Not-So High School Sweethearts

3: Hey, Hun~

"FOUND THEM!" Tanjiro shouted as we neared the cafeteria.

"You fool! You can only smell them!!" Inosuke yelled back at him while still managing to keep up his pace.

"Seeing isn't always believing though!" 

As we were nearing the table of the cafeteria, there was a large crowd gathered around a table that must be were the cookies were. As I calculated it, since I had a few more seconds than the other two because I was behind them, they would be stuck but I could find a way to jump past everyone.

Okay Zenitsu, you can do this, I spoke in my head. It was simple as I thought it but actually doing it was was seeming more difficult. But I was here now. Try not to think, don't think, don't think, don't-

I closed my eyes and let my ears guide me. I know that probably sounded weird but with the hearing that I have it was easier than seeing. You knew the sound of their motions and could even sometimes see their future movements by step or two.

"I WON!" I opened my eyes wide as I realized Inosuke and Tanjiro were stuck behind the crowd. I let out a winning sigh of relief as I grabbed out to the table and snatched a good amount of cookies from the table.

"Zenitsu! Don't take that many!" some girl in my class shouted at me. 

"I got friends to feed~" I joked back but hey, they were stuck back there so why not-

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" Inosuke's yells were sounded from the back of the crowd. "I NEED-"

"INOSUKE!! I HAVE THEM!!"

"Huh?" He turned his head in my direction. "WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR YOU BASTARD?! HURRY AND GIVE THEM TO ME!!?" 

"Yeesh ;-; I'm coming T-T just wait..." I told him.

"NO! HURRY!!" He started running towards me and pushed people out of the way. When he finally reached me he took ten of the cookies I had regardless of the flavor. Dang...

"Thanks Zenitsu," Tanjiro told me as he walked up to me and ate one. "I also guess you win this one." 

"Finally. It's about time too," I joked around with him as I bit into my cookie. 

This might sound a bit off but cookies always reminded me of my master. He was like my grandfather who raised me since I was young. My parents left and I hardly knew them. All I remember is this man coming to help me everyday while I walked the streets.

He claimed I had potential but he never did say for what. But I would see him about everyday while I was living on the streets back when I was homeless at the age of five. I had always made sure to be safe from people who I knew were from the orphanage so I wouldn't be taken there. 

"Want a cookie?" If he was a stranger then I would have refused. But I knew this man now but I still silently prayed that he was who he said he was.

"S-sure..." I said. I grabbed the cookie from the old man's hands and ate it. Sooooo good but maybe it was because I haven't eaten in a while. Still, I bet it would be delicious then too.

"Your parents...where are they?" I gulped down the rest once he asked that question. "I see you out here everyday even from my house across the street. You always hang around this area."

"They left me. Well, one did. Once my dad died my mom took it hard and yet me. I found out she went somewhere far away but she committed suicide the next day by jumping off a ragged mountain with the hope of bleeding to death. 

Well...it worked. But I was young so I didn't know what to think and all I knew was to cry. Cry like the crybaby I am. It made me feel like my parents didn't want me anymore. My mom never tried to live at least to raise her son once her husband died. 

At least try...

"It's going to get cold nothing. Snow, in fact. Want to come with me? I have an open room." I remember looking up at the man on the streets. I could already feel the frigid weather and knowing my weak body I wouldn't survive or would have a hard time surviving anyways. 

"I guess..." I said. Who knows what would have happened? As long as I had an actual roof over my head then my chances of survival were higher unless this man was a fake. Although, I didn't sense any of that from him. I hung onto my loose hope in that moment.

Look at where I am now though. I'm alive and turns out the man was who I thought he was after all. I suppose you could call that some stupid luck but for me it was a miracle.

Since then that old man raised me. He trained me, taught me art, let me attend school, everything like that. The street art was my favorite but that's a story for another day.

As I continued eating the cookies I had in my hands, the ones Tanjiro and Inosuke didn't take, I smiled gently to myself. This felt nice. A whiff of the past and I'm here with my friends.

"Hey Tanjiro~! When are you gonna fuck Kanao? Or would you rather fuck a more sexy girl like me~~?" A girl walked up to him with a sly smile on smile on her face. 

"Sure he'll do a version of that!" Inosuke chimed in. "He'll tell you to fuck off," his expression changed to dead serious with a glare.

"Geez, okay! I just wanted to know his size-"

"MY WHAT?!" Tanjiro shouted, shocked. "I-"

Sometimes I wondered why people were like this. Especially with us only being in high school but hey, people will be people. 

As I saw Tanjiro all shocked and Inosuke yelling his head off about how people should understand how Tanjiro already has a girlfriend, I found myself smiling again brightly. Even a laugh came out. 

We all started to talk and joke around later in that moment but my focus was quickly shifted from the group.

Gentle footsteps, shy and nervous. 

The delicate swift of her hair as she walked.

The crumbs of the cookies falling onto the floor that belonged to her.

In that moment it felt as if the world has stopped moving. Everyone else faded from around me until I caught her in my eyes. Why did I only notice her now? She is the most beautiful person I've ever seen.

I found myself walking towards her direction she stood in. She seemed so peaceful, so beautiful, so-

My hand reached out as I neared her. I grew the sudden urge to hold her hand. Just please let me at least hold her hand. 

Why did I feel like I did something to her? I want to say sorry but I'm not sure for what. My hand was so close to hers now...

"Zenitsu-"