THE ARM HE HAD EXTENDED out fell back to his side. He had only wanted you to not join the fight.
"[Last Name]-san will die." Takemichi carefully said. "In the fight against Tenjiku... she'll have a panic attack and be stabbed to death."
He remembered those words carefully. Like his partner had said, it was probably the unfamiliar environment and stress of the place that caused the panic attack. He tried to warn you, in a way that wouldn't worry you, but in the end, he caused you to run away.
Did he do the right thing? Maybe he should properly apologise after he fought with Tenjiku.
He quickly shook his head. No... I'm doing the right thing. She'll die if she go.
Staring at the direction you ran off, he was beginning to feel the guilt.
...Right?
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Your foot kicked a rock. Small pieces of your hair had blocked your view. Usually, you'd blow them away, but you didn't even bothered to do that.
You're not a weak person. You know how to fight. Your uncle taught you, who fought in the war. He was a professional solider. Despite all things, he held his head high and didn't falter.
Don't be sad. Don't be sad. Don't be― Aww...
Hot tears blurred your vision. Just thinking about it makes you upset.
But he's right... I am weak.
You can't defend yourself against the people at school. You can't speak up to the teachers without solid evidence of the bullying. You let them walk all over you like a doormat. You don't deny or affirm anything they say about you.
You pretend not to be hurt by their words and actions. You cry to yourself to bed with Mr. Froppé sometimes. So much that you don't even feel like crying. As if you had ran out of tears to shed.
"Eh? [Last Name]-chan!?"
Emma came running at you, shocked. "Why are you crying!? Here, use this." She dabbed away your tears with her handkerchief, muttering something about being glad she brought it with her. She sat down next to you.
Weird thing was that you didn't even push her away.
You sniffed, "...I had an arguement with Chifuyu-san."
"Oh..." She sat back. "Boys, huh?" She said. "Toman's going to fight Tenjiku, but he told me that he doesn't want me to go. Then I asked if he trusts me or not, which then led me to think he sees me as weak and I ran off crying. But now that I think about it now, that's probably not the case and now he hates me and I'm saaaad!!" Tears came rolling down again which she quickly helped wiped away.
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you. I mean, he doesn't want to fight because he cares about you." Emma explained. "Boys have a weird way of showing they care. They might say really mean things, but they're just trying to protect you because they care."
"...I wouldn't know. I don't get anything for Valentine's." You sobbed again into Emma's hanky. She sweatdropped, but continued. "Chifuyu doesn't want you to come because he doesn't want you to get hurt. I heard from Mikey that Tenjiku's a gang full of pretty ruthless guys. So, cheer up, [Last Name]-chan!" She patted you on the back, smiling from ear to ear.
You sniffed again, but you can't because of your blocked nose. "How do I know you're not tricking me?" You asked. "Huh!? I'm not tricking you!" Emma exclaimed back, but you stood up, placing Mr. Froppé aside.
You extended your arms fully to your sides, back facing Emma, and you fell backwards.
Of course, Emma caught you. "Hey, what are you doing!? That's dangerous!"
But you only stared blankly, eyes widened. "You caught me. You actually caught me." You began, then sitting up straight. "Emma-san, you're a true friend!" You suddenly wrapped your arms around Emma, making weird happy noises.
"...Huh???" Despite her confusion, you called her 'san', and you hugged her, which means you like her now? Whatever caused you to be so happy and so accepting of Emma now, she was happy either way.
After a little while, you parted with Emma, saying you have to go meet Mitsuya.
...But then remembered you don't know the way to his house, so you did a U-turn back to Emma, asking for directions.
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"Oohh!! It's [Last Name]-neesan!" Luna screamed in delight, and the younger sister, Mana came running full speed at you. "[Last Name], sorry about my sisters. They're excited to meet you." Mitsuya apologized at the door, smiling apologetically.
"Meet...? But..."
"Emma told me you were coming, but speaking of her, she's not here..." He peeked out of the door, searching for the blond when you told him that she had to go to somewhere with Mikey or something. "When were you so close with her? Last time I heard, you tried to shoot her with a Nerf gun." He chuckled.
"She caught me." You said, with a very serious look. Mitsuya titled his head in confusion. "I did this―" You extended your arms again, like how you did at with Emma. "―Fell back and she caught me. I mean, it's only the 23th time someone finally caught me!"
Hearing you say something so depressing out loud with a smile is sad to watch. Mitsuya thought, sweatdropping. But he soon invited you in. "So, what's up?" He sat down on the sofa, telling his sisters to go to their room and wait. "Um... I want to apologise to Chifuyu-san."
"You had a fight?" Mistuya asked, surprised.
You nodded, hugging tighter to Mr. Froppé. "I heard Tenjiku has loads of big, buff guys, and that they're gonna bust my skull if I go near them! So... I think that's why Chifuyu-san doesn't want me to go. I wanna apologise, but I don't know how. I'm too socially inept for stuff like this." You sulked at the end, but Mitsuya was busy thinking about how you said Tenjiku was gonna bust your skull open and how socially inept you were.
"Well... I think you should just be direct and honest." He said. "Direct? But Mitsuya-san, my social skills are as bad as an unconscious person!" You balled your fists, comically yelling.
"But aren't they unresponsive to the world around them?"
"Exactly!"
He sweatdropped.
"I'll melt from the nerves and never be able to apologise!" You slapped your hands to your face, facing upwards in distress (Mr. Froppé fell as a result of you standing up). "Chifuyu-san will hate me forever, and I'll die from the painful lonliness!!!"
Seeing you so serious about this had him chuckling.
"Mitsuya-san! With all due respect, this is no time to be laughing! You have to help me or I can't never reconnect with Chifuyu-san ever again!" You shook his shoulders, but hearing your words made him laugh even harder.
"[Last Name], [Last Name]." He gently pulled your hands away, barely recovering from laughing. "Chifuyu's not gonna hate you. I'm certain for that."
"I think I can agree to some extend why he doesn't want you to go, but it's because he doesn't want you to get hurt." You calmed down a little, intently paying attention to his explanation. "Chifuyu really likes you, so I don't think he'll hate you for this." He smiled. "When two best friends fight about stuff that really affects them, it says a lot about their character. Tell me, why doesn't he want you to go?"
Your arms fell unmoving at your sides. "Because... Because he doesn't want me to get hurt." You mumbled quietly, and you gripped on the hem of your skirt. "Fighting a large gang like Tenjiku will probably trigger a panic attack... and I'm still inexperienced with an all-out fight."
"And why do you want to go?"
"...I want to fight alongside Chifuyu-san. I don't want to be seen as some fragile person that he needs to protect. I want to show him that I can defend myself. I mean, Chifuyu-san is super great! And if he sees me all weak and unable to do anything, he'll want to protect me. But if he's taking all the hits, who'll protect him?"
"My... my mom used to protect me. A lot of times from my father. And I wanted to protect her too, but I couldn't. So... So this time, I wanna be the one that protects Chifuyu-san!"
Mitsuya smiled knowingly. "You two fought because you two care about each other. He doesn't want you to go, because he's afraid of putting you in danger. And you want to go, because you want to fight with him. Both reasons behind these two shows that you two cherish each other. It's you guys' own way of saying that you care."
"You're right..." You nodded slowly. "I... should probably go apologise now." You bend down to pick up Mr. Froppé, apologising how you had forgotten him. "What!? Noo, I'm sorry, Mr. Froppé!" You cried, staring straight at the bunny.
I wonder what she's talking about with him. Mitsuya thought.
You turned to Mitsuya, bowing deeply. "Thank you so much, Mitsuya-san! I'll repay you someday!" He waved a hand, grinning. "It's no problem. There's still a few hours left before the meeting, so make sure you meet up with him before then, alright?" He patted your head like a child. You nodded, now smiling happily.
And off you went to meet Chifuyu.