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𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
The bell over the toy shop door gave a bright tinkle as three young men walked in, talking in hushed, urgent tones. There wasn’t anything particularly distinctive about their clothing — jeans, tee shirts, a jacket or flannel shirt over the top — but the woman behind the desk couldn’t help but stare at them. Perhaps it was their slightly shaggy hair or the animal grace of their movements. It might even have been their pure skin and handsome features. But no — no, it was the sleeping baby being passed from the shortest to the tallest of the trio. Not a typical accessory for three guys shopping on this end of the district’s main road.
“Yuma, I really don’t want—”
“Too bad. It’s somebody else’s turn. My shirt is damp.” The shortest man — Yuma — plucked the front of his tee, airing it out. “She puts off so much heat it’s giving me a hot flash.” His expression was bemused, his black eyes twinkling as he watched the small form snuggle against a newer, drier shirt and the thin chest behind it. “Such a tiny body, but she feels like a furnace.”
“Nico,” said the tallest, turning his soft brown eyes to the middle-height man, “why don’t you take a turn?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No?”
“EJ, I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with it.”
“The word is ‘her,’ and the answer is ‘hold her.’ There’s no magic to it. You just,” he jiggled his elbows as he cradled the infant to his chest, “hold her like this, and don’t drop her.”
“That’s the part, right there — the dropping. I don’t know how not to.” Nico stepped back, his hands held up in protest. “Besides, you’re the nurturing one. I’m only good for carrying the diaper bag.” He patted the pink quilted bag slung across his chest.
EJ rolled his eyes, firmly securing the baby in his arms. Then he turned to the shopkeeper, who watched the exchange with rapt attention.
“Hi,” he began, his voice soft and mild. “I was wondering…” His glance darted sideways as he looked for the right words. He inhaled, preparing to try again. “I mean, hello. We found this — ” his words abruptly ended as the infant in his arms gave a short, sleepy grunt and turned her head from one side to another against his chest. He looked momentarily panic-stricken, his expression only too familiar to the woman behind the counter. Months of watching her husband trying not to wake up their own baby were burned into her memory. She chuckled like a contented hen.
“First-time dad?” she asked with a grin. “I remember those days.” Her voice was low, a half-whisper. “We’d go for hours using sign language so we wouldn’t wake our son up. She’s lovely. How old is she?” Her gaze took in the tiny body, its fluffy green bodysuit and small cream-coloured knit hat. EJ’s long fingers supported the baby’s rounded bottom while his other arm cradled her against his chest. EJ’s eyes went wide with the unexpected question, and a new type of panic bloomed on his face.
“Three months,” said Nicholas, stepping forward. He beamed a smile at the shopkeeper, who tore her eyes away from the sleeping child to look at him curiously. The infant was quite large for only… “Give or take a few,” he said, proud of his contribution.
Yuma patted Nicholas’ shoulder in approval, adding, “We’re pretty bad at baby math.” He, too, smiled widely at her. “We’re kind of guessing.”
EJ, finally released from his temporary paralysis, turned a third charming smile to the shopkeeper. “The truth is, we don’t really know. We’re…” His voice trailed off again as the reality settled on him.
This wasn’t their baby. She wasn’t even theirs-adjacent. She was a foundling.
And they were werewolves.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
The pack run had started late that morning owing to Harua’s nails. Well, technically, Taki’s reaction to Harua’s nails — the pink stickers flashing beneath the dark fur fascinated Taki, who kept lifting Harua’s paw to turn it this way and that in the early morning sunlight. Either way, it took a while to separate the two so Fuma could give last-minute instructions. Today’s route was new, threading through the thin strip of woods behind a row of houses, then coursing upward and into the forested hills of Saitama. Fuma gave the usual safety warnings — don’t get too close to the houses, no howling until they were up in the hills, and whatever you do, leave the cats alone. A rumble of good-natured teasing went up as the pack taunted Yuma. The last pack run had almost ended in disaster, with Yuma returning to form while crouching on the wide wall between two properties, his gruff canine chuffing turning to “here, kitty, kitty!” at a calico just as her startled owner rounded the corner of the house. A fast excuse that he thought it was his own lost cat as he crawled down off the woman’s wall saved them from a very awkward neighbourhood watch meeting to discuss strange men creeping around yards. They decided to find a new route, well away from their apartment.
They started with a gentle lope, sticking close together as their dark forms threaded between trees. The back gardens of the houses were visible through gaps in the forest, barely a hundred meters down the gentle slope. As the trail pulled away from the residential area, it swept upward over a low rise dotted with mid-sized rock formations. The trail lunged left and so did they, picking up speed. The steeper hillsides of Saitama loomed ahead. K released an exultant howl on the gentler ground, and the rest were preparing to join him when a reedy sound came from behind a group of small boulders.
Those at the rear of the group slowed to a trot, then stopped, sniffing curiously at the air. K and young Maki — who had been rapturously running alongside their pack leader — circled back when they noticed their packmates had stopped. Nicholas had the sense to sniff the ground, his lupine nose twitching as he caught the scent. He crouched and crept forward, long-legged EJ at his shoulder, tracking the smell through the scrub and around a large rock — and there it was. She was, sorry.
"A baby!" EJ's growl turned into a human exclamation as he transformed behind Nicholas. The infant let out another sharp cry, causing the wolves to take a step back, ears flattening in dismay. Nicholas sat back on his haunches, watching as EJ, now fully human, carefully reached for the child. One by one, the pack shifted forms, gathering around as EJ gently held her against his chest, whispering quiet shushing sounds. They crowded close — rangy Jo, strong Fuma, bright-eyed Harua — all gawking at the tiny bundle. EJ's eyes met K's, their leader's face a mix of worry and awe.
"K-hyung," EJ murmured, anticipating the question in their leader's expression, "I don't think she’s supposed to be left out here by herself. Something dangerous could happen to her.”
Fuma was already circling the rocks, searching for any sign of who the child was or to whom she belonged. Maki, half a step behind him, stopped frequently to scan the woods for footprints or any trace of the infant's carers passing through.
"Yeah, anything could hurt her. She's lucky we—" Taki stopped, his eyes widening as he realised that, in most circumstances, their pack might be considered the something dangerous . "Oh."
K clapped him on the shoulder, the reassuring gesture carrying a hint of amusement. "She is lucky we found her. You're right."
A delighted gasp from Fuma made them turn. He was rising from a crouch, holding up a peach fuzzy blanket in one hand and a small toy in the other. Leaves scattered as he shook out the blanket, passing it to EJ without taking his eyes off the tan fox-like toy. He rattled it experimentally, then his whole face lit up. "It's Eevee!" Another rattle of the toy and he broke into a chirpy giggle, momentarily forgetting the seriousness of their situation.
"Get that toy from him before he names it," Nico murmured to Harua, who snorted. Fuma protectively clutched the Eevee rattle to his chest.
"Too late," Maki said, still scanning the ground. He bent down suddenly, fishing something white from beneath a scraggly bush. "Receipt?" He smoothed it out, squinting at the faded text. "From that baby shop on the main road." He looked up at the rest of the group then gestured back the direction they’d come. “By the trailhead.”
"You think someone bought a baby?" Taki asked, then immediately raised his hands as the others turned to stare at him. "I mean — no, obviously not, but—"
"We should check the houses first," K cut in, gesturing toward the residential area behind them. "Split up, walk the streets in front. Someone must be missing her." He began dividing them into pairs, pausing only to attempt to take the Eevee rattle from Fuma's reluctant grip. After a moment of Fuma’s steady look, K’s fingers released their grip on it.
"And maybe grab some clothes," Yuma added, eyeing the baby's thin outfit as he tucked the blanket around her, still held firmly in EJ's arms. "That shop seems as good a place as any to start.”
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"Three shops," Yuma said, his voice sounding both proud and exasperated. "Three shops, and we've got a bag full of diapers, two changes of clothes, a hat that she won't keep on, a new soft toy that she's completely ignoring in favour of EJ's lips, and a number of suspicious people who think we've stolen someone's baby." He paused in front of yet another storefront, this one displaying tiny shoes in a rainbow of impractical colours. “How did we end up on the only street in all of Tokyo that contains only baby supply stores?” The violet shoes looked tempting. He shook his head to get a grip. “I vote we try a different approach. The more places we visit looking this clueless, the more likely someone's going to call the police."
"At least she's quiet now," EJ murmured, careful not to move his lips too much. The baby had one tiny hand pressed up to his mouth, trying to pinch his lips together, while the other patted his cheek with surprising force. Her dark eyes were fixed on his face with an intensity that was almost unsettling. Every time he tried to pull back, she made a disgruntled sound and grabbed for him again. "Though I'm starting to worry she's trying to figure out how to eat me."
"Can't blame her," Nicholas said, his dimples appearing as he grinned at EJ. When EJ's cheeks went pink, Nicholas's grin widened. The baby chose that moment to successfully catch EJ's bottom lip between her tiny fingers, making him yelp.
"If you two are quite finished," Yuma said, though his eye roll was mostly for show. He'd learned to tune out their constant flirting months ago. "We need a better plan than 'wander around looking suspicious until someone arrests us.'"
“We’ve covered this end of the street, and asked in every baby shop if anybody recognises her. I’m out of ideas,” shrugged Nicholas, reaching up to gently remove the baby’s finger from EJ’s nostril. “What do you think, JuJu?”
“I think,” EJ said, “it’s your turn to hold her.” EJ seized the chance, since Nicholas was so close, and before Nicholas could back away or even object he found himself holding a squirming, green-dressed baby goblin. She gave a yelp of protest and reached for EJ, but then turned her dark eyes to Nicholas.
Nicholas, fierce-eyed, wiry, and definitely not cute… melted. He stretched his neck forward, putting his forehead nearly at hers, and shook his face back and forth. “That’s okay,” he said to EJ in a singsongy voice. “We’re going to get along just fine, aren’t we? Aren’t we?” he repeated. Yuma grinned, his snaggletooth glinting in the midday light as EJ’s eyes softened, watching Nico and the baby.
"I hate to break up this touching moment," Yuma said, pulling out his phone, "but she's starting to do that thing with her eyes." He gestured at the baby, whose blinks were getting longer and slower as she rested her head against Nicholas's chest. "I vote we head home before she gets overtired and cranky." His thumbs moved quickly over the screen. "I'll tell the others we're taking her back to get some rest. It's a long trip back to Kita."
"K's not going to like that," EJ said, but he was already shouldering the diaper bag. "We were supposed to keep asking around."
"We've tried every shop that sells anything even slightly baby-related," Yuma pointed out. "Unless you want to start asking at the konbini if anyone's missing an infant?" He hit send on the message, then tucked his phone away. "Besides, look at her — she's about ten seconds from passing out or having a meltdown. Neither seems ideal for continuing the search."
They started walking toward the bus stop, Nicholas still swaying gently as the baby's eyes drooped further. "We should get some food for her before we head back," he whispered. "What do babies eat, anyway?"
"Milk, obviously," Yuma said, then frowned. "But what kind? There's like eight different types in the store."
"And she's got teeth," EJ added. "Two of them. Very sharp." He rubbed his finger where she'd managed to catch him earlier while he wiped drool off her chin. "So maybe real food?"
The debate continued as they reached the supermarket, their voices carrying despite their attempts to whisper. They were still going back and forth when a grandfatherly-looking man in a neat cardigan leaned toward them. "Excuse me," he said, his eyes twinkling at the sight of the now-sleeping baby. "But I couldn't help overhearing. For a baby that size, you'll want formula — there's a good Japanese brand with a bear on the tin. And soft foods: sweet potato, tofu, maybe some okayu with vegetables mixed in."
"Thank you," EJ said with genuine gratitude. "That's exactly what we needed to know."
“Uncles?” the man asked kindly.
"Something like that," Nicholas mumbled, adjusting his hold on the baby.
Once the man had moved on, they quickly formed a plan. "You two take her home," Yuma said, motioning at the bus stop in front of them. "I'll grab the formula and a few things we don't have at home. We've got sweet potatoes, and I think Jo made a pot of okayu yesterday."
On the bus, EJ pulled out his phone while Nicholas continued his gentle swaying. The baby was completely out now, one chubby hand still firmly gripping EJ's shirt even though she was in Nicholas's arms.
"Time for a status update," EJ murmured, typing quickly. Everyone report in.
The responses came rapid-fire:
K
Nothing in the east residential area. Moving west now.
Maki
I found 3 parks! Fuma only found 2! No baby info tho
Fuma
That wasn't a real park and you know it
Harua
we went to 4 cafes! :D
Jo
we haven't actually gone IN any of them yet...
Harua
but we're working up to it! ^_^
"At least they're trying," Nicholas whispered, his lips brushing the baby's cap. She made a tiny sound and snuggled closer.
EJ watched them for a moment, then added one final message:
EJ
Baby sleeping. Heading home. Will keep you updated.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Yuma stood in the grocery store, formula tin in hand, reading the preparation instructions for the third time. The characters blurred as his mind wandered back to how quickly Nicholas had transformed from fierce to soft the moment EJ handed him the baby. Those two were something else — they'd been dancing around each other for months, but somehow, this tiny abandoned creature had stripped away their careful distance. Even K had gone gentle when he'd seen her, his usual commanding presence melting into something almost paternal. And Jo... Yuma found himself smiling, remembering how Jo's eyes had lit up at the sight of her, even as he hung back behind the others. There was something about the way Jo did that — held himself apart while still radiating warmth.
The tin slipped in his grip, nearly clattering to the floor. Yuma shook his head, refocusing on his task. He was supposed to be the practical one, not standing in a grocery store daydreaming about...
Whatever was happening with the baby — whatever was happening with any of them — they needed to sort it out fast.
A pack of werewolves was no place for an infant.
Was it?
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"That's a playground," Fuma said, not breaking stride as he and Maki raced past the brightly coloured equipment. "A playground is not a park."
"It has trees!" Maki called back, already three steps ahead. "Trees make it a park!"
"Two saplings don't make a—" Fuma stopped abruptly, his hand going to his jacket pocket. The Eevee rattle had shifted, making a soft jingling sound. He adjusted it carefully, then realised Maki was disappearing around the corner. "Hey! That's cheating!"
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
After two hours of methodically working through the residential area, K was ready to admit defeat. But Taki had stopped so suddenly in front of the menswear display that K nearly walked into him.
"We should check inside," Taki said thoughtfully. "The parents might be shopping."
K raised an eyebrow. "In a suit shop?"
"People with babies wear suits." Taki was already reaching for the door. "And that blue one is exactly your size."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be thorough," K agreed, following him in.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Three streets over, Harua and Jo had progressed to pressing their noses against the café window, creating small clouds of condensation on the glass.
"What about her?" Harua whispered, pointing at a woman with a designer handbag. "She looks maternal."
"That's a Birkin bag," Jo murmured back. "You can't carry a baby and a Birkin. I think." He squinted. "What exactly makes someone look maternal?"
"I don't know! Boobs?” Harua's voice rose slightly, causing several customers to turn toward the window. Both wolves ducked down below the sill. "Maybe we should try the bakery next door?"
"Good idea," Jo agreed from their crouched position. "Moms like cake, right?"
"Everyone likes cake."
"True." They stayed down for another moment. "Should we...?"
"Yeah, probably."
Neither moved.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"No." Yuma crossed his arms, glaring at his packmates. The afternoon sun slanted through the windows, highlighting everyone's exhausted faces. It had been a long afternoon of baby-juggling. "Absolutely not."
The baby's wails increased in volume, her tiny face scrunched and red as she squirmed in EJ's arms. EJ bounced her gently, making shushing sounds that only seemed to agitate her further.
"Come on," Nicholas pleaded, hovering anxiously nearby. "You know it works. Remember that time at the park when all the kittens—"
"We agreed never to speak of that." Yuma's glare intensified. "I am a wolf. A predator. I do not—“
Another piercing cry cut through his protest. EJ winced, his usual gentle expression crumpling into desperation. "Please, Yuma. We've tried everything else."
"I changed her. We fed her. We walked her around the apartment seventeen times," Nicholas counted off on his fingers. "She's not wet, she's not hungry, and she's not tired. She's just..."
"Sad," EJ finished softly, looking down at the crying infant. "She must be so scared."
Yuma's resolve wavered. He watched EJ's fingers stroke the baby's back, noticed how Nicholas had unconsciously placed his hand on EJ's shoulder in support. The baby hiccupped between wails, her tiny body shuddering.
"Fine," he muttered, throwing his hands up in defeat. "But if either of you ever tells anyone—"
"Never," Nicholas promised quickly.
"Not a soul," EJ agreed.
Yuma sighed deeply, then raised his hands to either side of his face, curling them into loose fists. "Meow?" he squeaked, voice rising to an unnaturally high pitch. "Meow meow?"
The baby's cries stuttered. Her dark eyes fixed on Yuma's face.
"Meow meow meow?" He wiggled his makeshift paws, swaying side to side.
A gurgling sound emerged from the baby – not quite a laugh, but no longer a cry. Her tiny hands reached toward him.
"I hate both of you," Yuma grumbled, but he kept going, adding a little shoulder shimmy to his performance. "Meow? Meeeeow?"
The baby broke into a full giggle, kicking her feet against EJ's chest.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"This," K said with careful patience, "is not where parents shop." He was holding his phone, a photograph of the baby on the screen. They'd all snapped photos of her before separating into their search parties.
Taki was already pulling a light tan suit from the rack. "People with babies wear suits. And this one—" he held it against K's chest, head tilted critically, "—would make you look very authoritative. Perfect for asking questions about missing infants."
"We've been in five stores."
"And no one recognised the baby in any of them," Taki pointed out. "Which means we need a new strategy. Look more official." He thrust the suit into K's arms and started scanning for a fitting room. "Plus, your shirt is all wrinkled and sweaty from the pack run.”
K looked down at the suit, then back at his packmate. "Taki."
"And maybe a tie? Something in burgundy—"
"Taki."
"—or no, dark green would be better with your complexion—"
"We're stress shopping."
Taki's hands froze on a rack of silk ties. "We're..." His shoulders slumped. "Yeah. Yeah, we are." He turned back to K, eyes wide with worry. "What if we can't find them? What if something happened to the parents? What if—"
K carefully re-hung the suit, then squeezed Taki's shoulder. "We'll figure it out. But probably not in a menswear shop."
"Right." Taki nodded firmly. "You're right." He started toward the door, then paused. "Although..."
"No."
"That suit really would look—"
"Out. Now."
They were silent on the bus ride back to the apartment.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Five minutes and several strange looks from passing pedestrians later, Harua and Jo were still crouched beneath the café window.
"My legs are going numb," Jo whispered.
"Mine too." Harua shifted slightly. "But if we stand up now, everyone will see us."
"They can already see us."
"Yes, but right now we're weird people hiding under a window. If we stand up, we'll be weird people who were hiding under a window and now want to come inside." Harua's logic was impeccable, if not exactly helpful.
A shadow fell over them. Both wolves looked up to find an elderly woman in an apron staring down at them, coffee pot in hand.
"Are you boys looking for something?" she asked, not unkindly.
"A mom!" Harua blurted out, then immediately wished he hadn't.
The woman's eyebrows rose. Jo made a strangled sound.
"I mean... we're looking for... someone who might be missing...?" Harua fumbled in his pocket for his phone, but in his nervous haste managed to send it skittering across the sidewalk instead.
"A baby," Jo finished weakly, retrieving the phone. "We found... that is... we're trying to find..."
The woman's expression softened. "Oh! You must be with the nice young men who came by earlier. The ones with the rattle?”
Harua and Jo exchanged glances. Fuma had beaten them here? While they were still working up the courage to go inside?
"Come on in," she said, gesturing with the coffee pot. "I'll get you boys some coffee while you tell me about it. On the house."
As they followed her inside on shaky legs, Harua whispered, "See? Everything is working out.”
Ten minutes later, they emerged with three bags of assorted pastries, having somehow ordered one of everything in the display case.
"K's going to kill us," Harua mumbled around a mouthful of melon pan.
"Not if we save him the strawberry shortcake," Jo said wisely. "Besides, wolves need extra calories when they're..." he lowered his voice, "...investigating."
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Back at the apartment, the scene had shifted from crisis to calm. Nicholas was lying on the couch, with the baby dozing on his chest, while EJ heated another bottle, just in case. Yuma was Very Seriously Not Watching Jo demonstrate the proper burping technique to Taki on a stuffed wolf toy from Taki’s room.
"What about Mochi?" Harua suggested, sorting through their bakery haul. "She's round and sweet."
"We are not naming her," K reminded them, accepting a slice of shortcake. "She has a name already. We just don't know it yet."
"Technically," Taki pointed out, "that means she currently has no name. So maybe—"
"No."
"But what if—"
"Absolutely not."
K pulled out his phone, frowning at the time. He typed quickly: Fuma, Maki - check the hillside again before dark. We might have missed something this morning.
Their responses came immediately:
Maki
Race you there Fuma! 🏃♂️
Fuma
Not everything is a competition
Fuma
But I'm winning
The baby stirred slightly at the buzz of incoming messages, then settled back against Nicholas's chest, her tiny fingers curled tight in the fabric of his shirt.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"Wait," Maki breathed, pulling Fuma behind a cluster of rocks. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the hillside as a small figure emerged from a back gate, glancing furtively over her shoulder.
"I'll help find her," the little girl sang to herself, picking her way carefully up the slope. Her pink backpack bounced as she climbed. "I'll find Hana-chan, and then Daddy won't be sad anymore."
Below, they could see police cars parked along the street. People moved in and out of the house — uniformed officers, neighbours clutching cups of tea, a woman pacing the garden while speaking urgently into a phone.
"The mother," Fuma whispered, his hand unconsciously touching the Eevee rattle in his pocket. He watched the child navigate around a thorny bush, still talking to herself.
"I know where Hana-chan is…” The girl's voice drifted up to them as she made her way toward the rocks where they'd found the infant that morning.
Maki's phone was already in his hand. "We need to tell the others."
Fuma nodded, composing the message quickly: Found something. Don't reply. Will explain when safe. Tell EJ to keep her close.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Phones buzzed in unison. The pack gathered around their screens, faces showing a mix of relief and something more complicated as they processed the cryptic words.
"What does that mean?" Nicholas asked softly, his arms tightening protectively around the small bundle.
EJ moved closer, one hand reaching out to stroke the baby's cheek. "I don't know," he murmured.
Taki watched K's expression change, subtle but clear: their leader was already planning how to back up their packmates, especially after those words — 'when safe.' K always worried most about Fuma and Maki, the protector and the youngest.
Jo gazed at the sleeping infant with a soft, wistful expression, one hand lifting slightly before falling back to his side. Yuma found himself watching that gentle, aborted gesture more intently than he meant to.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Crouched behind the rocks, Maki and Fuma watched the small figure make her way up the slope. The late afternoon shadows were growing longer, but the pink backpack was still clearly visible against the scrubby hillside.
"I'll help find her," the girl sang, more to herself than to her stuffed bunny companion. "I'll find Hana-chan and be a good sister." She adjusted her backpack, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground. "Even though she's always crying and Mama's always tired and nobody plays with me anymore..."
Fuma's phone buzzed. He pulled it out to read the message from K: Status update?
“Miu knows where Hana-chan is," the small girl continued, climbing higher. "One, two, three..." She counted each step just like she had that morning, carefully placing her feet where she remembered walking before. "Four, five... Right up here where it's quiet. Babies like outside, that's what sensei said." She frowned. "About the garden plants."
"Miu,” Maki whispered the name. “Is that Miu? She so small. And… she's rationalizing ." Maki’s voice was tinged with something like awe. He ducked lower as Miu turned toward their hiding spot.
"Except plants don't cry all night," she added thoughtfully. "Or steal your birthday crown. Or make Mama forget story time." Her lower lip trembled. "Or make Daddy look so worried..."
Below, the police and neighbors were combing through the back gardens again, having exhausted their search of the surrounding streets and houses. Someone had suggested a second sweep of the area, just to be thorough. Miu's mother was still pacing near the koi pond, phone pressed to her ear, while everyone's attention remained fixed on the gardens and the houses beyond. No one thought to look up at the hillside, perhaps assuming it too steep and exposed for five-year-old Miu to climb, let alone carry a baby the size of Hana.
Fuma's fingers traced the outline of the rattle in his pocket. He thought of the tiny hand that should be holding it instead, safely back at their apartment with the others.
His message to K was brief: Baby’s name is Hana. Found sister. Police here. Need plan for safe return.
"What if she wasn't really hungry?" Miu was saying now, her voice smaller. "What if she's cold? Mama says babies get cold easy..." She hugged her stuffed bunny tighter. "But I only borrowed her for a little while. Just until someone noticed me again."
"Just a little further," Miu told her bunny. "Then I'll be the one who found her, and everyone will be happy again."
She was only a few meters from their hiding spot now. And from where her sister had been.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"Found sister. Police here. Need plan for safe return." K read the message aloud, his usual tone softened by concern. The pack clustered around him in the apartment's small living room, all except Jo, who stood slightly apart, swaying gently as he held the baby.
Hana, who had been quietly content in Jo's arms, methodically sucking her fingers just as she had all morning, suddenly scrunched up her face and let out a worried sound.
"She knows something's wrong," Yuma said, moving closer to Jo. He reached out to pat Hana's back, his hand brushing Jo's arm in the process. "Animals can sense tension." He cleared his throat. "Not that she's an animal. Just that we... that is..."
"We could leave her at a shrine!" Taki burst out. Everyone turned to stare at him. "What? It's traditional. Sort of."
"This isn't a folk tale," K said, but his voice lacked its usual firmness.
"Fine, then what about..." Taki's eyes lit up. "We could dress as delivery people! Ring the doorbell, hand her over—"
"To the police?" Harua asked skeptically.
"Well, maybe if we wore really convincing uniforms..."
"No uniforms," K said firmly, but then paused. "Although..."
"Although?" Nicholas prompted, leaning forward.
"The delivery part isn't completely ridiculous," K said slowly. Taki beamed. "If we could find a way to ensure she's found quickly, safely, and without any connection to us..."
Hana chose that moment to reach up and pat Jo's cheek, seeming to sense his growing sadness. Yuma watched the gentle gesture, his own expression softening before he caught himself and looked away.
"We need something foolproof," EJ said, unconsciously moving closer to Nicholas. "Something that protects both Hana and the pack."
"And something fast," Harua added, peering at his phone. "Before Maki and Fuma have to explain why they're hiding behind rocks on a hillside."
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
Miu reached the rocks where they'd found Hana that morning, her stuffed bunny clutched tight against her chest. "See?" she told it proudly. "I remembered exactly where—" Her voice faltered as she looked around the empty space. "Hana-chan?"
Fuma pressed himself flatter against the rock face, one hand still touching the rattle in his pocket. Beside him, Maki held perfectly still.
"But..." Miu's voice went small and wobbly. Her stuffed bunny slipped from her grip, tumbling against the rocks as she spun in a circle, her sneakers leaving desperate scuff marks on the stone. "But I left her right here. With her blanket, and..." She dropped to her knees, searching the ground around the rocks. "And her Eevee, I brought her Eevee so she wouldn't be scared..."
Below, they could hear voices calling her name. Someone had finally spotted the pink backpack on the hillside.
"Hana-chan?" Miu's voice rose, panic replacing pride. "Hana-chan! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I was mad!" She scrambled around the rocks, her shoes scuffing against stone. "Please come back! I'll be a better sister!"
Fuma's phone lit up silently in his pocket. He didn't need to check it to know it would be K, telling them to stay hidden, stay safe. But watching the little girl's increasing distress, he found himself wanting to do something, anything, to help.
"I'll share my birthday crown," Miu was saying now, tears starting to fall. "And-and you can have my bunny, and—" She hiccupped. "HANA-CHAN!"
Her cry echoed off the hillside just as the first police officer reached her.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"It has to be simple," K said, pacing the length of the small living room. "The simpler the plan, the less chance of something going wrong."
Hana dozed against Jo's chest while Yuma hovered nearby, ostensibly to help if the baby woke but finding himself watching Jo's gentle hands patting her backside instead.
"We could just... tell them where she is?" Nicholas suggested.
"From a payphone!" Taki added excitedly. "Like in the movies!"
"Do those even exist anymore?" Harua asked.
"Focus," K said, but his lips twitched. "Though he's not entirely wrong. An anonymous tip could work." He looked at EJ. "You've got the most human-sounding phone voice."
"I do?" EJ blinked. "Is there such thing as a wolf-sounding phone voice?"
"Have you heard Maki try to order pizza?" Yuma asked. He dropped his voice into its lower register, imitating the pup. "'Yes, hello, I would like to consume—'"
"Focus," K repeated, but this time he was definitely fighting a smile. "EJ makes the call. Simple, clear directions. No details about how we found her or why we have her. Just location and that she's safe."
"And the rattle?" Jo asked softly. "Should we return it?"
"The rattle too," K decided. "Everything goes back. Diapers, bag, blanket, clothes. Nothing to connect us."
Hana stirred, her tiny hand catching Jo's shirt. Yuma reached out automatically to steady her, his fingers brushing Jo's chest. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and Yuma's breath caught as Jo's lips parted slightly in surprise. Neither moved away.
"I'll need to write it down," EJ said, glancing automatically at Nicholas for reassurance. "The message. So I don't... so it comes out right."
Nicholas moved closer, pulling out his phone. "I'll help. We can practice first."
"And then?" Harua asked. "After the call?"
K's expression softened as he watched Jo and Yuma with the baby, the way they unknowingly swayed in the same gentle rhythm, both focused so intently on Hana that they didn't notice their perfect synchronisation. He also saw how EJ and Nicholas had unconsciously aligned their bodies while working on the message, and noticed Taki once again fascinated by the glittery stickers on Harua's nails, turning his hand this way and that to catch the late afternoon light.
"Then we go back to normal," he said gently. "Back to being wolves."
Hana yawned, her eyes catching the late afternoon sunlight slanting through the window. For a moment, they flashed gold, almost like a wolf's.
"Normal," Yuma repeated, not moving away from Jo. "Right."
For just a moment longer, they let themselves be what they had become: not quite wolves, not quite human, but something in between that could love a lost child enough to let her go.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
"This is ridiculous," Yuma muttered, adjusting his tie for the third time. The knot refused to sit straight, much like his current emotional state. "We look like a boyband's backup dancers. Or worse — insurance salesmen."
They did, actually. Seven of the nine wolves, all but Maki and Fuma who remained watching from the hillside, stood in matching dark suits, gathered in the shadows between streetlights, trying their best to look inconspicuous while failing spectacularly. Nicholas kept tugging at his collar, unused to the constraint after years of t-shirts and flannel. Harua fussed with everyone's hair, determined that if they had to wear suits, they should at least look coordinated. His own carefully styled look somehow made the rest of them appear even more dishevelled in comparison.
"Stop fidgeting," K murmured, though his own hand kept straying to his cuffs. "We need to look natural."
"There's nothing natural about seven men in identical suits lurking in an alley," Nicholas pointed out, but he was smiling. "We look like we're about to break into a synchronised dance routine."
"Don't give Taki ideas," Yuma warned, just as Taki opened his mouth. Yuma held up a warning finger. “No choreography."
"Taki's idea wasn't completely terrible," K admitted. The suits had been a compromise – looking presentable enough to avoid suspicion while returning Hana, but generic enough to blend into the evening crowd of salarymen heading home as the group boarded the bus, with Hana discreetly covered by a suit jacket. Even if they did look like they'd raided a department store's clearance rack. Which they had, actually, after Taki insisted that their usual assortment of casual wear wouldn't project the right image for such an important mission.
"Ready?" EJ asked softly. He held Hana against his chest, her sleeping form bundled in her original green bodysuit and cream hat. The pink quilted diaper bag was back to its original contents, plus a few extras they couldn't help buying. A spare pacifier. Some extra wipes. A tiny sock K had found stuck to his jeans leg. Nicholas stood close behind him, one hand resting protectively on EJ's shoulder, his thumb moving in small circles that seemed to soothe them both.
The baby stirred slightly, making a soft sound that had all seven wolves instinctively leaning forward. Even K's usually composed expression softened as Hana's tiny fingers curled around the edge of her blanket.
“Final check," K said, dragging his attention back to the task at hand, texting the words to Maki and Fuma, still on the hillside. His phone buzzed almost immediately.
Maki
Police still at the house. Parents inside with two officers. Sister too. She hasn't stopped apologising since they found her on the hill.
Fuma
Area's clear. No observers on the hillside. Though I did have to stop Maki from trying to pet a neighborhood cat.
Maki
It looked sad!
"Focus," K typed back, but his lips twitched. He looked up at his pack, his family, all watching him with varying degrees of nervousness and determination.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
The plan, when stripped of Taki's more theatrical suggestions (which had included everything from smoke bombs to classical music played from hidden speakers), was elegantly simple. A clear phone call to the police: "Check the shrine steps. The baby is safe. She's wrapped in the peach blanket she was found in." Then a careful placement of Hana, timing coordinated through their pack bond, allowing them to sense each other's positions without phones or signals. Through that same bond, they felt Maki and Fuma moving swiftly through the wooded hillsides, crossing valleys to join them as the message was delivered.
What they hadn't planned for was how difficult it would be to let her go.
"Her hat's crooked," Nicholas whispered, reaching to adjust it one last time. His fingers lingered on her cheek, memorising the soft warmth of her skin. "And her sock is bunched up at the toe..."
"The blanket needs—" Jo started, but Yuma caught his hand before he could step forward. Jo's fingers were trembling slightly, and Yuma found himself holding on longer than strictly necessary.
"It's perfect," Yuma said quietly, his fingers wrapping around Jo's. "She's perfect. It's time."
EJ pressed his lips to Hana's forehead, breathing in her sweet baby scent one last time. Then he carefully laid her on the shrine steps, making sure her head was slightly elevated just as the parenting books they'd frantically googled had suggested. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, catching the moonlight with that strange golden gleam that made them wonder if maybe, just maybe, some of their wolf nature had rubbed off on her during their brief time together. Then she yawned, snuggled deeper into her blanket, and drifted back to sleep.
They melted back into the shadows just as the first police car rounded the corner, its lights off but engine humming with purpose. Through their pack bond, they felt Fuma and Maki's tension ease – the message had been received, the plan was working.
Harua had to physically restrain Taki from trying to peek around the corner to watch. "But I want to see their faces," Taki whispered. "When they find her safe..."
"We'll see," K promised softly. "From a safe distance."
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
From their vantage point in the hills, they watched the reunion unfold. The mother's cry of joy echoed up the slope, followed by the father's choked sob as his legs gave out and he sank to his knees beside them. Little Miu pushed through the gathered neighbours, throwing her arms around her sister as their parents gathered them both close.
"I'm sorry," they heard Miu sobbing, her words carrying clearly in the night air. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep her out so long, I just wanted..."
"Both my girls," their mother kept saying, gathering them closer. "Both my precious girls. My Miu, my Hana..."
"Shh, butterfly," their father murmured, using what must have been a familiar nickname because Miu's sobs gentled slightly. "Everyone makes mistakes."
Harua sniffled quietly. Taki pretended not to notice, but passed him a handkerchief anyway, then pretended he wasn't also wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
K's hand found Taki's shoulder, squeezing gently. "You were right about the suits," he murmured.
Taki's answering smile could have lit up the hillside.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
The next few days felt strange, like waking up from a particularly vivid dream. They ran their usual routes, attended their usual jobs, lived their usual lives. But something had shifted, subtle but undeniable.
Nicholas and EJ stopped pretending they weren't in love in front of the others in the pack, who were now forced to acknowledge their shy smiles and intertwined fingers instead of the years’ worth of longing glances they used to share.
Jo started bringing Yuma coffee in the mornings, and if their hands brushed during the exchange, well, that was nobody's business but theirs. Though the rest of the pack definitely noticed how Yuma stopped complaining about morning meetings, especially when Jo started sitting next to him to sip his own coffee quietly.
K never asked about the Eevee rattle that was supposed to be returned that night. Perhaps he noticed how Fuma's hand would drift to his pocket during pack meetings, fingers brushing the soft plastic for reassurance. Or maybe he understood that some rules needed bending when hearts were involved. Either way, when Fuma announced three days later that they needed to buy Hana a new one, K simply nodded. "And something for Miu," Fuma added firmly. "Sisters should match. It's important for their bond."
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
The bell over the toy shop door gave its bright tinkle as nine men crowded in, all talking at once.
"Something soft—"
"But durable—"
"Pink! No, purple—"
"Both," K decided, ending the debate. "One of each. And something that makes noise," he added, watching Fuma's face light up. "Sisters should have their own special sounds."
The woman behind the counter watched them with a knowing smile, especially when Harua started cooing over tiny hair clips and Taki discovered an entire display of crowns. "For all occasions," he explained seriously to K, who somehow found himself nodding.
𓊆ྀི❤︎𓊇ྀི
That night, two carefully wrapped packages appeared on the back wall of the garden. The larger one, in shimmering purple paper, contained a soft wolf plush wearing a delicate crown, its fur the same shade of black as nine certain wolves who ran these hills. The smaller, wrapped in pink, held a new Eevee rattle and matching hair clips that sparkled just like starlight.
A note, written in Jo's neat hand, read simply: "For two precious sisters. May you always protect each other."
As the moon rose over the hillside, a wolf's howl drifted down – joined quickly by another, then another, until nine voices blended in perfect harmony. In her crib, Hana stirred, her eyes glinting gold in the darkness as she smiled before returning to sleep. Beside her, Miu snuggled closer, one arm protectively draped over her sister.
And up on the hill, nine wolves ran together under the stars, their hearts a little fuller for having been, just briefly, a little more human. Though if anyone noticed that they ran a little closer to the residential area these days, or that their howls seemed especially sweet when they passed a certain house, well... that was just wolves being wolves.
Or perhaps it was humans being wolves.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was both.