The moonlight streamed in through the window and spread a layer of silver stillness across the floor.
Tamayo was wearing the same purple sleeping robe, and droplets from the bath she had just taken still clung to the strands of her hair.
At that moment she was standing by the window, with her back to the door, about to draw the curtains and go to sleep.
Upon hearing the noise, she turned around... and froze.
"You—"
Without giving her time to finish. Marcus had already materialized in front of her, looking down at her from above with those green eyes that gleamed in an otherworldly way.
The collar of her robe had come slightly open, offering a glimpse of the line that separated those generous breasts...
"..."
Without uttering a single word, Marcus wrapped one arm around her waist, pulled her against him, and, lowering his head, kissed her just like that.
Tamayo went completely rigid.
His hand pressed firmly against her waist, his lips locked onto hers with a faint coolness that was immediately wiped away by the heat of his body...
'Push him off. Push him off, come on… push him off already!'
But when she raised her hand to do it, it ended up landing on his chest without applying the slightest bit of force.
There are things that work like this: once the one arrives, the two follows right behind. And then one, two, three, four, two, two, three, four…
Without either of them noticing, in a crack outside the door, a tiny piece of carefully folded white paper was, at that very instant, giving off a faint glow.
…
In the room at the end of the hallway, Yushiro, who was lying in his bed, snapped his eyes open.
"HOW DARE THAT SON OF A BITCH!?"
He had seen the whole thing.
Tearing the sheets off himself, he shot out barefoot, running desperately toward Tamayo's room.
He reached the door and, without thinking twice, stretched out his hand and pushed.
'... It won't open?'
He pushed again, this time throwing all his weight into it.
… Nothing.
The door was locked from the inside.
When he realized this, Yushiro stood petrified.
Tamayo had never, ever, had the habit of locking the door. Because she knew perfectly well that he would never come in without knocking first.
But, at this very moment, the door was locked.
Which meant that...
'The respect I always had for Tamayo-sama... has it just helped this bastard sneak into her room?'
From inside the room, unmistakable wet sounds reached his ears.
And Yushiro froze even more.
He didn't hear any struggle. He didn't hear a "Let go of me." He didn't hear the slightest protest. Everything that was happening in there... seemed like something flowing with the most absolute naturalness.
'Could it be...?'
'Could Tamayo-sama... she...?'
'NO!'
He denied it with absolute frenzy. But at the same time, another voice wouldn't stop yapping away inside his head.
'You sure it can't be?'
'You honestly haven't noticed these past few days that Tamayo-sama likes that asshole?'
'Stop kidding yourself, Yushiro. You've lost. You've lost it.'
'Lost…?'
Yushiro wasn't stupid.
Of course he had realized that Tamayo felt something for Marcus. Otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up developing so much hostility toward him.
So…
'Tamayo-sama... loves him?'
'Does she really want something to happen between them?'
'And if it were true... if right now I kicked the door down... what would happen?'
'Would Tamayo-sama die of embarrassment? Would she get mad at me?'
'Or, worse still, would she end up speeding up what's happening between them because of the whole mess?'
'Or would I be the one who, with all these overflowing feelings, ended up forcing her to make a decision?'
'Between the two of us.'
'Between Marcus... and me.'
'And what if...?'
'What if she doesn't choose me?'
'What if, to her, I've never been anything more than a little brother? A servant? A co-worker?'
'Then, if I force her to choose... the result is going to be…'
'... that I'm the one who has to leave, isn't it?'
Yushiro didn't even need to think it over.
Because to Tamayo, Marcus was a soulmate. A partner. Someone with more ability and more strength than he could ever come close to having.
If he really forced her to choose between the two of them... then, most likely, the one who would have to leave this place... would be him.
'No... I can't.'
Yushiro stepped back, staring fixedly at the door, his eyes loaded with fear.
'If I knock it down, there's no turning back.'
'If I knock it down, I'll be left with nowhere to go… With no one…'
'If I knock it down, I might never see Tamayo-sama again for the rest of my life.'
'But if I didn't knock it down…'
'Am I supposed to just stand here, listening to Tamayo-sama getting all affectionate with that bastard?'
'Watching as he steals her right under my nose?'
'By what right?... By what right does he take her from me!?'
'...Just because he's younger than me?'
…
'Just because he's taller than me?'
…
'Just because he's stronger than me?'
…
'Just because he's got a smoother tongue than me?'
…
'Just because he can help Tamayo-sama more than I can?'
…
The more he turned it over in his head, the worse he felt. And the more afraid he became to keep thinking.
Because, in the end, after thinking it all through, he realized something.
Apart from the fact that he had spent more time by Tamayo-sama's side…
'... it seems like... maybe... no, it doesn't seem so, that's how it is... I don't have anything left I can compete with that idiot on.'
The only advantage he had left now was time.
If... if it was inevitable that they would be together, the only thing he could do was wait.
'Wait for Marcus to die in some battle.'
'Wait for Marcus to die of old age, someday.'
'Wait for that tiny little life of his to end up becoming, within Tamayo-sama's eternal life, nothing more than a hazy memory.'
'And then... then there won't be anyone else left standing between Tamayo-sama and me.'
He took another step back.
But his eyes, still fixed on the door, reflected a constant struggle.
He couldn't accept it!
'Tamayo-sama's destiny should be ME!!'
'I HAVE TO—
"Ma..."
Right at that instant, from inside the room came Tamayo's voice.
"... Marcus, w-wait... we can't do this..."
Yushiro's eyes lit up.
'Could it be!? Is Tamayo-sama rejecting him... for my sake!?'
"Why not?"
Marcus's deep voice rang out on the other side of the door.
"You don't like me?"
"N-no... it's not that..."
Tamayo answered shyly.
"Then? Is it because of Yushiro?"
Yushiro's heart skipped a beat.
"This has nothing to do with Yushiro. To me... I've always loved him like a little brother..."
Crack.
Yushiro heard, perfectly clearly, the sound of his own heart shattering into a thousand pieces.
But there was no time for his feelings, the conversation on the other side kept going.
"Then why?"
"It's just..."
Tamayo, nervous, seemed to be searching for the words.
"It's just that I'm not ready yet..."
"Relax."
Marcus laughed quietly.
"Leave everything to me, you don't have to prepare a thing."
And, along with his laugh, those unmistakable sounds were heard again inside the room.
"S-Stop, stop! Marcus, I'm being serious here~!"
"Then talk. I'll feel you up. Everybody wins."
"Y-you... how... how am I s-supposed to talk like this~?"
"Tch, fine, fine. I'll hold still for a sec."
Inside the room, silence fell for a few seconds.
And then, Tamayo's sigh was heard.
"You already know... I've lived almost four hundred years."
"Before meeting you... I had never once imagined that in this lifetime I could fall in love again."
Marcus chuckled under his breath.
"I know. In your heart, all this time has been occupied by nothing but Muzan."
"Why would you say that?!"
"Because it's the truth. Wanting to kill him... is also a way of thinking about him. All day long."
"Y-you... say whatever you want."
"... A long time ago, I swore I had only one goal in this life. To kill Muzan. And to avenge the family I had... before."
"Ideally, I'd be able to die together with him. That way I wouldn't have to keep carrying this guilt every day when I wake up."
"You know perfectly well I'm not going to let you do that."
"I-I know..."
Tamayo's voice became even more inaudible.
"Ever since I met you... it seems like I've changed too, you know? I've become less... less eager to die..."
"So that's it, then? You're rejecting me because of your old family?"
"Four hundred years, Marcus-kun."
Tamayo sighed again.
"Four hundred years have passed. Even their faces have faded from my mind. The only thing I have left in my heart is no longer love for them... it's just an obsession."
"Then..."
"But I'm afraid."
"I'm afraid that, if I let myself go, if I really am with you... I won't be able to give up anything anymore."
"I won't be able to give up what I have now. I won't be able to give up the idea of dying when the time comes. And much less will I be able to accept that someday you'll die. I'm going to become weak… So weak that I won't even dare face Muzan."
"And if Muzan stays alive... sooner or later he'll come looking for me."
"... And r-really, I don't want to live through losing everything all over again."
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
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And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790