Epiphany. [Guren Ichinose x Reader] ➥ Book 2. [Semi-hiatus]

Epiphany ~ Chapter 14.

-Y/N's POV-
"Take a picture, it lasts longer." Guren frowned at me,

"Woah, I just might actually." I quickly whipped out my phone, "I've never seen you this soft with children before."

I quickly snapped the scene before me, Guren feeding a tired Nico his breakfast as he glared at me,

"Tell me, when did you become friends?" I cocked my head to the side, making the photo my wallpaper, I asked the question but I somewhat knew part of the answer already,

This morning I went to see if Nico was awake yet, but instead found him sleeping on Guren who was also snoozing himself with his head resting on his arm; the sight was endearing and it took me a lot to tear my eyes away from it before Guren could wake up and catch me.

"I heard him yelling, and when I checked what it was he said he had a nightmare." He muttered without turning his attention from the boy with heavy lids,

I pouted, "Aw Nico, did you have a bad dream?"

He nodded, his small fists rubbing at his heavy eyes,

"You seem to be tired, you should take a nap when you're done eating." I suggested,

"I don't want to, I'm scared," he whined,

"You can't be tired if you want to get your surprise today." Guren enticed suggestively,

"Surprise? What surprise?"

"If I tell you it won't be a surprise."

"Hm? Y/N you tell me!" He pointed at me,

"I'm sorry, cutie. I don't know about this surprise either." I shrugged,

"Hm. Okay, I'll take a nap." He finally agreed,

"Good, let's finish eating then." He ruffled his curly brown hair, handing him the spoon so he could finish his food.

I smiled at the two, rising from my seat,

"Y/N, meet me in half an hour." Guren called from behind me,

"Alright." I called back.

~•~

We had set off for Nico's surprise and had just arrived. It turns out we were going to look for Nico's mother so we were in Aichi prefecture; I wasn't exactly sure where but we were in a serene countryside just as Nico had described. It had clearly been slightly roughed up by the tension between humans and vampires but nevertheless it was hard to tell.

"Woah, is this where mama lives?" Nico was on my lap with his head peeping out of the window as he stared outside in a daze,

"Well, that's what we're going to find out." Kai said seeming content from the front seat,

The three of us were dressed in casual clothes, we figured if Guren and Kai wore their usual military uniform it'd be harder to have a peaceful search.

"We're here." Guren said, stopping the car, as we all piled out of the car I noticed a group of people who were conversing in a small huddle, it seemed as if they were all waiting for someone.

Although when we got closer to them, I realised the surprise was not just for Nico, my facial features lit up as soon as I noticed the bright red hair and silver hair.

"Mito?" I yelled, sprinting for the group as the 5 figures became more clearer and all turned around in response to my cry,

"Y/N!" She returned as I engulfed her in a big hug,

"Wow I can't believe you're all here,"I turned to Shinya and Goshi and pulled them into hugs before doing the same with Shigure and Sayuri,

"Long time no see, Y/N." Goshi laughed at my excitement,

"You do realise you can see Sayuri and I very easily." Shigure shrugged with a smirk on her face,

"Then why do you two never visit?" I playfully pouted at her,

"Got me there."

"Did you miss me, Y/N?" Shinya winked at me,

"I did, but then when I get teased I don't anymore."

"Ouch. It hasn't even been 2 minutes." He put a hand to his heart,

"He's right, please don't start fighting." Guren and the other 2 had caught up to me,

"Oh, Kai you're here?" Goshi greeted him,

"Of course, funnily enough I have more free time now."

"Haven't you always had a lot of free time?" Mito raised her eyebrow at him,

"That's not true, besides you wouldn't know that." He defended himself,

"Oh no, we know." Mito refuted,

"We've always seen you hanging around a lot." Shigure inputted,

"That's funny, how comes I never saw him when I was in the army?" I pondered out loud,

"See, if Y/N never saw me then it doesn't matter."

"We all had different schedules to Y/N." Goshi sighed,

"Speaking of Y/N," Shinya began grinning and I was immediately afraid of what was going to leave his mouth next, "It's been what- almost a year? And your settling down? Having ki-?"

"I will kick your a-" I was stopped by Shinya glancing down at Nico to remind me about my language, causing me to force a smile and grab his hand,

"Guys this is Nico, we're all going to find his mum today." I exaggerated the last bit especially for Shinya,

Everyone said their greetings to Nico; briefly commenting at his cuteness as he meekly waved and shuffled behind me.

"So how are we going to go about this?" Shinya crossed his arms,

"We have no choice but to split up and ask around." I said,

"It's still likely you'll encounter vampires here." Guren warned, "It's best Kai, Sayuri, Shigure, Nico and I lead the groups since we'll know the area better."

"Oh, yay! Buddies! Gu-" Shinya opened his arms wide but Guren dodged him,

"Y/N and Shinya can't be in the same group." Mito added, "Luckily for Guren; it wouldn't be wise to have him and Shinya in the same group either."

"Fine, let's see." Guren looked around, "I'll take Shigure, Y/N, Goshi and Nico."

"Okay, then that leaves me with Kai, Sayuri, and Shinya." Mito nodded, authoritatively,

"Did you not imply that I was team captain seconds ago?" Shinya confronted,

"I did nothing of the sort. Let's go guys." Into dismissed, already walking off with the others.

"Hey-!" We heard Shinya yell from the distance,

"We should get going too." Guren said lifting Nico onto his shoulders, as we headed for the opposite direction.

We knew nothing and had no idea of where to start, I could already tell this was going to be a long day.