She was asleep. How was she asleep?! I was entirely of what to do with myself in this situation. I had my arm the girl I had feelings for while she was asleep. Okay. Do I stay here? Or is that weird. Do I get up? But what if she woke up.

I sat there panicking with my thoughts for a moment until I realized something. Did I just admit I liked her? I mean. Like liked her. Obviously, I liked her, who doesn't like Pucca? She's basically perfect in every way. I had no idea how to cope with this newfound realization.

I looked down at her and couldn't help but smile. She'd fallen asleep so quickly, she didn't even seem that tired when she got here… Though, she did somehow manage to crutch herself all the way here from the Gohrong. That's gotta be exhausting, even for her.

I hadn't had the heart to ask her how hurt she had gotten, even if I desperately wanted to know. I wasn't even sure if she'd want to talk about it. She was definitely one to put on a brave face, so she could be a lot worse off than she seemed.

Okay. Back to the crisis at hand. In arm? Around arm? Whatever. Okay. What would Garu do here. Honestly, he wouldn't have gotten in this situation. He wouldn't touch this girl with a ten-foot pole if he had the option. Which I still cannot wrap my head around. But okay. Okay, okay. Garu would move.

My new dilemma was how to move. Waking her up felt too cruel. So. I just had to slide out really…carefully. I took a deep breath before I started my attempt. I put my free hand on her shoulder to keep her from just…flopping over if I moved, and slowly pulled out my other arm.

Freedom! I gently laid her down on the couch and pulled the blanket up. I stood up and quickly walked over to my bathroom. I flicked on the light and closed the door. I looked at myself in the mirror and turned on the cold water. I splashed it in my face and looked back at myself. I was still beet red. I've never really had feelings like this for anyone before. I somehow felt both terrified and ecstatic at the same time. Pucca's wet clothes were all draped over my shower curtain rod. I don't know how she didn't manage to freeze to death out there, it wasn't exactly warm out. I sighed.

I dried my face off and walked back out to the living room. She was still fast asleep. I glanced at the clock. It was already 11:30. I'd just let her sleep. I turned the lights in the living room almost all the way down. I didn't want her to freak out and not know where she was if she were to wake up in the middle of the night, so I left them on as dimly as I could.

I walked to my bedroom and flopped down onto my bed. How was I supposed to sleep knowing she was out there? I didn't think her uncles knew she was here, so what if they found out? That probably wouldn't look to great for me.

Improving my reputation around the village had been difficult. No one really trusted me. The 'good guys' really only saw me as the 'bad guy'. It was better now than when I was a teenager. Or even a kid. I haven't had a whole lot of friends in my life.

I mostly tried to stay out of people's way. Except the ninjas, I guess. The ninjas were all just fellow orphan kids that had nowhere else to go. I wasn't particularly close with any of them either, but they were the closest thing I had to family. It was more like having a bunch of little brothers.

I felt like I shouldn't have to have helped her in secret. Not that I wanted the glory or anything, but I would've really liked to stay. The issue is, everyone would have thought I had hurt her. Years of trying to prove I wasn't like that anymore hadn't done much. Abyo's dad still always watched me if he saw me walk into a store. Pucca's friends always kept an eye on me. Garu would still have a hand on a weapon if he saw me near him or anyone he cared about.

I just wanted to live my life. Even if it was mostly alone. But apparently that was still too unbelievable for everyone. Except Pucca. She never looked uneasy around me. She even waved occasionally. Smiled when I stopped into the Gohrong. It was nice. I think that was just her nature though, she's never mean to people unless someone she cared about was wronged first. Then? As someone who has been on the receiving end of her fist, I strongly don't recommend it. Girl hits like a train.

I rolled over onto my side and threaded an arm under my pillow. I really needed to sleep. I hadn't been getting much lately. I couldn't stop thinking about Pucca's bike. There was no way that was an accident. I just couldn't think of anyone who would want to go out of their way to hurt, or hell, even kill her. There were a few people who as far as I know didn't like her, Ring Ring particularly. But I was basically positive Ring Ring had no idea what a lithium-ion battery WAS, not to mention how to sabotage one.

Maybe it really was just a weird, fluke accident. Either way, I couldn't shake the guilt I felt about the whole thing. She was bringing US food. Why'd it have to be us? If we just hadn't ordered food, maybe it wouldn't have happened. Or it at least would have happened in the village where more people would have been around to see exactly what happened, and to have helped her better than I did…

I took a deep breath, and finally, fell asleep.