Chapter 8
"Okay I'll go with you… BUT JUST THIS ONCE"
I can't believe I just said that. I don't know what's wrong with me these days... I just feel like my body has its own mind and it's moving on its own accord. I've been feeling some very weird things these past days too. I often get nervous whenever that creepy giant is around and I always feel a somewhat unexplainable feeling inside my chest whenever he speaks or gets inside my personal bubble.
It really is weird, I've never felt it before though.. but I guess it's normal? Right? I suppose it is just the way we feel towards irksome people like that creepy giant.
Even I myself admit that I have never met anyone as annoying, lazy and gluttonous as him in my entire life. He eats a lot, he wastes time a lot, he is childish, doesn't study, and not to mention unbearably lazy. I just really don't know what would happen to him when Himuro-kun isn't around to stop his madness.
"Ne Kasu-chin… what made you change your mind?" The purple-headed giant asked out of the blue while walking at the sidewalk and munching unto his candy.
"Hey don't get me wrong…" I answered as I glared at him at the corner of my eye and crossed my arms over my chest. "It's not Like I wanted to go with you or anything… It's just that I had nothing else to do… that's all."
The creepy giant just stared at me with unreadable eyes. He opened another pack of candy and shoved it into his mouth..
"Kasu-chin…Have I ever told you that…" he paused as he swallowed the food in his mouth. "You look cute when you blush?"
"WHAT? what are you saying?!" I retorted as I turned my back at him, I could feel my cheeks burn... AGAIN…
"Hey look! It's Atsushi and his kanojo!" someone shouted behind us.
I immediately averted my gaze to where the voice was coming from. It was none other than our school's basketball regulars. What are they doing here anyway? And why does it have to be now?
"Oooh… Are you on a date with her Atsushi~?" Okamura-kun teased as they sauntered towards us.
Tch… they still don't understand that I am not his girlfriend! Why couldn't they just listen to me? I opened my mouth, ready to deny Okamura-kun's statement but the creepy giant beat me to it.
"…No…" he said casually while gobbling his candy. Finally! He is denying their weird testimonies. He probably is starting to get annoyed by their jokes.
"We're just... going out with each other" the creepy giant continued.
What did he just say?It's like he's saying that we really are on a FREAKIN' DATE..in which we are NOT. But… it is partially true.. we are going out… to see the cherry blossoms and with EACH OTHER at the very least… so I guess his answer seems legit? But still! The term he used was for dating… he is giving his teammates the wrong idea again… God, this guy is hopeless…
"Oh I see…then we better no disturb the two of you right~?" Kensuke-kun said goofily while smirking at us. Just great… they're misunderstanding us YET AGAIN…My face is burning again and I hate myself for not being able to stop it.
"But seriously Atsushi, I don't know what you see in her…" the Chinese guy joined in. "I mean she doesn't have that much figure, she's not that hot and most of all, she's not big… she's just a plain B cup- Ow!"
Mrs. Araki suddenly appeared out of nowhere and smacked Wei-kun with her shinai.
"You shouldn't judge girls by their appearance!"
"Hey! since when did you come here?!" Wei-kun retorted as he rubbed the back of his head where the shinai hit him.
"You should learn how to respect your coach!"
My eyebrows just twitched as I looked at them and their petty squabble… people could be weird sometimes… I took a deep breath and heaved a big sigh. Who cares if I don't have killer looks, I am who I am and I definitely don't care anyway…I am not here to catch people's attention in the first place, all I want is to live peacefully...
I turned around, leaving the group. They are making such a big ruckus and what's more is that people are starting to stare at us. I just can't stand it. I strolled off away from them until I was out of sight. Fortunately, nobody saw me leave… not even the purple headed giant. I really shouldn't have agreed to go with him in the first place… I should have ignored that small part of me that wanted to go.
"Ah, Hi-chan there you are!"a voice disturbed me from my train of thought. I looked behind me and saw a black-haired guy jogging to my direction. His hair is stroked backwards, with a few hair strands falling down to his eyes. He looked at me and smiled brightly before going over to my side and walked with the same pace as mine.
"We've been looking everywhere for you!"
I raised a brow at him. Who the hell is this guy? I haven't seen him before.
"Who the hell are you?"I blurted out, not even thinking if it sounded harsh.
"Eh?-" the stranger replied with a mix of shock and confusion written all over his face.
"ohhh, don't be like that hi-chan, I know that you're mad at shin-chan but don't be rude. How many times do I need to tell you that shin-chan is a tsundere and you how tsundere people like him act right? So don't take him seriously, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."
"Shin-chan? Tsundere? I have no idea what you're talking about…" I said honestly. I really don't know what he is talking about. But the name "shin-chan" sounds familiar; I think I've heard of it before.
"Hi-chan cut that out, don't make a big deal out of it. He didn't mean it okay? He's worried about you right now. So let's go back and settle things down before this can lead to more misunderstandings…" the stranger said as tugged my wrists, signaling me to come with him. What does he want from me?! Why doesn't he believe that I honestly don't know him or this 'shin-chan' .
"Hey, let go. I don't want come with you! I don't know you okay?"
"*sigh* but hi-chan-"
"And stop calling me hi-chan! You have the wrong person, I really don't know you so stay away from me or I'll call the cops."
"hey,hey… calm down will you? I've never seen you this mad before hi-chan…" the black-haired guy uttered while holding his hands up.
" Oh well, have it your way then… I'll leave you alone… just make sure to make it up to him okay? Shin-chan really is worried… see you on Monday"
The stranger grinned at me before walking away. Geez, what's with that guy? I wonder who he is… and who this so called 'shin-chan' is…
Heh, beats me I shouldn't ponder on stuff like that. I'm sure it was just a case of "mistaken identity" of some sort and I probably look a lot like this Hi-chan…
"Woah, *hic* lookie here! I found a lost *hic* kitten!" a guy yelled as he looked at my direction and started to approach me with wobbly legs. Great… DRUNKARDS… I should have known better, hanami festivals like these are full of them.
"You alone *hic* lil' kitty?" the guy asked, trying to sound cool but ended up sounding like a sick drunk idiot.
"Tch, why do you care anyway? Just stay out of my way…" I said coldly while glaring at the drunkard and slowly walking away from him.
"hey…" the man grabbed my arm tightly and raised it. "don't be rude and why don't you join me?"
What? Another weird guy appears… and a cocky one too… I really need to get out of here ASAP.
"hey let go.." I muttered as I tried to pry my arm off but doing so only tightened his grip on me.
"Oh come on… it's just a drink…" the guy leaned close enough to make me smell booze from his mouth.
"I'd prefer if you'd let her go…"A person spoke out of nowhere. I looked up to see the creepy giant standing behind us and looking at the drunkard with cold and ruthless eyes. I've never seen him like this before…
The drunkard looked up, stunned and completely immobilized, the creepy giant's height must have overwhelmed him. He just stared back at the giant which caused his grip to gradually loosen, just enough for me to break free.
I pried my hand off and out of instinct, immediately ran off to Murasakibara's side. I don't know why but, right now I feel safer with him around.
The purple-headed giant place one hand on the stunned guy's shoulder and pushed him harshly away from us, causing the man to tumble down on the cold pavement.
"Don't ever lay a hand on her again" he said with a lazy yet scary manner. It sounded as if he was fuming with anger.
The intoxicated man nodded frantically before standing up and run away sloppily. Poor guy, he must have been terrified… well I can't blame him, the first time I met that giant I was as scared as hell too.
"Daijobu[1], Kasu-chin?" the giant asked with a glint of concern in his eyes.
"Don't disappear like that…It makes me worry about you…"
He is worried… I never really knew he cared. I always thought that all he ever thinks about is food… looks like I stand corrected.
"So you were looking for me?"
"…yes…"
Like I said, I stand corrected… My opinion about him changed completely. I guess he wasn't such a bad guy after all… He just has his weird habits and attitude but I suppose he is not that rotten to the core. He really does have a soft spot and that deep down he actually cares. I really think it was kind of sweet of him to do so…
"Etto.. Murasakibara-kun… arigatou[2] for helping me back there…"
"hmm… mondainai but…[3]…" a small smile appeared on his face. "That was the first time you called me by my name…I'm happy…."
"Y-yeah… but don't get me wrong… I was just tired of calling you 'creepy giant' that's all…"
Murasakibara-kun then leaned and patted my head, just like he did last time.
"Whatever you say Kasu-chin…"
It was silence between us after that. The only thing that you could hear was the rustle of the leaves of the cherry blossom trees and the lively beat of the drum and the music. The beat of the drum matches the beat of my heart right now…it's beating fast.
"there's a parade going on…" Murasakibara-kun said while rubbing the back of his head and looking away from me. "let's watch it…"
Unconsciously, I smiled at him and nodded a yes.
"Sure, let's go…"
"Stay by my side this time…and don't disappear…"
"uh…okay…" He's acting like he is protective now. Another side of him that I have yet to see.
We then started walking towards the direction of the parade. Many people were gathering there and the music sounded so lively I just couldn't help but feel excited since this is my first time seeing parades ever since I returned to Japan. I really missed looking at those wonderful floats.
But our little walk there was quite awkward. Our hands would occasionally brush against each other while walking. My heart always skips a beat whenever this happens. Sometimes I catch him looking down at me and looks away when ever look back at him. It's really weird. I often catch myself take a glance at the guy. I just can't take my eyes off of him.
We finally stopped walking when we reached our destination but unluckily, I couldn't see a thing. The crowd was too big for a small girl like me. I tip toed as high as I can but failed to see even a single float. This is really frustrating! This is one of those many times when I wish I was taller. It's so unfair.
"heh, can't see Kasu-chin~" Murasakibara-kun teased.
"No, I can see just fine…" I lied… It was just to hide my embarrassment.
"Usotsuki[4]…"
"hey, I'm not lying!" I denied his statement in which was obviously true.
"here…" He suddenly bent his knees and faced his back to me, signaling me to do a piggyback ride.
"climb on…"
"whaat? no way! I'd rather die in this crowd!"
"Hurry, before you miss all the floats…" he said as he heaved a sigh. What a weird person… giving piggyback rides to a 16 year old girl… But unexpectedly my body moved on its own..AGAIN… and found myself on top of him.
He immediately stood up and supported my weight by wrapping each of each arms behind my knees. I can feel my face burn… this is so childish… I can't believe I'm doing this but even if so, it really helped me see the floats clearly and It seems like I have the best view in the crowd since I was the tallest at the moment.
"Wow, look at that couple… so sweet, why don't you do that to me?" a soft voice spoke from the crowd.
"wah, how cute… I bet this is their first date…" another person spoke.
"Young people these days...always showing public display of affection…"
One person after another... they all talked about us…Okay now this is very embarrassing… I need to get down… And I'm not his girlfriend okay! !geez…
"Put me down Murasakibara-kun…"
"Eh? But the parade isn't over yet…"
"But we are gaining a lot of attention… and people are staring at us…"
"That's good then…"
"Oi, atsushi what are you doing?" a familiar voice called from behind…
~end of chapter 8~
[1]Daijobu means "are you okay?" in English
[2]Arigatou means "thank you" in English
[3]Mondainai means "No problem" in English
[4]Usotsuki means "Liar" in English