𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 | Fruits Basket FF

(48)

unrevised.
/ chapter 48 /

"Sorry, we're closed!" A girl's chirpy voice exclaimed the moment the bells of the door chimed.

His purple orbs shifted over to the owner of the voice. He eyed her, not expecting to see her but rather his old friend instead. His eyes searched the room in hopes to find who he came here for, but to no avail Ayame was nowhere in sight. He finally returned his gaze to the younger girl. Her hair was split into two plaits and she wore large, round spectacles accompanied by a bold maid outfit. Cosplay? Hatori questioned in his head as the girl trembled under his stoic, but unknowingly intimidating, gaze.

"Ah, actually, I'm here to see Ayame. Is he still around?" He stated as he softened his eyes in hopes not to scare her too much. Must be this face, Hatori thought, holding the lower part of his face self-consciously. Has it always been scary?

"You must be 'Haa-san'!" She concluded as she clapped her hands together with sparkly eyes. Hatori sighed at the nickname and knew immediately he'd come to the right place. Who else would shorten his name like that other than the Dog and Snake duo? "Ayame-san's at the back, I'll go get him for you. Meanwhile, you can just take a seat here."

The girl gestured to the two dark blue sofas on the other side of the room. With a nod, Hatori compliantly took a seat as the girl left. Without knowing how long he'd have to wait, he pulled out his phone and used the opportunity to quickly reply to some business emails. He suddenly felt a small, warm body next to his feat and he peeked over to the side where two big-beady navy eyes stared back at him.

"A cat?" He mumbled to himself as the small thing rubbed its head against his leg. Without a word, he picked it up and examined it. It had dark-grey fluffy fur and white paws that made it look like he had mitts on. It was quite cute.

Hatori gently placed the cat down on his lap in which it nestled in quite quickly. The cat purred as he petted its head and scratched under its chin. It nuzzled it's face into the palm of his hand, urging for more pets, and then it lifted it's head up to stare at him. It's navy eyes reminded him of Ichika's.

"Haa-san! You're here!" Ayame greeted as he entered the room with a flamboyant smile on his face as always. In his arms, he held a large red book close to his body.

The girl from before followed closely behind him. As Ayame took a seat, she placed two antique teacups down and a pot. Ayame introduced her as Mine Kuramae. She nodded her head with a smile in which Hatori returned, before she left the way she came from.

Hatori poured the tea into the cups before lifting up one of his own and taking a sip from it with the hotness of it having no effect on him.

"So, what is it that you wanted me to see?" The Dragon queried as he placed his cup down.

Ayame sighed tragically. "No greeting from you whatsoever. Haa-san is always straight to the point." He wiped a fake tear jokingly, but seeing the serious look on his friend's face showed him it wasn't time to play any games.

"There's no beating around the bush when it comes to you, Hatori, so I'll just show you now. I do warn you though, don't be too shocked, alright?"

The white-haired man took Hatori's nod as a sign to continue. He placed the book flat down on the table and opened it. It was then that Hatori noticed that this was no book at all, and rather it was a thick photo album. One he'd never seen before.

"You know, I don't remember this album existing. I actually found it in the back of my family's storage. Although built on with layers of dust and had been long forgotten, it contains a lot of our memories from when we were children from what I could see." Ayame started with a melancholy tone as he was reminiscing the past.