"Wow! Inosuke's ohagi is too big, isn't it?" Tanjirou exclaimed, looking at the ohagi that was much larger than a fist.
Can he even finish that?
"Gompachiro, what do you know? This is what a real man eats!" Inosuke held up the ohagi with one hand, waving it in front of everyone, his expression arrogant.
"Yes, yes, you're a real man. You'd better finish it."
Zenitsu really couldn't do anything about Inosuke. He turned his head to look at Nezuko-chan beside him.
Nezuko-chan looks so cute in her pink apron!
Seeing the serious expression on her adorable little face, Zenitsu felt a wave of tenderness in his heart.
Ah~ Nezuko-chan is so cute~
The ohagi she made are so beautiful too! As expected of Nezuko-chan!
Zenitsu secretly memorized the appearance of the ohagi Nezuko made. Once they were steamed, he would definitely claim them all!
He clenched his fist, cheering himself on, forgetting that he still had an unformed ohagi in his hand. He squashed it, and the sticky filling and glutinous rice skin covered his palm.
"Mr. Zenitsu, please don't play with food!"
Nezuko saw it, put her hands on her hips, and raised a finger still dusted with glutinous rice flour to admonish him.
"Yes!"
Nezuko continued to focus on making ohagi, her small hands very nimble. In just a few movements, she could create a beautifully shaped ohagi. She sprinkled some glutinous rice flour on the cutting board to prevent sticking. Nezuko stared at the ohagi... Should she send some to Sanemi Shinazugawa?
Not long after that battle ended, while Sanemi Shinazugawa was recovering at the Butterfly Mansion, he had apologized to Nezuko.
The man who was always so volatile in her memory actually showed a hint of gentleness.
"I'm sorry, Kamado's sister."
"I apologize for my actions back then."
"And about your brother..."
"That guy would never abandon his younger siblings."
"If I were to bully you now, he might wake up immediately and retaliate."
Sanemi Shinazugawa made a gesture to raise his hand. Nezuko subconsciously closed her eyes, but his hand landed on her head. Nezuko looked at Shinazugawa in a daze, but he just smiled and turned to leave.
Nezuko remembered what Genya had told her.
"If my sister were still here... she would be the same age as you, Nezuko..."
"..."
She should make more, Nezuko remembered Yoizumi-ge saying.
Sanemi Shinazugawa likes ohagi.
Later, she would also send two to Yoizumi-ge. He... likes sweets.
A hint of mist unconsciously appeared in Nezuko's pink eyes. Zenitsu, seeing this, seemed to understand something as well.
Nezuko-chan... On the other side, Yoizumi was holding Shinobu's hand, walking towards the Butterfly Mansion.
He carried a paper bag in his left hand, which contained two cans of konpeito and a packet of senbei.
Yoizumi thought that when he returned and saw Tanjirou and Nezuko, they would probably cry... Along the way, he had heard many things about his younger siblings from Shinobu.
For example... Tanjirou had once been completely dejected, feeling negative for a long time.
It was only after Nezuko's persuasion that Tanjirou returned to his former self.
Nezuko was amazing... his and Tanjirou's sister was a child so sensible it was heartbreaking.
When he saw Nezuko, he had to apologize to her properly... The konpeito he promised, it took so long to deliver.
Feeling Yoizumi's grip on her hand tighten, Shinobu understood that Yoizumi was still a bit nervous.
For Yoizumi, that great battle was merely something that happened yesterday in his memory.
But for those who had waited for over a year, every minute and second was an agony... enduring one difficult day after another, holding onto an unknown hope.
Fortunately... they had successfully waited... When was the last time she and Yoizumi walked hand-in-hand back to the Butterfly Mansion?
Shinobu lowered her gaze, staring at their clasped hands, pondering in her memory.
Such experiences were not many, but each one was precious to Shinobu, and deeply memorable. With just a slight recollection, they would repeatedly surface in her mind.
It was when Yoizumi first called her Shinobu... It was that morning not long after returning from the Swordsmith Village, when they walked back to the Butterfly Mansion together...
It was when Yoizumi was smashed into a snowman by her, yet still smiled at her...
It was when Yoizumi gave her the best Valentine's Day gift...
Shinobu silently clasped his hand tighter and tighter... so tight that for this lifetime, there would be no chance of letting go.
From now on, this path, neither long nor short, she only wanted to walk it with Yoizumi, for their entire lives... "We're home~" Shinobu said with a smile to Yoizumi, looking at the gate of the Butterfly Mansion.
Home... Hearing this word, Yoizumi was stunned for a moment, but soon, a bright light flashed in his sapphire eyes, and Shinobu's smile was reflected in his clear gaze.
Yes...
His family and his beloved were all here... This was his home... "What should we say when we get home?" Shinobu walked in front of Yoizumi, chuckling as she stood on tiptoe to lean in close, raising her finger to tap Yoizumi's forehead.
Yoizumi's gaze slowly shifted from Shinobu in front of him to Tanjirou and Nezuko, who rushed out of the kitchen. He took a few steps forward and embraced them, feeling his younger siblings' bodies trembling from crying.
Yoizumi lowered his eyelashes, closed his eyes, and with their heads together, Yoizumi softly spoke.
"I'm home."
"Yoizumi-nii... Yoizumi-nii!" Tanjirou, from smelling his brother's scent in the kitchen to rushing out and seeing his awakened brother, still felt it was unreal.
"You're finally awake... Waaah... It's great! It's great... Yoizumi-nii!" It wasn't until now, truly embracing his brother, that he felt it was real.
"Yoizumi-nii... I was so scared... Waaah... What if you didn't wake up...?"
"You were unconscious for so long... Waaah..."
Yoizumi stroked his younger siblings' backs one by one. It was real... Shinobu had said he would be shocked when he saw Tanjirou and Nezuko.
And indeed, he was.
Tanjirou had grown so much... Nezuko had also become a bit like their mother.
A year had brought such big changes... He had missed them... But in the days to come, Yoizumi would no longer be absent.
Yoizumi raised his hands and placed them on Tanjirou's and Nezuko's heads respectively, his gentle sapphire eyes, as always, looking at his younger siblings.
"Don't cry, big brother is here."
"It won't happen again..."
"From now on, nothing can separate us."
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