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“It’s ridiculous how I keep getting lost like this…”
This is what Honami muttered to herself as she walked aimlessly along the dirt path. Really, there was no reason for her to lose track of where she was going in the first place. It was supposed to be another simple visit to the nearby town for groceries. However, sometime between leaving the bakery and walking back home, she must have absentmindedly gone down a different path that didn’t lead to her and her mother’s cottage. Then when she tried walking straight through the forest to get to the cottage sooner (which, in retrospect, was a brainless decision), she found herself in a completely different part of the woods, and the whole thing was just a mess.
Honami muttered more incoherent comments under her breath as she started looking at the forest around her. A light shower of rain the night prior had made the ground moist and the raindrops that had settled on the surrounding foliage made the greenery glisten in the moonlight. Compared to the route she usually took to get home, this one was more overrun by mother nature. She saw something flash in her peripheral vision, then turned around to see a dragonfly whizz past her.
Startled, she nearly dropped her bag from the bakery, which had several loaves of bread inside, out of her arms. She let out a small sigh of relief, then began walking again. Her mother had asked for some bread to make breakfast with, but since Honami was only given enough for that, she couldn’t buy an extra slice of apple pie for herself, which left her a bit disappointed. The now cold bread wasn’t exactly helping with her spirits.
Her stomach rumbled when she looked at the bread. Honami grimaced. She had been out here for so long, she hadn’t made it home in time for supper. She was tempted several times to eat the bread for herself, but she relented. If she was going to cause her mother this much trouble, the least she could do is arrive home with the loaves of bread she promised.
It was one of those nights…Honami stopped in her tracks to look up at the night sky. Among the glittering stars that dotted the night sky was the Moon. A full moon. While the stars were beautiful as always, there was a foreign thought in the back of her head that kept nagging her, though she didn’t know what it was. What was it about a full moon that she should’ve been worried about…? The lack of food in her system certainly didn’t help with thinking.
A sound pierced the serene silence of the forest. The shuffling of branches. Honami turned her head around at the source of the noise and froze.
A figure, shorter than her, emerged from the dense forest. Honami blinked to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Or having a nightmare (either one). Two furry ears. Grey tail. Thick furcoat. Stoic expression with two fangs that reached past their bottom lip. It was a werewolf.
Oh. That's what she should’ve been worried about.
Before Honami could properly process what was happening, the werewolf took a step toward her. Her eyes widened as they approached her. What were they trying to do? Were they trying to attack her? Should she defend herself? With what? She can’t really use bread as a weapon, right?! If she had been a bit more prepared, she would’ve remembered all the things she was told growing up about werewolves and other monsters and how dangerous they were.
But right now, at this moment, Honami's mind went completely blank as the werewolf slowly closed in. Eventually, they got so close, there was hardly a palm’s width between the two of their faces. Honami stared in awe as the werewolf gently put a hand on her shoulder and furrowed their eyebrows.
“What are you doing here?” The werewolf asked with a low voice.
Honami opened her mouth. “I-I…!” The few remaining words Honami had died in her throat the longer she looked at the werewolf’s face. Something about their pale green eyes illuminated by the moonlight made them so mesmerizing…
“You aren’t supposed to be here. Are you spying on me?”
“N-No, of course not.” Honami gulped. “I was just walking by, and I-”
The werewolf’s eyes remained cold. “How should I trust you?”
“Um…” Oh goodness, she was doing a really bad job of making herself sound innocent. She could barely feel the werewolf breathing down their neck.
Honami pulled the bag closer to her chest. The werewolf’s eyes followed the movement, then did double take once they realized it was bread. The brunette went from slightly intimidated to confused when she heard the growling of a stomach that wasn’t hers. She looked up from her bag and at the werewolf’s face, which was now tomato red.
Eventually, Honami realized what was going on. “…Oh, are you hungry?”
The werewolf put their hand off her shoulder and backed away with a snarl. Yet, their eyes were now darting back and forth between Honami and the food.
Inexplicably, Honami felt a small smile grow on her face as she pulled out a breadstick. “Here, you can have one, I don’t mind.”
The werewolf had a difficult expression on her face as Honami held the bread out for them. They slowly reached out one hand, hesitated halfway, then quickly snatched the bread out of her hands and took a small bite. It only took a couple seconds of slow chewing before the werewolf’s eyes, to Honami’s surprise, lit up and they quickly tore off a bigger chunk of bread with their teeth.
Honami relaxed her shoulders, her nerves having calmed down significantly. "Wow, I guess you are hungry.” She put a hand on her cheek, unsure of what to do next.
Mouth still full of bread, the werewolf walked off to the side and sat down in front of a random tree. Not knowing what else to do, Honami knelt beside them and watched the werewolf as she tried to come up with some sort of plan. Trying to find her way back by herself was out of the question; she only ended up here because she did exactly that. Either she could try walking back to the town again, or she could seek guidance from someone who knew the woods really well. But, who would that be…?
Before Honami had any time to ponder that, though, the werewolf caught her attention again. In addition to the loaf of bread they were busy eating, the wolf’s tail had also started wagging back and forth. Honami’s eyes widened at the sight. She looked away immediately, covering her mouth, yet that still didn’t stop her from letting out a small squeak.
The werewolf’s ears perked up. They looked up and swallowed the now mushy bread that they were chewing. “Hm? Is something wrong?”
“Eh?!” Honami turned around to face the werewolf again. “No, of course not…!” She smiled, but that didn’t hide the blush on her cheeks. She could only pray the werewolf didn’t look any further into it.
The werewolf held the stare for a bit, then returned their attention to the bread. “Thank you for the food.”
“Hehe, you’re welcome.” Compared to the scary accounts of werewolf encounters Honami was told as a kid, this werewolf didn’t look like they wanted to hurt her. Or anybody, for that matter. It was quite a bit to adjust to.
“Did you get this from town?” The werewolf lifted up what remained of the breadstick to their eyeline
Honami nodded. “Yes, I was running errands for my mother.”
The werewolf froze, eyes wide, then let out an exasperated sigh. “You should’ve said that earlier…otherwise I wouldn’t have accepted this.”
The brunette blinked, astounded. “I…” Her eyes softened. “It’s really not a big deal. Plus, I’d much rather give this food to someone that needs it more than me.” Honami tried to ignore her empty stomach.
“Yeah, but…” The werewolf looked at the ground. “It’s you and your mother.”
“That’s okay. I can just buy more bread later.”
“…”
The werewolf popped the last bit of bread into their mouth. Honami noticed their tail had stopped wagging back and forth and their ears looked as if they had drooped down slightly. Her eyes widened again.
“Ah, so,” Honami abruptly said, gingerly sitting down on the grass next to them. “Have you been to the town before?” Admittedly, it was a random question, but she needed to break the silence somehow.
“I have, yeah.” The werewolf looked up, leaning back on the tree log and resting their head on the bark. “I never visited the bakery, though. Now I finally see what I’ve been missing out on.”
Honami giggled. “If you ever decide to go again, you should try some of the apple pies. They’re delicious.”
Immediately at the thought of apple pies, Honami’s stomach betrayed her and let out a long growl. Before a bug-eyed Honami could start making excuses, the werewolf looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Wait, you’re hungry too?”
“I-” Honami’s face burned up. She had no choice but to tell the truth. “Um, yes…”
The werewolf continued to stare at the brunette, bewildered. “Then, why did you…” Grumbling, they snatched the bag of bread out of Honami’s arms, took out a breadstick, and pointed it at Honami.
“Eh?!”
“Eat it.” The breadstick was waved in front of her face.
Honami sputtered. “Wh-But-”
“You said I needed it more than you. But then it turns out you’re also hungry.” The werewolf looked mildly annoyed. “If I ate, then so should you.”
Honami stared silently at the bread, face still red. She looked at the werewolf. “B-But, my mom…”
The werewolf was unimpressed. “I couldn’t care less about your mom. You need this more than her.”
They used her own logic against her…Honami had no way of arguing with them. Hesitantly, she took the bread from the werewolf’s hands and bit into it. Although it was cold, the crust was crunchy and the crumb was still airy and light. She bit off another chunk of the bread and closed her eyes.
She and the werewolf sat in silence for a while. Honami focused on the sounds of the forest. She focused on the chirping crickets. She focused on the rustling of the leaves against the light breeze. She focused on the scuttling of nearby squirrels in the grass.
She focused on the soft, deep breaths of the werewolf beside her.
“You never answered my first question.”
Honami opened her eyes to find the werewolf looking directly into her eyes. “Hm?”
“You know,” The werewolf continued. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh. I had gotten lost earlier while I was trying to walk home.”
The werewolf raised their eyebrow again. “And how’d you do that?”
Honami could only sigh. “I have no idea. I think I went down another path that didn’t lead to my cottage and I ended up in this part of the woods…”
“Tch.” The werewolf gave her an amused, somewhat exasperated smile, which only made Honami’s face burn up even more. “You aren’t the first one to do that, unfortunately.”
Honami’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Do other people get lost here too?”
“Oh yeah. I always end up running into them.” The werewolf rolled their eyes. “And they always end up running away before I even say a word.”
Honami looked the werewolf up and down. “…Maybe they have a point.”
The werewolf looked offended. “What are you trying to say??”
“Well…” Honami smiled nervously. “Your clothes and expression don’t exactly scream “I’m a peaceful werewolf” to any lost humans…”
The werewolf looked down at their coat and black boots, then facepalmed. “Were you also afraid that I was going to attack you?”
Honami pursed her lips. “I don’t know. I was so surprised, I didn’t feel any fear at first.” She let her hands rest on her lap. “Then, once I realized you were only looking for food, all my nerves just went away.”
“Hm.” The werewolf had a small smirk on their face. “You’re different. I don’t think I’ve had someone react to me like you did.”
“You mean, you don’t like scaring people off?”
The werewolf groaned. “Of course not?? It’s not like I care about humans, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt every time they run away screaming or whatever.”
Honami looked at the werewolf, awe-struck. They said she was different from everyone else, yet she thought they were different from all the malicious monsters in her childhood stories. Perhaps both of those things could be true…?
The werewolf cleared their throat. “Still, this is the first time I got to have a proper conversation in my wolf form. Feels nice. I like you.”
Honami did a double take at that last sentence. “E-Excuse me?” Her heart started racing. She could already feel her cheeks heating up again.
“Huh?” The werewolf took a second to process what they said. “W-Wait, I didn’t mean it like…” They immediately looked away, their face also turning a dark shade of red. “Y-You know what? We should just get you back to the town…”
Honami fanned herself with her hand. “Ah, do you know the way back?”
“Yeah, I’m familiar with this part of the woods,” The werewolf said, standing up and handing the bread bag back to the brunette. “It should be…somewhere in that direction.”
Honami stood up and patted herself off. “Are you not worried about other humans seeing you?”
The werewolf put her hand on her chin. “If we’re stealthy about it, we can avoid getting seen by anyone. I trust that you would know the way back from there.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Perfect.”
As the werewolf started to walk, Honami felt an urgent sensation rise up in her chest. “Wait…!”
The werewolf paused and looked back. “Yeah?”
“Um…I know it’s safer for you to just get me back to town, but…” She clutched the bag closer to her chest. “Is there any way you could walk me home…?”
The werewolf looked utterly dumbfounded. It took them a while before they could get a word out. “You…want me to walk you home…?”
Honami nodded. She didn’t know why she felt like this. Unfortunately it wasn't like she could do anything about it. “If it’s possible.”
The werewolf looked up at the sky. Up at the full moon. They looked back at the brunette. “…Yeah, why not.”
Honami let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you…” She caught up with the werewolf and the two of them began walking.
“Why do you want me to take you home?”
“I don’t know, I just thought it would be nice.”
Deep down, Honami didn’t want to admit the real reason she wanted them to accompany her for the night. Honami felt safe with the wolf’s presence. And as long as the stars and moon and the night sky lit the way forward, she would stay close to them. At least for the night.
Once again, Honami thought about those stories of werewolves doing awful things and being slain to the hands of a noble hero. She couldn’t recall if any of those stories had a girl and a wolf walking with each other and eating bread.