"Leave me alone"

.

.

.

.

.

"I refuse" She stated without regretting it. Naoki's surprised eyes were caught by her.

"W-what?"

"I'm not your toy so you can manipulate it as you wish!" She refuted, crossing her arms. "You don't play with me again, Irie-kun!" She raised her chin, frowning.

"Kotoko, stop pretending" He scolded her, grabbing her wrist with his hand in a jerk. "I know very well that you love me"

Why does he always have to bother me?

What is his desire to do it?

"Leave me alone!" She raised her voice, letting go of his grasp; her flushed face burned with anger. "You always make fun of me, but not this time" She pointed out, taking small steps back in his defense. "It's not fair what you do with me since we met, and you know one thing? I shouldn't never have given you that letter!"

"Kotoko" He petrified with bulging eyes.

"I already know very well who you are" She said, driven by emotion, by all the previous humiliation. "And I don't want it to keep happening as long as I live"

"Are you implying that you can be perfectly fine without me?" He asked.

"Of course" She replied.

"Stop lying, Kotoko" Naoki scolded her, his face expressing a mixture of anger and sadness. "You have always been a bad liar, you don't even believe your own lies"

Kotoko winced indignantly, taking a few steps back from him, tired of dealing with him like that, after so much effort to put him aside, he endured with that proud and selfish attitude on her part, which she now hated to witness.

Before perhaps, she would have forgiven him for that attitude, however, each one has to live with what one deserves, and that Naoki was paying for all his tasks.

Everything you give ends up coming back.

And of course, she didn't lie when she told him that she could be without him, because she had already tried it by living two months in the company of Kazuki in her restaurant and by raising her average on her own. Of course she could, it was a matter of dedicating a lot of time to her studies and proposing it for herself and not for anyone else, because those achievements were hers and only hers; In addition, Keita's support for her gave her great security and comforted her sincere words full of warmth and kindness.

Naoki never said those words to her, not once.

"They are not lies" She clarified determinedly. "I may have lied in the past, but I'm not lying when I tell you that I can be without you, Irie-kun" She breathed, letting out: "I can be without you!" She felt his face burn in flames, how blazing blizzards of summer heat land him on her cheeks and hazel eyes.

"Well, I don't " Naoki replied, stunned.

"Then learn" Kotoko muttered, turning around and retreating to the cafeteria with her head held high. "Goodbye, Irie-kun, see you later" She said like a queen.

"Wait!" Naoki ordered, looking at a disadvantage, but Kotoko was already finishing leaving his proximity.

She didn't supposed to be patient enough the next time they saw each other again, probably tomorrow, she reminded herself with disgust; She shook her head quickly and then her shoulders, embarrassed that she had to be strong, even though she was very tired from her studies.

For now, she had already learned to be alone, in the sense of independence, that is, she learned to detach herself from what had her tied hands and unfortunately, also, tied head and thoughts of her own.

Kotoko had realized that having thoughts of her own wasn't harmful to her mental state, since they helped her to reflect on the elementary issues that led her to focus on her main priorities, which were: Be a good student, forget about Naoki, and get to know other places in the world.

They were complex priorities, not easy to achieve, more than if she was correct in discerning and differing in terms of time for each of her goals. At least until the present time, she had managed to increase her school average and both she and her friends and her father were proud of her.

Her goals, fortunately, hadn't changed from being accurate, or a mixture of uncertainties disguised as a bad streak, but were guided by a good background and were not stopped by other forces outside to stop.

Kotoko was finally getting them to leave her alone.


She was glad when she entered the cafeteria at night and was greeted by the decanting smell of coffee that pleased her, and after being greeted by the friendly smiles of Keita, who always caused her to feel in the revolving stomach of several butterflies crowding in that little space.

She didn't know how to distinguish that sensation that was coming to her every time her eyes fixed on Keita's smiles, that moment was very strange to discern it between her memories, and the mere fact of seeing him, like that night when fatigue took over her invoice, she received him with great enthusiasm.

"Welcome, Kotoko" Keita greeted her, giving her a polite but sincere smile.

She nodded, trying to return the smile.

"Hello Keita"

He raised an eyebrow, immediately worrying about her exhausted appearance.

"Did you have a heavy day?" He questioned, taking a step toward her, who nodded, heading to the cafeteria bar seat, dropping into the chair, exhausted. "Shall I offer you a cup of coffee or do you want tea?" He offered respectfully.

"Tea, please, Keita" Kotoko said, giving him a grateful look.

"I'll bring it to you right away." He went to the kitchen.

At those moments the stress and tension that she felt when she had been forced to deal with Naoki gradually dissipated from her system, in a way, she knew that they would meet again, because life was like this: sometimes cruel, sometimes gentle times.

Kotoko didn't see it as a misfortune, or a brazenness on the part of what conspired against him, but rather, seeing situations as signs of opportunity, led to a great effort in the aspect of not letting himself be ignored by the bad streaks that it carried the universe. After all, she suffered for love for six years, no wonder things got a little complicated for her.

If everyone changed, why didn't she?

And changing wasn't so bad, after all, on the contrary, it was a blessing for Kotoko, the fact that she decided to change her ways of life, for ones of better emotional quality.

Furthermore, suffering for love was far from being a beneficent reality for her; Although she did continue to believe in love, since that was her main engines since childhood, she was aware that crawling like a worm to get a man's attention was not, in itself, love, but a sick obsession.

"Here you go." The cup of steaming tea appearing before her eyes, she was brought out of her musings.

"Ah, thanks" She said recovering herself.

"You were very thoughtful" Keita commented, daring to take a seat next to her, placing the waiter tray on the bar. "Sorry if I interrupted you"

"What? You didn't" She replied, turning to see him, not paying attention to the cup of tea. "This, well, I wasn't thinking much." Why am I so nervous? She thought, indeed, nervous and blushing at the thought.

"Do you want to tell me?" He suggested gently, resting his forearm on the bar. "Maybe if you talk to a friend, you feel better"

She gave the impression that she wasn't happy with the mention of "friend", curiously, she was disappointed with that label that Keita imposed on himself. She certainly didn't know where those devious desires came from, flowing in her mind, but they were real desires, that is, something that was happening in his head without being banal signs that emerged without reason.

"Or maybe not" He added, seeing that she didn't respond.

"Sorry, Keita!" She excused herself, embarrassed. "They weren't matters that he intended to hide, it was just that I was pondering that and" She blushed, lowering her gaze.

"Ah I see" Keita said, settling into the chair. "Then can you tell me or you better keep it to yourself until you find a solution?"

Solution? Is there perhaps a solution? Yes there was, but what exactly was that solution that lingered so long in her head and didn't bring it up? Was it just that she was just meditating on her that an internal conflict caused her simply speaking out loud? They are probably how she thought things were.

She didn't know why or how she knew a solution, but in the meantime, she wouldn't reveal it to anyone until she had clearly ordered it in her mind.

"I'll think of it on my own first" She clarified, taking the still-steaming cup of tea and taking a big sip, feeling the hot liquid soften her throat slowly.

"I understand" Keita assured, glancing at her. "Take all the time you need to think about everything that has you distressed" He gave her a sideways smile, comforting. "That's part of the growth you've had these two months and I hope it continues to be positive for you, Kotoko"

This pleased Kotoko, who minutes ago was disappointed that he labeled himself "friend" of hers, when she didn't exactly see him as a friend.

Without anticipating it better, she didn't know with what eyes she observed him from now on.

She blushed from doubting it secretly, for being something so foreign and new to her.

Fortunately, though, she had forgotten what had happened with Naoki, and that meant a positive change for her.

.

.

.

.

.

P.S. A new chapter here, finally written.

Hope that you liked it and I appreciated if you leave a comment.