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THAT FUCKING SNAKE!!!
Clenching his teeth hard, Marcus managed to spit the words out one by one:
"Big mouth!!"
Aoi stepped back, frightened.
To be honest… the mouth that peeked out from under Obanai's bandages was, indeed, fairly big. It almost did justice to the nickname.
And right at that moment… "Grrruuuummmble."
Marcus's stomach growled.
It wasn't too loud a sound, but in that completely silent room, it was heard with insulting clarity.
At that, Aoi suddenly lifted her gaze, as if she'd just spotted a lifesaver in the middle of the ocean.
"Lord Demon Pillar-sama! There's still some red bean porridge left in the kitchen! I-I'll bring it to you right now!"
And, without waiting for an answer, she spun around and shot out of the room.
She was in such a hurry she almost took the door frame with her on the way out.
Marcus stood there watching the stampede, wearing a long-suffering expression, and silently added yet another little debt to the tab he already had pending with Obanai.
Resorting to such a low-down trick to drag his name through the mud… SO TYPICAL OF SNAKES!
After a while, the door cracked open and three little heads peeked through the gap.
Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho.
Three pairs of tiny little eyes were looking at him, blinking nonstop.
"Lord Demon Pillar-sama… Tanjiro-sama said you needed us."
Marcus gestured to them with his hand.
"Come over here."
The three of them looked at each other, exchanging a glance loaded with bad feelings, and stepped forward with the utmost caution.
Marcus narrowed his eyes.
"What exactly did you hear from the window?"
!!!
….
When the door opened again, Aoi walked in very carefully, holding a bowl of red bean porridge in her hands.
The first thing she saw was Marcus, sprawled out at his leisure across HER bed like a Roman emperor.
And Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho, all three of them, perched on top of him.
They were huffing and puffing as they massaged his legs with all the strength their tiny bodies allowed.
Kiyo and Sumi were one on each side, kneading his thighs as if they were making bread in the middle of a bakery. Naho, the most determined of the trio, had set herself astride his stomach, pummeling it with her two little fists like a miniature boxer.
Aoi stood there frozen for a few seconds, blinking, not quite sure what kind of face to put on at such a scene.
Then she quickly lowered her head and, with the bowl held firmly in her hands, walked up to the bed.
Marcus looked at her.
Then he looked at the bowl.
And, finally, he turned his eyes toward the three little demonesses he had on top of him.
The message couldn't have been clearer.
Aoi caught it on the fly.
"…Understood."
Sitting sideways on the edge of the bed, she carefully scooped out a spoonful of porridge, brought it close to her lips, and gently blew on it to cool it down.
Right after, she brought the spoon to Marcus's mouth.
Marcus opened it, perfectly happy with life, and took it without a word of complaint.
Sweet.
Creamy.
And at the perfect temperature.
As if it had been prepared just for him.
Six warm little hands worked over his body: one moment patting, the next pinching.
A pretty girl by his side gently blew on the food, feeding him spoonful by spoonful.
Marcus closed his eyes.
'This is how life should always be.'
And just when he was most comfortable, enjoying it with his eyes closed…
A pair of small, slightly cold hands rested gently on his head, and a familiar scent reached his nostrils.
He opened his eyes.
And was met head-on by those big, lively, somewhat shy eyes of Kanao's.
She was standing next to the bed, looking down at him from above.
There was a bit of weariness in her eyes, but above all… that small, very-her happiness at having found him there.
"Are my hands cold, Marcus-kun?…"
Marcus smiled at her.
"Did you just come back from a mission?"
Nodding, Kanao pulled her hands back, brought them to her lips, and carefully blew warm air onto them.
Then she rubbed them against each other and, only once she felt them a little warmer, placed them back on his head.
"Is this better?"
Her fingers pressed against his temples delicately, in a gentle motion.
"Wonderful."
And then, with the most casual of gestures, he wrapped his arm around Kanao's waist and pulled her over to the other edge of the bed.
"Don't just stand there. Sit down, keep up the massage, and while you're at it, tell me about the mission."
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he let his arm rest on her soft thighs.
A bad habit he'd been dragging along since his previous life… but what could he do. He couldn't help it. And, honestly, he didn't want to either.
Kanao went stiff as a board.
She lowered her gaze to the firm, shameless arm resting on her legs, and her face turned red on the spot.
A deep red that climbed from her cheeks up to her neck, and from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears.
But she didn't pull away.
She inhaled deeply, trying to put a little order to the wild beating of her heart, and stretched out her hands again to keep massaging his temples from the front.
Except this position left them even closer… So close, that each of them could feel the other's breath.
And no matter how much Kanao tried to hold back, every one of her exhalations brushed against Marcus's face, leaving him more comfortable than a cat in the sun.
And then, Kanao began to talk.
Quietly, of course. Straight to the point, but without skipping a single detail.
Aoi, Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho couldn't help but stand there with their mouths hanging open.
In just a few minutes, Kanao had let out more words than in the entire year combined.
Marcus, for his part, simply listened in silence, with a smile on his lips, as if he'd gone back to those days in the Final Selection.
Only that, back then, he was the one who talked and Kanao the one who listened. Now, the roles had been flipped.
To his left, Aoi kept gently blowing on each spoonful of red bean porridge before bringing it to his mouth.
To his right, Kanao had half-leaned onto him, telling him about the mission while she kept massaging his temples.
On top of his legs, Kiyo and Sumi kept up their little tapping.
On top of his belly, Naho was already a bit drowsy, and her little head was slowly tilting to one side.
The sunlight came in through the window and spilled warmly over his body.
Marcus closed his eyes.
The exhaustion from the morning's journey and the storm of emotions he had just lived through all let go of him at once, all at the same time.
His breathing turned long and slow.
And, without even realizing it, he fell deeply asleep.
…
Sunset
Marcus opened his eyes.
The little ones who had been on top of him were gone.
Only Kanao remained, still sitting at the edge of the bed, her head leaning against the headboard, completely passed out.
A smile crept onto his lips at the sight of her.
He sat up carefully, without making a sound, and draped over her the same thin blanket he himself had been using.
Then he walked over to the window.
Outside, the sunset had painted half the sky a postcard red.
And out in the courtyard, there were several figures still chasing each other around and doing their thing.
Aoi had just come out of the kitchen with the empty bowl in her hand.
Tanjiro was in the middle of the courtyard with his katana, swing after swing, so deep in his own world that it was a little eerie.
Zenitsu was curled up beneath the corridor, hugging his knees, looking like a zombie.
And Inosuke was still sitting in a wheelchair, letting little balls get thrown at him like a carnival doll to practice his dodges.
A scene of absolute peace.
Marcus stood there watching it all when, completely out of nowhere, Muzan's face popped into his mind.
What a beautiful life… and for it to keep being like this a good while longer… Tell me, Muzan… do you really intend to stay alive and kicking?
He left the Butterfly Mansion without making a sound.
Everyone was giving it their all to face Muzan. So much so, that it was getting hard for him to keep lying around doing nothing.
First, get the money. Then, spend it. And, in the meantime, wait for them to finish collecting the Blue Spider Lily.
Besides, the whole Mugen Train thing wasn't all that far off… that arc that, in its time, had broken his heart…
And speaking of that, his moral compass had always been pretty flexible.
He wasn't like the rest of the Corps, those who only ever thought about exterminating every last demon.
His memories weighed too heavily on him.
Whether he liked them or not, the truth was that he almost always had an opinion formed about each of them even before meeting them in person.
And that opinion was, on top of that, what decided how much he was willing to put up with from them at the beginning.
With Sanemi, for instance, he was one of those characters he had a love-hate relationship with.
But, because of the whole Nezuko issue, the rejection weighed a lot heavier on him. So his tolerance toward him was, naturally… zero.
With Obanai… he basically didn't feel anything. The way he treated him was purely on impulse, no filters.
However he treats me, he gets back. No more, no less.
But with Rengoku, things were very different.
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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! đź’Ž
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