The Next Morning
Ai just came back from the shokudō shop run by Mio-san, she brought one plastic of tofu for Akira, she groans, holding her right neck in exhaustion last night
"Ugh, why is this happening now?"
When Ai was closer to the house she noticed the front door was open; it's not common to be left open except for one time. Her heart pounded wild. She desperately looks around the house, just to find Akira who's still doing his work at the table, she sighed and asked
"That's uncommon for you to open the front door, why?"
Akira takes a bite on his mochi, saying
"I'm just taking in fresh air."
Ai walks into the kitchen table, putting the plastic of tofu above, she holds unto the table, slumping her back slightly as she rests. Suddenly, she felt Akira hugging her from behind. She blushes in embarrassment, it's the first time he hugged her, she then asked
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious, I'm hugging you."
recognizing the familiar voice she slowly turns he head to Akira, only to find out it was actually Hikaru.
She froze in fear as Hikaru whispers possessively
"You're mine."
Ai wakes up from her bed, she quickly sat
up; clutching her chest and sighing in relief.
"It was just a dream..."
Ai fixed her bed before leaving her room.
upon entering the living room she noticed Akira's formal clothing as if he's about to leave the house, she asked in confusion
"That's unusual...where are you going?"
Akira finishes buttoning his long sleeve before turning his head to Ai, telling her to get ready as they are about to go to somewhere important.
"Get washed already, if you want to eat we can just go down to the shokudō shop to eat breakfast there"
Ai raises in eyebrow, still confused as why Akira was in such a rush; she obeyed, washing herself up.
While in her room, she groans in frustration as she realizes she had no more clothes and Akira hasn't done laundry day because of yesterday's.
Akira knocks on Ai's room, asking if she's done preparing.
"I'm sorry, Akira-sama. But it seems I ran out of clothes, and you weren't able to do laundry because of me..."
Akira opens the door slightly, stretching his hand inside the door; He offers one of Ai's old shorts but it was too small her legs are too exposed.
"Eh? But that's too small...you know I don't wear those kind of things anymore."
Akira waves his hand
"I hate it too, but there's no other spare shorts here except for this old one."
Ai hesitates for a moment before taking the short from Akira's hands, wearing them.
She leaves the room covering her legs.
Akira noticed Ai's embarrassment, He gave her his jacket, long enough to cover most of her legs.
Ai takes the coat immediately; wearing it quickly, she checks her fit in the mirror, looking at the oversized clothes. She smiles sheepishly as she smells the coat in nostalgia
"At least this is better than the short shorts."
Ai turns to Akira excitingly
"Let's go!"
As they go down hill, Ai noticed Akira's weird actions. She tries to lighten the mood, bumping her fist in his arms lightly.
"Hey, what's up? You've been silent for a while now. What's bothering you?"
"Why? Is it because I've won against you yesterday? Did you enjoy it? Hah, now it's a 1-0!"
Akira ruffles Ai's hair
"He-Hey! That took me minutes to fix!"
Akira gives her her allowance for Ai's expenses this week.
"I'll admit I've slightly enjoyed being out of work for a while. Here's your allowance, use it wisely as for my request."
Ai smirks, leaning in closer as she teases Akira
"Hmph, What was that? It's the first time I've heard you admit defeat."
"And FYI, I'm the winner, shouldn't I be the one asking for favor?"
Akira sighs
"Money should be used wisely and we have no contract about the winner to ask be able to requests."
"And we have no contract for the loser to ask requests." Ai replied; playfully defending herself.
Reaching the village, they then ate breakfast at the Shokudō shop. After that they continued walking down to the bus stop. After an hour of waiting, they entered a bus.
Paying for a stop at Okutama.
Ai's eyes lit up while also being confused at the same time
"Okutama...? What will we be doing there, Akira-sama?"
"We'll visit someone I know from before, and probably buy you some new clothes, too." Akira replied; stretching his back
Ai's gasp in shock, she puts a hand into his neck, checking if he has a fever or something.
"It's pretty uncommon for you to visit someone and then do another activity after, are you sure you're okay? Have you eaten properly, Akira-sama? Or worse, gasp, you're in high fever."
Akira sweeps Ai's hand away
"Consider it as my gift since you've beaten me."
Ai blushes in excitement, covering her mouth making a shrill sound
"No way, you're seriously ill."
Ai calms herself down, she shakes her head, smiling, looking back at Akira
"But no, seriously. That's so thoughtful of you, Thank you. I suppose you're enjoying your life now instead of clinging onto that work."
"I mean, it's not like you really have to stop from work, I mean... can't you just, take some breaks a bit and enjoy life?"
Akira yawns
"It's not a fatal mistake that I should take some breaks, but being less alert gives Hikaru more time. So I have to bring my laptop or phone everywhere to defend against it and might also be able to track him down."
Ai frowns, she sat back properly on her seat, crossing her arms. For a while it was just silence.
After a few minutes Ai asked.
"So then, why didn't you end things when you faced Hikaru the last time? Remember when you said you've faced Hikaru before you come and take my body at the hospital?"
"It's not that simple. First of all, I was weak that time because I'm in quite the fever that time. I'd definely lose in physicality. And I have no weapons with me. And my priority that time was to revive you and then take care of Hikaru last. But I never knew that it would take this long." Akira replied
Ai froze for a moment
"Wait, you're sick that time? But you look so healthy."
Akira pulls out a thermometer, putting it in his mouth
"Must've been because I've always been in good shape. After that day, it got so wild, I just had to force myself to continue working, It'd be prideful if I ask for a leave, I have 3 clients that time, and all needs a secured defense for their houses and buildings. It's not simple to leave them behind."
After a few more minutes, Akira takes out the thermometer in his mouth; checking at it, he puts a hand on his forehead
"Oh, I have a slight fever."
Ai takes the thermometer away from Akira, checking at the temperature. 38.5 °C.
"Again?"
Akira sighed, crossing his arms
"My last fever was 3 years ago, but it's also not too high. I can manage."
Ai pouts, slapping a Kool fever into his forehead, Akira filnces, rubbing his forehead; turning his head to Ai
"That's too much force."
Ai pinches the side of his skin, Akira asks for Ai to stop but she further pinches his skin, Akira grits his teeth in pain
Ai turns her head to Akira madly
"Still, 3 years won't be an excuse. You're sick, you should've stayed at the house instead."
After an hour, they've finally reached okutama, stopping at the famous Okutama lake, Ai's jaw drop in amazement of the view
"So, what are we here for again?"
"Visit someone." Akira replied.
They walked around the lake, taking a different route to the mountains, Ai raises en eyebrow, pointing at the bridge.
"Why can't we just take the bridge?"
Akira gives Ai a bottle of water
"First of all, the bridge is not really intended for residents to cross to their homes, it's mainly for hikers and tourists. But since we're here for a different reason, we can't really cross the bridge."
"We still have a 6km walks up the mountain, so you'll need that water."
Ai's face became pale as soon as she heard 6km walk; she looks at her water bottle in which she had already drinked half way.
After an hour and a half, they've finally reached a nearby house, Ai's legs were about to give up, she spotted a table with a sit just outside the house, she exhaustedly and excitingly asked Akira.
"Is this the house of the person we're visiting?"
"Yeah, why?"
Akira approaches the door, hitting the doorbell; he then turns his head to Ai, seeing her already sitting on the table in exhaustion.
"You really have no manners."
Meanwhile on Kuyumi's house
Kuyumi just got out from shower, drying her hair; she then heard her doorbell ring. She was frozen for a moment in shock because she usually doesn't have visitors.
She secured her towel before walking up the door.
She slowly opens the it, checking on who the person is first, only when she realized the clothing of the person did she fully open the door, it was Akira and then Ai behind him. Kuyumi's heart pounded in shock, excitement and confusion
"K-Kiyoshi-sama...?"