find solace (belong) [KNY/BNHA]

[05] comfort (in this foreign land)

It was only a few days after she cried in front of Gin, and she already couldn't take it. She was absolutely mortified.

Charlotte shook her head to rid herself of the memory, and perhaps some of the embarrassment that came along with it. It dusted her cheeks pink despite the efforts that her cold fingers tried to keep her face cool.

She glanced towards the shop counter, empty, void of any customers. To be fair, it was currently the lunch break and Gin said that he had something he had to pick up. She was told to watch over the shop.

Charlotte sighed, twiddling the mortar and pestle with her index finger, scrunching up her eyebrows slightly. Who would leave a kid to guard the shop? It was a miracle that no one's tried to break in, at least, not that she knows of. With Gin occasionally leaving her in the shop alone, not even bothering to lock the front doors, she truly wondered if he was okay.

Mentally, where was he?

Well, certainly, it was Gin.

Perhaps a show of trust?

The bell situated above the front door rang, and in stepped Gin with a cardboard box held with both his hands. The box shook and seemed to have a mind of its own, but despite that, Gin was able to hold onto it and slightly pacify the movements on the box, even whilst opening the door and carrying his walking cane in one hand. All Charlotte could say was that she was impressed.

"Mr Gin..." Charlotte said, peeking over the counter barely as she stood onto the newly made wooden stool that Gin had bought the day before, "Wh— what is that?"

She spoke incredulously, curiosity overtaking her features as her eyes lit up, whatever it was, it seemed interesting.

Is it a snake? Will we get to take it apart? I wonder what kind of medicine it would make. How would one go about killing a snake?

Thoughts like such flooded her mind, whatever Gin had planned to get Charlotte's attention, well, it was working. Probably not to the extent that he wanted, nor the direction he wanted, but he counted it as a win if the smile on his face had anything to say for it.

"Unfortunately, it's not a snake," Gin said as Charlotte's excitement dimmed a tad, before being relit, he swore he could see ears and tails appear behind her, but he'd keep that only to himself, "but it's... living."

Living? What kind of living thing? How big would it have to be to make the box practically vibrate? It's a pretty big box though.

Gin didn't know what to say, it was going to be a surprise, and he could tell that it could still potentially work, but the look in Charlotte's eyes told him exactly what she was thinking. And there was no way he'd let her take apart a goddamn puppy.

What kind of monster would he be to let that happen? Though, it was a tempting offer with how he wrangled the beast into the cardboard box with great difficulty without hurting it.

Gin sighed, he walked over to the counter and placed the box down, Charlotte's vision just shy of an inch of the height that would be able to see the contents of the box with a clear view.

As soon as the box was set down on the table, it stopped moving completely, which caused a few ounces of concern to brew up within Charlotte. Was it dead?

Gin laughed, giving an exhausted expression. And now that Charlotte could look closely at him, attention latching onto Gin instead of the box he was carrying, she could see the parts of his grey hair that were ruffled and wet, holding traces of water and a bit of mud. His face had a thin distinct scratch, though not deep enough to draw blood, was still visible against his pale skin as the area around said wound made the colour of his skin transform into a bright red. His sleeves were rolled up to above his elbows, and she could see a new bite mark at his inner forearm that definitely wasn't there before he left.