Yuna smiled. "Are you scared?"
Uneasy swallowed Wataru. "A little bit."
"Good. Otherwise I would send you home."
Interrogative, he looked at her. "I don't understand."
"You must be aware of the fact that Oni are dangerous. They are beasts.", she explained.
"Can't we do something else?"
The girl placed her hands on her hips. "You said whatever I want."
"Yeah, but I thought of ... I dunno ... something harmless."
"You're right." Relieved Wataru breathed out. "It was a cool date. I'll see you at home."
Irritated, he stared at her. "What?"
"I'm going to hunt and you go home."
He shook his head. "No! I want to spend time with you."
"We did. But I have other things to do now."
Her boyfriend looked hurt at her. "Come on. Let's do something together, Yuna-chan."
She tensed up a little. "Man. Don't you get it? I'm not a normal girl. I can't hang around all day long with you. I have a purpose in my life."
"Sure ... but ...", hemmed the singer.
"No buts. Actually, I had absolutely no desire to go on a date with you, but now I had fun.", admitted the blue-haired. "And now I have to do my job."
Wataru pressed his lips together. "Okay." He grabbed Yuna by the hand.
"What are you up to?"
"Let's go do your thing."
"You're crazy."
"So what if I am? You want to hunt? We hunt." Determined, Wataru pulled his girlfriend with him.
With a jerk she brought him to stand still. "We have to go in the other direction.", she grinned, whereupon the young man sighed.
Holding hands, they walked through the passage to the bus stop. They earned occasional glances from other couples, but also from people who were on their way alone. Wasn't the first love something wonderfully mysterious?
On the bus, they sat side by side. The huntress leaned against her boyfriend. This situation felt so incredibly strange to her. On the one hand, that she had a boyfriend now, on the other, that he accompanied her to a hunt. Nevertheless, she enjoyed his presence. Wataru was less calm and played nervously with her fingers.
"Relax.", whispered the blue-haired.
"Easy for you to say. You've already done this stuff."
She smiled. "You can get off at any time. I won't force you to anything. I don't want to put you in danger."
"I think you and danger come hand in hand."
Yuna laughed amused. "Sometimes we do."
"You surely must think that I'm a wimp."
"No. Don't worry." He gratefully squeezed her hand.
Finally, they got out of the vehicle. Dusk was rising and bathed everything in a reddish light. They walked hand in hand on the sidewalk.
After a few minutes they came to the edge of the great forest. Yuna released his hand, went a few steps to the trees and stretched out her nose into the air. She sniffed.
Wataru hid his hands in his pockets and watched her. The girl went a step further and sniffed again. She took off her sunglasses, unzipped her sweater and hung the glasses in the holster.
She turned to face him. "I smell one."
"You can smell them?"
Nodding, she replied: "Yes. My senses are much finer than that of a human."
"You are human, right?"
She gave him a irresolute glance. "I'm not sure anymore." Wataru looked her in the eye until she turned around again. To her delight, he didn't react at all to her sunken eyelid. "Wait here.", she ordered him.
He marched over to her. "No. I'm coming with you."
"You don't have to prove anything. I'll kill it, then we can go home."
"I won't let you go alone."
The huntress chuckled. "What are you going to do against a beast? Sing for it?"
Scowling, he looked at her. "You're mean."
"I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Then protect me." She looked at him silently. "Or give me a gun, so that I can defend myself."
"Okay." Yuna reached into her sweater and pulled out the Beretta.
"Wooah ... you have a gun?!", stuttered Wataru.
"Did you think I'm pulling a prank on you?"
"I had hoped so."
The huntress checked the magazine and cocked the weapon. "It's loaded and unlocked. If you see a beast, aim at it and pull the trigger."
Uncertain looked the singer at the metal object in her hand. "Won't I become a hunter then?"
"Probably not."
"Probably? But you said that before."
"I know. I didn't know better. My family is somehow special. Normal people don't get powers.", she explained.
"How do you know?"
"Yoshiro told me."
The young man took a deep breath, then he grabbed the Beretta. "This is so insane.", he confessed.
"Yeah." Yuna crouched and drew her knife. "Let's go. Stay behind me."
"Okay."
The girl took the lead and went into the forest. Again and again she sniffed and corrected her course. Silently, with both hands on the Beretta Wataru followed her. All around them, he heard noises. The whisper of the wind, the rustling of leaves that were caressed by it, the cheeping of some birds and the chirping of cicadas.
The singer tried to breathe calmly and not to be disturbed by the noises. Somewhere left of them cracked a branch. Instantly, Wataru aimed in the direction, looking for a beast.
"He handels himself pretty well.", thought Yuna as she watched him. The truth was that she had found no trace of an Oni. She was just curious how her boyfriend would behave. Abruptly she stopped. "Shh!"
Wataru ducked his head and crouched. The blue-haired had to keep her act together so she didn't burst out laughing. He always played those shooting games, but it was a whole different thing when it was the real deal.
"Wait here.", she whispered.
"Are you sure?" He sounded rather uncertain.
"Yes. I'll check it out."
The huntress could properly see, but she assumed that Wataru was practically blind with the dim light. Carefully she crept on until she believed that he could no longer see her. She grabbed a stone and threw it behind the singer in a bush.
Her boyfriend whirled around when he heard the rustling.
"Yuna-chan?", he hissed. "Yuna!" She threw another stone into another thicket. The young man took aim in this direction. "Yuna, something is here."
The girl held her hand over her mouth and laughed up her sleeve. That was enough, she had her fun with him. It was time to go home. She stepped out of her hiding place and walked toward him. Carelessly she stepped on a dry branch, which broke under her weight and made a cracking sound.
Wataru turned around and once he saw a silhouette, he pulled the trigger.
"Hey! Watch it.", Yuna yelled annoyed.
"Oh shit!" He quickly lowered the gun. "Fuck! Everything okay?!"
"Yeah, yeah." She came over to him and took her weapon back. She looked down at herself and stuck a finger through a hole in her upper body clothing. "I only have a hole in the sweater."
The young man had turned pale. "I'm sorry!"
She waved. "It's alright. We can go."
"What about the Oni?"
"There's no Oni. I pulled a prank on you." Impish she smiled at him.
Relieved laughed Wataru. "Oh my God. I almost peed in my pants."
"I know. I've watched you."
Although he was actually angry, he had to smile. "You're such a nasty little ..."
"Yeah." The huntress locked the Beretta and holstered it again. "My brave soldier." She gave him a long kiss.
They kissed for a while before Wataru broke from her. "You know what? I renounce from future Onihunts. That's not my thing."
"I know. You're just not hard enough, you wimp."
They laughed at each other. Above them sounded wing beats and a rumble that constantly got louder. Both lifted their gaze and Yuna discovered a winged creature, that gave a resounding shriek, firmly clutched to a tree trunk.