Another chapter for you!
"And Tsu is the winner!" Sensei Yaga yelled as I crossed the finish line just before Satoru. I lazily pumped my fist in the air as I ran to the side of the gym and sat down on one of the benches, grabbing my water bottle and chugging its contents.
"Wow, when did you get so fast?" Suguru asked through staggered breaths.
"Cheating!" Satoru accused me of cheating before he began to cough, which made him bend forward, so he could put his hands on his knees and breathe.
"I think we all know that I can just run faster." I teased them.
"Now, quickly, all four of you need to head to the forest where there are curses waiting for you!" Sensei ordered.
"What?" Satoru looked at him with a shocked expression.
"You all need to be able to run and still fight, so go!" He shooed us out of the gym, and we made our way to the forest. The cold air nipped at my bare arms because he didn't give us enough time to get any layers on. I walked in my gym clothes, which was a large, oversized shirt and leggings. I rubbed my arms with my hands and complained about the cold,
"Jeez, could he not have let us put a damn coat on? When will I be fighting without the right clothes on?" I complained.
"Maybe you'll warm up if you take up smoking." Shoko said.
"Your little lighter isn't going to keep you warm either." I pointed out.
"Maybe I should just wait inside, and I'll help you if you get hypothermia." She joked.
"Here." I looked to my right and Satoru had pushed his sweater into my hands. He was left wearing his t-shirt as we walked towards the forest.
"You keep it! It's cold." I told him.
"I'm fine, I'm the strongest one out of all of us anyways, so I'll probably kill the curses first and be back inside before you even put that sweater on." He winked at me.
"Well then, I'll definitely take that, so you can get a little bit of frostbite." I said as I took the sweater and put it on. This black sweater was massive on me and it smelt just like him. It took everything in my to not take a big whiff of the sweater. Instead, we reached the edge of the forest and the four of us ran in.
I sensed my first curse easily. I wasn't allowed to bring my Damascus out with me, so when I rounded a tree and saw a curse with four arms and a large green head start towards me – I raised my right hand and got the shadow of one of his arms to punch him straight in the face. He stopped at that and looked around confused, but when I commanded all four arm shadows to wrap around him and squeeze him until he popped, I walked away and looked for the next curse.
Next, I was met with something when it grabbed the back of my hood and pull me back at a force that sent me flying into a tree back first. The wind got knocked out of my lungs from the impact, but I quickly rolled out of the way before the curse with the horn on its head impaled me. Jumping to my feet, I moved out of the way of the curse again as it tried to attack me. When I turned around, I grabbed the shadow of its horn and got it to impale it in the face. The curse disappeared.
"Yes! One more." I said to myself before running off again. The idea of getting higher came to mind, so I got up on a branch and waited for the last curse for me. Then I saw it walking around. It was shaped like a massive blob and it slugged across the winter ground. Shadows of curses with that shape were difficult for me to control because they were hard to grasp since the shadow didn't have a singular point. So, I looked at the tree branch's shadows underneath me and got it to extend, so each branch went straight into the blob and pulled it a part.
With three curses defeated, I got off the tree and made my way back to the exit. Satoru and Suguru were out there waiting for me, but Shoko couldn't be found.
"Where is Shoko?" I asked them.
"She's not done yet, you beat her." I was surprised by what they said because I was used to being the fourth person, so me coming in third was quite the accomplishment.
"Looks like spending more time with me has rubbed off on you." Satoru smiled at me.
"I think it's my training." I retorted.
"I can train you in something else if you want." He smirked at me.
"Woah, maybe you two should get a room." Suguru threw out there.
"What?" My head snapped to him.
"Don't worry, we will." Satoru added.
"What?" I practically yelled from shock as I looked at him.
"Hey! Looks like you beat me." Shoko said as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders when she caught up to us. "Huh? What did I miss?"
"Nothing." I said.
"Tsu and Satoru are finally going to get a room." Suguru calmly said.
"No, we're not. Oh my God. Let's get back to Sensei." I groaned as I started walking away from the group. They laughed at my awkwardness around the situation at hand, but I couldn't help myself – this kind of topic did make me feel awkward. When we got back in and told Sensei Yaga what happened, he told us that we were done our lessons and could now have our winter break. I walked over to Satoru and began taking off his sweater, but stopped when he grabbed my wrists and put them back to my sides.
"Keep it." He said.
"What? It's your sweater." I was confused as to why he would tell me to keep it.
"You look good in my sweater. I like it." A wry smile came to his lips as I felt my mouth begin to get dry.
"Oh, okay. Thanks." With that, I turned on my heel and quickly exited the building. I raced back to my dorm and didn't take the sweater off for the rest of the night.
I looked in the mirror one last time before leaving my room. My hair was let down and I curled it into ringlets, but brushed them out – leaving a soft wave in my hair. On my feet were black ankle boots with a heel and I wore faux leather pants, but it was my top that I was most happy about. It was a black lace piece that hugged me in all the right places. Shoko picked it out for me and convinced me to wear it tonight for our outing on the town. With my brown satchel and coat over my shoulders, I made my way out of my room. I reached Shoko at the end of the hall before we went outside to meet Suguru and Satoru by the car.
"What are you doing?" She asked me.
"What? Do I not look nice?" I asked her. Worry began to cover me because I wanted to look my best tonight since the four of us were going out and I was going to try and go for a kiss today.
"With your coat buttoned up? We can't see how hot you look!" She complained as she unbuttoned my coat, allowing everyone to see my outfit.
"But it's freezing!" I complained and tried to button my jacket back up.
"If you button that jacket up again I will not help you when you hurt yourself next time and you will have to heal on your own." She threatened me. I sighed in defeat.
"Deal." We hooked arms together and made our way to the road to meet the two boys. Shoko was wearing tight dark blue jeans, brown boots, and a tight green top she had found when she went shopping. As we walked closer to Suguru and Satoru I felt my heart beating faster in my chest and I took in a deep breath.
"You got this. Make the first move." She whispered to me. Suguru was wearing black jeans, black shoes, and a dark purple shirt that was untucked. His hair was pulled back and his bangs were loose in front of his face. However, Satoru had all of my attention. Under his black jacket he had on black pants and shoes, but he picked this dark red shirt that was untucked, and it looked like it was made for him. It wasn't buttoned up the whole way, so his collarbone was visible from here and I just knew he smelt good.
"Well, you two have clearly made an effort." Shoko complimented the two boys in front of us.
"I don't know, I think you two have us beat. You both look beautiful." Satoru and I were just staring at each other. I saw him take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, almost as if he was getting ready to do something. We both took a few steps towards each other until I was looking up at him and he was looking down at me. Satoru reached for his glasses and took them off. His blue eyes traced my entire body again before he looked at my lips and back to my eyes.
"Wow, you look stunning." He whispered to me.
"Thank you. Why did you take your glasses off?" I asked him.
"Because I needed to remember this moment and didn't want anything dulling it." He said. Looking into his eyes made my heart beat even faster and my nervous system began to go into overdrive. We were in our own little world, and I don't think either of us wanted to leave it.
"Should we leave you two alone?" Suguru's voice brought me back to reality and we both remembered that our two friends were standing with us. Satoru put his glasses back on and we both looked at them.
"Absolutely not! The four of us have a night to remember! Let's go!" With that, Kenzo opened the back door, but I walked to the passenger door.
"Where are you going?" Satoru asked me from the other side of the car.
"I'm going to sit up here." I answered.
"What? No, come sit in the back." He looked at me like that was the most logical thing that could happen.
"Satoru, there's no room. Seriously, you three sit in the back and I'll sit here. We're all still going to be together." I laughed at how serious he was taking this situation. Begrudgingly, Satoru sat in the back with Suguru and Shoko.
"Hello, Tsu." Kenzo greeted me as he got into the driver's seat and took us into the city.
"Hi Kenzo. Now, I hope you don't go telling the adults that we're all partaking in some underage drinking." I joked with him.
"Absolutely not. I think it is nice that you four are having a fun night together." He said.
"Thanks, Kenzo. I like you." Suguru said from the backseat. I felt my phone vibrate in my bag, so I got it out and had a look at the text message from Satoru,
You shouldn't be sitting up there. I smiled to myself at the message as I typed out one of my own.
Where should I be sitting then?
"Do you know what drinks you're going to order?" Suguru asked the group.
"I'll probably have some beer to be honest. What about you?" Shoko asked.
In my lap. My heart stopped beating at the reply I received from Satoru. It was in that moment when I started feeling the tension between us. It was almost like I could feel his eyes staring into the back of my head as we continued our drive.
"Maybe I'll have some whiskey." Satoru said behind me.
"Come on, we're nearly 17, not 70." Shoko said beside him. He laughed right behind me while I stared at his text message. I didn't know what to say. How do I tackle this?
Gosh, I don't know if I can do that. We're going out, so someone else may want to make a move. I read in my books that the main character always made the guy a little jealous in these situations, so I was hoping that it would work in my favour.
"Tsu? What do you think you'll have?" Shoko sat forward in her seat, and I quickly hid my phone just in case she could see.
"I'll probably have something fruity to be honest. I like a nice fruity drink." I admitted. She sat back in her seat and my phone vibrated again.
No one else will be coming near you.
Why? Will you stop them?
I will turn them into mere particles if they try. I genuinely didn't think my heart could beat any faster, but it surprised me just as much as the words on my phone screen did.
"I think we should go dancing tonight as well." Satoru said in the back.
"Huh? I'm not the biggest fan of dancing." Shoko admitted.
"Come on, I think it'll be fun." He pushed.
"Let's see how the night goes, then we don't have the element of surprise." Suguru said.
"Okay, we have arrived. Please let me know when you would like me to come get you all." Kenzo announced to the car. We all thanked him and got out of the vehicle. The four of us walked towards our first bar (one that we knew we could drink and not get carded). When we were let inside, Satoru was walking with his hand on my lower back all the way to our table.
"Shall I go get the drinks? What does everyone want?" Suguru asked us.
"I can help. I'll also go for a smoke first." Satoru and I gave them our orders and they walked off. The sunglasses wearing boy took off his jacket and slid into the booth. I shrugged off my jacket and was about to slide in next to him, but he shook his head.
"You're sitting inside. I'll sit on the outside." He got up, so I could scoot passed him and sit in the booth. He sat in after me and rested his arm on the back of the booth behind me.
"It was really nice of Kenzo to get us here." I said to him. I turned to look at Satoru and he smiled at me.
"Well, I think he enjoys driving. I know he likes driving you." He stated.
"What makes you say that?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"He always says that you're really nice to him. I know that means a lot to him." He admitted.
"Well, he does a lot for me, so it's the least I could do. I was thinking of getting him a little Christmas present. Would he take it?"
"From you, I think he would be honoured. But I hope you've got something for me."
"Why would I get something for you?" I teased him.
"Because I have something for you." He leaned forward.
"Oh yea? Like what?" I moved a little closer to him. I felt his hand behind me begin to twist a bit of my hair in his fingers.
"You'll have to wait for that one, but you have something that I could have right now." With that, I saw him do it again, flick his gaze between my lips and my eyes. I knew that now was the moment, so I leaned a little closer.
"Oh yea? I think I may know what it is." A part of me couldn't believe this was me talking. All of those books really trained me well for this moment. We both moved closer together and my eyes began to shut, readying for my very first kiss and I was going to kiss the most handsome guy I had ever seen.
"Suguru! Shoko!" Satoru greeted our two friends as he turned away and my forehead landed on his shoulder. I let out a sigh and sat back up straight.
"Sorry, were we interrupting something?" Surguru looked between us.
"What? No! Come on, let's get these drinks on the go!" Satoru excitedly said. Shoko slid into the booth and then Suguru did. We began having our drinks and talking about the past half year we'd had together. During our story sharing, Satoru's arm from behind me moved to his side and I felt a pang of loneliness when he moved it, but was surprised when he inched his pinky finger towards mine. He took one finger with his and I moved to hold his hand, he quickly noticed the sign and held my hand under the table.
After another two rounds, it was my time to get up to go to the bar to get our drinks. Satoru said that he would come with me. We walked together to the bar with his hand holding mine. As I leaned against the bar, I began to feel how the three drinks were making me feel lightheaded. Satoru stood beside me at the bar as he let go of my hand and placed it on my lower back again. After the bartender spoke to me, we began waiting for our drinks. I could feel the music playing so deep in my bones and I began to feel a sense of freedom. My hips began to slowly move to the music as I smiled to myself. It only took a minute for me to feel something be pushed up against me from behind.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Satoru's hands on either side of me. I turned around and leaned against the bar, so I could look at him. He dipped his head towards me.
"You better be careful with what you're doing because you're making it hard for me to not push everyone in here out the door." He said to me.
"What? Don't like people looking?" I asked.
"They can look, but they definitely can't touch."
"Now now, Satoru, I never thought you would be such a territorial person." The words slowly came out of my mouth as I raised a hand and placed it on his chest. I looked at my hand on his body and it felt comfortable there.
"Well, I don't like sharing what's mine." He stated. I looked back up at him.
"Am I?"
"Are you what?"
"Yours." The world around us stopped all together. It felt like it was just us in this bar looking at each other. Willing the universe to push us together for that kiss. So, we could feel how the other felt. Just like in the booth, we moved closer together and I my eyes closed again – ready to finally taste him on my lips. I could feel his breath on my lips, I was so close,
"Here you go!" The sound of the bartender speaking to me brought me back to reality. Satoru flung his head back and laughed out loud while I dropped my forehead on his chest. With a heavy sigh, I turned around and fished for my wallet, but Satoru's hand appeared ahead of me and he paid for the drinks.
"What? I can pay." I told him. He just shook his head and grabbed the drinks.
"A princess doesn't pay." He simply said and moved his head, so then I could walk in front of him back to the booth. When we arrived at the booth, we took our seats and handed out the drinks. The four of us continued to laugh and have a nice time together. Satoru held my hand under the table and at one point, I was happily leaning into his shoulder. I blamed the alcohol for this brazen behaviour because there was no way I would've done this sober.
When we made our way back to the dorms, Satoru walked me to my room and helped me get in. I stumbled in and kicked off my boots. My jacket was flung onto my desk, and I sat down on my bed. Satoru walked in after me and leaned against the desk that was opposite my bed.
"So, it's just the two of us." My words felt heavy on my tongue as I was saying them.
"I can tell. But the teddy bear is here too. So, it's really three of us." He nodded his head to the blue teddy bear that sat nicely on my bed. I grabbed him and held him in my lap.
"This is my most prized possession." I grinned at him.
"Is it? Why's that?" Satoru looked amused by what I was doing.
"Because you gave it to me, obviously." My eyelids began to feel heavy as we spoke and he noticed, but there wasn't much in this world that he didn't notice.
"Did you give it a name?" He asked me.
"Bluey." I proudly said. Then he laughed at me, and it was the most wonderful sound I heard all night. Just the two of us sharing this private moment together.
"You couldn't think of anything original?" I stuck my middle finger up at him.
"I think it's a great name."
"If you think it's a great name, then I think it's a great name." He laughed to himself. Satoru walked towards me and squatted in front of me. He took my right hand in his left and looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes that I could get lost in. "Goodnight, Tsu. I'll see you in the morning." With that, he lifted me hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of my hand. His lips felt so soft against my skin and all I wanted was for him to kiss me on my lips. He stood up and was about to walk away until I said,
"Wait, just one more." He smiled at me and walked towards me. Satoru leaned down and placed another soft kiss on my forehead. My eyes closed as he kissed me. "One more." Then he kissed my head. "One more." Then he kissed right cheek. "One more." Then he kissed my left cheek. "Satoru." I opened my eyes and he had taken his glasses off again.
"Not tonight, Tsu." I knew in that moment that he wasn't going to kiss me where I wanted him to.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because I want you to really remember it when I do, and I don't know how much you'll remember in the morning." He whispered. I sighed in defeat because he made a good point and I couldn't be made at him for it, but I could be slightly disappointed. With one last kiss to my forehead, he stood up straight and made his way to the door. "Goodnight, princess."
"Goodnight, Satoru."
Oh my goodness...some kisses! They're getting closer and I'm so excited!