I prayed for my words to reach the innermost depths of his heart, his lonely heart besieged by remorse for hundreds of years. “She could have run away at any time,” I said. “Instead, she lived her utmost until the very end! She was reborn as me in Higashi Ward because she was happy! She wanted to stay in the shadow of Mount Tachibana, where she’d lived with all her loved ones!”
“No… No, you’re wrong. Sakura would have been so much happier if she hadn’t met me!”
“Shinozaki. Do your best to remember the real Sakura. Don’t let your regret twist her into someone sad and pathetic!”
“She— Sakura was…” He trailed off.
“According to Tsukushi, Sakura never bemoaned her circumstances. She didn’t resent Lady Ginchiyo. She lived with all her heart to the very end. Can you not accept the pride she felt in fulfilling her role?”
Shinozaki’s tail trembled. The tall, handsome man stared at me with the eyes of a lost child. When I stood on tiptoe to hug him, his breath caught.
I pulled us closer and rubbed his back, hoping to relax his rigid body and hardened heart. “I have to admit it must have been lonely for you,” I murmured. “You were waiting and she never showed up in the end.”
“I…” he choked.
“Of course, how could anyone bear the thought of their loved one dying in a faraway, unknown place? I can’t deny how heartbroken you must have been. So allow me to apologize on Sakura’s behalf: I’m sorry.”
“You’re not Sakura.” Despite his chastising tone, he wasn’t angry. “So don’t apologize, Kaede.”
My chest warmed when he said my name. “Guess not, huh?”
He gently returned my backrub as, almost to himself, he mumbled, “To begin with, it was wrong for a fox and his master to couple.”
“It’s the Reiwa Era, dummy. Even international and gay marriages are the norm nowadays. A shapeshifting fox and a human are hardly a problem.” I paused for a beat. “Thank Tenjin, right?”
Shinozaki fell silent.
I tightened my embrace. “Don’t reject me because you’re scared of making me miserable,” I said. “Don’t reject me because of my past life. Don’t reject me because I’m a human and you’re a fox. If you’re not interested in me, reject me. If you give me that much, I’ll be able to cry and move on.”
“I…”
A large shape fluttered down from the trees to land lightly on the ground.
“Shino,” Tsukushi said. “You’ve lost. And so have I.”
“Tsukushi…” he and I whispered at the same time.
She smiled, a touch of melancholy in her eyes. “I’m glad you can still say my name with so much kindness, Kaede.”
Nine tails spilled out of her white dress, and pointed ears poked from her golden-brown hair. Evidently, she didn’t plan to hide today.
She walked over to us and placed her forehead against Shinozaki’s back. “Now that Kaede has regained her spiritual energy and chased you all the way here, I can no longer defy her. After all, she and I are still master and servant.” Tsukushi shrugged. “I admit defeat. I did everything I could to make the people I love—Kaede, Sakura, and my little brother—happy. But I was just being meddlesome, wasn’t I?”
She drew back reluctantly, then smiled at us, her hair whipping in the wind. “The rest is up to you, Shino. I’ll go to the Far Shore by myself, so you don’t have to worry about my meddling any longer. I’m sorry for being so manipulative.”
“Wha—?!” I yelped. I slipped out of Shinozaki’s arms and grabbed Tsukushi’s hands.
“K-Kaede?” she stammered, her eyes going wide. She looked so similar to Shinozaki with her golden-brown hair.
“Why are you leaving?” I demanded, leaning close to her beautiful face.
“Huh?”
“Is there some reason you have to go? Why not stay?”
“U-Um…” She stared at me, bewildered, her large eyes seeming to grow even bigger. “You’re not angry with me?”
“Not really. After all, you played the villain in an effort to make us happy, didn’t you?”
“I did, but—”
“Then all’s well that ends well, right? So let’s keep spending time together.”
“You’re sure that’s okay?”
“Of course. I’d be devastated to lose my childhood friend!”
Tsukushi, my precious friend, had always been there for me. I understood that, more than I ever had, yet I couldn’t tell what she thought of my declaration. My heart would break if she disappeared.
She burst out laughing. “You really are an oddball,” she giggled.
Shinozaki nodded, chuckling. “She really is.”
“Wait, what? I didn’t say anything weird!”
Once Tsukushi’s laughter had died down, she and Shinozaki exchanged glances. Their eyes sparkled joyously—as though a centuries-long burden had lifted from their shoulders.
“Very well then,” she said. “I can’t leave you helpless little things here and venture to the Far Shore alone.” She gently pushed me in front of Shinozaki.
He and I gazed at each other.
“Kaede,” he said.
“Yes?”
His hair fluttered in the autumn breeze. I could see myself reflected in his gorgeous, golden eyes. Surely, I marveled, I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.
“I’ll do my best not to,” he said, “but forgive me if I ever mistake you for Sakura.”
“I’ve already taken that into consideration,” I replied. “That sort of thing is par for the course when you date a guy who can’t get over his ex.”
“Have you, uh, ever dated a guy like that?”
“Of course not. I’ve never dated anyone in the twenty years I’ve been alive.”
“So…” he said, “you’re sure you don’t want to do a trial run with a normal human first?”
“Sorry, but I don’t intend to date anyone as a test.”
“If you choose to stay with me…don’t blame me if you die from some ayakashi-related complication.”
“Even if I live a full lifespan, I only have eighty years left at best,” I said. “I’m trusting you to protect me with all your strength for that time.”
“Never leave me,” he whispered.
“I could ask the same of you. No matter how old I get… No matter what I end up looking like, never leave me.”
“I…” He strained to speak. “I don’t want to face this world without you ever again.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll consider renouncing my humanity.”
“That can wait.” Shinozaki wrapped his arms around me. “There’s no need to rush into anything, Kaede.”
I looped my own around his neck, careful not to smear foundation on his snow-white kimono.
“Don’t ever abandon me again,” he said.
“I won’t. Can you promise me the same thing?”
“Of course. I’ll never let go of you.”
Tsukushi caught my eye from behind Shinozaki. “See you later,” she mouthed, waving goodbye before vanishing.
Another autumn gust rustled the mountain grove, and Shinozaki’s ears and tail bobbed in its wake. When I pulled a leaf from his hair, he furrowed his brow momentarily then laughed.
“Shinozaki.”
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me again. Not to absorb my spiritual energy. A normal kiss.”
“…Later.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
We broke into smiles at nearly the same time. Alone in the mountain grove, we nuzzled our foreheads together, laughing softly.
If only we could stay in this moment forever.
Shinozaki’s four-hundred-year love story thus came to a happy end.