As irritating a person as Oikawa could be, his clout and apparently objective beauty came with benefits that the entire group reaped as result of him joining your party. Firstly, you never had to worry about waiting long for your meals to be prepared no matter where you chose to eat, especially if the workers were female. Eager to please, they whipped up your food with such speed that you didn't mind them hanging around after they'd served it to cling onto the demon hunter like leeches. The only person who had a problem with this was the same one who had an issue with just about everything involving personal space: Sakusa.

Secondly, he was a haggling god. Just his looks alone were enough to convince merchants to drop their prices, so when he added in a couple of kindly spoken words, people were practically handing out their goods as offerings to him. It was clear how much the people of Aobajohsai and other areas respected not only him but the services he provided to the kingdom itself by helping eliminate demons and monsters of all shapes, sizes, and species. While you found his high self-confidence dizzying and his pride nauseating, you couldn't overlook his contributions to society and his remarkable skills as a demon hunter.

The nonhuman addition you'd made to your team also surprised you with his hidden talents and the knowledge he housed beneath that rather thick skull of his. With Terushima around, you never had to worry about being alone. Despite his demonic attachment to Oikawa as well, he seemed to prefer your company over anyone else's. Even though his constant accompaniment drove you insane at times, since you did enjoy your personal space and alone time reserved for deep thought, your conversations with him had been somewhat enlightening. Not only had they helped you gain a better understanding of himself, but he liked to use you as an audience for spouting off ideas about how to kill the monster from the Other, probably because he'd pinned you as the most accepting of the bunch.

Strange how he'd maintained that idea after you'd bashed his head into a wooden bench less than two hours following your first meeting.

Aside from his thought-provoking theories that he often shared with you--and sometimes with Asahi as well--he also proved useful in the art of manipulation. You were a woman with a strong moral compass, but even you turned a blind eye whenever he decided to steal the forms of others to benefit those in your party, so long as his intentions were not malicious or the consequences harmful. If the virtuous Sorcerer of the Sun didn't intervene, that meant Terushima hadn't quite crossed the thin line separating morality from its antithesis. Though, he certainly loved to dance along it.

Because of what they offered in spite of their behavior that drove you up the wall from time to time, you'd deemed your two newest recruits to be a necessary evil.

The road to Shiratorizawa in pursuit of your final hero was a long one, and Oikawa's popularity combined with Terushima's unmatched skills in manipulation were proving extremely useful regarding issues with boarding. As your traveling party grew, so had your concerns about finding places to stay, since you now had more bodies to account for.

Luckily, you didn't have to worry about finding enough space for six people and a demon. Letting Oikawa and Terushima loose on the owners of finer taverns you came across during your journey resulted in optimal results without so much as a lifted finger from yourself. Of course, not every member was able to snag their own room because of limited vacancies, but you were always offered the best accommodations they had at a discounted rate. Usually, there were no more than three rooms open at a time, so you worked with Kuroo and Bokuto to determine reasonable sleeping arrangements.

Due to his unwillingness to settle for sharing his precious space with more than one other person, Sakusa and Oikawa were paired together, though you had to endure the latter's lamenting about how blunt his roommate was. You'd normally share a room your two best friends, but Terushima's separation anxiety meant you instead had to spend the night with him and his designated handler, Asahi. Even though sleeping in the same room as him kept him from complaining, Asahi had to place a magical barrier around Terushima that restrained him and reduced him to his base state as a formless blob to keep him from spooning you in the middle of the night.

After spending three, long days with your new and improved party, it was safe to say you desperately needed time to yourself. And knowing that you were due to reach Shiratorizawa by high noon the following day to add another man to your league was making you even antsier to get away from the testosterone surrounding you.

"I'm going to the spring just down the road to cool off for a bit," you grumbled to Kuroo and Bokuto one afternoon. You'd been sitting with them in their room at the tavern of a smaller city nestled in a valley outside Shiratorizawa, reminiscing about the past before Oikawa and Terushima had barged in to smother you with attention you didn't want. Any girl would've killed to be in your position, most likely, but you felt like killing them for refusing you a moment of peace.

With that said, you stood up, returned to your room to grab fresh base layers and your trusty sword, and wandered out the front door of the tavern. The warm breeze outside licked your skin gently, bringing with it the faint scent of flowers and grass. Shiratorizawa was a beautiful place, and its halo extended to any cities in its vicinity, since you had to pass through them to reach the kingdom's gilded gates. You decided to give your horse a long rest and make the short journey to the spring the tavern's host had told you about by foot.

Ten minutes of walking brought you to a large pool of flowing water shrouded by clusters of tall, leafy trees. The pounding of the waterfall pouring into the spring created white noise that erased any intrusive thoughts that would've disrupted your peace. Seeing that nobody else was around felt like the greatest blessing you'd received, and you quickly tossed your clean clothes and towel over a low hanging tree branch before stripping off everything you were wearing so you could submerge yourself in the blissfully cool water. The men hadn't expressed plans to visit the spring until later on in the afternoon, meaning you could take your sweet time.

As you dipped your head beneath the water and cleaned off your face, your mind drifted to an unexpected topic: Asahi. While the other men either entertained or annoyed you to no end with their childish antics, the great warlock had been the least problematic and the most pleasant of the bunch. Because of this, your appreciation towards him had begun to transform into those of affection.

At first, you thought your developing feelings had been a result of a misattribution of arousal, since he had a habit of intervening when your adrenaline had been at its highest--usually right before you were about to punch Terushima in the face. But, the fact that your heart continued to race around him even in the absence of intense situations verified the truth of your emotions. Aside from the fact that he was physically attractive, he was also an agreeable man who was easy to converse with when he was finally able to shake off his initial nerves.

The affection you harbored towards him also wasn't helped by the fact that you often woke up face-to-face with him or with his arms around you in the morning. You'd both insisted that the other sleep in the bed, so you'd decided to share it, resulting in these incidents happening quite frequently, much to Terushima's dismay and his own, since he thought himself a pervert for accidentally getting so close to you in his slumber. Little did he know that you often chose to move closer to him rather than putting more distance between the two of you when you woke up ensconced in his warmth.

Embarrassingly enough, though Asahi was the man you seemed to desire, Terushima had actually been the first to see you naked--aside from Bokuto and Kuroo, whom you had also witnessed in the nude many times before as a result of unfortunate mixups. The cause of this was none other than the demon's relentless desire to remain by your side, going so far as to disguise himself as a woman to sneak into the baths with you. A terrifying encounter in which you'd nearly shaved off his bleached hair with a swiftly executed slash of your sword had soon put an end to that.

You wondered if Asahi felt the same way. While he was often an active participant in conversations with Kuroo and Bokuto, and occasionally chatted with Sakusa about magic studies, he seemed to hang around you the most. Previously, you'd thought he only did so because Terushima was around you, but he chose to linger even when the demon had wandered off to join Oikawa in flirting with fair maidens across the lands. 

The behavior he exhibited during your discussions fueled your curiosity about his feelings for you, but you didn't want to jump to any conclusions or reveal your own emotions yet. After having your heart broken many times before by men who never deserved your love in the first place, it was safe to say you were hesitant to attraction, which was why you constantly spurned the advances of your two newest fanboys.

Not even twenty minutes had passed before the sound of gentle rustling barely audible above the roaring of the waterfall interrupted your solitude. Your slick (h/c) hair clung to your bare skin as you turned your head to examine the cause of the disturbance and crossed your arms in front of your exposed chest to preserve your modesty. Luckily, your lower half was hidden beneath the rippling water. From among the lush trees and foliage surrounding the spring, a tall figure emerged cloaked in black from head to toe. You hadn't even noticed that you'd been holding your breath in anticipation until you released a sigh of relief upon realizing who was wandering through the wilderness.

"Thought you weren't gonna be here til later?" you called out.

The great warlock who apparently hadn't seen you nearly leapt off the ground with surprise. His wide, brown eyes searched his surroundings until they found your naked form, partially submerged under the fresh water. Embarrassment expressed itself quite clearly on his face, which erupted into a brilliant shade of red as his hands flew to his eyes. "(F/n)! I-I-I'm so s-sorry! I-I didn't r-realize you w-were here!" he cried, spinning around on his heels so he was no longer facing you at all.

Normally, you would've felt equally mortified in this situation. However, seeing that Asahi's level of discomposure was even higher than your own, despite the fact that he had been the one to find you in the nude, put you more at ease. "It's alright! What brings you here, Asahi?" you assured him. You stepped into deeper waters so only your head was above the surface instead of your torso in an effort to make him feel more comfortable.

"U-Uh... I j-just wanted to take a b-breather!"

With a chuckle, you said, "Well, feel free to join me if you'd like! The spring's plenty big enough for the both of us!"

"A-Are you s-sure?"

"Mhm! I won't look," you teased, wading through the water away from him to give him some privacy. As much as your eyes wanted to wander, you resisted your urges and waited until you heard sloshing echoing from some distance behind you. "Hey! Where's your feathery, little companion?" you wondered as you turned back in his direction and glanced around for any sign of the raven.

The moment you saw Asahi, you were graced with a heart-stopping view of him running his hands through his long hair while underneath the small waterfall at the upper end of the spring. Each movement responsible for tousling his slick locks of hair flexed the toned muscles visible in his arms and chest that you weren't even aware he had. You bit your lip as you admired his breathtaking appearance, unaware of the fact that he'd even replied until you noticed him waving at you.

"(F/n)?" he called.

"Huh?" was all you could utter in your state of stupor.

He laughed softly and told you, "I said he's at the tavern, watching over Terushima."

You felt prickles of heat rise to your face when you realized you'd been caught, and rushed to find something else to focus on. "A-Ah, I see. Is he behaving himself so far?"

Asahi nodded, stepping away from underneath the waterfall to wade closer to you so he could hear you more clearly. He still kept a wide distance between the two of you--probably out of respect. "Seems like it," he answered, "I haven't had Reo call me yet."

From previous conversations, you'd learned about Reo's ability to communicate telepathically, and you'd even experienced it yourself. After seeing Asahi's pet in its true form more frequently, you had grown somewhat accustomed to its terrifying appearance, even allowing it to engage in a few chats with you. For being a demon, Reo was very well-mannered, to say the least. Your relationship with him had grown so much to the point that you found yourself seeking him out for his opinions on the situation every so often.

"How do you feel about having another demon on our team, Asahi?" you wondered. That question was one of the few you'd been avoiding asking anyone, for the most part.

One reason for that was because you knew you were bound to get negative or critical responses. Another was that you almost, in a strange way, wanted to avoid constantly reminding everyone that Terushima was a demon in an effort to keep tensions from rising. You knew Asahi and Oikawa didn't entirely mind his presence, and, as per usual, Bokuto and Kuroo remained indiscriminate--opting not to treat him any differently anyway, since he was entertaining. Sakusa, of course, seemed to be anxiously awaiting the moment he screwed up so he could kill him.

The warlock placed his hand on his slightly hairy chin and looked up towards the sky. The moving, fragments of light cascading down between the leafy trees illuminated his handsome facial features. He spoke calmly, "To be completely honest with you, I didn't expect you to take me as seriously as you did."

Furrowing your eyebrows, you immediately asked, "Why?"

"I-I don't mean any offense!" he spluttered, the seams in his confidence coming undone for a moment. When he saw that you were watching him with curiosity rather than irritation, however, he was able to speak again without worry. "What I mean is that I've spoken to many people about monster studies, taming, and evaluations of the Other, but they've been very hesitant to believe me and follow my teachings."

You shrugged and commented, "I mean, are you really surprised? People have been battling monsters for even longer than the books can keep track of. They're not just gonna suddenly turn around and start being nice to them."

"B-But, uh, you were hugging Reo the other day."

Crossing your arms in front of your chest, you huffed, "Well, yeah! He said he didn't know what a hug was, so I showed him. Besides, he's kinda cute, but in this weird, ugly way. Don't tell him I said that, though."

"I think he liked it...?"

"Did he? How cute!"

"I think he has separation anxiety. U-Uh, anyway..." he mumbled, brown eyes meeting yours once more before he continued, "Why did you trust me?" The distant rushing of water filled the silence between you for a moment. "I... we really haven't known each other that long, yet you've been willing to trust me enough to bring a demon into the party. Why?"

You skimmed your fingers along the surface of the ripples surrounding your body, taking a few seconds to think before answering, "I thought you were an honest person." Throwing your arms up towards the sky dramatically, you added, "I mean, you're the greatest warlock there is! You have a reputation for being a man of the people! I wasn't going to just ignore what you were saying, even if I didn't want to accept it at first. And after seeing how peaceful Reo is, it was even harder for me not to believe you, so I just decided to trust you and listen."

A small blush crept onto your cheeks when a smile appeared across his lips. Just the fact that he could make your heart flutter and your body fill with emotion at just the simplest expression was enough to prove the extent of your feelings towards him.

"Thank you," he said, "Thank you for having faith in me."

With a chuckle, you told him, "Of course, but I'm still gonna kill the Other Bitch, just so you know."

He nodded. "And I will stand by you and your decision."

When you'd first met him less than a week ago, Asahi had been much meeker than expected. And while it was clear he had a glass heart that was more sensitive than those of the other heroes you'd gathered, you could tell he had a resolve of steel when it came to you and his desire to prove that not all demons were monsters. Though he questioned, he didn't stray. As his teachings had rubbed off on you, maybe some of your persistence and decisiveness had inspired him as well.

The two of you basked in the warmth you felt from hearing the other's truths, and it was hard for you not to beam at him with happiness. However, when the kind expression he wore suddenly morphed into that of worry and confusion, your heart drop into your stomach. Something had changed in the blink of an eye, and you felt it, but you didn't know what it was. Just as quickly as his emotions had transformed, Asahi was reaching out towards you to grab your arm. In the instant he latched onto you and pulled your body flush against his, you heard a loud screech followed by something hitting the water echo from behind you.

All you could do was watch in shock as a giant, winged, black mass scrambled away from the water's surface before Asahi extended his other hand towards it, making it falter in flight. The large demon let out another shrill cry of frustration as it struggled against the force of the warlock's telekinetic magic. With a grunt and a swift motion, Asahi brought his hand down towards the ground, slamming the beast against a rock. A sickening crack echoed through the previously peaceful spring, and the monster's limp body slumped onto the ground, remaining in this world for a moment longer before it disintegrated entirely.

Your heart raced against your chest not only at realizing you'd narrowly avoided being attacked by a demon, but also at finding yourself wrapped tightly in Asahi's arms. His bare body burned like a furnace against yours in spite of the water's cool temperature, and his arm had instinctively wrapped around you to protect you from the monster that had decided to prey on you. His gaze remained on the site of the monster's quick death for a few seconds before it shifted down to you, making you both blush profusely at the situation.

Quickly, the two of you put some distance between yourselves once again, and Asahi stammered, "W-W-We have to g-go!"

"Wha...? What's happening?" you cried, trying not to focus on his exposed form when he rushed out of the water to locate his belongings.

He called over his shoulder, "A portal from the Other just opened up. The entire town could be in danger!"