Chapter Text
Saki would later tell him that it was the uniform that did it for her.
While she'd been feeling sorry for herself, really getting into the spirit of her pity party for one, she'd counted the many ways her life had been a disaster: Her narcissistic parents, the job she was struggling to maintain, the five years she'd wasted with Takaya, her leg that was swollen and hurting, the fact that she would probably die all alone in the cold.
Hopefully, Natsumi had made it down the mountain and called for help.
She looked up at the darkening sky and closed her eyes, fighting her despair.
She really really hoped she wouldn't die here all by herself.
Please, somebody come help me.
The helicopter blades whirring in the distance made her open her eyes abruptly. Saki looked up and was heartened to see that the black spot that had appeared tiny before now seemed to be getting bigger, and yes. It was now hovering above her.
She watched as somebody attached to a rope lowered himself out of the opening and then the figure materialized right before her.
He was tall and lean, the austere coloring, the black and gray camouflage pattern of his uniform contrasted with the snow all around them.
He walked stiffly toward her, stopped when he was a foot away from her, then knelt down to her level. He then introduced himself in solemn tones.
"Lt. Obara of the Self Defense Air Rescue Wing," he said with a sharp bow. "I've come to see you back to safety."
Saki felt a little bump in her heart and she couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her. Help had come at last.
He was reaching toward her. "You'll be fine as long as I'm here."
A smile stole over her features. She was relieved, of course, that she was finally going to be safe, but also because she'd never encountered a man like him before, a man so stiff and so starchy.
There was a brief pause when he saw her smile, but then he was back to business again. He leaned in when he noticed the awkward angle of her leg. "Are you hurt?"
He was reaching to check, but Saki intercepted him, inclined forward into his arms and hugged him instead.
He blinked twice as if startled, the expression on his face reminding her of a deer caught in headlights.
"I have been waiting for you all this time," she said.