"Sen..." Yu abruptly stopped upon realizing that he was almost calling her and instead quickly apologized, "Ah, sorry."
"Nah, it's okay," she assured him, then offered, "You can take the book first if you want to."
"No, you're welcomed to take it first!" He replied with a friendly expression along with a chuckle. Then pointed with his thumbs at the direction behind him as he stated before walking away, "I can still look elsewhere."
Tsubame looked at him slightly puzzled as he left, thinking that he looked oddly familiar.
Dang, Koyasu-senpai was here as well. And it was unfortunate to have her taking away the last piece of copy of the latest volume of 'Sweet Memories' on the shelf though He thought while sighing in disappointment as he mumbled, "Good grief."
Coming across another manga that caught his interest, he reached to grab it from the bookshelf and then looked around its covers from the front to the back.
'The Love of My Youth', huh? This is the latest volume of the series after its six year of hiatus. This takes me back... I had been like, one of the biggest fans of this manga since I was eight years old. And when the series was first announced to be suspended, I have been waiting for too goddamn long that it was practically killing me from the inside. But now that the series is finally back, I guess I'll be able to enjoy reading it again. Especially after the cliffhanger the last chapter had left over.
Yu absentmindedly made a suppressed grin that leaned toward his right cheek as he thought, and had made the decision to buy the manga. Soon, he went to look for his girlfriend, who was apparently still busy in search for the revision books she wanted to buy.
xxx
Miko was carrying out her club activity as she played piano in one of the school's musical rooms with Hikari alone standing beside watching over her while the rest of the Music Club members were using the gym hall for club activity under Wataru's supervision.
Miko was under stressed as she had tried her very best to play piano without making any mistake to avoid upsetting her senpai and despite of her nervousness, had managed to play the whole song beautifully right until the end.
"Hm, that is pretty good, Iino-san," Hikari praised with a small clap, and Miko smiled sheepishly as she bowed her head for a bit, "Thank you, Inui-senpai..."
"Now, why don't we take a break for a while? You hands must have gotten tired after playing five songs consecutively."
"Ah, yeah. I-I suppose so..."
Hikari sat on the chair just beside one of the windows that were directly facing the piano Miko was playing, while she remained seated on the piano's chair. Hikari took out a can of orange juice from the plastic bag and handed it to Miko while she asked, "Here, take it."
"Oh, thanks..." She grabbed the can from her and then asked again, "How much do I have to pay you for this?"
Hikari shook both her head and her right hand to reject her payment while keeping a smiling face, saying, "It's for you, so just take it for free."
Miko thanked her again and she opened the can to drink it, meanwhile Hikari did the same and drank her soda.
"Senpai, I want to ask if you are okay with this..."
"Hmm, okay with what?" Hikari asked with her eyebrows raised in response.
"You see, because of my bad reputation, all of the other club members have ostracized me and no one wished to form a band with me. But only you are willing to teach me and even practice instruments with me. In fact, you have treated me equally nice as you would to your other kouhai."
She ran her fingers around the edge of the can while looking downward, and added, "I mean, I am genuinely happy about this. But is it actually okay for you? Aren't you aware of and feeling uncomfortable wirh how other club members were complaining behind your back on you paying attention to someone unpopular like me?"
Hikari chuckled off with a smirk after a moment of silence, replying, "Well, I tend to keep an open mind in the way I perceive my surroundings rather than blindly believing in the rumors and sharing the same views with the other people. I judge and treat people based on their true personalities, and not how their names would suggest. As long as you remain respectful to me and refrain from doing anything that would piss me off, then I don't really care about the issue."
"Is that so? Then..." Miko looked at Inui with a gloomy expression as she asked again, "What do you think of me in person, senpai?"
Inui turned her body halfway to the back as she looked at the scenery outside of the window with her left arm resting on the top rail of the chair while taking another sip of her soda. Soon after, she turned to look at her in the eyes again, saying, "To be honest, I kinda like you."
"Eh...?!" Iino flushed bashfully upon hearing that Hikari liked her. And seeing her reaction made Hikari giggled.
"I don't mean like liking you romantically, aso don't worry. What I meant was that I have found your character to be admirable and that's why I liked you for this."
"Oh, okay. So, what part of me do you like?"
Hikari giggled again for a while when seeing her face reddened in shyness, much to Iino's bewilderment. After laughing, she sincerely apologized while wiping a tear off her eyes, "I am sorry for laughing at you, I got carried away when I saw you being so shy and all." Straightening up and clearing her throat, she told her, "I like how hardworking and determined you are. But what I like about you the most is your great sense of justice. Apparently your own method of enforcing the school rules as the Disciplinary Committee's member do not inspired a lot of people with kind thought. But for me, I have came to understand that you are just doing what you think is right, and you really do care about what's the best for other people."
She paused again for another sip of soda, then asked, "But frankly, I do not agree that the way you do your job is completely right and without flaws. I mean, isn't there a better and more reasonable way for you to make things right here?"
Unable to answer back, Miko tightened her lips in staying quiet while fidgeting around the orange juice's can that she was holding with both of her hands. Hikari sighed quietly and left her chair as she approached Miko head on, placing her right hand onto her shoulder. This prompted Miko to lift her head up to see her senpai looking at her with a kind expression that gave her a sense of security.
"No one is around to hear us, so just talk to me if you have anything to say rather than bottling it up in your heart. I'll listen attentively with both of my ears on," she convinced her, before her hand moved away from her shoulder. Feeling herself calming down, she finally mustered enough courage to explain to Hikari.
"It may sound simple for me to change the way of how I do my job as the committee's member, but in reality it just would not work out no matter how I tried to. Whenever I tried to be more lenient when getting the students to follow the school rules, like politely asking them in doing so, they would just respond in annoyance and not listened. Sometimes they would make fun of me and I always ended up getting pissed off. I guess having doing this for many years, it is rather very difficult, if not impossible for me to use or get used to an different mehod in doing my job."
"Hmph, so that's how it is," she nodded in understanding upon hearing her explanation.
"Mah, changing oneself in order to become better is not an easy task, but not impossible either. It just takes quite of the time and effort as well as the energy for it to happen."
Hikari finished her soda by one last drink, then went to throw it away into a nearby rubbish bin while saying, "But since you have found yourself having a very hard time to do so, then it makes sense to say that you are unable to change yourself, at least that's how it looks at the moment. Hence, if whatever you do is really for the good of the others, then I shall still give my support to you."
"Uhm, i-is that so..." Iino murmured while looking down to her laps.
"However, I suggest you to at least do something about yourself first to become someone who can be accepted by the masses." Hikari said, holding both of her hands behind while looking at the scenery outside.
"I am merely giving you this kind of suggestion, as I have no rights to tell you what to do in order to help you to become someone who is accepted by everyone since I myself don't have any idea on how to. The most that I can offer to you is by listening to your problems and talk it out with you together just so you would feel better and more comfortable."
Miko looked at her while Hikari still faced the window. The wind outside began blowing into the room toward them and as a result, Hikari's long hairs moved according to the direction of the wind along with her skirt being lifted up slightly.
Senpai is so kind and mature. It's also pretty easy to talk to her, just like Yu-kun and Koba-chan. But I wonder, if I really do deserved her kindness after what I've done to her on that day.
xxx
Yu walked down the hallway while he was reading the doujinishi that was drawn by his senpai, Karen. Clearly, Yu had looked awfully stressed when he read her doujinishi as he had found so many errors in her drawing and the fact that the story revolved around Miyuki and Kaguya's romance was cringeworthy for him. He sighed in discomfort and decided to take a break from reading the doujin.
Why did I even agreed to become senpai's editor, anyway?! He thought as he questioned himself.
"Yahallo, Yu-kun!" Tsubame greeted while smacking his back, startling him. "How is it going?"
"Oh, Koyasu-senpai. 'sup?"
Noticing the doujinishi he was holding, she tried to look, to which he hid it away from her to prevent her from seeing it. She asked, "What is this, a manga?"
"Anyway, have you settled down your issue with that guy?" He asked in his attempt to change the topic.
"Well, I've talked to Namikaze-san about my true feeling for him, and how I told him the reasons why I had to reject him while trying to not hurt his feeling and he had understood and agreed to not pursue a relationship with me. In the end, I was able to turn down his confession and resolved the problem peacefully without any problem. And it's all thanks to you for the advises you had given to me yesterday!"
"Don't thank me, I really didn't do anything," he stated while turning around to walk away, with Tsubame soon following him, "W-where are you going, Yu-kun?"
"To the Student Council's office. Need anything?"
"Oh, you are going to the council's office. But for what?"
"For work, isn't it obvious?"
"Huh, are you a member of Student Council?!"
He stopped and turned to look at her slightly annoyed, "I actually am. I work as the council's treasurer."
"Oh, I see..." She said in understanding, and as she realized something, she exclaimed, "Ah, I almost forgot that I have to attend to my club activity!"
She speedily walked past while waving her right hand at him as she bid him farewell, "I gotta go now, so see you later!"
He had only responded her with a dull look, and grunted 'hn', then resumed to walk toward the student council's office.
xxx
Arriving at the council's office, he found Kaguya alone in the room sitting on the president's desk as she worked on the loads of paperwork.
"Ara, it's you, Ishigami-kun," she greeted, and he nodded in response, "Oh, wassup."
He sat on the couch to begin working as usual. For the first fifteen minutes since he had entered the room, the two of them were so focused on their own paperwork that they hadn't practically exchanged any word with each other.
After finishing the last piece of her paper, Kaguya leaned backward onto the chair letting out a long sigh. She then stretched her body and arms, and when doing so she realized that she had not been talking to her kouhai for the entire time he had appeared in this room, which in turn made her felt slightly awkward. In ending the silence, she tried to initiate the conversation, "The whole room is sure very quiet, right?"
Yu didn't reply because he was wearing his headphones to be able to hear what she was saying, and as soon as she had realized this, she chuckled to herself Ara, how embarrassing for me to not notice him wearing those headphones.
Yu sighed also after finishing his accounting, then took off his headphones as he stood up to hand all of the reports he had done to her, "Senpai, I have finished all of the reports."
"Ara, thanks. Good work," she grabbed them from him and placed the documents on the table.
"Also, where is the rest? Are they busy with other things?"
"Well, pretty much. Fujiwara-san and Ryuju-san are attending to their club activities while kaicho is practicing his volleyball for the upcoming tournament. Meanwhile, Uchida-san is finishing his reports in his classroom alone, since he also had to stay in there to help his sensei."
"Oh, okay," he turned around to return to the couch. As he sat down, he asked, "Senpai, is it okay for me to read manga?"
"Oh, it's fine. I see no problem in that."
He took out the same manga from his bag that he had bought yesterday and began reading quietly, with Shinomiya minding her own business to avoid disturbing her kouhai. The one thing that had bothered her, however, was Kaguya finding out that both Yu and her had not been able to talk that much quite recently despite that they both had a good relationship and Kaguya being the closest to him out of all of the members of student council. It almost seemed to her that he had just decided to distance himself from her again for unknown reason. To her, it had looked like Ishigami was reverting back to being cold and unfriendly as he once was. Not wanting to interact with the others, and being a man who isolated himself from the rest of the others.
Shinomiya thought that she had to try again to talk to him anyhow in order to see if he would be willing to engage in friendly conversation with her. She started by asking while approaching, "Is this the latest volume for 'The Love Of My Youth'? Ara, I have been waiting for this series to come back since it was suspended."
"Senpai, you also read this manga?"
"Of course, I am a fan of this series," she stated while sitting on the couch in front of him. "That takes me back, I'll always stay up so late just to watch its late-night anime adaptation."
She was lying, it was actually her servant, Hayasaka, who loved the series and would stay up late to watch the anime version of the series. And Kaguya was merely speaking from Hayasaka's experience to talk about the manga with Ishigami just to converse with him.
"Oooohhhh, I see. I used to do that too back in the day. I could not afford to miss the chance to watch the anime's late-night live episode as well."
"Ara, I guess we both are on the same boat here," Kaguya stated while giggling, and Yu smirked as he agreed, "That sounded a bit weird but it is."
Ishigami closed the book and handed it to Kaguya.
"Eh, why are you giving me the manga?" She asked.
"I've actually finished the whole volume, and was just reading it for the second time. So feel free to borrow this."
I see, so the assumption that I've made about Ishigami-kun becoming distant again was false, because he merely didn't know how start talking to me as he couldn't think of something to talk about with. How wrong I was.
"Thank you, Ishigami-kun. I'll return the book to you once I've finished reading this," she thanked him in gratitude while grabbing the manga with both of her hands.
I'll lend this book to Hayasaka, and she might get super happy about this Kaguya thought and chuckled involuntarily.
"Hey, senpai."
"Yes?"
"Uhmm..." He suddenly delayed in his speech as he was having a second thought on whether he should ask her or not while looking to his left.
"What is it, Ishigami-kun? Just say it if you have anything to talk about." She requested, prompting him to quit hesitating and he asked, "Alright, senpai." He calmly looked directly into her eyes and asked, "Are you in love with kaicho?"
The question itself paralysed Kaguya, and the manga she was holding had dropped onto the floor. The sense of awkwardness between them quickly set in, and Ishigami asked, "What happened, you got turned into stone, senpai?"
"Ah, what?!" She exclaimed just as she had regained her sense of reality, and anxiously denied as she fidgeted, "I-I am not in love with anyone, in-including kaicho himself! What were you saying, Ishigami-kun. A-are you l-like, baka?!"
Shinomiya-senpai had gotten cuter ever since she started wearing the ribbon onto her hair He thought and snickered.
"I got it, then I'll make sure to tell kaicho that you have no romantic interest in him whatsoever."
Hearing this, she quickly crawled over the table toward him and forcefully grabbed him by his collar, threatening with a murderous face glaring at him, "You will not say such thing to him, Ishigami-kun. But if you do, then I'll make sure to pulverize you out of existence!"
Yet even with the hair ribbon, she still looked scary when she threatened me.
"I was only joking, senpai. But that joke itself was intended to see how you would react," he stated while keeping his composure, and her eyes widened along with her mouth fell opened as a result.
"You do like kaicho, right? With those expression, there's no denying that."
Embarrassed, her face began blushing, and she released him while retreating herself back to her original seat.
"What I feel for him, is none of your business..." She said while shyly crossing both of her arms and looked away to the other direction.
"I know, and I'm sorry for what I've just said earlier."
Kaguya glanced at him and sighed while shaking her head, then picking up the book she had dropped onto the floor earlier as she stated, "You know, you are a fascinating kouhai of mine, Ishigami-kun."
"How so? Did I do anything to earn your praise here?"
She paused, then grinning in dismissal, "It's nothing."
"Hmph, whatever."
Kaguya stood up to walk toward the door for exit. "I am going to my club for a short while. So can you please look after the office for me, Ishigami-kun?"
He put a thumbs up in accepting her request without speaking. Kaguya smirked off and added, "Thank you, I'll leave things for you here."
After closing the door behind her, she stood still and sighed with a smile, murmuring, "What a cute kouhai."
Ishigami shrugged and started playing video games on his laptop to pass his time. Meanwhile in the volleyball section of the gym hall, Fujiwara was supervising Miyuki's volleyball practice, who was currently going through a harsh training regime given by the Secretary herself.
xxx
Putting the last belongings into his luggage, Yu closed all of the zips of his luggage and dusted off his hands in completing his job.
"So, you done?" Miko said standing at the door of the bedroom.
"Yup," he replied. She leaped toward him in excitement and hugged his right arm in excitement, "I am so excited, Yu-kun. I can't wait for you to properly introduce me to your sister!"
"Miko-chan," he called, prompting her to look at him as she asked, "What is it?"
"We need to talk."
His face looked almost emotionless, but his tone suggested her that he was being serious. Concerned, she let go of his arm and started to fidget as she looked onto the floor, unable to face her boyfriend directly.
"W-what is it..." She stuttered timidly. Yu also titled his head downward as he was being equally nervous. Hesitant to tell her outright, he had stayed quiet, and all of the wait for his reply had made her slightly impatient, prompting her to quietly ask him again, "What are you trying to say...?"
Yu groaned, deciding to stop wasting time and just tell her, "I think, this is not the right time to..." He paused, but then continued, "I think this is not the right time to introduce you as my girlfriend to my sister."
Other than mere silence, he received no response from her following this. Yu glanced at her face to discover that she was clearly upset, judging by the way she tightened her lips and her looking down the floor in a sad frown. Yu clenched his fists to motivate himself to tell her the reasons of his decision, "I am not ready for this, Miko-chan. I am still not confident enough to let my sister know about this. So, I am really sorry."
"Are you..." She muttered. "Are you breaking up with me?" She asked, and he was utterly shocked to hear this very direct question from her, causing him to slightly panicked. To quickly clear the misunderstanding, he tried to explain while stuttering, "No, of course n-not. I-I... I just want to-"
"Then," Miko looked up toward him with a unexpected smile that she apparently had forced upon, again leaving him completely dumbstruck. "Then, tell me why."
Wanting to remain calm, he went to sit on the bed hopefully to allow himself to relax for a bit. He laid both of his arms firmly top of his upper legs, and glanced to find Miko still smiling at him. Looking at that smile of hers didn't give him a sense of affection, but rather it actually invited a feeling of disturbance for him. That was when he realized that he had disappointed her from the beginning he rejected her request to meet his sister even though he didn't intend to do so.
"I'll tell you. So please, just hear me out," he pleaded, desiring to explain things to her again.
"Um," she nodded, allowing him to do so.
"Miko-chan, I think that it's still too soon for this to happen. We both have only dated for almost a month and although throughout the time we've spent together, we have made progress in our relationship, I still do not know if the relationship that we have would last long. I... I am talking about for our future here, Miko-chan. That's why..."
"You don't want me to rush things first, am I right?" Miko interrupted with this question, and he sadly nodded. She then continued, "I know what you are trying to say. You want me to wait until when you think it's the right time to do so."
She tried so hard to keep smiling while some tears started appearing in her eyes, ready to drop anytime soon. Yu noticed, but she didn't know they were right there in her very own eyes.
"Miko-chan..." He murmured out her first name. "If you understand, then why are you crying?"
She wiped off her tears, and said, "I have the rights to cry when I'm really sad. And you know what kind of girl I am..."
"I understand. And I am sorry..."
"No, it's not your fault..."
Miko approached and crouched down to hug him closely. "It's my fault for not thinking this through. You have really take things into consideration while I always waned to hurry things up, and ended up causing you troubles. That's why, I'm sorry."
He wrapped his arms around her and held her closer. "Give me some time to decide, alright? I'll definitely let my sister know when the time's right."
Ishigami had wanted to see if their relationships would remain stable in the long run. If it went well, he would be able to make Miko part of his family. But for now, he still needed more time to confirm. That's what he had in mind.
xxx
Yu pull opened the front door, but instead of immediately stepping outside, he stood still and waited. Miko was standing right behind him as she noticed his abrupt halt, asking, "Is there anything you forgot?"
He shook his head, and she tried again, "Then, what's... w-wrong?"
"Tha-... Thank you," he thanked while his left hand were tightening onto the handle of his luggage. "Really, thank you..."
She was flustered upon hearing him saying it, but then recomposed herself and teased, "Thanking me is not enough. You have to take responsibility and do a lot more for me in the future!"
Slightly taken aback, he turned behind over his shoulder to look at her. She snickered upon seeing his reaction and teased again, "What? Your face looked funny when you looked at me like that."
"Can't believe that you can get this childish sometimes," he countered sarcastically while shaking his head, trying to hold his chuckling. "Anyway, I got to go. So, see you at school tomorrow."
She nodded and bid farewell to her boyfriend, "Um, see ya. And please be careful on your way back."
"I will," he assured her just before turning back and left her house with Miko pressing the control panel beside the front door to open the gate for his exit. She then headed outside and watched Ishigami walking down the quiet street until he had completely left out of her sight. Miko let out a trembling sigh as she returned to her house. Closing the front door, she leaned against it before sitting down onto the floor.
"Am I... Still not worthy of you?"
The tears that she had been holding back until now started dripping down her face, first from her left eye, with her right eye followed soon after. She gave in her emotions, hugging her knees and cried.
As much as she had wished that it was Yu's fault for causing her sorrow, she knew and understood that she was actually the one to be blamed for the problem she had brought upon herself. If only she knew what Yu had gone through in his first relationship, she would not bring up the suggestion in the first place. But the fact that Yu was hesitant to introduce her to his sister had given her the idea that perhaps Yu didn't love her as much as she had expected.
The feeling of rejection was scary her. But the thought of him breaking up with her was much scarier and saddening. But perhaps she was being paranoid or overthinking. Regardless, Miko didn't want it to really happen, as her cries said it all.
xxx
Coming out of the bathroom, he placed the towel on a chair in the dining room and went to sit on one of the two couches in the living room. Rather than playing his video games as usual, he simply sat still and stared into the blank television that was not switched on when he started thinking. The image of Miko's fake smile that had just happened earlier started flashing back in his thought, and the thought of seeing that expression of hers was very unpleasant for him. In fact, he had also felt disturbed by her gesture of it.
Looking back, he had remembered how he also frequently faked upon his smile during his career as an actor. It was the exact same smile that he had worn on his face whenever he appeared in front of the cameras and other people, especially his fans to hide his depression that had been plaguing him from the inside and assuring everyone that he was "fine and happy" as usual. The same could apply to Miko herself, as she probably did this to hide her sadness, anger and disappointment toward him, lying to him that she was "fine" with him, even though it had looked very obvious. But for him, it was clear that both of their fake smiles were more or less the same - a disgusting lie that was made up to avoid hurting the others.
He came to regret his decision of turning down her request. But could he rewind time to correct his mistake? No. And that was why instead of panicking and berating himself like other people would normally do when they were alone in their own private spaces and realized their mistakes, he chose to just accept it and remained calm, sitting on the couch without moving an inch and spacing out to do his own self-reflection. As time went on, he gradually became tired and sleepy, and soon he laid down on the couch and subsequently fell asleep.
xxx
8.43 PM
Yu woke up to find his sister standing right beside staring into him.
"Ah, you're awake," she greeted upon seeing him waking up. He slowly raised himself up and sat straight while yawning, then murmured, "Oh sis, since when did you came back?"
"Hm? It has been a little over an hour since I came back. I saw you were sleepin soundly here so I chose to not wake you up to not disturb you."
He stood up and glanced around for a bit, seeing loads of gifts and souvenirs on the dining table that she had brought back from her trip in Britain, he pointed at them and asked, "Can I check out those things that you have brought over here?"
"Yeah, sure. Feel free to check every single one of them!"
Together, the siblings went to check them out. The majority of which were British snacks while the rest were souvenirs. Yu happened to find those British snacks to be very interesting as he even took his time to carefully study each one of them and the more he had looked at them, the more he felt tempted to open every packet to eat the snacks. Seeing his brother so indulged in the appearances of those snacks, she giggled and told him, "Yu-kun, you will get to eat those once you've finished your dinner."
"Hmm? Then, where's my dinner?" He asked, and she pointed at the bento on the same table, "I've bought this bento from Family Mart and already heated it. So hurry up and eat it before it cooled down."
While eating his bento, Asuna was directly in front of him happily eating one of the snacks. It actually didn't matter to him when she was doing that since he was also eating his bento for dinner, although the crunchy sounds that she had made when eating these crisps were kinda distracting for him. Asuna suddenly handed him one slice of the crisp and motioned for him to eat it. He accepted and took a bite of it from her hand. It was delicious, but he could also taste some milk flavors which made it tasted weird at the same time.
"Not bad," he murmured while continuing eating his bento. Asuna proceeded to place three slices on his bento, and he looked at her as she giggled childishly.
"Those are for you," she said, then putting another crisp into her mouth and chewed it. He snickered and replied, "Thank you."
"You know, I think that we both should do something meaningful together."
Yu stopped eating halfway through, and asked with his mouth still full, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you were pretty much alone in the house when I was away with Hayate-kun, right? I know how boring you might have felt throughout this time," she said. Finishing the last slice of her crisp, she put the now empty snack pack on the table along with a cup that she also newly bought from Britain being placed on top of it to prevent it from being blown away.
"Uhmm... yeah, I was bored though. But it's not so different from usual anyway," he shrugged, continued eating. Not really, I have so much fun over the last three days.
"That's why I suggested that we go on a date this Sunday!"
His jaw fell opened and his eyes widened, freezing in place while his right hand failed to hold his chopstick properly which caused it to drop onto the table. "Huh?" He uttered in confusion.
Asuna tried to hold her laughter as her right fist hid her smiling lips, but subsequently burst out laughing herself and teased, "What was that reaction? It was so funny and cute! Oh god, it's probably my first time ever to see my cold-hearted little brother giving me this kind of look!"
"Hmph," he grunted in annoyance while slightly embarrassed, and resumed to finish his bento. As she stopped laughing, she looked at Yu's expression again and noticed him being flustered, hence teasing him for the second time, "What? Do you really find it embarrassing to date your own sis? Well, the law does prohibit every blood-related siblings from engaging in romantic relationship, but..."
She stood up and bent herself toward him, purposefully positioning her body in a seductive manner. Reaching closely to his left ear, she whispered, "They would never caught us if we don't do anything lewd."
Hearing her saying this immediately reminded him of those nights he had sex with his girlfriend. He felt uncomfortable as he was turned on from that kind of perverted thought, which had him sweating from his head. But he managed to keep up a straight face, although his cheeks were noticeably blushing and deep inside he was literally screaming for help.
Asuna playfully poked his nose and emphasized, "Anyhow, we are going on a date this Sunday. So you'll have to come out with me, and no rejection is accepted!"
Yu sighed and asked, "So, what's this date about? And is your boyfriend tagging along as well?"
"Yup, you guessed that right!" She exclaimed while sitting back down onto her chair. "Hayate-kun is with the two of us. For the rest of the details for the date, however, I'll save it for later until that time."
"Oh, I see..." He nodded in understanding, then stood up and went into the kitchen for cleaning. He later returned to grab another snack of the same brand but different flavour out of the bag that
contained the other snacks on the table, at the same time asking, "Sis, I need to visit my friend's house for a bit. It's actually not that far from here so I'll be back as fast as possible."
"Who is it? Is he also one of the student council's members?"
He paused for a bit, then denied while shaking his head, "No, he's just my classmate." He then proceeded to lie to his sister, "He was absent today, and I just remembered how I needed to give the schoolwork to him like I've promised. Also, I'm taking this snack with me so that I could give it to him."
She nodded in understanding and permitted him, "Alright, just go. But be careful on your way there and don't be too late when you come back home."
He nodded in return, "I know." Afterward, Yu rushed out of his apartment along with the snack on hand, with Asuna quietly stepping outside to see him off as he left, smiling in content as she was glad that his brother was finally willing to make friends for once again.
xxx
Arriving at Miko's villa just outside of the house gate, he took a breathing to mentally prepare himself first. Then his left hand's finger pressed onto the doorbell's button and immediately its sound could be heard from within the house.
The gate opened by itself a few moments later without warning. He bit his lower lips and glanced downward, then walked into her house area. Miko appeared out of the front door and stood by, making Yu stopped taking another step forward and lifted his eyes up to directly face his girlfriend.
"Hi, again," she greeted him with a smile while waving her hand. He didn't reply, and were only looking at her hesitantly.
She was putting up a fake smile, again... He thought after studying her superficially happy expression.
"Well, why don't you come inside instead of just standing there and... l-looking at me?" She asked as she nervously laughed, and Yu did so as he entered inside her house.
"So, are you here to search for anything you've accidentally left in here?" She asked again while closing the front door.
"No, I'm actually here to see you again," he replied in honesty while looking away from her to the opposite direction. Her smile disappeared and she looked downward starting to fidget her fingers in unease.
"I just want to see how you were doing, that's about it," he stated again as he slowly turned around to her. Miko stared back to him again and blushed slightly.
"Your face is red," he pointed out, which made her blushed even more in embarrassment and retorted, "I know, b-but y-you don't have to remind me!"
She looked away while pouting her face, which made him snickered as he did a smug face, having thought Miko to be really cute when she was genuinely this flustered.
"Here, I got a snack for you," he offered while handing her the British snack. She glanced and asked, "A snack, where did you get this?"
"It was my sis who brought this back from her trip to the UK. And I took it here to share it with you. So, wanna try this out?"
"Um, yeah... Sure," she agreed bashfully. Later she appeared sitting on a couch as she was eating the snack while watching the television in the living room.
"Here," Yu said while placing two glasses of coca cola on the short rectangular table that was situated just closely in front of them, then sitting down to watch the show with her. She glanced inside the pack to find out that there were still a lot of crisps in there, then proceeded to hand the snack pack to Yu as she asked, "Want some?"
"Sure, thanks," he picked up two slices of the potato crisps from it and munched on them.
"If all you do is breaking yourself apart, then... Please stop forcing yourself to lend me a helping hand from now on," said the female main character from the TV show they were currently watching.
"I cannot stand someone who helps people without ever helping themselves first. You are always doing the self-sacrificing here and ended up hurting yourself without ever caring about it. Even if you are used to the pain, it still does not justify that you are free to keep getting yourself hurt in the process. That is why, I want you to stop helping me. That way, I can at least help to lessen your burden."
After lecturing the male main character, she walked away and disappeared from the scene in the next frame. The TV screen which was now focused on the main character himself, showed his visibly saddened expression as he titled his head downward with the bang of his hair almost covering the depressed looks on his eyes.
The scene itself along with the sad soundtrack playing in the background caused Miko to sob as she desperately tried to contain her tears whereas Yu's expression remain unchanged, although deep down he had actually felt the overwhelming emotional sensation inside of him. He turned to see his girlfriend crying profusely, and chuckled while shaking his head.
"Come here, stop crying for now," he said as he pulled her closer to lean against him in consolation, then patting her right shoulder at the same time.
After the show had ended, Yu drank the last remaining of his coca cola and then sighed off in satisfaction. That hit the spot he thought.
"Thank you for introducing this show to me, Yu-kun," said Miko, then she continued, "I have a great time watching this show. It was really amazing."
"Mah, I'm glad that you enjoyed watching this," he replied while cracking his knuckles. He then raised his right arm to look at the watch, finding out that it was almost reaching ten o'clock.
"So, are you going home now?"
"Well, I think I am going to stay here for a bit more. And actually, there's something I want to say."
"Hm, what is it?" She asked again. A grin slowly appeared to be spreading across his face, and he suddenly moved to forcibly shove and pinned her down onto the couch.
W-what...?! Miko was flabbergasted by his action, and having ended up in this position had practically made her unable to move anywhere. She looked at her boyfriend's handsome, yet seemingly vigorous face, from which point she started to feel nervous with her heart pumping at a faster rate.
He leaned his face closer to her, then whispered, "I want to get to know and understand everything about you."
He went to move her bang upward with his right hand to allow himself to kiss her onto her forehead. After kissing, he showed her a kind and gentle smile, leaning closer to her face again and told her in a clearer voice, "And I want you to understand that I love you."
Miko broadened her eyes and her mouth fell slightly opened in response. Yu titled his head side way to her right ear and again emphasized his statement, "I really, really love you."
Afterward, he went in to close her lips with his, and started kissing with her mouth to mouth. In the whole living room where the couple were present, it was literally quiet except for the sounds of them making out.