Friends, love, family

The bushes behind Akari moved and two shadows appeared from behind the tree. A man and a woman.

The woman noticed Akari first and approached her in a hurry. The man also ran after her the moment he saw Akari sitting outside his gate with an unconscious boy right next to her.

"What happened? Are you alright?" They both said, worried as they got near Akari.

There was dirt on Akari's face because she fell when she found the boy in the forest. Before those two arrived, her face was healed with her werewolf power.

"Miya-sensei! Amane-sensei! Please help! He's not moving!" Akari moved aside to give them some space to check on the boy.

Miya and Amane both have shocked faces when they saw the boy's face. They were staring at the boy for a moment before looking at each other.

"Honey! Honey!" Miya suddenly shouted, shaking her husband and almost making him sat on the ground.

"Calm down, darling! Check his pulse first, I'll go unlock the gate now!" Amane immediately rose and took his keys out, his hands were trembling a little.

"Honey! Hurry up! His pulse is weak! We cannot let him die! Faster, honey!"

The keys fell to the ground because of Amane's trembling hands. He picked it up instantly and forced the gate open once he unlocked it.

Miya carried the boy in her arms and went past Akari who is dumbfounded by what was happening. She immediately followed the couple and went inside.

There were a lot of questions Akari wanted to ask but she swallowed them in and went quiet. She thought it wasn't the right moment to ask when they were trying to save the boy and she didn't want to disturb them.

-----

"Akari, where did you find him?" Amane asked.

Akari who was sitting on the chair turned to Amane who was standing behind her.

"I found him in the forest. There was no one around so I think he was alone." She answered.

Next to her, the boy was laid on the bed with clean clothes. His eyes were closed but his breathing has become steady and normal.

Akari was waiting for him to wake up but he was still unconscious.

A bag of fluid was hanging at a high place with a plastic tube connected to the needle that was under the boy's skin. The fluid entered his body slowly.

The boy has been cleaned by Amane so Akari could finally see his face clearly and she found him cute.

"Amane-sensei, will he be alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure he will be alright." Amane smiled, his eyes fixated on the boy.

"Akari sweetie, why are you still here? The sun will set soon. Your parents will be worried if you don't go home now."

The door was opened by Miya with a pile of towels in her hand. She was a bit shocked to see Akari was still there.

Akari looked out the window. The outside was dark orange. She turned to the boy and stared at him.

"You don't have to worry about him. He will be fine. Go home now before it's dark." Amane told her and gave a reassuring smile.

-----

By the time Akari reached home, the sky was beginning to get dark. She opened the door and found someone waiting for her in the doorway.

It was Akio with a sad face, looking down.

He soon brightened when he looked up and saw Akari in front of him.

"You are back..." His voice sounded sad.

He remembered what happened between them and looked down again. He felt guilty for forcing her to marry him and felt ashamed to face her.

"Yeah, I'm back." Akari walked past and ignored him because she was still angry.

"Akari, wait."

Akari abruptly stopped. She looked down before glaring at him.

Akio did not realize he held onto her wrist and looked down too. He made a mistake.

Before Akari could tell him off, he immediately let her go.

"Sorry... and I'm sorry about before too. I really didn't mean it." Akio looked at her but she was looking somewhere else.

Akio had a feeling Akari was still angry and hadn't forgiven him yet so he tried again.

"Can you forgive me? I really am sorry."

Akari finally looked at him.

"I will if you promise not to do it again."

"I promise." Akio nodded.

Akari went straight upstairs to her room and slammed her door.

"Are you okay, brother?" Yua, Akio's little sister came out of the kitchen after she made sure Akari has left so she can ask Akio.

She overheard their conversation but she didn't know the whole thing about their argument. She was worried about them.

"I'm okay. I just made a mistake and don't worry, we will be fine."

Yua nodded, understanding. She kept her eyes on Akio to read his expression but Akio caught her looking.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing..." Yua shook her head and left.

-----

At dinner, Akari and Akio were both eating quietly and did not talk too much. Everyone was aware of the awkwardness between them but they chose to let them be and gave them some privacy and time to reconcile.

Except for one.

Yuma got down from his chair and ran over to the other side of the table to stand in between Akari and Akio. Everyone was wondering what he was trying to do.

Akari and Akio both looked at him before Yuma grabbed onto their hand.

Yuma pulled them closer to his chest and clutched them tightly in his small hands.

"We are family! Don't fight!" Yuma firmly scolded them.

Touma's eyes got wider while his wife, Ichika gasped. Their daughter, Yua slowly placed her hand over her mouth.

On the other hand...

"Way to go, Yuma!" Riku shouted, praising his little brother, and laughed.

Akio stared at Yuma before he changed his attention to Akari. Akari noticed him.

"I have something to say. Follow me for a bit." Akio got up and ruffled Yuma's hair before going somewhere.

Akari followed behind without asking. They both got out of the house and walked a bit further around the house.

Once Akio felt they were far enough, he stopped. He turned to Akari.

"It's my fault for making everyone worried. So... I was thinking... Can you forget what happened today and act like your usual self around me? I don't want to worry them again."

"..."

Akari stared at him.

"For the sake of Yuma and everyone in our family." Akio continued.

Akari nodded. Her eyes brighten.

"Okay. Let's do that. I don't want to make them worried too."

-----

Akari and Akio came back. Everyone looked at them worried.

Akio smiled.

"Sorry for making you guys worry. I and Akari are good now."

Akari nodded, smiling at them.

Ichika sighed in relief. Yua and Touma who were standing up sat back on their chair. Yuma cheered and hugged Akio's leg while Riku slumped back in his seat.

-----

After dinner, Akari landed on her bed, tired. The day felt long with how things going on between her and Akio and meeting a strange boy in the middle of the forest.

She hoped the boy will be alright. She was thinking of visiting him the next day.

It was weird for someone to be there. Almost no one ever stepped into that forest.

Plus, she found bruises on the boy's wrists and ankles. She found him alone so he must have been running away from something or someone.

She wondered what happened to him and who did cruel things to him.

-----

As planned, on the next day, Akari indeed visited the boy. He was under the care of the Sasaki family. Sasaki Amane and Sasaki Miya. A pair of husband and wife.

Sasaki family was a well-known physician family who treated any kind of diseases and injuries. That was why Akari brought the boy straight to them. She knew they can help him.

The day before, Amane told her not to worry about the boy but she can't help worrying and wanted to check on him.

Not just Amane who was a physician. His wife, Miya, was also good at treating the patients.

She was very gentle when treating the injuries. It was good to have a woman in the medical field.

She checked on Akari's face and asked if she injured her face because Akari told them she fell when she found the boy.

Not even a scratch was found on her face. It weirded them at first but they leave it and they were glad there was no scar on her pretty face.

That was because Akari is a werewolf. She can heal herself in only a few seconds based on how bad her injury is.

-----

Day after day, almost every day Akari had been visiting the boy. He hasn't woken up but she has been helping around a lot. She even helped Miya take care of him.

-----

A whole month has passed and what Akari has been waiting for has come.

The boy has finally opened his eyes. He blinked a few times while staring at Akari.

"Amane-sensei! Miya-sensei!" In a state of excitement, Akari shouted.

The couple entered the room in a hurry wondering what happened in case there was an emergency when they heard Akari call them.

"What's wrong?" Miya asked, worried.

"He... He finally woke up!" With a glee face, Akari jumped excitedly.

"Where... am... I?" The boy slowly said.

"You are in Sasaki's mansion!" Akari told him.

"Sasaki? Who... you?" He tried to ask her 'Who are you?' but he couldn't phrase the word 'are' clearly because his throat was hoarse from a long time of not talking.

"Ah! Sorry for not introducing myself. I am Akari. I found you in the forest unconscious and brought you here." She handed him a glass of water and helped him drink slowly.

"Then... Who am I?" The boy looked at her with furrowed brows. Akari did not know him so she wasn't so sure how to explain it to him.

"You are Sora. My son. I am your mother and he is your father." Miya suddenly spoke.

"Wait, darling..." Amane tried to talk but Miya shook her head.

"You were playing in the forest. I told you not to play too far but you didn't listen and got lost. We are so glad Akari found you and bring you back to us." She kept on talking.

"I am Sora? Why I.... don't remember..... Anything?" The boy asked. He can't remember anything let alone his name. He also couldn't recognize his own parents' faces.

-----

Since that day, Akari and Sora spent their time together and they became close friends. Although Sora rarely talked, it doesn't matter to Akari and she is fine with it. Although that makes Akari a chatterbox when they are together.

Not long after, a son of the Takeshi family, which is the Sasaki family's neighbor coincidentally saw them playing together outside of the Sasaki's mansion.

Seeing them having fun and the closeness between those two made him want to be a part of them. It was because he doesn't have any siblings to play with and he felt lonely all by himself. He then decided to be their friend.

One day, he stealthily came inside the Sasaki mansion from the window uninvited. He tried looking for them and luckily heard Akari's voice from one of the rooms. He peeked inside to check before revealing himself in front of them.

Akari was on guard at first but Sora calmly asked him. He proudly introduce himself as Kirie and shamelessly said he wanted to become their playmate.

Akari and Sora were both surprised and did not expect his true intention but not too long after that they accept him as their new friend.

-----

"Let's play house. Akari, you become a mom. Sora will be the father and I'll be your son. Alright, let's go kill people who hurt me!" Kirie gave instructions to them.

*SMACK*

Kirie held his head after getting smacked by Sora. "Try to score 100 on the test paper from her then I'll be your dad. Stupid."

"Uwaaa... Mom, help me!!!" Kirie ran straight towards Akari attempting to hug her.

*SMACK*

"Be a smart boy first. Once you do, I'll hit Sora for you." Akari followed what Sora did to Kirie.

"Bad! Evil! You guys just know how to bully me! What's so fun reading those books? You guys want to marry a book or want to eat those books?"

"It's much better than seeing your stupid grin." Both of them spoke at the same time. They looked at each other not expecting to talk at the same time.

"Flirting!!!" Kirie yelled.

"Who?" Once again, they talked at the same time.

"The one who just asked." Kirie suddenly got mad at them. He chose a random book to start reading.