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“Tell her, it's better to come clean. Be honest with her. I’m sure she'll understand–”
“And I’m sure she won’t. Don't tell her, Josuke. She'll think you are… mentally unstable. Or at least it'll weird her out.”
“It won’t! She knows how it is you came to be Josuke, so it'll make sense to her, out of all people. Plus, do you really think the two of us talking in your head is the weirdest thing that’s happened in the last couple of months? ‘cause I sure don't, and Morioh isn’t the most normal town either…”
Josuke sighed in relief as the deadpan voice inside his head groaned with annoyance, clearly unable to refute the point the more positive voice had made. Feeling both the defeat and triumph of the quarrel’s conclusion, he smiled to himself and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to focus on the road ahead.
The park around him was full of warm autumn colours, and the air smelled like dried, crunchy leaves and roasting chestnuts and sweet potatoes. It was a peaceful evening to walk around the lush botanical gardens of Morioh,the town that both was and wasn't his home.
“Hey Josuke! Over here!” he faintly heard from way too far ahead. A barely visible pink-haired head bobbed under two outstretched arms that frantically flailed up and down, trying to get his attention. Josuke’s smile grew wider, his heartbeat accelerating with glee as he jogged the rest of the way to Yasuho-chan’s, his girlfriend’s, side. When he reached her, he was laughing breathlessly.
“How did you even spot me from so far away?” he asked between pants. He pressed his hands on his sides gasping into the cold November air.
“Not with my eyes, that’s for sure. Paisley Park pointed you out on my cell phone's GPS map before I could see you,” Yasuho replied with a giggle as her stand shyly poked over her shoulder and waved a little ‘hello’ towards Josuke. She was sitting with her legs folded under her on a wide oak bench. With the last golden rays of the sun caressing her skin, she looked divine to Josuke’s eyes.
“Figures,” he simply concluded, flopping onto the free space beside her and inching close to her shoulder, but not close enough to touch it. “Umm so, Mamezuku-san said he… well, he said he ‘refuses to be our third wheel any longer’, so if we wanted to see him, we should go to his place…” Josuke’s voice faded into a whisper as he coyly fiddled with his fingers, trying to avoid Yasuho’s eyes. His ears were bright red.
“Oh… then, we should go to the ski lift? Unless… you wanted to have a date today?” Yasuho wondered out loud, also staring up into nothingness. Her face was crimson as well.
Neither of them was still over the fact that they had finally confessed. After all that fighting together, helping each other, bleeding for one another, actually verbalising their feelings had been their hardest challenge. But that’s a story for another time.
“A date? Today? Uhh…” Josuke hesitated, drawing a blank as to what a date entailed, or even if it was possible to just have one out of the blue. Didn’t this sort of thing take lots of time and planning? Because he wasn’t ready, this was too sudden! In short, he was panicking a bit.
“You’re taking this too seriously, Josuke. Dates are no big deal, just walk around the park, eat something sweet in the meantime, then finish it up in a love hotel. There’s truly nothing to it,” the clearly unamused voice inside his head explained, and his words did not help with Josuke’s evergrowing anxiety.
“What?! No!! You cannot do that, don’t listen to him on this, Josuke. He’s just… joking, y'know. He doesn’t mean it, really,” the other voice interrupted, alarmed, as if it was trying to correct what the duller voice had suggested before him.
“I don’t remember you complaining when our dates went that way,” the dull, yet amused voice bit back with a chuckle, and those words got muffled, embarrassed noises as a reply. And in the end, none of this mental banter was helping Josuke at all.
“Sorry, Yasuho-chan!” he ended up exclaiming, still red-faced. He was even more confused than before, so he had to give up for now. “I don’t think I’m ready for an impromptu date. I need to… study? Learn? First, I need to figure out what a date is, sorry,” he concluded weakly. The voices in his head sighed, for different, nearly opposite reasons.
“Oh… okay. It’s fine Josuke, take your time,” Yasuho replied, visibly disappointed. She wasn’t sure of what she’d been hoping it'd happen now, with their recent change of status and all. She was just as nervous as he was, but she knew taking the initiative was on her. Although she was aware that their plans for today were to meet up with Mamezuku-san, part of her still wanted to hijack the day. It was pretty selfish, she admitted… Still, she’d not be discouraged by this refusal, so she tried again, now better prepared. “Okay, so today is no good. Too sudden, I get that. Then, how about a Christmas date? It’s still a bit far off, but that gives us more time to plan ahead, right? What do you say to that, Josuke?” she struck back, offering a radiant smile along with her words.
“No. Christmas dates are an absolute bore.”
“That’s not true! You’ve just… never had a good one, now have you? Or maybe, you never had one at all! Being onboard for most holidays and all…”
“Well, that’s correct. I never had one, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what they’re all about. They sound so… gushy and stupidly performative…”
“Well, yeah! Maybe they are like that! Stupid and silly and… nice. Just like any normal date, but with a neat, romantic theme. What’s wrong with that, with having some fun on Christmas?”
“You never had one either, right? How can you even tell if you never–”
“I wanted to take you on one, okay? I really, really wanted to go out with you when it was chilly outside, I wanted to hold your hand for warmth, I wanted to walk through the snow with you, and I… wanted to watch the S-City lights as we kissed by the Christmas tree! But I wussed out, of course… like I always do. God, I regret it so much…”
A solemn silence settled inside Josuke’s head, making his rambling thoughts fall neatly in place as the calm extended. This calm translated to Josuke’s facial expression, which went from stressed and confused (his default expression since he was “born”) to a warm, peaceful, yet mostly blank face. The two voices in his head now sounded like hushed whispers, like they were having a private conversation that did not concern him. ‘Hmm, they’re fixing their problems,’ he thought as quietly as he could, as to not interrupt.
“Umm… Josuke, are you–”
“I'd love to, Yasuho. I mean, I’d love to have a Christmas date… with you,” Josuke interrupted, snapping out of his daze with a near violent resolve. All the noise in his head had only convinced him further on what he had known he needed to do from the start. He had to trust Yasuho fully. “I don’t know much about Christmas or dates though, so I’ll be counting on you to teach me,” he added, and Yasuho nodded energetically as she felt Josuke’s hand finally meet hers, intertwining their fingers.
“Of course I will, don’t worry about it. Leave it all to me, Josuke,” she chirpily reassured him, fully accepting her new mission as his teacher.
“And there’s something else I want to tell you. Something that’s been bothering me for a while…” Josuke started, only to correct himself by stating, “Well, it's not that. It’s not bothersome, it’s just something that’s been living in my mind for a while. And more than something, it’s someone. Two someones, actually.”
Yasuho’s curious expression only grew brighter with these new shades of mystery. She leaned forwards, eyes wide and inquisitive, and mumbled, “Go on…”
Josuke thought he could not love her more, and started to explain his strange case of “voices in his head”.
***
“Today’s the day!” Yasuho said out loud as she rose from her bed, cheerful and energetic. She was so ecstatic for today’s date that she had had a hard time sleeping last night. By the end of it, she had slid into slumber as the sun started rising, so now she was waking up well past noon. But it didn’t matter if she skipped breakfast or her morning drama series, the sheer thrill of her first Christmas date with Josuke was fueling her at the moment.
Like a human whirlwind, she had some coffee, took a short shower, and brushed her teeth; all in less than half an hour. But once she stood in front of the mirror and stared at herself, her frantic pace slowed down as she stopped to consider her outfit and hairstyle options. She needed to look her best for her boyfriend, so she started up with some tasteful enhancement to her usual make-up routine.
‘Josuke… I wonder if he’ll accept Kira-san’s offer and start wearing some of his clothes,’ Yasuho pondered as she teased her eyelashes. After Josuke’s intense soul bearing regarding the voices of Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo living inside his head, she had insisted on speaking to them directly, and basically tried to boss them into being useful (and fatherly?) to Josuke, even if weren’t technically more than 10 years older than him in total.
Josuke had blushed a lot during this chat, and funnily enough both men had concluded that she was worthy of their “son”. They all laughed by the end of it, Josuke looking much more relieved, but the whole situation made Yasuho miss her own dad even more.
“He’s so lucky now that he’s not alone anymore. I’m kinda jealous, but also super happy for him,” she stated out loud as she finished tracing her lips with a soft carmine lipstick. She smiles satisfied and got to loosely braiding her hair, just to freshen up her look a bit. Still, all the layers she’d be wearing on that freezing Sunday day were a huge change up from her usual styling; tights under her mini-skirt, warm boots instead if sneakers, a long-sleeved blouse and a fluffy sweater, and a long, heavy coat over all of it was certainly an image shakeup for her. But then again, she was not a winter person at all. She’d gladly spend all three winter months in bed or under a kotatsu if she could.
“And ready!” she triumphantly declared, clipping her last braid in place. She anxiously checked her watch after one last look at her reflection. The meeting time was still a full hour away, but her jittering would not subside until she was on her way there, so she decided to step out sooner rather than later.
As she walked through the living room straight towards the entrance, Yasuho's mother barely acknowledged her with a grunt. Only after she announced her departure did Suzuyo Hirose unglue her eyes from the TV screen to glance at her daughter. Startled by her “radical” new look, she cruelly laughed and asked: “Oh, aren’t you all dolled-up? Who’re you going to meet, and on Christmas! Your imaginary boyfriend?”
Yasuho let the mean words bounce off her, refusing to even engage. But as she walked away from the front door onto the street, she muttered, “Why yes, I am dolled-up and I am meeting with my boyfriend. My very real boyfriend.”
***
“I’m going to be late!” Josuke screamed in distress as he tripped out of the shower.
“You won’t, dumbass, you literally still have hours to go,” Yoshikage interjected.
“Don’t call him that, he’s just nervous. Wouldn’t you be, on an important first date? Y’know what, don’t answer that. I already know your reply,” Josefumi chastised, punctuating his words with a hopeless sight.
Ever since Josuke had come clean to Yasuho, the voices of Yoshikage and Josefumi had mellowed down a bit, somewhat glad to be acknowledged and to have more of an audience. He had later confided in Kei-san and Holly-san, at Josefumi’s request. The now-deceased student knew his lover would never admit how much he missed his family, so he decided to beg in his stead. And surely enough, Yoshikage insisted it wasn’t necessary, even as he nearly broke down in tears as he heard his mother speaking directly to him after so long. Josefumi also cried for him then, and of course, Josuke cried for all of their stead. It was true, what Yasuho had told him, he was never truly alone.
“You don’t know that, Josefumi. Maybe I was nervous, back when we first went out on a date. Maybe I was deadly nervous and I just… didn’t show it,” Yoshikage mumbled in a secretive tone. His small confession made Josuke’s ear grow pink with self-consciousness that wasn’t his. It was a funny, strange occurrence, sometimes feeling emotions that weren’t his on his body.
“Oh,” was all Josefumi could say back, and his obvious blush crept on Josuke’s cheeks.
“Stop flirting in my head, I need to focus!” Josuke begged like a bratty kid thinking his parents were gross for loving each other in public. He entered the main room and looked around for his usual uniform, the clean one. He could’ve sworn he had left it on the bed.
“You’re not going to wear the same old rags you use daily to your super important date, now are you?” Yoshikage inquired, verbally crossing his arms with his pointed tone.
“For once, I agree with your fath– with Kira-san! I mean, with Yoshikage! Uh–,” Josefumi added, hastily correcting himself as he spoke.
“My what-was-that?” Josuke asked with an impish smile on his lips and an oddly warm feeling in his chest.
“Don’t change the subject, Josuke,” Yoshikage interrupted, trying to derail his line of thought, and insisted, “I’ve already told you countless times that you have de facto inherited everything from me, but especially my clothes. Now, if you wear that old sailor uniform you claim as yours, you will freeze. For December weather you need to get out one of my thicker uniforms, the ones made of wool. I had those in white, orange, light blue, and navy blue. Take your pick.”
“Fine, fine… but only for today, because it’s a special occasion,” Josuke conceded as he dug through the various drawers inside Yoshikage Kira’s former closet. All of these were his now, Josuke reflected as he tried the thickness of the fabric with his fingers. He settled for the navy blue one, as it made him look quite sharp and dapper, he admitted.
“You finally look like an adult, congratulations,” Yoshikage commented with his usual deadpan tone, but still failed to hide his evident pride for his metaphorical son.
“You look great, Josuke. You really do, and you know we both think that,” Josefumi said lovingly, sounding much more obviously happy and even teary-eyed. Yoshikage huffed at Josefumi’s words, so he added mockingly: “Can’t lie to us, Yoshikage. We know what you’re thinking, and we know you love us. Haha, family man!”
“Shut up,” Yoshikage mumbled, completely disarmed and unable to actually deny Josefumi’s words. Josefumi cackled even harder then, loving the fact he had won that exchange, and wishing he could hug and kiss Yoshikage as punishment.
“You two are so stupid… Thanks for being here,” Josuke laughed as combed his hair back with his hand and placed his sailor hat square on his head. He could feel some tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at his own face in the mirror, at his own split up eyes, their eyes. He touched his face lightly and smiled, suddenly overjoyed to be alive and ready for his first Christmas date with his girlfriend.
***
“Okay, so our first stop is… pause for dramatic tension… Christmas KFC!” Yasuho announced with great fanfare, Paisley Park helping her by adding jazz hands behind her.
“KFC? Is that… fried chicken?” Josuke wondered out loud over the train announcement that informed the next station’s name, Nishi-Morioh. He had never taken the train to anywhere (he usually just walked), so everything about it seemed new and kind of frightening to him. Still, Josuke was willing to learn for Yasuho the hard way, so he had steeled his resolve and decided to face it alone. Thankfully, Yasuho shut him down on this idea, knowing he’d get super lost as soon as he left his usual surroundings, so now the date was to start at Morioh-cho Station. It was a swift, shaky ride to S-City on the Express train, but Josuke didn’t mind it too much … as long as they were together.
“Yup, but don’t sweat it. I know you'll mostly fill up on French fries, so I ordered an XXL portion of fries and a small serving of chicken for me. That fact really weirded out the lady taking my takeout order over the phone though,” she laughed as she squeezed Josuke’s hand with hers. Neither had worn gloves or mittens on their way to the station, so now they got to intertwine their frozen fingers for warmth all the way up to S-City. “Wanna know something fun? The restaurant I ordered our food on is the Hirose-dori locale, isn’t that a wild coincidence?”
“There’s a street with your name? Wow!” Josuke commented with childlike wonder in his eyes. He’d never even thought of leaving Morioh for anything, the town was big enough for him, but there was apparently lots to see just a mere half an hour away in the real big city.
“Yeah, it’s so funny. And that one KFC is the closest to the Parade of Starlight plaza, so I’m guessing it's pretty busy on this date. We can’t stay in the restaurant to eat, in fact nobody can. Most KFCs only do takeout on Christmas, it’s that big of a deal!”
“I don’t get it, what’s so good about fried chicken anyways?” Josuke grumbled with a pout. Both the thought of fried chicken and the constant loud rumbling of the train wheels over the rails made his stomach a bit upset.
“It’s all about… traditions, I guess? At least, it’s always been that way in my experience. Not that I’ve actually had the chance to indulge on some nice Christmas KFC with my family in a while… But that’s beside the point, today it's about us! So eat all the fries you want, Josuke,” Yasuho explained, punctuating her words with a sweet kiss on Josuke’s still cold cheek.
“Everything tastes better when I’m with you, Yasuho-chan,” Josuke whispered into her ear, making Yasuho giggle with delight. He felt his own face warm up as he nuzzled it against her soft hair, inhaling her rosy scent. Everything about her soothed him to no end, even if their ride actually had him on the edge of his seat. “The movement on this thing is crazy scary. Are you sure this train isn’t going to blow up?”
“Of course it won’t! You just aren’t used to it, silly. But I bet your body would feel quite at home if we had taken a boat down to S-City bay, right Kira-san?”
‘I guess, but even if– Hey, tell her to stop doing that. It's supposed to be only you and her today, you should pretend we’re not here. And I don’t appreciate it when she addresses me so casually! You cut that out, Yasuho Hirose,’ Yoshikage Kira protested within Josuke’s mind. Yet his words only managed to make his partner laugh out loud, much to his annoyance.
Josuke chuckled at the short exchange, somehow distracted enough by the banter for the knot in his stomach to ease off. Yasuho grinned knowingly, satisfied by the results, and cuddled against her boyfriend for the rest of the ride, ready to stoke the fire a bit more if Josuke seemed to need it.
***
“Ugh, that was wild! I hate crowds… That’s the downside of coming to S-City, I suppose. It’s got like 10 times more people in it, compared to Morioh,” Yasuho grumbled as she nibbled on a fried chicken tender. The meat was crunchy and spicy, a perfect meal to combat the bitter cold that surrounded them. She swallowed with glee, then raised it to Josuke’s face. “Do you want a bite of my chicken? C’mon, just a bite?”
“Ahhh I don’t know! I think I’m good with just fries, thank you,” he excused himself as he stuffed a handful of warm, crispy French fries, topped with black pepper and chilli pepper mix into his mouth. Yasuho hadn't been kidding when she said it was an extra large portion, the thing was a damn bucketful.
“Well fine, but know that you’re missing out. And give me some fries too,” she concluded as she finished her chicken tender, only to bury her hand in Josuke’s bucket. They were both greasy and jolly slowly making their way to the winter illumination display that was S-City’s pride and joy, the Parade of Starlight. “Did you know that the illumination here is world famous? And it’s sooo romantic, especially when it’s all white like this. We kinda lucked out with this last minute snow, huh? I hope it doesn’t stop the trains for too long though... Oh here, have a napkin.”
“Thanks,” Josuke said as he passed the fries bucket to Yasuho and he took the offered bunch of tissue paper; they had stuffed their pockets with them as they waited for their meal. He wiped his hands until they felt clean, then received the bucket back from Yasuho as she cleaned her own hands. Inside the bucket were now the last couple of fries and one or two leftover chicken nuggets. Josuke grimaced at them for a moment before changing his mind and picking one up with the help of a new napkin. Maybe he should try it, he thought. Yasuho was never wrong about anything, so how bad could it be? Already decided, he shoved the whole thing into his mouth and chewed energetically until it was just spicy mush.
“So, what did you think?” Yasuho inquired out of nowhere, with a sly, satisfied look to her. She was staring intently at her boyfriend, giving him and his slow chewing her full attention.
“It was okay, I suppose. French fries are still way better though, so nothing’s changed,” Josuke replied after gulping down the chicken nugget. He covered up the taste by munching on the last fries in the bucket as Yasuho took the last nugget for herself.
“Here, let me get rid of this ridiculous thing,” Yasuho offered as they turned a corner and came face to face with an Owson. Taking the bucket off Josuke’s hand and pulling him towards the convenience store, she added: “And we might as well get something warm to drink too, right? It’s so cold today!”
Yasuho laughed and her visible breath became tiny white huffs of joy to Josuke’s eyes. He nodded in silence, too taken by her beauty to even say a word back, and let himself be pulled into the harsh white light of the conbini. Some minutes later, they walked out, arms linked, sipping on warm lemonade tea and warm strawberry milk respectively.
“So, where’s the lights? I’ve only seen normal lamp posts so far,” Josuke pondered into the chilly air as he looked around with exaggerated affect. Well, his words were only half true, as most stores had some sort of special window display that prominently featured colourful, intermittent lights. But still, that sort of thing was no world famous illumination at all, he concluded.
“Oh Josuke, you’re so impatient. Believe me, you’ll know when we get there. You'll know immediately,” Yasuho whispered in his ear, pushing her body against Josuke’s and tightly squeezing his arm with hers. She had to cling to him as she guided them to Jozenji-dori, their destination, so as to not trip and fall over. Her eyes were once again completely fixed on him. She was looking forward to seeing Josuke’s honest reaction, the mere thought of it made her heart race.
As they turned the last corner, after getting rid of their empty pet bottles on a nearby vending machine trashcan, the traffic lights turned green and allowed them to cross immediately onto the wide median strip lined with tall zelkova trees. Each tree was completely wrapped in thousands of tiny LED lights, making the walkway look like a tunnel of light. The thick crowd walked up and down the street, slowly moving around like leaves on a lazy river. Many, if not most, were couples. Some took pictures with cameras and cellphones under the warm lights, some cuddled and others kissed.
Josuke gasped loudly as soon as the lights hit his eyes. He wasn’t expecting these many, or in this sort of set up. In fact, now that he was there, bearing witness to the splendour, he wasn’t really sure of what he’d thought the display would look like. But not like this, that he was certain of.
“Let’s go, I want to take a picture together!” Yasuho exclaimed as she once again pulled on her beloved's arm, basically dragging him along the crosswalk. And she needed to, as Josuke was almost frozen with awe, slack jawed and wide eyed, powerless against the lights. Yasuho giggled as she stopped trotting, once they were safely on the other side of the road, and raised her arms, stating, “See, I told you you’d know!”
“It’s so beautiful…” Josuke mumbled in a daze. Lost in the lights, Josuke finally was able to blink a bit and notice that Yasuho was standing with her arms wide open for him. He ran to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and back, and planting a big damn kiss on her lips. She giggled again, now against his lips. “Thanks Yasuho.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Now let's get to the other side of this avenue of trees, I’m pretty sure there’s a bigger light display and a nice fountain at the end of it,” Yasuho invited as she kissed Josuke softly once more before parting from his face and taking his hand. “Let’s get cracking, ‘cause there’s something I want to give you when we get there,” she teased, bumping her arm against his.
‘Something? Like… a gift?’ Josuke asked in a bit of a panic. Yasuho seemed to ignore the question as they slowly made their way east. After a while, he suspected he hadn’t even said it outloud, he had just thought it very loud inside his head. Loud enough, apparently, to wake up his “dads”.
“I told you there would be gift giving involved! Why didn’t we get her anything, AH!” Josefumi cried in despair, adding nothing but more coal to the fire.
“Fumi, quiet down. We’re not supposed to be here tonight,” Yoshikage stated plain and simple. “Regardless, I suspect Ms. Hirose did consider your lack of knowledge about Christmas, Josuke-kun. I don’t think she’s expecting a gift from you, at least not today. I know you won’t take my advice, you two love to make a big deal out of nothing, but I think you ought to relax. Let it slide, just… say you’re sorry, or tell her you’ll get her something tomorrow, maybe… give her the gift of great sex, I don’t know. Be creative.”
“Yoshi, your advice sucks so bad,” Josefumi whimpered in dismay. Josuke bit his lip conflicted and stared off at the never ending line of trees before him. He tried focusing on something concrete to stop panicking, something like… Yasuho’s warmth pressed against him. Yes, it was fine. She would understand. Josuke’s pulse settled down slowly as their walking wound down and finally stopped.
“Hey, let's sit here,” Yasuho proposed as they passed by an empty bench, a rare sight considering the amount of people that surrounded them. “It’s still pretty early, but I want to give you your Christmas present right now,” she declared glancing at her watch. Dusk was long gone by then, as the lights obviously pointed out, but she wanted to make sure they’d be able to get a second round of French fries on their way back home.
“Yasuho, I… ah, I don’t… Well, I didn’t think, umm–” Josuke tried excusing himself, gesticulating with his evidently empty hands and a pitiful look on his face, before admitting total defeat and just bowing and nearly screaming a heartfelt: “I’m sorry!”
“Shh, don’t worry, it's fine,” Yasuho softly said as she raised her boyfriend’s head by the chin and laid a tiny kiss on the tip of his nose. The cutesy gesture made Josuke’s tragic expression break into an uncontainable smile. “I knew you wouldn’t have anything for me this time round, so don’t sweat it. You’re still a bit new to, well, everything, so I wasn’t really expecting a gift this year. And I wasn’t going to give you anything either, because of the social pressure of gift exchanging, but I just couldn’t stop myself once I started doing… this!”
“A… bracelet?” Josuke asked as Yasuho produced a macrame hoop from her pocket. Under this lighting, he couldn’t really distinguish the colours well enough, but he did notice it had at least two of them.
“Yeah, it’s not much I know. But it's handmade! And it's all about you…” Yasuho started narrating, as she undid the bangle’s fastener and wrapped it around Josuke’s skinny wrist. “When you told me about your two ‘halves’ actually living in your head, I admit I was shocked. I didn’t doubt you, of course, and when carefully considered it makes too much sense that you got their voices inside you. I’m sure that Yoshikage Kira gave you so much more stuff, aside from the obvious, and the equivalent exchange didn’t just modify the body of Josefumi Kujo, but also created a new being. It created you.”
“It created me…” Josuke repeated, staring at his own adorned wrist; the two threads intertwined in a repetitive pattern around it, creating a firm rope that lightly graced his skin every now and again. Its touch felt like a loving caress.
“Yes! Just like this bracelet is made up of two different threads. Well, it's a bit overly simple and obvious as a metaphor, I know, but it really made me think of you. Josuke, I’m so glad you… exist. I’m so happy you’re alive. I love you,” Yasuho finished, with a tender smile and tearful eyes.
Josuke grabbed Yasuho’s face and captured her lips with his hungrily. As he deeply kissed her, he could feel the happy tears streaking her cheeks and touch his thumb. He smudged the tears away, his heart racing in his ribcage. He could feel Yasuho’s hands, one behind his nape and one over his chest. She had him completely, both heart and soul. “I love you too. God, I love you so much,” he mumbled unintelligibly into their kiss, and Yasuho giddy reaction made it clear that she had somehow understood his words. She always understood him perfectly, she really was the only one for him.