𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝗠.𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘂𝘆𝘂

────── six

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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!"