Chapter Text
“Come one, come all, it’s already time for us to start the show!” everyone around; young kids, adults, couples, families, and even pets, stepped eagerly on to what looked like some sort of magical park. The place was beautiful, there was enough space for everyone to pass by and choose which show to see or which games to participate in. Many crowds immediately flowed to the different tents, while others stood around the food court or just watched on the nearby benches with their friends while enjoying some drinks. Even though it was crowded, everything was peaceful and fun or, at least, that’s how it looked like from afar.
It’s hands gently touched the floor, approaching the bars dividing it and that little cheerful world. It placed it’s fingers around the bars, no one was there to see, it too wanted to give or have some fun, ignoring the fact that it didn’t know how. As he placed his head closer to the bars, he could feel as if he could go out, which was a bit scary too.
“Hello.” a gentle voice said, it seemed to come from the other side of the bars, right in front of what was looking towards the outside. Immediately throwing itself into defense mode, the animal stepped back and glared. This didn’t faze the sky-blue eyed kid at all, in fact, his face remained unchanged. The boy then looked at one of the signs.
“Taiga Kagami.” he said, repeating what he read, the animal responded to this, looking back at the kid attentively. If he knew its name, maybe he wasn’t so dangerous, but it wouldn’t let it’s guard down, it glared again once the kid continued reading.
“The human…tiger.” he whispered, looking at the tiger, trying to compare it with a real one. This ‘tiger’ was indeed human. Dark red colored eyes as intense as any animalistic creature, dark and red colored messy hair, a muscular naked body, a pose showing it was ready to attack if it felt threatened. A human…but a tiger. A tiger…but a human. It should’ve been simple to tell which one of those two was it, but it was actually confusing and even a bit ridiculous to try and divide with definition. After all his analysis was done, the kid passed his right hand through the bars. The tiger looked at it, lowering his divided eyebrows to give a more menacing glare, but it wouldn’t step away, the human should be the one scared, not the tiger. The kid finally reached the tiger’s head and, without a hint of fear, he ruffled the animal’s hair.
“Gh…” Taiga closed his eyes, it wasn’t being attacked, it felt nice. Even so, some seconds later, Kagami stepped away. It didn’t know what to expect, it wouldn’t let his guard down so easily. It’s glare was now a bit more calm but full of caution. Taiga lowered his face, it’s eyes remained staring at the kid.
“Don’t worry, Kagami-kun, I won’t hurt you. I’m expecting for you not to hurt me.” the boy said, giving a faint friendly smile. Taiga stared at him for a while and, just when it was about to step close, bit by bit, someone came rushing by.
“Tetsu-kun~!” a very girly voice was approaching, this made Taiga go back into defense mode, this time growling a bit, looking around to see who or what was coming.
“Ah, Tetsu-kun! I was looking all over for you~!” a pink haired girl threw herself towards the blue haired kid, who caught her and rapidly placed her down, to prevent a fall.
“Momoi-san, sorry, I thought you knew I had left since a while ago. When you said you wanted to meet up with your friends, I thought you meant for me to leave some space for you, so I did.” the boy replied, his expression a normal one. The girl pouted a bit but then looked at the cage.
“Wow, Tetsu-kun! You found the human tiger! I thought that was just some made-up story about this circu- err park!” the girl said, amazed as she leaned forward, receiving a glare from the tiger, this made her pout once again and move back towards Tetsuya.
“Tetsu-kun, Tetsu-kun! We have to go see the main show of today, come on!” the girl took Tetsuya’s arm and pulled him towards the crowd roaming around the main stage. The boy wanted to stay a while longer with the tiger but, he’d have to wait and see him again sometime later, if he ever got the time once more.
Taiga couldn’t help but stare at the two figures as they ran away. It felt kind of sad, someone had finally approached him and, even though it had been a bit scary, it somehow felt better than staring at people from afar, not having any contact with them or even the owners of the park whenever the shows started and the park opened for business. It put it’s hands on the bars, mimicking how the boy had put them when he had been staring. His claws bumped with the palm of his hands, so he had to move his fingers farther away. Had that kid been hurting himself, placing his hands like that? What a strange person and what a strange encounter. He’s likely to come back here soon.
The show Tetsuya and Momoi had gone to see consisted of a series of conversations and performances made by the host, Kise Ryouta and one of his supervisors, Yukio Kasamatsu. It was great. They integrated the crowd and even played tricks to them. Everyone had been satisfied with the first day’s show. Every kid returned home with presents and wide smiles on their little faces. The owners also had wide smiles. They had obtained more money than what was expected. This was, indeed, a good city to stay at for a while longer.
“And the tiger?” a red-haired short boy asked, his back facing a green-haired boy who adjusted his glasses.
“The human tiger hasn’t been mentioned around much, but someone did find him and even made contact with it. Strangely enough, Taiga didn’t seem too startled by his presence, Akashi-san.”
“I see… Well, Shintarou, I want you to arrange something for tomorrow…” a faint smile appeared on Akashi once he turned to face Midorima. Things were going to turn interesting, although Midorima wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. Even so, everything Akashi said would be done without question.