Ode to Moonlight《Kazuscara 》

Chapter 4: Sakura-Scented Kiseru

Yawning, Kunikuzushi sat up on his sleeping bag, rubbing his eyes and yawning. A pleasant smell filled his nose. He got up and realized that his hair was really disheveled, but he was too tired to fix it. He walked up to Kazuha, who was still cooking, from behind and put his chin on Kazuha's shoulder. Kunikuzushi looked at the cooking pan where the smell was coming from. He didn't recognise the food in it. 

"What are you cooking? Smells good." Kunikuzushi said drowsily. 

Kazuha turned slightly to look at Kunikuzushi, and replied, "It's called Omelette Rice. It's a pretty popular dish, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it before." 

Kazuha took the omelette off of the pan and folded rice into it. Then he placed it on a small plate that was next to another one with the omelette already made. Passing the freshly made Omelette Rice and a fork to Kunikuzushi, he took the other plate. Kunikuzushi ate quietly, too tired to speak. Even though he slept more than Kazuha, strangely Kazuha didn't seem as fatigued as him. 

They finished eating and put away their plates. Then they both took out their respective paper slips, checking what their lucky object was. They were Tingling Electro Crystal and Mature Sea Ganoderma, both could be found near water, which was lucky for Kazuha as he still needed to catch some crabs, since he forgot to do so previously. They took the same route to the beach as the day before, avoiding all the monsters.  

On the beach they found three electro crystals and a lot of crabs. Kazuha went to go break the crystals, while Kunikuzushi ran after the crabs. Most of them ran away from him, but he managed to catch one of them. He held it high above his head, praising himself. However he wasn't paying attention to the crab when it suddenly pinched his finger with one of its front pincers. He immediately dropped it, but it landed on his face and scratched him as it jumped off of him and back to the sand. 

Kunikuzushi started yelling swear words at the crab as it dug a hole in the sand. When he could no longer see the crab, he noticed that his finger and face were bleeding quite a bit. It was only few scratches though, so Kunikuzushi decided that it wasn't a problem. Kazuha, however, thought differently. He had already finished collecting the electro crystals and saw the fiasco with the crab. He found it amusing, but he had to make sure Kunikuzushi was okay. 

Kunikuzushi insisted that he was fine and wanted to continue on with his day, but Kazuha said that they should go treat his injuries first. He didn't let Kunikuzushi argue with him, grabbing his uninjured hand and pulling him back to the camp.

Taking some bandaids and rubbing alcohol from the tent, Kazuha approached Kunikuzushi again, who was sitting on a log next to the unlit campfire. Kazuha took Kunikuzushi's left hand in his, and applied rubbing alcohol on it using a cotton ball. Kunikuzushi flinched and retracted his hand, holding it with his other hand.

"That stings!" Kunikuzushi complained.

"I know but if we don't do it you could get an infection, so please, just bear with it for a little?"

"No." He said, staring angrily at the cotton ball. 

Kazuha sighed,he didn't want Kunikuzushi to get an infection, but he wasn't going to do it if Kunikuzushi wasn't comfortable with it. 

"Fine, just let me bandage up your hand at least."

Kunikuzushi complied, and let Kazuha take his hand again. Kazuha put away the cotton ball and then deftly wrapped the white bandages around his hand. Then, he took one smaller band aid and placed it on Kunikuzushi's cheek, where the crab scratched him. Though he slightly winced, Kunikuzushi didn't say anything about the pain. Kazuha was just happy that Kunikuzushi trusted him enough to let him do this, even if they met only a short while ago. 

"Done! Now we match!" Kazuha giggled, holding up his own bandaged hand. 

Kunikuzushi smiled, only now realizing that. "Yeah! But yours is on your right hand and mine's on the left..."

"That's okay! We complete what the other is missing! I'll be your right hand, and you'll be my left." He lifted their hands, pressing them against each other. Together, they made a pair of uninjured hands. 

Kunikuzushi grinned, then suddenly he remembered something. He reached into his inventory, taking out a Sea Ganoderma, showing it to Kazuha. 

"I collected this at the beach before and forgot about it."

"Oh that reminds me, I got a few pieces of electro crystals," Kazuha replied, taking them out of his inventory, "I'm thinking of making it into a necklace. I have enough to make one for both of us." 

Kunikuzushi's eyes lit up.

"That's a great idea! We'll have to go to Inazuma City to get the materials to make it though." 

"Well since you failed to catch any crabs, we'll have to go to the city much earlier than planned." Kazuha said, while Kunikuzushi pouted. 

"I think I'll move to another location soon, closer to the city. You're a wanderer too, right? Is there anywhere you would like to go?" asked Kazuha. 

"I don't know.. I think I want to just stay with you for a while, if I can.." Kunikuzushi said shyly. 

Kazuha was taken by surprise at first, but his expression quickly changed to joy. His eyes shone brighter than the sun and a sweet smile formed on his face.  

"Of course you can! I would love to travel with you, Kunikuzushi!" 

Kunikuzushi was shocked that Kazuha agreed so readily, and a slight blush dusted his cheeks. 

"Good! I would've punched you if you didn't let me!" Kunikuzushi said, trying to act tough, putting his hands on his hips. 

Kazuha giggled, not believing any of it. "If you say so."

"Well, where should we go?"

Thinking for a moment, Kazuha responded, "How about Chinju Forest? It's pretty close to Inazuma City, and it's really beautiful there!" 

"Okay then, Chinju Forest it is! Let's go!" Kunikuzushi said, starting to get up. 

"Wait, we need to pack everything first." Kazuha grabbed Kunikuzushi's sleeve and pulled him back down on the log. 

Groaning, Kunikuzushi helped Kazuha pack the tent and all his other belongings into his inventory, and then they set off on their long walk to Chinju Forest. 

(A/N)

Kazuha: I would love to travel with you!

Scara: Take away the 'would' and 'to travel with' and that sentence would be correct

Word Count: 1067

Date Posted: Feb 3 2022