Shinobu led Haruto down the quiet hallway, stopping in front of a door he knew far too well.The room beside hers… Kanae's old room.
Four years had passed since it became empty.
Haruto stepped inside and let the silence settle on his shoulders. Same walls. Same light. Same ghost.
Shinobu lingered at the doorway for a moment, then walked in and sat across from him, trying to act normal.
"So… how was your trip?" she asked, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And why are you here so early? You weren't supposed to return for another two weeks."
Haruto shrugged lightly."Apparently a client demanded my 'personal assistance' in Japan."He laughed. "Convenient, right? Gave me the perfect excuse to come home early."
"Three months," Shinobu whispered.He nodded."Three whole months with you."
And just like that, the awkward air between them began softening.The distance slowly faded.
Shinobu slid closer without realizing it, talking about anything and everything — hospital work, finances, extra responsibilities piling up.Haruto listened, his presence calmer than the room itself.
"My father still isn't ready for you," he finally admitted. "Still thinks I'm crazy. Still doesn't approve."
Her eyes dropped a bit.
"But I don't care," he added, taking her hand. "You're still hiding the ring?"
Her breath stopped.
Because yes, they were engaged.Haruto had proposed two days before Kanae was taken away by the bear… or at least that was the version he believed.
Shinobu had shattered after the incident. She wouldn't talk to anyone. She broke, spiraling into a rage and grief no one could control.Haruto's family begged him to leave her.He didn't.
He stayed for six months — running the estate, managing finances, watching over Kanao whenever he could.He held Shinobu through her breakdowns when she threw things, screamed, and hit rock bottom.
She was only fourteen then.He was sixteen — older by a year and nine months — but the only one who stayed.He didn't flinch. Didn't step away.
And after six months, Shinobu changed.
Too much.
She began mimicking Kanae — her speech, her smile, her kindness, every mannerism.Haruto hated it.He told her again and again to stop drowning herself in someone she wasn't.
She never listened.
So he made a deal.
"At least in front of me," he had said."Show me the real you. Don't disappear too."
She had cried that day — truly cried — not over Kanae, but over herself.
And in the present…
Shinobu sat beside him as her real self.No fake smiles.No borrowed expressions.Just Shinobu.
Their shoulders touched.Then their knees.Then their foreheads.
"I missed you, Kocho," Haruto murmured.
Her heart raced painfully against her ribs.
She looked into his eyes —the love, the gentleness, the buried frustration, and under all of it, a quiet, growing desire.A longing that never really faded.
"Haruto… not now," she tried to laugh it off, flustered.
"Not what now?" he teased, brushing his thumb along her cheek.
"I have work."
"I know."His hand slid under her chin, tilting it up gently.
Her breath caught.Her eyes fluttered shut.
"Knew it," he whispered as he kissed her.
A single tear slipped down her cheek.She didn't even try to stop it.
She had missed him so much.
God, she had.
The kiss wasn't meant to happen.
Shinobu felt his breath before she even realized Haruto had leaned in. Their foreheads pressed, her pulse stuttering in her throat. She had promised herself she wouldn't melt this easily… but gods, she had missed him. Missed the warmth, the affection, the stupid jokes, the gentle hands that had once held her together when she was falling apart piece by piece.
When his lips brushed hers, her body reacted before her mind did.A small gasp escaped her—soft, helpless, painfully honest.
Haruto deepened the kiss, slow and warm.Not demanding… just there.Like he always had been.
Her fingers curled into his sleeve as if they remembered the shape of him.His hand slid along her cheek, thumb brushing just beneath her eye as though he was checking if she was real.
It had been too long.Six months of letters, silence, aching.
The kiss grew deeper, a hunger they had both tried to bury resurfacing in one breath. His hand found her waist; her chest trembled; the room felt too small for how long they'd waited.
"Shinobu…" he murmured against her lips.
"Haruto, wait—"
But she didn't pull away.
He kissed her again.
And she—She kissed him back.
Her mind went blank except for one truth:
She had never stopped wanting him.
His lips trailed down her jaw, a soft sigh escaping her throat.She lightly pushed his chest, half-hearted, breathless.
"Haruto—someone might come—"
"That never stopped you from hiding in my arms before," he teased, pressing another lingering kiss against her cheek.
Heat rushed through her face.
"Idiot…" she whispered.
"Only for you," he smiled, drawing her closer.
His fingers brushed her nape. This was more than desire. This was familiarity—a memory her body clung to desperately.
And then—
The sliding door slammed open.
"L–Lady Shinobu, the towels—" Aoi froze.
Haruto froze.
Shinobu nearly died.
Aoi's soul left her body.
There was no mistaking the scene:
Shinobu flustered, breathing uneven, cheeks pink. Haruto's hand still on her waist, their faces far, far too close.
"Aoi," Shinobu said slowly, voice trembling with controlled rage, "knock."
Aoi bowed ninety degrees while backing out like a crab.
"SORRYPLEASECONTINUE—NO DON'T CONTINUE—SORRY!!"
The door slammed again.
Silence.
Haruto leaned back, laughing into his hand, completely unashamed.Shinobu covered her face with both palms.
"Kill me," she whispered.
"Can't," Haruto said cheerfully. "I'm your fiancé. I require you alive."
Her breath stopped."Haruto…"
His expression softened.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently.
She nodded.
And the room shifted—warmth fading into quiet heaviness.
FLASHBACK — FOUR YEARS AGO
(Shinobu's Breakdown)
Shinobu remembered nothing clearly from the weeks after Kanae's death—only fragments. Smashed vials. Screaming. Sleepless nights. Her own voice begging. Her own hands trembling.
She had destroyed three rooms in the Butterfly Estate in one evening.She had thrown scalpels at the wall until her fingers bled.
And Haruto…He stayed.
She remembered him pinning her arms gently to stop her from cutting herself on glass.Holding her while she kicked, cried, raged.
She remembered collapsing against him, choking out:
"Why wasn't it me?!"
And Haruto—sixteen, terrified, helpless—held her tighter, whispering:
"I'm here. I'm here. I'm here."
For six months, he slept sitting up on the estate floor just to make sure she didn't wake up screaming alone.
He was there through the violence.The silence.And the moment she turned empty.
When she forced a smile to replace her broken voice.
Haruto hated that smile more than her tears.
So he made a deal.
"At least with me—be real."
And she did.
He was the only person who saw the real Shinobu.Not the polite slayer.Not the calm poison expert.
Just the girl who couldn't lose anything else.
FLASHBACK — THEIR ENGAGEMENT
Two days before Kanae's death, Haruto had been pacing in front of her room, hands sweating, ring box hidden in his sleeve.
Shinobu had walked out, confused.
"Why are you standing like you're about to be executed?"
Haruto swallowed.
"I… I want to marry you."
Shinobu blinked. "That's not how proposals work."
He panicked.
"Okay—okay—uh—Kocho Shinobu, I—um—I don't know how to say it properly, but you're my favorite person and you make everything brighter and—"
"Haruto," she whispered, smiling softly."You're shaking."
"Well, obviously! I'm proposing!"
She laughed—really laughed—and took his hands.
Then she whispered, "Yes."
That was the last time she had laughed like that for years.
BACK TO PRESENT
Haruto reached for her hand, thumb brushing her knuckles.
"My father still hates our engagement," he admitted."He says a girl who works in 'blood and danger' isn't a wife for a noble house."
Shinobu scoffed. "Your father hates everything."
"That's why I ignore him," Haruto said with a shrug."I chose you. And I'll choose you every time."
Her chest tightened.Her eyes softened.
"…Haruto."
"Hmm?"
"You're still the same idiot who makes my life inconvenient."
"And you," he smiled taking her hand close to his chest, "are still the woman who makes it worth it."
She felt her face warm again.
He leaned forward, brushing his lips against her forehead—gentle, patient this time.
"No more secrets, Shinobu," he whispered. "At least between us."
Her heart clenched.
She knew she'd have to tell him about demons one day.
But not today.
"Come on," she said, standing abruptly before her emotions drowned her."I… I'll cook dinner."
Haruto blinked."You? Cooking? That's rarer than finding a herb that cures stupidity."
She glared. "Sit quietly or I'll poison you."
He grinned. "Romantic."
She rolled her eyes and walked toward the kitchen, but—
She was smiling.
A real smile.
The first one she had shown in months.
And Haruto followed her with the soft certainty of a man who knew:
He had never stopped loving her.