“Akane! Akari!” he called out. “Wait a second!”
Older and younger sister looked back at him with similarly curious looks on their faces.
“Mr. Demon Slayer?”
“Is something wrong?”
“I want you to tell me everything you know about the vine lantern,” he said. The girls each blinked slowly, eyes opening wide in surprise.
“Wee hee hee … What? Really? Why, you … Wee hee hee! Fwoo fwoo … Huh? Hee hee hee hee … Oh, Nezuko, you … Ngh ngh …”
That evening, Zenitsu was in the middle of an extremely good dream when someone fiercely shook his shoulders where they poked out from under his blankets.
“Nooo … Go away … Aah, I’m at a really good part right now … Don’t bother me, Inosuke … Ngh … Wee hee hee … That’s not true … Mwah mwah … Nezuko, you are so cute … Snrr hee hee.” He rolled over to try and escape the annoying hands on his shoulders.
The person trying to wake him remained silent but undettered.
Now something whapped him on the forehead, and his brow creased as he slept.
“Mmm … What? Now it’s Tanjiro? I’m talking about love with Nezuko, so hang back a bit … Fwoo fwoo … Right, Nezuko …”
Whap, whap, whap.
“Ever since we first met, Nezuko, I’ve been … Hee hee! Wee hee hee … No, it’s true … Snrr … Right? We’re destined to be together … Snrr snrr …”
Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, whap!
“Gah! Come on! I said, shut up! What’s with the whap-whap-whapping! Huh? What, exactly?! You’re being mean! Why do you both hate me?” Zenitsu snapped, finally opening his eyes at the persistent slapping.
However, the person peering at him in the darkness was not Inosuke nor Tanjiro, but Nezuko, who was out of her box for some reason. The moment he saw her, his anger vanished without a trace.
“N-N-Nezuko? W-w-w-what’s the matter? I mean, it’s the dead of night.” Zenitsu literally leaped up from his futon, flustered, his face as red as a lobster. “Wait. Did you actually come to see me?! No, of course that’s not it. Ah, ah ha ha … Oh! Is Inosuke’s snoring too loud maybe? Ha ha ha! He really is something else, huh?”
Nezuko shook her head firmly, and her glossy black hair swung back and forth.
“Huh? Th-that’s not it? Wait. Me? Is it me? Was I snoring?! Or maybe I was grinding my teeth?! I’m so sorry!” Zenitsu flailed his hands pointlessly, rushing to apologize.
Nezuko shook her head once more as she indicated the futon next to him with an impatient “Mmf.”
Here, the unnatural movement of Zenitsu’s hands stopped. “Huh? What? Is something wrong with Tanjiro?”
Zenitsu peered at Tanjiro’s futon, and his eyebrows jumped up as he shrieked in surprise. The futon where Tanjiro should have been sleeping was empty. Inosuke, meanwhile, was snoring on the futon on the opposite side, dead asleep.
Nezuko looked around anxiously. Zenitsu suddenly understood. She was looking for Tanjiro.
Most likely, Nezuko had climbed out of her box after night fell, realized her brother was nowhere to be found, and shaken Zenitsu awake.
Aah, dear, sweet Nezuko. You’re too cute. You really do love your big brother. I’m so jealous, Tanjiro. But she came to me for help and not Inosuke. Aah, dear, sweet Nezuko, I love you.
Zenitsu’s heart tightened in his chest.
“I’m sure he just went to the washroom,” he said reassuringly, with a flirtatious look. “He’ll probably be back soon.”
“Mmf! Mmmf!” Nezuko shook her head fiercely, like she was angry. “Mmf!”
Sensing that something was out of the ordinary with her, Zenitsu flipped back Tanjiro’s blanket and touched his futon.
“Huh?”
It was cold. The icy chill drained the red from Zenitsu’s face. The total lack of warmth made it very hard to believe that someone had been sleeping there until recently.
When Zenitsu searched the room, he found that Tanjiro’s corps uniform and his Nichirin sword were gone. In their place, the kimono he’d been wearing was set out, folded neatly.
“So he went somewhere? Tanjiro?!” Zenitsu was worried now. He yanked open the sliding door that led to the garden. It was dark outside, which made the stars shine all the more beautifully.
“Right,” he said. “Today’s the new moon.”
The events of the afternoon suddenly came flooding back to him.
The way Tanjiro had sounded different from normal after seeing the young bride. The legend of the vine lantern, the flower that brings marriage to one’s true love and all the happiness in the world. Tanjiro’s heart skipping a beat the moment Nezuko’s name came up. The wooden box shaking on his back as Tanjiro went after the two girls.
Zenitsu looked back at Nezuko. “He couldn’t have.”
The girl who Tanjiro loved more than anything in this world—certainly more than his own self—scowled and clutched her brother’s futon.
His field of view showed the starry heavens.
“Unh … Unnnh …”
Tanjiro was lying on the damp ground.
The apparent cliff he’d fallen from was higher up than he’d expected. Thankfully, he’d happened to fall on a pile of dead leaves, which saved him, but it seemed that he’d lost consciousness for a while.
“Ngh!” A quiet groan slipped out of him when he tried to sit up.
His whole body hurt, especially his ribs. They had almost completely healed, and now this. He would feel incredibly pathetic if they broke again. And he’d never be able to look Hisa in the eyes again, not after she’d taken such good care of him.
I can’t believe I fell off a cliff.
Ashamed by his own lack of training, he sat up as gently as he could. The dull pain remained, but it seemed that nothing was broken.
Just as he let out a sigh of relief, a nearby shrub rustled. The cause of his fall appeared from between its branches, and Tanjiro’s face split into a grin.