November 21 2022
The Foreigner from a Distant World
CHAPTER 4
A Morning Surprise
Hachiman stirs in his sleep, his arm around Yae Miko's slender waist and face against her clothed chest. Sometime during the night, he had nuzzled closer to her and sought her warmth. The sound of her heartbeat calmed him down and pulled him away from whatever terrible nightmare invaded his mind. The young lady is still peacefully asleep, though her ears twitched every now and her arms protectively around Hachiman's head to her chest.
He stirs one last time and takes a deep breath like he usually does when he wakes. Her unexpected scent fills his nose and his heart rapidly sends adrenaline pumping through his veins to jolt him awake. Hachiman freezes in place and carefully pulls away from her chest. The next thing that he sees is a mop of messy pink hair that tickles his lips and nose.
"Yae?"
He slowly unwraps his arms from her and lifts her leg over him since she must have used him as a makeshift pillow and sits up. Hachiman notices a neatly folded pile of her outer robes along with accessories beside the futon bed. He also puts the covers over her chest since it had slightly become undone when he separated himself from her.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly and stretching his stiff joints, he looks over to the window and deduces that it is around thirty minutes after sunrise. He looks over to the sleeping female, gently fixing her hair to the side until her pretty sleeping face reveals itself to him.
"Why are you here and when did you sneak into my room, I wonder?" He says out loud and pokes her soft cheek. She makes no reaction and continues sleeping peacefully. Hachiman shrugs and slowly gets up to wash his face in the basin on his open balcony. Little birds are chirping on the handrails and hop away from him as he approaches. He notices that he is strangely tired more than usual and his eyes are crusty which thoroughly washes off.
He returns shortly to his room just as the young lady is stretching while still lying on the futon.
He shocks on the wooden frame to announce his presence. "Good morning."
"Good morbing," Yae Miko yawns tiredly and rubs her eyes, "What time is it?"
"Still early," Hachiman sits down on the futon beside her while studying her sluggish morning state with amusement. "Around an hour or two before the servants bring breakfast. Will you join me?"
"Mm." The Kitsune hums with agreement, still lying down and waiting for the initial dizziness of waking up to go away.
"..."
"..."
She finally turns to him after some time. He had become an immovable statue and continued staring into her soul up to now.
"Yes, I know what you're thinking. Save it after breakfast."
Hachiman shrugs, accepting her answer and goes to his desk to prepare for another day of work in the Tenryou Commission. He checks and organizes the paperwork that he will have to submit to the Commissioner as soon as possible, as well as requests and inquiries from entities all over Inazuma City. He hears ruffling behind him, Yae Miko must be starting to get up.
He feels a hand on his shoulder and sees her peering curiously at the things that he is going over.
"She smells nice…" Hachiman thinks to himself.
"The Commissioner is dumping all this on you?" Yae Miko makes a face of disapproval while observing the sheer amount on his desk. "Tsk. Maybe I should pay him a visit."
"Don't be petty now. Commissioner Kujo is an old man, he won't be able to handle all of this with his busy schedule."
Kujo Horimoto is the current head of his clan and also the Tenryou Commissioner. He was the one who took Hachiman under his wing and made him the Commissioner's Aide after gauging his intellectual value and also gave him a place to stay. A hero of Inazuma who served the Shogun during the Cataclysm twenty years ago, he is well-respected and loved by the citizenry. But time has taken its toll on him and he can barely lift his trusted katana.
Because of the nature of his life, he married late and he has seven children but only three remain. His fifth and sixth sons are at the front while his youngest and only daughter is at home focusing on her studies. Hachiman serves him diligently and obediently which he is very much thankful for. Commissioner Kujo also plans to introduce him to his daughter Ako since she lacks friends in her age group.
Yae Miko teases him some more until she decides to borrow a spare comb to straighten her bed hair on the balcony. A pair of servants knock from the outside and slide open the door, bringing breakfast. Hachiman asks for an extra serving for his friend which they silently comply and come back shortly. The two eat while seated on the balcony floor, drinking tea and eating chicken and vegetables fresh from the farms around Hanamizaka.
"Are you not concerned?" He asks.
"Of what?"
"The servants saw you here. In the morning unannounced without your outer robes on. I'm sure you get my meaning. And you know how much servants like to gossip, especially women."
The pink-haired young lady across from him rolls her eyes. "Do you think I'm the type to be bothered by rumors, of all things?"
Hachiman pauses for a moment before answering. "No."
"That's right," A small grin forms on her lips, "And you?"
"No. You can say that rumours, particularly bad ones, have been around me since my childhood." For a moment, Hachiman's thoughts wander back to his previous life but he shakes them away.
"Yae, what are you doing here and sneaking into my futon of all places?" He asks, his patience running out.
"Well if you must know, I was just about done with my shrine maiden duties when I remembered that I left my hairpin on your desk. So I snuck inside the estate and into your room…" She pauses and giggles as an irritated expression forms on his face.
"Well? Speak up, woman. Stop egging me on and building up unnecessary suspense."
She composes herself more formally upon his request.
"As I was saying, I went inside your room to find you sleeping and silently retrieved my hairpin. Just as I was about to go, I see tears in your eyes."
"Tears?" Hachiman asks with disbelief.
"Yes. So I carefully wiped each of them off. Not long after that, a terrible nightmare came upon you. You threw off the covers and wildly punched, kicked, and even claw at your neck. I decided to lay down beside you and calm you down, which I did by the way. And seeing that it was already rather late, I chose to sleep with you and stay lest the nightmares come back." Yae Miko finishes by sipping on her tea before it gets cold.
Hachiman looks at her dumbfounded before sighing and lying down on the tatami mat.
"That's a lot to take in."
"You don't believe me?" The shrine maiden asks.
"Of course I believe you. I just don't remember anything from last night that's all." From the corner of his eye, he sees her get up and wordlessly sit beside his head. Her gentle hands carefully lift him to her soft lap while not breaking eye contact with the boy.
The grin on her face widens when she sees his pale cheeks take on a pinkish colour.
"Yae, what are you doing… Your pranks are going too far…" Hachiman moves to get up but is stopped when she puts a hand on his chest. With her other hand, she runs her hand through his hair.
"I swear I'm going to snap one of these days if she keeps this up." He says to himself in his mind. "Calm yourself, Hachiman! Ascend to enlightenment! Begone, predatory female of flesh and sin! Katsu!"
"This is what I did to you last night until you calmed down…" Yae Miko says with a voice as sweet as honey.
Hachiman finds it difficult to maintain eye contact with her. He has never come across a girl as aggressive as this as her. In contrast, Yae Miko takes pleasure in watching him squirm and blush. Watching his formal and respectful outer demeanor break like this awakens something inside her. She loves teasing and poking him for his reactions.
"You even clung to my chest like a cute babe. In those few hours, you made me feel what it's like to be a mother. Hehehehehe~..."
"..."
Alas, even Yae Miko could not help but blush at her own words. She bites her lower lip, forcing herself not to be the first one to break eye contact. As for Hachiman, his face and neck have turned completely pink. If this was a cartoon from his previous world, both of them would have steam comically coming out of their ears.
"Yae?"
"Yes?"
"If you don't stop these little jokes of yours right now, I'm going to do two things." Hachiman's eyes turn stern and cold despite his pink face which Yae Miko found even more hilarious.
The girl curiously tilts her head to the side which Hachiman admits is quite adorable. "And what would that be?"
"First, I'm going to scream and order the guards outside to arrest you for an attempted assassination on an official from the Tenryou Commission. Then, I'm sending you to jail and feed you nothing but Medaka and Kiviak until the Shogun herself tells me otherwise."
Outside Hachiman's room, the guards and several passersby could hear the laughter coming from a young lady.
