(Y/N) sighed as she leaned against the wall. The only sound was the 'tap, tap, tap' of her foot on the floor. Knowing Hozuki, he probably woke up early on working days, so she'd been waiting outside his door since four in the morning—over an hour ago.

Finally, the door opened, and Hozuki walked out as perfect as ever, club already propped on his shoulder. When he noticed (Y/N), he stopped, staring at her a moment before regaining his composure.

"Ms. (Y/N), what are you doing here so early in the morning? I thought you were going to ask King Enma for some time off."

(Y/N) averted her gaze, blushing ever so slightly.

Damn...talking to him is harder than I thought.

"I—I did," she stammered, "I have the day off."

"..."

"And so do you."

There was a moment of silence, and (Y/N) prepared for the worst.

"I have the day off?" he echoed.

She nodded quickly. "Yes! By orders of King Enma!"

Hozuki's eyes narrowed, and he tightened the grip on his club. In one swift motion, he pushed past her into the hall beyond.

"I'm going to have a little talk with the 'Great King.'"

(Y/N) ran after him. The only condition Enma gave when she asked for Hozuki to have the day off was that she deal with the resulting chaos.

"Wait a minute!" she snapped, grabbing his arm. He turned towards her, eerily calm.

"Ms. (Y/N), why exactly do I have the day off?"

She grinned nervously. "I...um...asked King Enma to..."

"And why would you do something like that?"

She blushed. "We-we haven't been hanging out very much lately...I thought we could—like—go to a zoo or something?"

He shook her off. "I've already been to every zoo in Japan."

"No you haven't!" she protested, taking a flyer out of her kimono sleeve. "I'm talking about the new one that opened last month. You were telling me about it, remember? You said you wanted to go, but didn't have the time."

He hesitated before turning and walking away, club by his side. (Y/N) wondered what he was going to do with it.

Well, this calls for my secret weapon...

"I got tickets for the private sloth cuddling!"

He stopped, looking suspiciously over his shoulder.

Smiling, (Y/N) pulled two tickets out of her sleeve, displaying them proudly.

"They're only good for today. Besides being very hard to get..." Hard for King Enma to convince Hakutaku to drop his date and give me the tickets...

A moment of silence. Then he took off, running past her into his room.

"I'll be ready in three minutes!"

For the first half of the train ride, (Y/N) held her breath, as if she could keep from breathing other peoples' air. That proved futile, however, and she switched to focusing on not focusing on how close she and Hozuki were sitting. Whenever their ride lurched forward, she found herself pressed against his side.

This can't be good for my heart.

For the twentieth time since they boarded, she stole a glance at him. He hadn't noticed how nervous she was. That was good.

I guess I should try talking to him, but what should I say? She focused her gaze on her hands. I guess...just speak my mind?

"H-hey," she stammered. "Why do you always make a big deal about taking time off? Didn't you once have to take a day off because you stayed up all night digging a hole for Hakutaku to fall in?"

"That was different," he informed her. "I'd done all the calculations, and decided taking that day off would have a minimum effect on overall productivity."

"Oh..." (Y/N) clenched her fists. "I guess I kind of feel bad for dragging you out here, then."

"Don't. In fact, I should be thanking you for sharing your tickets with me." He thought a moment. "Come to think of it, how do you know about the incident with that divine beast? You weren't there."

"Of course not. I've never been to Shangri-La. Actually, when he fell through that hole, he...kind of fell on top of me..."

Hozuki stiffened.

(Y/N) broke out into a grin.

I could use this...

"You know, he actually came by the next day to apologize, and we ended up going out to lunch. He may be flirty, but he can be quite a gentleman when he sets his mind to it. I'm actually going out to dinner with him in a few weeks." To help pay him back for the tickets...

A pause. Then, Hozuki's fist hit the side of the train car. Several people screamed. Others jumped out of their seats. (Y/N) only flinched.

"I apologize," Hozuki said swiftly, bowing briefly to the other passengers before resuming his seat at (Y/N)'s side.

"Y-you okay?" she asked, glancing at the wall. "...You smashed the side of the train."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "I simply don't want that damned beast corrupting any more innocent souls."

Innocent again? What do these people think I am?

"Wow! This is amazing! Oh, are those lions?"

(Y/N) ran to the enclosure, snapping a quick picture before returning to Hozuki's side. He surveyed her with a curious expression.

"Have you never been to a zoo before?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't go out much."

"Yes." He crossed his arms. "Come to think of it, you mentioned never having been to Shangri-La."

(Y/N) chuckled. "Yeah, I've just never found the time..."

...And the idea of going somewhere new by myself scares me.

She smirked. "Actually, I was thinking of asking Hakutaku to show me around—"

Click!

The sound of Hozuki's pocket watch snapping shut cut her off. She looked up just in time to see him put it away. His face was neutral, but his movements were unusually tense.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing her wrist. "We still have some time before sloth cuddling."

(Y/N) didn't have time to process the humor of someone as intimidating as Hozuki innocently discussing petting sloths. She was more focused on why he was so worked up.

Hozuki always reacts violently to the mention of Hakutaku, but maybe...

"Hozuki?"

"Hm?"

"Are you jealous?"

He stopped, letting go of her.

"Why would I be jealous? I simply despise that man. That's all."

Her face turned bright red. She wanted to slap herself.

Of course! Of course! Why did you have to go and make things awkward? Stupid (Y/N)!

As he was heading off to a nearby stand to buy a souvenir, (Y/N) pretended to be interested in the leopard enclosure, when in reality, her mind was too full of thoughts like 'you're an idiot,' and 'he would never think that way' to pay any attention to her surroundings. It wasn't until Hozuki pointed it out that she noticed it had started to rain.

They took shelter at one of the stops for the zoo's tour buses. It wasn't much, but it kept them dry. As they sat side-by-side on the bench, (Y/N)'s hands started to shake.

Rain...does that mean—

"Ms. (Y/N), are you all right?"

(Y/N) jumped at Hozuki's words, and promptly forced a smile. "I'm okay, and we're not working right now, so call me—"

Crash.

(Y/N) let out a shriek, covering her ears. When the thunder subsided, she relaxed for a moment, only to whimper when it struck again.

"Ms. (Y/N)..."

She opened her eyes at Hozuki's words. His face betrayed the slightest hint of surprise.

"Are you still afraid of thunder?" he asked.

She shot him a glare. "W-what does it look li—augh!" She screwed her eyes shut as a flash of lightning lit up the sky.

She felt him stir beside her, and felt his warm hand on her head. When she forced her eyes open again, he was walking into the rainstorm.

"Wait here," he ordered her.

She nodded.

This feels awfully familiar.

It was true—this had all happened before. However, this time, her mind didn't reel with all the horrible things that could happen to him—this was Hozuki. He'd more or less demonstrated himself to be indestructible.

No, when he returned, he didn't find her panicking about his absence. Instead, she was hiding under the bench, crying.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She didn't respond. He sighed, and took her hand. The minute he touched her, her heart rate slowed, and her breathing became manageable.

He helped her out, and sat her on the bench. Before she could ask where he'd been, he took out a set of bright green ear buds.

"I went to a gift shop nearby," he explained before she could ask. "Luckily, they had these. We could go there, if that would make you more comfortable."

"I-I'm fine," she stammered. "Really."

He put the ear buds in her ears. "No, you're not. Now give me your phone."

(Y/N) was confused, but did as he asked. Once he had her phone, he plugged the ear buds in, and started playing (Favorite Song.)

She instantly relaxed. Hozuki let out a small sigh of relief before patting her head, and pulling her against his side. Her face instantly reddened.

"The storm should be over soon," the oblivious oni told her.

(Y/N) nodded. At this point, her heart rate was louder than any thunder.

"H-Hozuki?" she stammered.

"Hm?"

"Thank you..."

Once the storm had passed, they walked around until (Y/N) had stopped shaking, then hurried to the Amazon Exhibit where the sloths were kept. There, several smiling young women took them to a back room to wait. Hozuki and (Y/N) agreed their happiness was due to the fact that they spent so much time in the presence of peaceful animals.

"I wish I could live like that," (Y/N) mused.

"Yes, so do I."

"You get to 'inspect' Animal Torturer Hell whenever you want," (Y/N) pointed out.

"If I recall correctly," Hozuki stated, "your room is across from Ms. Mustard's."

"That's one rabbit, and she's a sociopath."

Their banter was cut short by the handlers returning, this time with a curious two-fingered sloth and a towel.

(Y/N) quickly stepped to the side, letting Hozuki take the first cuddle shift.

The girls seated him in a chair, put the towel and sloth on his chest, and gently instructed him on where and where not to touch the animal.

"Do you have any babies?" he asked in his usual harsh tone, pointing to the sloth.

(Y/N) chuckled.

"Yes," one of the girls answered, "but you can't cuddle them. They're very fragile."

He sighed. (Y/N) watched, patiently waiting her turn.

He's looks so cute like that. I wonder...

On impulse, she took out her phone and snapped a picture.

He never has to find out...

Little did she know he took a picture of her, as well, with a sloth licking her face, smiling like the sun itself.