I don’t know if I feel saved is a hard truth that Rui hasn’t thought about confronting yet. He struggled with it a lot, before, in that other place – struggled with the fact he hadn’t been allowed to stay with his parents, even if that meant in Hell. He hadn’t felt saved, either, waking up here. But Rui had slowly come to terms with still being alive once, and while he was certain for a moment that Hanako would have forgotten him again – that this was another cruel joke, since Rui wasn’t ever meant to be happy after everything he’d done – he…
He thinks he might feel something closer to saved, now.
“I understand,” is all Rui can bring himself to reply. He won’t force Hanako to do anything more than he’s comfortable with, even if that means the two of them just have to sit here for some time while Hanako gathers his thoughts. Rui can only imagine what Hanako’s going through; he stays silent, now. It – kind of makes him feel like a burden, like this is his fault somehow. That Hanako’s only here because Rui’s here, and if Hanako has things to do back home, then… all Rui’s doing is weighing him down.
But Rui wants him here, so, so badly. He’s always been a selfish thing.
“… okay.” His voice wavers a little when he speaks back up, trying though he is to suppress all the awful thoughts, but Rui’s… doing his best, or at least something adjacent to it. “We can look for my room, and then we can see if we can make it to the roof.” Rui – feels stronger than he remembers, though, which causes a pit of foreboding to gnaw at his stomach, like if he gets any stronger he’ll lose himself to the strength of Muzan’s blood running through him. He’s been weakened for so long that he doesn’t know if he safely… can ever return to his full self. If it’s even possible, he’s…
But Hanako gets to his feet, and Rui follows shortly thereafter, keeping a firm grip on Hanako’s hand and resting the other hand on his shoulder to try and support Hanako as best as he can. It isn’t a difficult or particularly long walk to the rooms, at least, and Rui glances from one door to the other. One’s closed, and the other’s open, so it’s worth giving that one a try, and–
There’s an excited meow as they step inside; Rui all but squeezes Hanako’s hand infinitely too hard out of the surprise and realization that that’s Himari. She leaps off his pillow, purring up a storm, in order to rub against first Rui’s legs and then Hanako’s. Rui does his best to guide Hanako to the bed so that he can sit again, and once his hands are freed he first wipes at his eyes (his vision’s blurred) and next scoops Himari up.
With her still in his arms, Rui gives his room a quick bit of exploring, though his mind’s mostly focused on wanting to sit beside Hanako again. He finds his phone somewhere in his searching, or what he assumes is his phone, and feels his heart sink as he turns it on and realizes exactly how much time has passed.
“It’s November.” So, they definitely lost months in there somewhere. Rui purses his lips for a moment, but then gasps when he realizes exactly what day it is. Very barely – the clock’s only just hit midnight – but with it comes the date rolling over to the 23rd. Himari’s still purring in his arms, and Rui turns around a little hesitantly. Maybe he shouldn’t say it? Hanako’s in some sort of state, and Rui’s not sure if this would… well, make it worse. “… and… it’s…”
“… happy… happy anniversary, Hanako.”
he doesn't sound good, and hanako notices, but he doesn't want to ask why. he's drained, unsure whether he even has the energy to try. and it's not that he doesn't want to know, but—maybe rui will bring it up to him later, or maybe he won't. he doesn't entirely want to push for him to, anyway.
rui says they can look for his room, so he doesn't imagine that will take very long. they probably won't even spend very long there, maybe, unless hanako decides he doesn't want to go to the roof and instead just lay down for now.
and at least rui follows. the support is nice, when hanako feels so, so heavy. like he could collapse under gravity, weighed down by more than just that. he doesn't, though.
he's still a little spacey, too, but hearing the meow takes him out of it a bit. well - that and rui squeezing his hand a little too hard, it kind of hurts, but he tries not to react to it. he does, however, mutter out himari's name. he's... glad that she's safe, somehow. he's glad that she's here.
hanako lets rui lead him, sitting on the bed next, and watching as rui scoops himari up in his arms. he looks back away after that; hanako's mouth feels a little less dry than before, so he imagines seeing both her and rui helped in that regard. he's still anxious, but at least he can more or less ignore it now.
time doesn't usually matter to hanako. in the sense that, he falls so intrinsically outside of it that he's stuck in a circle of never aging, because he's dead, fixed in a position of never moving on either. it doesn't usually matter. but he feels a pit worse than before sink in his stomach over the fact that.. it's november, which means he lost a lot more time with rui than he'd thought. he presses his lips together, still stuck in thought, but rui continues.
and it does snap him out a bit, hanako looks back over, head tilted, and his gaze drops to himari cradled in rui's arms before he looks to rui next. if it's their anniversary, then.. they really lost so much together. hanako knows it's not his fault, but he still somehow feels like he should have done more to bring them back together again sooner. he's not even the reason they were brought back together; he realizes how little power he actually holds.
hanako doesn't want to just start crying again, he's tired of that, but he does move a bit closer so he can lean up and press a gentle kiss to rui's lips. it — admittedly, makes him feel a bit better. so he kisses him again, and again, and then leans back again.
"Happy anniversary." he reaches a hand over to pet himari, scratching beneath her chin then the top of her head, behind her ears, and she's just purring away. it makes him smile a bit, because he is happy to see her again, happy that she's here, still. so he's glad, ultimately, that they both checked the room first. he wants to stay here for as long as they can before moving to the roof, because he doesn't want to pull rui away from himari just so that he can. it's comfortable in the room, at least. the roof may be a comfort for him, but rui is, too.
"Even if we can't get those months back, I'm.. glad that we're both together again. I kinda knew that we were going to leave, it just felt like — like that's just how it was going to be. I didn't think so abruptly, though, so I wasn't prepared for that, but. I guess we're here, now."
hanako moves his hand away so he can kiss the top of himari's head, and she headbumps into his lips. this makes hanako laugh before pulling away again, and... yeah, he does feel better.
"We can stay here longer, if you wanna."