"How have you been, Nezuko?" Tanjiro asked, crouching down to be at her level.
"Mmm, mmm! Mmm!" Nezuko lifted her radiant little face and waved her hand with enthusiasm.
"Yeah? It looks like you've been having a great time."
Tanjiro shot Marcus a grateful look.
Compared to dragging her around from one place to another, stuck inside a box all day long… there was no doubt about it, Marcus could take care of Nezuko much better than he could.
In that moment, with Nezuko's little hand in his, Tanjiro felt like he was in heaven.
A heaven that didn't last long, though, because a little while later Marcus's lapdog snatched her away from him again.
"…"
Looking down at his empty hand, he was about to say something when footsteps were heard once again coming from the hallway.
Kanao appeared.
She was wearing house clothes, her long hair tied up in a ponytail, and a calm smile on her face.
But the moment she saw the people in the dining room, she froze for a second, and immediately blushed.
"Tanjiro-kun… Zenitsu-kun… Inosuke-kun… welcome."
The three of them stiffened.
"Ka-Kanao-san! You're here too!?" Zenitsu's mouth dropped open again.
"It's just that…" Kanao lowered her eyes. "Shinobu-neesan said she was coming to do research with Tamayo-san, so I came along with her…"
"The Insect Pillar-sama is also here!?"
"…Yes."
She hadn't finished saying it when footsteps were heard on the stairs.
Shinobu came down, with a notebook in her hand, without her butterfly haori, dressed in a white lab coat.
Resting on the bridge of her nose was a pair of rimless glasses.
"Ara~ what a lot of visitors." She smiled and greeted them with a wave of her hand.
Zenitsu was left petrified.
Shinobu…
Kanao…
The two demons from before…
And, counting that Tamayo whom Tanjiro talked about so much and who still hadn't come out…
He slowly turned his head and locked his eyes on Marcus.
…How many beautiful women were there?
"Don't just stand there." Marcus gestured to them with his hand. "Let's talk while we eat."
The dining room was enormous.
In the center was a long table, already covered in dishes from one end to the other.
Lobster, crab, grilled fish, sashimi, tempura, and a big bowl of seafood soup.
Inosuke's eyes lit up instantly.
"MEAT!!!"
In one leap he launched himself forward, with his hands already stretched out toward the silverware…
"Stop, stop, stop!!"
Luckily, Zenitsu grabbed him by the waist and got dragged forward with his whole body in tow.
"The meal hasn't started yet, you animal!"
"BUT THERE'S MEAT!!!"
"Even if there's meat, that's not how you do it…! Stop, don't drag me!!"
Tanjiro, planted off to one side, looked at all those dishes on the table and his mouth was watering.
Lobster… was that really actually lobster?
When was the last time he had eaten lobster?
Come to think of it, though… never. He had only seen it in drawings.
Naturally, Marcus sat at the head of the table. At almost the same moment, Tamayo also came down from the second floor and settled in to his right, taking Nezuko into her lap.
To his left, Kanao was already seated.
Shinobu settled in next to Kanao and, with a vibrant smile, addressed the new arrivals.
"What are you doing standing there? Come on, have a seat~!"
The three of them snapped out of their stupor and occupied the free spots across the table.
Inosuke wouldn't take his eyes off the lobster. He gripped his knife and fork with excessive force, leaning forward like a predator about to pounce on its prey. By his side, Zenitsu was trying to hold him back with one hand while he braced himself against the table, though he didn't miss the opportunity to keep flicking his eyes between the women in the room.
Tanjiro looked over the feast and then turned his gaze to Marcus, who was acting like all of this were the most ordinary thing in the world.
"Senpai… do you eat like this every day now?"
"Mm?" Marcus gave the table a once-over. "More or less. Since Shinobu and Kanao arrived, we've been preparing a little more than usual."
The corner of Tanjiro's mouth twitched.
That meant that, even before, Marcus had already been having this kind of feast for breakfast.
"Eating all of this in the morning… isn't it a little heavy?"
Marcus looked at him with an "are you serious?" face.
"Are you stupid? I got up late, but look at the time. This is lunch."
'…Lunch… AND ON TOP OF THAT YOU'RE ADMITTING YOU GOT UP LATE!!'
"Alright, enough chitchat, let's eat!" Marcus tilted his head back to ask: "And Ivy?"
Pearl, who was standing behind him with a bottle of red wine ready to pour, responded immediately.
"Guests arrived, so she decided to prepare a couple of extra dishes."
"Mm." Marcus nodded. "Then let's not wait for her, let's get started."
The moment he took his first bite, the others felt they had permission to do the same.
At his end of the table, Zenitsu lowered his eyes to his own place setting: a spotless plate, gleaming silverware, and a lobster that Inosuke had already been eyeing.
Then, he raised his eyes toward Marcus's spot…
Kanao picked up a delicate piece of sashimi and slowly brought it to Marcus's lips.
"Marcus-kun…"
He opened his mouth, savored the bite, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Delicious~"
Kanao's face turned a soft pink, but she couldn't keep a small smile from forming on her lips.
For her part, Tamayo separated a bite of lobster meat, dipped it in the sauce, and also offered it to him.
"Glorious~"
Shinobu watched it all with an amused smile while she ate calmly, jumping in every now and then to comment on something with Marcus.
Right then, Pearl leaned over him to wipe the corner of his lips with a silk napkin and, right after, poured him half a glass of wine.
"Master, this is from the batch that arrived yesterday, give it a try."
Marcus took the glass and gave it a short sip, gauging the flavor.
"Passable."
Zenitsu's breathing… started to become erratic.
He had two beauties flanking him: one feeding him and the other peeling his lobster with utter devotion.
Behind, the same girl who moments earlier had left him stunned was now pouring his wine and wiping his mouth, docile as a little lamb.
And as if that weren't enough, from the kitchen another spectacular woman was emerging, a cook with a scandalous figure who was approaching the table with a radiant smile and a new dish in her hands.
This…
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
CRRRUNCH!
Unable to process so much injustice, Zenitsu started biting the tablecloth in desperation.
"Zenitsu!?" Tanjiro turned his head, startled. "What are you doing!?"
But Zenitsu didn't answer. He just kept brutalizing the fabric, his eyes bloodshot like those of a rabid rabbit, without taking his sight off the women surrounding Marcus.
"You let your guard down!!"
Inosuke's eyes lit up and, taking advantage of his companion's crisis, he stabbed Zenitsu's lobster with his knife.
"MEAT!!!"
In reality, the table was full of food, but it gave him a special pleasure to snatch it specifically from Zenitsu.
Sighing heavily, Tanjiro clung to his own bowl and decided to ignore them.
'Forget it… let them do whatever they want.'
After all, as long as you don't fight Marcus over a girl, he doesn't care about these little things.
The dishes kept arriving in an endless parade until there wasn't a single inch of free space left on the table.
Ivy finally emerged from the kitchen, carrying a platter with the last grilled fish she had just seared.
"Master, all the dishes have been served."
Marcus nodded. "Very good. Now stop working and sit down with us to eat."
"Understood."
Only then did Ivy and Pearl take their seats at the table.
Seeing them sit down, Zenitsu's eyes lit up an even more intense red, loaded with an envy you could practically touch.
For him, the meal was turning into a torture from which there was no escape.
After the meal, Tamayo and Shinobu got up.
"Marcus-kun~, we'll head up first."
"Sure, but don't kill yourselves working."
"Thanks for your concern~"
Kanao hesitated, looking at Shinobu, then at Marcus. But Shinobu gave her a knowing smile.
"Don't worry, Kanao. You wouldn't be much help to us in the lab, so stay here and keep Marcus-kun company."
Kanao's face turned a soft red, but she nodded.
A little later, the group moved to the living room. While Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke settled onto the big couch, Marcus chose to stretch himself out lengthwise across the sofa.
He lay back relaxed, resting his head on Pearl's thighs. She, with absolute delicacy, was holding an ear pick and concentrating on cleaning his ears with slow movements.
Kanao sat down on the single armchair next to him.
She rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and stayed there staring at him intently in absolute silence.
In her eyes there was nothing else but him.
Zenitsu's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
He looked at Pearl: so attentive, so focused, with that faint smile on her face. Then he looked at Kanao: quiet, lost in her thoughts, with a gaze as soft as water. And finally he looked at Marcus: with his eyes closed and an expression of absolute bliss.
CRRRUNCH!
This time he sank his teeth into the armrest of the couch, biting down with all his strength.
"Zenitsu?!" Tanjiro jumped, startled for the hundredth time. "Now what's going on with you?!"
Zenitsu let go of the furniture, revealing eyes red as blood.
"Tanjiro… tell me one thing… what's the meaning of life?"
"Huh?"
"Tell me… if a girl like them… if just one of them were mine…"
"Shhh!" Tanjiro went pale and cut him off in a flash. "Shut up if you don't want us to get killed!"
"There you go again with the same thing…"
Zenitsu closed his mouth with pitiful resignation, sunk in his own misery.
Beside him, Inosuke suddenly let out a strange shout that broke the dramatic mood.
"Wuuu!"
Both of them turned their heads in unison. Inosuke was crouched next to the little table, with his eyes glued to a fruit bowl.
"This red thing… is it edible?"
Kanao smiled at him kindly. "That's a strawberry."
"Is it edible?"
"Yes."
Inosuke grabbed a handful and shoved it into his mouth in one go.
"MMM!! Sweet!!"
Without wasting any time, he lunged for another handful.
Zenitsu, who still hadn't gotten over his envy attack, couldn't hold back his rage at the sight.
"All you know how to do is shovel food down!"
"It's good."
"Pig!"
"You're loud."
"Aaaaah!!"
Tanjiro covered his face with his hands, feeling secondhand embarrassment consuming him. Marcus, for his part, half-opened one eye to take in the chaos.
"Same old story with these three."
That said, he relaxed again.
Pearl gently pressed his temples to get him back into his original position.
"Mmm…"
Kanao got up and, with elegant movements, began refilling the tea cups for the three guests.
Zenitsu held the tea cup with both hands while contemplating his own distorted reflection on the surface of the liquid.
"Kanao-san…"
"Mm?"
"You… don't you get angry?"
Kanao tilted her head. "Get angry?"
Zenitsu turned his eyes toward where Marcus was, looking at that picture of perfection that seemed pulled straight out of HIS unreachable dream.
He opened his mouth, and for a second, his eyes shone with a question loaded with deep bitterness. However, the words died in his throat.
"Forget it." He shook his head. "Really… it's nothing."
"Mm."
Kanao nodded without further comment, returned to her seat, and rested her cheek on her hand once again. Her serene eyes anchored themselves on Marcus once more, completely ignoring the rest of the room.
Zenitsu remained still, clinging to his cup as if it were his only anchor to reality. Noticing his distress, Tanjiro gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Don't dwell on it."
"W-Why…?"
"Just resign yourself. I guess this is your destiny."
"…Waaaaah!"
Zenitsu collapsed completely and threw himself into Tanjiro's arms, sobbing over the injustice of his life.
Inosuke, oblivious to the existential drama playing out beside him, grabbed another handful of strawberries and gulped them down noisily.
"This stuff is so good!! Why didn't things like this grow on my mountain?!"
Outside, the sun was shining with an intensity that contrasted with the peace inside the living room.
That was when the air was torn by the shrill caw of a Kasugai crow.
"Caw—! Mission! There's a mission!"
Marcus opened one eye.
"Spit it out."
The crow puffed out its chest with self-importance, perching on the horizontal wooden bar in front of the window, a spot set up specifically for them.
"Infinity Train! Passengers have been disappearing frequently! It's suspected to be the work of a demon! The Flame Hashira, Rengoku Kyōjurō, has already departed to investigate! Orders from the Master! Kamado Tanjiro, Agatsuma Zenitsu, Hashibira Inosuke: You must head to the meeting point immediately!"
The three named jumped to their feet.
"Rengoku-san!?"
Zenitsu's face lit up. "The Flame Hashira!?"
Inosuke kept grabbing strawberries by the fistful, "The Flame Hashira!? Is he someone strong!?"
Tanjiro clenched his fists, with determination overflowing from his every pore.
"At last I'll get to carry out a mission alongside a Hashira!"
He turned toward Marcus with his face flushed from excitement.
"Senpai, we're heading out right now! When we get back…"
But the words froze in his throat.
Marcus had already sat up from the sofa. His body was tense and his expression… his expression didn't bode well at all.
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
And don't forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the chapter 👀
______
And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790