So, to him, were she and her older sister people he could never bear to lose?
And to her, he and her older sister were people she could never abandon.
That was why, even now, covered in wounds and blood, he forced himself to keep walking so she could survive.
And wasn't she still struggling to think, struggling to stay alive, so he would have the strength to hold on and hope the road ahead might offer them a way out?
"I don't know when it happened, but somehow we've come to mean this much to each other."
Shinobu Kocho rested her head lightly against Tetsu no Sosuke's back and nuzzled it. Broad, solid, warm.
It made her feel safe.
Then Tetsu no Sosuke said, "What are you doing? Don't wipe your snot on my back."
"..."
Shinobu Kocho was speechless. Of course. No matter what happened, he was still a jerk.
But... what was she supposed to do with a jerk like him?
She pressed her lips together and quietly made up her mind.
Everything good and happy in her life now was worth protecting. So she would protect it.
Things were good now. They would stay this good, on into the distant future...
As long as they were all alive!
Chapter 326: Is Anyone in There?
Time was a strange thing.
Sometimes every second felt painfully hard to endure.
When Tetsu no Sosuke had faced Kibutsuji Muzan, he had longed so fiercely for dawn that every minute, every second, had been an agonizing wait.
At other times, time slipped away without anyone noticing.
Tetsu no Sosuke felt that more keenly than ever when he opened his eyes and learned he had been unconscious for another half month.
His last memory was of meeting members of the Hidden while