The Pain we Share || Aki Hayakawa

Daydreaming

You angrily munched on your bocchan dango as you kicked a jagged pebble along the park's paved walkway. Children happily giggled and played, running through the flat grassy areas while their families laid out an elaborate picnic with a feast of food.

You felt a twinge of envy, never having experienced the careless joy that came with childhood.

You continued to kick the pebble until it trailed off the path

You sighed and found yourself settling on the grassy area, distancing yourself from the playing children. You laid down and heard the dry grass crunch underneath your weight. You looked up at the sky which was a beautiful bright blue, embellished with a cluster of cumulus clouds.

I wonder why Aki didn't tell me he was going back to visit the countryside, and who was that woman with the eyepatch?

You pulled your phone out and called Hina

"Hello? Y/n? Why are you calling on your day off?" she answered, slightly muffled

"Hey Hina, I'm just out right now but I ran into a devil hunter with an eyepatch. Do you know her?"

"Ah yeah that's Himeno, I mentioned her once before. I think she had a minor assignment in town or something, why?"

"That's Himeno? As in, Aki's partner?" You abruptly sat up and inspected the area around you to make sure they weren't nearby

"Yeah that's her, you know Aki too? She's practically obsessed with him. If there was a devil with a love contract she would practically trade her life to be with him" she giggled

"She's... into him? But they're not together right?"

"Nope"

"I see" you subconsciously ripped chunks of grass from the ground. For some reason you felt relieved to hear that

"Speaking of love, how was your date with Kurose? Did you guys do anything funnn?"

"Hina you know you can't just ask people if they did anything fun"

"So you're not gonna answer the question?" she teased "I need to hear about the action in your life since mine is so dry" she cackled

"No, nothing happened. I actually told him we'd be better off as friends"

"Friends? What happened? I thought you guys hit it off?"

"Yeah, it's a long story. I gotta go now though so I'll talk to you later." you lied

You hung up the phone and tossed it on the grass beside you. You laid back down, closed your eyes and let the sun warm your skin

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"You know it's not safe to sleep in public"

You opened your eyes into a squint and looked to your right to find Aki laying beside you on the grass. He was looking straight up, and his hands were resting on his lower abdomen

"Oh hi, how long have you been here for?"

He turned to face you. His hair was down and delicately framed his chiseled face

"Couple minutes"

You propped yourself onto your elbows, exposing the grass imprints along the backside of your upper arms

"I wasn't sleeping ya know, I was just daydreaming"

"About what?"

"What it would be like to have a normal family on a day like this. Did you see all those families having picnics?"

"Yeah, my family used to be like that too. You're not missing out on much" he smiled softly

You sat up and pulled Aki's wallet out of your purse

"You're lucky I'm a good friend or I would've run away with this" you tossed the wallet on his chest, making a small thump noise

"Pfft and where would you go?"

"Wherever the devils cant get me" you chuckled "by the way, you didn't tell me you were going home?"

Aki looked at you, slightly confused "Oh sorry I didn't think it would matter to you that much. You were busy with other things anyways so I didn't think it was important"

"When are you going?"

Aki rested his arms behind his head and looked up at the sky, the clouds now wisping away into tiny splotches "now? I guess as soon as I drop off your groceries"

"Oh" you said in a disappointed tone

"What's wrong?" he sat up and scooted closer to you

"Nothing! I have a few days off so I wanted to hang out with you, but I'll just see you when you return"

You stood up and reached over Aki, grabbing as many grocery bags as you could

"Hey wait a minute that's too heavy for you!" Aki got up and pulled the grocery bags out of your hands

"Back home we go" you waddled your way back onto the paved pathway, glancing back at the happy families once more

"Are you upset that I'm going?" Aki trailed behind you

"No it's fine" you mumbled

"Ok let's go home together then"

"Well yeah, that's why I got up. We should hurry up so you can catch the last train" you picked up the pace

"That's not what I meant you dummy"

"Huh? Aren't you catching the train?"

"It's fine, I'll rent a car instead. Since you have a few days off... Come with me?"

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Author's note

some of your comments really kill me lol, you're all hilarious

& THANK YOU for over 5k reads, lots of love🥺♥️