Chapter 15: Strawberry Peppermint

'Father! Mother!'

He slammed the front door open to this now empty home, only left with a letter on the coffee table.

The butler woke up, opening his eyes wide and let out a loud gasp. He was shocked to have recalled his most hated past from a dream, but even more shocked when he realized where he had been laying the whole time.

"Hayate-kun? Are you okay?" Hinagiku asked. His head was placed on her lap during his whole slumber. She gently brushed some of his hair off his scared looking face to watch him blush right in her sight.

Feeling embarrassed and shocked at the same time, he immediately sat up properly next to her. "Y-yeah... I'm okay," he answered. They laid together on the grass, just by the trees, watching the bright clouds move across the bright blue sky just in a quarter mile away from the Hakuou Tower.

She looked at back the boy, feeling curious. "Don't you want to talk about your nightmare?" she asked.

"It wasn't a nightmare," Hayate said.

"Ehhh? Are you sure?" she teased him. "You were pouting like a baby the entire time you were sleeping."

"What?! Really?!"

"Haha no. Just kidding," she said. Her face then looked a little more serious. "But you can always open up to me, you know..."

He smiled at her, always feeling welcome to talk to her. "Of course," he said. "Like we always do."

She smiled back, happy that he's been open with her.

"I had a dream... about the first day my parents abandoned me..."

Her smile faded as she heard him. Hayate has never gone in depths about this topic with her before. As minutes go by when she continues to listen to his story, Hinagiku couldn't help but think of her biological parents as well.

"And then, when I looked at the note on the window, it said-"

"That's enough, Hayate-kun."

"Eh?" Hayate wondered what was wrong with Hinagiku. "Hinagiku-san, what's wrong?" he obviously asked.

"It's a... really sad story..." she muttered. "That I can relate to..."

He looked at the sad eyes that she shared with him. If there was one more thing that he recalled just then, it was the fact that he wasn't alone to feel this way.

Hinagiku then felt her lips close as he approached and kissed her. It was the fact that he understood her pain that made her love him more by the second as she kisses him back.

They pulled away slowly after a couple seconds, staring into each other's eyes, like a kissing scene so predictable, that you'd be cringing if you were actually sitting in front of them.

"It doesn't matter anymore," she said to him. "You have me now."

He felt so much comfort by those words. Hayate almost felt like crying. But just when he wanted to, he noticed her giggle.

"What now?" he asked, wondering.

"This was our hundredth kiss!" she said proudly.

Hayate chuckled. 'I stopped counting kisses because I thought it'd make me seem lame,' he thought. 'But wow, did a hundred kisses already go by in such a new chapter time?'

"Wow," he said. "That's a lot of kisses."

Unimpressed by his comment, Hinagiku began to challenge him, once again. "I'll have you know that I cherish our kisses more than you think," she said. "Honestly, Hayate-kun, don't you cherish my kisses to you at all?"

"O-o-of course," he said, sweatdropping to this battle. "But don't you think counting is a little weird...?"

Hinagiku gasped, embarrassed that he thinks that it's weird. "F-fine!" she yelled. "We can just stop at one hundred then!"

"Eh?! That's not fair!" Hayate said, surprised by that sudden rule.

"It is fair! Otherwise, it would just be weird!"

"What? Is this what it's about?" he asked.

"Maybe!" she shouted, showing off her stubbornness.

Hayate sighed. 'I guess I'll just tell her the truth...' he thought.

"It's not weird to count," he said. He noticed her still looking upset, facing away from him. "I used to count my kisses..."

He noticed her looking at him once more, but he saw a look of concern on her face. "You mean with Tennousu-san, right?" Hinagiku bluntly asked. She noticed him look away, indicating her that Hayate does not want to talk about it.

"Yeah..."

Hinagiku glanced at the blue-haired boy she sat next with. Although she acknowledges his past with the chairman, she couldn't help but still feel jealous of her.

"Hayate-kun..." she blushed as she said his name. She really wanted to know something. Hayate looked at her curiously, as she was about to ask him something very intrusive.

"How many times have you and Tennousu-san kissed?" she asked. In her mind, she just had to know.

Hayate gulped. He knew that lying would make this moment seem worse, so he put up a straight face and just told her, "581 times."

"Ah, I see..." she said. She really didn't know what to say that. She stared down at the grass, feeling somewhat defeated.

"But Hinagiku-san, that's all in the past!" Hayate said. "Her kisses are totally different!"

The butler suddenly realized that moment when one should really stop talking.

"Oh...?" she spoke in a deadly tone. "Different, huh? You're saying she's better at kissing than me?"

"Now you're just taking it out of context!" he yelled, afraid of the death glares that she's currently throwing at him.

"Hmph!" Hinagiku looked away from the butler. She peeked over her shoulder and glanced at him. A feeling of guilt had built inside her, when she saw how the boy looked really sad and puzzled.

Hayate had stopped talking, fearing for the worst, as it seems that all he could with Hinagiku is make her upset. He made a long sigh, completely giving up on this battle.

He then felt a brutal force pin him down to the grass. 'This is it,' Hayate thought, closing his eyes. 'I'm about to die and get dumped at the same time...'

But neither of these fooling things happen to him. He opened his eyes to see Hinagiku laying her body over him. Her hands pinning him down by his shoulders, as her flushed face was in complete sight of his.

"It doesn't matter..." she softly whispered, as her face approached closer to his. 'I'll just be sure to be the better kisser then...' she thought.

Because of the T rating in this story, we're going to skip the 482 kisses that happened that afternoon and go back to Violet Mansion, right after the author's holiday break.