~Saturday, the nineteenth of October, 16:24 ~

The entire had been spent doing basically nothing, Kaharu walked along the streets to go to his part-time 'job' as he thought about it. The previous day he'd gone to the arcade with his acquaintances, including the newly-defeated Amatsuyu, and spent a long afternoon playing a bunch of games and such. Generally having a good time.

That felt strange to Kaharu, even he'd had fun going to the arcade to play games. Although it reminded him of his earlier delinquent days, as he frequently visited the place to distract himself from his life. But it was a completely different experience going there with people. There were rivalries, laughter, and shared excitement. No subdued worry of Kaharu's future laid in the background of his heart as he'd played the game.

But there was an even more persistent question in his heart as he walked in the streets.

He looked down at his phone, scrolling through his contacts list that used to be empty, was that even okay?

Kaharu looked up from his phone with an emotionless face, the thought didn't get to persist as his feet quickly stumbled upon a stone that laid right next to the large torii gate that invited him into its grounds. He didn't especially notice it as the sight had grown normal for him, and walked into the sacred grounds with an unintentionally straight back.

Each step resonated through the stairway, which was surrounded by the two forests on both sides. He quickly knew that feeling again, and soon enough, Puri the fox god came running with its small paws that made a more frequent sound than his own.

With its slanted eyes, it looked for a moment to identify the person, but its heart had already identified the person entering those sacred grounds correctly.

Similar in size to a smaller dog, although longer in its shape, it came as quick as it could to the front of Kaharu Kahari.

Squatting down to get closer to it, Kaharu petted the fox's head as he grabbed something out of his pockets. He said

"Puri, you seem well. I've got an instant noodle packet for you."

Kaharu had learned that Puri, a fox god, liked the taste of an uncooked, solid packet of instant noodles one day when he'd brought it as a quick dinner.

It lit up at the sight of the noodles, which were tossed to it. Like ducks by a riverbank, Puri chased it down and started eating. Kaharu smiled as he looked at the sight of its small beak chomping on the fragmented pieces of a potential dinner for himself, partially out of a strange liking for animals and partially out of a superiority complex.

"You sure are kind to the fox when you are so cold to me"

Ranna, the god Kaharu had rebuilt the statue of, said as she stood a couple of steps above the current commotion, her arms resting on her hips.

Kaharu changed his expression to a neutral one as he looked over at the slightly glowing stylish figure of Ranna, eyes without expression. He said

"What a bitter tone..."

"You didn't even comment on my expression of distress!"

Kaharu sighed as he stood up from his squatting position, passing by Ranna as he said

"What a pain…

Ranna, you're kind of like a well-meaning terrorist organization. Which is a problem..."

Ranna stood still for a moment as she checked out Kaharu's whole body, from bottom to top, which she'd done several times. Her lips were separated for a moment as she thought about various stuff, quickly responding

"But I forgive you for your infidelity---!"

Her arms quickly managed to grip around Kaharu's neck, something he hadn't learned to dodge despite the number of times it'd happened to him. He retorted quickly with

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Who said we were together!?"

As they made their way up the stairs, and Kaharu checked in with the shrine priest to start his shift, Tsukino Scott stood silently as she observed Kaharu. She'd also done that several times.

Her face was different from those other times, however. It carried a very repressed annoyance behind its mask, as neutral details were showing on her actual face. She felt like she was an anti-social person who wanted to read a certain book, but was too afraid to loan it as it meant contact with a librarian.

So many days had passed since her initial interest had been peeked, yet no progress had been made. That meant that absolutely no satisfaction had been gained from her side, just seeing his weird actions didn't really lead to anything. Just like seeing that book on the shelf didn't accomplish anything for her.

Tsukino thought she was imagining something, but it looked like the general air around Kaharu was different that day. He looked especially calm.

He had looked calm before as well, but there was a very clear signal told to her that there was something other brewing inside of him. He just looked more energy-less that day.

- 'My chance of attack!' is what I'd like to say, but every time I try and approach him during his calmer times, he still manages to reject me… -

Her work got more sloppy as her hunched-over posture distracted from her 'true potential', as her coworker had worded it.

At that moment a wording from her friend struck her mind, as Kaori and Asano had been discussing some drama they saw, they talked about how one should approach their person of interest. The intentions were different here, but the situation was the same.

- If I'm correct, they said something like "Don't even think about it, that's when you'll start doubting yourself".

Ah…! -

Tsukino had an epiphany as she noticed that the described effect was one that applied to her situation completely, although she didn't want to wholeheartedly believe such emotion-based pondering. But she was also surrounded, there wasn't really anything else she could do if she'd wanted to.

It was now or never in her head, an exaggeration made to gather up courage within her to actually do it.

It succeeded.

Kaharu had positioned himself at a slightly different place from his usual spot, standing next to a large tree with barely any proper leaves left on its branches. Tsukino waltzed forth, carefully taking each step as she looked around paranoid. Her tip-toeing wasn't immediately noticed by Kaharu, who was taking care of plants on the back of the shrine building. Once it was noticed, Kaharu tiredly said as he slowly turned around

"You again?

I'm working right---

Oh, Tsukeno…?"

He was greeted to the sight of a scared Tsukino, her heart beating on a sad frequency as quickly as it could. Kaharu said

"I thought you were someone else, what do you want?"

Tsukino hesitated for a moment as her recovery hadn't been completely fulfilled as he asked the question, and thoughts of retreat came into her mind. But she remembered the quote again and convinced herself of her resolve, responding with her high-pitched voice

"I was just walking here wondering if you needed any help perhaps?"

"Not really…

but you're allowed to be here if you want to, I don't really care."

Her heart was about to explode again, but he showed leniency which let her slip to a position beside him, both working on the plants to make them look even better than before. To make her plan succeed, she moved onto a next phase, saying

"So why're you working in this shrine?"

Kaharu looked over for a moment as he hadn't anticipated any further social interaction, and saw the eyes Tsukino directed at him. Glimmering with curiosity, they communicated the fact that Tsukino truly wanted to know what she asked for. It wasn't like he could reject those eyes, but he didn't have a reason to. Almost everyone around him knew how and why at that point, so it didn't really matter.

Kaharu explained his circumstances, those eyes staring at him the entire time. Like the eyes of a child who'd discovered a truly entertaining thing to capture their attention, like a show on the Tv, they glimmered. It felt uncomfortable for Kaharu to have such eyes pierce his soul, like they were trying to get into his body the whole time.

He figured it felt strange because that type of attention was so different from the usual one he'd get, and the slightly dubious pair of eyes that'd avoid his own, but would gladly stare at his uniform. Kaharu finished his story as he asked in return, feeling a strange obligation to ask in return

"Why're you here, then?"

Tsukino felt a weird piercing as Kaharu asked that, a question she hadn't anticipated at all. As she hadn't anticipated any questions in her direction at all, like she usually did. She started talking as a three-horned god appeared into Kaharu's view, behind Tsukino

"Me? I just felt like it would be interesting to experience this as I usually do-----"

"Kaharu…!? Where were you yesterday? I have business with you!"

Kaharu's attention was split when Kunma the three-horned god started speaking out of nowhere. Sensing the urgency, Kaharu interrupted Tsukino and said

"Wait, I have to do something right now. Tell me about it later"

With those words, he left Tsukino alone quickly. But instead of feeling any sort of emptiness or loss, her heart turned around in slight happiness as she'd been confirmed to get another conversation. She thought to herself as she smiled slightly

- Maybe the Drama-gods were correct, after all. I should take some more advice from them, I should ask Kaori for some recommendations I suppose. -

"Kaharu, we've got a person you need to confront as soon as possible. Which is probably on Monday, honestly speaking."

…