Continuation of 'Stray dog and Ocean'.
A side-story (sequel) of 'Beast and Rain'.
Enjoy! ～Hirari
Stray dog and Ocean~Gin-san's side story~
(Sequel to Beast and Rain)
Part: 03 –A coincidental reunion, overflowing emotions...
I always used to come here to the ocean with him...
"Do you like the ocean?"
Every time when the sun was about to set, he appeared and stared far out to the ocean.
"..."
His eyes were extremely cold, and if I were to compare it to something... it would be a beast full of hunger.
...Ah, it must be this person.
The person who appeared every now and then upon the beach and was rumoured amongst the staff members about how beautiful his face looked, but has a dangerous aura that kept people away.
Everybody said that they wanted to talk to him, but they were too afraid because he was a bit scary.
But it wasn't for me at all.
I felt no fear from this person.
He might think I'm a strange girl, but I wanted to try to talk to him once so I reluctantly sat beside him.
He then looked at me in surprise and I cock my head to the side in confusion.
Oh, was it really a strange thing to do?
The moment I sat down, for some reason, my heart started violently thumping and my eyes start to water.
Uh, H-he really thinks I'm strange, doesn't he?
What should I do... shall I just go bac-?
Just when I had been thinking such things, he started laughing at me.
I stared at him chuckling with widened eyes.
I thought he was a person who wouldn't laugh no matter what... but I guess that assumption was wrong...
...moreover, he's laughing AT me...
"You're... interesting," he narrowed his eyes and said to me with a smile, and I couldn't help myself but blush.
It's true, just like everybody else says... he really does have a beautiful face...
My heart leaped at his unexpected smile that had a different sense of aura compared to his 'beast-like' looks.
After that we talked together a lot and became mutually in love.
Though I'm not sure if it really was truly "mutually" in love...
...but I was in love with him.
"...here," he said simply and gave me a ring in only just like a roleplay, but even so, I was so happy that I preciously kept wearing it.
But...
It was a day that was slowly creeping towards a chilling season.
I had gone to the ocean like always.
It was because that was the only place we were connected with.
That's why I headed there like every other day.
The ocean air was so chilling that it shook me to the core.
I waited and waited... but he didn't come.
I waited an hour, and then another hour.
Even when the sun sunk beneath the horizon, he never came.
He said "I will come again tomorrow," but before I realised, I had fallen asleep upon the sand and it was really dark.
"...He probably got caught up in something."
I don't know what he does, but he's probably gets times when he's too busy with work too.
That's what I told myself as I walked back to the private lodging.
After that, a few days had passed...
...But he never appeared before the ocean again.
No matter how long I waited...
Even when the snow started falling...
Even when spring came...
...he never came.
I was all alone at the ocean.
"...-y, He~y."
I startle when the voice from above my head suddenly becomes receptive to my ears.
"Oh, um, sorry..."
The floor is clean without a speck of dirt.
It seems I had relapsed back to the past memories during the cleaning of the private lodging.
Gin-san is staring down at me as he rests his chin upon his overlapped hands over top of the end of the mop.
He stares at me in utter confusion; so much like a lost puppy that I chuckle thinking it's such a cute sight.
"...eh? What? Does my face look that weird?"
He furrows his brows with dissatisfaction and that face makes me laugh again.
It's not that his face is weird.
It was just...
Just his presence...
His calming presence made me smile...
Now that I'm beside this person all the time, I had forgotten about such ring that had been upon my left hand, and I don't feel the suffocating pain anymore even if when I think of that person I had met at the beach...
When I had been finding the lost ring, Gin-san had come back for me.
He had embraced me so warmly that I couldn't help but weep in his arms at that time.
A few days has passed after that day... and we both don't speak of it.
Gin-san can really pick up on people's feelings and he pretends nothing had happened, for me.
I respect his caring thoughts for me and so I don't speak up about it.
"Gin-san, do you want to go out somewhere after this?"
After my laughing had ceased, I ask him that who still has that furrowed brows upon his face.
I don't know why, but I feel like I want to talk to him.
And... I can be with him for only a few more days...
Their working period here is almost over...
Gin-san widens his eyes at my words.
After a few seconds of freeze, I cock my head and stare at him.
"Y-yeah, sure," replies quickly after that and his face expression changes from surprise to a soft smile, "then let's hurry and finish this off."
He then pats my head and my heart leaps just a little.
After finishing the cleaning, we all get out of the private lodging.
I glare at Shinpachi and Kagura who waves at me while they plaster a knowing grin upon their faces.
But I nearly feel myself grinning too and I quickly control my face expression.
"Gin-san, do you want to go out somewhere after this?"
To those words, it had felt like my brain had stopped functioning.
Huh? Can this be a good sign in THAT kind of direction?
I let my expectations run high and the dull clean ups had been done quickly after that.
Walking amongst the crowd in town, I look towards the side and see Miki smiling at me.
Oh- my- god. This is too good to be true!
The small episode we had at the beach is probably a forbidden subject.
I don't say anything about it and Miki doesn't either.
I don't know if she's over about it now and feeling a bit better or not, but recently I feel that her smiles look more real, smiling truly from her heart, that it makes me feel relieved.
"Oh! Gin-san, look at that!"
The private lodging is a place where there are not much people around, so I had just been feeling the nice, familiar feeling of being surrounded by a lot of people in town when Miki suddenly shouts right beside me, making me jump in surprise.
"Wha-?... oi... isn't that just mean?"
Wondering what she is on about, I turn towards where her finger points at, and my feet stop moving.
"Unlimited sweets eating!" I shout in shock.
Before my eyes, I see a sweets shop that has a sign board saying "Unlimited sweets eating for a certain period".
I suddenly start hallucinating sparkling stars around the sweets shop as if it's indicating my paradise.
"Let's go," Miki says while chuckling at my reaction and then grabs me to pull me along.
...I wonder, to other people, if we probably look like couples.
Feeling Miki's slight hesitation in grabbing a hold of my wrist, I feel my lips curve into a smirk.
To that, Miki blinks at me in confusion.
"Yeah, let's go," I reply and grab her hand instead.
"Wha!"
We had already held hands at the beach, but she's more than ever surprised.
Her panicked expression is so cute that it makes me want to embrace her tightly.
...man, this is bad. I'm starting to go all weird from being too deeply in love with her.
I think I'm starting to reach my limit of acting like there's nothing up...
We enter the sweets shop and our time there just passes by peacefully.
I had just wanted to wipe away Miki's 'unforgettable guy' so desperately that...
...I couldn't even begin to realise who this guy actually was.
We walk around town so much that before we know it, the sky is full of stars.
"Wow~... it's night already," Miki exclaims as she looks up at the sky.
"Time passes by so quickly..." I reply as I do the same.
The more fun you have, the faster time flies.
I can stay at the private lodging for only a few more days.
There's only such a limited amount of time... to spend with her.
Even one minute, one second seems so precious and I just feel that I want to be close to her for the longest time that time can ever allow me to.
The surrounding is quiet, the cool wind blows upon us and the only sound that can be heard is the chirping of the insects.
I take a glance towards Miki who walks right beside me.
I can't help but stare at her who keeps her eyes towards the stars in the sky as she keeps walking.
...Man, I wanna say it.
"...what's wrong?" she asks when my hand unconsciously had grabbed her arm.
She stops walking and turn towards me, looking confused.
My heart starts violently thumping.
Sh*t... I'm really nervous!
"...I have something... I want to say."
As I had thought, I can't stand the stare and I avert my eyes from her.
I see her cock her head from the side of my vision.
"What is it?"
Her voice is pure and clear.
A few seconds after hearing that, I slowly open my mouth.
"I-..."
Thinking I should at least say this while looking at her into the eyes, I switch my gaze towards hers.
...but her eyes aren't looking at me.
Her slightly widened eyes look past my shoulder, and I get a really bad feeling about this.
I don't want to turn around, but my body moves on its own.
...and I growl at my body that did that to me.
"Taka...sugi...san."
I don't miss those words that had produced from Miki's mouth ever so quietly.
My eyes never leave the sight of that guy who stands in the darkness.
His unchanging dark purple hair glistens under the moonlight; he wears his loosely wrapped kimono, and behind him are his fellow foreigner-antagonizing extremists. He's blowing a surge of dangerous aura like usual.
The guy who stands right before my eyes is one of my comrades, who had completely changed...
Takasugi Shinsuke.
I glance towards Miki who stands rooted to the ground, shocked.
Takasugi looks towards this way and widens his eyes in surprise as well.
I felt the danger...
At the back of my head, I see a flash of a girl turning her back towards me and running off...
I'm never going to let you steal anything away from me anymore!
"Eh...Gin-san?"
Before I know it, I grasp tightly onto Miki's hand.
I then face my back towards Takasugi and start running as fast as I can.
I pretend I don't hear Miki's panicking voice and run into an empty lodging to hide ourselves.
"Gin-san? What's the matter all of a sudden!" Miki asks breathlessly as she strongly moves her shoulders up and down, trying to calm her breathing.
My strong feelings for her had erupted again and I had dragged her once again...
I pull her hand that I still linked, and bring her to a tight embrace.
I don't want to lose you.
It's not a stupid thing about wanting badly to have a girlfriend or not.
I really... truly... don't want to lose you...
The strong thought just makes me tighten my embrace more.
"Gin-san?" to the slightly suffocating voice she makes, it makes my heart constrict even more.
But feeling relief from her not showing any signs of trying to escape from my embrace, I relax my hold.
"...Miki."
When I let go of her and look at her face, she looks back with a surprised expression, blinking with not being able to grasp the situation she is in yet.
...I'm at my limit, god dammit...
"Why-...?"
The loudly chirping insects blocks away from my hearing.
My head is only occupied by Miki.
My body only feels Miki.
I lean forward and press my lips against hers.
She grabs a hold of my shoulders in panic.
Such action is so cute that it makes me embrace her tightly before passionately melting into another kiss.
...I can't hold my feelings back any longer.
I slowly move my face away and I narrow my eyes into her widened ones as I gently pat her head.
"I love you."
The one who Miki-chan couldn't forget...was him! (/ω＼)
Wow, it took me an hour and 15 minutes to write this ←
Starting tomorrow I have clubs... I wonder if I'm going to be okay, lo~l (*^▽^*)←...Oi!
Well anyways, that or not, I still have a lot of busy schedules ahead of me *sweat drop*.
If I don't submit my next chapters on time, please think of it as "Oh, she must have something on today"（/TДT)/
But I will try hard and find a time to submit it!
Thank you very much for reading regardless of my sucky writing skills＞＜
I'm sorry I can't reply to each and everyone's comments ；；
I will promise to reply once I find the time to（Ｔ＿Ｔ）！！