Trouble with love

Part 24 Unable to speak

Nishikata and Takagi-san had finally managed to stop, and were now sitting, eating takoyaki. "I think I remember hearing somewhere that you should know how to stop before you learn how to start." Nishikata stated.

"Words to live by." Takagi-san replied. "But it was a little funny to see you in such a panic."

"You wouldn't say that if you were the one falling all over the place."

"Yeah, but you would."

Nishikata smiled as he ate some of his takoyaki. "Yeah, but I'll get you back at some point, I can't go the rest of our lives and fail every single time."

"Are you implying that we'll be in touch for the rest of our lives?"

Nishikata began to blush and Takagi began leaning closer again. "I ... yeah, I mean ... it's ... well ..."

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"I ..." Nihsikata began to blush. "Um ..."

"That part of our lives is still a long way off, but it's nice to think about it; you and I, together, taking on life's challenges." She smiled and blushed slightly. "It kinda makes me happy."

'Makes me happy too.' Nishikata thought as he turned away. 'So I need to just say that I want to be with her already!'

Her expression fell as she looked down. "But that implies that you want us to stay together."

"I-" Nishikata's words froze in his throat, as he tried in vain to force them out. 'Why can't I do this?!'

Takagi-san looked at him, confused at first, but soon smiled and slid closer to him. "If you still need more time to make up your mind, we still have the rest of the day."

Nishikata turned away from her and began mumbling. "I don't need the rest of the day."

"Hm?"

"NOTHING!" He exclaimed as he held his hands up on defense. "Uh ... here." He said as he held up his takoyaki. "You want some of mine?"

"Okay." She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, causing Nishikata to recoil. "Well you wanted to feed it to me, right?"

"I ..." She opened her mouth again and Nishikata was now more than a little nervous. 'Come on Nishikata, you can do at least this.' He picked up a piece with the pick, and looked at Takagi-san. 'You're the one who offered it to her, don't back out now.' He nervously brought it over to her, but began to slow down as he got close. 'You're currently her boyfriend, you can manage this, right?' He brought it even closer to her, until she leaned over and bit down on the ball of takoyaki, before pulling it off the pick, allowing Nishikata's heart rate to return to somewhat normal. 'That wasn't so hard.'

"Takoyaki's good, but why did you offer me some to begin with?" She asked.

"I ..."

"Are you trying to set the same mood you had yesterday? Are you planning on kissing me again?"

Nishikata's heart rate sped up again, causing him to start feeling a little uneasy. "I ... well ..."

"If that's the case," She leaned closer. "You don't need to set the mood, we can just kiss right here."

Nishikata recoiled slightly, but braced himself as he nodded. 'I can do this, she's my girlfriend and I love her.' He began to lean closer to her as well, as the entire world seemed to disappear around them. 'I can do this, easy.' They closed their eyes and leaned closer, until slowly, their lips met. To Nishikata, it felt much like the night before, only there was now the faint taste of takoyaki, but that was little more than a passing thought as they separated and looked into each others eyes.

"Wow." She began. "That seemed ... like it was a lot easier for you than I thought it would."

"Well, you are my girlfriend."

"And there you go again, easily admitting that we're a couple, yet not too long ago, you would never have admitted something like that." She scooted closer and took a deep breath. "Nishikata ... are you okay?"

"I ... think so."

"Then ... I'll make this a little easier for you." She turned to face him and took a deep breath. "Nishikata ... do you want us to remain together?"

Nishikata opened his mouth and tried to force out a 'yes', but his vocal cords refused to form that word. 'What's wrong with me!' He tried again, and still failed. "Takagi." He managed to say. "I'm ... unable to answer that." He felt an overwhelming sense of defeat as his eyes glanced down. "I know what I want to say, I want to say it, but ... I can't."

"I ... see." She stood up and offered a hand to him. "How about we go for a walk?"