Disclaimer: I do not own Tonari No Kaibutsu-kun.

12

"Hold on for a second." It was Micchan talking, and she was actually addressing to Natsume san. "Stop!" He held out his hands.

"Ok." Natsume replies, but the glint in her eyes upon finally confessing to Micchan about what she truly feels about him were still evident. Micchan found it quite unNatsume-like. Well, Micchan and Sasayan. They were in the same room, after all, so Sasayan was aware of every word that came out of Natsume's mouth.

"Sorry, it worded so badly." Micchan adds.

"The-They were lies?" Natsume frantically asked for reassurance.

"No. They weren't lies. They weren't lies, but… I didn't intend for them to come out like that." Micchan was acting pretty unMicchan-like too, if it's Sasayan's opinion. "Sorry if I've caused some confusion. Really sorry."

"Then let me change my wording." Natsume says, trying to come up with better words on how to express her feelings. "I like you. Let me be your bride." She says haphazardly. Perhaps she didn't know the own words that's been going out of her mouth. If she did, she wouldn't have said any of the things she just said bluntly.

"What? Are you serious?" Micchan asks in a bit of frustration.

"Um, my bride." Natsume says again. "I wonder, if there's too much of a difference. If it's about the age gap, from now on, I'll become a grave digger."

"Huh?" MIcchan asks, the look on his face couldn't fail to show that he was confused. However, he realized that maybe Natsume was just so nervous. So nervous that very random things have been coming out of her mouth. Though one thing's sure. Even if everything she just told him were too unnatural to be coming from her, what she's telling is that she likes him, like like him.

"Natsume-chan." Micchan says, understanding a bit now. He stands straight and wears back his usual face. That face who looked calm, and gentle, and reassuring. "For me, it's something I can't accept. Sorry."

For a moment she looks at him as if she'd lost faith. But then she smiles. "I understand." She says. "Sorry, I didn't think about Micchan's circumstances. This must be sudden, I understand if you're shocked." She stops for a while and keeps her gleeful face. "I'm going to work hard since this day. Since this is only the beginning of our love!"

"I see…" Micchan tries to keep in level with her. "So this is just the beginning.?."

It seems like Natsume almost forgot that Sasayan was in that room too. And that he can hear their conversations, and that he's looking at her almost everytime, when she speaks, her reactions; he may be very good at faking about not caring about it.

When they left the center, Sasayan talks to her. "That was a bit unexpected." He looks at her, his face serious but questioning at the same time. "I thought when the manager rejected you, you'd be extremely depressed. But I do understand why you acted like that."

"Ahh. Don't talk about that embarrassing thing here." Natsume says as if the matter wasn't really that important. She's very good when it comes to this, Sasayan noticed. "But, Sasayan-kun, you noticed?"

"Of course, you could tell just by taking a look." He replies. A deep and evaluating look.

"Since I haven't done anything yet, It'd be a waste if I just gave up now." Natsume looks so happy. Sasayan was probably looking at her more than the road ahead. "You know, this is my first time. With these feelings…" She looks at him and he almost falls back on his bike when she did, hopefully, she didn't notice.

Hopefully, the cold weather covered up the whole reason why his face is flushed.

"And with someone cheering me on. I didn't know, that being able to like someone… is so fun."

"Hmmm." Sasayan says, his face discerning, but he wasn't thinking of anything. "I get you. I'll cheer you on too."

"Thanks a lot." She says and turns at him with that smile he'd never seen before.

He almost falls for her.

He sits on his porch when he came home, his mind still thinking about what Natsume just said.

And he said he'd cheer her up, too.

Well, It's not like he's gonna lose something anyway. Not like he's gonna pursue on keeping that sort of bubble building up inside of him.

A few days after that incident, Natsume still hasn't given up on her love for Micchan. The band of friends have decided to go on a skiing trip. Natsume, eager to see Micchan again, keenly agreed. When she got there, however, she learned that Micchan won't be able to go.

She was bummed out, but she can't cancel her agreement now, can she? Besides, it's a perfect time to go on a trip and to bond with friends. She wasn't really that good at skiing though.

When they got there, like all excited and giddy people would usually do, they went to have fun first than to check the place where they'll be staying out. It was a great experience.

When they finally checked the place out, they were all delighted to see it. It was big, and it was warm there. Though when they went outside, the chilly air would surround them, and they'd think going out wouldn't be such a pretty thing to do, especially when you're alone.

There was a little spot in that villa which had a shelf of books. Unlike the others who excitedly checked their rooms out, Mitty chose that place instead.

And who was the other person who's almost the same with Mitty when it came to knowledge?

Yamaken stood with her there, tracing their fingers up on the spine of the books, occasionally pulling one out that caught their attention. Mitty picked out one, but most of its words where not of Japanese language. Yamaken studied her and noticed that her eyes were still scanning the words.

"You can read French?" Yamaken asked her.

"Just a bit." She answered, not looking at him. She must've been enjoying the book, and Yamaken may have been too busy looking at her when Haru appeared and shut it in an eye's blink. Obviously, he was starting to get annoyed with Yamaken getting too close with Shizuku.

But beyond those three, Natsume and Sasayan noticed the commotion. And as Natsume was the kind of girl she always is, she commented about what she just saw.

"He definitely likes Shizuku! I thought it was strange! He only gets in the way between Haru and Shizuku." She exclaimed when they were shopping for food on a convenience store nearby.

"Well. It's alright, isn't it?" Sasayan responded to what she just said, picking up chips on the stalls. "The person who decides is Mizutani after all."

"Sasayan kun! Who's side are you on?" Natsume hastily questioned Sasayan, wondering why he wasn't that affected on the way Yamaken was being suspiciously very close to Shizuku. Apart from their little conversation, the boys on the other stall were fighting over stew or curry.

"Well, I'm not on anyone's side." Sasayan said. "Aside from that, does Yoshida actually like Mizutani-san?"

"He loves her. Isn't that obvious?" Natsume quickly rebutted, wondering how unobservant Sasayan was.

She has no idea.

"I guess so… but," Sasayan continued to oppose Natsume. "But then I don't think he even thinks about her at all. If you think about the scene back then, Yoshida was the one getting in the way of the two of them." Sasayan continued to speak, he can be very frank, after all. "Instead of liking her, I think Yoshida is just obsessed with Mizutani-san."

Sasayan probably didn't notice how Natsume was reacting to all of this, so when she bursted out to him, he was a bit shocked at her. "You don't understand!" She told him. "Why are you pretending to be an adult? You don't understand at all! Since Sasayan-kun.. is always surrounded by people…"

"Does that have any relevance to what we're-"

But Natsume didn't let her continue. "There is! I hate it when you say this sort of thing!" She bursted out at him, which probably wasn't a very good idea. And that goes for the two of them. They didn't speak to each other on the way back, and when dinner was served…

"This is Sasayan-kun's serving." She spoke as she put down the plate in front of Sasayan, the serving less than what he was expecting. Sasayan looks back at her and flashed her an irritated face, which mirrored that of Natsume's. Ooshima noticed this.

"W-What's wrong with you and Natsume-san?" She asked when Natsume left.

"Who knows?" Sasayan ate on his little serving, so he don't have to be stressed about answering her. "Don't you think Natsume-san is like a brat?!" He spoke in between rapid intakes of curry stew.

They are always fighting, and probably both of them had noticed this. They just ignore it and think of it as a usual friend relationship. Sasayan haven't found someone so annoying, and impatient, and childish until he met her.

Natsume never met someone who irks her with every word they say against her, but then there was him.

They are two opposite poles, anyway. While Sasayan was the usual popular and social guy, Natsume was the stay-at-home-and-mingle-with-internet-friends type of person. While Sasayan never had trouble talking with anybody, Natsume suffers from the things that she encountered in the past, which led her to act cold towards boys and get bullied by other girls.

But at the end of the day, they were still friends. They would still think about each other, even if it mostly consists of their annoyance to the other.

And a fight they usually have is the type in which they avoid talking to each other and sneering whenever they pass by one another. A childish kind of thing.

And it just takes a little matter of time alone, a little moment that would fix that.

For others, some fights could only be resolved with long and understanding talks.

But for them, a little Natsume hunched up in a room and Sasayan, who finds her in this state, can be all it takes.

He looks at her to his surprise. What she was doing there, he has no idea. She scoffed at him as he looked at her, and he instinctively turns his head to his side.

Sasayan thought it was a bad idea going in there, and he should probably get out. Of course he would, he was about to, but there's something about her. About leaving her alone there, without asking her why she was sitting there, hugging her knees, all because of his pride. All because they fought.

"Wha-what are you doing here, Natsume-san?" Sasayan asks her, despite the grievous looks she was giving him.

"None of your business." She replies, though the arrogance of her voice wasn't in there, it was even more of a humble and timid sort of tone.

"You should go out there." Sasayan says. "They're opening up the chips."

"Maybe I should." She said, the irritation was starting to creep over on the way she was addressing him. Maybe she was just bothered that Sasayan talked to her, but he didn't even bring up the idea of saying sorry, or clearing their misunderstanding out.

She stands up from her position, and she was almost in level with him. She looks at him one last time before leaving, mustering all kinds of displeasure in her face, but it came out as something different instead. She looked as if she wanted something from him.

Before she can even walk away, Sasayan spoke. "Hey." He started. "Sorry, for earlier."

That's what she was waiting for, perhaps. She didn't look at him. Though if she did, she'd only find that Sasayan wouldn't want to look at her, too, anyway.

She realized she wasn't replying.

"Ye-yeah." She said. "I'm sorry too." She grits her teeth. It's kind of weird saying sorry to someone when you're not facing them. She looks sideways, her eyes trying to reach that point where she can see him, but at the same time it wasn't obvious that she was.

"I'm going out now." She said. "A-aren't you going, too?"

She could hear the air escape from his mouth as he laughed. How she immediately forgets how his laugh sounds like after their little fight.

How she just now realized how comforting it was.

"I'll stay for a bit." He says. "I think I'll take a rest, pretty tired." She can feel movement behind her, and she thought he was moving towards her. She turned around and saw that he was leaning in the window instead, his eyes on the sky above.

It took seconds before he hears the door shut.

When he awakes, he found food set aside on the table beside the bed. He wonders how it got there, but then he smiles.

Natsume-san…