You-Youz: Hello everyone, I'm super sorry for the late update. I know I said I would update faster but I lied. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy :D
Chapter 11: The Runner
Ikuto's palms started to sweat as he waited nervously for Amu to continue talking. Amu played with her hair as she remembered that day.
*Flashback*
"Amu-chan. I know this is sudden, but please go out with me. I know it has been four years since we graduated but within those four years, I spent each and everyday missing you. I can't let you slip away again. What do you say?" Amu was speechless. She had never imagined Tadase to like her back. If this was before, she would have ran toward him and jumped in joy, but this time thing was different, she wasn't ready to date anyone.
As Amu hesitated to give Tadase an answer, Yaya pulled her away and whispered to her ear, "I ran into Tadase a few days ago and we were talking when I found out that he likes you all these years. I know I shouldn't have done this but I planned this with Tadase so he could tell you how he's feeling. Isn't this great? You can finally be with him." Amu pulled away after she heard what Yaya said and shook her head. "Yaya, I know you're trying to help me but I'm not ready to date anyone yet." Amu walked back to Tadase.
"Tadase, I..." Amu licked her lips, as she tried to form the words, "I'm really grateful to hear that you like me but I can't accept your feeling. If it was the me from before, I would gladly accept your feeling since I did like you, too. But the me now is not ready to date anyone. I'm sorry. " Tadase's expression turned gloomy, but he still forced a smile. "I understand, but I won't give up on you just yet." Tadase declared before walking off.
*End of flashback*
After listening to the story, Ikuto felt a huge relieve overtaken his body. He opened his mouth to declare his love for Amu. "I love you, Amu." But his voice was covered by the fireworks being blasted into the night sky. Both of them looked at the beautiful lights on the sky.
A few moment later, the firework stopped. Amu turned toward Ikuto when she remembered Ikuto was saying something. "Ikuto, what did you say before? I couldn't hear because of the fireworks." Ikuto just smiled and shook his head, "It's nothing." 'I'll confess my love to you again when the time is right.' He mentally thought as he dusted the sand from his body. "Come on, it's getting late. We should head back." Amu nodded before the both of them walked back toward the resort.
The next day, Ikuto was in a much better mood than he had been in the past few days. He knew that Amu is still single, which was enough to satisfy his heart. He woke up earlier to go jogging around the beach. He couldn't help but smile as images from his time with Amu last night popped into his head. He was a bit upset thinking about how the fireworks ruined his chance of confessing to Amu.
As he pondered when the right time to confess to Amu again, he wasn't paying attention to where he was running and bumped into someone. It was a guy with green hair and glasses. Ikuto glanced at him quickly and bowed his head apologetically before trying to continue his run. The green-haired guy didn't let him go so easily though. He pulled Ikuto back by his shirt and stared at him.
"Aren't you going to apologize? How did you manage to bump into me when there's so much space on this beach?" He looked at Ikuto ups and downs as he adjusted his glasses.
Ikuto was about to apologize but after hearing what the green-haired guy said, he swallowed back his apology. "Why should I apologize to you? You should've moved away when you see someone running toward you." The atmosphere was getting tense as the two guys stared each other, neither side wanted to give up.
"I guess I'll just let you go then, since you're clearly blind if you ran into people in broad daylight." The green-haired guy finally let go of Ikuto's shirt and walked away. Ikuto had never seen such a disagreeable person before. He shook his head getting rid of the green-haired guy. The day had just started and he can't let anyone ruin his day. Ikuto decided to turn around and headed back to the resort, hoping that he won't run into the green-haired guy again.
After Ikuto finished showering, he walked over to Amu's room, which was across from his. He hesitated at first, debating whether to knock on her door or not. He took a deep breath and raised his hand slowly toward the door. But before his hand even made contact with the door, the door swung open surprising him. He flew back a few steps toward his room. He didn't know why but he started pretending to stretch in front of his door.
Amu smiled at Ikuto, "Good morning Ikuto. Are you getting ready to go for a run?" Ikuto stopped stretching and greeted Amu, "Morning, Amu. I went running this morning. I'm just stretching for a bit since my legs seem a bit sore."
"Ah...Stretching is an important part of running, or else you'll end up with sore muscle later on." Amu remembered her first time running. That was 2 years ago, when she was in America. At her college, it seemed like everyone was a health freak. The gym was always packed with students exercising. When it was warm out, there were a bunch of students running around the quad. Amu had never exercise much but one of her friends was a runner. He would always nag Amu to run. Eventually, Amu gave in and started running, too. She thought running was easy, but boy, was she wrong.
She remembered her first time running, she ran for half an hour without stretching before hand. That night, her legs were so sore that she couldn't sleep. The next day, she complained to her friend and he told her to never run without stretching. She still remember his advice till this day. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't keep in touch with that friend for almost a year now. The last time she talked to him was a few months before her mother's death. She wondered where he is now.
"Morning, Amu!" Kukai's voice brought her mind back to reality. She turned to Ikuto, feeling embarrassed. She forgot that she was with him when she started thinking about the past.
"Ikuto, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening earlier. Did you say something?" Ikuto was dumbfounded. How could she not pay attention to him while he was standing right in front of her? He wanted to be mad but somehow it was hard to get mad at her. He asked her if she wanted to go to the seaside stores with him earlier, but instead of repeating the question, he just shook his head, "No, I wasn't saying anything."
Amu looked relieved. She didn't want Ikuto to think that she was ignoring him.
"Amu, let's go to the seaside stores together. I passed by them yesterday and wanted to bring you with me." Kukai grabbed a hold of Amu's wrist and pulled her toward him. Ikuto's brow twitched in anger. Amu might have told him that she only see Kukai as a brother but Ikuto couldn't help feeling jealous seeing them close together. He wanted to pull Amu away. Just then, his prayer was answered when he saw Utau walking toward them.
"Utau, didn't you say you wanted to go to the seaside stores today?" Ikuto said almost shouting as Utau got closer.
Utau almost refused but then she saw Ikuto eyeing Kukai and Amu. She glanced toward them and saw Kukai holding Amu's wrist. She mentally giggled, seeing her big brother jealous. Ikuto had dated a few girls before but she had never seen him behave like this before. She was glad to see her brother like this since it meant his nightmares aren't bothering him as much. She raised her index finger toward her chin as if she was thinking. "Oh! You're right, Ikuto. I did mention that yesterday." She saw Ikuto led out a relieved sigh at the corner of her eyes.
"Why don't you guys come with us then? Kukai and I were about to head there now." Amu suggested, making Ikuto smiled. Utau noticed that Amu wasn't looking but she did notice Kukai making a face. She raised her brow at him but he just shrugged his shoulder.
"Let's go eat breakfast before we go. I'm starving." Kukai placed his hand in front of his stomach and rubbed it, making a sad face. Amu and Utau laughed at his behavior, before the four of them headed toward the restaurant in the resort.
At the cafeteria, the four of them were eating breakfast and talking casually. Nothing happened until Ikuto saw a glimpse of the green-haired guy at one of the table. He gave a grimaced look.
Amu wiped her lips before speaking, "Is everything alright? You don't look so well, Ikuto."
Ikuto shook his head, "I'm fine. I just saw someone I don't want to see."
"Who?" Utau and Kukai said at the same time. They both looked at each other and laughed at how in-sync they were.
"No one special, just some guy who was rude to me this morning." Ikuto took a sip of his juice. He didn't want the other guy to notice him. He had enough of his rudeness for one day. "Should we head out soon?"
The other three nodded. Amu finished her water and wiped her lips. Utau finished the fruit on her plate before getting up to go fetch a glass of water. Kukai stuffed the rest of his pancake in his mouth, not wanting the food to go to waste. Amu laughed before handing him a glass of water.
"Ok, I'm ready to go now." Utau said after she drank her water. Amu and Kukai answered, "Same here."
The four of them walked out of the restaurant. Just then, someone called out toward them.
"Wait, miss, you forgot your phone." The speaker tapped Amu on the shoulder. Amu turned around and was surprised to see that the speaker was none other than her friend from America- the runner.
"Kairi! What's a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?" Amu gave Kairi a quick hug before taking her phone from him. Utau pulled Kukai to the side and asked about the guy.
"Who's the dude?"
Kukai just shook his head, "No clue, I had never seen him before."
Ikuto couldn't believe his eyes, the same person who was rude to him this morning is Amu's friend? What a small world!
"Amu! I'm surprised to see you here too! My family own this resort. I'm just here on break. How are you? I haven't seen you in so long."
"I'm doing well. I'm here on a business vacation. Let me introduce my friends to you. This is Kukai, Utau, and Ikuto." Amu pointed to each person as she introduced them.
"You, the blind guy from this morning!" Kairi pointed toward Ikuto when he saw him. Ikuto glared at him.
"My name isn't you and I'm not blind. You're the blind one for not moving away from my path while I was running."
"This is the guy you told us about?" Utau pointed to Kairi.
Kairi laughed, "What a small world!"
"Amu, we should go. It was nice meeting you, Kairi, but we have to run now." Utau was impressed at Kukai for trying to resolve the problem. Ikuto couldn't be happier hearing the suggestion.
"Amu, can we meet up later? I haven't seen you in so long and I want to catch up with you." Kairi said, hoping to spend a few extra hours with Amu. He was a grade below her but he was struck by her beauty and her sweet nature. He had a crush on her since he was a sophomore. They finally became friends when they got paired together for a group project. Kairi still thanked the professor till this day for allowing him to get close to Amu. They became fast friends and he even persuaded her to start running despite her dislike of exercise. One thing that he regretted was not telling her how much she meant to him. He knew he love her but he didn't want to ruin their friendship. At first he thought the friendship was enough but after she came back to Japan, he realized he wanted them to be more than just friends. Now that she is standing in front of him, he couldn't let her slip away again.
"Please say yes!" Kairi prayed mentally.
"Of course! We can meet at the resort around 6pm tonight. Here's my phone number." Amu took a piece of paper from her bag and scribbled her number down before giving it to Kairi. "I'll see you tonight then. Bye."
Ikuto, who was watching the whole thing, was beginning to feel jealous. He wanted to snatch the piece of paper from Kairi so he wouldn't bother Amu anymore. Just one glance, Ikuto can tell that he was in love with her. Now he wished Nikaidou would bring them back to Tokyo tonight so Amu wouldn't have to meet Kairi.
"Are you jealous, Ikuto?" Utau asked her brother. He took his eyes away from Kairi and Amu. "Why would I?" He walked ahead of her trying to avoid the topic.
"The dude is so jealous right now." Kukai laughed, causing Utau to smile too. She hated to admit it but Kukai is a pretty funny guy.
After handing the paper to Kairi, Amu caught up with Kukai and Utau and the three of them started walking away from the resort.
Kairi watched as Amu and her friends walked away. He was both happy and nervous. He has a lot to prepare for if he planned to confess to her. Would she be shocked if he confessed tonight? Is it too fast? Questions kept popping into Kairi's head as he started planning for tonight. This might be his last chance of seeing her again. He just can't lose her again. He just can't.
You-Youz: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Have a nice day :)
