Yosuke looked helplessly at the two children Hakuji and Koyuki had brought back with them.
"So what you're telling me is, I send you two out for a little stroll, and you come back with two kids?"
Hakuji scratched his head, embarrassed. "It's just… when I saw what they'd been through, I couldn't bring myself to ignore it."
The boy before them had disheveled hair, a body thin to the bone, black hair streaked with green, and wore a kimono hanging open at the chest.
The girl, however, was entirely different: soft, flowing white hair, her young face already carrying the promise of great beauty in the future. Yet at the moment, she cowered timidly behind the boy, clearly afraid of strangers.
The two of them eyed Yosuke warily, still on guard.
Yosuke softened his expression, trying to appear kind and approachable. "What are your names?"
"Gyūtarō."
"Ume."
The moment he heard their names, Yosuke nearly choked on his breath. What is this place turning into—an orphanage for the future Upper Moons?!
Seeing Yosuke's face darken, Hakuji quickly nudged Gyūtarō in secret.
Gyūtarō blinked at him in confusion, but Komaji whispered, "Say something nice. Quickly."
For Gyūtarō, the man who had just saved him and his sister ranked in importance only after his beloved little sister.
So he took Ume's hand, dropped to his knees before Yosuke, and bowed low. "Please take us in, sir. No matter what you ask of me, I'll do it with everything I have!"
Yosuke frowned as he looked down at the boy and girl kneeling at his feet. Because of their childhood suffering, once they became the Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Kizuki, they had lost every trace of human morality, utterly transformed into demons.
Since it was his blood that had turned them into demons in this timeline, Yosuke felt a measure of responsibility toward Gyūtarō and Ume.
"For you two… what does it mean to live?"
The question stunned them both. Having struggled just to survive each day, they had never once considered the meaning of life itself.
"…For Ume?" Gyūtarō answered uncertainly.
"Setting others aside," Yosuke pressed, "I want to know—for yourselves—what does living mean to you?"
Their eyes went blank, unable to respond.
Even Hakuji and Koyuki exchanged baffled glances; they too had no answer.
"Yosuke-sama," Koyuki spoke gently, "for children like them, that question may be too heavy."
Yosuke shook his head. "They are demons now—possessors of endless life. If they cannot understand the meaning of living, then they will wander the ages like walking corpses. And tell me—if that is the case, what difference is there between that and being truly dead?"
From behind her brother's back, Ume timidly peeked out. "Then… sir, what do you believe the meaning of life is?"
Yosuke smiled. "Every person's understanding is different. But to me… escaping death is not difficult. Escaping one's sins, however—that is much harder. For sin chases faster than death ever could.
"I was born frail, bedridden from the start, with death looming over me since my first breath. And when I became a demon, though I slipped free of death, I found myself hunted relentlessly by guilt instead.
"Death taught me that I am finite—that I have limits. And because I am limited, I grasp all the harder for meaning.
"But you two… you've already tasted death, and now you've been granted eternity. Yet you still don't know why you live. If that is so, then what value does life hold for you?"
Gyūtarō and Ume remained lost, unable to reply.
"Then let me ask it another way. Do you believe that being born… is itself a kind of wound?"
Silence. Yet deep in their hearts, both of them thought: Yes. Our very birth was a mistake.
Yosuke read their hearts clearly. Though they were now demons, neither was older than sixteen. Considering the misery they'd endured, it was no wonder they felt their existence itself was an error.
"If you think being born is already a wound… that life is only suffering, that nothing matches your hopes and everything cuts against you… if you ask yourself, why was I ever brought into this world? then the world will appear hollow. And since all must die one day, you may wonder—what point is there in living at all?"
He gently placed a hand atop each of their heads.
"We enter this world in tears… and in the end, we leave it in tears as well. Life is full of pain. It is never easy.
"Only when you have truly tasted pain can you begin to understand how precious simple happiness really is. Yet humans… we all carry within us a strange temptation toward self-destruction. We often destroy the very happiness we longed so desperately to have.
"And when a finite life is stretched into infinity, that temptation only grows greater. That is why, with endless life, you must all the more find a meaning for it."
For reasons they couldn't explain, Gyūtarō and Ume felt their throats tighten, as if they might cry. No one had ever spoken to them like a parent before.
Gyūtarō lifted his head, locking eyes with Yosuke. "Then… how should we seek the meaning of life?"
"Live each day with gratitude in your heart. Bring joy to the people who matter to you. Learn to hold, to create, and to cherish the happiness that is already in your hands. If you can do that, you will find your answer."
These were not just words for them, but also Yosuke's own understanding of his life so far. He did not want Gyūtarō and Ume to walk the same twisted path they once had.
As he withdrew his hands, he thought of Kagaya Ubuyashiki—the frail man of no great strength, yet possessed of a spirit unshakably strong.
"A true strong one," Yosuke murmured, "is not strong in power, but in spirit. You must recognize the responsibilities you bear. The only meaning of our lives is to transcend them."
His thoughts wandered back to his childhood in the Ubuyashiki household, where every day he wondered if he would live to see tomorrow, and to the crushing weight of his duty after becoming a demon—to slay Kibutsuji Muzan.
"Hakuji. Koyuki. Gyūtarō. Ume. Every person's life carries its own meaning. No one is redundant, but no one is irreplaceable either. Many things are beyond your choosing. But you can always choose to strive. I only hope that in the years ahead, none of you will lose your way."
Gyūtarō and Ume rubbed the spots on their heads where Yosuke's hands had rested. They didn't quite understand all his words, but something in them rang deeply true.
Their eyes shone as they declared in unison: "We'll find it—we promise!"
Hakuji and Koyuki squeezed each other's hands, smiling. They had already found the meaning of their lives: in each other. No matter how the years might change, that truth would never waver.
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