Together Forever

Chapter 14

Who Am I?

Note: Hello everyone and long time no see/hear. I'm still planning on keeping this story going so for all of you followers of this story, there's no need to worry. School is just becoming more and more important so it's getting even more difficult to write my stories. However, I'm still going to keep my promise of extending the length of these stories for you guys. Also, I've decided that once I'm done with Kotori's perspective, I will write in Umi's perspective. I just absolutely love these two and can't get enough of them so I hope you enjoy the update.

I'm going to save you the trouble of telling you about the final match between me and Umi-chan. She beat me by a landslide. I just couldn't concentrate being next to her. Her radiant aura and brute strength overcame everything I worked so hard to achieve. But I didn't care. If I was going to lose to anyone, I wanted it to be Umi-chan.

When the next week of school came around, everyone got news of Umi-chan's victory and flocked to her. This made it hard for me to spend any quality time with her, but I forced myself to suck it up. I told myself that I would change and this one way that I could do that.

It's just… Giving up Umi-chan to all of these random girls was just too hard. I would overhear all of them congratulating her and asking her to lunch and it just hurt me on the inside. Umi-chan has made it clear that she cares about me and wants me to be her significant other so I shouldn't let these things affect me. I guess I'm just that weak to where I can't even let friendly conversation go by without it bothering me.

As the week went on, eventually, the visits got smaller and smaller until it was just me and Umi-chan. This was when I was finally able to return to my normal self. It was lunch on Friday afternoon where Umi-chan and I were able to spend some time alone. Instead of our usual eating area in the classroom, Umi-chan decided to take me out underneath her favorite tree. She laid out a blanket and the two of us began to eat our lunch.

In the beginning, it was a little hard to start a conversation since it's mostly been other girls starting something up with her. But of course, it was Umi-chan to start the conversation with me.

"So, how's the week been for you, Kotori?"

"Oh, it's been good, I guess."

"Haha, what's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm still a shaken up after how horribly you beat me at the archery tournament."

"Yeah, I don't know how I shot that well. I just felt as if my abilities were heightened once my eye was out commission for the day."

"Good thing… I wanted to win," I said under my breath.

"Hey Kotori…"

I turned my head to look at her and she put her hand on my lap. Unable to hide my own emotions, my face grew bright red.

"I'm so proud of you, making it to the finals. That tournament wasn't an easy one and for you to those girls you went against is a huge accomplishment. I know no one else has given you any praise, but I'll be the first to say that I'm super happy for you."

Every time this girl spoke to me was as if she was killing me with love. Her words went directly to my heart and it made it impossible to muster any kind of response. All I could do was chuckle like an idiot and hope that that was a good enough response.

"Hey Umi-chan, I was wondering… I know you've been pretty this week with everyone, but I was wondering… Could we walk home together?"

"Kotori, I'm so sorry, but I have something that I have to do after school today. We can hang out this weekend though. Would that be alright with you?"

"I guess…" I said softly.

"I would love to walk home with you. It's just that I've been planning this for quite some time and if I don't do it then I won't be able to do it probably ever."

"Oh… if you phrase it that way then I wouldn't want to pull you away from it."

Suddenly, the bell rang and the two of us looked back at the academic building.

"I will call you first thing tomorrow and we can spend all day tomorrow. Okay?"

"Alright."

"Okay." She leaned in and kissed me on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow." Umi-chan stood up and headed off to class.

Meanwhile, I was frozen. I couldn't stand up. I didn't know what to do. Part of it was the kiss that Umi-chan gave me. She had that power over me to simply put me under her spell. But there was also something else going on. The way Umi-chan talked about her thing after school made me curious. How if she missed this chance, she probably would never be able to do it ever? What did that mean?

My thoughts lead me to miss class for the rest of the day. I headed home by myself with my head bent over towards the ground. I kept telling myself to stop thinking so hard about this, but something inside me said not to do that. This was Umi-chan. What could she possibly do without my knowledge that would make me question our relationship? I've said it once already and I will state it again: Umi-chan is loyal to me. No matter the universe makes me think that she isn't, she really is. I need to stop worrying about it so much and let it go.

When I got to my house, I immediately got the bath ready and let the warmth and hot steam carry my worries away. Unfortunately, the longer I stayed in the bathroom, the more my mind wanted to think about Umi-chan and what she was doing. That's when I finished up and headed back into my room. I then jumped onto my bed, grabbed my pillow, and screamed as loudly as I could into it.

"What am I doing? You're such an idiot."

I removed the pillow from my face and looked at my desk. There, my phone patiently waited for a call or text from Umi-chan. As I watched my quiet phone, my arm moved on its own and grabbed it from its resting place. My fingers then did their own thing and dialed up Umi-chan. Before I knew, I was hearing a dialing tone ringing in my ear.

"Kotori?"

"Ah, Umi-chan!" I surprised to hear voice. I was completely caught off guard by unknowing actions of my body. I quickly sat up and dolled myself as if my looks mattered in this situation. "Hi, sorry to bother you so late."

"Oh no, it's okay. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I, uh… I don't really remember why I called you in the first place."

"Haha, actually… Now that I have you on the phone, I have to tell you something."

"Okay…" I suddenly gripped my phone a little tighter.

"You know the thing I talked about today that I didn't want to miss? Well, it turns out that I'll be able to do it all weekend so I'm going to have a get a raincheck for this weekend. I hope that's okay."

"Oh…"

"I know I promised I would hang out with you, but this is just something I need to…"

"It's fine. Do whatever you need to do. Good night." Without even waiting for a response, I ended the call and dropped my phone on the ground. My mind went blank and my body fell back onto my bed.

What am I doing?

…

I woke up and immediately got ready. All I could think of was getting to Umi-chan's house early enough. My destination was clear and once I got there, the area seemed quiet. I waited a few minutes, hoping that she would still be here to leave. Thankfully, her front door opened and out walked Umi-chan. She looked prettier and more dolled up than usual so I thought this was strange. I made sure to stay out of sight as I followed behind her to see what was going to happen today.

Our first stop was a hotel. Umi-chan checked into reception and then made her way to the elevator. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow her so I stayed outside of the hotel and kept an eye on the door.

A few hours went by until Umi-chan finally exited the building. However, she didn't leave alone. Another girl was with her. This girl was about the same height as Umi-chan. She was blond and beautiful. I couldn't stop myself from describing this girl like that. She was truly beautiful. Her looks almost made me not able to follow them. However, I grabbed my things and tailed them at a reasonable distance.

As I followed them, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Something that made me feel better was that they didn't go to any places that seemed like dating places. They went to a café, a few grocery stores, and a local elementary school. This I was thought was really weird. Of all the places to go to in this city, why would they go to an elementary school?

As the sun started to set, my following the two of them started to feel stupid and ridiculous. I didn't know why I was doing it. Something inside of me was feeling uneasy about it and I had to find out for myself. I examined the two of them once more before I decided to call it. There was nothing going on between the two of them. I was worrying myself over nothing. It's best if Umi-chan doesn't see me. It'll make me seem like some kind of stalker.

"Wait!"

The sound of Umi-chan's voice caused me to stop and investigate further into the situation. I got a little closer and watched the situation closely. It appeared as if the other girl was about the leave which was why Umi-chan shouted that word. However, the girl returned the Umi-chan and kissed her on the forehead. That's when she walked away and when she did, Umi-chan reached out of her hand, only to miss the other girl's hand by a matter of seconds.

Oh my God.

Suddenly, Umi-chan turned to her right which was where I was not hiding at all.

"Kotori? What are you…"

Oh my God.

End of Chapter 14