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═══ THE COMFORT OF
A STRANGER ═══

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A PHONE RINGING AWOKE AKIKO the following day. It was a Saturday morning, and Akiko wondered who had the audacity to call her this early in the day, on the weekend, when she could be sleeping in. By the time the ringing had stopped, she had come to her senses.

First thing she noticed was the chest she was lying on.

Flashes of memories of the previous night crashed down on her. The Hoshino legacy. Her running away. Chifuyu taking her in. They had fallen asleep facing each other, but she didn't recall them embracing each other. It must have happened during the night, when one is heavily clouded by sleep and barely registers what is happening around them.

A deep groan startled Akiko, reminding her that she was still lying with her head on Chifuyu's chest. She froze in place when a hand rubbed her back. And as soon as Chifuyu realized the position they were in, his movement stopped. Slowly, almost fearful of his reaction, Akiko risked a look at his face.

To her relief, he was just as flustered as she was.

They exchanged awkward glances, yet neither of them made a move. Chifuyu's arms remained around her back, their legs entangled, cheeks fiery red. If Akiko hadn't been hyper aware of her surroundings in that moment, she might have allowed for Chifuyu's steady heartbeat to lull her back to sleep.

Clearing his throat, Chifuyu broke the silence. "Did you sleep well?"

His voice was slightly deeper and raspy in the morning, and Akiko found herself getting all warm and fuzzy on the inside again. Her body had shown reactions to Chifuyu she couldn't quite explain yet. And the only explanation on hand ... she wasn't ready to accept it just yet. Not with everything going on at the time.

"I did. And you?"

"Yeah."

The silence returned.

The next time it was disturbed when the phone rang again. Upon realizing that it was her own phone, Akiko jumped out of Chifuyu's embrace, falling off the bed in the process, and rummaged through her bag for the desired object. Reading the caller ID, Akiko was relieved when Hinata turned out to be the one calling her.

"Hey, Hina"

Chifuyu perked up at the mention of that name. Hadn't Takemichi ranted to him about a girl named Hinata? They went to the same school, were in the same grade, but had barely exchanged a word, let alone a whole sentence. Was it the same girl Akiko was talking to?

"Kiko, where the hell are you? Your parents have called us at least five times already. Everyone is looking for you. Why didn't you come home last night?"

Closing her eyes, Akiko messaged her temple. Shortly glancing at Chifuyu, who was watching her intently, she tried to find an explanation that wouldn't give Hinata too much information. Same as before, she wanted to keep the girl far away from her problems.

"It's a long story," Akiko sighed into the flip phone. "The summary is that I cannot bare to sleep in that house for another night."

"You really feel that way? Why didn't you tell me? We could've had a sleepover and a girls night!"

Akiko closed her eyes. She hated having to lie to her only friend. "You shouldn't have to deal with my problems, Hina. It's my family and my responsibility. If I can't deal with it on my own, I don't have the right to get other people dragged into my mess. I'm sorry."

As she spoke, she glanced at Chifuyu again to discover a look of sympathy on his face. Quickly, she averted her eyes again, not in the mood for anyone's pity.

"Look, I'll keep you up to date if something happens. But right now I need some time to think."

Hinata sighed. "Okay. But you have to promise to call me the next time. Okay? I worry for you, Kiko."

With a heavy heart, Akiko gave her the promise, then hung up.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Akiko nodded. "You have no idea. She's the only one I have."

At that, Chifuyu rolled off the bed and smiled brightly. "Well, I have good news for you! Starting today, I'll be your knight in shining armor!"

While Chifuyu stood tall and proud, Akiko laughed to herself. He couldn't have said anything more cheesy. When he noticed her amusement, he pouted.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious about this!"

"I-I think," Akiko said in between laughter. "You read too much manga, Fuyu."

The blonde tilted his head to the side. "Fuyu?"

Instantly, Akiko fell silent, staring at Chifuyu. "Eh?"

"You just called me Fuyu," he clarified. "No one ever called me that before."

And when Akiko looked away, embarrassed, he quickly added, "I like it!"

This time, their moment was interrupted by Akiko's stomach growling. She blushed.

"Breakfast it is!"

Chifuyu wasted no time pulling Akiko off the floor, then proceeded to push her out of his room. The girl let it happen, chuckling quietly.

She hadn't noticed before, but having someone like Chifuyu in her life was something she was in dire need of.

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──── ˚✩ ༘*ೄ˚ ────

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THE HAPPY ATMOSPHERE in the Matsuno household was bound to reach an end. It was inevitable. Nothing lasted forever. Though Akiko had allowed herself to hope, just this once, that Chifuyu could actually be her knight in shining armor and save her from the villain in her life. As she watched him prepare breakfast — neither of them wanted to wake Mrs. Matsuno, who was still in bed considering it was still fairly early, and they were intent on creating as little noise as possible — Akiko's thoughts circled around the Hoshino name and all the secrets she hadn't unraveled yet.

What was more, Hanma, the delinquent from Moebius, seemed to have taken an interest in her, and not the kind of interest that was welcomed. It was the troublesome type. The devile bearing gifts was still the devil. Never up to anything good. And if she were to be honest, Hanma reminded her of that villain from Batman: The Joker. Drawing joy from someone else's pain and suffering, regarding a fight scene as their own personal stage, the spectacle of the year. At the end, he would clap and walk away, leaving everyone else to deal with the mess while he picked his next victims.

Akiko was afraid of the unpredictable future knocking on her door. Too many worries had piled up over the past week. On top of it all, her parents had kept part of her family a secret from her — if her siblings knew, Akiko couldn't possibly tell. Sano Manjiro, president of Tokyo Manji Gang, also known as Invincible Mikey, turned out to be her cousin.

At this rate, nothing would surprise Akiko anymore. Her father was a former gang leader, had turned into a murderer, something she would have never dared to think of him before, in spite of his terrible behavior. She wondered how much of his criminal past had stayed in the past or if he was involved in any illegal business.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Chifuyu's voice pulled Akiko back into the real world. When she lifted her gaze, she saw him placing two plates on the table, stacked with pancakes, bacon and fruit. There was also fresh orange juice and coffee. Akiko stared at Chifuyu.

"Wow, you really went all out," she exclaimed. "You didn't have to."

"You had a difficult week and I'm here to make it better!" he retorted, pushing out his chest. Then, he took a seat across from Akiko and dug in.

Akiko chuckled. Just as she was about to take her first bite, Peke J jumped onto her lap and rolled up into a ball. She nearly dropped her fork. One hand over her heart, Akiko gave a breathy laugh.

"You scared me," she said accusingly, unconsciously switching into her baby voice as she cradled the black kitten in her arms, patted him and gave him kisses. "But you're cute so you're forgiven."

Feeling left out all of a sudden, Chifuyu decided to strike up a conversation.

"What did you talk about with that Hina girl?" he asked, seemingly unbothered, but he kept spying on Akiko and Peke J from the corner of his eye. Traitor, he thought to himself.

"Hm? She just called to tell me that my parents were looking for me," Akiko shrugged in response, the chewing of her lips gave away that she cared more than she liked to admit.

"Oh, well, I guess we should have expected it," Chifuyu said, picking at his pancakes, trying to come up with a way to help Akiko.

One week had passed since they had met for the first time, under less than ideal circumstances. Yet Chifuyu found himself caring for her well-being. She had let him catch a glimpse at her pain and, being inspired by his romance manga collection, Chifuyu wanted nothing more than to be her knight in shining armor who would chase all her worries away. He didn't dare voice any of that to her — especially not after she had laughed at him for calling himself her knight in shining armor.

"Anyways, I thought you might want to pay Mikey a visit," Chifuyu added, hesitantly so.

Akiko's head snapped toward him. She visibly tensed. "I don't think I'm ready for that conversation yet."

Chifuyu nodded. "And with your parents searching for you, it wouldn't be wise to go outside, huh?"

Again, Akiko was reminded of how fragile and short-lived happiness could be. Happiness was something she rarely experienced, and when she did it was only for short periods of time — like when she would spend time with Hinata or even now, having breakfast with Chifuyu as Peke J enjoyed a slumber in her lap. The mention of her family was like a hot needle popping a bubble.

"If I don't return home within 48 hours, they are going to file a missing person's report. The police will be looking all over Tokyo for me. They will check surveillance footage to get a clue on my whereabouts. And once they find my location, they will come knocking on the door and demand I come with them. Knowing my father, he will accuse you and will probably try to have you arrested. And I will be grounded for the rest of my life."

Blinking, Chifuyu was surprised by Akiko's detailed description of a possible outcome, making him think that she must have run away before.

"Sounds like you've done something like this before."

"I have. A total of three times. Once every year, I try to run away. The first time I did it I was eleven years old. Made it to the candy store before I was found. At twelve years old I hailed a taxi to take me out of Tokyo and was delivered straight to the police station. At thirteen I had convinced an older boy to help me and he ended up being arrested after my father accused him of kidnapping me."

If there was one moment in which Chifuyu was painfully reminded of how little he actually knew about Akiko, it was this one. At first, he had pegged her as the shy type who was introverted around strangers and had a difficult family life. Now, he saw for himself that quiet waters were deep, there were parts of someone that rarely came to light, and that Hoshino Akiko was desperately trying to escape her own life.

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Author's note:

Hello, people!
How are you doing today?

Seeing as this story is still new and at the beginning, I wanted to ask for a quick round of feedback — on the writing, the storyline, the plot, the characters, anything really — because I feel like there is still loads of room for improvement. So, if you have a minute or two for a comment, that would be highly appreciated, thank you!

I intend to edit the story some time after all the chapters are out. This is just the first draft. Perfectionism leaves me no other choice.

Also, feel free to share your favorite Chifuyu moment in the comments, but be sure to put a spoiler warning for those who haven't read the manga!

See ya!