"That soiree was even worse than father's party"
Said the mind of a raven haired girl.
Though it has been awhile since that event occurred, she just couldn't seem to move on from it just yet.
"I just hope I wouldn't have to meet him anymore..."
An image of a young lad she recently met. One with such charm and confidence. The confidence and persona she unintentionally penetrated, thus him having to cultivate feelings for her.
Those feelings she cut off. Coldly turned down before leaving him without a proper goodbye.
How terribly she behaved that night. But it seems she was fine. Not a reprimand was heard, thus not a complaint he voiced.
Remembering the very last moment she had with him. The flirtatious partner of hers for that night. The messy reunion they had.
She didn't even return the helpless smile he gave her as the soiree came to a close.
Having to stand face to face, preparing to part ways yet again that night, she instead wishes to never encounter the blue streaked boy ever again.
The second eldest of the Kobayashi family, someone she'd never forget.
But surely, there was another she just couldn't seem to escape. Ever so different from how she could heartlessly push Hiroto away, this one, she remembers from time to time. Even when he isn't there, his image would appear in mind.
The little hallucination she had that night. Being confessed to for the first time, how could her mind drift off to someone else?
"Who are you being so loyal to?"
(Dull chap reference)
As she walked down the halls she felt the same sense of exhaustion she felt from that night. How confused she has become to the extent of being so attached.
So longing for an answer.
This ambiguous someone who haunts her mind.
"!"
But just as she contemplated about this someone, she happened to pass a room with his presence inside.
"?"
Viewing him isn't a surprise for her, running into him felt like a daily routine. Having him serve as a helper of her home.
But this particular moment, his expression was rather different from usual.
His calm quiet demeanor gone. Rather, she felt an unpleasant aura coming from him.
Troubled and annoyed he awfully seemed.
"What? What's going on with him?"
Thinking such sight as mistaken, she had to near the opened door and leaned on its frame.
Staring deeply at his side profile.
"Is he mad?" She internally questioned.
Turned out, her eyesight was completely fine.
Even from afar, she could see the annoyance in his dark green eyes. His furrowed brows further pronouncing his upset state.
Though bad days apply to everyone, and it is very reasonable for them to be more prone to anger because of that, she personally never saw him like that before.
"He normally isn't that expressive..."
Such rare sight she ended up finding.
Unable to contain her curiosity, she took gentle steps forward and quietly made her way to stand behind him.
But as she did, more questions rose. How unnoticed she was. He isn't normally this oblivious.
Thus she crossed her arms, waiting for him to realize her. But being the impatient girl she is, she just had to call him out.
"Hey"
"!!!"
Not even a high intonation she used, speaking in a regular tone yet it startled him silly.
"H-Huh?" Thus he turned around, revealing an elusive alarmed expression across his face.
But as he panicked, their gaze automatically met.
All of a sudden, he was viewing a girl he's extremely familiar with. Looking down at her shorter stature, his widen eyes met her neutral ones.
"Oh, it just you..." Somewhat calming down, he muttered a sentence before slowly turning away.
Thus he continued on cleaning.
The raven haired girl just tilted her head at the sight. Now that she's closer to him, his somewhat angered face was far more identified.
Furrowing her brows, she didn't hesitate to ask.
"I'm going to inform Kaoru-chan about this!"
But then an overheard sound of Miyako's voice interrupted her attempt. And so instinctively, she glanced at the half open door behind.
"Your sister's looking for you"
But later on having her annoyed looking servant utter those words, she just had to ignore her sister's call.
"Better not keep her waiting"
His suggestion that had her more focused on him, if anything. She stared as he apparently refused to even just look at her.
Such unusual behavior, a frown surfaced upon her face.
"Who are you to tell me what to do?"
And so with such a question, she halted his activities as he quickly looked at her direction.
"That was a suggestion, I wasn't telling you what to-"
"Keita, why are you angry?"
Indeed he wished to clarify his previous intentions, but it seems she called him out purpose.
Having him finally look her way, she cut him off with a quick question.
It silenced him for a few seconds.
"Tell me. That's an order"
Thus they shortly exchanged stares.
Not long after, a sigh of defeat escaped the dark haired servant's lips.
It seems like there is no way around it.
He had to tell the embarrassing truth.
"I fell on my face this morning"
.......................................
................
........
An awful long duration of silence occurred. Along with an awkward staring battle.
After seconds of processing his response, Kaoru's neutral expression shifted into an unamused one, implying her distrust.
Surprised she refused to believe, Keita's weary face lit up slightly.
"As soon as I woke up" And so he tried to specify.
But unfortunately it failed to convince her for she appeared even more unimpressed.
"In public"
"You woke up in public?"
"What? No, I mean-"
His pitiful attempts to add more detail in order to gain her trust, but it all ended in vain for he sounded even more ridiculous.
He had to cover his mouth gently, moving his eyes to look elsewhere, his mind trying to come up with a better scenario.
But having the raven haired girl stand not so far away, he could tell her suspicion as she crossed her arms.
It disallowed him to think of anything.
"Did I really woke up in public...?" And thus he ended up questioning everything he has ever said, idiotically confused on his own.
"Of course you didn't, you idiot!"
And so some kind of comedic conversation they had.
"It's so clear that you're lying" Kaoru sighed. "You think I'm going to easily buy such a weak reason?"
"Besides, I don't think you'd get so angered over such a dumb thing"
"I'm not angry"
"Then what was that weak excuse all about? If you really aren't then you'd clarify from the beginning"
How badly she could see through his lies, how terrible he is at covering this, her curiosity just grew and grew being given his unusual vulnerability.
But as she carefully observed, his sad attempts of lying reminded her of a certain someone.
Someone that came up within her mind, she didn't hesitate to straight up say
"You're a bit like Mr. Kobayashi's son"
"!"
A seemingly harmless arbitrary statement that flinched his ears.
"The way you tried to rephrase your words reminded me of him" She continued to share. "And how you were so bad and flustered at it"
"You're calmer though. Hiroto was quite loud..."
Indeed it sounded like nothing. Not to her. Not to anybody. Just another one of those futile ramblings.
But little did she know, this futile rambling of hers had him secretly feel an unpleasant feeling. It wasn't meaningless to him, rather quite annoying.
And as he felt more and more irked by it, a calm smile was instead brought to appear upon his face. A warm yet forced smile, containing the irritation that piled inside.
But why?
"Hey"
His brief call was enough to halt her entire speech, having her reflexively look his way, he kept up the nicely faked smile.
Though, for some reason, she was unable to penetrate through it. Unable to tell how he truly felt, she was left puzzled gazing at him.
He went down to her level, meeting her height having to bend his knees slightly to near her confused face.
"You really wanna know why I'm so angry?" He gently asked. "Um, yeah" And so she cluelessly answered.
The annoyance he felt underneath the patient look that layered over it, he went on.
"I went on a date last week"
Revealing the reason behind his current mood, the anger she suspected earlier.
"A former schoolmate of mine had a cousin, I accepted her offer. It didn't turn out well"
"It was annoying since I was actually interested in her"
"Interested?"
And that reason with a number of words coming in yet merely one stayed to ring within her ears.
From here, she had to infer "He likes her?"
Certainly having to know the possibility of having him harbor feelings for another couldn't possibly be the reason to the heating sensation inside, how upsetting his reason ended up being.
After all these times of confusion, his ambiguousness that kept her wondering until this second, her growing anger isn't merely stemmed from pure envy.
It was far more than that.
"That's it?" She discontentedly asked, somewhat giving the impression of underestimating his excuse.
"Yeah" He shortly confirmed.
Thus awkward silence returned to fill in.
Though it didn't last even a minute for she suddenly clicked her tongue before turning away to leave.
"And I thought it'd be something interesting to hear"
Steps echoing across the massive room, leading herself to the exit.
Before taking her leave, she rested her hand on the door frame and looked over her shoulder. Her glance appeared to be a glare instead as she bluntly spoke
"Just so you'll know, that's a very pathetic reason to get angry over"
Slam!
👑👑👑
"Tch, stupid Keita"
Through the empty halls she walked, each step taken bringing her further deep into nowhere. Walking more, passing the exorbitant ornaments of her home, turning each time she reaches an end, going nowhere into the mansion.
All she could feel right now is rage, anger clouding her thoughts.
Then again, what exactly is there to be so upset over?
"Wait, isn't this like a sign?"
A realization hit, causing her to slowly stop.
"He was interested, so he likes her, right?
Her thoughts beginning to run. Yet another one of these tiring contemplations, wondering about how he feels.
His feelings she can't control yet somehow had hers completely under the influence of his.
"He's probably not struggling like I am" She thought. "Going on random dates like that, isn't he proven to not be that kind of person?"
"Do I even know him at all?"
"But really, shouldn't this be the end of it? Everything's clear, right? He likes someone so he obviously doesn't like me. Those ambiguous acts meant nothing."
It all seemed so easy yet so difficult.
"But why? If it really is nothing, why am I the only one treated that way? And why is he still doing it?"
Yet for some reason, she just can't seem to settle with this just like that.
"If he isn't that kind of person, if he already has someone else in mind, it just doesn't add up."
As she stood on her own, the grip upon her skirt weakened as her exasperated expression began to appear rather helpless.
"Why can't I just let this go?"
"Why can't I just mark this as a sign that this all means nothing and move on? So what if it doesn't add up and makes no sense? Why do I care so much?"
"Whether it's real or not. If it has meaning or not. So what? What's the point of all of this?"
But certainly, her own feelings played a part in her curiosity.
The expectations he built within her. These expectations she hates yet cannot eliminate. These expectations that ties her so tightly to the desire to know.
To learn what this means and how he truly feels.
Her feelings for him were terribly paired with this confusion.
"At this rate, it doesn't even matter what it is. I need to hear it loud and clear." She thought. "I'm sick of wondering. Now he's taken over mind, what should I do?"
"Who're you being so loyal to?"
(Dull chap reference)
A certain question she received awhile back at the soiree, suddenly surfacing in her head.
Thinking of it, she stared at the carpeted floor.
"...Loyal...?" Her lips parted slightly to repeat a single word. "Do I look that desperate to others? To myself?"
How badly she's been waiting for the real answer. How dumb this all seems to her. How hard it is to just let it go.
"I didn't start any of this. My expectations aren't my fault. He's the one who led me on."
Waiting on her own. Confused on her own.
"Not until he takes responsibility for whatever it is he's doing, not until he tells me face to face, not until he gives me the truth"
How much she loathed admitting how her feelings are now centered on him. How the truth only he knows is all she wanted to hear.
Just a single yes or no would be enough to finish it all.
But for now, all she can do is bear this unavoidable consequence of the expectations he raised.
"I'll always look stupidly loyal to him"
I'm sorry if this chap was boring. But I
found it quite important so here ya go :/
Questions? Comment!
👋 👋 👋