It was a nice sunny day out taking up the skies above Eden Academy. The class of Cecile Hall gather around as they sit on an empty dirt patch in the Academy's back garden next to the forest.
"Whew, that track and field race was so exhausting... wasn't it, Ewen?"
"Right, I can't possibly keep up with how fast Bossman was, though." Ewen responds to his close friend, Emile.
The two friends turn to look at the person they admire the most, Damian, the second son of the Desmond family.
The Scion looks at the both of them then looks at the trees with an unbothered expression. "It wasn't even that tiring and the race wasn't even that much of a big deal." He shrugs.
"As expected of you, Damian! So coolheaded."
In reality he was furious. Anya had beaten him to first place in the track race a couple of minutes ago which busted his ego. To be beaten by a commoner such as Anya Forger pissed him off the most.
You... little shrimp! I'll beat you in that race next time. I swear on my life, my soul! Desmond grits his teeth and clenches his fist.
-
How pathetic, Sy-on boy. Sorry, not sorry! Heh. I'm glad that Mama and I would head to the park to do short jogs which improved my running.
Anya, with her iconic smirk, turns to look at Damian.
His eyes lit up with fiery anger and embarrassment. His cheeks, forming a hint of red. "Why... you!" He looks at her with a pissed face.
Ewen gives Damian a pat on the back. "Come on, Boss. The game was probably rigged! There's no way you actually lost to that commoner."
"Hey, she won fair and square!" Becky, Anya's best friend, walks up to them. "Sure, her legs are pretty much as limp as a chicken's, but they can run fast too, y'know!"
Anya turns to her and gives her friend a don't do me like that, look.
The loud bickering of the children made almost the whole class look at them.
"Alright, children!" The PE teacher blows her whistle. "Before we end our day, let's play a couple of rounds of a very fun game!"
The children stand up after drinking their bottled water. Most of them were pumped up after taking a rest from the track and field race.
"Today, we'll be playing this game called Sardines."
The children blabber about how they either disliked the name, didn't want to play or how they were excited to get on with it.
"Sardines? What an odd name for a game. Never heard of it!" Becky says. "Do you know how it works, Anya?"
The pink haired girl shrugs. "Nah. But if we're going to be showering in a can of sardines, I don' wannit."
"The mechanics of the game are simple. Imagine hide and seek, except there's one hider!"
The students looked surprised.
"Whaaat?! That doesn't make any sense!"
"I don't like it, teacher. Let's play something else!"
"Now, now. The hider will hide in a spot where they think no one can find them. Then, the seekers will break loose! If a seeker finds the hider, they will have to join the hider in the hiding spot to try to hide with them. They will have to squeeze in the hiding spot together, like a can of sardines!" The teacher smiles.
"Well.. it doesn't seem like that bad." Damian says.
He then felt something poke the back of his head. "Ah-hey!" He turns around and sees Anya with a smug look on her face.
"Sy-on boy. I'll definitely beat you again!" She points at him.
He turns red. "Tch- no you won't! Not again, uggy uggo!"
"Mr. Desmond, you seem to be very vocal. Therefore, you'll be the hider, alright?" The teacher pats his head from behind him.
"... Fine." Damian grumbles. "I bet you won't be able to find me at all, shrimp."
"Bring it on, Sy-on." She smirks as they both look at each other competitively.
"All the seekers, make sure to close your eyes while Damian goes into the forest. You have 40 seconds to hide"
The boy runs into the forest.
"Don't go too far!" The teacher's voice drifts away as he runs through the bushes.
Where should I hide? There's lots of possible hiding spots. Though I wouldn't want to hide in a bush, that would be too easy for them.
Damian looks up at a tall tree in the middle of the forest. He wraps his arms around it, attempting to climb.
Man. This would have been such a good hiding spot if I could get all the way up there... He goes back down, drenched in sweat.
The boy looks around the forest, left and right. Time is running out... where do I go?!
-
"4...3...2...1." The teacher blows her whistle. "Ready or not, here we come, Damian! If anyone gets lost or injured, stay where you are and one of our Academy's guards will attend to you."
The students run into the forest. Some try to look for the hider nearby and some run off to the far side of the place.
Becky and her friend, Anya run around the forest. They look down at the bushes and up at the trees that block out most of the sunlight.
"Augh.. where is that brat?!" Becky crosses her arms, frustrated.
Anya was silent, she seemed to be more focused on finding Damian more than anyone else. She tries reading the thoughts around her, but all she hears are the chaotic voices overlapping each other.
"Anya...if you were Damian, where do you think he'd-" Becky turns to look at Anya, but she was gone. She ran off into the woods. "A-Anya, Where'd you go?!"
---
They'll never find me in here. Damian smirks, rubbing his palms together. He was in a small cave, just enough to fit about 4-5 people.
"I wonder where that Desmond is. It's been 4 minutes, I'm surprised I haven't spotted him yet." He hears a familiar voice in the distance.
The boy takes a quick peek outside the cave. It was Bill, the son of a Major in the National Army, and a few of his friends scouting the area.
Bill was always known to have a very competitive side to him in Physical Education class. There was no way he would let Damian go off without being found.
A dragonfly goes into the cave. This made the boy gasp, he tried to shoo it out while trying not to make a noise.
Oh no, this pest is going to be the death of me! He screams internally.
"What was that, did you guys hear that?" Bill looks around, being able to hear the noises Damian made with his instincts.
"Hear what..?"
"Nevermind."
The bug, at last, flew out of the small cave. He takes a peek out once again.
"Let's split up, we won't be able to find him if we're sticking together in this one area." Bill proposes.
They all scatter around the forest, continuing their search for Damian.
He was relieved no one has even thought of checking the cave. It was camouflaged from the vines on top of it.
He takes a deep breath and continues to look around outside.
"Wow, I can't believe you haven't been caught by anyone yet, Sy-on." Someone whispers into his ear from behind him.
"WhaA- mmff!" Before he could scream out of being startled, his mouth was covered by a hand.
He turns his head to see Anya, who was sitting there beside him.
She places her finger over her mouth, gesturing for him to be quiet. "Keep your voice down, they might hear you!"She whispers.
Somehow, the pink haired girl was able to sneak into cave earlier without Damian noticing her. She was trying her best to keep quiet because of Bill's group scouting the area.
"W-when did you even get here..?"
"I was following that dragonfly just now, then I saw you." She leans in on the cave's wall.
That was a lie. Anya had heard Damian's thoughts coming from the small cave when he was screaming in his head. Plus, part of her knew Sy-on would be hiding in this place.
How did I not see this girl come in here... He confusingly looks at her.
He hugs his legs, trying not to look at his crush who was literally right next to him. He still denies the fact that he had feelings for Anya, which makes it even funnier.
"Billy sure is scary when it comes to these things." Anya says while folding a leaf.
"I coudn't agree more." Damian takes a breath.
"Anyway, I found you, hehe." She pokes his cheek with that smug look on her face.
Sy-on was a worse hider than I thought. Anya was able to find him in a flash!
Damian turns red and grabs her wrist. "Don't touch me, shrimp. Fine whatever, you win this time!"
They hear footsteps and crackling of grass outside, they cover their mouths to not make any noise. A few seconds later, it was silence and sounds of crickets.
"You think they're gone?" Anya asks,looking over his shoulder.
"Probably. " Damian replies. He'd turn to look at Anya, about to ask how long they've been in the cave. "Hey shrimp, how many minut-"
t...TOO CLOSE!!
He sees Anya's cheeks literally right next to his face, she looks at him as she tilts her head.
"Pardon?" She asks.
"It's nothing." He pokes his finger on her cheek and gently pushes her a bit farther away while his face heats up from everything that's happened so far.
Sy-on boy is an overreact-er. I don't get why he gets so annoyed easily... does Anya smell bad? Nah, he just thinks he smells good! What a jerk.
Silence takes up the place for a couple of seconds. It was a bit awkward, well - at least for Desmond.
Anya looks around the walls of the cave. "Somehow, this looks familiar."
"Dummy, you forgot already? This was the cave we hid in when that one thunderstorm struck our camping trip."
Damian recalls the moments he was trapped in here with Anya. Both of them drenched in Rain water, while they held hands out of fear.
Shut up, shut up! That never happened. Damian turns red and slaps his cheeks.
"Wow Sy-on boy. It sure has been a while since then, no?" She says after reading his thoughts and puts on a smug face, teasing him.
He crosses his arms and responded, "I don't even have a clue what came next after we went in here. I tend to erase useless memories in my head, and that includes moments with you."
(Clearly, that was a lie.)
--
"We found them, Ma'am. Luckily the cameras around the forest helped us throughout.. "
"Oh, you poor things! You were probably exhausted after sitting in here for so long."
Damian's eyes open, seeing a school's security officer and their physical education teacher looking at them from outside the cave. .
"H-huh..?"
"Ah, Mr.Desmond! Thank the heavens you're alright." She carresses his head before turning to the Security officer. "Please help me carry them to the nurse's office, they might be injured."
"Got it, Ma'am." The officer places down his items on the grass.
As Damian regains his senses, he looks around. "Huh..? Wha- where am I?!"
"Oh, you're quite the skilled hider, Damian. You managed to last the whole 15 minutes of the game without being caught by most of your classmates, though you sort of fell asleep throughout and the security had to look all over the forest for you." The woman looks at the girl beside Damian. "Oh, and Miss Anya as well!"
He hears someone yawn beside him.
"Has the game ended yet...?" Anya was there, rubbing her eyes. She had just woken up from the noise.
Damian sees her leaning on his right shoulder, then realizes how long they were probably there alone. His face starts to glow a bit of red, and stutters.
"W-wait... we were... here, alone? And-" His eyes shut and limps down on Anya's lap.
"Wah, Sy-on boy, are you okay?!" Ma'am help, he fainted! The girl shakes him.
"Oh no, Security!" Their shouting was heard throughout the forest.
- End -
______
BONUS: If you not get the reference of the tiny cave part they were in, you can read the story here! It's from the official light novel.
>>>>https://gliding-hazard.tumblr.com/post/682270826036363264/spy-x-family-ln-translation-anyas-nature-class
-Thank you for reading!!
-Again, I accept requests, suggestions and criticism.
Stay safe everyone! Have a wonderful weekend. <3