The next morning, Kotoko awoke to find her room at the Irie's house bare and her things were in the suitcases that she had brought with her when she moved in. This was it, she was really moving out.
The night before had been one that Kotoko would never forget for it was the night that her world changed. The man that she had been in love with for so long had now become someone that she knew she would never have. Someone she would have to forget. Though it would be hard since they would see each other every day at school. It also didn't make it easy for her that he was camped outside of her door, trying his best to convince her to stay.
When they had arrived home the night before, Kotoko made no hesitations in her packing, going upstairs to start the minute that they walked through the door. Kotoko inwardly smiled to herself knowing that just a few weeks ago, Kotoko would be the one for Naoki to stay with her, but now, the tables were turned.
Life could be so cruel sometimes.
Getting out of bed, Kotoko walked to the closet one last time and grabbed a clean towel before heading to the bathroom that she, Naoki, and Yuuki shared for one last shower before she left.
When Kotoko opened the door, she had the misfortune of running into Naoki in the hall. His hair was a mess and his tshirt and sweatpants were wrinkled from the previous night's sleep. He yawned and stretched. They both stopped in their tracks when they had made sleepy eye contact. Naoki held Kotoko's gaze and regretted everything that he had said the night before. He didn't want her to go and he would do anything to make her stay, but he knew that right now, he couldn't give her the answers that she wanted.
"I am just going to take a shower." Kotoko said.
"Is there any way that I can convince you to stay?" Naoki silently asked.
Kotoko stepped into the bathroom and gripped the door, "Do you love me, Naoki?"
"Kotoko..." Naoki sadly sighed.
"That's what I thought." Kotoko scoffed before slamming the door in Naoki's face.
Naoki stood outside of the bathroom until he heard the water begin to run. Behind him, Naoki heard a door open.
"What is all of this noise so early in the morning?" Yuuki asked as he stepped out of his and Naoki's room and rubbed his eyes.
"Kotoko is leaving." Naoki answered.
"She meeting up with Haru today?" Yuuki yawned and stretched.
"No, she is leaving as in moving out leaving." Naoki groaned.
"She is?" Yuuki's face lit up.
"Yeah." Naoki sighed.
"Don't get me wrong, brother, but you make this sound like this is a bad thing." Yuuki walked next to Naoki.
"It is." Naoki replied.
"Wait, how is this a bad thing? We have wanted Kotoko gone since the minute she got here. We can finally have our own rooms back and things can go back to the way that they were. Just us and no silly girls running around here."
"I know but things have...changed." Naoki crossed his arms and looked off to the side, not wanting to share everything with Yuuki.
"Changed? What has changed?" Yuuki asked.
"Nothing, I just got used to her, that is all." Naoki lied.
"I know you are lying. You never make eye contact when you lie and your upper lip does that twitch thing. What is the real reason that you don't want Kotoko to leave."
Naoki just stared at Yuuki in silence and Yuuki's eyes turned the size of saucers.
"You like her, don't you!?" Yuuki exclaimed.
Naoki grabbed Yuuki's upper arm and dragged him into their room.
"Shhh! Do you want the whole house to hear?" Naoki gritted through his teeth before releasing Yuuki's arm.
"So it's true! Did you tell her?" Yuuki asked as he sat down on his bed, the news being too big of a shock.
"Well, sort of. The thing is is that I don't know how I feel about her. One minute I feel like I want to kill her and then the next minute I want to jump across the dinner table and kiss every inch of her body." Naoki gripped his hair in frustration.
"Please don't do that. I have to eat at that table, ya know?" Yuuki grimaced. "Wait, I thought that she would have been happy about that."
"She would have been if I told her last night that I loved her. But instead, I was an idiot and told her that I don't know how I am feeling. She feels that it would be better if we just went our separate ways to figure things out and the worst part is, I don't blame her. Maybe I am just going through some sort of phase or I'm just romantically frustrated." Naoki sighed as he threw himself onto his bed.
"I don't either blame her either. I would be upset too if I was going to be someone's love guinea pig." Yuuki folded his arms and leaned against his headboard.
"Funny," Naoki scoffed, "that is what she said last night."
"Maybe a break is good. You might be over your school boy crush by tomorrow and back to the old Naoki. " Yuuki smiled at his older brother.
"Since when did you become the rational one?" Naoki chuckled.
"Since you decided to fall in love with the girl across the hall." Yuuki replied.
Naoki and Yuuki sat in silence taking in the conversation when Naoki heard the bathroom door open. Naoki shot to his feet and headed to his bedroom door.
"Naoki!" Yuuki called after him, "What did we just talk about? Kotoko leaving was going to be both a logical and good thing."
"To hell with logical!" Naoki exclaimed before opening the door.
In the hall, Naoki ran into Kotoko wearing a pink sundress and her towel wrapped around her hair.
"Kotoko..." Naoki called out for her but Kotoko just went straight into her room and shut the door.
Naoki stood outside of Kotoko's door, waiting for her to come out so that hopefully, he would be able to attempt one last time at making her stay.
A few minutes later, Kotoko's door opened and Kotoko walked through, suitcases in hand.
"Kotoko, please stay." Naoki pleaded one last time.
Kotoko sighed and set her suitcases down in the hallway.
"I can't stay here any longer. I am done torturing myself. I am not going to wait around until you figure out your feelings for me. Let me know when you do and maybe I'll still be available."
With that said, Kotoko picked up her suitcases and headed downstairs towards the door. Naoki followed behind, hoping that she would turn around and stay.
Kotoko reached for the door knob and placed her slender fingers on the brass knob before turning to Naoki. "You have my number, contact me if something happens to my father or there is an emergency. Otherwise, don't talk to me. Don't try to contact me outside of an emergency. Don't approach me in school. Better yet, don't even look at me. Don't even think about looking at me. You need to figure your feelings out..." Kotoko opened the door, "without me."
Kotoko walked out of the door and down the front stairs, not looking back at Naoki who was frozen on top of the stairs. Kotoko walked down the street and Naoki couldn't bring himself to walk back inside as Kotoko walked further and further away.
She was really leaving.
Naoki sighed as Kotoko was no longer visible from his front door. He never imagined in a million years that Kotoko would ever leave willingly and more unbelievable was that he was actually sad to see her go. Naoki never thought that he would be begging someone like Kotoko to stay. They were so different but his heart knew that in every way they were meant to be together.
He had to figure out his emotions and prove to Kotoko that he wasn't the vain and arrogant man that she thought that he was. He knew that there was more to him that she knew about, that anyone knew about. The logical side of him knew that he should refuse to change who he is because of some girl. But this wasn't any girl, this was Kotoko. No matter how much she annoyed and frustrated him, he knew that he never wanted to be a day without her.
He needed her to love him because it was only her opinion that made him feel complete. People may think that he is a genius and he gets approval that way, but what good was that when there wasn't love? Not the kind of admiration love that he got from teachers and other girls, but the kind of love that Kotoko showed him. The pure love that came from loving him despite his attitude and faults.
Naoki needed to figure out his feelings and figure them out fast.
