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

Tiny Light

It became morning, and tiny birds chirped outside the window to signal the forthcoming day. While trying to find his vision through the outpouring sunlight, Tanjirou forked through his futon to find the yellow-haired boy, yet failed to find him. Surprised at his vain effort, Tanjirou suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked for him.

"Ze—Zenitsu?!"

He awoke completely and looked around with a straightened posture. And he soon let out a sigh of relief after seeing Zenitsu's large, muscular back at the entrance of the room. Zenitsu was sitting there, right at the edge of the room, looking out into the slowly blossoming garden.

"Zenitsu...you're there. Thank lord."

"...You're awake." Zenitsu turned and directed his eyes toward Tanjirou. His marvelous long hair sparkled and danced with the warmth of an early spring.

"I'm going out for a mission." He said, standing up.

"You're already going?" Tanjirou asked in foggy, sleep-drenched eyes.

"Yeah, I've got to complete my duty as a demon slayer, after all."

"When are you coming back?"

"I'm, not so sure...but," He whispered, "Not long. I'll be back in no time, I'm sure. So be careful."

"Okay...."

"Oh, and someone came to the front door, wanting to see you." Zenitsu pointed toward the front gates, and when Tanjirou looked back from where he pointed, Zenitsu was already gone.

——

The bell rang, signifying a visitor. Tanjirou skipped to the front gate, and when he saw who came, he exclaimed loudly. Crumpling his shirt near the chest, he called out his name. 

"Giyu-san!"

"Oh, you came."

"Wow, you actually came!" Tanjirou beamed as he shook hands with Tomioka. "How've you been?!"

"I've been okay. Actually, I came to ask you of a favor."

"Hmm? Of course! What is it?"

"The thing is...Muzan's demons have been way more active recently than ever before. So, I am going around gathering all the skilled slayers from the demon slayer corps, to help with the situation. I've already spoken with Zenitsu."

"I see. What kind of threat is he posing? Is it that more and more demons are showing up to towns?"

"No, more like...there has been more silent deaths, or people just disappearing altogether. We havd not been able to find a trace of blood, even."

"Wait...is such a thing even possible...?!"

"I don't know either. It's pretty concerning."

"For sure. So, you want me to do something about it?"

"Yes, actually. I want you to go to this town marked in this map, here. And protect the villagers from Muzan's demons. It's going to be a lot of additional work to catch these silent, dangerous demons on top of our usual work as demon slayers, but there's no other way. We cannot let them do whatever they want anymore."

It looked like another ordinary mission for Tanjirou, who's been training very hard to get stronger day by day. But, this request felt a little different to him for some reason. Was it a pure instinct? Or was it just an ominous premonition? Tanjirou gulped.

"Can you do it?" Giyu tilted his head a little, looking at Tanjirou's spaced-out eyes.

"A—ah! Yes, of course! Sorry, Giyu-san. I've just been spacing out for a few seconds...." Snapping out of his storm of thoughts, Tanjirou replied hastily.

"Hmm. Anyways, send me a note by your bird if anything comes up."

"Okay. Thank y—ah!"

Before Tanjirou could even finish speaking, Giyu was gone.

Waiting for Zenitsu to come back, Tanjirou sat in the garden, watching the blue sky.

'It looks so peaceful when I'm not fighting with demons...after all, this is a world where people die daily from many reasons. Diseases, crimes...Demons are one of the reasons why so many people pass on early these days.'

Tanjirou looked at the blossoming buds, sun-drenched leaves and the floating clouds. They all looked sickly bright, too beautiful. The image of the scenery overlapped with Zenitsu's image of swinging his sword in the landscape blanketed with deep snow. He looked really professional then, didn't he. Those ruthless eyes, just like a hashira. Without a doubt, he's been through so much fighting and bloody training. Thinking of him, Tanjirou's heart started beating twice as fast--his head rang from the blood pumping through his body.

"Why don't you go and pray at the Inari shrine?"

That's what Kanao said.

"Huh?" Tanjirou stopped, with his spoon mid-air, his mouth half-open. During lunch, that's what Kanao mentioned—Inari shrine—What did she mean?

"Shrine...?"

"Yes. Inari shrine." She folded her beautiful violet eyes in half, smiling quietly.

"Where is that?"

"It's not far from here. Haven't you heard? The God that lives in that shrine grants people's wishes. It's famous for protecting warriors in their battles.

"Oh...."

"The soldiers' families go there and pray for them. You should do so too, for Zenitsu-san. If you're worried about him, that is."

Tanjirou was clearly worried about him; he's been spacing out during meals and also been blankly staring at random flower bushes. One time, he didn't even notice when Kanao concealed herself in the bush and got really close to him. When she tapped on his shoulder, he'd been overly surprised and jumped in his place.

"It'll make you feel better than doing nothing at all, you know."

"Oh...Thank you for the recommendation, Kanao-chan." Tanjirou smiled.

"Besides, it's dangerous if you space out like that. You never know when Muzan's demons are going to come and try to kill you, right?"

That snapped Tanjirou out of his blank headspace. Why hadn't he noticed? This was a dilemma too luxurious for his current situation. Right now, he didn't even know if he would live or die any moment—there was no time nor energy to be waiting around and worrying excessively like this. He was now going to put any dawdling thought he had into action.

"Okay! Then I'll be back soon! Thank you so much, Kanao-san!"

"Eh? You're going right now?" Kanao exclaimed, leaving her mouth open just a little, as if she had something additional to say. But, when she tried to speak again, Tanjirou was already disappearing into one corner of her sight.

"Is he going to be okay? Although it's afternoon right now, I wonder if he can arrive at the shrine before the sun sets...."