The exterior was still as dark as before, maintaining a quite characteristic tranquility, although this was interrupted when a light breeze moved a small bell producing that unmistakable melody.
Most of the people in the village had already been caught up in the embrace of sleep since everyone had their own business to attend to early the next morning, but in one of the houses in the village, specifically in one of its rooms, two figures were being illuminated by the little light that a lamp transmitted.
"Do you feel better?" Kurono's voice came back after a while, and that question was directed at Shizune since she really seemed like she had managed to calm down.
"..." Shizune felt Kurono's hand caressing her head gently, she had heard her question, but despite that, she did not answer. Shizune was still trapped in the safety of Kurono's arms since she was busy with her thoughts, clearly she wouldn't stay that way forever, but it helped her.
"You don't need to feel upset with yourself, as I told you before, it's good that you express all those feelings and don't keep hiding them." Kurono kept trying to make Shizune feel better, and although he didn't know if it was working, he had no reason to stop.
"I know..." Shizune replied even without seeing Kurono directly, she was still grateful to Kurono for everything he had done for her. "And I really feel better telling you all this, possibly before it would have been even more difficult for me to do it, so I feel that I have grown in some way as a person."
Shizune started to walk away from Kurono as she said that, and she knew that she had gotten over the hardest part for her… Kurono also realized Shizune's intent, so he paid attention to her once more.
"At that moment, despite all the pain I was experiencing, it was thanks to the people close to me that I was able to get ahead somehow, after all I had Rena with me and I was not going to neglect her for the world." The Shizune's expression had changed once more, and although her face was the result of letting off steam, she now showed that characteristic confidence when talking about Rena. "She was just a baby at that time, so she has no true memories of Hiroshi, everything he knows is thanks to the stories we told her and the photographs we had with us."
It got to the point where Shizune had a lot to tell since it seemed that the sad part of her was behind her. A little more than an hour had passed since Shizune started with her new story, and once again you could see how the emotions she was experiencing changed the expression on her face, in addition to sometimes a laugh was heard coming out of her at the same time that Kurono was accompanying her.
"Although Rena didn't get pregnant as young as me, it was still a bit rushed, but both she and Akio were aware of our family's past, and just when they broke the news to us, they also said that they were ready to get married… You might think It was a bit of a strange situation, but leaving all that aside, I must say that I felt a happiness that was hard to describe again… Maybe mom felt the same way when I was the one who said that to her, hehe." Although you couldn't Ignore everything that had happened before, Shizune's laugh was completely sincere as she remembered a bit of the past.
This very thing had made Kurono smile when he saw her, he could tell that he was proud of Shizune, he hadn't forced her to tell him anything, he even asked her a few times if she wanted to continue, and even so, Shizune shared all those memories with him both happy and painful.
Kurono felt the trust that Shizune had placed in him, that only showed the feelings she had and that she didn't want there to be any more secrets between them... And that itself made Kurono feel some weight on him, which explained the complicated expression on his face.
"Is something wrong, Kurono?" Now it had been Shizune's turn to worry about him.
"It's nothing, it's just that I was thinking about everything you told me, and now I realize that I had underestimated you." Shizune didn't quite understand what Kurono meant by that, but everything would become clearer a moment later. "What I want to say is that you are a great person, Shizune. Just hearing that despite everything that happened, you took care of Rena and she got to the point of also becoming a great woman like you is enough for anyone to realize that."
Kurono had taken Shizune's hand again in an attempt to better convey his feelings or at least some warmth since he felt a bit of the icy weather seeping into the room.
"Thank you very much, Kurono... I guess you were always right."
"About what?" Kurono asked since Shizune's words were not very clear with what he wanted to express.
"Yes, it's just that I remembered the day we confessed, you said you fell in love with who I was, and even though I didn't feel that way at the time, I can say I'm proud of myself and the decisions I made." Shizune forcefully took both hands of Kurono. "Right now I am happy for many reasons, for my daughter, my future grandson, my parents, even for the people I can consider as friends... And of course you also give me enormous happiness, And all this means that, although sad thoughts and memories appear sometimes, they do not have the same strength as the past."
Shizune held her hand up until she was able to caress Kurono's cheek and give him a warm look before saying a few last words at that moment.
"So thank you... Thank you for showing me this new happiness, hehe."