Love Blooms Amongst the Books

Chapter 3.5 : Damsel in Distress, Crying For Help In A Midsummer Night's Dream

Even though we promised to meet up at 6:30 p.m, I decided to went out earlier than that. Unbeknownst to me, Ameno-kun also had the same idea as me.
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Thank god I was able to suggest for us to get going, or else we would've been staring at the ground for a long time back there. I didn't expect him to be complimenting me earlier, it totally caught me off guard. He even called me beautiful...
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Fukumoto-san told us girls to walk in front so that they can ensure our safety. It did strike me as weird, but I'll take this opportunity to get closer to Ichihara-san. "So, what are you looking forward to the most in the festival, Ichihara-san?" I said enthusiastically. "Ummm... I think I'm looking for... The food? I guess" Ichihara-san said, unsure of her own desire. "I see. What kind of foods do you like?" "I like... Sweets". "Oooh, I like sweets too! Even though eating too much of it will harm your health, it doesn't stop me from stuffing my mouth with it!" "Oh, is that so..." she awkwardly said. I can tell that she still felt uncomfortable around me. I've heard the gist of her story from Ameno-kun, so I know that I'm the type of person that she probably hates the most. But precisely because of that, I'm gonna make her forget the past and change her perspective for the future. "What kind of sweets do you like? For me, I really like candied apple!" "Oh, I like candied apple too!" she said with a smile while her face lightened up. I just realized, this may be the first time I've seen her show any emotion other than sadness, let alone smiling.
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As we're looking at the stalls, I noticed a figure that I'm familiar with among the crowds. "What is this, he wasn't supposed to be here" I said slowly. I want to get away from him immediately while he hasn't noticed yet. "Hey Ameno-kun, let's take a look at that! " I said while tugging the helm of Ameno-kun's Jinbei while pointing at a stall nearby in attempt to stay away from his general direction.
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Ameno-kun has entrusted me to buy some takoyaki and yakisoba, even though I'm a little afraid of him to appear again, I must brave through for Ameno-kun's sake (totally not using Ameno-kun as an excuse).

"Ah, that stall has both takoyaki and yakisoba, that'll ease up things" I said to myself. As I was about to order the foods, I hear a very hoarse voice come from behind me. "Hey, Sagiri. Long time no see"
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It was during my second year of middle school. I was a part of my school's Track and Field Club, but I mainly do running events like 100m, 200m, so on so forth. We usually have outdoor training and it would always last until late, around 7pm or so. One day, as usual, we have practice up until late 7.25pm. It was dark outside, and I have to go back home alone as none of the other members live near my house (well, none of the one that I'm close with). So I just bravely walked through the back alley as it is faster to my home this way. Then, I heard a footsteps from behind me. The footsteps sound loud and long, with huge interval in between steps, implying that they belong to a man. A big man.

I walked faster as I do not want the man behind to catch up to me, whoever he was. But unbeknownst to me, he was faster than my little legs. "Hey, what's the rush, Sagiri". Ugh, it's the upperclassman from my club, Nishikiyama Ryuga, most commonly called Ryuga. I've heard he lead a gangster gang called Ryu Ga Gotoku despite being only in middle school. Our school's council just turned a blind eye towards his involvement in gangster gang because he was one of our school's best Track athlete, with him constantly winning gold on each and every competition that he entered.

I tried to outrun him, but it was all futile. "Oi, why are you ignoring me" "I just want to get home as soon as possible, my mom's waiting for me" I said to him without even making any eye contact. "Tch, does your mom not teach you to look at someone while you're talking to them?" he said while pulling my arm towards him, forcing my body to face him. "There, isn't it better to face each other while talking?". I tried to free my arm from his grip, but he was ten time stronger than I am. "What are you going to do with me? Aren't you already dating our club manager?" "Oh, she's only the side meal. You are the one that I really want" while he said that, I think I heard something from the side, but that wasn't important. He pushed me to the wall nearby while trying to lift my skirt, but I tried my best to hold on to my skirt tightly. My action got him angry, and he looks pissed. He raised his arm to smack me, but just as he was about to swing his arm, I saw a light came from behind him. It was a community police officer that was on patrol, whom I also does regularly greet while on my way home from practice. "Hey, what are you doing to her. Wait a minute, aren't you the leader of that wannabe gangster that usually cause trouble around here?". "Crap" Ryuga said, while attempting to run from the officer, but I quickly grabbed his leg, making him fall to the ground face-first. "Thank you, miss" said the officer while handcuffing Ryuga. Then came another officer saying that he will escort me back home.

The next day, I found out that Ryuga has been expelled from this school and his family has moved to the next town, probably to save face. Our club advisor told me to stop doing practice for a while, so I got to go home early. I took the time to go to the local community police station to thank the officer that came to my rescue yesterday. He said that I should be thanking a boy around my age that reported the accident in the first place. The officer said he forgot to get the boy's name, the only thing he know is that boy frequently ride his bike back home at around the same time as I does. That mean he must've been someone from my club, as we were the only club that have to came back late for practice. I tried to identify anyone from my club that ride a bicycle, but it seems like none of them does as far as I know. Whoever that boy is, I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.
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Back to the present, he forcefully grabbed my hand and brought me to a park at the back of the festival site. Midway through, I shook his hand off of mine and free myself from his grip. "Why are you here? What do you want from me?" I said to Ryuga. "Hey, we haven't seen each other for how long now, two years? Man, you sure is prettier than you were two years ago" I gave him a disgusted look, that made him pretty angry. "Why don't we move there, under the lamp post. I want to see more of your beautiful face" he said. I tried to run but he quickly grabbed my arm "Tsk, as sly as ever, aren't you. You know you can't outrun me" Ryuga said with a confident look on his face. While he forcefully dragged me by my arm, I tried to reach out to my phone in my bag on my other hand that has been ringing for quite somme time. But unfortunately, Ryuga noticed and took my phone and put it on his back pocket. He said some thing to me but I didn't pay any attention. This angered him and grabbed both of my arm and pushed it up my head against the lamp post. At the same time, I saw a figure wearing blue Jinbei in a bush. Is that... Ameno-kun? How did he manage to find me?

He quickly and quietly sneaked behind Ryuga and tried to attack him it seems, but his plan didn't work as Ryuga noticed his presence first. Ryuga purposefully raised my arm a little bit higher first then he released his grip and quickly changed stance to punch Ameno-kun. I then fall feet first, spraining my ankle in the process. "Run! Chisato-san!" Ameno-kun said. "I can't, my ankle is sprained" I said while helplessly trying to rise up. But then I suddenly felt dizzy and my head hurts so much. Soon after, I lost my consciousness while Ameno-kun is fighting Ryuga.
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I felt like I was being carried by someone. When I opened my eyes, I saw Ameno-kun trying his hard to carry me somewhere. "Ameno... " I subconsciously uttered his name. "Don't move, I'll go find help" Ameno-kun said. I can't help but notice, from down here, Ameno-kun has a pretty good looking face. Oh, and there's fireworks too, but that's not important right now. I'm simply questioning, does Ameno-kun has always been this handsome? And why does my heart beating so loudly whenever I see his face? What is... This feeling...