𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 | 𝒂𝒕𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒖 & 𝒌𝒆𝒊𝒋𝒊

𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒓

March 14th

"A-are you my savior?"

The fox stares at the girl and doesn't give her an answer; not like Hikari was expecting one. Now that would be very unusual.

After contemplation, he finally decides to answer, "I'm Miya Atsumu."

Hikari freezes for a second and her face goes deadpan.

"Ehhh?! Did you just speak?!" she yells, shocking Atsumu. "T-the fox.... He j-just spoke!" She accusingly points at Atsumu and jumps back.

Atsumu scratches his ears with his paws.
"You're just as loud as you were back then, Hikari-chan!" he whines.

Her eyes widen once more and she moves closer to the fox.

"Huh? How do you know my name?"

Atsumu gives her a grimace before wiggling his ears to adjust it. "You don't remember me? The night at the shrine."

Observing him, she looks down at his fur then realizes who he is. "Ah! You are my savior!" She points. "I-I never got to thank you!" Adjusting herself on her knees she does a bow. "Thank you so much for saving me, Miya-san. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here right now."

Atsumu blushes and looks away. "D-don't thank me! That was several years ago but you're still as troublesome and loud as you used to be."

"Y-you're right! I-I'm sorry you've had to deal with me and still have to deal with me now, but I never thought I'd meet you again."
Atsumu's gaze falls back on her and he observes how much the little girl he once saw has changed physically. "I never thought I'd see you again either but it's alright. You just need to take better care of yourself. You're too careless!"

Hikari frowns at his insult but still lifts her head to look at him then looks around the unfamiliar scenery.

"Oh, no! I need to get back home; Keiji is probably waiting for me!" Hikari exclaims and is about to stand up when she abruptly stops. "No... he's probably not waiting."

"Keiji?" Atsumu repeats.

Hikari gives Atsumu a sad smile. "Yeah, that's my husband."

Atsumu observes Hikari's features and can easily tell how sad she was.

"I never understood why humans get married," he says, "it seems like a lot of humans who get married end up feel very unhappy and find someone else; so why do it in the first place? Is it just to reproduce?"

Nervously playing with her hair, Hikari stares at the grass.

"Well, for some people, marriage is just like a contract in order to have children together. For others, marriage can also be an agreement to gain something from each other. However, I wouldn't say that's the purpose marriage should be for," she explains. "Marriage should be and originally is the joining—spiritually and emotionally—of two people who absolutely love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together to support one another, emotionally and physically."

'Love?' Atsumu repeats. "If it's such a good thing, why did you look so sad when you were talking about your husband?"

Embarrassed, Hikari blushes. "M-my marriage with Keiji isn't necessarily the type of marriage I believe it should be, but it doesn't despite the fact that... I do l-love him." Playing with her fingers a little more, she determinedly looks up at the fox. "S-so, I need to get home--"

Abruptly, her sentence is interrupted with her stomach growling. Atsumu stares in amusement as she turns scarlet.

"Let's go eat first. You've been asleep for the past two days now--"