Chapter 32
Yuma.
I was hungry when the lunch bell rang. I was looking forward to eating my sandwich in peace, under a tree.
I was not looking forward to three laps around the track as soon as I got out of the school building. I knew it was coming, but that didn't change the fact that I wanted to eat and not run.
I was at my locker, putting away my books, when Gumi came out of nowhere and scared the life out of me. I swear, that girl must've been a ninja in another life, or maybe she was some sort of undercover ninja posing as a schoolgirl.
"You coming outside?" She asked. I nodded quickly, about ten times in quick succession.
"Of course," I said.
Her eyes lit up and she flashed me a thumbs-up. "Awesome!"
I stood there dumbly for a second, awed by her sheer adorableness. If 'adorable' was a stat and life was a role-playing game, then she'd have that one maxed out.
"Okay, okay, mister head-in-the-clouds!" She shook my shoulders, "Get out of Gumi-Land, 'cause I'm waiting for you right here!"
"R-Right!" I grabbed my lunch and followed her outside.
And that was how I ended up on the running track, my lunch still uneaten and in my bag.
"Come on, Yuma!" Gumi had said, dragging me towards the track. I was barely resisting, but I wasn't exactly supporting her, either.
She groaned with each tug. "See?" She huffed, "You're so...heavy! Running is good for you!"
I didn't reply, and she stopped tugging when she saw that I was grinning.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She crossed her arms.
I stood silently for a few moments, still grinning stupidly at her. "Yeah," I said finally, "But you'll enjoy the run, so this makes us even."
Gumi opened her mouth to say something, but a low growling sound caught her attention as well as mine.
"My stomach...," I muttered, putting a hand in my hair, "I'm hungry. It's lunchtime, you know, not gym class!"
Gumi smirked. "The faster we get this run over with, the faster we can eat!"
I started running right then and there. Obviously, Gumi caught up to me easily, even though I had gotten a head-start.
Len.
Rin and I sat on the roof of the school, overlooking the yard. I hadn't touched my lunch, and just sat by the edge with my arms crossed, looking down at the others. They didn't look like ants. They still looked like people.
"Want some, Len?" I looked to see Rin offering me an orange creme cookie.
I shook my head, "No thanks."
I couldn't shake this feeling. It was some sort of mixture of anger and sadness that I couldn't really explain. Was I angry with Kaito, even after his sincere apology? Was I angry with Rin, because she accepted his apology so easily? Or was I just angry because she had hugged him like that, almost like the way she hugged me that morning, before we had breakfast...
"Len, are you alright?" Rin interrupted my thoughts.
"I'm fine," I didn't turn to look at her.
"Are you angry because I accepted Kaito's apology?"
I bit my lip and didn't say anything. Rin scooched closer to me as the wind blew past us, blowing our blond hair into our eyes.
"You care about me a lot, don't you, Len?" Rin's voice was quiet. She sounded almost afraid. Great. I was hurting her again.
"I just...took it seriously," I said dismissively.
"Everyone makes mistakes, right, Len?" She asked, looking at me. I didn't make contact with her eyes. I felt her hand cup over mine.
"I guess."
"You know Kaito better than I do," her voice was soft, "You know he's not a bad person. He's probably the most sincere person I've ever known."
Jealousy. That's what this mixture of feelings was called.
"Kaito never hurts anybody," Rin continued. I furrowed my brow, unable to take any more of this.
"If you like Kaito so much, why don't you hang out with him?" The words left my mouth bitterly and suddenly as I turned to look at Rin, "Why don't you sing 'Melt' with him? And have breakfast with him?"
Rin's eyes were wide. Her hands flew up over her heart, as if someone had just shot an arrow there. "What? Len, I never..."
"Clearly, Kaito's the nice guy in this story!" I yelled, about to stand up, "If that's how you feel, then maybe you..."
"Len, please stop!" Rin took my hand, "I just didn't want to ruin the friendship the two of us have with Kaito."
Rin's panic-stricken face plunged me back into reality. I blinked and tried to relax.
"Kaito's normally a nice guy, and you know that better than I do," Rin continued, "And I only hugged him to make him feel better. I don't...I don't like him like that."
I felt guilt sink into me, and my stomach began to feel heavy. "I know," I whispered, "I'm sorry, Rin."
There was silence in the air around us. My eyes were focused on the students down below, and on the distinctive, ethereal scent of oranges that was slowly growing stronger and stronger. The wind fondled my hair and then I turned my eyes slightly upward, so that I could see Rin's face.
But I couldn't. I could only catch a glimpse of the side of her neck, and of her bright blond locks against my face, as her arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer. I shut my eyes and let my arms embrace her as well.
"I accept your apology," her voice was muffled, "Everyone makes mistakes."
Vote, comment, share, support! I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE LOVING THIS!
I wanna hear your feels! Let it all out! Jealously, anger, despair, adoration, affection, happiness!
(Aka start fangirling like so:)
(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
(≧∇≦）
☆〜（ゝ。∂）
( ^ω^ )
Insider into: the end of this chapter was going to be drastically different, but I was extremely conflicted about the original turn of events. Like, no joke, I felt so internally tormented and freaked out that I wanted to stop writing. I rewrote the end maybe five or six times, constantly swapping scenes back and forth, arguing with myself about which one to use.
This is the end that came out at the end of it all. It's nowhere near as...revolutionary as the ones preceding were, so I don't blame you for not fan-girling as much.
See you in the next update!
P.S. Thanks for the 1K reads!