Artificial Love: Chapter 17

Aoi’s POV

I can’t tell if I am dreaming or not, my consciousness kept fading in and out. The last thing I remember was that I was in a fight with some pinheads and the next thing I knew was my body being moved around on a bed and the blurred images of peering faces with their voices. I laid here on what obviously seems like a bed, groaning with every exhalation of pain just to hear something from this empty atmosphere. When I blinked a few times, things gradually became clearer and when I turned my head towards the right, my eyes started to widen up. Kimiko was at sight with her long, dark, silky hair perfectly laid onto the bed as she slept peacefully next to me holding my right hand.

With my other hand, I reached over to brush away the extra strands of hair that was in her face. With just the slightest touch of my fingers touching her head she awoken quickly, “Aoi?” she called my name as she lifted her head up followed by a yawn.

“You’re awake thank god, oh and everything is taken care of now so you don’t have to worry” By the time her eyes glanced over to our hands tangled together, she immediately widened her eyes and took her hands out of mine. “Oh! Sorry I was just… I—I thought you… um, I-I was just worried. Sorry!” she bowed her head once for an apology. A smile creased on my lips as I had an idea of teasing her, I started to lean close to her until our noses was just an inch away from each other.

Kimiko’s POV

“Don’t tell me that you’ve fallen for me now have you?” he asked me jokingly, “What?!” I exclaimed with my cheeks suddenly turning red, “Hmpth no way in hell, not in a million years!” I scoffed at him with my arms crossed on my chest. “Anyways, how are you feeling?”

“Like obviously…” he answered, a painful groan came from him as he attempted to get himself to sit up. Briskly, my arms rose up stopping him from going any further, “Hey don’t stress yourself, the doctors said you can’t move that much or else it’ll cause more convulsion.” He scoffed at my statement, and continued to move about. “I’ll be fine…” he said re-positioning himself in a comfortable state.

“Sorry…” I apologized.

He looked confused, “sorry for what?” he asked. “For kicking you before we headed out buying all my stuff. I didn’t know you were hurt from before, I just kicked you without knowing and you were in pain.”

“It’s fine, I probably should have told you anyways. It was my fault.” He explained closing his eyes for a while. He then turned over to me re-opening his eyes examining from waist to head. “What?” I asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Hiroto right now?” he blurted out.

“Yes, I was…But you’re hurt, and how am I going to call him when I don’t have my phone?” I said in distress. “How am I going to explain myself? The fact that I was so worried about you… so worried that I forgot about Hiroto and our date together…Besides I couldn’t just leave you there! You were beaten almost to death! You were more important than the date… you would have done the same for anyone.” I explained.

He silenced himself for a few moments, “You were that worried?”

“Yes, who wouldn’t be?” I said, his eyes wandered away from mine with a hesitated look, “Thank you.” He murmured quietly.

Aoi’s POV

“You’re welcome” she answered as a soft smile creased. “Thank you too.”

“For what?” I asked confused.

“For this…” she pointed at everything she wore. “ They did a pretty good job covering all the injuries I had from before and although beauty can be a pain, whenever I’m like this, I just feel like a princess... and I actually feel pretty, even though I’m really not.”  She whispered the last words sadly.

“That’s not tr--” the door interrupted me with three knocks behind them and slowly opened, it came to be a doctor with a clip board in his hand. “Good morning, how are you feeling sir?” he had asked.

“Feeling better than ever” Aoi replied sarcastically.

 “Well, we still need to run some tests on you sir, I know it can be an annoyance to go through so many but it’s for your own good. And as for the lady, I hate to say but visiting hour is over and you must return to your home and come back tomorrow.” He informed looking at her.

“Oh, hai, then I’ll come back tomorrow, if that’s okay…” she looked at me.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” I assured her with a smile, “Oh hey, don’t call for a taxi or anything I got you covered.”

“O-Oh, okay but, how do I know who’s picking me up?” she asked.

“You’ll know, they’ll come to you.” I answered to her, “O-Okay, thank you again.” my head shook, “No, thank you.” I corrected, she nodded her head bowing at me and left the room quietly. Just before the doctor could me to another examination room, he had explained to me that he had forgotten something and had left me in the room alone once again to wait. When I tried to reach for the T.V. remote on the other side of the table, a black leathered Italian designer purse on the floor came to my sight. A chuckle came from me as I shook my head at Kimiko’s forgetfulness. This being a bad way of getting a purse, without thinking-- grabbing it from the ends, everything had splattered and managed to fall out.

“Great…” I groaned leaning towards the ground. Luckily though, she didn’t had much in her purse; one by one after getting all her stuff back inside there was a particular case that caught my eyes.

“To Aoi… From Piabbit” I read examining every inch of the case and then opening it to see it was the same watch I wanted before. A soft smile creased as I found a small thank you note along with it,

Hey Jerk,

Hope you find this watch appealing and useful; I hate to say this but, thank you for all the help you have given me…So here’s your reward.

Sincerely, Kimiko.

I took the watch out of its case putting it around my wrist; another smile came its way as it fit quite perfectly.  “What a nice reward” I whispered turning my back around only to set her purse aside on the table. “where did my--- ah there you are.” I grabbed my phone from the chair next to the bedside flipping it open to dial Reita’s number.  “And here’s your reward Piabbit” I snickered. “Hello? Hey Reita, yes I know I’m sorry for calling this late but I need your help. Since you’re really good friends with Tora (Tora is one of the guitarist from Alice Nine btw), I need you ask him for a number.”

 [Fast Forward]

Kimiko’s POV

“Said that I’ll know who huh? Well I wonder…” both my feet moved back and forth as I sat in a small wall booth near the entrance. “Is it him? Nah, how about that person? Nope too shabby looking…”My eyes wandered off from one person from another, it was already so late, what’s worse is that now I would have to think about what I would need to say to Hiroto. He’s probably mad at me, just the thought of it made me gasp in fear. “Oh no no no no, what am I going to do?!” my eyes shut tightly as my hands bobbed onto my head gently.

“Kimiko?” a voice came from behind.

“Hai that’s--- me…” I answered with a surprised expression painted on my face. Hiroto stood in front of me with a panted look. I got off my seat and started to slowly walk towards him as he did the same, “Hiroto…” I called out to him. “Are you my--”

“Yeah.” He answered.

We stared at each other for quite some time, our eyes searched from bottom all the way to the top, only to see how elegantly we both dressed for each other. He was handsomely well dressed, sharp-looking, and well fitted. Exactly the type of thing that any woman would pick out for her man to wear to a formal dinner event. That was something that made me a bit nervous. Still, it fit well, it made him look handsome, and when he smiled, it was magical.  “Hiroto, I-I’m so sorry that I--”

“No, it’s fine. Everything has been explained. Ditching me was better than leaving Aoi out in the ally injured.” He explained with a single nod. “Besides…” he started, coming closer to me with wide open arms and then inclosing them hugging me gently.  “Anyone would do that, even I would...well I mean not to be ru--”

“No no, I understand.” I quickly assured him. “heh right…” He whispered breathlessly. “Thank god, I thought something had happened to you…” he said relieved. For a moment my eyes widened just a bit, his arms reached towards me and embraced me with one hand on the back of my head, leaning me closer to him. My eyes relaxed a bit along with an oncoming smile.  “Sorry... Sorry for making you worry.” I hugged him back.

“The good thing is that you’re safe, that’s all that matters” he spoke and broke apart from each other with smiles. “Looks like we’ll need to re-schedule our date, it’s late now.” I told him with a guilty smile. “Well, it may be late, but if you would like, we could still go out somewhere else, besides, you haven’t eaten anything have you?” he held my hand and walked me to the exit, “Come, I know somewhere that’s still open.”

[Fast Forward]

“I know it’s not a proper dinner date we had in mind, but this is the only place that serves this late.” He blushed in embarrassment. We were both at a small street ramen restaurant that had a warm and friendly atmosphere presenting its full splendor; the soft, streaming light, painted walls and comfortable furniture created the relaxing and appeasing atmosphere to me, reminded me of home. “No it’s fine! Besides, I love coming to places like here. I feel more comfortable this way.”

“Eh?” his head popped up surprised, “So you don-”

 “I-I mean, going to fancy restaurants is great too, don’t get me wrong! It’s just, eating something like ramen reminds me of happy things.” I reassured quickly.

“Ah, I see, I’m happy to hear that, please, eat as much as you like then!” he smiled as out bowls were coming their way towards us in the hands of a waitress.

“Hai” I answered with a grin while getting my chopsticks ready in hand. We talked, laughed and told many stories of our experiences; after dinner we took a trip around the bend near the park just to bring up fun memories in our child hood years. Then we walked around some more messing around with each other in the corners of the streets. We were having too much fun that time had flown by so fast. I never wanted this to end; I learned so many things about Hiroto and his band, I wanted to learn so much more from him but the night grew darker and it was time for the date to end as he drove me home to my front gate.

“Even though things didn’t go as planned, I had fun. Thank you.” I smiled at him as he did the same. “I did too.” He answered back, “I had a blast, let’s do it again sometime, well I mean after we re-schedule our date.” I nodded once at him, “That sounds wonderful.” I said saying my thank you afterwards, but just before I reached for the door handle from his car a gentle grasp was made on the other side of my arm, “Wait…Um, actually, I was thinking and wanted to ask, would you like to hang out with me and the guys in 4 days?”

“Eh? In 4 days?”

“Yeah, well you see, were all going to go on a trip and  have a barbeque on the country side where there’s a camping site to see the attractions and such. We’re celebrating the new album we just finished and we’re all bringing a few friends with us, we’re also staying there for a week and I was wondering if you’d like to come with us.” He explained.

“Yes, Yes I’d love to come with you guys, sounds fun.” I answered confidently without a second thought. At first he wore a surprised expression with his head jerking back slightly, his mouth dropped and his eyes widened. His lips creased, “Really?! Great! Um, I-I’ll give you a call and give you details tomorrow.”

“Hai sounds like a plan. Until then.” I nodded reaching for the door handle getting out of his vehicle and waved goodbye. “I can’t wait!” I said with a bright smile. He lowered his window and smiled back. “I can’t wait either! It’ll be fun! Well I’ll get going then, have a pleasant good night Kimi-chan!”

“Right back at you!” I giggled, “Drive safely okay?” I added. “I will thanks.” He nodded. He waved goodbye as his window started make its way up again and drove away far from the neighborhood until I couldn’t see him anymore. I turned around to see my front gate and my house behind it, a sigh came from me as I started to realize that it was not time for me to return yet. I still had all my belongings at Aoi’s place, let alone I still had the dress, hair and makeup on me… mother would freak out. “What a day…” my legs started to lead the way back to Aoi’s place.

[Fast Forward]

“Crap…” I groaned leaning my head back after realizing I had forgotten my purse at the hospital. I stood in front of his apartment door empty handed, “Aw man, I had his keys in that purse too…” I sighed, but just when I thought things couldn’t be helped, my eyes wandered off at his door knob seeing that it had a lock code on it. “Oh yeah! Totally forgot that this had a lock… now let me see, what was his code again?” I started to punch in random numbers.

“Access Denied huh? How about this one?” my fingers began to punch in the numbers again. “Access Denied again?! Crap what was it?” I stood there in frustration with my arms crossed my chest. ‘Okay Kimiko, let’s try to remember now… what was his code?’ I thought for bit. “Well, I know that the first two numbers are 1 and 9… ugh what are the other four remaining numbers though?”

 “Wait…” I whispered as I remembered a small flash back of Aoi entering them just before we went to the restaurant, “1979… is the year you were born…” my finger started to press the numbers in, “and 62 is your lucky number…” I added.

*Click*

The door unlocked and with it made a high pitched melody to welcome me in. “Yes! Third time’s a charm!” I squealed with the success I made and headed inside taking my heels off. “My gosh… feels so good” I pleasantly sighed with my feet finally in a comfortable state. I made my way into the living room turning on the lamp light where I found all my stuff in place just as they were when we left.

“Man, I’m so tired…” I moaned coming at an armchair and plotted myself on it. “I’m just going to sit here for a while and rest for a bit… then I’ll…get my stuff…and…leave…” my voice died slowly as my eyes began to betray me. The last thing I knew was that my sight went black and quickly drifted off to a deep sleep.

[Fast Forward]

Aoi’s POV

After all the tests and scans were done, the Doctors said that I was fine; all I need was lots of rest and not to stress myself out too much. I got to leave early thank god; all I need now to worry about was to hide these bruises and scars from everyone. I finally came up to my apartment door and punched in the numbers but to my surprise it wasn’t making an unlock sound like it always does. ‘Did I forget to lock it? No… I’m sure I did.’ I headed inside quietly as possible. Once my feet were completely free from my shoes, I suddenly had tripped over something slightly taller than my own feet when I tried to take a step forward into the house.

“WHOA! Geezes! What the hell?” I questioned turning on the front lights only to see some stylish heels that had fallen. “Those heels…” My head turned towards the hallway and spotted the living room that had a small source of light coming out of it.

“Kimiko?” I called out, walking quietly at a slow pace. Pausing briefly I entered the spacious room peering in what could be inside waiting for me. The innocence showed on the sleeping face, I have found her resting onto the armchair as her moving eyes indicated the peaceful and serene dreams she was having blocking out all the dangers of the outside. Eyelids closed against the dim light of the table lamp, the soft breathing making the world seem to stand still.

“I wonder…what are you dreaming about? You must be having a blast right now.” My hands took hold of wrist as I tried to take off the accessories she worn and setting them aside on the table. “C’mon, let’s go…” I encouraged her, she responded with groans and moans just when I grabbed one of her arm and wrapping them around my neck, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine…” I assured her successfully picking her up in bridal style.

My legs forward across the long hallway leading me to my room where it was quiet and dark. My foot rose up only to push open the door wide enough for the both of us and went inside into the cool room. Once I finally reached my bed my arms gently placed the small woman down onto it, “There now… isn’t that a bit better?” She smiled warmly hugging one of the pillows as her legs started to slide from side to side across the cold mattress. I started to chuckle at her, bringing the blanket gently over her, “You’re even funny when you sleep”.

I went over to the other side of the bed and laid myself onto it, feeling the same excitement of the cool mattress. My eyes closed as an unavoidable yawn stretched open my mouth, “Geez… so tired.” I started to move onto my sides and reopened my eyes. A small gasp escaped from me when I found myself so close to her sleeping face, I felt my cheeks burn and the beats of my heart quickened. I quickly moved away and sat straight on the bed, “The heck was that?” my hand touched over my chest feeling the fast pumping beats. “I guess sleeping on my own bed won’t work out…being kicked out of my own bed, how sad.”  I sighed.

[Fast Forward]

Kimiko’s POV

It was the next day , I don’t know how long that ray of sunlight had been peeking through the gap in the curtains before it found its way to my face; not do I know how long it took me to become aware of it. I fought to ignore that sunbeam, to get back to my dream that I was having but the moment had passed. I heard someone rolling around in what seemed like bed sheets and blankets. I stood up slightly and started to rub my knuckles into my eyes to drive away the sleep and tried to remember what I had planned for today. I stretched my arms far and wide as a loud yawn escaped from me, “Now that is what I call a good night sleep.” I smiled pleasantly. Once I’ve begun to open my eyes, I found myself in a really bizarre room that I had once been in before.

“Aoi’s room? Oh yeah… I fell asleep… but how did I end up here in his room? And where’s my jewelry? I had it on me, I’m sure of it… ” I stared confusedly at the bed sheets thinking. I heard the same familiar sound of moving blankets and sheets on the other side of the room. I wiggled my way on the other side of the bed looking over and discovered Aoi was sleeping on the floor showing his bare back. Slowly and quietly, my feet made its way down to the cold floor and tip toed my way down towards him with my knees hugged close to me.

 “When did he come home?” I questioned poking him gently on his arm. He made no response. My hands reached to brush away the tiny strands of hair in his face, “Lucky bastard…” I blurted quietly, never did I notice he had such long beautiful eye lashes and perfect skin, with my fingers my arms stretched towards him only to his lashes lightly, must have got it from his mother.

“Are you really a man?” I joked. Just when I tried to touch his lashes again, suddenly his eyes popped wide open grasping my wrist and quickly pinning me down onto the other side of him, making him on top and me on bottom.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked staring me down with a serious expression.

“I… I just wanted to touch---”

“Touch?”  He snickered. “Why on earth would you want to touch me? C’mon answer me.”

“I-I… I just—I just…” I took a deep breath and tightly closed my eyes. “I just wanted to touch your eye lashes! What’s wrong with that huh?! I was a little bit jealous because you have something that I don’t have! You have fairly long lashes and it’s not fair that a woman like me doesn’t!” I spoke rather rapidly; he leaned close to me with a rather confused look, “What are you talking about? You have longer lashes than I do.” He leaned back flicking my forward head with his fingers with a smile.

“Really?” I felt my own lashes, “They don’t seem that long to me…”

“Of course they don’t to you” he chuckled. Soon after he had gotten up to his bed a painful moan came from him as his hands reached his legs only to massage them. I started to rush over crawling towards him, “You okay? If it still hurts how come you didn’t stay at the hospital?”

“Last night, they did a few tests on me here and there, but there was nothing huge besides my leg. Just need to get some rest.” He answered getting up from his spot and started to stretch out his arms high up.  “Rest huh? Thank goodness.” I smiled whispering the last words. He looked back at me as if he had heard what I had said; he started to snicker at me with a tease. “What was that?” he went back down onto his knees coming close to my face. “Thank goodness?” he grinned evilly.

Giving him only a goofy face my hands rose and pushed his face away from me. “I was just implying that I can still get money from you.” I lied and stuck out my tongue.

“Now, now, come on. I know you’re in denial.” He laughed. “Come on say it! ‘You’re in denial’” he commanded pushing me back down on the pillow. “You’re in denial!” I yelled after him, his brows scrunched and eyes blinking, “What? No, I said you’re in denial.”

“Yeah, you said to me to say ‘You’re in denial’” I laughed. “If you want me to say that I’m in denial then just say--- umpth!!” he blocked my whole entire face with another pillow. My arms and legs wiggled and flung all over at each angle.

The sound of Aoi’s laughter filled my ears in annoyance, I felt him smiling down to me with pleasure of suffocating me, “How do you like that huh?” he spoke and started to gently sitting on my lower stomach. “Get—off me you good for nothing!” I muffled loudly grabbing a hold of his wrist attempting to push them away. “It’s going to take just more than a push to get me off” he snickered at me. “Aoi! Get off… I’m …serious… get… off…ple--” Soon, my breath started to die down quietly as my arms and legs grew tired of struggling out of his grasp and slowly dropped to the ground.

Third Person POV

“You given up now have you?” he asked, but there were no response from her. Rolling his eyes he knew what kind of trick she was playing, “Now Kimiko this is the classic trick of playing dead… this kind of stuff won’t work on me.” He awkwardly smiled down at her.

“Kimiko?” he called for her once more but not another response came from her. As he removed the pillow off her face he saw that her eyes were closed peacefully without a slightest breath or movement coming from her.   

“Hey… quit playing with me, this isn’t funny” he shook her gently but no response. “Kimiko? Kimiko?!” just when he started to get worried she flung herself up with her arms flying towards him as her hands were reaching for his neck one to choke him. “You jerk! I told you to stop and that I was in pain but no! You just kept going huh?! Well let’s see how you like this!” she choked him.

“K-Kimiko h-hey! Okay okay!” he grabbed hold of her wrist taking them away from his neck. “Nooo! I haven’t had enough yet!” she yelled attempting him to choke him again. Everything soon turned out to be some kind of wrestling mania; just when Aoi attempted to push her hands away from his neck, she pushed back in full force and started grabbing his hair pulling him closer towards her. Her weight shifted onto him making him fall on the ground making her on top and started to bang his head onto the hard ground. The tall man groan in pain when his hair was being pulled, his hands grabbed a hold of her wrist and squeezed it hard for her muscles to force open her hands. “Can’t…beat…this!” he said as her hands successfully forced opened.

“Ow ow owwww!” she yelled. A grin snickered from Aoi as he twisted around her and pinned her down back on the ground. “Just stop, you’re going to lose.” He said. Kimiko struggled to fight back, trying to move her arms and body around about. “No! Never! I’m not ever going to lose to---hey… the watch…” she pointed out his wrist the watch she had bought him.

“Hm?” he questioned looking at the watch. “Oh that, yeah… I kinda dropped your purse and this came out… it had my name on it soo I figured… ” he explained letting her arms go. Her eyes kept still at the watch, “Oh… is that so?…I’m sorry I tried--”

 “Thanks” he interrupted. “I really like it.” He added with a smile while re-adjusting the watch comfortably.

“I knew you would…” Kimiko blurted out quietly. Aoi’s eyes swiftly targeted at her with a surprised expression, when her own eyes met his and realized what she had said, her shoulders perked up in panicking position. “That is—Well, because you had your eyes on it the whole time when we tried to hurry up and get ready for me…besides you helped me get ready for my date sooo…” she drifted off her last words. A warm touch was felt on her head just as fingers started to ruffle between the strands of her hair.

“You’re so cheeky” he chuckled. “A gift coming from you… its bit strange but I guess it’s alright, thanks.” he added.

Kimiko’s POV

“Heh heh, You’re welcome” I said awkwardly and scratched my neck looking down to avoid eye contact with him.

“Now, how about that deal you made me?”

“Huh?” I questioned, Aoi hugged one knee close to his chest with his eyes staring at mine. “You said that we’d spend time together for 3 days, how about starting right now?” he explained.

“Oh yeah, well, sure. I guess its fine since it’s not when I leave.”

“Leave?” he asked tilting his head questionably. “Yeah, yesterday Hiroto invited me to go off to the country side for a week in celebrating their new album. I gladly accepted it so I’ll be leaving you here alone for a while.” I explained, his head lowered and his eyes adverted away from my gaze.

“Oh…Well, I suppose that’s great then, I’m planning on spending time with Misaki too.”

“Oh you are? O-okay yeah, great! It’ll work out fine then. We’ll both be with people that we like instead of having fights everyday with each other right?”

“Who said that I hated you?” he asked firmly.

“Eh? I never said anything like tha-”

“Do you hate me?” his head raised, his eyes drop dead stared into my own. “Eh, um, well I mean, I don’t think you’re such a bad guy…but then again you still can be such an … its growing me.”

“Uh oh, the “growing on me” scares me a little. Don’t get caught up on me.” He laughed.

“N-No! What the hell you talking about?! Unless you feel that way!” I slapped his arms. He responded with a laugh and poked me on the forehead, “Nah, never.”  He scoffed. “So wanna go somewhere?”

“Where to?” I asked.

[Fast Forward]

“Really? Out of all places you choose to come here?” I asked while Aoi swung the Katana in perfect form at a bamboo cutting it in half. We came back to The Ogawa’s dojo where we met Miyuki and her uncle there at surprise. With Mr. Ogawa gladly letting us in with a free training room to spare, Miyuki on the other hand disapproved and kept giving Aoi a suspicious glare that made him a little uneasy for a short while, while she had prepared and set up for our equipment.

“Yeah, I like it here. I haven’t practice kendo in a long time, well besides that one time I had to defend myself from you; it’s nice to hold a katana again, I did tell you that I was an 8^th dan rank right?”

“You’ve mentioned it once yes, that was really surprising… it came out of nowhere…ugh, whatever.” I said shaking off the embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, was it embarrassing not knowing that I was?” he asked lowering his Katana down

“N-no! It was just really unexpected.”

“You’re embarrassed that you lost, don’t lie” he chuckled

“I’m not!” I lied, “Keep going like this and I’ll slice you into bits of pieces with this Katana” I held up my sword making a threat gesture towards him.

In response he chuckled again and shook his head, “Like that’ll ever happen.” He raised his Katana up high and striking it down diagonally cutting another thick bamboo stick.  Secretly when I started to begin my warm-ups, I started stare and examine his every move, all his gestures and how he held and swung his sword was all in perfect form from beginning to end. He swung his Katana again only this time in a continuous motion starting from the top to the bottom diagonally at the bamboo until it could no longer be cut. Just as soon as he was about to turn my way I looked away just in time and continued to do my warm-ups.

“So where and when did you learn kendo?” I asked swinging my sword forward.

“I started at a young age back in my hometown in Mie. When I got to my 8^th dan rank I stopped because that was when the band started to get big and famous.”

“Oh…” I spoke, “Do you wish that you could’ve still continued in kendo?”

“It’d be nice.” He answered, “But as if right now I’m too busy worrying about getting my mother off my back about marriage and working on new songs and the tours we have to do for the band.” He added in a stressful tone.

“You know, you could always come here and train if you feel like it.” I offered him. He stopped where he was at lowering down his arms turning to me. “Are you inviting me in? Wouldn’t you hate it since it’s your sacred place with Miyuki?”

“ W-well I mean no, I don’t hate you for that, what I’m saying is that you could come here to get all the stress out of your system or like you said…if you miss holding a sword. And I’m sure that Miyuki wouldn’t mind, besides if you wanted to train alone there’s an extra training room that you can go to if this one is filled up so…” I drifted off the last words. 

He laughed. “Thanks, but I think I beg to differ about Miyuki not minding.”

“Why”

“Because she’s giving me the death glare at me right now” he answered looking away.  I looked over my shoulders seeing her with a scary death glare as she walked holding some boxes to put away into storage. Once her eyes drew onto me her expression suddenly changed in a happier state, she made a welcoming grin, “Hi Kimiko!~”

“Hello Miyuki” I greeted back.

“Hello.” Aoi said after. Hearing his voice her eyes pierced at him with another glare, “Make her cry and I’ll beat the out of you.” She stated. Then she looked at me again with another smile, “Bye Kimiko”.

“Bye bye~” I waved as she continued to walk away out of the room shutting the door close behind her.

“Well hello to you too…” Aoi sighed

“She’ll come around, she’s ought to. It’s because that one day you made her upset because I was upset at you.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“I told you I’m over it.” We both smiled and continued on with our warm-ups and training.

[Fast Forward]

“Ugh!” I complained lowering down my sword. Before Aoi took another swing he stopped and looked over at me, “What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… every time I try to slice off the bamboo the second time in a perfect diagonal direction upwards from my left side I can’t seem to break through without the letting the cut bamboo from falling off early… its not supposed to be like baseball, it flies off.”

Visual (omg I remember doing this myself… it was really difficult.)

http://24.media.tumblr.com/7654a9ebd4bdd1e4478beec0d8c7ff14/tumblr_mhtgn4qyy11qzdg48o1_250.gif

“Try it again lemme see” he ordered me. I went back into position putting my full focus on the bamboo in front of me and held my sword tight.

“eeeeyaaa!” I yelled swinging it upwards from my left hitting the bamboo once more.

“See?! It didn’t cut off fully” I sadly spoke. He came on over next to me setting himself into a firm position, “Here, put yourself in this position, lower your sword in front of you and then when you pace yourself towards the bamboo make sure you pull back the Katana from your left side, still lowered, and then once you’re at the right spot launch your Katana upwards and slice it with full power and then quickly go back to into position and cut the top part in half only with mid-power. Okay?” he explained after going through each motion slowly.

“So like this?” I tried imitating his moves.

“You’re little off…here, I’ll show you.” He sat down his Katana on the ground and came forth. The tall man came from behind hovering over me, “Hold the Katana firmly.” He instructed, once I did as I was told he placed his hands over mine holding the sword with me. “O-okay” I felt my own cheeks heating up and betting it was turning into a bright rosy color.

“Pull it back just a bit….” His hands led mine onto my left side. I could smell his scent, his cologne, what was it? Bvlgari? Or Davidoff? It was somewhat between the two I can’t remember; but it was nice. I felt his warmth coating me like a warm jacket that freshly came out of the dryer, I started to get this unusual tingling feeling once I felt the side of his face brushed my head. As he walked off my legs followed his steps along the way towards the bamboo stance, “Now pull back a little further” he whispered near my ears making me shiver a bit. “From here, you want to take a step and make a full swing at it like this” our arms rose up diagonally until the blade lightly touched the bamboo. “Then go back into position from your left side and swing again with lighter force.” He concluded.

“Got it?” he asked as I felt his breath rush onto my neck.

“Y-Yeah.” I twitched.

“You sure?”

“Yeah” I answered again nodding my head.

“You seem tense… You sure you’re okay?”

“Y-Yeah!  I’m fine!”

“Then do it again.” His hands let go of mine and backed away. He went to go get another bamboo and came back replacing the other one and set it onto the stance. “Okay go.” He said as started to fold his arms. I nodded my head nervously; I went into position and took a deep breath closing my eyes for about 3 seconds before pacing.  ‘Here we go’ I thought. I started to run towards the stance and did exactly what he taught me. My arms went to my sides then swung upwards making the first cut, ‘Last one’ I thought repositioning back to my side, ‘Remember with lighter force this time’ Aoi’s voice sounded in my mind just as I was going to swing upwards.

“Eyaaaaah!” I swung the bamboo just as it was about to fall off. The blade sliced the falling bamboo in half successfully.

‘I did it…’ my eyes widened, “I did it! I DID IT!” I squealed lightly jumping up and down. I turned my head to see Aoi smiling unfolding his arms and clapping for me.

“Good job now use that method, it’ll be in good use.” He said walking over next to me.

“Yeah, I will… thanks for teaching me.”  I thanked.

“No problem, if you’re struggling with kendo just ask me, I’ll try to help out as best as I can.” He offered and started to ruffle my hair gently. I felt my cheeks heat up again; the touch of his fingertips felt nice, I gazed up to the tall man and was greeted with a warm smile followed by a chuckle. Suddenly my heart started to pace up almost scaring me, I scooted away from him quickly as he stopped ruffling my hair. He stared at me with a worried expression.

“You okay?“ he asked, “Oh wait I touched your hair, you don’t like it huh? Sorry, I remember the agreement: 10 dollars for touching the hair.” He remembered.

“Uh n-no no! It’s not that, it’s okay don’t pay. I’m fine honest!” I explained still feeling my heart pound, “I-I’ll be right back! I gotta use the restroom!” I turned and jogged away from him leaving him with a confused face.

Once I reached into the restroom, I leaned against the wall placing my hand over my chest feeling every beat my heart made. “Whoa, what’s wrong with me? That was scary…” I breathed. I went towards a sink with my hands resting against the edge of sides and sighed deeply looking up at the mirror. “Are you really okay?” I asked myself.

“What’s going on?” I heard a voice behind the side, Miyuki came with a dirty cloth in her hand and stared to wet it with water, “Clean up is done.” She said, “Now what what’s with the “Are you okay?” thing, something wrong?”

“No nothing, its nothing don’t worry about it.” I assured her looking down.

“Well if you say so, anyways I really hate to say this but Aoi’ got some mad skills at kendo, I just saw him when I was passing by and I got to say: His form is really good. I wish I had pro skills like that, what dan rank is he again??” She asked

“8th” I answered

“8^th?! Holy--”

“Yeah I know, I thought the same thing.” I admitted reminding myself the day I lost to him.   

“Wow, amazing. Probably was really good when he was young, that’s reasonable.”

“Yeah…” I agreed in a low voice with my head still kept down. She noticed my tone and sat down the dirty cloth coming next to me.  “Do you like him?” she asked. My head turned to her quickly as it shook from side to side.

“Oh no no no! No, just  NO. No, nope, no no no--”

“Okay okay sheesh I was just kidding.” She stopped me, “But what’s with that gloomy yes answer?”

“Gloomy? Well its not that I’m gloomy, like, I’m worried but I don’t know what I’m worried about you know?” I asked turning to her. She gave a puzzled look as a response; “Nope, I have no idea what you are talking about…” she shook her head and laughed.

“Worried over nothing!” she added. “Well you go get back to Aoi he’ll wonder what’s taking you long. He might think you’re taking a dump.” She waved off picking up the dirty cloth and left.

[Fast Forward]

 After the dojo, the next day Aoi had taken me to the beach as the second day of our deal of being together. He taught me how to surf for the first time and of course I was so horrible at it but I got the hang of it going onto the baby waves rather than the bigger ones he went on. We swam; we collected some seashells for me, and pretty much explored small cave areas that had some pretty interesting messages onto the rock walls that people had written. For the last day we went to a Lake House where his family used to go to on vacation. According to him, he hasn’t been here since his early twenties; everyone in the family had gone their separate ways and just couldn’t make time to come here together. The house was fairly big, the outside and inside interior designs were breathtaking as expected, the furniture were from big brand names, pictures and artwork were hung perfectly straight down the halls and there would be vases filled with freshly cut flowers at each end of the halls and tables.

“This place hasn’t changed one bit” he commented as we walked outside the back where the view of the lake was.

“It must have been great coming here as a kid” I stated staring at the beautiful view in front of me. “I could just imagine my younger myself running around playing imagination. If I had kids I’d bring them here every weekend or every month if I could.” I chuckled.

“So you have thought about wanting your own kids before.” I heard Aoi say as he pulled out a cigarette from the tiny box.

“Yeah, I have. But it’s not like I want them now, I want to wait until I’m fully ready to have one. Fully to be financially ready to have a baby, or otherwise you’ll have a hard time raising them.” I explained. “Back then I didn’t want to have any because of how many rude disobedient kids I’ve seen, not that I’m saying that all of them are like that, some are very respectful, obedient and kind. But my mother told me that everyone thinks the same way at first, but you wouldn’t really know how precious it is to have a child until you have one of your own.” I added.

 A chuckle came from him, “My father said the same thing: ‘you won’t know how to appreciate to have kids until you’ve got your own’” he quoted.

“Have you ever thought of wanting kids?” I asked, he took a pause thinking, he raised his cigarette to his mouth and blew the white smoke, “Hmm, I guess so, yeah.” He answered. “I just hope I could do a good job of being a father. That is if I ever do become one.”

“Yeah same, I hope I become a good mother for my kids.” I agreed.

“If you do ever become one, I wish you luck” he said chuckling.

“Yeah you too, be a good father okay?” I started to chuckle along with him. We started to walk near the lakeshore and talked about all kinds of things, most typical topic was our past but we also talked about what we wanted for our future. We went canoeing and had a little picnic underneath a shady tree afterwards and that was fun.  There were times where I felt that same strange feeling I had back at the dojo, it frightened me for only a few minutes but I tried shaking off the feeling and continued to enjoy the moment we had together. We shared some laughs and smiles together until the sun set onto the horizon and leave the beautiful place. We were inside his car as he drove me the way back home at night. The car ride was silent for a good hour until I had the courage to press the radio button to ease off the silence.

“What? You don’t like the silence?” he chuckled.

“Well I thought it was just too quiet that’s all.” I answered.

“But silence is golden.” He stated.

“It can be for some cases” I added. “So, are you going to miss me when I’m off for tomorrow?”

“No.” he replied. “Maybe” he then quickly said just before I had the chance to say anything.

“Really?”

“No.” I he responded again in a serious tone. “Maybe.” He laughed trying to tease me. It went on for quite a while until there was a pause in the conversation just when Aoi had turned right, “So… what do you think will happen if we got what we both wanted? You know, after we separate from each other?”

Third Person POV

“Well, we both continue on our lives I guess. There’s nothing more to it.” He replied.

“Ah, I see. Do you think even if we separated, we could still chat and greet each other normally?”

“Why are you asking so many questions all of a sudden?” he asked. “You’ve been asking so many after the dojo, not to mention you’re a bit weirder than usual.” He told her taking a glance at her with concern.

“Have I? Sorry I didn’t mean to, I was just wondering and having a lot of thoughts lately.” She admitted looking out the window observing the people-walking pass by and the tall buildings that lid up with lights.

“What kind of thoughts?”

“Just you know thoughts. Just random thoughts.” She answered him.

“Is it that you’re starting to like me? Are you going to miss me when we separate?” he had asked.

“No” she answered.  “Maybe” she then said after a few seconds just to get back at him. Just a few minutes later, they finally arrived at her house getting out of the car. Just when Aoi escorted her to her front gate, Kimiko opened the front gate quietly to see if anyone was awake. There, she saw two windows lit up with lights, one from Snatcher’s room and another dimly lid up from the front door window, which would mean her mother was watching TV in the living room.

 “Well I guess my mother is home early today… I would let you inside but she’ll bombard you and me with questions.”  She told him. “Well, I guess goodnight then. I’ll see you in about a week?”

 “Yeah” the tall man nodded, before he walked off form the gate he stopped himself from going any further, “Hey, can you to promise me something?”

“What is it?”  

“If, things worked out like they’re supposed to… Can we--”

“Not ever see each other again and if we happened to-- just pretend like none of this had happened?” she interrupted finishing exactly half of he what was going to come from his mouth. There was a pause. His eyes widened a bit and his mouth dropped slightly, she withdrew a small smile lowering her heard to avoid eye contact with him.

“Sure. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking too.” she spoke raising her head back up with another bright smile trying to be optimistic about it. “But for now, let’s do our best and spend the time we have together. Ne?”

“I-… Yeah, but you say it so harshly. Can’t we just say hi and have a cup of coffee if we do ever meet up again?” he asked. She turned away from him quietly opening her front gate.

“I was thinking the same too. But don’t you think it’ll be a bit awkward?”

“It’s only awkward if you think it’s awkward.” He replied.

“Yes. But--”

“And I meant by just when it’s you and me, of course not when we’re with Hiroto and Misaki… Like at the Dojo.” He suggested. She stood quiet for a second thinking again, letting out a sigh. “Maybe… Just maybe we can.” She answered “But when you say that, are you saying that you want to become friends?” she asked.

“Maybe” he answered.

She chuckled once, “Aoi, ‘fake lovers’ don’t just become ‘friends’ in the end once they’ve got someone they like. It’s just not that way… at least the way I see it.” She spoke. “But we’ll see though… Good night Aoi.” she greeted goodbye opening the gate and closing it behind her as she continued to walk away to her front door.

“Good night…” he whispered lowering his eyes and stood there in front of the gate processing through what Kimiko had said.

“Right, we’ll see…” he agreed walking away from the gates and back into the car.

Kimiko POV Third Person

From the second floor from her bedroom, Kimiko stared out the window seeing Aoi driving away steadily into the city until he was longer visible to see.  She sighed thinking about what he had said, the memories of them two bustling all together brought back the odd feeling from the dojo and her heart beating at a faster pace. Her hand was placed onto her chest to calm it down as she took deep breaths, “Whoa whoa… What is wrong with me? Geezes…” she sighed confused.

“Kimiko? Sweetie are you home?” she heard her mother calling her from downstairs. When she heard her footsteps coming upstairs she rushed onto her bed going under the blankets wrapping herself in them.

“Kimiko?” the door opened to the sound of her mother’s voice. She looked around and spotted kimiko on her bed sleeping. She gave a small smile and closed the door shut again. A sigh escaped from kimiko as she closed her eyes wanting to sleep. Not a moment later the door opened again and this time only tiny footsteps were made coming closer towards the bed. Kimiko turned back to see who it was and there she saw little Ami with her ragged doll in her arms.

“Why hello there!” kimiko greeted softly. “What’s wrong? You can’t sleep?” she asked. Ami shook her head agreeing. “Is your brother here?” Ami shook her head once more. “Ah I see, probably with Shin huh?”

She nodded in response. “Well then, you can sleep with me!” she helped Ami onto the bed. She adjusted comfortably next to her cuddling with her ragged doll close to her chest.

“Feels like I haven’t seen you all week, I’ve missed you. You, Snatcher and Mom” she whispered wrapping one arm around the little girl. “Hey Ami, I got a question for you.” She turned around facing kimiko with curious eyes. “What do you think of Mr. Shiroyama? Do you like him?”

She thought for a moment. After coming into a conclusion she pulled out her arm from underneath the blankets and began to shake her hand from side to side like a teeter totter.

“He’s so-so huh?”

The little girl began to point her finger at the older woman, “Me? What do I think of him?” Kimiko asked. “Well, hmm, you know what I’m not quite sure too. We have good times and bad times… sure he can be a huge jerk, but that’s what I like about him, and even though he comes off that way, I know that overall he’s a really good person...” she started to recollect all the memories of both Aoi and her, from the day they first met to the night he saved her and just generally both all the good and the bad times they shared together. 

“He’s honest, brave, handsome, kind…” she stopped herself from speaking any further as she realized what she was saying. Her eyes wandered down at Ami who stared at her with an inquisitive expression. Kimiko withdrew a small smile brushing off the extra hair stands from Ami’s face.

“I just think… he’s more like a good friend. That’s all.” She answered, thinking back again into her memories. She was reminded of his daring dark eyes, long lashes, and his dark adumbral hair that perfectly shaped his face, his body not too skinny but not too muscular was also sculpted nicely, having a tall frame with broad shoulders and long legs and lastly his lips that parted in a menacing smile. The last remaining memory that played through her mind had been when he was praising and teasing her; his fingers ruffled in between the strands of her hair and gave off a smile that sweetened the very air of her lungs that day.

Suddenly her heart started to race like a runaway train going faster and faster. The small girl gazed down at her chest giving it a confused look; she came closer to her and placed her ear onto her chest listening to the loud rumbling beats of her heart. She at her asking if she was okay that her heart beat was really loud.

“O-Oh yeah! I’m fine! Sorry it’s been doing that for a while. Don’t worry.” She reassured her. “Let’s go so sleep now okay? I bet you’re tired.” She readjusted herself comfortably on the bed as Ami did the same. 

Aoi POV Third person

Back onto the other side of town, Aoi had finally came home tiredly walking to his bedroom and plopped himself on his bed closing his eyes momentarily. He took a deep breath before rolling over lying onto his stomach, his head turned to the city scenery out through the large windows next to his office desk. Wanting to get a better view, he lazily got himself out of bed and walked over to his office chair and sat next to the large window letting out a sigh.

He had almost forgotten how beautiful and bright the city was at night from his window view. “You all look like ants” he chuckled looking down below of all the people walking on the streets. His eyes wandered upwards following the main street that continued straight ahead into the other side of town--The town that didn’t had as much glitter of lights as it was where he lived. He continued to stare off and realized that in that direction lies the house of Kimiko.

He started to laugh when he was reminded of all the hilarious moments they had together from the past few days. The way Kimiko screamed at the beach when he suddenly splashed her with the cold sea water without a warning, the way she failed to balance herself on the surf board, how she accidently caught ice cream on her nose after she had almost tripped on their walk and especially how happy and giddy she was after he had taught her how to cut a bamboo stance.

He imagined the way she looked at him that day, she was wearing the biggest grin thanking him as she jumped up and down with a fist pump.  ‘I did it! I did it! Aoi! I did it!’ her voice ran through his ears. Suddenly when he realized he found himself smiling to all those memories of her, the beats of his heart went a little faster--frightening him a little.

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring* his cell phone suddenly rang, breaking his thoughts. He searched his pocket and took out the little device flipping it open. “Hai”

“Hello Aoi” Kai greeted him.  

“Kai? Oh… what a surprise of you calling at this time, what’s up?”

“Sorry I know, but I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow practice is cancelled and that the interview is going to be canceled too.”

“Oh really? Why? What happened?”

“Interviewer fell sick, Reita has to go to a discussion session with the manager about our plans and Uruha’s interview had to be moved up to an earlier time.”

“Oh, okay then, thanks for the heads up.”

“Sure no problem. Anyways, how are you my friend?” Kai asked.

“I’ve been through , but I’m good now.” Aoi chuckled going back to his bed to lie down.

“Ah I see, that’s good, I mean not the ‘going through ’ part but now that you’re good. What about Kimiko? How is she? Haven’t seen her in a while…”

“Eh? Oh, um, she’s good too…I just took her back home just a while ago” he replied.

 “Again? three days in a row huh…” Kai spoke. There was a pause on the other line, “umm...Kai? You there?”

“You hang out with her a lot don’t you?” he chuckled. “And you say that you’re just ‘friends’ with her” he commented.

“OI! We are! Nothing is going on between her and I trust me.” Aoi confirmed.

“Hey hey I was just kidding! No need to yell” Kai chuckled some more. “I mean, you like to a lot… in a mean uniquely way but…” he laughed, “Are you falling for her?”

“W-What?! Where did that come from? Ka--”

“Are you in love with her?” he asked again. “I mean, as cliché as it sounds, a guy being mean to a girl obviously means he’s got a thing for her.” Another laugh escaped from him.

“Whoa whoa Kai slow down there, don’t get caught up with your ideas. And besides I told you, I will never fall for her, never! And technically that theory is wrong; I’m only mean because she is too.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that YOU have to be mean back. Besides if she were that mean why do you insist on hang out with her? You’re being mean to her because you’re afraid. You’re afraid to admit that you might have fallen for a girl like her…”

“Kai what are talking about?”

“I’m saying that she’s different from the rest of the girls you’ve talked with and hung out with. She actually the first woman that you’ve given your full attention to… Well besides Misaki but you know, Kimiko is different and interesting, maybe that’s why I see you having an interest in her?”

“I can’t Kai, even if I did fall in love with her I can’t. She has her eyes on someone else and other reasons. Besides just like you said I like Misaki. Maybe you have a thing for Kimiko eh?”

“Ah I see, she already has someone in interest. Me? No, I could never. Although I’ve seen for a short while, I see her more like a little sister. Anyways I’ll stop teasing you for today, bet you’re tired. I’ll call again tomorrow.”

“Yeah thanks.” He hung up throwing his phone next to him on the bedside. His eyes closed again followed by a vexing sigh.

 “I’m going to have to leave you here alone for a while, I’m going to go out with Hiroto for a week”

“He invited me to go to the country side. It’ll be a lot of fun huh?”

“Are you going to miss me when I’m gone?”

Kimiko’s voice rendered through his mind once more. No matter how much he tried shaking it off her voice wouldn’t go away. He grunted and rolled over in his bed, trying to get the images, words, and frustration out of his system and head. “Urghh. Why do I suddenly feel so rebarbative and worried? .. hmm, maybe it’s because its been a long day… yeah…” he shrugged off. He stared at his ceiling wall until is eyes closed closer and closer together until he was succumbing to the darkness slipping into oblivion, his consciousness ebbing away and his thoughts all ended.

A sudden monstrous roar of thunders came ringing in his ears waking him up again, only this time he found himself in a rainstorm deep in the woods searching in each direction for answers. The sky was in million shades of grey, painting its own pictures in the clouds.

“What the heck?” The rain lashed down on him in cold icy pellets searing her skin like fire, the trees danced as the wind shook their vibrant green leafs in an angry rage. Each and every single leaf that fell onto the ground, whether it be in the brook or onto to rocks sounded like a scream. The rain fell so hard and thick that he could barely see what was in front of him. The light was fading, creating new shadows and dark patches around him.

He heard loud panting’s from the other side, specifically a woman’s. The angry pitter-patter of the soles of shoes were hitting the track, making miraculous beats against the ground. It wasn’t until a few seconds later a woman in a grey came running down and had slipped and fell making a tremendous fall down the rockslide. She screamed in pain. Like any other human, he ran towards the direction where she had fell. When he reached her he saw her bleeding on her legs with the blood gushing down dirtying her socks and shoes. “Hey are you okay?!” he tried to aid her but his hands slipped through her body as if he was a ghost.

“Hiroto…” the woman called. In a second his face lifted to see the familiar voice, “Kimiko?” his face tilted to see her crying frightened face. Her eyes were watery with the sheer pain and her breathing became sharp, shallow rasps. His eyes began to dilate after seeing her in such state, “Kimiko!” he collapsed on the floor trying to grab hold of her but failed, only going through her body.  

“Hiroto” she cried out countless times waiting for someone to find her. But she knew it was no use, she stopped calling for him and instead hugged her knees close and continued to cry.

“Hey! Kimiko! Can you hear me?! Hey!” Aoi yelled trying to attempt to get her attention but nothing was coming from her until there was a sudden pause from her crying.

“Aoi…” she called out his name, “H-Help… please. Come… save me… please..” she croaked, her desperate tone made her words almost inaudible but they still echoed around the errie dark woods. Suddenly, there was a noise coming from behind the ditch they were in, the air around them began to thicken. He was sure that something dangerous was approaching like a large wild animal. A hungry wolf perhaps? Or a bear?

Kimiko froze hearing the same bloodcurdling noise. The sound of their steps continued for a stride then stopped-- taking loud sniffs to get Kimiko’s scent and furious roar of wanting to desperately devour her. Kimiko’s hands were now cupping her eyes; her breathing became unsteady and her arms shivered in fear as the distance of footsteps of the large animal got closer and closer. “Aoi… H-Help me.”    

 A sharp pain was felt in his chest, “Kimiko!” he tried grabbing her once again but failed. He called her name many times over but still she couldn’t hear him and made no response. All of a sudden, the noise from the strange animal abruptly appeared behind them and was ready to slash her in seconds—ready for the kill.

 “AOI!!” she screamed.

“KIMIKO!!” his eyes darted open. As they started to focus he noticed it was just his weary bedroom. He was shaking to the bone and tried to claw his way to wakefulness, trembling and sweating as if after a great exertion. “Just a dream…” he said whispering to himself thank goodness that it was only nightmare. He sat up and let his arms rest on her knees as he took deep breaths to calm his blood pounding heart.

He sighed reaching for his phone and flipping it to see what time it was, “2:45 am” he groaned. “Please don’t let that dream come true…” He prayed getting off his bed going into his living room and towards his balcony. He ignited his cigarette and let out a brim of white pale smoke as his eyes searched for her neighborhood area with thoughts rambled through his head. “Hopefully she’ll be okay.” He pleaded. Not a moment later his phone rang vibrating against the living room table loud and clear. Tiredly he picked up his phone without looking at the ID and answered it with a distressed tone.

“Hai?”

“Aoi? Sorry! I know this is really late to call you!”

“Misaki?” he choked on his cigarette, making him cough violently.

“Aoi? Hey are you alright?!” she asked him worriedly.

“Yeah I’m f-fine.” He answered trying to recollect his composed, cool, calm self. “So what’s up? It’s not like you to be calling this late.”

“I know. But this was at last minute decision for everyone.”

“Eh? What was?” he asked.

“Look, I know this might be too late to ask but-- I was wondering if you wanted to come along with me and my group to go to the country side for a week. We’re planning on doing some photo shoot and hang out there but I didn’t want to go without a friend.”

“Don’t you have any other friends? Like your female friends?” he asked jokingly.

“They would never want to go. They hate the countryside with the passion because it’s too boring for them.”

“Ah, I see.” He replied.
“Yeah…” she sighed. “So, will you want to come along with me?” she asked once more. He stood quiet for a moment staring down at his legs thinking.

“Aoi?” she called. “Hey, you still here? Aoi?”

“Sure, why not? I’ll gladly come with you on your trip. Sounds fun.” he answered fixing his eyes back onto the particular neighborhood that was on the other side of town just across from his own. The town where it was famous for it’s dim lights, quietness, and beautiful growing cherry blossoms. The Town that possessed one particular person who was known for their strong willed personality and their kind heart. 

‘Are you going to miss me when I’m gone?’

“Meet you there.” He whispered ending his phone call with Misaki and continued to stare off on the other side of the city.  

To be continued.

I know this was not the best chapter but I had writers block for the longest time and couldn’t think of anything. Sorry for so many errors too, I was just so tired so I just laid off the editing of grammars and such. I am also sorry for the super late update.