10

He heard the two rabbits yipping happily. He rolled his eyes at their antics."Fine, fine. Don't laugh, stupid rabbits." He grumbled before opening the door once more. He crouched down and held out a small carrot."Here, I got you guys something special for lunch~" He cooed as they both pounced on him, nearly tackling him to the floor. He chuckled, petting them affectionately."Hey, easy, guys! You're getting heavy! I think I broke a bone from lifting you both..." He joked, laughing."Hey, watch it. They're babies, aren't they?" Ata's head snapped towards the speaker.There in the entrance of the hut stood a young woman, smiling at him.Her hair, which was tied into a short ponytail, was brown. She wore dark green clothing, which consisted of light blue tights with a red skirt and light brown boots. Her arms were covered in tattoos and bracelets of various sizes and patterns, along with some rings on her fingers and on her ears. Her clothes, while simple and modest, were clean. Ata felt his heart skip a beat when their eyes met.

"Um...uhm. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head."Oh, it's alright!" Ata nodded. After a moment of silence, he decided to speak up."Sorry. Uh...so what's your name?""Eh? Oh, oh, right! Uhm...I'm Akamatsu Kaede..."She bowed, extending her arm out in greeting."Ah, I thought your name sounded familiar. It suits you. Um...my name is Shuichi Saihara. Nice to meet you," He replied, grabbing her hand and giving it a shake."Nice to meet you too..."Akamatsu blushed faintly, and averted her eyes as a shy smile spread across her face. After that, she quickly excused herself, telling Ata goodbye as she ran back inside the house, her face turning an even deeper shade of red after seeing his reaction."Well, she wasn't bad.." Ata muttered under his breath.He knew he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but it didn't really make sense for a girl with such great figure and curves to have a nickname of 'grumpy'.He shook his head to try and clear it, remembering that he was supposed to go back home. He quickly grabbed all the food he could fit in his bag, threw it on his back, and left, heading towards home.After arriving at home, he noticed that there was nobody around, meaning his parents must be out shopping."Well, good day to you too, Mr.Rantaro! How's the weather today?" A cheerful voice said as soon as he opened the door."Mou, Momota. It's still raining. Where do you live?"Rantaro walked past his mother. "Oh, I don't live here anymore. Just passing through on my way to school.""Then where are you staying?"Rantaro stopped at the entrance of the living room, his eyes scanning the area before he pointed in the direction he assumed was the kitchen."Out there, somewhere. You wouldn't know." He replied before walking over to the couch and plopping down without saying anything else.Saihara was about to ask him another question when Mondo spoke up instead."Oh, look what the cat dragged in. You sure are lucky that you've got a nice place like this."Mondo said sarcastically."Huh?" Rantaro looked confused for a few seconds. When he remembered what happened yesterday morning, he immediately grew furious as he rushed over to his boyfriend."WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" He screamed.Mondo flinched, backing away slightly as he clutched his hands together."H-hey, calm down! I-it wasn't anything, okay? Besides, I've told you countless times already that it's not my fault! It' s those people who attacked us, and I had nothing to do with it, so-"Ata punched him in the chest with enough force to break bones."Shut up! Don't ever talk about it ever again! We'll deal with this issue ourselves!" He yelled angrily.Mondo winced, holding a hand over the wound on his chest while wincing in pain."W...Wait! What? You're hurt!? I-" Before Ata could continue, he suddenly noticed the cut on Mondo's cheek.He glared at it angrily."What's that on your face!?" He yelled, pointing at the cut, causing Mondo to startle."Wh...what? I fell off of the roof last night, so I kinda landed wrong and hit my face on some rocks. See?"Mondo said, gesturing to the cut on his cheek.The cut wasn't deep. It was mostly just a scratch. Yet it caused quite a lot of blood."That doesn't matter. It should've healed already. Let's take a closer look." He demanded.Mondo hesitated for a second before sighing."All right. Fine. I can handle myself just fine, anyway. So it's no biggie to worry about.''He said as he lifted a hand to wipe the blood away."Hold still, damn it!" Rantaro growled before pushing Mondo'