𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗔 𝗞𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗘𝗥 ⚽️ 𝙶𝙰𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙰𝚁𝚄 𝚡 𝙵!𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚁

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟭: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗦

It was just another boring shift on a rainy friday night.

"Phew, finally I can go home..."

you sighed, as you locked the entrance door to prevent any new customers from entering. Ironically, there were never many customers around to begin with. Every damn day you kept wondering why you're working at some shabby open-late convenience store so far away from the city. Nonetheless, you kept coming back.

"Jeez, what a boring shift."

There were probably just 6 customers in total, out of which all 6 of them were middle aged old men awkwardly trying to flirt with you.

"Perhaps I should really search for a new job."

you pondered, looking outside the window. "Whatever.", you mumbled under your breath as you turned off the lights and exited the store, locking the door after you.

You walked down the road through the woods, stepping on the puddles caused by the continuous rain in this warm summer night.

"Shit, my socks are already soaked up from the rain! I wish I could just be home already..."

you whined while stomping your way home.

As you intuitively grabbed your phone in your jacket wanting to check for possible notifications you might have missed, you groaned out of frustration:

"This can't be! Now even my battery died! Can this night get even any worse?"

Yes it could.

Suddenly you heard something moving in the bushes, you immediately shrieked and told yourself it must have been an animal or something

"I should be careful, I heard warnings about bears living in this forest..." you shuddered, fastening your pace.

Nervously, you searched for the quickest way out of the forest. It seemed like an endless road. Normally you'd have used Google Maps by now but God forbid your phone from working when you actually needed it for once.

Again you heard rustles coming from behind the bushes, this time they were even closer than before.

"H-hello? Is anybody there...?" you asked into the forest, followed by a deep sigh realizing you must be hallucinating things at this point.

After just walking a few steps further, a bear came out from behind a tree, the two of you silently locking eyes.

"God. Not this too. Please." you plead, slowly stepping away, trying to be as non-irritating to the bear as possible.
As the bear noticed you, he started approaching you slowly, possibly pondering whether you're a threat or his next meal. Panic took over you as the adrenaline started pumping through your veins, "Shit" you whispered, trying to back off slowly. The bear approaching you closer, something inside you said you should better start running as fast as you could. So you did, knowing damn well that there's no chance of running faster than a bear.

As you ran clumsily through the pouring rain, it was just a matter of time when you're about to slip and fall, and then it happened- you tripped in a big pile of mud.

"So this is it then..." you tightly closed your eyes, praying for a miracle to happen...

"Hey, back off!"

you heard a voice coming directly from infront of you. You opened your e/c colored eyes in surprise at your savior. Your view was filled with an angelic statue of a tall man hovering over you: his broad, wide shoulders and silver hair shimmering in the moonlight, yet soaked completely by the rain.

"H-huh?! Are you... an angel?"

you ask him in awe. Within the same moment, he singlehandedly grabs the bear in a firm grip and looks in your direction

"Get up and run!"

he commanded, so you did as told. Despite running, you couldn't stop looking behind you.

"How on earth is this guy actually fighting a bear on his own?!"

you asked yourself. You were hiding behind a tree, focused on watching your savior struggle fighting the bear.

"What could I do!? Should I just run and leave him on his own? I couldn't forgive myself for that... What if he gets killed only to save some random girl like me?"

Suddenly, a burst of courage washes over you as you grab the closest stone nearby, aiming directly at the bear. Hitting his head, the stranger finds the perfect timing to knock out the animal and looks straight at you

"Didn't I tell you to run away? You could have gotten killed." he exclaimed, ironically with a rather stoic expression on his face.

"Actually, YOU could have gotten killed! Where did you even come from? Why did you save me? Did God really send you as a guardian angel?"

you ask curiously, while checking his limbs for any possible wounds which might have been afflicted during his 'fight'. Realizing he has not gotten hurt, you sigh in relief.

"Thank you so much for helping me out." you say, bowing down gratefully. "How can I make it up to you?" you request to know, to which he simply responds with

"No worries."

"What an odd guy", you thought. "Either he just appears to be stoic about a near death experience like this or he genuinely is that stoic about almost dying."

"You seem like the whole scene was no big deal to you. Is that like a hobby of yours?", you ask sarcastically, clearly hinting at a joke.

"Yes."

"H-huh?"

"I spend my free time in the forest, observing, playing and fighting bears as a hobby. I just love bears. They're big fuzzy friends of mine.", he explains as he's staring holes into the sky.

"Well, you just knocked out one of your 'friends' then...", you oppose him, thinking to yourself what a weirdo he must be.

"No, I just made him take a nap.", he looks at the bear, caressing its back.

"Yeah... Sure.", you smile at him awkwardly, unsure whether to take this as some kind of threat or not.

"So, who are you?"

"I'm Gagamaru Gin"