Our Mask [Shinso Hitoshi X Reader]

Chapter 8 - His Day

The streets were as lively as ever: kids were playing, sellers were promoting extremely loudly, and chatter could be heard from everywhere. There were no signs of villains but Hitoshi never let that lower his guard. He walked the pavement in his hero costume and let his hands find themselves in the pockets of his pants as they usually did.

He felt that his phone was buzzing. Not the buzz of a phone call-- he had his phone set up so that it would buzz softly every ten minutes when he had an unread message. A mission alert, maybe?

The man opened his phone to two messages and was surprised to see one was from you. He wasn't upset that you'd sent him a message while he was busy but he knew you were considerate enough to avoid that. His feet stopped moving as he considered the possibility that you were in trouble.

However, you hadn't said anything in the text; it was only an attachment and his eyes lit up immediately when it opened. He quietly laughed with happiness apparent in his voice.

Smudge finally opened his little eyes.

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The sun was finally coming down and Hitoshi stared at his phone as he walked back home. He was excited to see Smudge. The little kitten likely couldn't see properly yet but it should at least see colors; the man happened to have hair a color that could possibly stand out to it. He didn't think anything could bring his mood down.

"Hitoshi?", spoke a soft voice in front of him. It was familiar and he looked up in surprise. Trembling green eyes looked back at him and he couldn't help but want to leave without a word. He could guess what was about to happen.

"Shinso", he corrected her with his nonchalant voice. He'd never given her permission to use his first name but thought it's be better to calmly address it. The girl flinched and he greeted with a nod, ready to leave as soon as possible,"Aimi. Good to see you. I have to get going."

"Wait!", the girl grabbed onto his arm before he turned. The sudden movement made him instinctually shake her off and step back. She only looked more at a loss for words at his actions but it was clear she didn't want him to ignore her. It'd been a whole thing between them, after all.

"Can we talk?", she pleaded. They'd only been talking for a few seconds yet she looked ready to burst to tears. The sight made him incredibly uncomfortable and he had to decide whether he wanted to have people watch as he, a hero, left the girl crying to herself or listen to whatever she was about to say. Hitoshi sighed in frustration.

"Okay."

Aimi brightened up in front of him. He should've been glad to have changed her mood with one word but in all honesty, he wanted to be back on his way home already. He could imagine you fawning over Smudge's newly opened eyes and he wished he could join you already but the girl in front of him was taking so long to form her words that he could feel himself grow impatient.

"Why did...", she finally started,"...what happened?why did you tell me...the things you told me, and why did you leave the way you left?Did I do something wrong?", her voice was timid and she was looking at him as she waited for his answers. Hitoshi remembered exactly what'd he told her.

"Do you mean about us not being right for each other?", the girl nodded with small tears at the end of her eyes,"Because if that's the case, I didn't say it to hurt you. I didn't go into the relationship with mutual feelings and it was unfair of me to keep leading you on. It was unfair of me to agree to a relationship despite being aware of that, so if it makes it any better, I'm sorry I said yes when you asked me out", he finished.

The man was painfully unexperienced with social cues and wordings so he didn't realize how harsh his words sounded until Aimi started shaking in front of him while a few tears slipped out. He heard her stifle a few gasps and he saw a few people turning their heads at the soft noises. Despite this, he kept going.