Shinobu's Pov
Y/N had just presented me to his friends, and what at first was a wholesome moment, that I could also take advantage of in order to know more about him and how he acts when I'm not around, suddenly became a moment of extreme embarrassment. I can't quite confirm it, because I might've misheard due to all the time we spent apart, but I'm pretty certain that he was about to call me his girlfriend.
It took me about a minute to catch up to this, but once I did, I quite literally exploded into a blush. I tried my best to hide it by moving my face a bit to the side, but while doing so, I couldn't help turning to look at Y/N, because I was curious as to what his own reaction was, and what I saw, gave me a different perspective in less than a second.
Looking at him, and more specifically, his expression, it was clear just how much more embarrassed he was by this. So much so that he seemed to have short circuited himself, and couldn't speak at all for quite a while.
I myself was still embarrassed, but seeing this made me let out a little chuckle to myself, and I even got a little idea. 'I mean, teasing him for a bit wouldn't hurt anyone, right? He did embarrass me quite a lot last time at the Mansion, so I think he kind of deserves this.' And with that, the blush on my cheeks started fading away from what I could feel, and was instead replaced with a grin all over my face.
A couple of seconds later though, one of his friends, the one he said was named Tero, got a bit closer to me and said. "So it's you that we followed around for an entire week?" I was a bit confused by this, but I then remembered the final selection, and how Y/N said that he kept trying to look for me, which made feel embarrassed once again, but just slightly.
I instead just nodded slightly at him, to which he said. "Well, nice to meet you." And then the two of us bowed down at each other. However, as I looked at him, I could see that he was also a bit nervous about something. At first I wondered why, but I shortly assumed that it was because he wasn't all that good with girls, however, to my surprise, he ended up saying. "And if I-I'm honest, I think I see why he was so focused on finding you." And while it made me blush a bit again, I just ended up laughing a bit, since I didn't expect him to say something like this.
My best guess was that he was probably trying to get out of his 'shell' or something like that, because otherwise, I don't see who would say something so daring to someone they just meet while also being so nervous about it.
My laughed seemed a bit too surprising for him, but before he got the time to say anything, I replied. "Thanks for that, but you better not get your hopes up." The guy seemed nice enough. Probably not as dumb as Y/N, but it's not like that's something I thoroughly dislike on him, so I still preferred him on top of Tero.
The guy seemed a bit confused, but more than anything, he was clearly shocked, as he probably didn't anticipate my reaction, but he was fairly quickly to shrug most of it off, and instead said. "Alright, I get it. You already have your eyes set on someone. I won't intervene." Hearing this, I had to take a moment, not because I was really all that embarrassed, but rather because I fully didn't believe that he just said that, but after playing everything again in my head, I was certain that he said that.
He was going to continue talking. "And if you want my opinion-" But before he got to say anything, I gave two pats to his shoulder, after which I left my hand on top of there, and as he stopped talking from confusion, I said.
"Why don't I give you an advice of my own instead?" And as I gripped my hand with more strength, I said to him. "You would do better by choosing your words more carefully from now on. Who knows what trouble you might get into if you don't." And with that, just after making sure to give one last squeeze to his shoulder, I let go, and flashed the brightest smile I could at him, making sure that he got my point.
After this, the only thing he seemed to be able to do was back up a bit, with clear fear from me, and after a little while, he ran all th way behind the other two. In the end, I had misjudged him, as he was clearly dumber than Y/N, but in completely different, and not pleasant, way.
As for the others, Jujun and Chugi, I think, they could only stare with a bit of disbelief, and after a couple of seconds, Y/N could only laugh a bit. I'm not entirely sure what he was thinking, but in the end, he just said. "Right, I should've also told you not to mess with her. She's pretty tough." This gave a couple mixed feelings. On one hand, it felt like something that would normally annoy me, and I would probably say something like 'What do you mean by that?', but at the same time, and I don't really know why, I kind of liked his way of saying it. It sounded like he wasn't making fun of me, but rather praising me, and while I liked it, it also made me a bit flustered.
The feeling went away though, as the other two approached me, and presented himself. "Hi, my name is Jujun. Pleased to meet you." And then bowed at me. I was liking him already, and from the look of it, he wasn't going to say something like the other guy, but after a couple of seconds of bowing down, he turned around confused, and looked at his friend with a disappointed face.
I was slightly confused by this, so I decided to not say anything and just look for now. After one or two more seconds, Jujun straightened up, rolled his eyes, and walked back to his friend while saying. "C'mon, you've gotta at least present yourself." And after a bit of tugging from both sides, Jujun got him close enough to me that he didn't have any other option than to talk.
He was clearly uncomfortable about this, but judging by his previous reactions, I could actually tell that he was simply not good with girls, and the way in which he turned around to look at the others, almost as if trying to see if there was any way of getting out of this, confirmed all of this for me, and even made me chuckle, though I managed to keep it in, because that would probably make him even more self-conscious.
He still took a little while, but once he finally seemed to get enough confidence, he slowly bowed down at me and said. "N-Nice to meet you, m-Mrs. Name is Chugi- I mean, my name is Chugi!" He was clearly embarrassed by his mistake, and this time, I couldn't help letting out a quick laugh.
The look on his face when he realized this though was hilarious, and he even looked as if he was gonna pass out any moment. Before he did that though, I managed to say. "It's alright. My name is Kocho Shinobu. It's a pleasure to meet you." And while he no longer looked as if he was gonna die at any second, he still ran away from me as soon as he got the chance, which I found funny once again.
Now that we were all done with the presentations, Y/N stepped up once more, as he then said. "Alright, now that we all know each other, how about we go together to the Wisteria House? It should be just like ten minutes away at much." I was okay with this, so I nodded, but as I turned around to look at the rest, I realized that they also did.
This wasn't surprising or anything of course, but what actually caught my eye a bit, was their ways of acting. Tero seemed to act confident, but at the same time, I could easily see him still being a bit afraid from what I did, which was good. Jujun was okay, he seemed to be the most stable person on the group, but as for, Chugi, he was also quite scared, and he wasn't trying to hide it himself.
I mostly just rolled my eyes at this, and once we were all on the same page, Y/N told us to follow him, but before we did that, I asked him. "Hey, Y/N? Do you mind if we have a little talk while we are at it?" And while he was doing okay this entire time, since he seemed to forget about his slip up, he suddenly remembered it all, and looked mortified about it.
He probably thought of a way to get out of this, since he didn't answer right away, but at the same time, he seemed to give up about this pretty quick, as he just said to the others. "You guys go ahead. We'll follow you from behind." And while they were either confused or hesitant about this, they nodded, and started walking.
As for the two of us, we just waited for a couple of moments for them to get a bit away from us, and once they were at a good distance, Y/N said. "S-So, should we get going?" While having a blush covering his face. I found this funny, but kept my laugh for myself, while also nodding at him.
Right then, he sort of nodded as well, and then started walking, while I followed just one or two steps behind by his side. It took a couple of seconds, since I could only imagine how embarrassed he was, and I didn't have any real hurry to make him talk, but in the end, he managed to ask me. "A-Anyway...what did you wanna talk about, S-Shinobu?" And the way in which he avoided looking at me, but at the same time tried to walk closer to me, made him look very funny, so after chuckling a bit to myself, I said.
"Oh, nothing much." Something that surprised him a bit, as he turned to look at me with confusion, probably relieved that I didn't 'realized' what happened. "You know, just wanted to know how you are and what you've been up to, the regular stuff. Oh, and since we're at it, I would also like to ask what were you going to call me before?" And with just that, he realized that I was actually aware of everything, and once again, that mortified look in him returned.
After that, he took some moments to think, and once he seemed to catch up to everything, he was still not able of making up his mind, as he kept stumbling with his own words. Seeing him like this would probably annoy me a bit, since he couldn't just wrap his mind around me and what he thought of me, it kind of did actually, but at the same time, I found it sort of sweet, so I said. "What? To baffled to say anything?" And as he turned his look to see me, his blush became even bigger.
He then coughed a bit, as if trying to clear his throat, and then said. "Well I mean...To a certain degree, I guess..." And to be honest, this did surprise me. It was unclear what was gonna come out of his mouth, but I honestly didn't expect something like this, however, after the initial blush of shock, my face was quickly covered with a warm smile, as I also said.
"I mean, I think both of us know exactly what you were gonna say..." And as I turned to look at him from just the edge of my eye, I could see him doing basically the same thing, and after looking away in embarrassment, he nodded. "Alright, so I guess we're in the same page...But let me ask you something." This last sentence seemed to pick his interest, as he turned to look directly at me, despite still having a huge blush, so I said. "Would it really be that bad if we were something?" And with that, he kind of 'broke'.
He tried to find the correct words to explain himself, but if before he was stumbling with his words, he now was downright falling, as barely any coherent sound left his mouth, and the expression on his face changed every second.
I was a bit baffled by this, and even wondered if I should say anything, but I decided against it, and instead decided to see if he had anything to say after a while, and once three to four minutes passed, he finally stopped trying, took a deep breath, and started talking. "I don't think it would be 'bad', but it would definitely be complicated. I mean, we are in a line of work were we may not wake up tomorrow. Just stressing over oneself is more than enough to drive someone crazy, but worrying about someone else that much might prove too difficult, and that's without considering that fact that I..." He was talking so well, when he suddenly turned to look at me, and stopped talking, as his blush resurfaced, and he just tried to face another way.
I was both confused and curious about this, so I followed his gaze, and looked at him with a clear intention of wanting him to keep talking. He showed to be stubborn for a couple more seconds, but after that, he finally let out a sigh, and finished with. "...and that's without considering the fact that I already worry about you...deeply." I was slightly surprised by this once again, but was mostly happy as well, so I just smiled, and while I continued walking, since he had slowed down quite a bit there, I said.
"Well, if it's of any help, I also worry about you...deeply." I think he was happy about this as well, since he quickly catched up to me after that, and for a couple of seconds, we didn't say anything, just walked by each other's side.
I looked further ahead, and I realized that we were just about to get to the Wisteria house, since I could finally see it faintly from where I was, so I knew that we had little time left to keep talking. "Anyway, if you ask me, I don't think I would like that option to be completely off the table...It would be at least a nice thought after all..." And this time, I was the one looking away in embarrassment, though not as much as him.
As for Y/N, he turned to look at me with a surprised look, which I could barely see from the edge of my eye, and top of that, the biggest blush that he had ever shown. After a couple of seconds though, he turned to look away yet again, and while he rubbed the back of his neck, he said. "I think so...and I think I would like to know that someone cares that much about me..." And as the two of us seemed to regain some of our courage, we turned to look at each other, and smiled warmly at each other. It felt as if we were telling something to each other, but no words left out mouth.
On top of that, the sudden urge to grab each other's hand suddenly came to us, as I slowly brought up my hand, and as I glanced slightly at it, I could also see him doing the same thing. I wasn't entirely sure if we were really going to this, but by the way in which things were going, it seemed so like that. I mean, he didn't look like he was going to stop, and as for myself, I wasn't really going to either.
In the end, we actually ended up grazing each other's fingers, and I think that just that feeling was too much for both of us, as we jolted a bit in place, but neither of us separated, but instead we just left the tips of our fingers touching while getting a couple steps away from the other.
We tried to act like nothing happened, but the sensation on our fingers didn't let us forget, so we just stared at each other, almost as if trying to figure out what was happening, and since neither of us seemed to come up with anything, we just turned to look away, and slowly started getting close to each other again.
At first, once we got close enough to each other, we started by just crossing our pinky fingers, since those were the only ones that could reach each other. We still clearly nervous about this, but we slowly got more and more comfortable with it, so we got even closer, and since it was now an option, we started crossing even more fingers. Before I even realized it, we had our entire hands-on top of each other's, and the only thing left to do in order for us to fully hold each other's hands, was to cross our fingers.
The thought was a bit terrifying, but at the same time tempting. In the end, both of us gave in, as we slowly started closing our hands. First we just felt each other for a bit, by slightly bending our fingers, and them pulling them out. We kept this for a couple more seconds, until we both stopped stalling, and just close our hands entirely.
We were finally holding each other properly, however, as much as I liked the sensation, it unfortunately didn't last long, because after feeling it for maybe five to ten seconds, we were suddenly interrupted by Tero, who came out from the Wisteria house, which we didn't realize we had just arrived at, and then said to us.
"Oh, you two finally arrived."
Chapter End
Taisho Era Rumors
Right at this point in time, Shinobu's attitude has take yet another turn. The first one was her calm and happy demeanor when dealing with other's whether it was real or not, however, now after knowing Y/N for so long, and accepting her feelings to at least some degree, if not entirely, she has shifted to a truly happy demeanor when she's dealing with him. What this means is that she's actually happy when talking to Y/N, and doesn't have to pretend, however, she still keeps her acting from before, and can easily change back to that if she's bothered. Barely anyone can notice this, unless they're being scolded by her, but Y/N is actually able to tell both of them apart.
Alright! Done with a new chapter, and I just realized something that I found a bit fun. In my other book, My Time In U.A, both of the main characters kissed for the same time in chapter 20, and in this one, they barely hold their hands by chapter 40. It's just a silly comparison that I liked, and doesn't even matter, because in my opinion, both couples are going at an appropriate rate. One way faster than the other, but that's just what it is.
Anyway, I don't think I have much to say to you guys other than thanking all of you for coming back to read this. I'm always very encouraged by your votes, comments, and reads overall. Thank you for that, and I hope we keep seeing each other for a long time.
By the way, I've also been thinking of pumping up this book's chapters up to 4000 words each, so that everything can go by a bit faster. Tell me what you guys think, and I may end up doing it.
Alright, that should be it for today, so see you next week, and I hope you have a great time, SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!!!