STRAY FOX [Kita Shinsuke x Reader]

Chapter 17 - Yellow pt. 2

Not long after looking at the wintersweet one last time, Takano finally decided to take his leave along with his son.

"Why did you tell him that?" Kita genuinely asked, wondering why that was the answer that she gave to the old man.

The stray fox turned to look at him and elaborated. "Despite losing her memories because of the war, forgetting even her own given name, she was able to meet him and Granny, and shared time with them that I could say were precious to her. That's why I believe that she truly did lived a wonderful life, even though it was just a short one."

Her confidence made him realize that it was not a white lie to make the old man feel better.

"Such beautiful yellow, isn't it?" F/n changed the topic as she slowly sat down on the mat while gazing at the blooming flowers of the shrub. "You could see why Takano-san wanted to be up here that much," she added, though Kita was sure that she also felt the same way. She wanted to take him here with her today, afterall.

With that, he moved to sit beside her and grabbed his bag close to him. He pulled out a huge blanket and draped it over F/n's shoulders, making the girl surprised by his action.

"I thought that we might use it," he said, mirroring what the stray fox had told him about bringing a flagging tape, as he rummaged his bag again. This time, he pulled out another set of onigiri and handed it over to her. "You must be tired," he simply stated, knowing that fact that she must be, given how long it took for her to reach where they were now and how they were some dirt on her clothes, indicating that she might have stumbled along the way, and he was feeling bad for not being there.

"Thank you, Shin-chan," her voice ever so sincere. "Was it that obvious?" she asked in an attempt to lighten up the mood as she took off the cling wrap around the rice ball.

As he took an onigiri for himself and unwrapped the cling, F/n scooted closer to him and draped the other end on the blanket across his broad shoulders.

"You thought that we might use it. We might as well do," she teased him, emphasizing that they both should be in the comfort of the blanket.

And with that, he smiled. Something about the familiarity that they had, the comfortable silence that they were both accustomed to, the soft brushing of their shoulders as they eat onigiris and sip tea together, it was all so soothing.

That being said, Kita would glance at the girl beside him after recharging themselves with food. He would find her staring at the shrub, seemingly thinking about how she would let her words out.

"The gods really have their way with us," she said before turning slightly to face him, making her end of the blanket fell down from her shoulder. "I was supposed to talk to you about L/n-san but they wanted Takano-san to do it," she admitted, implying that their encounter with the old man was no coincidence. "Still, there are some things that I'd like to add about it," she added as she gazed into his eyes.

Kita moved, softly holding her hands into his. "If you'd let me, F/n-san, I'd gladly listen to it," he told her, knowing that she was about to share something personal.

She gave him a smile and waited for a few more seconds before saying, "I was there that day, too." She paused again. "I heard someone shouting amidst the heavy rain. When I got to the source, I saw L/n-san trying to cross the river despite it being deep and having strong current because of the storm."

As the captain listened, he realized that the stray fox must have seen the girl right after Takano-san left. Their accounts of what happened lined up.

"Not long after that, a rowdy group of men tried to get to her. They were all threatening, shouting in an ill-tempered way. L/n-san at that time just continued to try to cross the raging river, clearly not wanting them to reach her, and I knew I had to do something. So, I attacked them," she said the last part nonchalantly, trying to lighten up the mood. "Of course, being a weak stray fox, I was no match against them, but I was fortunate enough that the bullet that they fired just grazed me," she said, subconsciously setting one of her hand free to touch the side of her forearm, "and that the second bullet didn't fire because the powder and all were soaked."