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“I’m so going to get fired, aren’t I…” Aoba mutters to himself as he stares blankly into his convenience store bento, “Five months of research and I just let those flowers die. The science community will have my head for this, I just want to go disappear into the mountains.”
Aoba Hashibira, a young man of 15 -or early 20s as the media would present in his scientific career, other professionals wouldn’t stand knowing a young teenager was making discoveries at such an alarming rate as he was and besting their decades long careers- is gifted with many things. A beautiful mind that is matched by his equally elegant appearance, gorgeous peridot eyes with skin as fair as a porcelain doll and striking onyx hair that faded to a bright azure which complimented so well, encompassed in a petite frame that looked almost frail like a single jasmine flower; one could easily mistake him for a young maiden. A quiet nature that lead to a friendly atmosphere, he got along with most people he met, but never got too close with any of them. An immense knowledge of flora and fauna from family experiences passed through the generations that has been a large contributor to his success as a botanist, among countless other details.
His family lineage has had great ties with nature since the Taisho era, he had heard rumors among his relatives that his great-grandfather was an unkempt wild child who roamed the mountains since birth and felt more akin to animals than humans, but Aoba knew better than to believe them. His great-grandmother was shrouded in mystery, she and his great-grandfather were not together for very long, having a short-lived marriage due to lack of commonality, but had three children in their time together; leading to Aoba’s rather large extended family. But his great-grandmother was touted in their family as gifted with her vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and the healing she offered later in life, even having worked for a long-defunct non-sanctioned agency that served as how she and his great-grandfather met.
Since young, much like his great-grandfather Inosuke, Aoba loved the outdoors and the natural life of the ecosystem. He had been particularly drawn to flowers, and the stories of the Blue Spider Lily his family spoke of from his great-grandfather’s time lead him down the road of botany. By age 12, he had written and presented his first major thesis and was welcomed into the scientific community to a resounding acceptance. Aoba never expected a paper he wrote for his junior high science class would kickstart his professional career and ultimately lead him to finishing school early; having taken his high school equivalency exams at age 14 and passing them with flying colors. With nothing to hold him back, he threw himself into his work and was able to make major discoveries around the illusive lily that plagued researchers for decades.
And right when he presented his findings to the world, he makes an elementary blunder of letting his subjects wilt. One press conference later and Aoba feels like a failure, never in his life had he ever felt like this, so defeated and downtrodden. He would never consider himself cocky, or even confident for that matter, but botany was his, it was what he was good at. Having failed at botany, it was crushing, like he was a warrior who had been defeated for the first time.
Huffing a sigh, Aoba stood from the park bench and tossed his unfinished lunch in a nearby garbage can, his thoughts long since ruined his appetite. Turning, Aoba began wandering through the park, quaintly named Yaiba Park, the park was quite vast, filled to the brim with bright lilac wisterias in full bloom that always felt strangely familiar and nostalgic to him, as if protecting him from something. It shared grounds with Kimetsu Academy, the local high school in this particular ward of Tokyo, Aoba’s eyes always stayed far too long on the immaculate building, the thoughts always came across his mind that he should be a student there; had he not prioritized his career.
What would his life be like if he was just a normal high school student?
Aoba had to wonder, his personal nature and professional life has limited his social interactions, while he could get on with anyone, he did not fit in with the science community on a friend-basis due to the drastic age difference; even with his falsified age. He was too young for the stiff adults of the professional elite, and he was too poised and articulate to even try to relate to peers his age.
Aoba just didn’t belong with people.
Maybe he was closer to his great-grandfather than he thought, if what the stories he had been told were true, perhaps he had inherited his innate inclinations of nature from Grandfather Inosuke. For some reason or another, Aoba always felt plants understood him better than any person ever could. Maybe leaving for the mountains wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Kimetsu’s bell chimed at the strike of the new hour, and floods of teenagers clad in their crisp uniforms came strutting out for their lunch period. Aoba always hated this time, it made the park noisy and crowded, and he was forced to gaze at the carefree nature of normal teenagers. Students took their perch all over the grounds and Aoba wished for nothing more than to disappear or be blown away by the spring breeze that raced through the petals of the wisteria trees.
Not wishing to stay any longer, Aoba swirled on a heel and faced opposite the school and sped his way through the shuffling crowd of students, hoping no one would notice his presence; then again, what high school students stays up to date in the world of botany? As he rushed, his ears caught snippets of conversations that he could only imagine having.
“Hey, can I borrow your math homework? I completely forgot to do it!”
“Did you see Uzui won the gold in gymnastics yesterday?”
“I kinda want to go check out that snake decorated restaurant down the road, let’s go!”
Aoba has never had any of these kinds of conversations, he’s typically by himself and he’s never truly had close friends like most others seem to have. Even his antisocial great-grandfather who liked animals more than people had close companions throughout his life. Maybe he was truly destined to be alone…
“Man, Sumihiko, you’re really gonna get it when you get home.”
Aoba’s ears perked at this sentence, spotting two boys about his age, one blonde with red highlights and the other a brunette that faded into a mahogany red. The blonde had a large smile and eyes that seemingly pierced straight through whatever he may look at, the other looked somewhat saddened, but his round cheeks were upturned in a somewhat grin as he responded to his friend.
“Well, it’s not everyday you get a call that the police had to talk to your son…”
Police? What kind of life was this kid living??
The onyx-haired boy chuckled a bit at the banter between the friends quietly to himself, they must be quite close.
Suddenly, the brunette boy happened to gloss over in Aoba’s general direction and his brick eyes caught his. Electricity surged through Aoba’s spine, a rush of some sensation he has never experienced before pulses through his being and he feels what is like a throb at his brain.
“…y th… re yo… m… ce li th…"
“…qu… fai… an… attr…"
Aoba shook his head to ease the pain, flashes of a conversation he has never had flood in his mind, or perhaps he had and just didn’t remember.
Before he could do anything else, he felt some thing grip his hand tightly, glancing up, he found another hand which connected to that brunette boy from before. His grip was strong, like a man’s or with the intention of not letting go, and his rustic eyes seemingly peered into Aoba’s very soul; his confused visage reflected back at him in those warm orbs.
His bewilderment must have been noticed, as the boy’s gaze faltered and his grip lightened, “Oh, um… Sorry! I just… I don’t…”
“Are you okay, do you need something from me?” Aoba asks, taking a half step back, ready to make a dash in an instant.
“Um, I… I don’t know why but, something told me to approach you. It was like I heard a conversation in my head and it made me want to talk to you.”
Had he heard it, too?
“Pardon?” Aoba plays off, not certain if he wanted to engage with this boy or not.
“Hey, Sumihiko, where’s the fire, what happened?” the boy’s blonde friend called as he approached the two.
“Ah, Tojuro, sorry.” the boy replied, so his name is Sumihiko.
The blonde, Tojuro, smiled brightly, “Not a problem, this a friend of yours?”
Sumihiko shook his head, “Oh, no, I don’t know him.”
Aoba was actually impressed the boy took immediate note of his gender, it’s not a common occurrence for him.
“Um, can you let go of my hand by the way?” Aoba spoke, he felt his cheeks warm as he caught the looks of some students trying to snoop on the scene.
Sumihiko’s own cheeks shined a bright pink as he quickly let go, “Sorry! Hey, wait a second…” he said as he leaned closer to Aoba, causing him to flinch as the boy inspected him closely, “Aren’t you that botanist guy? What was it… Naoto Nakahira?”
“Aoba Hashibira.”
“Right!” Sumihiko said, clapping a fist against his temple, and then another rush pursed through Aoba.
“My na… is… jir… ma…"
Cringing, Aoba spared a glance at his company and noticed Sumihiko held his own head in pain, what was going on?
Tojuro looked between the two, “Are you guys okay? Do we need to go to the hospital?”
“Nah, it’s fine, Tojuro.” Sumihiko held a hand up towards his friend, in an attempt to ease his worry.
“Well, I’ll try to grab you guys some drinks, so just stay put here!” Tojuro declared and then dashed off to find a vending machine.
Peridot met brick as the two boys could only stare at each other, a silent understanding building between the two of them.
“Are you sure we don’t know each other?” Sumihiko asked.
“You know, I’m not quite sure anymore.” Aoba answered.
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A few days had passed since this encounter, Tojuro was kind enough to find them some iced coffee and the two felt better, Aoba chose to stay to talk with the two students before their school bell chimed, alerting their time to return to class, however, Sumihiko had requested the two meet up again during the weekend privately; Aoba agreed readily.
Aoba was genuinely surprised of his own response, he truly never felt much proclivity to seek people out or even spend time with anyone outside of what was necessary for work and family obligation. But something about Sumihiko, and these headaches and flashes, drew out the curiosity Aoba thought was only held towards botany.
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Aoba stood beneath the same wisteria trees of Yaiba park, a neat bed of red spider lilies were planted at its base, and Aoba couldn’t help but admire them; while he certainly preferred the blue ones, the red were just as stunning. He was clad in navy pants that were quite baggy on him, engulfing his legs, he wore a light tan hooded jacket that had some fur peeking out of the hood. Aoba loved to dress down, his stuffy labcoat never felt right on him, even if he was a professional scientist, he much preferred these comfortable and casual clothing.
“Aoba-san, sorry I’m late!” a voice called, gaining his attention.
Sumihiko came running up, clad in a green and black plaid button down, black skinny jeans hugged his surprisingly sculpted legs, a black crossbody bag hung across his chest, and his wavy hair seemed even less tamed than it had the day they first met.
“Sorry, I overslept and I asked my brother to wake me up, but he just left me there to go on a date with his girlfriend.” Sumihiko gasped out, hunching over to catch his breath before standing upright, fingers running through his tresses in an attempt to tame them.
“That’s fine, I just got here a bit ago.” Aoba replied, taking the time to take a closer inspection of his companion.
Green was definitely Sumihiko’s color, it matched his peach complexion flawlessly and the black served as a gorgeous accent, his calves looked fit to burst from the confining denim of his jeans, seemingly crafted from numerous athletic activities the boy probably participated in. Despite only being about an inch or so taller than himself, Sumihiko stood as if he were a mountain, shoulders squared, back straight, and with the confidence Aoba himself hasn’t seemed to find yet.
“You look nice.” Was all Aoba could manage and he could feel his face heat up as a result of his words.
Sumihiko’s cheeks tinged a soft rose as he scratched the back of his head, “Ah thank you, Aoba-san, you look lovely.”
“Huh?!”
Heat rushed throughout the entirety of the boys faces, even their ears took the shade of the spider lilies that laid by their feet.
“Oh my god, did I say that out loud! I’m so sorry, Aoba-san, I meant nice, or good. I mean, you looked nice before, but… I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore.” Sumihiko flushed, his words spilling out faster than his brain could comprehend.
“It’s alright Sumihiko-kun, and just ‘Aoba’ is perfectly fine.” Aoba said, digging his toes into the dirt as he glanced away from the other.
Sumihiko calmed himself, “Ah okay, then just ‘Sumihiko’ is good, too.”
Aoba nodded his head and the two found a bench to sit at, they sat close together, the ebony-haired teen couldn’t tear his vision from their knees and the thought that if he were to just shift a hair to his left, they would be touching.
“So, um… How should we go about this?” Sumihiko’s words snapped Aoba’s attention back to the matter at hand and he straightened himself to face him.
“Well, we seemed to have strikingly similar, if not the exact same occurrence happen of recalling a conversation we’ve both never had.” Aoba began.
Sumihiko nodded his head, “Yeah, when I first saw you, I couldn’t make much out of what was said so I thought I had imagined it, but when it happened again, it felt as if a name was being said.”
Aoba hummed at this, “Yes, that is much like what I heard, but I did not hear the name either. But how could that be possible, we’ve never even met before a few days ago.”
Sumihiko shrugged, “I don’t know, my parents always mentioned spooky stuff has always occurred in my family.”
“Spooky how?” Aoba inquired.
“Well… I’m not sure how true it is, since I’ve never seen it documented in history books or anything. But I was told that in the times of my great-grandfather, demons existed; like actually real demons, and had been for hundreds of years. He and my great-grandmother and his friends, my friends Yoshiteru and Touko’s great-grandparents, worked as Demon Slayers. And like, other crazy things like that, we even have what’s supposedly my great-grandfather’s katana hung up on the wall.” Sumihiko described.
Aoba could only stare at Sumihiko as he described these details, it matched so much to the stories he had been told growing up of his own great-grandparents escapades, but there was no way that could’ve been true.
“Demon Slayers? That’s absurd, impossible.”
“I thought so too, but I did bring this for today,” Sumihiko opened his bag and pulled out a framed picture, in it were countless figures of various ages happily grinning, “this is my great-grandfather, Tanjiro Kamado,” Sumihiko spoke, pointing to the boy that was right in the middle of the picture, “and that’s my great-grandmother, Kanao Tsuyuri.” his finger navigated towards the left of the picture, resting on a girl with a side ponytail. While the resemblance between Sumihiko and his ancestor was striking, something else caught Aoba’s sheen eyes.
“Wait, can I see this?” Aoba asked, lightly gripping the frame as Sumihiko held it between them.
Sumihiko nodded and let go of the picture, Aoba locked onto the figure immediately to the right of Sumihiko’s ancestor. A boar head, on what a passerby could only assume to be was a boy, it was rather peculiar, but something all too familiar to Aoba.
“Grandfather Inosuke?”
Sumihiko’s orbs widened, “Inosuke-san is your grandfather??”
“Well, great-grandfather, I was told he had some kind of non-sanctioned job as something like a soldier, but nothing like this… Is that why we have jagged katanas in the house?” Aoba pondered.
“My dad used to tell me stories he heard from Grandpa Tanjiro about him and the rest of the people in these pictures, and my friends’ have a shed that has diaries recorded by their one ancestor, him,” Sumihiko pointed to a boy near the center, “and that’s my great-grandfather’s sister, Nezuko, she married that guy. I was told the four of them were all super close friends.”
Aoba stared at the picture, he couldn’t believe that those stories he had heard were true, and on the very far left, by Sumihiko’s great-grandmother, was a young girl with pigtails held in butterfly clips. While he had never seen her face before, Aoba just knew who it was, “My great-grandmother is here, too.” he thought.
“But that’s weird, if they were all so close, why have I or my friends never met you before?” Sumihiko asked.
“From what my grandfather has told me, Grandfather Inosuke stuck around until his children were grown and then returned to the mountains. He told me Grandfather Inosuke always felt distant, and he and my great-grandmother didn’t work out for a lot of reasons, but what was probably the biggest reason was he loved someone else.”
Sumihiko stared straight at Aoba as he shared these details, “He loved someone who wasn’t his wife?”
“I’m not sure, he and Grandmother Aoi definitely cared for each other and they seemingly tried for awhile to make it work, but there was always something between them that felt off, even to their kids. They separated as a couple when my dad’s youngest sibling was still a baby, Grandmother Aoi helped with taking care of them, but she wasn’t overly involved, it’s to the point that most of us nowadays don’t know much about her, including me. But what I know of their relationship was they just didn’t share much in common and they worked better as friends, but Grandfather Inosuke always seemed lonely to his kids for some reason. So everyone assumed it was because he wasn’t with who he truly wanted to be with, which probably leads to why we’ve never met, no one was there to keep those bonds alive.”
“That’s so sad, I couldn’t imagine, I know Grandma Kanao was Grandpa Tanjiro’s second love, but I know they were happy together.” Sumihiko added.
“Second love? What happened to the first?” Aoba questioned.
Sumihiko shrugged, “Dunno, my grandpa never really asked much about it, but apparently Grandpa Tanjiro fell for someone before Grandma Kanao, but was never able to pursue it, so he kinda moved on? But my grand-aunt told me she asked once, and apparently he was still in love with his first love the whole time, but Grandma Kanao was fine with it.”
“It’s so weird both of our ancestors have such messy love lives.”
“Yeah.”
Static shot through Aoba’s core in that very moment, crackling in his brain made him grip his head, he could distantly hear groaning beside him; seemingly Sumihiko is going through the same.
Rather than words, a muddied scene is displayed, traditional buildings can be made out, two figures sitting on a rooftop, clad in what seemed to be kimonos, bright smiles shone through the shroud of the mental imagery. A dash of blue and a sprinkle of red illuminated some of the scene as some vagueness of a conversation could be heard.
“…do… ie…ny….cir….ok?”
“eve…ou…no…wh…i…ryi…ay”
This was by far the clearest of the experiences the two have had so far, and emerald locked with ruby in an instant, “What did you see?” Sumihiko asked.
“A roof, two people in kimono, and I heard some of a conversation.” Aoba detailed.
“Me too, this is freaky.” the redhead voiced.
Aoba nodded in agreement, “What is going on?”
Silence fell between the two, Sumihiko’s picture laid forgotten between them.
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Despite these interactions triggering these memory bursts, as Sumihiko dubbed them, Aoba and Sumihiko began seeking each other out regularly. Aoba began joining Sumihiko and Tojuro on their lunch breaks, even having met the ever-elusive brother and friends: Kanata, Touko, and Yoshiteru. They were all charming characters with some bizarre quirks to them, but for some reason, Aoba liked it. He liked them.
But there was something in particular with Sumihiko, he was just different. He felt familiar, even aside from the memory bursts, Sumihiko felt like someone Aoba used to know; someone he wishes he never left. They slowly increased the amount of time they spent together, from meeting up for lunch, to occasional weekend hangouts, to now they see each other at least once a day.
Aoba has taken some leave from his research to enjoy this newfound bond and to devote time to understanding the phenomenon occurring between him and Sumihiko. No books or articles existed explaining this, the closest Aoba could find were videos and blogposts about people claiming to have memories of past lives, but reincarnation is just a personal philosophy; it’s nothing based in science.
But then again, what else could it be? How else could one explain experiencing memories that are simultaneously your own and not? Especially ones shared with another individual and are experiencing the same thing at the same time.
It’s unprecedented.
“Aoba? You hear me?” Sumihiko’s silky tenor resounded.
“Huh, what?” Aoba returned to reality, glancing to his companion.
The two were sitting in the increasingly popular snake-themed restaurant near Kimetsu Academy, they sat at a table near the counter where the short husband cut some vegetables while the beautiful wife chatted with another customer. Aoba’s extra-large serving of curry rested virtually untouched before him as Sumihiko cocked a brow at him as he waited on a more telling response.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you, can you repeat it?” Aoba said.
Sumihiko grinned and leaned back in his chair, “I asked if you had any luck in your research on this thing between us.”
Something about the phrasing made Aoba’s face feel hot and he could have sworn steam was flowing out of his ears, much like the curry in front of him.
“Not much, mostly people’s convoluted theories, but no proper research.”
Sumihiko hummed at this as his spoon pushed around his own food, “Do you think… No, no way.”
“What, Sumihiko?” Aoba asked.
“Nothing, it’s crazy anyway.” Sumihiko chuckled, his cheeks flushing at his thoughts.
Now it was Aoba’s turn to have an upturned brow, “Nothing could be crazier than what we’re experiencing, you can say it, I won’t laugh.”
Sumihiko locked eyes with Aoba for a few moments, before doing a once over of their surroundings, the crowded restaurant was more concerned with their own food and conversations to be worrying about anything else. Once comfortable to speak again, Sumihiko leaned forward, a hand cupping around the side of his mouth to limit volume and whispered.
“Do you believe in reincarnation?”
Aoba’s eyes widened and then another surge occurred, a memory burst coming forward, bloodied figures laid across compact ground, tears and words flew with incredible volume, but nothing could be comprehended. Guttural growls reverberated throughout the scene, desperate cries were muffled by the colliding of bodies, the same two figures from the previous memory burst could be seen, but still not fully.
Aoba felt as if he was being pushed down and pinned, with hot tears streaming down his face as his breaths felt shallow, feeling the heat of the gasps as if they were trapped within a mask. Sumihiko felt like his body was on fire, pure agony and terror coursing through him, the sensation of shoving someone down flowed through his arms and his throat clenched as he desired nothing more than sink his teeth into something, someone.
“I can’t do it, Tanjiro, I can’t…”
The two gasped as they were thrusted back to reality, Aoba was shaking, sweat dripping from his forehead like rain from the sky, Sumihiko felt as if he had been electrocuted and threw himself up from his chair, the seat clattering to the floor with the volume of a thunder crack. The eyes of the patrons and owner couple were on them, Aoba could feel his throat closing, there were too many people looking.
Sumihiko clapped his hands to his face, he quickly lifted his chair back up, placed money on the counter by the couple and quickly muttering an apology, took hold of Aoba’s hand with a gentle care, but silent strength and lead them out of the restaurant. Once outside, instincts kicked through his veins and Sumihiko was running, pulling Aoba along with him.
“Su-Sumi… Sumihiko! Stop! I can’t keep up!” Aoba called, the fast pace of Sumihiko’s strides were difficult for the smaller boy to keep up with, his feet catching on themselves multiple times, he would have fallen onto the hard concrete had it not been for Sumihiko’s careful hold.
“Hold on! Just a bit further!” Sumihiko shouted, he lead them to a residential area filled with apartments, large buildings with countless balconies to be seen, “Elevator would take too long, Aoba, hold on.”
Before Aoba could fathom a reply, he felt his weight be scooped out from under him, his feet losing touch of the ground as he fell back into sturdy arms that did not fit the svelte body of Sumihiko. Somehow, despite the extra weight in his arms, Sumihiko jumped straight up, his feet kicking off the balconies and catapulting them upwards. Aoba’s arms found their way around Sumihiko’s neck, clinging for dear life, he dared not look down.
Eventually, Sumihiko reached a stop, landing on a familiar balcony to him, “We’re here.” he said, voice low with a sense of delicacy Aoba has not yet heard from him.
“Ha… Have you lost your mind?” was all Aoba could muster, his grip not loosening for even a moment.
“I uh… I thought it’d be faster?” Sumihiko replied as he sheepishly placed Aoba back on his feet, holding him steady as his knees nearly gave way once he touched down.
“Well, where are we?”
“My house.”
Sumihiko opened the door that connected the balcony to the apartment, removing his shoes before entering, Aoba followed suit, but still incredulously perturbed over what had just occurred, “Are we not gonna talk about that memory burst?”
“We are, just give me a second.” Sumihiko said as he pulled things off the wall, Aoba took a seat on the couch in the living room area, taking deep breaths to gather his bearings once more.
Sumihiko joined him, holding the picture he had showed Aoba not long before once more, along with a framed glass case and a katana with a flame-shaped pommel.
“What’s with this?”
“This was Grandpa Tanjiro’s sword when he was a Demon Slayer,” Sumihiko placed the sheathed blade on the coffee table that rested in front of them, “these are family earrings that used to be passed down to the first son of the Kamado family, Grandpa Tanjiro was the last to properly wear them.” Sumihiko then placed the glass case down, within was a pair of rectangular earrings, depicting hanafuda cards.
“These were two of the most important things to Grandpa Tanjiro,” Sumihiko continued, pointing to his great-grandfather in the picture once more, “I didn’t get great looks at them in the burst, but they were definitely there, maybe if we interact with them together…”
“You want to have another one so quickly? That last one was the clearest ever, I heard a coherent sentence!” Aoba cried, sliding a bit away from Sumihiko and the items.
Sumihiko nodded, “I did too, but we need to figure this out and I think… I think what I said earlier isn’t too far off from the truth… I… I just want to know, Aoba.”
Aoba breathed as he took in the words and Sumihiko’s appearance, he looked desperate, but also hopeful. His eyes shone brightly like always, but a different gleam reflected in them, he wants answers, he wants to know why this is happening. Understand why they are connected the way they are.
Gulping, Aoba nods, he slides himself closer to Sumihiko, the redhead wrapped an arm around the other’s shoulders and the two stared at the katana and earrings with caution. Slowly, but surely, they reached out to them, Sumihiko taking hold of the earrings, Aoba the katana.
Another surge, but unlike the others, it was a sense of calming, like a serene pool of water washed over them, finally a perfectly bright image displayed before them. There was no doubt, it was Tanjiro and Inosuke, while they had their beliefs from the previous experiences, they just could not be certain. But now, it all made sense.
The two stood beneath a wisteria tree, a gentle breeze coursing through, Tanjiro’s earrings whipping around as a result, Inosuke’s boar mask rested on the ground, showing off his beautiful face for the first time clearly in these bursts. They seemed older than they appeared in the picture, possibly in their twenties, Tanjiro was taller, broader, his left arm was horribly shriveled and looked like it would fall off at any moment and his right eye was clouded and tinted an almost purple shade. Inosuke stood not much smaller, his sculpted physique on full display as always, but his hair was quite a bit longer and a small ponytail rested at the top of his head while the rest hung free.
“Are you sure this is for the best?” Inosuke spoke, his gruff baritone shocking to hear in contrast to his feminine appearance.
“No… If I could have it my way, I wouldn’t have to make this decision.” Tanjiro spoke, his tone somber.
Inosuke chuckled, “You want a family more than anything.”
“I know, but… That doesn’t mean I can’t have it with you…”
“Look Tanjiro, you and I both know you want little piglets to be yours. From you… I can’t give you that, no matter how hard I try.”
Tanjiro lifted his good arm, his fingers caressing Inosuke’s pale cheek with the softest touch he could muster, Sumihiko felt the sensation in his fingers, the gentle motion of the strokes teasing at his knuckles and Aoba’s cheek felt as if it was pressed slightly, but in the most pleasant way one could imagine.
“This isn’t fair…” Tanjiro said.
Inosuke shook his head, “Hell no, but when has it ever been… For any of us…”
“I want you.”
“I want you, too.”
Tanjiro’s hand cupped Inosuke’s cheek as Sumihiko’s eyes locked with Aoba’s.
“I want you to be happy.”
“Me too.”
They leaned forward, their lips brushing ever so softly, Sumihiko and Aoba’s own lips tingled from the sensation, as they pulled apart, a deep sadness mirrored in their shared gaze, but an understanding came over them in an instant.
“I love you” was said at the same time as they pressed their foreheads together.
They stayed like that for an immeasurable amount of time until finally, tragically, Inosuke pulled away, “Now go be happy.” his voice was quiet, soft, and seemed as if it would break.
Tanjiro nodded, “You too.”
The return to reality was as serene and calm as it was entering that scene, when the setting of the Kamado family apartment came back into view, Sumihiko and Aoba’s faces were drenched in tears as they desperately clung to each other, just needing to feel the other, to know that they were still there, that they weren’t going to leave.
No words were said between them, they just held on, with no intention of letting go.
Outside, wisteria petals flew through the breeze, scattering in the wind and flying in any direction one could think of. One lone petal broke from the breeze, falling down, down towards a lattice-roof, falling through an open panel. Inside was a greenhouse with various forms of flora and vegetation, and that single lavender colored petal landed in a filled pot, and in it, stood one stunning Blue Spider Lily.