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The undergrowth was thick, some of the smaller plants catching his jeans and clinging to the point where the thick fabric was starting to get frayed. San thought he had still been on the trail that he had started on. The path was clear when he first walked into the forest and San had diligently followed it.
Or so he thought.
He didn’t know how long he had been walking for. A few hours, at least. San arrived in the afternoon and now the sun was starting to set. The worst thing was that San wasn’t even able to check what time it was because he thought it would be a good idea to leave his phone in the damn car to prove to his friends that he wasn’t attached to it.
Because that was how he got here.
His friends kept nagging at him, telling him that he spent way too much time at home. Too focused on the TV. Too often on his computer. Too addicted to his phone.
San had gotten so exasperated with their unending comments that he had promptly told them to not so kindly fuck off and he’d show them just how much of a couch potato he was.
Hence why he was in the forest, without his phone because San didn’t always make the best decisions when he was heated. Now he was here, feeling like he was wandering around in circles because he was hopelessly and utterly lost.
He was trying not to think about how the announcement of his disappearance would be on the five o’clock news tomorrow. If anyone noticed that he hadn’t come home, of course. People were probably wondering where San was at this point. Hours without any kind of communication? That had to be a red flag, right?
Still, San kept walking in the hopes that he would spot the path again soon. He didn’t even know when he left it and, even with all the brush around him, it was impossible for him to retrace his steps. Movies and shows always made it look so easy and obvious, so why was San so useless at it?
But it was getting darker and chillier and San really just wanted to go home.
As time went on, he knew that it was less and less likely that he would actually find his way back. San tried to stay optimistic, even when he came to a stop and leaned back against a tree to take a deep breath and keep himself from freaking out. This was too unknown to him. Unknown factors and endless possibilities about how he might meet his end. All because he had to prove a point.
Stupid. That’s what he was. An idiot who wanted to get one up on his friends.
San ducked his head, pressing the heel of his hand against one of his eyes as he took a shuddering breath. Even if this was it, he wouldn’t allow himself to cry. It would just end up with him feeling worse in the long run.
He was half tempted to just sit down and accept that he wasn’t getting out of this forest tonight when San heard a rustling sound to his left. There was an immediate spike of fear in him. His heart jolted while his mind came up with the many different kinds of things he could come across that could tear his throat out. Foxes. Wolves. Bears. Lions. No, wait, there weren’t any lions here.
Right?
With a gulp, San looked in the direction of the sound, but didn’t see anything. Nothing tangible, at least. Some of the bushes were swaying, causing the rustling sound and he almost relaxed for a second before San realized that there was no wind whatsoever. So what was making them move?
He stared, kept thinking that something would pop out at any moment, but nothing came. Nothing except for a consistent rustling. And it wouldn’t stop. It was getting on his already frayed nerves and eventually San edged towards the bushes.
The rustling kept up until San reached the undergrowth and then it stopped. He was confused for a second and jumped with a barely bitten back yelp when the rustling picked up again in another set of bushes a few feet away from him.
“What the fuck.” San muttered to himself. Just like before, the rustling kept up. He stepped closer and when he got right up next to the bushes, it moved away a few feet again. “This is stupid. You’re stupid, dillusional. Everything in between.”
What was causing this? Clearly, he was being led somewhere. But he didn’t have the faintest clue of what it may be or why it was doing it. There were a few ideas that came to mind, but none of them were possible, just a result of his overactive imagination and all the movies that he watched working hand in hand.
Still, there wasn’t much that he had to lose. Either sit down and accept his fate or follow the possibly haunted shrubbery. Chances were he was doomed either way, but if there was some kind of nasty out there luring him in, all San could hope was that it would be over quicker than wandering around the forest and eventually wasting away due to dehydration and starvation.
The rustling seemed to pick up for a moment and San tutted under his breath, already following the trail. “I’m coming. Calm your horses.”
Even though he wasn’t on a clear path of sorts, it made San feel better to be following something, even if he had no clue what it was or where it was taking him. Just having a sense of progress helped. It was starting to get darker the longer he walked, and soon it was difficult to catch the moving underbrush, but the rustling sound kept up, almost seeming like it got louder when he started to hesitate.
He walked for maybe twenty minutes - could’ve easily been an hour or more too, San had no sense of time - before he spotted a small light in between the trees. As much as he wanted to, San didn’t run for it just yet, and still followed the rustles. They led him through a thicker patch of shrubs and then he found himself on a clear patch.
A clear path.
One that looked frequently used and underkept. Behind him, the path led back into the dark woods and, in front of him, San could now make out that the light he had seen came from a small house.
In reality, San knew that going to the house was a bad idea. Any horror movie or true crime documentary told you that. But it was either the house or the forest, and San wasn’t about to spend the night in the dark unknown.
He hurried up to the door, peering into one of the small windows, and caught sight of some furniture and a fireplace. It looked clean and well taken care of, and void of any obvious murder weapons, so San knocked on the door.
It didn’t take long at all for him to get an answer. “Who’s there?”
“Hi!” San blurted out at the sound of a male voice. “I got lost in the woods. It’s dark and I stumbled across your home, and I promise I’m not here to like, stab you or anything untoward.” He winced a bit at his own words. Maybe a little blunt in front of a stranger, but San was getting close to being at his wits end.
“How did you find this place?” The voice sounded skeptical.
San looked back at the bushes, and couldn’t help but notice that the rustling had stopped completely. He waited for a few seconds to see if there would be any response from them, but when nothing happened, he turned to the door again. “The bushes around here are weird, man.”
There was a beat of silence before the door opened, revealing a tall, young man with faded orange hair and large round glasses. Definitely not the kind of person that San was expecting to see on the other side of the door.
“Come on in. The woods at night aren’t a good place to be for the inexperienced. Best you stay the night.” He stepped aside, gesturing for San to enter, which he did with zeal.
The house was warm. That was the first thing that San noticed. He didn’t even realize how chilled he was until he walked into the middle of the room, which wasn’t really big at all. On the outside, the house looked much larger, but it was pretty cozy. San didn’t think that he could ever live in a place with everything in one room, but he could see the appeal in it when it was like this.
“What’s your name?” The man asked San, reaching over to grab a cloak that hung next to the door and settled it over his shoulders, pulling the hood up over his head.
“San. It’s San. Thanks for letting me in…”
“Mingi,” he said. His voice was low. At first San had thought that maybe it’d been like that because they’d been speaking through a door, but it was really just that low. “How did you get lost? Don’t you have a phone?”
With an embarrassed chuckle, San reached back and rubbed the back of his head. “Funny story. I uh- kinda forgot it. In my car. Do you have one that I can use?”
Mingi shook his head. “I don’t. Look, I’m going outside to talk… Well, check up on things. You can look around, just don’t touch anything, please. Unless you want to sit down. That’s allowed.”
San spotted a small, round table with two mismatching chairs. “I will. Thanks.”
Mingi nodded at San before grabbing an oil lantern. He held it up to his face, gentle clicking coming from the object before it lit up. Once it was lit, Mingi stepped outside.
San poked around Mingi’s home, taking in the sights. The taller man had told him that he was free to look around, so San was going to take full advantage of that. On first glance, everything looked pretty much like one would expect of a hermit that lived out in the woods. The walls had little space left on them, mostly covered by shelves that were filled with pots and little bowls. The scent was very herbal as well. San wasn’t exactly sure how to explain it, but the scent clung to the inside of his nostrils as he took a deep breath. Some kind of mixture of pines and whatever else Mingi had in his little hut.
There were a multitude of bundles of what looked to be herbs around Mingi’s old wooden stove as well. All of them dried out, but somehow the smell of them was still strong. They weren’t dusty either, which meant that they were something that Mingi used frequently.
Closer to the back of the room, near a bed that was completely covered in blankets, was a fireplace as well. San knelt down next to it, peering at a small cauldron that was being held up by a stand. There was nothing in it, but he could see that the cauldron had been used well, the inside marred and scraped up by whatever Mingi used to scoop the contents out.
It struck San as a little strange to see the cauldron here when Mingi had a perfectly working, albeit damn near ancient, wood burning stove only a dozen feet away or so. What did he use this for?
He was still knelt by the fireplace when Mingi came back, the hood of his cloak down now with the oil lantern still lit at his side.
“I finished my rounds. You’re lucky you stumbled here when you did, San. I saw coyote tracks, and they definitely would’ve hounded you during the night if you were still outside,” Mingi said.
San rested his arms on his knees, taking in Mingi’s appearance and rolling his thoughts around in his head. “Hey, are you like, a witch or something?”
One thing that he hadn’t expected was for Mingi to jolt, the lantern clattering to the ground and the glass shattering.
Both he and Mingi flinched away as the shards skittered over the floor. The light in the hut was severely dimmed without the lantern, now going back to the low glow of candles.
“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to. Don’t move, okay? I’ll clean it.” Mingi held up his hands and didn’t move until San gave him a quick nod. He muttered under his breath and stepped around the mess he’d made, grabbing a broom next to the front door.
They both stayed quiet as Mingi brushed up all of the glass, meticulously going through the room and finding even the smallest of shards, one of which was close to San’s feet.
It wasn’t until Mingi was brushing up the shards into a dustpan that San dared to speak up again. “I didn’t mean to ask any weird questions or anything. Just, you know, the stuff around here and everything. Living alone in the woods, the fact that everything here is outdated, but one of the first things that you asked me was where my phone was. What did you expect me to say?”
Mingi set the broom back and emptied the dust pan into a bin. “I don’t get a lot of visitors. I don’t need every amenity you have access to daily, but I do leave every once in a while, you know. Staying here all the time would drive me nuts too.”
“Oh. Yeah, makes sense,” San said, watching as Mingi set the broken lantern to the side and out of harm's way. “Still didn’t answer my question.”
“What was that again?” Mingi asked.
“If you’re a witch.”
Mingi looked at him with wide eyes behind his glasses and he froze up for a second before letting out an almost painful sounding laugh. “A witch? Me? No. No, what are you even talking about?”
San couldn’t help it. He let out a snort at the way that Mingi froze up, and barely held back full on laughter by speaking instead. “I was kidding! Witches aren’t really a thing. Not anymore.”
“Right. Not anymore.” Mingi smiled at him, almost grimaced, really, and he stepped in San’s direction, but still managed to skirt around him in the small space. “How long has it been since you last had something to eat? Or drink?”
“Ah, a while.” When San was stressed, he never thought about eating. Even now, when Mingi asked about it, San didn’t really feel anything, although he knew that it had to have been hours since he last ate or drank.
Mingi pulled out one of the chairs at the table. “Sit. You’re tired.”
Hearing that made San’s body sag. Tired, yeah, that was definitely what he was. All the stress and dread that had clung to him earlier was gone for now. The relief was nice, as exhausting as it was.
The house was warm. Cozy. Not just because it was small and there was a fire roaring in the largest fireplace, but because it felt alive, in a way. San felt comfortable. He watched with half lidded eyes as Mingi puttered around, muttering to himself as he filled the stove with more wood and pushed the door closed with his knee, a lick of flame sparking just before it shut with a click. Huh. There must’ve still been some embers in there that San hadn’t seen earlier.
“Are you allergic to anything?” Mingi asked without looking back at San. He was grabbing some of the herbs and poking through small containers.
“Nope. Don’t like peppermint though. Gives me a headache,” San said.
Mingi nodded and pushed a herb bundle aside. “Good to know. Want to tell me the funny story of you getting lost in the woods?”
San laughed at that, brightening a bit. Leaning back in the chair, he watched as Mingi filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove, tapping the side a few times before he shuffled over to a cupboard and poked around in it. “Well, my friends told me I was addicted to my electronics and I came out here to prove them wrong. Might not have been paying attention to where I was going, so I lost track of the path. Left my phone in the car too. Couldn’t really navigate without it.”
“Wouldn’t have worked this deep in the forest. No signal.” Mingi held up a box and shook it. Even from his seat at the table, San could hear that it was near empty. “I don’t have milk, but would cereal work until the morning?”
“Yeah, chuck it here.” San held out his hands.
Mingi made sure the top was secure before he tossed it over, and San easily caught it. Without looking at the box, San opened it and shoved his hand in, grabbing a handful of cereal and shoving it in his mouth. It was dry, as cereal always was, but bland too. San’s nose crinkled as he looked at what he had in his hand. Flakes of some sort, but there was nothing on them. No sugar or additional flavouring, there weren’t even nuts or dried berries added in. How boring.
Not that San could really complain much. Mingi had let him into his home, in the middle of the night, and was feeding him. If San had been in his position, he wasn’t quite certain that he’d do the same, if only for his own safety, as selfish as it may sound.
A steaming cup was placed in front of him. The room was darker now. San realized that the candles were all out, leaving the light of the fire as the only light source. He hadn’t even noticed that Mingi had set the candles out. There wasn’t that distinctive smell of burnt wax and wick either.
San brought the cup up and blew on the tea, mouth watering at the herbal scent. The tea itself was warm without being too hot to drink, and San happily sipped at it. “This is good.”
“It’ll help you sleep. Speaking of, you can have the bed. I have some clothes for you to change into.”
The tea left San warm and comfortable, barely even remembering how horrible he felt so recently. “I can sleep somewhere else.”
“No,” Mingi said. “It’s just one night. Don’t worry about it.”
And so San soon found himself dressed in clothes that swamped him, more relaxed than he ought to be in a stranger’s bed in the woods as they both settled in to sleep. Mingi had pulled out a slew of pillows and blankets from somewhere, making himself a little nest in front of the fireplace.
“We’ll leave early in the morning. Get you back to your car and phone,” Mingi told San with a smile.
San let out a sleepy huff. “My phone and I thank you.”
“I have no doubt. Sleep, San.”
No one had to tell him twice.
---
His body was free of aches as San followed Mingi down the path. He’d slept well and woken up to the smell of Mingi making omelettes for them. So San had had more tea and a good breakfast and now he could fully appreciate the forest. The day before San had just set off without a thought, stalking about just because he could, but now he looked around, taking in the way the sun shone through the trees, the fresh air, and the chirping of birds around them.
Mingi strode next to him, his long legs leading the way back to the parking lot. He’d asked San how he was feeling this morning and they’d worked up some idle conversation. They just let their thoughts guide them.
So far, San had learned that the cabin had been in Mingi’s family for generations. Passed down to him by his mother, who hadn’t shown any interest in living in it herself after she’d inherited it from her father. San could see the appeal, and Mingi’s eyes lit up and sparkled as he talked about the forest.
“But you lived in town before. Don’t you miss it?” San asked.
Mingi pursed his lips for a moment before he shook his head. “Not really. There’s times when I do, but I can easily go there. This kind of calm… You can’t find that in town. But I miss fried chicken. And the sauna.” He let out a sigh. “The sauna is so good.”
San laughed. “You sound a little wistful there, Mingi.”
“The sauna is the best man-made structure. Hands down.” He pointed between some trees. “Come on, I know a shortcut.”
San followed, trying to step around the bushes to keep his pants from getting torn even more. He kept an eye out for any rustling leaves again, but he didn’t see anything. “Sounds like you’re long overdue a trip to town then.”
“Maybe. It’s not like it’s going anywhere. Just like it looks like your car didn’t go anywhere. That’s good.”
There was no way that they could’ve made it back to the parking lot, and San’s eyes widened when he spotted his car. It was just sitting there innocuously, waiting for San to return like he hadn’t almost lost his shit and maybe his life if he hadn’t found Mingi’s house.
“We didn’t walk that long, did we? Was it that close by?” The sun was still in pretty much the same position that it had been the last time San checked. He’d walked for hours the night before. Had he really been that close and just gotten turned around?
“I know this place pretty well. Now you can tell everyone that you’re okay,” Mingi said with a big smile, his eyes closing and crinkling.
San took a deep breath and smiled back at Mingi. “I will. Thanks. I owe you.”
“You don’t. Actually. Don’t get lost in the forest again. That’s how you can make it up to me.”
He laughed, feeling light as Mingi laughed along with him. “That’s something I can promise you for sure.”
“Good. Go home, wash up. Let your friends know that you’re alive,” Mingi said.
“I will.”
It felt oddly bittersweet when San got to his car and got in. His phone was still on, albeit barely hanging on, and there were dozens of notifications. He sent a quick message to the group chat he had with his friends and looked up just in time to catch Mingi walking back into the forest. San honked, snorting as Mingi literally jumped a foot in the air in shock, and he waved.
Only after Mingi waved back did San start his car.
---
Whenever San went shopping, he always tried to go at awkward times. Never something specific, even which day he would go, because he found that it was more likely that he wouldn’t be caught in a sea of people trying to get groceries.
This time, it’s a Tuesday around 2 pm, because San had rolled out of bed only an hour before, sleeping in after a late shift. There’s a few people around, mostly parents with young kids, a few elderly, and San himself. He had a small list in his phone, along with a few items in mind that he wanted, but mostly San just liked to take his time and zig zag through the aisles of the store.
His basket was near full by the time that he got to, roughly, the halfway aisle of the store. San considered going to grab another basket, or even a cart, and thought about what he still needed. It might be a good idea, just in case his whims turn in a certain direction.
San started making his way to grab another basket and looked up just in time to see a familiar figure standing by the cereal. Not that it was difficult to recognize Mingi with how tall he was, his orange hair, and large glasses.
After what had happened in the forest, San had thought about Mingi a few times, but never enough to actually go out of his way to try and track the man down again. But now that Mingi was right in front of him, San wasn’t about to ignore him. He walked over, waiting to see if the tall man would see him, but Mingi was focused on the box he was holding in his hand.
So focused, in fact, that he didn’t even notice that San was next to him until he spoke up. “Mingi, hey.”
There was a jolt, then wide eyes turned to him. “San! I didn’t expect to see you here.” Mingi looked flustered as soon as he realized that San was standing next to him.
Seeing Mingi in the store was a little surreal. For some reason, San wasn’t not quite able to place Mingi in such modern surroundings, but Mingi really didn’t stand out very much, looking at him up close now. He was dressed pretty simply. Just a pair of jeans with holes at the knees that looked like they were from wear rather than something deliberate and a plain, green shirt. In fact, he looked like he blended in with the rest of the crowds.
If San hadn’t met him before, he wouldn’t have any clue whatsoever that Mingi lived like a hermit in the forest.
“You didn’t expect me here? Just think of my surprise seeing you standing here looking at-” San leaned in closer to Mingi and glanced at the box that he was holding. “Raisin bran? Really?” His eyebrow was raised as he looked back up at Mingi.
Mingi’s mouth fell open, then closed against with a clack of his teeth. He reached up, adjusting his glasses, just like he had constantly been doing when San had stayed the night. “I- The birds really like it, okay?”
San’s expression didn’t change and he just hummed under his breath. He remembered the bland cereal that Mingi had offered him.
Their eyes held for a few seconds before Mingi turned away and put the box in his basket. “It’s a special treat.”
“For you and the birds?”
“You… San!” Mingi sputtered out.
As much as San tried to stay serious, it was really hard to when Mingi acted like this. A snort bubbled up and San slapped a hand over his mouth as he started laughing loudly. It attracted the attention of a few people around them, but San really couldn’t care less. People could look all they wanted. If they had a problem with him, they could come up and say it straight to his face.
San rubbed at the corner of his eye as he straightened. “I’m sorry. You’re a lot of fun to tease, y’know?”
“I don’t think I should be saying thanks in this case,” Mingi muttered. His eyes were darting around at the people around them.
Sensing that Mingi might be a little uncomfortable, San cleared his throat and settled down a bit. The other customers would move on by themselves. “What brings you into town? Just groceries or are you going to the sauna too?”
Mingi put his raisin bran into his basket, which was pretty empty in comparison to San’s. Either he’d just started shopping or he really didn’t need that much in the way of groceries.
“Just the food. I don’t have much time. I’m brewing, well, cooking something at home, and I need to get back before it gets dark. Take the bus, then walk home, which takes a while,” Mingi said.
San realized that he’d never really thought about how Mingi got around. Obviously, he didn’t have a car, which San could’ve realized even without what he just said. It wasn’t like he’d seen one around when they were in the forest. Part of him wondered why Mingi didn't have a bike or something, but the road from town to the forest wasn’t exactly flat, so unless you were used to it, San could only imagine that it was a hard ride.
“How about we get a snack, fried chicken, maybe? Then I can drive you home. I promise I’m more reliable than the bus. Plus, I had the chance to chop you up into little bits the night I stayed over at your place and didn’t do it, so you know I’m safe.”
There was a mother that glared at him and San stuck his tongue out at her. No one asked her to listen in on his conversation, so she had no say in it.
Mingi, however, started laughing, boisterous, but still low, his eyes closing as he smiled widely. It was a good look on him. One that San hadn’t taken the time to properly appreciate the first time around. Seeing Mingi react the way he did just made San smile wider, so he knew that he had done something right, which was good to know. He didn’t have any clue of what Mingi’s first impression of him was exactly, but he imagined that it had the chance to not be the most positive one. San was of the mind that a second impression could be just as important as the first so he wasn’t about to blow his chance.
“What do you say?” San asked again as Mingi’s laughter calmed down.
“As long as you promise not to drive us in a ditch, I think it’s a great idea,” Mingi said.
---
If you spoke to San a few months ago, hell, even a few weeks ago, and said that he willingly went into the forest in search of an elusive and sweet man, he wouldn’t even have lifted his eyes from whatever electronic device he was focused on as he scoffed. Now, San had been walking in the forest for over an hour - and this time, he had his phone with him to check - and he found that he was torn with what he was supposed to do.
From the last time, when Mingi had led him out of the woods, San kind of remembered how they went. Go into the bushes off to the side of the parking lot, walk for a few minutes, and eventually come across the small path that led to Mingi’s house.
It really didn’t prove to be that easy, and San couldn’t even look at his phone for GPS either. This deep in the forest, there wasn’t any reception, just like how Mingi said. After they first met, San had promised that he wasn’t going to get lost in the forest again, but he was almost tempted to just wander and let it happen so he could stumble his way to Mingi’s.
Or he could kneel next to a bush and talk to it. San had been trying for a few minutes, talking to one bush, waiting for a few minutes for a response, and then moving on. That night, something in the forest had helped him. He was sure of it.
It was just a matter of finding that something again.
San walked over to a little cluster of ferns. “Okay,” he said with a soft sigh. “I’m wondering if you lot can help me. I’m looking for Mingi. Tall human, orange hair, jumps at basically everything, and lives in a cabin somewhere close by. I just need some help. A general direction is fine. Just- something? Please.”
As with his last few attempts, there’s no response whatsoever, and San runs his hands through his hair. He really hadn’t expected it to be this difficult to get back to see Mingi. And it wasn’t like he had any other way of contacting Mingi, since he didn’t have a phone, nor a schedule as to when he would be in town.
San huffed as he looked around. “Maybe I should just pick a direction and keep going. I’ll find him eventually, right?” He wondered out loud. “Wait until night… Is that why you aren’t reacting to me? Is it a nighttime thing? I can stay that long.” It wouldn’t be the best idea, since San didn’t have anything with him besides his phone. No food and water hadn’t helped him the last time around, so he was pretty sure it wouldn’t turn out well this time either.
San shuffled over to a relatively clear spot of dirt and spread his jacket out on the ground to sit on it. He let out a hiss of pain, feeling a rock digging into his ass. Not exactly the most comfortable position. He was about to sit up and try to find the rock when there was some rustling off to the side.
“Really?” San asked as he watched the ferns rustle and sway. “You had to wait for me to sit down?”
There wasn’t going to be any response, so San pushed himself back up, snatching up his jacket and walking to the ferns. Just like the first time around, when he got close to the rustling plants, it shifted over to another plant.
When Mingi had walked San from his house to the parking lot, it felt like it hadn’t taken long to get to their destination at all, and the same went for the rustling leading him back to Mingi’s this time around. There was no way that it could’ve been more than twenty minutes before San stepped out from behind a copse of trees and saw the distinct shape of Mingi’s house.
As before, the rustling stopped, but that didn’t stop San from looking down at the plants again. “Thanks.”
As he stepped out, San saw that Mingi was outside, and he wasn’t alone. The other man was kneeling on the ground, holding onto a rabbit with a few more hopping around him.
“We told him last time to stay away from the grove. You’re going to have to keep a close eye on him. I can’t keep healing him, it’ll become a bad habit,” Mingi said.
There wasn’t anyone else around. Even though San was seeing it happen right in front of him, it was still a bit disbelieving to see Mingi just talking to a rabbit like he was holding a regular conversation.
Mingi held up the rabbit to his face and narrowed his eyes at it. “Last time.” He tapped its forehead and set it back down. The other rabbits gathered around it, sniffing before they all hopped off together.
Mingi got up, brushing his knees off and stretched, lifting his hands over his head and twisting his body, and he froze when he saw San standing off to the side. “I- How did you get here?”
“I asked the plants.” San pointed over his shoulder. “Were you just talking to rabbits?”
“No.” Mingi laughed awkwardly, his face not falling into the natural smile as it usually did.
There was too much distance between them, San decided, and he walked up to Mingi, trying to keep a serious expression as Mingi’s eyes moved around, landing on everything but him. He reached up and adjusted his glasses, but missed slightly pressing a finger against the lens.
“If I kissed you…” San licked his lips. “Would you answer truthfully?”
Finally Mingi’s eyes settled on San, flicking down to his lips. “I guess… You’ll have to see?”
Grabbing Mingi’s shirt, San pulled him down, pressing their lips together for a few seconds before leaning away. “When you answer, this’ll also give a proper reply to my other question.”
“Which one’s that?” Mingi’s voice was low as he whispered.
“If you’re a witch or not,” San said.
“I’ll leave that interpretation up to you, I think.”
“Works for me.”