounding them, Zenitsu could feel his presence. A warm, sparkling presence that always made his true heart well up from the bottom of his existence.

"Tanjirou...."

"Zenitsu."

Even though Zenitsu only whispered his name ever so slightly, Tanjirou opened his eyes and pulled the fabric of Zenitsu's haori toward him. In the dark, he could only see the outline of Tanjirou's face—round, with a slightly sharp edge of his chin. The facial silhouette sparkled in a mysterious light surrounding them. Was it a glowing mist? But Zenitsu still couldn't see his eyes, and that made him excruciatingly anxious.

"Do you...resent me now?" Zenitsu said in a wavering voice.

"What?"

"Do you hate me for leaving you along for so long?"

As he asked, Zenitsu couldn't try to find Tanjirou's eyes. If he faced his clear red eyes now, he wouldn't be able to hold back tears. Like, really.

"I don't hate you, Zenitsu. I don't resent you, and I don't think you're a bad person, either."

"......."

"Things you imagine I think, don't happen, usually. Things Zenitsu worry about, ninety percent of it don't become a reality."

"...."

"I guarantee. So, you don't have to worry. In fact, I love you."

'I love you'—those words rang in Zenitsu's ears long after Tanjirou's voice stopped vibrating the slightly warm air around them. When was it that Zenitsu heard his kind, loving voice like this? Even though there were still many uncertainties in this life, the life that made them falter and vibrate and anxious and deeply sad sometimes—a life that they had to struggle to grapple with, in order to just breathe into the next moment—Zenitsu could still rely on this calming, trustworthy voice of his lover. Just the fact that this voice existed gave him jugs of courage.

"I love you, too—uwah!"

At that moment, in the middle of Zenitsu's sentence, Tanjirou pulled him forth and he lurched onto Tanjirou's bed. The fluffy sheets made a soft sound as Zenitsu's body settled into the comfy cotton.

"What're you doing...."

"Haha, I just wanted to lie with you."

"...."

Tanjirou felt Zenitsu's face getting closer to him by the millisecond, and then their lips met. Softly, like a feather landing onto a still river water, they kissed—cheeks getting hot, and their breathes mixed, as if a yellow ink was dropped into a transparent water and was dispersing slowly but surely.

"Ha...Tanjirou...."

"...Zenitsu."

A silver thread connected them as they parted lips. They gazed at each other with heated eyes. Unsaid things ran through the light current between them. Tanjirou raised his hand and traced Zenitsu's hot cheeks with his fingers.

"...I love you."

"Tanjirou...."

"In case you forgot, or you don't believe it, I'll say it over and over again into the night, as long as you need to hear it. I love you, I love you, ...I love you. So don't you dare leave you again. If you do...."

"......."

"I'll cry for so long, there'll no longer be any water left in my. I'll just shrivel and die. Probably literally."

"...Okay. I won't ever leave you now. Whatever we face, we face together...."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

With both hands, Tanjirou held Zenitsu's face and went over to kiss him again. Zenitsu, too, cupped Tanjirou's face, and felt his forehead scars on the tip of his longest fingers. Tanjirou now wraped his arms around Zenitsu's neck, and Zenitsu's long, bright yellow hair tangled with Tanrjiou's arms like a tree's convoluting branches. They were together through the entire night, side by side, feeling each other's sure presence and distinct warmth of life. Yes, they remembered—even though life gave them a plenty of difficulties and hard situations, and even if it was very possible for them to die tomorrow while fighting Muzan's demons, it was this love's fervency and passion that made them grasp today's "now"—this moment, this present.