Punctual

Punctual (Part Eleven)

I narrow my eyes, unamused.

“Yeah, I’m... not talking to you.” I turn around and keep walking, uttering a slight sound of disapproval when I hear the turning gears of Kyohei’s bike. He’s pedalling slowly so that he can look at me as he speaks, but I keep my eyes on the asphalt.

“Hey, I apologized, didn’t I?”

I stop, shooting the bicycle fool yet another glare.

“But are you really? Sorry, I mean?”

Kyohei is taken aback, eyes widening.

“Well, no,” he says, looking as surprised as I am at his answer. “I suppose not.”

I snort and keep walking.

“Did you really dislike it that much?”

The sunlight makes the every color skew orangey-red, and I flush as well, not breaking my pace, not looking at his eyes.

“I just... don’t have the time.”

“For what?”

“For - “

He cuts me off. “A relationship.”

“... Yes.”

“I mean, if you wanted a friends-with-benefits deal, then I suppose we could work that out somehow...”

I chuck my backpack at him. Kyohei easily dodges it, stopping momentarily afterwards to get off his bike and pick up my bag for me. He doesn’t give it back.

“Insulting.”

“I was kidding.”

“I don’t care.”

“What are you so scared of?”

I make a grab for my backpack. He moves away, holding it out of reach, face expressionless, one hand still on his bike seat. He raises his eyebrows expectantly.

I want to laugh (but can’t) at his childish question. “Scared of? Well, if you must know. Heights. Spiders. Failure. You. I’m scared of you and your crazy frivolity and stupid, asinine, impulsive-”

“Worth it.”

I swallow my words, confused and still irritated.

“What?” I mean to deliver the word with more conviction, but it comes out barely above a whisper, broken in halves over the sneer on my face.

Kyohei looks at me, an uncharacteristically somber expression spread across his face.

“It might have been stupid. There might have been some physical repercussions (I cough as the bicycle fools rubs a knuckle over his sore cheek), and I might have been acting on pure impulse. I was maybe even a little scared. But still, I think it was worth it.”

He takes a second, rearranging the textbooks in my pack before carefully handing the bag back to me. I hold it, just looking at him swing his leg back over his bike and start to pedal.

I wait a few seconds.

“I’m not agreeing to anything.”

He stops mid-pedal and looks back at me, still clutching awkwardly to my backpack. The ghost of a smile twitches at his lip.

“Okay,” he says back. Kyohei glides over, hopping over the curb with ease to settle next to me. I start walking, and he follows along as silence ensues once again.

It takes a few minutes for him to speak up again.

“I don’t want to force you into anything. I’m not trying to. I just wanted you to know that I care about you. But I’m pretty selfish so,” and at this he gazes into my eyes, searching for anything that would betray my reaction to his impromptu confession. “I don’t just want to be friends.”

I roll my eyes. “The last thing I need is a relationship where we just lick each others’ wounds,”

He frowns in response. “Helping someone else when they need it is not just commiseration.”

We turn quiet after that, but eventually Kyohei clears his throat, and I glance over.

“So,” I ask hesitantly. “What do we do now?”

Kyohei returns my gaze, the spark in his eyes betraying the apparent sincerity in his voice. “Well,” he starts off. “I could walk you to cram school. We could go to the park. I could treat you to ice cream and lovingly spoon feed it to you as you sit across from me, enraptured by -”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I would totally love to know what comes next, but I’m a little busy trying to not throw up my lunch.”

Kyohei just laughs at me, reaching over to ruffle my hair. I step back, hands up as a barrier.

“No, seriously,” I said flatly. “Any closer and I’ll do what I should’ve done when I first met you, which is knock you off that infuriating bicycle and let a bus run you over.”

“... I’m not that bad a kisser, am I?”

I whirl around, just catching Kyohei rearranging his features to hide the grin tugging at his lips.

“Punch you. In the face.”

I try walking faster, but the idiot is persistent.

-----

Perhaps this relationship thing isn’t so bad. It’s just like having a friend. A friend who likes to kiss you. A lot.

And the kisses. The kisses aren’t so bad either. The first time was a surprise. The second was much nicer - expected, not so rushed. Soft. Kyohei has to keep telling me not to wince so much when he leans in - he says that he gets slightly offended when I do so.

He says that there’s no pressure, no obligations, no anything, for now. That something like this should be enjoyable - not just another assignment. I find myself wanting to believe him.

Maybe I will.

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