//-AN-//
First of all, if any readers dislike the thin rom-com plot, I apologize. I did all of this to build relationships between the characters and the MC, while also encouraging the MC's personal development.
Sometimes I think about how bleak the lives of hunters are—they risk their lives every day, while someone waits behind the harsh world. Therefore, I wanted to add a little chemistry amidst the MC's stressful life between life and death.
This is also a kind of response to the many "My Wife - My Wife" comments that often appear on my social media.
If any of my readers have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. I will occasionally answer your questions, whether they contain spoilers or not.
//--//
That day began very quietly. The sky was clear, a gentle breeze blew, and the city park was filled only with the cheerful sounds of birds working overtime since morning. Under one of the plum trees—whose flowers happened to be in autumn bloom—a young man sat cross-legged, looking like part of the landscape that shouldn't be disturbed.
He wore a plain black hoodie, simple jeans, and sneakers that already looked tired from too many journeys. Yet his aura… calm, dense, and deep—as if the world around him dimmed to match his breathing.
That man was Jun Mizushino.
Or, if someone came from the supernatural world… Cheon Ma.
His long black hair was tied neatly back, his face handsome yet flat, and his skin pale and clean like someone who fought nature more than sunbathed at the beach. He meditated with an intensity that made the leaves around him seem to hold their breath.
"Huuuf…" Jun opened his eyes slowly, his pupils gleaming briefly before stabilizing again. "For now my cultivation has improved."
He was just about to stand when light footsteps approached from the shaded path. A faint electric scent and a floral fragrance made him turn even before the figure was visible.
Dark purple hair—long, glossy, and neatly tied. Casual clothing that was sweet yet modest. A beautiful face with a gentle smile but sharp eyes. One hand carrying a shopping bag filled with vegetables and cooking ingredients.
She was Akeno Himejima—the Queen of Rias Gremory, one of the best lightning mages of her generation, and… Jun's new acquaintance. Or more accurately, someone who accidentally found this man meditating under the plum tree a few days ago.
To Akeno, Jun was simply a strange human who sat alone in the park every morning, radiating an unreasonable calmness. That alone was enough to catch her attention—especially for someone sensitive to energy like her.
When her steps reached the wooden bench, Akeno tilted her head slightly.
"Morning training again, Jun-san?" she asked, her voice soft like a passing breeze.
Jun opened his eyes fully, looked at her for a moment, then nodded gently. A simple movement, yet enough to loosen a few strands of his black hair.
Akeno gave a small smile—a subtle, sincere, slightly teasing smile, yet warm. A smile she rarely showed except to someone who made her… comfortable.
Jun rose from his seat, brushing off dust that wasn't really there from his jeans, then tilted his head slightly toward Akeno.
"It's a holiday, Himejima-san," he said calmly, "don't you have anything to do?"
A simple question, but Akeno froze for a split second—because it was true.
Today was a school holiday… and Akeno's usual habits on holidays were very predictable:
spending time at the Himejima family shrine, helping Rias Gremory, or… lately, teasing a certain junior just because his face looked cute when bothered.
So seeing her in the park, alone, with a shopping bag in her hand—it was actually unusual.
Akeno spun the shopping bag lightly, as if just remembering its existence.
"Fufu~ Sometimes I need fresh air too, Jun-san," she replied with a smile, her soft voice flowing like faint electricity.
She glanced at him from the side, her eyes narrowing slightly, as if evaluating the man standing before her.
"Instead, Jun-san is the strange one," she continued with a small laugh, "meditating under a plum tree like a lost monk."
Jun blinked once, completely unbothered.
"That… I feel relaxed whenever I breathe under a plum tree," he said calmly, "I don't know why."
"Oh really…?" Akeno tilted her head, intrigued.
And at that exact moment—
Gurrrk.
Jun's stomach growled loudly enough to disturb the perching birds.
His face remained flat, but Akeno quickly covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Ara~" she said sweetly, "someone forgot breakfast, it seems."
Jun simply looked away and cleared his throat.
"Ahem…"
Then Akeno, without hesitation and without pause, said:
"Would you mind having lunch together?"
Jun turned back, a bit surprised.
"Eh? No. Actually I wanted to ask…" He raised a brow. "Aren't you worried about eating with a stranger?"
Akeno smiled—that signature smile of hers, warm, beautiful, but with a mischievous spark at the edge of her lips.
"Fufufu~ not at all."
Of course not.
If anyone intended harm toward her, that person would've already turned into a pile of ash within seconds. At least, that was how Akeno saw it. Somehow, she felt like she was watching over something… interesting. Not because of danger or the potential for chaos—quite the opposite.
The man's energy was calming.
Strange, but Akeno rarely felt that way toward anyone.
His routine was always the same; meditating in the afternoon, then exercising until night. Sometimes, she happened to run into him when she was returning from the academy—and that "coincidence" somehow happened more and more often.
'Is he always like this? Calm… but not the type pretending to be calm.'
When she invited him for dinner, Akeno didn't need long to answer.
"All right, I'm lazy to cook today anyway… I am in your care, Himejima-san."
Akeno smiled, a sweet smile with a mischievous tail behind it. "Fufufu~, only if you call me Akeno, of course."
The man fell silent for a moment. The hesitant tone was clear from the way his eyes moved. Akeno could read it easily: the overly polite type, even toward someone quite familiar with him.
"Uh…" He scratched his cheek lightly. 'Do I really have to call her that? Now?'
"Ahem, very well… Akeno-san."
Akeno covered her mouth with the back of her hand, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Fufufu~."
'Now this is fun,' Akeno thought, staring at him longer than she should.
...
Then, somehow, I ended up following Akeno to a shrine. No plans, no clear purpose—she just looked back at me, smiled softly, and said, "Let's go." And like an idiot who'd lost his sense of direction, I simply followed.
We walked side by side on the stone path that led upward. From the side, I could clearly see her height—around 168 cm, just as I remembered from her profile. And yes… she only reached my shoulder.
Which meant my height was somewhere in the 180s.
And for some reason… I felt like someone somewhere was crying blood right now.
Maybe because Akeno Himejima—the Queen of the Occult Research Club—was bringing a "stranger" to her home.
Or maybe because we looked like a couple who just finished grocery shopping.
Wouldn't be surprising if Rias suddenly sneezed three times.
After climbing the last set of stone steps, we arrived at the shrine Akeno maintained. The place looked completely different from the city noise: calm, clean, and radiating a traditional aura I rarely encountered. Beside it stood an old wooden house—the home where Akeno used to live.
"Please, Jun-san," she said while pointing to the open sliding door.
I removed my shoes, stepped inside, and was greeted by the soft scent of tatami. The room was traditional—as if time had stopped here. Not many decorations, everything simple yet warm.
"What will you be cooking?" I asked, trying not to look too awkward being in a beautiful girl's house.
Akeno placed her groceries in the kitchen, then looked at me while playing with the tip of her hair.
"Hm… how about sukiyaki?"
"Oh, that sounds good. It's been pretty cold lately."
"Fufufu~ that's right," she replied, her signature mischievous Akeno smile appearing briefly.
As she started unpacking the ingredients from the plastic bags, I reflexively said, "Let me help too."
Akeno turned, her eyes narrowing softly. "Ara~ Jun-san wants to help? Very well, I accept."
And somehow, from any angle, our situation looked… suspicious. We stood side by side in a small Japanese-style kitchen, preparing vegetables, cutting meat, and arranging ingredients with the same rhythm. As if—without realizing it—we were already used to doing this together.
If someone suddenly walked in, they would definitely assume we had been living together for a year.
...
From behind one of the large trees in the shrine's courtyard—a tree that seemed like a common hiding place for heartbroken teenage boys—someone was peeking with a tragic expression.
His messy brown hair was the same as always, his gym uniform clung to his body, and both hands hugged the tree trunk as if it was the only thing keeping him alive.
He was Issei Hyoudou, a Kuoh Academy student, future Harem King whose future (in his own imagination) was always full of beautiful women.
And right now… the man was crying blood.
In front of him—or more precisely inside the kitchen of the small house beside the shrine—Akeno Himejima, the sexy and charming senpai he always admired, was cooking together with a mysterious man who looked like he had been married to her for three years already.
"No… no way…" Issei muttered, his voice cracking like shattered glass.
This was truly a hellish sight for a perverted teenager who placed too much hope in romance.
Akeno smiled gently at the man. They stood very close. Too close. Too comfortable.
Issei covered his mouth with both hands, his breath choking.
"M-My senior… my future waifu… she… she… she smiled like that at another man!? And that's the ultra-rare Akeno-senpai smile…!? No, this is impossible! Impossible!"
He almost fell from his hiding spot.
His brown eyes trembled dramatically, his gaze like a shounen protagonist who just witnessed his village burn to the ground.
"Why… why do they look like newlyweds!? This… this has crossed the line! This is betrayal!!"
Issei hugged the tree as tears fell dramatically.
Life truly wasn't fair for an Issei Hyoudou.
//--//
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