𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 | Fruits Basket FF

(22)

She started boiling the water in the kettle and brought out two white tea cups from the cupboard and a poured a sachet of jasmine tea leave into them. When the water was done boiling, she poured it into the cups and placed them on a tray.

"Ichika-chan." She heard Shigure call, as she turned her attention on him.

Shigure's phone was pressed against his ear with one hand and the other were carrying a few books. She tilted her in curiosity.

"Could you give these to Hatori? Tell him to enjoy a book for once."

Ichika nodded and took the books from him. She settled them on the tray as Shigure retreated back to where he'd come from, talking animatedly to what seems to be Ayame over the phone.

When Ichika returned to the living room, she settled the tray down the coffee table and handed out the tea cups to Hatori, who looked at the books in confusion.

"A-Ah, these were from Shigure-san. He told me to give them to you." She informed, handing one book with a green cover over to him. "He said 'enjoy a book for once.'"

Hatori's eyes widened slightly, and then a ghost of a smile formed on his lips as he gratefully took it and flipped around to read the back. Ichika caught his smile from the corner of her eyes and her heart immediately skipped a beat.

Hatori rarely smiled, but he was very handsome when he did so.

"It has been a while since I could just enjoy a book." He said, with the smile not disappearing from his face.

"Do you like reading, Hatori-san?" Ichika glanced down at the book in his hand.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a bookworm. I've always liked them as a kid." He answered with a flip of a page.

Ichika's eyes lit up as she felt herself become a bit excited hearing that Hatori also shared her love for books.

"I've always liked books as well," She started. After all, they were the only things that occupied her when she still lived in the darkness. "My favourite is 100 days of a Jinx."

"100 days of a Jinx?" Hatori repeated in awe. "That's funny, because that's my favourite too."

Ichika's eyes sparkled and felt herself grinning widely. "Did you like the ending?"

"I wasn't particularly satisfied with it, but it was still a happy ending. I think my favourite scene out of the entire book was where Ryu was visiting his friend's house drunk and banged on the door—"

"—only for some complete stranger to open it and then he realised he went to the wrong house number!" Ichika completed his sentence.

The two Dragon Spirits looked at each other for a moment before they burst into laughter. 

They spent the rest of the hour speaking of their shared interest in the book, drinking tea, speaking on their likes and dislikes of it, their favourite parts of the book and what they thought of it overall.

Ichika's heart felt light as they spoke. A part of her felt like they were growing closer, and it made her happy. She had never expected speaking to someone with the same interests as her would be this much fun.