Beautiful Monster
Workaholics

Miho's feet continued to run down the forest to avoid the tiger that was still chasing her from behind. He tries to find Rin and Yosuke who go out of nowhere.

Several times Miho fell, but when he heard the tiger's growl he kept running no matter what knee was injured.

"Ah, fuck!" hissing Miho because he was already standing at the end of the cliff.

The tiger walked casually towards Miho as if knowing that the human in front of him would not be able to go anywhere anymore. Just have to decide the choice to die falling off a cliff or die eaten by it.

Aum!

The tiger galloped and jumped, but Miho who was afraid accidentally retreated and dropped himself.

Miho tries to accept fate to immediately follow the father to the afterlife, because it feels impossible to stay alive when a human falls from a high cliff like himself.

Suddenly Miho felt her body being captured by something. He opened his eyes, surprised instead of playing to find Yujiro's face.

"Yu-Yujiro?" Miho looked back and forth and realized that Yujiro was flying with the flapping of the wings on his back.

Yujiro continued to climb to the top and landed near the lake that Miho came to earlier. He lowered Miho's body carefully as the wings on his back slowly shrank and disappeared.

"You-you...?" Miho was still gawking, not believing what she saw.

Yujiro doesn't care about Miho's surprise right now. He simply tidied up Miho's hair and removed some dry leaves that were attached to his shirt and head.

"What's this?" chirps Rin who just came with Yosuke.

Miho stutters to see Rin who is staring at Yujiro by researching because she just saw him.

"He's your lover?" rin asked while pointing at Yujiro.

"A-ah, that... She's..."

"God! He followed you all the way here? Is she worried about you?" goda Rin while embracing Yosuke's affectionate.

"But what happened to you? Why are you such a mess and your face is pale, Miho?" he continued to worry.

Miho tried to set the face so as not to look shocked again after getting something strange from Yujiro earlier.

"It seems like he should leave immediately," said Miho encouraging Yujiro as a gesture for the man to just leave from there.

Yujiro turned his head to look at Miho, ascertaining the state of the woman for the last time before actually leaving due to the demands.

"Why don't you just leave it here?" rin's protest was disappointed.

"Necessary. He must leave immediately" said Miho, commenting on a stiff smile.

"alright. Let's get out of here" Rin asked.

Miho followed closely behind with her legs slightly limping. He felt his knee hurt because of the fall marks earlier.

What was that?

Only this time Miho saw that humans could fly and have wings. Miho also had no idea if Yujiro could do that.

Who exactly is Yujiro?

Inner Miho began to wonder and guessed that maybe the monster Senzo and Koyo were talking about earlier was Yujiro.

If that is the case, Yujiro's life is in danger. Moreover, Miho had heard if they hired assassins to catch him.

What am I supposed to do now?

His head was busy thinking about that and only realized that they had reached Aihara Rin's residence.

"You're home yet?" greet Senzo who made Miho disperse daydream when he heard the voice.

Miho nodded. "Y-yes. We go.. streets."

...****************...

After the job was done, Miho went home. He hurriedly searches for Yujiro who turns out not to be home. Miho starts to panic, thinking negatively if now Yujiro has been caught by Senzo and the others.

"Yujiro!" call Miho come closer while observing the state of the man who just returned.

"We... We need to get out of here! We can't stay here anymore" Miho asked. "We have to go somewhere far away."

Yujiro sees the strangeness of Miho. He held her hand so as not to pull her away from there.

"We have to go," Miho said again with a look that began to wistfully turn to Yujiro. Implying the fear of something that made Yujiro reveal himself to find out the fear.

"Who are you really?" miho asked after they were silent for quite a long time with their respective thoughts.

Yujiro did not answer. To be honest, he also did not know what his true self was. But Yujiro remembered Naho's words in his dream, so that he would remain who he is today.

"Ushioda Yujiro," he said, trying to open his voice.

"No. I meani... Why do you have wings? Why can you fly? Have you...hidden all this time from me and Papa?"

Yujiro stroked his small grip on Miho's still-connected hand. "Yujiro Ushioda. Humans."

Miho bowed while letting go of that grip gently. Yujiro observes Miho's receding face and feels empty when the two of them's grasp comes off.

"Yujiro," called Miho raise her face, returning the gaze of the blue eyes in front of her. "You need to get out of here. Someone's after you to take and in-"

"The monster?" yujiro asked for the first time other than human names and words.

"The monster?" asked Yujiro again who now patted his chest three times because he was feeling sad.

Ah, Miho feels stupid for believing that the monster Senzo and Koyo are looking for is Yujiro. Indirectly, Miho assumes that Yujiro is really a monster.

"Ushioda Yujiro, human," he said as if to confirm his identity.

Miho turned her back to Yujiro in a dilemma. He was really worried that later those people would take Yujiro, sooner or later, even though his heart was trying to dodge if they were not Yujiro.

In the middle of that thought, Miho was shocked because suddenly Yujiro hugged her from behind. Not only that, Miho saw that his large black wings also covered the bodies of both of them.

Yujiro did this because he felt afraid, especially seeing Miho's gaze that began to panic and differ as if Yujiro was really a scary monster that would be targeted by others.

"Yuji.." - Miho called out to him. He slowly turned around, facing Yujiro who started to spread those wings.

Both of Miho's eyes also widened as a slightly glowing deer antler began to emerge from his head. Not only that, Yujiro's two hands began to overgrow claws, his teeth grew fangs, and his body began to be overgrown with black feathers sparkling like a wolf.

"Yujiro.." call Miho cupping Yujiro's face while observing him every change.

Yujiro retreats to stay away from Miho, feeling that the woman will be scared after seeing this terrible change that is indeed like a monster.

Miho looked at the man. His feet stepped forward and then scattered to embrace Yujiro's body so warmly, as if he did not want any difference from before.

"I don't care what you turn into and how. I just want no danger of anything coming to you. I don't want to lose anyone else because you're part of my family with Papa. So, stay alive with me, Yujiro."

Hearing that, Yujiro's body slowly turned back into his human form. The two unclawed hands were now moving back to hug Miho's body.

Yujiro realized that the warm feeling was coming from the deepest corner of his heart. The feeling that makes Yujiro calm and feel completely human every time he is near Miho.

Humans have all the feelings and emotions. Yujiro realizes that what he feels right now is love.

Pure love of fellow human beings to protect each other and reluctant to lose.

The love she thought made her stay alive and had a clear purpose as Ushioda Yujiro.