I finished the Anju and Kafei sidequest tonight in my Majora's Mask replay, and... god, even though I've played this quest a few times already and I knew what was coming, it still gets me every time.
You can only finish the sidequest organically by REALLY getting to know the routines and motivations and lives of the whole town, and then keep pursuing it throughout a whole 3 day cycle, only to be able to finish it in the last minute of existence.
Waiting in the Stock Pot Inn as the counter ticks down, even if you've finished it before, you can't help but start to worry that maybe Kafei won't make it in time. After spending this much time and effort to bring these two together, you can't help but see these characters as people, and the world itself as a living thing.
But even when he shows up, and the two exchange their wedding vows, the threat of doomsday looms just moments away. But these two know that, and they accept it. The line that always gives me chills comes at the very end of the quest, when Anju says:
"Please take refuge. We are fine here. We shall greet the morning... together."
It's such a perfect microcosm of the game's themes of learning to accept the inevitability of death, and living the best life you can until then. Even though you have to undo everything you did to help these two right after they get together again, is that the same as having done nothing at all? Is doing good meaningless if it doesn't last? I don't believe so. You are the one thing which persists in all this, and did this ordeal not also change you? Did it not make you see the world with more kindness and empathy than when you began, and will that not change your actions going forward?
In a world where all life is fleeting, kindness is valuable in itself. You don't need a reason to help others, and helping those around you - even in an imperceptible or temporary way - is part of what makes life worth living for all of us.
The fact that Link cannot save everyone in Termina in just 3 short days may be unfortunate, but such is life. We do the best in the time we have to make life better, and when we pass on, we hope to leave the world a better place than when we entered it. Anju and Kafei will live on in the hearts of players everywhere, their love eternal in the memories of those who facilitated it as the world came to an end. And I think that's more than enough to be meaningful.
