#Sasakawa Iku | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

teawithotome · 3 years ago

Text

R3! Ready! Reserve! Rescue! "Crikey! It's a Hybrid": Fun Times at Mankai Nature & Hybrid Reserve - Now with Cafe! Sexy Animal Farm AKA That One Hybrid AU That I Will Not Shut Up About

1: Mankai Nature Reserve || 2: Fleeting Youth (Hybrids Go Through Puberty Too)

summary:

Izumi Tachibana leaves home looking for a change and ends up with her hands full of... paws, hooves, claws, and talons! (insert various animal noises)

Mankai Nature Reserve used to be a home for many wild hybrids - beings that can shift between human and animal - but in recent years it's fallen into disrepair. Will Izumi be able to restore this rundown nature reserve into a blooming habitat once more, and help domesticate the wild hybrids she encounters along the way?

... Doubtful. But she loves a project!

notes: this has been a fic idea that's sat in my brain for -checks phone- OVER A YEAR?? jesus christ, anyway uhhh this is very loosely based on the A7! AU they did for april fools that one time (mostly the sprites), and I just couldn't get the thought of hybrid boys out of my head and the chaos that might ensue if Mankai Company was a nature reserve instead of a theater

everyone else (yes including minor characters and ensemble cast) will show up eventually

warnings for this chapter: swearing, nudity (but it's for comedy)

---

Izumi Tachibana prides herself on being difficult to scare. She's always been the dependable one among friends and family, and as such has developed a certain amount of unshakable composure in any given situation. Skydiving instructors and wedding coordinators have nothing on her ability to stay cool in a crisis.

But when a naked stranger flings himself against the windshield of her jeep, for a brief moment, she’s humbled. Reminded of her own mortality and shortcomings as a person.

She wonders, as she tries to remember how to breathe, and the naked man makes an obnoxious gesture, if she's made a mistake in straying so far from home, in thinking she could do this by herself.

She and Iku, her chinchilla hybrid, had only been driving for a couple of hours when he began tugging at her sleeve.

“No bathroom breaks, bud. I told you to go before we left,” she reminds him with the sort of kind reprimand that he’s grown fond of over time.

Iku shakes his head. “No, it’s not that. I just wanna know where we’re going! Are we there yet?”

Izumi’s hands tighten around the wheel slightly.

“I know you said it’s a surprise, but can I at least have a hint?” He wiggles in his seat excitedly, ears and tail twitching. “Are we going to a park? Or a hybrid cafe? Will I get to make friends?”

She chews her lip. There are a lot more hybrids in the city.

“You’ll make a ton of new friends, kiddo.” She assures him with a quick smile. “There’ll be so many hybrids there, you won’t know what to do with yourself.”

Iku’s eyes light up, and she has to look away, turning her attention back to the road. It’s getting dark out, and it started raining a while ago. Although it’s nothing Izumi’s jeep can’t handle, it does feel fitting for her mood. She can’t bring herself to think about the next step, what they’ll do and where they’ll go when they get to the city. But she can’t turn back now.

As though in echo of her thoughts, lightning flashes on the horizon, and a clap of thunder follows after only a second or two. She can feel Iku tense up beside her. He’s always been afraid of thunderstorms.

“Are we there yet, Izu?”

She knows this time he isn’t asking out of impatience.

According to the map on her phone, propped up on the socket holder in the vent, they’re still at least a 45 minute drive from the city, and that’s if she pushes the speed limit. The rain is coming down harder with each moment, turning from a shower to a downpour in a matter of minutes. Her windshield wipers are making a valiant but useless effort. She can’t see a damn thing.

Frustration fills her as she pulls over to the side of the road, the trees overhead providing some cover from the onslaught. She’d checked the weather before leaving, specifically waiting for a day when no rain was predicted.

“Izu?” Iku’s voice is timid, his fuzzy ears pressed flat against his head.

“Give me a second, okay, bud?” Izumi yanks her phone out of its stand and zooms in on the digital map onscreen, looking for someplace, any place nearby that they could take cover until the storm passes.

“Are we gonna keep driving? Do we have to stay out here?” He fidgets with his hands, bushy tail wrapping around his waist in the self-soothing position he usually assumes during storms.

“Just a minute, okay?” She replies, though she knows it doesn’t come out sounding as comforting as she would have liked. Just her luck that they're in the middle of nowhere when something like this happens.

Wait, further up the side road… it looks like there’s something. Mankai Nature Reserve.

Why does that sound so familiar?

“Izu?” Iku’s tiny voice pierces her thoughts again as another flash of lightning fills the sky, and he cowers behind his fluffy tail with a whimper when the thunder follows. “S-sorry… I’m okay. I’ve grown out of it.”

Her heart melts. All thoughts of annoyance disappear as she reassesses her priorities. Iku may be growing fast, but he’s still a kid. Even though Iku is essentially a 15 year old boy while in hybrid form, in chinchilla form he’s still only three years old. He still needs to be held, played with, and given lots of attention from his owner. Izumi sometimes forgets how little he is.

She unbuckles her seatbelt and gestures for him to come over onto her lap. He shifts seamlessly into his full chinchilla form, hopping over and burrowing against her chest, tiny noises of distress emanating from his smaller self.

“It’s okay, I know…” Izumi holds and shushes him soothingly, unzipping her jacket to let him nestle inside. Once he’s settled, she zips it back up partially to keep him secure. “You stay in there, okay? I’ll get us someplace dry.”

Iku nods his little head, still shaking a bit.

Inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth, she buckles up and puts the car in reverse, navigating to the side road indicated on the map, which quickly turns from concrete into gravel.

A small detour. This is fine. Soon they’ll be back on track.

She can barely see from the darkness of the cloud cover, but she can still make out the lush forest surrounding them on all sides. There’s less rain with the additional trees, but still enough to have her wipers working overtime.

She slowly makes her way up the gravel pathway. This reserve is a pretty long way from the main road. But if they have a dry place for her and Iku to wait out the storm, that’ll be good enough.

By now, Iku has calmed down a bit and pokes his head out from her jacket, whiskers twitching while he watches the rain splash against the windshield.

In an instant, something emerges from the underbrush on the left and slams into the hood of the car. The vehicle jostles from the impact, just as a bolt of lightning showcases the figure now pressed up against the windshield.

The very naked male figure.

Izumi lets out a shriek. She isn't proud of it, but she does. While her lungs stop working and her heart tries to beat its way out of her chest, she wonders for a very brief moment if this is where she’ll die. A heart attack in her jeep on a rainy night far away from home, with a naked man as her last view of this mortal plane. Not exactly a heroic death.

Iku, on the other hand, gets over the startle surprisingly quickly. He leaps from Izumi’s jacket back onto the passenger seat, shifting back into hybrid form, his eyes wide with curiosity. He leans forward and taps on the glass, raising his voice to be heard over the rain. "Hi! What's your name?"

The man, or no, the hybrid (Izumi now notices the pinkish feathers jutting out from his elbows, neck, and unfortunately, scrotum) seems only a little dazed from his crash, and merely cackles in reply.

A shout from the shrubbery to the left seems to get the hybrid's attention, and he springs off the hood, darting away to the right, through the underbrush. "TRY TO CATCH ME, BITCH!" In his wake, he leaves a slightly greasy and unfortunate outline on the windshield. The rain does little to wash it away.

"Izu, there are hybrids here!” Iku starts tugging at her sleeve again, his fuzzy ears twitching in delight, all previous fears forgotten in light of this new development. “Can I go make some friends? Please?"

"Iku, that is not-"

Izumi cuts herself off with another undignified yelp as a little red something crashes onto the hood as well, scampering to right itself on the slippery surface.

A squirrel. He chitters and turns to face them through the windshield, fur sopping wet, then stands up on his hind legs and bows his head. Is he… apologizing? Another hybrid, then. His beady eyes are shiny with emotion as he raises his head up to look at Izumi, wringing his paws together remorsefully.

He returns to all fours and is about to take off in pursuit of the feathery flasher, but he spies Iku and seems to hesitate a moment. He waves a paw at him shyly. Iku's eyes light up as he waves back. Then the squirrel darts off through the underbrush.

Izumi can sense the question on Iku's lips before he can ask it. "No, Iku."

"Izu, please! I wanna go play tag, too!" His shiny eyes and adorable pout will get him nowhere this time.

"No! Are you crazy? It’s thundering outside, you’re not supposed to get wet, and those hybrids are definitely not domesticated," she says, still catching her breath from the double heart attacks.

Iku slumps in his seat, looking utterly defeated.

Her resolve weakens. "Listen." She ruffles his hair, turquoise locks silky beneath her fingers. "I know you’re looking forward to meeting other hybrids. But we'll find a… safer way to get you some friends, okay?" She lets out a sigh, muttering under her breath while she takes another quick glance out the windows. "Hopefully without encountering any more lunatics."

"But that squirrel guy seemed nice! Why can't I make friends with him?" Iku asks, his eyes carrying a sliver of hope that Izumi hates to dash.

But this isn't about the greasy outline of male anatomy streaking her windshield, or even her personal pride. It's about Iku's safety. It’s about finding shelter, a warm, safe place to wait out this storm.

Clearly, this reserve does not fit the bill.

"KAMEKICHI!" Another man emerges from the left, this one with a scraggly mop of hair, his patchy beard and dirty rain poncho only enhance the haggard expression on his face. He wields a large butterfly net in his hands. "GET BACK HERE!"

He stops mid-stride when he catches sight of their vehicle, like a deer in headlights. The net clatters to the ground. His face lights up with the most desperate grin Izumi's ever seen.

"Welcome!" He cries with near hysteria and takes a step forward, as another bolt of lightning illuminates him eerily from behind. "You're… you're here for the hybrid cafe event, right? The grand reopening?"

Izumi purses her lips.

She puts the car in reverse.

"No, please, WAIT!"

"There’s a hybrid cafe?!"

She tries to remain calm and ignore both the strange man and Iku's overlapping shouts as she slowly backs up. No sudden movements, keep eye contact. At least, that’s what her mom had always said to do when dealing with dangerous creatures. But the guy runs forward and flings himself at the hood of her jeep anyway, his glasses askew. "PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!!"

The impact has her heart hammering and she tries very hard not to shriek again. Stay calm, Izumi. Just focus on the road, don't run over any animals or pedestrians.

"Wait! Don't go yet!” The man clings to her windshield wipers, even as they swat him in the face. “You haven't even- ow! S-seen our wonderful hybrids up for adoption, all very well trained, and-"

"Oh, you mean like the one that flashed me and left a dick print on my jeep?!" She retorts hotly, adrenaline pumping through her at this point, and removing a few of her usual filters.

"Well… we have a beautiful garden! And fancy finger sandwiches!"

All she needs to do is focus on getting her and Iku-

Iku.

Her heart stops. She feels around, but the seat beside her is empty, neither boy nor chinchilla anywhere to be found. Where-?

She catches sight of the open passenger window and slams on the brakes, unfortunately displaying a squished version of the man’s face on her windshield as he’s pressed against it from the impact. Great. That’s another smudgy mark to clean off later.

Izumi switches gears before the man can protest, and floors it, tires spitting gravel and the scraggly stranger’s screams filling the air as she speeds along the path, keeping her eyes peeled for little gray puffballs.

Chinchillas are known for their incredibly soft and thick fur. But because it’s so dense, it can be dangerous if they get wet. If they’re not dried out properly, the fur can clump together, and in some cases even mold, causing further health problems. That’s why they take dust baths instead of water ones. If Iku stays out in this rain for too long��

Okay, calm down. Think. If he wanted to make friends, and didn’t want to give Izumi any gray hairs of her own, he would’ve hurried down the path towards the reserve, where presumably this cafe and more hybrids would be. At least, that’s what she’s hoping. If he’s somewhere in this vast tangle of trees and shrubbery… Well, let’s just say Izumi isn’t above shoving fancy finger sandwiches in the orifices of scruffy men if it means making sure Iku is safe and sound.

The path soon opens up onto a clearing, a large log cabin in the center, with a small dirt area for parking off to the side. Izumi pulls up into the designated space, albeit a bit sloppily. Not her best parking job, but the mud and her rising panic are reason enough not to attempt anything more respectable.

She kills the engine and hops out of the car, slamming the door shut and wielding her carabiner full of various keys as a makeshift weapon.

The rumpled man looks even more pathetic as he slides slowly off the hood of her car into a mud puddle, whimpering all the while. But Izumi can’t find it in herself to feel sorry for him. She hoists the guy up by the back of his collar, displaying impressive strength for her size.

The man sputters in protest and defense, clearly about to wet himself further. But before she can utter a single demand or question, she hears a rustling behind her.

She turns around to see a large, imposing shadow of a man emerge from the forest. In one gloved hand, he holds a small cage that rattles as squawking and various expletives ring out from within. His other arm is cradling a small bundle of something. A squirrel perches on his shoulder, holding an umbrella aloft above them all and fidgeting nervously.

“Izu?” The man utters in a deep bass, looking directly at her.

Izumi stares at him, at a loss for words.

He lowers his cradled arm slightly, and she sees a gray lump shivering within.

“Iku!” She drops the scruffy man, who groans as he falls into the mud once again, but she barely even notices. The bigger man lets her take Iku’s lumpy little form, and she nearly weeps as she carefully places him back inside of her jacket. Though it won’t do him much good if she stays out in this rain.

“He should dry off.” The man says, as though reading her thoughts. She nods.

He inclines his head towards the cabin in a clear invitation, then begins walking there himself, paying absolutely no mind to the raging bird in the cage beside him, nor the whimpering man in the mud.

Izumi doesn’t waste a moment in following him.

#a3!#a3! fanfic #a3! au #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3! izumi #izumi tachibana #a3! ensemble cast #iku sasakawa #a3! iku #matsukawa #kamekichi #tetsuro #sakuya #sakuya sakuma #a3! sakuya #r3! ready! reserve! rescue!

17 notes · View notes

teawithotome · 3 years ago

Text

R3! Ready! Reserve! Rescue! “Crikey! It’s a Hybrid”: Fun Times at Mankai Nature & Hybrid Reserve - Now with Cafe! [Sexy Animal Farm AKA That One Hybrid AU That I Will Not Shut Up About]

1: Mankai Nature Reserve || 2: Fleeting Youth (Hybrids Go Through Puberty Too)

summary:

Izumi Tachibana leaves home looking for a change and ends up with her hands full of… paws, hooves, claws, and talons! (insert various animal noises)

Mankai Nature Reserve used to be a home for many wild hybrids - beings that can shift between human and animal - but in recent years it’s fallen into disrepair. Will Izumi be able to restore this rundown nature reserve into a blooming habitat once more, and help domesticate the wild hybrids she encounters along the way?

… Doubtful. But she loves a project!

notes: in which Izumi reassesses her parenting style and a stain is left on the armchair

warnings for this chapter: swearing, mild hurt/comfort

Maybe, Izumi thinks to herself as she sips her mug of hot cocoa, this place isn't so bad. Granted, that sentiment is largely due to the tall, dark, and handsome stranger who introduced himself (when asked) as Tetsuro and very quickly had both Izumi and Iku relatively dried off and bundled up in some spare blankets

Despite being the silent type, he had a comforting air about him that put Izumi at ease.

The squirrel from before had actually helped make the cocoa, and it did lift Izumi's mood a bit to watch the little guy carry a bag of marshmallows nearly as tall as himself over to the counter and carefully place a few into her drink.

Now she sits on a well-worn couch by the cozy fireplace inside the cabin, nursing her cocoa. Iku has a blow dryer trained on him on the floor, set to warm him up as well. The chinchilla fluffs and grooms himself in front of it to help get the rest of the damp out of his fur.

The interior of the cabin has an open floor plan, with a reception desk by the door leading into a cozy sitting area and a small kitchen. All wooden floors and walls, dingy and dull from years of neglect.

Tetsuro, standing nearer to the kitchen, slides a small dish of birdseed into the cage, which he'd brought inside and set on the countertop. The bird, still throwing a tantrum, knocks it aside with an off-key squawk. The squirrel flinches away from the noise, scampering back onto Tetsuro's shoulder and peering around him warily.

"EAT MY ASS!" The bird cackles in the way only birds can, shaking out its feathers from the rain and spraying droplets all over.

Tetsuro doesn't seem discouraged, and merely sighs, covering the cage with a cloth.

The bird protests initially, until its profanities dwindle, eventually fading entirely as soft snores start to emanate from the covered cage.

Izumi finds this amusing. "He needs a time out, huh?"

Tetsuro tosses her a sidelong smile. "Mm."

The cabin door bursts open, and the scruffy man reappears, dripping wet, but notably no longer covered in mud or whimpering in defeat on the ground.

He adjusts his glasses, taking a moment to collect himself, and then beams broadly at Izumi. "I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot! Allow me to introduce myself-"

"Isuke." Tetsuro interrupts, then inclines his head towards the window, where rain is still pouring down.

"Ah, yes, yes, you go on ahead. I'll take care of our guests." The scruffy man replies, and Tetsuro takes his leave through the back door.

Izumi suddenly feels less cozy and more cautious. She subtly beckons Iku to come and sit on her lap, and he does so, burying himself in the crook of her arm.

Izumi closes her free hand around the carabiner in her pocket, just in case this guy tries anything funny. They may have been given shelter by these people, but that doesn't change the fact that they're strangers. She's listened to too many true crime podcasts to let down her guard completely.

The guy comes around and sits in the armchair opposite, ignoring the fact that he's still dripping wet. Izumi cringes internally at the sight of the darkening upholstery as the damp spot spreads around him, but decides not to say anything.

"Like I was saying, my name is Isuke Matsukawa, and I'm the manager of this beautiful nature reserve." Matsukawa states proudly. "I'm sure you must have lots of questions, and I'd be thrilled to answer all of them!"

Izumi looks around the cabin. She stares at him. "No, not really."

He reels back as though physically pushed. "You… you don't have any questions?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that this place is falling apart." She sets her drink down on the low coffee table off to the side. "You said there was a 'grand reopening' or something? A hybrid cafe?"

Matsukawa nods fiercely and stands up, his eyes lighting up behind water flecked spectacles. "That's right!"

Izumi holds up a hand before he can continue, ignoring the way Iku's ears perk up. "Sorry, but we're not really interested. Thank you for the hospitality, but we need to get going."

Iku shifts back into a boy, his clothes and hair still a bit damp, and rolls off of Izumi's lap, turning to the scruffy man with that glimmer of hope. "I'm interested! You have a cafe?"

Izumi sighs. She'd been afraid this would happen. "Iku, we need to get back on the road."

"Iku, is it? Well, aren't you a cute one!" Matsukawa crouches down to the hybrid's level and adjusts his glasses proudly. "That's right, my boy! A soon-to-be certified hybrid cafe! The first one outside of the city."

Iku's bushy tail whips around excitedly, and he turns to Izumi, clasping his hands and pouting for all he's worth. "Please Izu! Please, please, please can we stay to see the cafe?"

Izumi chews her lip. She hates being the bad guy, but she knows she really should have a talk with Iku about his little escape earlier, which she would much rather not do in front of strangers. That kind of reckless behavior shouldn't be rewarded.

Plus, what kind of hybrids would work at a cafe run by this man? If the nudist bird from earlier is one of them, then she doesn't want Iku anywhere near the place.

Before she can buckle down, thunder rumbles loud enough to rattle her cocoa mug against the table, and Matsukawa speaks up.

"Well, you certainly can't go out on the road in a doozy of a storm like this! You should at least stay here until it's safe to drive." He claps his hands together. "Oh, we even have a guest bedroom upstairs you can use!"

"A guest bedroom?" Izumi asks, getting antsy to leave. What is this, an airbnb?

"Well, up until about eight years ago, it belonged to our director of operations here, Yukio Tachibana, but he-"

Izumi freezes. Yukio Tachibana? It can't be… She stands up suddenly, to both Iku's and the manager's surprise.

"You know what? You're right. It's not safe to travel in this weather." She takes Iku's hand and manages a smile in Matsukawa's direction. "Where's that guest bedroom?"

—

Izumi recognizes that she may look a bit silly, reprimanding a chinchilla. But it’s part of her responsibility as an owner and caretaker.

“What were you thinking?” She says, now that she and Iku have some privacy from disheveled managers and profane pigeons. “You know you can’t get wet like that, it’s dangerous!”

Iku stays put in his animal form, hunkering in on himself on the foot of the small bed.

Izumi huffs, and kneels on the ground, elbows resting on the bed to be at eye level with her small companion. “I know you want to make friends, but you can’t put your wants over your own safety.”

Iku lets out a small vocalization, turning away from her.

Is he sulking? That’s… unusual for him. She expected Iku to apologize and need some comfort, if anything. He’s always been a bit of a crybaby. “Look, bud. I was ready to tear this place to the ground looking for you. You really scared me.”

Nothing.

She reaches out to pet his back, and he whips around to nip at her fingers.

She yanks her hand away. Is he… angry?

Her surprise turns into mild irritation. Doesn’t he understand how serious things could have been if Tetsuro hadn’t found him? Maybe it’s something else. Has his diet changed at all? She let him have an extra peanut butter cracker after dinner last night, but nothing too out of the ordinary. He’s been getting enough sleep.

“Iku, talk to me. Come on.” She clicks her fingers together in a gesture which usually makes him snuggle into her hand. Now it only brings about more of the furry cold shoulder act.

Well, she’s tried lecturing, comforting, and talking things out.

“Alright. Seems like someone needs a time out.”

It’s these words that cause Iku to finally shift, hopping off the bed to stand at his full height of five foot three. His bushy tail shakes and lashes around behind him, ears pressed flat against his head as he stares up at Izumi, eyes red and watery, but filled with a fiery determination.

"I'm not a BABY anymore!" He shouts, his lower lip quivering, chin set. “I know it was dangerous, but I’m all ALONE! I need-” He chokes. His eyes squeeze shut as he sits on the words that were stamped so deeply in his heart, he must have pried them out with a crowbar.

Oh… Izumi’s throat constricts.

Chinchillas are social creatures. One of those hybrid types that you really should adopt in pairs or with others so they don’t feel isolated. She'd always thought that by sticking with Iku and being his constant companion… she would be enough to compensate for that.

But she realizes now that she might have only hurt Iku in trying to help him. And broken her own heart in the process. Because she recognizes that loneliness, that terrible feeling of not having anyone who understands you.

Izumi tries to take a tender hold of his shoulders, but he shrugs her off, reluctant to give up his newfound rebellion, even as he swipes away at his tears.

Izumi looks him in the eyes. Makes a conscious choice to do what her mother never could for her.

“I’m sorry.”

Iku’s chin quivers, and he breaks. Izumi holds his head against her as he collapses into her arms and blubbers his own apologies, but she shushes them. It’s her job to make this right, not his.

The truth is, Iku’s right. He’s not a baby anymore. He’ll be turning sixteen next month. She’ll have to do a bit of research on navigating a hybrid’s teenage years. What to expect, how to adapt. But most importantly, she’ll have to learn to let Iku take the lead.

It's less than an hour later, once Iku is tucked in, reassured that they can talk more in the morning, and snoring softly in the simple bed beside her - fresh linens provided by the manager to replace the old and dusty ones - that Izumi lets herself think about what Matsukawa said earlier that evening.

Director of operations. Yukio Tachibana.

What had her dad been doing here, in this place?

He hadn't been in her life since she was around five or six years old, and even then, her memories of him are fuzzy and infrequent. After that, he simply wasn't there.

Her mom used to tell her that he was "finding peace among nature". Her mom had always been a bit eccentric. Finding peace in nature sounded really cool when she was young - she had imagined her dad meditating beneath waterfalls, and learning how to move stuff with his mind - but she understood later that it meant he'd died.

Now she's not so sure. Eight years ago, she was sixteen. And Yukio had been… here? In this place, away from his family?

Did her mom know about this? Maybe her parents had a falling out and he ran off. There's no way to know for sure. Izumi can't exactly ask her techno-phobic mom now that they're so far from home. Not that she'd even want to, with the way she'd left things.

She carefully extricates herself from Iku, who had shifted back into a chinchilla in his sleep. He stirs slightly, squeaking at her absence, though his eyes remain closed.

"Just going pee, be right back, bud." She whispers, and this seems to be enough to let him drift fully back to sleep.

Once he's safely snoring again, she takes a moment to look around the room. Her father's old room.

Bed, desk, small wardrobe, window. The decor is sparse, and she gets the sense that function was prioritized over fashion, aside from a single piece of art on the wall above the desk.

She steps over for a closer look, the floorboards creaking a little beneath her feet. It's a cross stitch design. A nature scene. A male deer - what’s it called, a stag? - standing tall and proud atop a rock, sunlight glinting off the antlers. A river and forest of trees make up the backdrop.

Her mother does cross stitch. Did she make this? Would her father have kept it if they did have a falling out?

Too many questions. No sign of answers.

She sighs softly, examining the vertical drawers of the wooden desk. She expected them to be locked, and they are. Except the last one.

A small, leather-bound book. Dusty, like everything else in the room. Iku could practically take a bath in here.

She thumbs through the pages to find scratchy handwriting. A journal?

The light is dim, and she doesn't want to risk using her phone flashlight and waking up Iku. So she opts to tuck it in her jacket and look at it in the morning.

She sweeps her eyes around the rest of the room, searching for… she's not exactly sure what. A hint. A sign. A clue. Anything that might bring a bit of light to the dull and foggy memories she has of her father.

A small bookcase lines the wall. She hadn't noticed it before, since there were storage boxes in the way. She creeps around them to look at what sort of books fill the shelves.

A History of Mythical Beasts, Harmony & Nature - A Guide to Spirits, Encyclopedia of Hybrids and Humanoid Creatures of Unknown Origin.

Mythical beasts and spirits? So her dad was a whacko too, huh?

She snorts to herself. She would think the director of a nature reserve would be a little more grounded in reality. But she can't knock a man she barely knew for having hobbies.

Upon skimming further down the shelves, she finds some more useful books. Hybrid Care 101, The Household Guide to Hybrid Happiness, How to Train Your Hybrid… the list goes on.

She picks one out on Helping Hybrids Through Puberty, and calls it a night.

10 notes · View notes