SHINYA | 深夜 • KNY various x Reincarnated!Reader

ACT II • Yūgen II

"Ojisan, are you awake? I made some Onigiri for you!"

That was the only warning you give before you open the door to the more than small house.

It's been already a few months since your embarrassing first encounter with Hakuji and by now it was common for you to at least visit every two days, with or without your mother and it was also normal that you invite yourself in.

How time flies when you're trying your best to alter fate, it's been already a few years since your embarrassing first encounter with Hakuji. By now it was common for you to at least visit every two days with or without your mother.

Sometimes even every day when you're especially anxious, which is currently pretty often. The sole reason for that is how Tsukihiko started to pay attention to you when you turned 14, it's medieval Japan, you know exactly what this means, you're not that stupid or oblivious.

It means Tsukihiko does his job as the family head which means a not-so-lovely arranged marriage to some dickhead with the same social standing, and quite frankly you're not in the mood to even humor your brother with your presence. If anything, you just want to avoid him altogether, but so far he hasn't shown any signs of giving up on his silly scheme, so you have no choice but to flee the moment you wake up every single day.

A shiver runs down your spine again, and you shake your head to get rid of the foul feeling in your stomach before you enter.

There's no need to knock, but it is proper manners to make some kind of sound so as not to startle him. You can't expect a sickly man with a bad back to get up and open the door for you every time, Soyama-san doesn't mind after all and besides, he always seems quite happy to see you and gosh you share the sentiment.

"[Name], how many times did I tell you that you don't have to do this," He looks up from the book in his lap and stares at you for a moment, then his face brightens into a smile. "You need it more than this old man right here, how else are you going to grow up someday?"

"Ojisan, stop joking. My height is normal for my age," You take off your shoes and move over to sit beside the futon, it was a newer one, one that will really keep someone warm in the winter instead of the old patched one, "Just wait, I'm sure I'll be even taller than my mother pretty soon."

"That's not what I meant," He shakes his head as he smiles again, "I mean that you have to eat if you're going to grow up healthy."

"I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me," You laugh and reach for the Onigiri, handing him one, "Besides, I am not the only one who's still growing."

He is such a gentle and warm man, his presence alone is so calming to you. You could spend hours just listening to him talk about his past, dreams, and hopes for the future.

Soyama-san should have died three years ago, the day Hakuji would have gotten his third criminal tattoo but, thanks to your efforts, he didn't. You avoided a major plot point of the story, but you know that he has little hope of ever seeing even more of the future, and you would rather not dwell on that.

In a year, Hakuji would have met Keizo and Koyuki, but looks like that isn't happening anytime soon. Do you feel bad about it? To be honest, not that much, still you send a silent apology to Hakuji's love interest for occupying him.

But, hey, you're just doing your thing, and it's not like you've been doing nothing for the past few years, besides your deal with Hakuji, you've spent some of your time helping to nurse him back to health while Hakuji was busy, with some of the money you even managed to buy some medical books but you feel as though you are doing very little for him.