March 14th

"A-are you my savior?"

The fox stares at the girl and doesn't give her an answer; not like Hikari was expecting one. Now that would be very unusual.

After contemplation, he finally decides to answer, "I'm Miya Atsumu."

Hikari freezes for a second and her face goes deadpan.

"Ehhh?! Did you just speak?!" she yells, shocking Atsumu. "T-the fox.... He j-just spoke!" She accusingly points at Atsumu and jumps back.

Atsumu scratches his ears with his paws.
"You're just as loud as you were back then, Hikari-chan!" he whines.

Her eyes widen once more and she moves closer to the fox.

"Huh? How do you know my name?"

Atsumu gives her a grimace before wiggling his ears to adjust it. "You don't remember me? The night at the shrine."

Observing him, she looks down at his fur then realizes who he is. "Ah! You are my savior!" She points. "I-I never got to thank you!" Adjusting herself on her knees she does a bow. "Thank you so much for saving me, Miya-san. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now."

Atsumu blushes and looks away. "D-don't thank me! That was several years ago but you're still as troublesome and loud as you used to be."

"Y-you're right! I-I'm sorry you've had to deal with me and still have to deal with me now, but I never thought I'd meet you again."
Atsumu's gaze falls back on her and he observes how much the little girl he once saw has changed physically. "I never thought I'd see you again either but it's alright. You just need to take better care of yourself. You're too careless!"

Hikari frowns at his insult but still lifts her head to look at him then looks around the unfamiliar scenery.

"Oh, no! I need to get back home; Keiji is probably waiting for me!" Hikari exclaims and is about to stand up when she abruptly stops. "No... he's probably not waiting."

"Keiji?" Atsumu repeats.

Hikari gives Atsumu a sad smile. "Yeah, that's my husband."

Atsumu observes Hikari's features and can easily tell how sad she was.

"I never understood why humans get married," he says, "it seems like a lot of humans who get married end up feel very unhappy and find someone else; so why do it in the first place? Is it just to reproduce?"

Nervously playing with her hair, Hikari stares at the grass.

"Well, for some people, marriage is just like a contract in order to have children together. For others, marriage can also be an agreement to gain something from each other. However, I wouldn't say that's the purpose marriage should be for," she explains. "Marriage should be and originally is the joining—spiritually and emotionally—of two people who absolutely love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together to support one another, emotionally and physically."

'Love?' Atsumu repeats. "If it's such a good thing, why did you look so sad when you were talking about your husband?"

Embarrassed, Hikari blushes. "M-my marriage with Keiji isn't necessarily the type of marriage I believe it should be, but it doesn't despite the fact that... I do l-love him." Playing with her fingers a little more, she determinedly looks up at the fox. "S-so, I need to get home--"

Abruptly, her sentence is interrupted with her stomach growling. Atsumu stares in amusement as she turns scarlet.

"Let's go eat first. You've been asleep for the past two days now--"

"Two days?!" Hikari exclaims. "Food can wait. I need to get back to Keiji!"

Atsumu covers his ears and gives the human woman a frown.

"I can't take you back right now."

"But why?"

He sighs before a yellow cloud erupts in the air around him. Hikari's eyes admire the dusty cloud when she suddenly comes face to face with a beautiful young man.

"We can talk about it over breakfast, okay?" Atsumu seriously says which silences Hikari.

"F-fine," she whispers and tries her hardest to get up but once again fails.

Seeing her struggle, Atsumu heads her way and squats in front of her with his back facing her.

"Get on; you're still injured from the storm."
Blushing, she embarrassingly wraps her arms around his neck and leans her body against his. Instantly when their bodies touch, both of them feel this excessive warmth that shoots through their body like electricity.

Trying his best to ignore the feeling, Atsumu wraps his hands around her thighs and lifts her body up with his. Hikari's face lightly bumps against his head and his hair tickles her cheek.

'So soft,' she thinks and unconsciously takes in his scent. 'He smells like the sun.'

As Atsumu is carrying Hikari around, she observes the beautiful forest around them and her pupils turn into stars.

"Wahhh," she lightly exclaims. There were beautiful flowers of all kinds sprinkled all over the grass, families of deers who were feeding on some grass, and butterflies of patterns she had never seen before. "This was hiding behind those trees all along?" she whispers to herself.

The corner of Atsumu's lips slightly curves up as he listens to her excitement. After 10 more minutes, the two finally reach a stream and Atsumu carefully sets Hikari down to sit on a log.

"Do you eat fish?" he asks as Hikari nods. Heading towards the stream, he attentively studies the water. From a few feet away, Hikari observes Atsumu and her eyes widen when Atsumu quickly dives his hand into the water and successfully pulls out a fish.

"Wahhh! Miya-san, that's amazing," Hikari couldn't help but comment.

Atsumu raises a brow as if what he did was nothing.

"If you live in the forest, you're going to need to have the basic skills to get food. Plus, I'm originally a fox anyway," he explains.

Hikari nods at the information as she watches Atsumu successfully grab more fishes for them to eat. Once he's finished, he places the five fishes on some banana leaves that serve as plates.

As much as Hikari was hungry, she wasn't sure how she was going to eat the fish without it being cooked.

Noticing her hesitating to eat, Atsumu tilts his head. "What's wrong, Hikari-chan?"

Playing with her hair, she blushes and looks away. "H-humans can't eat meat that isn't cooked," she whispers.

Nodding his head, Atsumu places his hands over a fish and takes a breath. A bright light abruptly surrounds the fish and it catches Hikari's eyes. After a good minute, Atsumu removes his hands and the fish is fully cooked without its scales.

Unconsciously, Hikari's hand reaches for Atsumu's hand and she grabs it, shocking him.

"H-huh?! W-what are you doing?!" Blush smears around his face and fox ears appear on top of his head.

Realizing what she was doing, Hikari instantly lets go and retrieves her hand.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm just so amazed by what you can do... What are you, Miya-san?"

The two stare at each other before Atsumu places his hands over another fish to cook.
"I'm a guardian of this forest," he says as he cooks another fish. "100,000 years ago, God created seven foxes with powers to protect this forest from any harm. He specifically blessed me with the power of the sun; so, that's how I have the ability to do this."

Hikari admires Atsumu as he scoots the fish towards her. "Eat," he commands.

"So that's why you're so warm," she bluntly responds. The comment causes both of them to blush as Hikari turns to the fish. "I-I'm sorry, Miya-san! J-just ignore what I say! Thank you for the meal."

As she's about to take a big bite of the fish, Atsumu speaks.

"Atsumu," he mumbles and takes the other cooked fish into his hands. "Just call me Atsumu--my given name."

Observing him, Hikari gives a small nod.

"Okay, Atsumu-san."

March 12th; two days ago

Finally arriving home, Akaashi shakes his head to get some of the rain off of his hair. He lets out his normal loud breath, waiting for a response from Hikari. Hearing nothing, he takes off his shoes and loosens his tie.

"Hikari, can you possibly bring me a towel?" he asks but receives no response. 'That's unusual.' Trying his best not to get the house wet, he carefully walks in to see the dining table that's covered with some of his favorite dishes. "Ah shoot," he curses, "I forgot about the celebration today!" Searching around the house, Akaashi doesn't sense Hikari's presence anywhere. "Hopefully, she's not mad at me; I don't want to deal with another emo human."

Heading straight into his room, he immediately takes a shower then changes into warmer clothes. Hikari's appearance is still yet to appear. "Where is she? Did she leave?" he rhetorically asks as he heads back into the kitchen to heat up his own meal. Awkwardly, he brings his plate to the table and eats; Akaashi didn't remember the last time he ate dinner by himself; it was probably during college. It felt so lonely. Bothered by the feeling, he places his chopsticks down.

"Hikari!! Are you home?" he loudly asks. Receiving no answer, he sighs and continues to slowly eat. 'She's probably at Yuki-san's house complaining about me. I'll have to apologize when she comes back tomorrow,' he thinks and washes his dishes.

Heading back into the room that he and Hikari share, Akaashi washes up to get ready for bed. Once he's finished, he lays in the bed they share. The sheets had never been cold, even in the winter. Ever since Akaashi had moved in with Hikari, their house was always warm and he always thought it was because of how well built their house was. However, for some reason, that night, the sheets were extremely cold even with the blankets surrounding him. It made Akaashi think that the reason why the house suddenly turned cold and empty was because Hikari wasn't home.

'Tomorrow, I'll try to make it up to her,' he thinks before forcing his brain to sleep.

Date: 11 October 2020