[Rukawa x Y/n] Win For You

Chapter 8

Y/n's pov

'Stop following me, creep.' you look up at Rukawa in front of you, him dragging his bike by his side as you all finally decided to go back home before the dark.

'I'm not following you, narcissist. How dumb do you have to be to not realise I live two streets next to yours? Unfortunately.' you reply, the sunset falling over him as he turns back to carry on walking with his bike. You shift your gaze away from Rukawa towards the horizon below the bridge trying to ignore the sound of the cars of people getting off of work. The sunset was always oddly relaxing despite the busy city at this hour, the perfect time for daydreaming just staring up at the orange sky mixing with the pink. Despite the presence of Rukawa, that is. 

'Why did you agree to Ayako-senpai?' Rukawa suddenly says as he stops on his track once again, turning to face you still in the middle of the bridge. 

'Because she was going to pay me.' you reply without taking your eyes off of the pink clouds, only to walk into his bike tyre almost tripping over it, and face-planting onto the ground. Instead, you find yourself staring into the asphalt blocks, your hands dangling down your sides mid-air. 

'You have a habit of not looking where you are going.' Rukawa says as you feel his hands on the back of your shirt, holding you up almost in the air.

'Well, you have a habit of annoying me.' you say before you stop yourself, remembering that he is the one holding you from shoving your nose into the ground. To your surprise, you feel yourself slowly move to an upright position as Rukawa puts you down on your feet properly instead of letting you break your nose. 

'So you only agreed to do it because you would get paid. Don't you do art because you love it?' he says as he starts walking again, in which you actively stop your eyeballs from rolling on their own. 

'I do art because I love it, but I didn't want to do this "commission" because to be honest, I don't want to be surrounded by you and your annoying fangirls every day.' you say, slightly offended by the fact that you felt like he was judging your passion for your work with already a long history of disrespecting your art. 

With that, you fall into an uncomfortable silence, which you try to avoid by looking out to the river beside you, the navy ripples shining with the last of the sunlight. 

'Why do you hate me so much?' he suddenly asks, his voice indifferent although you couldn't see his face clearly from the shadow. You wonder if he was hurt by the beef between you both, everything made even worse by his fangirls misunderstanding you for another fangirl and chasing you everywhere. 

'I can't believe you are asking me that right now.' you say instead, wondering how dense he has to be to not understand that it is possible for somebody to hate him for his insensitive actions. 'First, you almost stop me from entering the competition. And you expect me to like you like your crazy fangirls who can't stand anyone else talking to you? You don't even understand how much winning the competition meant for....well, me.' you say, falling silent awkwardly as you glance at his face with his lips closed tight.

'Well then, what did the competition mean to you?' he replies after a few seconds, breaking the silence only filled with your school shoes against the asphalt road. You stay quiet, debating whether to tell your entire deep thoughts and problems to the very guy who you swore to stay away from at all costs. 

'It was my future.' you say bluntly, looking away from him into the river below reflecting the orange sunset as the navy water ripples with the evening wind. You feel his gaze shifting over to you, tucking your hair behind your ear from the breeze. 'I had to win it to keep doing it.' you add, your voice sounding quieter by the second. 

'...' you look up to see Rukawa's eyes focused on his hand pushing his bike to the side, yet you could sense that he was listening.

'The world is cruel, you know. You have to be the best at something to succeed in that. If I couldn't win it, that meant that I am not good enough to pursue drawing manga as a career.' you say, kicking the tiny pebble into the river as you descend the bridge with Rukawa quietly walking beside you. 

'There's no law that you have to be best at something to do it.' he says as you shift your bag higher on your shoulder.

'Well if you are not good enough at it, nobody will consume what you have for the world. Then you can't make a living. Then you will eventually have to find something else to do, wouldn't you? If nobody wants you on a basketball team because you are not the best at it, you won't be able to play the way you want to, no?' you ask, watching the salespeople packing away their leftover goods from the market, shouting and laughing about something with each other. 

'So if I couldn't prove to everyone that I am good enough at drawing ...to myself..., my parents would get me to major in something else at university, not manga art.' you reply, glancing at Rukawa doubting that he stayed awake through your whole middle school story. 

'....' you almost roll your eyes at his blank face, still zoned out staring at his bike rolling silently beside him, but he suddenly stops on his spot, lifting his head. 'I'm sorry.' he blurts at your equally blank face, ignoring middle school children running around to catch their bus almost leaving the station.

'What, you changed your mind on apologising after hearing my art's tragic life or death story?' you ask, Rukawa scratching his head with his other hand.

'Well yes, and I also don't want two Sakuragis cursing me to fail.' he says, walking past you with his bike as your last drop of hope that Rukawa would not be a weird heartless being. 

'Oh, I'm not done on the reasons why I hate you.' you say as he gets on his bike, his irritated expression turning to face you from his seat. 

'I don't have time to walk with you.' he says, staring at you standing still on your ground. 

'You asked.' You reply, returning the same annoyed face at him. 

'Well get on the bike.'