"Um... so ... had breakfast yet ? "
"Eh ? Yeah , cereal " , Kazuya answered slowly .
A small gap of silence later , Kazuya asked almost nervously,
"Job ? I mean how's your job going ? ".
Chizuru fiddled with her hands before replying ,
"Fine , it's all fine " .
Once again silence fell upon them .
Awkward silence .
They were both sitting on the floor now , facing each other, so close that Chizuru was almost leaning on his lap .
But there was that air of awkwardness .
"What's with this atmosphere ", Kazuya frantically wondered.
"It's just Chizuru right ? Why can't I talk to her like normal . We just kissed like a minute back and not I can't think about anything to say to her ?
Why is it so awkward ? "
She looked away from him , twisting her hair around now , desperately trying to think of something to shatter the silence .
"I have to say something ", Kazuya decided and blurted out without thinking,
"Read any acting lately ? "
Chizuru's eyes snapped back to him .
"Huh ? "
"Damn it ", Kazuya swore in his mind before trying to correct himself ,
"No , I meant uh .. did you read any new books ? Or ... uh ... did you have any acting classes ... or ... "
"Just calm down a bit , okay ", she interrupted, stopping his babbling in his tracks.
Kazuya stopped and looked away before he felt her hand reach out and rest on his right forearm.
He looked back at her and saw a sad smile grow on her face as she admitted,
"It's difficult for us to talk like usual, huh ?
Her sad smile was mirrored on Kazuya's face as he agreed ,
"Yeah ".
"It's like we've forgotten how to communicate ", she muttered, as frustration crept into her voice .
Kazuya didn't reply but he didn't have to , they could both feel it , they had felt it as soon as the initial high of reconciliation had worn off , slivers of fear running through their veins , an acknowledgement and understanding that their relationship was , at this moment, a little exposed , a little vulnerable, a little ... fragile .
And that fragility was making them pause and think before saying anything , desperate to not say the wrong thing again.
Kazuya put his left hand over hers and gently pressed it against his forearm .
"I'm sure we haven't forgotten or anything , just... a little out of sync. I'm sure that we'll get past that soon ".
She didn't say anything at first , then her smile brightened just a bit as she replied ,
"Let's hurry up then " ,
"Yeah " , he agreed .
Suddenly Kazuya's phone slid out from his pocket and fell near Chizuru's feet . He reached out to pick it up and that's when he noticed ,
"What happened to your foot ? " he asked
"Huh ? ",she asked before glancing down at her swollen red toe .
"Oh , it was nothing, I just stubbed my toe ",she reassured him .
Kazuya frowned and without saying anything ,grabbed her foot and pulled it towards him , placing it on his lap .
"Wait , what are you ... ", she shrieked instinctively when she felt his touch .
"Huh ? I'm just checking ", Kazuya replied
"Give me some sort of warning before you grab me like that , you idiot " , she gasped.
"S.. sorry ", Kazuya got out , unsure of what had flustered her all of a sudden, but he put it aside as he closely examined her toe
"It's not bleeding , thankfully, but it looks pretty painful " , he told her before adding,
"You should be more careful , Chizuru ".
"I should be more careful ? It was the stupid parcel you left on my doorstep , that I slammed my foot into " , she shot back .
"Eh ? It was ? I ... "
"And ... ", Chizuru paused as she started to laugh,
"What's with those dried plums ? Do you even know how sour those things are ? "
"I thought it was a good idea and I thought you liked them ", Kazuya told her slightly self consciously .
She laughed a bit more before suddenly looking around her .
"Wait I'd brought them with me " .
Once she'd found them , she opened the box and grabbed a couple before turning back to him , with an almost terrifying glint in her eyes .
"Now I'm going to teach you a lesson ", she declared .
"No , Chizuru, wait ... ", Kazuya began to protest , before she launched herself at her,and forcing him to eat the dried plums .
She didn't let him go even after he'd put them in his mouth , she leaned against him, balancing herself against his lap , her hand clamped on his shoulder , making sure he was chewing them , laughing triumphantly as he groaned and complained.
"It's so sour. And salty ",were the only words he managed to get out once he'd swallowed them.
He bent down and started to cough a bit , Chizuru immediately let go of his shoulder and started to panic,
"Are you alright, you need water or some..."
She'd barely gotten the words out when Kazuya used the element of surprise to turn the tables on her and before she knew she was the one complaining of the sour plums in her mouth.
"When did you even take them in your hand ? ", she asked as she sour-facedly drank the coffee Kazuya had just made for her
"Wouldn't you like to know?",he grinned at her before grimacing ,
"Ugh... I can still taste it ", he complained again .
"Here , have some of my coffee " , she told him .
"Really ? ", he asked even as he took the cup from her .
"Isn't it a bit ... "
She rolled her eyes at him before asking , haughtily
"Isn't it a bit too late for you to be nervous about things like an indirect kiss ? "
"I wasn't nervous " , he retorted before draining the cup .
It struck him just as he was drinking the coffee, in fact he nearly choked on it with his eagerness to tell her .
"Hey , just now we've been talking like normal , right ? "
He could see the moment it struck her too ,the realization widening her eyes as she replied,
"You're right . I didn't even notice ".
"Maybe that's it ? " , Kazuya suggested.
"As long as we don't think too much about things , we're fine ? "
"Yeah " she agreed before adding ,
"I'm glad " .
A smiling Chizuru took the cup from and returned it to the kitchen before coming back and sitting next to him .
Just as she sat back down , Chizuru asked him ,
"I saw your work uniform hanging on the clothesline outside.
No work today ? "
"No", he answered.
"Remember all those extra shifts I took ? My boss gave me this whole weekend off , no more shifts till Monday ".
"Huh ? I don't have anything happ..." , Chizuru started before she suddenly stopped .
Kazuya saw her smile fade , her fists suddenly clenched and the remorseful look on her face .
"What's wrong? " , he asked .
She didn't say anything for a couple of seconds and when she finally did , she spoke with the softness of regret .
"We were supposed to go away this weekend , remember?"
Kazuya felt a ball of guilt form in his gut as he remembered how they'd decided to take a weekend off , how much they'd both talked about it and looked forward to it - time by themselves, without the burdens and responsibilities of their daily lives , only with each other .
"I'm sorry ", he mumbled but Chizuru immediately shook her head,
"No , don't apologize. It's not your fault. It just happened .
And anyways it's... fine ".
"It's not fine ", Kazuya thought feeling more frustrated than anything as he saw the disappointment in her eyes and felt the regret in his chest .
And then a moment of mad inspiration, a second of pure clarity , the kind that appeared only after the complete doing away with of one's responsibilities .
Kazuya reached out , grabbed her hand and told her ,
"Let's go " .
"Huh? Go where ? "
"Away . Let's leave right now ".
"What ? ", a shocked Chizuru reacted , now understanding what he was saying .
"We can't just leave like that . .
We can't just go somewhere ".
"Yes we can " , Kazuya insisted.
"No we can't", Chizuru disagreed
" Even if we don't have work , we haven't planned anything or packed anything or booked tickets or even decided where to go "
"Let's do that now ", he told her,squeezing her hand.
"Let's decide where to go , book tickets , pack and leave .
Right now "
Chizuru opened her mouth to argue but words seemed to escape her .
She was silent for a minute or two before asking,
"Why ? "
Kazuya paused before answering,
"I...We... messed up this week , but that's done , that shouldn't affect us anymore , that shouldn't play into the decisions we make .
But I still feel bad about it , I still regret it so much .
Not only that, we've both been stressed for a while and we've both wanted this for so long now . We've been so frustrated at always having something come up .
So this is our chance , to put it all aside , to switch off and take a load off and have fun and ... be with each other.
I guess that's my answer .
Because I want to . With you . I want to get away from all this and just be with you .
And ... I know that you feel the same .
As soon as he'd finished, Kazuya had seen Chizuru looking away.
But he knew her well enough. He knew that she always looked away when she was embarrassed.
He waited patiently and sure enough after a few minutes , she turned back , smiling and blushing a light pink , which Kazuya suspected was much less pronounced than the deep scarlet her expression would've been when her face had been turned away .
"Okay , let's go ", she told him as she squeezed his hand back .
A/N : And so Kazuya and Chizuru get past the initial tentativeness of starting anew before deciding to go on an impromptu holiday.
I'm so glad to be back again after a long break , thanks to everyone for all the support you've shown.
I'll be able to update regularly from now but might have to take a week off every once in a while . Thanks for bearing with me .
Kazuya and Chizuru head to a holiday looking to put their mistakes behind and take steps towards their future. While this may be a short trip , some important decisions will be made that will set up their actions once they return home .
Stay tuned for another exciting phase of Resonance.
Next time - The Beach at Winter ?