"Hakai God, when will you see the truth..." A deep voice spoke aloud, jolting his eyes wide open.
"My, my. Hakai God, what seems to be the problem." Inari leaned over his face, grabbing the scroll.
"Wo-Wo-Woah, too close!" He closed his eyes. Seemingly nothing happened, so he opened his eyes to check again. "What're you doing?" He looked over at her, sparkling in the dazzling morning light.
"Good morning, Hakai." She greeted him as steam flew up to her face.
His eyes couldn't believe an angel was sitting in front of him. It was as if he had seen Amaterasu within her features. He glared at her for an extended period causing Inari to blush and cross her arms over her chest. "Wh-what? What are ya staring at me for?"
"I-uhh wanted to say good morning, but the words wouldn't leave my mouth."
Hakai muttered, a little lost in the morning daze.
"Ahh, wash the daze off ya face, will ya?" She told him, still visibly blushing.
"Hmm..." He stood out of the futon, and before stepping a foot while scratching his left eye, he noticed a pair of neatly placed slippers. "Hmm." He slipped his feet in, walked out of the room, closed the door, and walked down the hall only to realize he knew little to nothing about Inari's estate.
"Uhh!" He sped back to the room. "Inari-San?" He softly opened the door to Inari lying face flat on his pillow.
Realizing he had caught her red-handed, she instantly went from lying to kneeling on both knees, flustered. "Ahh! Sorry! Sorry! It's just; that I felt a little tired from making breakfast and, you know, cleaning the room and waiting for you to wake up, haha!" She laughed, telling the truth with a hint of a lie.
"Uhh, sorry to intrude! Go ahead. Please rest all you want!" He said, worried sick for her and her kind heart.
"Yeah, yeah. I will!" She smirked unevenly.
"Oh yeah, the bathroom. Where is it?" He remembered the reason for coming back to the room.
"Left down, then an aisle to yer right and a quick left to the first double doors will be a guest bathroom." She instructed him with her rural accent.
"Uhh, thanks!" He ran down the aisle, not fully understanding what had transpired, a steadfast dunce through and through.
"Ahh! He knows. But that whiff of his scent was sweet and calming. I couldn't help myself!" She uttered, clenching her first on top of her thick thighs, revealed under the short kimono dress.
***
"I'm off!" Mai informed her mother while softly closing the door behind herself.
Walking down the street, a few elderly neighbors seemed to greet her here and there.
"Morning, Mai." An elderly lady gestured for her to come over to her side.
"Here for you." She placed a candy bar into her palm, closing her hand softly with her shaking hands.
"Thank you, ma'am. See you later!" Mai walked off into the distance, waving at the old lady.
"Be safe, and have a good day." The pair seemed to know each other very well.
Walking through the residential area only seemed to spark her memories of yesterday. The entire ordeal still wasn't fully processed, but she seemed to have taken more light of her situation and the reality of gods and the spiritual realm.
"So it was true, bad spirits and warrior gods all exist." She told herself, unwrapping the chocolate she received.
"Lady Inari-Sama and Lord Hachiman of War seemed human, but their essence wasn't. It was like a deep blue ocean shredded with mystery." She sighed, taking a nip out of the chocolate piece.
"Mmm, sweet."
"But I need to tighten my grip on Haki-Kun if I'm to learn anything about him." She caught herself.
"Him? Wait, what, no way? I meant about gods and the heavens." She corrected herself so that she could ease off her thoughts of him.
***
"Inari-San, thank you." He barged into the room again without knocking. But, this time, instead of finding her sniffing away at his pillow, she was lying down, eyes shut, inhaling long soft breaths and out. "Uhh, she was tired. How long did I take?" He sat next to the seemingly chilled breakfast she had prepared for him.
"Kindness is a remedy that heals the soul, and connects the hearts of all, right Ama-Chan?" He smiled, picking up his chilled rice and digging in with a tear sprinkling down his jawline.
"Delicious!" He finished his trey, now contemplating about waking Inari up.
Slide!
"Milady, you've been in…." Two guards stood behind Yuri.
"You!! You scumbag, what're you doing to my lady!" Yuri shouted at the Hakai over Inari, grabbing her by the shoulders.
"This isn't what it looks like!" Hakai, kneeling, showed both his hands to Yuri and the two guards.
"Silence! You dirtbag, advantage taker, piece of crap!" Yuri snapped, ordering the two guards to kill Hakai. "Guards, execute this vile man this instant!" He pointed at him.
"Uhh, I promise… wait!" Hakai kept his hands visible as the guards clenched their swords.
"Yuri? Will ya shut yer word sack?" Inari rose out of the futon, scratching her eyes, a bit irritated from the commotion.
"Milady, this vile man was taking advantage of you while you were asleep!" Yuri fought back, providing his case and input.
"We both bear witness, our lady!" The two armored men backed him up, immediately taking their grips off their swords and standing guard.
"No, no, no, no!" Hakai repeated, scared. "I promise you. I wasn't thinking of anything bad. I just wanted to wake you up, but repeating your name did nothing, so I got on my knees and figured, what's the harm in shaking you a little?"
"Huh, y'all probably misunderstood it." She looked away from Hakai and at Yuri.
"It's okay, Hakai; I understand," Inari reassured him, looking over to the empty trey, noticing that Hakai left not a single crumb. Her soft smile told a million untold words.
"What?" Yuri's pupils retracted inside his sockets. "No way, but I saw him." He muttered, falling into the arms of the two guards who barely caught him while he fell backward.
"Milady! Why would you believe him over me!?" He dramatically fainted.
"Sorry to impose!" Hakai apologized as Inari gestured for the guards to leave.
"Worry not, please. After yer dressed, a guide will be outside for you." She smiled, picking the trey off the ground and leaving the room while closing the sliding door to his room.
Ba-bmp!
Ba-bmp!
Ba-bmp!
His heart raced over the entire scene that just transpired.
"What, do I act as if nothing happened? That man, Yuri-Kun, will hate me forever and permanently harbor this image of me as an advantage seeker!" He screamed with a pale face. "Ah-huh, guess I gotta keep moving forward, right?" He stood up, arms dangling by his side, and slowly wobbled for his neatly placed clothes.