Chapter 2: I approve

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solidary heart and 8kagi.

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-Akeno Third POV-

'School is so boring.'

That was Himejima Akeno's thought when she first attended her class.

She always felt safe at the shrine, where she lived with her mother and father, both whom have taught her so many fun and interesting things.

The former demonstrated how to carry out the numerous chores and duties expected of a future Miko—cleaning, cooking, and even learning how to purify wandering spirits are all taught to her. She genuinely enjoyed every minute of it, even some would find the idea of doing chores boring and her mother always had a bright smile on her face whenever they were together. But her favorite activity so far had been tea making, which she excelled in, much to her mother's joy.

Her father never spoke much, preferring to sit back and observe them as they went about their Miko duties. Many visitors avoided him because of his frightening appearance, but her mother assured her that he was just a big snuffy teddy bear on the inside. He taught her how to use Holy Lightning, a type of magic that only the two of them possessed. He always smiled when he was around her and her mother and gave big booming laughs when she successively achieved a spell.

'At first, I was a bit apprehensive at using it, the loud noise of thunder and its destructive nature always scared me when I was not focusing. But Father showed me how to control and not fear it. According to him, I am a natural with Holy lighting.'

But then came school.

Akeno hated it at first—she was away from both her mother and father, and she was forced to play with strangers. She was even banned from using her powers on the kids.

'Humpf, the boys are so annoying, I wish I could just zap them away.'

Akeno always wanted to try using her lightning on someone, but her parents told her otherwise and that she would have beenin big trouble if she ever tried.

Every day was the same old boring routine. The only time of the day she would enjoy was when the teachers would start their lessons on how to read and write.

But then everything changed when she met—Hikikig- Himiki- Hikaku- Hikigaya Hachiman.

He has a really difficult name to remember, so she just called him 'Hikima'. He was different from the rest, just like her. It was obvious that he didn't like the place and the other kids at all. Furthermore, she found him to be a quiet, a loner, and that he had the scariest looking eyes that reminded her of a dead fish she had seen at the market with her mother yesterday.

Trying to approach him was not easy, he would tell her to go away, but of course, she didn't want to. He was the only interesting person in her school, and she wanted to get to know him, so she followed him around.

Hikima obviously didn't like it and tried glaring at her, probably to scare her off.

'Remember Akeno, those who have the scariest eyes are softies on the inside, just like your father fufufufu. Yes, really soft...'

She remembered her mother's words and how they made her father's face all red. So every time he glared at her with his dead fish eyes, she would then be reminded of her father, thus making her feel safer around him.

He also happened to be super smart. Half of the time he would use difficult words and make it hard for her to understand him, but she persisted. And in the end, it seemed that he just gave up chasing her off and instead would resort to pinching her cheeks. it turned out to be super embarrassing and no amount of protest would stop him from doing that, but she still grew to love her time with him and how nice it felt when he touched her face.

It made her feel warm.

Maybe she could invite him to the shrine so that they could spend more time together and get more of that warm feeling. 'He could become friends with Father too since they both have scary faces.'

"Neh, Hikima come play with me!"

{Break}

(1 year later)

-Hachiman POV-

I sighed in despair.

What a drag!

That was what a certain pineapple-head ninja in a certain ninja manga I used to read would say, and now I understood why he said it.

I could say for certain that I have never, until this moment, ever felt so relatable with the guy. How else could I not? I was in my last year of kindergarten and would soon start elementary. Which in itself was a huge sort of stress—having already done and passed all of these classes in my past life and nearly graduating, having to restart everything from zero really put a damper on my mood, not that my mood was great, to begin with, but you get my point.

Honestly, how did those other isekai'd or reincarnated protagonists in other stories deal with such stuff!?

'I am no genius, and it's not like I will remember every subject by heart, math, chemistry, and even my Japanese will get rusty.'

A 5-year-old boy suddenly starting to study integrals and differentiation out of nowhere was a big red flag. I may have an additional goal of returning to my real family, but that did not change my past goals at all! I knew that in the end, I would have to get used to this world, grow up, train my skills, find a woman who will accept me as a househusband, and improvise from there.

But first I had to focus on the current issue, specifically with the matters concerning my 'friend', Akeno.

Wow, it felt weird for an adult, at least mentally, to call a 5-year-old girl a friend, 'I swear that I'm innocent!'

We got along together quite nicely, our daily interactions mostly consisted of her dragging me around to play with her or to participate in tea ceremonies—which was mostly juice as hot beverages were banned for kids our age. She was a natural and also genuinely enjoyed doing it. Akeno would talk to me about her family, how she and her mother were Mikos and her father was apparently an important leader of some kind.

'A politician then?'

"Hikima!" shouted Akeno, as the little girl glomped on me from behind, knocking me out of my thoughts.

Oh, yeah she was talking about something. I realized, most of the time whenever she started rambling on, I would just daze off in my thoughts. Guess it was bad timing, better apologize.

"Sorry Akeno, I didn't pay attention. Could you repeat that?"

She started pouting again, making her look cute, "Mou, Hikima you are being mean again, Mother always said that boys should always pay attention when a woman talks."

Woman? Where? I snickered at my thoughts, only this time getting a small punch on my forearm, which actually hurt! How the hell was this cute little munchkin so strong?!

"Hikima!"

Her voice was getting louder, better stop before the teachers begin with the 'married couple' jokes again.

Honestly, they needed to get a life, there'd be no way I would marrying this child.

"Again, I was just laughing cause you look too cute when you get angry."

Her face goes all red, making me grin. Awww, she blushed, my brotherly instincts were pushing me to hug her and never let go!

"M-meanie Hi-Hikima! I was just asking if you want to visit my parent's shrine with me?" she asked with a not-so-hidden hopeful look after she stopped blushing.

A shrine you say? Yeah, I guess I could go for a visit as, unlike the others, she was the closest thing to a friend I had in this world. And also because I was curious how people lived in a shrine. I rarely ever visited one—most of the time, it was just to pray during festivals and holidays with Komachi, and in some rare cases with mom and dad.

Speaking of friends, despite only being a 5-year-old kid, she still somehow garnered the attention of nearly half the kids in my class. Some of them who wanted to be close with her have offered to become my friends too. Yeah right, even with their innocence their friendship would still be fake in the end.

Fake friends are like shadows.

They followed you in the sun but left you in the dark.

For my sake and Akeno's, I always ignored them, never giving them the slightest bit of attention. Akeno, being the koala she was, copied my actions as well. I did not want to meddle with her life much, but she really did not give me the choice to back up. Truly for a five-year-old, she was quite persistent, I honestly couldn't imagine what she would be like in her teenage years.

'She might probably just be your regular girl next door.'

A slight chill crept from my spine with that thought. Somebow, a part of me refused to believe that thought.

{Break}

-Himejima Shrine, Barakiel POV-

'Akeno will be inviting someone today,' thought a worried Baraqiel.

A few days ago, his sweet little Fallen angel told him that a friend would visit them soon enough. He had rarely seen her this happy before—she even asked Shuri to let her cook some meals for her friend. Both of them were amused by her antics but didn't stop her. Their daughter's happiness was their happiness as well.

It was not until he asked for more details about these friends that all his enthusiasm vanished the moment his daughter told them more about 'him'.

Yes, him—as in a boy—a male! What kind of joke was this!? His little Fallen was too young to be meeting with boys! He might be an angel who fell due to lust, but that did not mean he would let his daughter be close with a boy!

"I swear when he arrives, I'll show that punk to stay aw-"

"Darling~"

"—!?"

The world stopped dead in its tracks, his veins became pure ice as he felt the presence of his beloved yet fearsome wife behind him. Shuri's smile was both gorgeous and innocent, but her eyes were no different from a frozen tundra.

"What is this I am hearing about scaring Akeno's friend?" she inquired, very much knowing the answer already.

"N-nothing de-dear, I just wa-want to make sure that the boy doesn't hurt Akeno's feelings by accident. We wouldn't w-want that, right?"

This was the most logical explanation he could come up with currently, but it failed to save his skin.

"Ara Ara~ brave enough to already start lying to your wife, are we? Fufufu, I guess I will have to whip those bad thoughts out of you tonight, right?"

He was reminded of why he loved his Shuri so much, again. She was the best wife and mother one could ask for. She knew how to press his buttons...and he liked it.

"Yes, dear."

Even with his straight face, he couldn't hide the blush from his soon-to-be mistress.

Her sadistic nature was truly the best.

...

-Hachiman POV-

Getting permission from my parents to visit a faraway shrine was easier than I expected.

Even with my dad occupied with his work, mom was still cool enough to let her small child go outside with a stranger to an unknown shrine in the mountains. If that wasn't top-tier parenting, then I did not know what was.

'But hey, not going to complain about it, and I trust Akeno enough for us to not get in trouble along the way.'

After all, I didn't see myself as some two-bit anime protagonist who encountered enemies in every street corner.

The road leading to the shrine was steep. I was certain that even in my past body I would have been constantly winded trying to walk up a mountain. The current me was drenched in sweat, my knees were weak and my arms were heavy.

But fortunately I didn't have the urge to vomit—yet. Akeno was not normal, she didn't look even the slightest bit tired from all the walking and climbing.

Could this girl be a future gold medalist!? I was pretty sure that this was the type of road every asian parent used to travel to reach their school!

After another painful 15 minutes of walking, we finally reached the shrine hidden deep into the woods. It was beautiful—it had a sort of mystical aspect to it. For something so far away, it was surprisingly well-kept. Its greatest quality so far was that it was quiet and peaceful.

No wonder Akeno loved her home so much.

If I had the opportunity, I would not hesitate to live here—not that mom or dad would accept selling the house in the middle of the city for a secluded life in the middle of the woods, to begin with.

In front of the shrine, I noticed someone sweeping the floor with a straw broom. Akeno never told me she had a sister. Like seriously, they might as well have been twins with how much they looked alike. I guessed now I had an idea what Akeno would look like when she grew up.

She was a beautiful woman who has long flowing black hair, and light brown eyes—again she really resembled Akeno, aside from the purple eyes.

"Mother, I brought my friend Hikigi- Hikima with me!" said an excited Akeno.

Oi, we have been together in the same class for a year, and you still can't say my nam- did she say 'Mother!?'

She looked like she was in her early twenties, for crying out loud! Did she give birth to Akeno when she was still a teenager? Stop! This was not the time to think about random stuff right now. Might as well give a good image of myself, if it was even possible with my looks.

"Ara Ara~ such a cute little boy we have here." she said in an angelic voice, with a beautiful smile to match it.

Many would fall for such a beautiful face, however…

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There comes the shiver—but a thousand times worse—accompanied by a sense of impending doom.

'Is that you Yukinoshita Haruno?'

Did that she-devil somehow find a way to track me down across another reality and reincarnate here just to torture me? Probably not, and I was most likely over-exaggerating things, but with that woman, you never know...

Hikigaya Hachiman would not be defeated with just a pretty face and soothing voice from an older-looking version of his friend!

Curse you, Zaimokuza, to the deepest pits of hell! I never should have read those forbidden love novels you recommended to me before. I did not want to have a crush on her, it felt so weird thinking about it.

All of this happened while I kept a straight face, but somehow this woman gave me the feeling that she could see right through me. Her face and demeanor might be the perfect representation of a Yamato Nadeshiko, but her eyes resembled that of a surgeon's scalpel—able to slice right through me. Hiding my conflicting emotions, I gave her my sincerest greeting.

"Good Evening, my name is Hikigaya Hachiman, and I am a friend of Himejima-san from school."

There, not too formal yet not too rude, just right.

"Ara? A polite one as well. Now isn't that a rare sight, fufufu."

She came forward and rubbed my head. It felt weird especially when you were a grown-ass man inside a kid's body, but I didn't hate it.

"Come along inside, Akeno and I have some things to attend to in the kitchen. Why don't you spend some time with my husband? He is a delightful man."

For some reason, I felt that there was a hidden meaning somewhere between those lines.

After being invited inside, I then came face to face with a giant scary-looking dude who was apparently Akeno's dad. He has the appearance of a middle-aged, gruff-looking man with black hair, a matching beard, and a muscular body. Aside from his eye color, he had no other features passed on to Akeno. Thank God that she mostly inherited her mother's genes, or else I would have had a female hulk as my first friend—not a bad thing, but it would be weird.

For the last few minutes, he kept staring at me in the eyes, his face not betraying the slightest bit of emotions. The same could be said for me as well, making use of one of 108 loner skills, the 'Stone Face' technique, I was successful at maintaining a constant deadlocked state against my current opponent.

Why was he giving me the silent treatment in the first place? I couldn't have angered him about something since I never met him before. was it because of his daughter? This guy can't honestly feel threatened by a 5-year-old, can he? I prided myself in my ability to read people in general, but this guy was somehow showing even fewer emotions than a rock—if it weren't for the fact that I could hear his breathing, I would have definitely mistaken him for a painted statue.

The deadlock went for a few more minutes, until he finally relented.

'Heh, you think you could beat me in a staring contest? Even Yukinoshita could not contend with me, let alone you.'

But the first words that came out of his mouth really threw me out of the loop.

"Hmm, I approve," he said in a rough voice.

"What?"

"Take care of her"

Shit…

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.