The Tenth Pillar. (Kimetsu No Yaiba X OC)

Epilogue: Wedding day

"No. Way!"

Shinobu bit her lip as she weakly nodded.

Even if she wanted to deny it, even if she hopped that her body was playing a prank on her.

It was the real thing. It happened half a month ago...

Rain poured into the ground.

Lightning and thunder came from the east, a freezing wind blew and whispered the rage of the storm.

Hiiro did not savor any of the liquor he hurried down his throat.

Just like he did since two years ago, whenever the calendar marked this day of the late summer.

He would drink all the sake he find, doing nothing all day and just blacking out, waking up at the next day and continuing with his everyday life.

This year was no different, at least that's what he thought. But, his heart was in pain, no matter how much he drank, the pain and sorrow won't go away.

He lost his comrades, a lot of them during this war. Now he was living happily, with Shinobu and all the survivors.

Did he deserved such kindness?

The bottle of sake flew through the room before crashing against the wall, spilling all the liquid. It flowed like the tears he shed.

Why didn't he died too? At first he tought that he would overcome it all, but the weight of the fights, the lives lost were too big to bear.

Maybe he was destined to die in the battlefield, a glorious dead, but a curse fell upon him and now a good happy life carrying all this feelings was his punishment.

"Hiiro-kun?" Shinobu opened the door to their room. Not hers, theirs. It has been like that for more than a year now.

The raven haired girl found her beloved Hiiro Kojima crying, defeated and tumbling while he tried to get on his feet, failing over and over again.

Her heart shrunk. It's the third time she has seen him like that. Hiiro never cried again since the end of the battle. Three year later he was broken like that.

Holding back her own tears she helped him up, walking him to the bed. Resistance was never there as she supported him.

"Why..." he mumbled. His golden eyes lost in the cellar, like he found the most interesting thing there. "Why did I survived? Why didn't Kyojuro survived? Why didn't Kanae survived? Why just me?"

Her eyes were stinging from holding back the tears of sadness.

She gave him a warmth embrace. Filled with sorrow and pain. The girl knew about his regrets, even though he covered them with a sweet smile and an always positive attitude.

She knew everything about his mask and still Shinobu did nothing about it.
This are the results.

"It's ok, Hiiro-kun. You are here because you have to be here."

Her hands stroking his hair, silky and smooth as ever.

"Each of us promised to give our lives to fight against Muzan. Not everyone died though." She whispered. "Some of us found a reason to live on."

A deafening thunder roared over the skies, shaking it for some seconds.

"We all lost something, things that won't come back never again." Shinobu continued "But we can't defy the life and destiny. We have to move on, we have to continue this blessed process cursed journey we call life. That's what we have to do, Hiiro-kun. We are like a boat at the sea, no matter how many storm came to us, we have to maintain the course."