Let it burn

“Well, I suppose this does give the porters an easier time. How charitable of you~”

Kouen wasn’t one for nostalgia. Remembering the past only made it harder to stay in the present, pushing thoughts of the future even further away from realization. Not to mention the fact that his memories were rather monochrome, filled with seemingly endless days of work. 

But something happened when he met Sphintus.

Unconsciously, he finds himself reminiscing about the smallest things, the simplest gestures shared between them. The thoughts come quietly, naturally in moments of stillness. Little bursts of color in an otherwise dreary timeline.

❝Alexadra. Alexandra Garcia, but you can call me Alex.❞ She heads over back to the court ❝Hey mijos! We’re going to have an audience, so don’t start getting cocky!❞ Though she knew very well that they will. She looked over at the other, grinning ❝Well hope you don’t mind being alone for a moment, I’m gonna start kicking their ass.❞ She laughed again, light jogging over to the court and soon started playing with the boys once more.

Kouen is welcomed into the hardcourt, the vast space filled with echoes of young men playing basketball. Despite his initial impression of her, Alex held her own against the other players rather well. If anything, they seemed intimidated by the blonde. She was a rather valuable asset to the team, passing the ball fluidly and scoring several throws once the opportunity called for it.

Thinking back to that very lame business class she had to take way back in high school. The trick to doing stuff like this was making something seem a lot better than it actually is, if she wasn’t mistaken. And somehow making the other person like it more. Something like that. “Look at this cat though. He looks just like you! It’s like you were meant to be his owner!” That should get rid of the ugly cat.

“Young lady, I can not help but feel rather slighted.”

Kouen stares at the bag of fur, unconscious of the fact that they looked rather similar with scowls on both their faces. No matter how he looked at it, this cat was nothing but a nuisance. It smelled faintly of hotdogs too. What kind of cat eats hotdogs?

Definitely not a purebred one, that much is certain.

She looked back over to the people and then back at him.

“I assure you that something like this will not be enough to seriously injure me. I am also perfectly capable of tending to myself in the unlikely chance that it does happen.”

“...Trainer?”

The red-haired man stares at the woman a bit more. She looked rather young to be handling such a serious job but if she was offering then who was he to refuse? It has been a while since he watched a basketball game up close. The mechanics and dynamics of the sport certainly piqued his interest.

The damn cat had been following her all day. It was probably a stray, considering that Seo had been from one side of the district to the other, and never looked back once. It was very annoying, really, considering she was trying to eat her hot dog in peace.

The cat tried to attack her hot dog, even though she was standing, but it was enough to make her drop it. “Damnit! My hot dog!” Something had to be done about this cat. If it was a stray, might as well give it to someone.

Seo picked the cat up by its armpits, walked over to the closest man and said, “He’s your cat now.”

And so here he was, wandering the city dressed in his finest suit with nowhere else to go. One entire day flushed right down the toilet. Fantastic.

As if things could not get any worse, a strange young lady shoves a rather fat calico cat into his arms.

“Excuse me?”

Having never exactly known a ‘home’ by its traditional definition, Kouen might protest the observation but there was still some grain of truth there. He might not be missing any sort of place filled with memories but he certainly was missing certain people. The slight ache in his chest was proof of that.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Anya. You may call me Kouen.”

Ohtaka’s Backstage vol.288:

“The image is the volume 28 cover that’s scheduled to be out next month. I especially did my best with the dragon scales. I think this is the first time Astaroth djinn equip is seen in color in the manga.

And yet, as he turned his hand over to lace his fingers through the red head’s he wasn’t stopped. He wasn’t told no, or pulled away from… Instead all he saw was that ghost of a smile on the CEO’s face and a jolt in his chest at the realization that this was very real….

What a cheeky lad.