Chapter Text
Looking back after all these while, Aki Hayakawa would never think that one look would make him fall.
He never believed in bullshits like fate and destiny. But there’s no other explanation for this.
He’s so in love with her now, and he knew, he’s fucked if she ever leaves him.
The first time he met her was when they were at the convenience store.
She was in the aisle opposite him, and as he pushes the cart, he took note of her long hair and lovely eyes. They were let loose, and a little wet from the rain. But truth to be told? Despite meeting her like this for the first time, he knew her. He has seen her before around the neighbourhood, and after that, he realizes she is his neighbour. Just that they have never met face to face officially. It was always the back of her head in the lift, or her small silhouette when she passes by his front door.
Or like right now – a complete stranger to each other.
She’s a happy looking sweet girl that is sometimes quiet and looking as if she’s deep in thoughts, and sometimes laughing at something on her phone with her earbuds in.
And sometimes, he’d catch her humming to a song.
There was an instant in his mind that strikes down his mind like a lightning in the sky.
He wanted her.
He admired her long and lovely hair from the corner of his eyes – I mean, who wouldn’t? It was wavy and dark, and shiny. He bet it would be soft too. But ultimately, it was her eyes that caught his attention first. Doe-eyed honey eyes. He thought they looked feral at first, but when they were at the same aisle earlier and reaching for the same canned food, she looked up at his taller frame and gave him a polite smile and a nod of her head.
“You can have it, I’ve changed my mind,” she had said then, her voice a ringing clarity in his mind. He didn’t know why or how, but he is curious of how it would sound if she were to say his name.
He…he just couldn’t. He didn’t know why, but he just couldn’t take his eyes off her.
He took note of her eyes, of how they reminded him of a deer caught in the headlights. Wide, bright, and beautiful.
She checked out first at the counter, followed by him after a while.
Silently, he walked behind her for a bit. He didn’t know why, but the thought that he didn’t want to scare her occurred to him. Maybe this is just a one-time thing, or maybe they’re not meant to be. But maybe, just maybe, maybe there’s something for him in the future.
But for now, he’s good with watching her small back carrying her grocery in one hand, walking home happily.
The second time he met her was when she was harassed by an apparent classmate of hers at her apartment’s door. She’s in college, majoring in some art things that he overheard the nosy neighbourhood’s aunties talking about in the lobby whenever he came back from work early. She had repeatedly said no, but the man – no, boy – boy, had kept pushing her on something.
He was making coffee. He was near the door. And he heard everything.
The boy kept pushing her on a date, then on homework after she rejected the date, then of an invite into her apartment to work on some homework that she definitely knows the answers to, and he pulled out some random bullshit in hopes that she’ll let him in.
She didn’t. Blatantly rejecting, that girl. But he persisted.
It was really annoying to hear him pushing her on and on with, “Come on, Saya-chan. Come on, it’s just homework. Don’t be like that already and let me in, baby-”
“I am not your baby,” she had said, squinting, throwing an annoyed expression at the boy in front of her. She was just nice to him once. One time. She picked up his pen on the floor once. And he thinks that she’s interested with him just by that.
Come on. What a boy.
“Okay, fine, it’s just a date suggestion,” he gave up, raising both hands to somehow appease her in hopes that she’ll give in after a while more. “I want to bring you out on a date. If you’re not comfortable with it, I can arrange it like a gokon with some friends, but don’t you think giving me a no without giving me a chance is not fair for me?”
“What’s there to be not fair?” she blinked her eyes, not wanting to understand what he is trying to hopefully guilt trap her into giving in. “I don’t want anything to do with you in the first place.”
“Give me a chance! Let me take you out on a date. Don’t you know guys don’t like it when girls kept giving them the no card-”
“I don’t care what guys like,” she shot him back a reply with an awkward smile. “Honestly. There will be no dates. I’ve said this almost a hundred times already from college, and now you’re following me back home?”
“Actually, I’m here to pass you some notes so I got your address from the lecturer at college-”
“I’m really not interested-” Saya said, stepping back into her apartment and closing her door when the boy pulled the door back.
“Come on, Saya-chan!” the boy started, frustrated that she kept rejecting him and stepped into her apartment, his big size looming over Saya’s slender physique like a predator cornering his prey. “I’ve liked you for so long since middle school. The least you could do me good is let me fuck you-”
BAM!
Aki swung the door to his apartment back into the open with as much energy as he can summon on his one arm and let it slam against the wall. The boy jumped back out of her apartment and looked up at him angrily.
The words that the boy spewed out of his stupid mouth is equally as stupid looking like his face and his intellect Aki just couldn’t stand it anymore. He got to get rid of it.
“What’s your problem man-” the boy started, frowning at Aki, obviously trying to man up and look tough.
But Aki beat him to it.
He pulled the boy through the scruff of his neck out of Saya’s apartment and looked at her, standing there at her doorway, looking terrified.
“You alright there?” he asked, intentionally softening his voice, appearing unfazed with how much the boy is struggling in his hand. He didn’t want to scare her any more than it is right now, not with that vulgar harassment the boy did to her just now. What was it again? The least she could do him good is to let him fuck her? Wherever the fuck he gets that theory that she should do him good?
He saw relief flooded her lovely visage, and she smiled at him gratefully, clutching her chest as she heaved a sigh.
“He’s- he’s bothering me,” she stuttered a little, her hand clenching protectively in front of her chest least the boy tried to force his way into her apartment and assault her. “I didn’t promise him anything.”
Aki nodded his head. “I’ll take care of him. Lock the doors.”
He made quick work of the boy and gave him a word on harassment. The boy tried to give him a punch, but Aki lead him on and ultimately, the boy ended up with his head in the bushes. Aki might have to admit to himself that it felt good to add on a kick to the boy's butt, further cementing him there in the bushes. He told him off, nice and clean, and add on that he's an alumnus at the college he's at and he knows the lecturer there. A quick call, and his future will end right there.
The last Aki heard from the boy is a pathetic whimper of a reply.
He has a bit more time on his hand before work, so he quickly fixes up another portion of coffee and sandwich, packed it all up and went to her door.
He got to leave now if he doesn’t want to be late.
Saya opened up the door gingerly and peered through the sides. He smiled, noting the chain she has on the door. Good girl.
“Oh, it's you! Hello,” she started, unlocking the chain to her door and opened it wide for him. But before she could say anything else, Aki shoved the packed breakfast with the thermos containing coffee in it to her and quickly pulled out a pen and a small book from his front pocket.
“That’s sandwich and coffee. Calms the nerves. You should take a day off and get a rest at home and lock the doors-” as Aki was talking, he wrote down his name and number on the paper quickly and teared it off, passing it to her before stepping back and away from her door. “That’s my number. If the little shitbag or anyone bothers you again, give me a call. My workplace is just nearby.”
Then he left.
He just left.
He couldn’t be late. He had a perfect record, and he intended for it to stay that way.
Later on, he came back home late and found a bag of Kanpei (sweet flat oranges) with the rest of his thermos and Tupperware hanging on his door with a sweet: Hayakawa-san, Thank you for the lovely coffee. Saya.
He kept the note in his bedside drawers.
The third time they met again, is when she saved his life.
There was a devil roaming on the streets. A fairly strong one at that. Very brute with its strength. His arm is badly dislocated just from blocking an incoming attack from it using his sheathed sword, and he escaped into the back alley. He tried to pop his arm back but couldn’t lift his hand up to do the deed, nor the Fox sign. Blood dripped into his eyes and affected his vision. Aki leaned against the wall of the alleyway and panted, groaning in pain. He hated dislocation. The lingering pain after popping the bone back into its sockets tends to annoy him for a while.
And it was then, the devil suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swung down an axe right where he stood.
For the first time, his thought right at that moment didn't bring him to the Gun Devil.
It brought him the girl's face - Saya.
Of her relieved smile, of her peering up at the door cautiously through the cracks and the chain locking her door still, and of the Kanpei he still had in his fridge. He didn't want to finish eating them so soon. Its a gift from her.
Had he remained rooted to the spot, he’d be chopped down into two like wood logs.
But a hand pulled him out of the way and into the backdoor of a convenience store, leaving the axe to hack into an empty wall.
He stumbled a bit and leaned back against the wall, away from the door, hearing swift locking sounds of the back emergency exit of a store.
He squinted against the bright fluorescent light and looked at his savior.
It was his neighbour, Saya. His lovely, scared neighbour, with eyes now looking exactly like a deer in headlights.
“Ha-Hayakawa-san, are you alright?” she asked him, her voice holding a tremor, quickly pulling a first aid kit from a corner and started to quickly but gently brush up his hair and stops the blood from a cut on his forehead now oozing down his eyes.
He nodded his head and groaned. He leaned his back against the counter – this looks like the back of the convenience store, where the staffs could use this place as a pantry of sort amidst the piled-up stocks. She quickly checked his arm – it was just dislocated so she can’t do much on that one, then she moves onto checking his face. A few cuts, here and there. But otherwise, nothing major. “I think you’re safe here for a while, but I’m not sure for how long-”
Just then, the siren sounded outside the building. He smiled.
“Reinforcements,” Aki said simply, and she nodded with relief. She could have left him and went outside to call someone. But she didn’t.
She took care of him first.
He remembered then. She worked in this particular convenience store. He saw her once when he came to buy a pack of smokes.
“You just saved me,” he said stupidly, his eyes never leaving hers. He didn’t come into this mission alone. He’s sure someone from his division will chase down the devil and crush it.
He’s been thinking about her. And with how dangerous his job is, and how devils literally kill random people every single day, he couldn’t waste any more time.
No one knows what would happen tomorrow. And he didn’t want to have any regrets.
He needs to have her.
Saya blinked. “What?”
“I said,” he started slowly, watching her intently as she looked at him. He didn’t know when and how, but he’s mesmerized by her face. He must have been blind all these whiles, but it was only then he noticed she really is beautiful. Really beautiful. “You just saved my life.”
Saya smiled, dabbing a little antiseptic on a cut that grazed the sides of his jaws gently. He flinched a little, and she took it to herself to gently hold onto the sides of his face with the tips of her fingers and gently blow on his cut to ease the burning pain. “The boy that harassed me the other day. He’d do worst if you didn’t come and drag him away. Said I should have at least let him fuck me because he’s fancied me all these whiles. I mean, what kind of logic is that?”
He shrugged a little, watching as she throws out the cotton and took out a band aid. “I heard. I’m just about to throw out the trash that time. It’s along the way.”
She smiled at him and covered his cut with a band aid. “I’m so glad, Hayakawa-san. You saved my life too. Thank you. I wouldn’t know what would happen if you didn’t come along the way.”
He watches her for a while, and notices that her ears are red. He blinked.
His ears turn red too when he’s shy.
Biting the insides of his cheek, he took a leap of faith, a deep breath, and spoke, “Can we date?”
The bottle of antiseptic she was going to put back into the first aid kid dropped into the kit instead, clattering against the other bottles, “What?”
“Can we date?” Aki repeated. He didn’t want to give up. He didn’t want to regret anything. “I really want to date you. I’ve been wanting to ask you out.”
She smiled, her blush spreading steadily across her lovely face. “You’re not going to die.”
He looked down at her small hand on the counter, and gently picked her hand up and rubbed his thumb against the back of her knuckles.
She didn’t pull away. That’s a good sign.
They’re so small compared to his, and its cute. He pondered his thoughts and smiled down at her hand in his. “Not now, yes. But I don’t want to regret.”
Saya looked up at her neighbour. She has seen him a few times around the block. His topknot hair is impossible to ignore, and not to mention his rather tall frame and good looks. He was always seen wearing a black suit with a black tie. Very good looking, and so sexy.
Especially when he walks. That air of confidence kills all sorts of bad vibes. He’s just so beautiful.
She just couldn’t quite wrap it around her mind that he’s really asking her out. Here, her crush in the neighbourhood, asking her out.
Her heart pounded hard in her chest, and she watches as he smiles down at her.
Well, devils attack someone every day. And there’s no way of saying it wouldn’t be her turn tomorrow.
Might as well not regret anything.
“I like cream cheese bagels with salmon,” she blurted out to him, swallowing awkwardly when she caught his blue eyes. They’re watching her intensely, and suddenly she’s feeling self-conscious of her current lack of charm right now. Hell, she’s wearing her work clothes. A convenience store issued T-shirt and a cap. But to hell to non-attractive clothes and getups. She has Hayakawa Aki, her hot neighbour, asking her out on a date. Why ever the hell not? “And a black coffee. But actually, I just like food. The coffee you’ve brought me the other day was delicious.”
Aki smiled. So, this is a yes then?
Score.
“Coffee is my favourite too,” he said, intertwining her small hand in his. He’s happy that she didn’t reject him like how she rejected the boy. “I grind the coffee beans myself every morning.”
In return, she gripped his hand. He loves how her small hand feels in his instantly. “Can you make me one, Hayakawa-san?” she asked, her face flushed in embarrassment. This is quite a confession. But wait, it's just a date.
Just a date.
“I’ll make it for you every day,” Aki replied, lifting their intertwined hands to his lips and kisses the back of her hand softly. “And it’s Aki for you now, not Hayakawa-san.”
She smiled even wider now. Aki. Aki.
Aki.
She’ll get used to it.
“Then I’ll come over every day,” she replied to him, pulling their intertwined hands to her lips and this time, she kisses the back of his hand. “And it’s Saya for you.”
Like a promise.
Like a sealed deal.
“I’ll make us dinner tonight,” Aki said to her, giving her hand a little squeeze before letting go of her hand when he saw one of his colleagues strode into the convenience store looking for him. “Text me when you’re home. You have my number.”