Breath With In
Chapter 13 - Together We Go
I looked up to see a hooded figure standing in front of me. The wind had quieted down by now so I could speak clearly. I squinted, unsure of whether this was an ominous figure or just someone who didn't know how to dress properly.
"Hello?" I questioned.
The figure didn't respond right away. It just stood there, staring at me with mysterious, dark eyes hidden under the hood. I could feel the tension building. Or maybe it was just my stomach growling. I wasn't sure.
"Uh, hi," responded the calm voice of the person I knew, breaking the silence like a knife through butter.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned again, this time with more authority, though I wasn't sure what kind of authority I was trying to project.
"Well, I kind of wanted to ask you something," Yuuki responded, her voice trembling.
"Yes?" I replied, trying not to sound too eager, but honestly, I was just curious. Why was she here? Why was she dressed like that? Was it a cosplay thing?
"W-w-well, I… she stuttered, like she had forgotten how to talk entirely… k-k-kind of w-w-well..." She trailed off.
"Are you cold?" I asked, because that's what any reasonable person would ask when someone is stuttering like they're having a mental breakdown.
"N-n-n-no…" she responded quickly, but I could see her teeth chattering. She was shivering, so I knew something was wrong. Or maybe it was just the nerves? Could you get nervous shivers? Was that a thing?
"Well, maybe a combination of both…" I said dramatically, as if I were a psychologist, when in reality I just really liked being the one to solve problems, even though I didn't know how to.
"Is it alright if we go inside?" I asked, trying to be polite, even though I wasn't sure why she was still standing there in my yard like some kind of lost ghost.
"S-s-sure," she stammered, and I quickly ushered her inside.
It was 5 pm now, the time of day when the sun was lazy and barely hanging on to the sky. As we walked inside, I realized I hadn't actually turned on the lights, and it was dark and awkward, but who cares, right? Yuuki seemed to be fine with the dark, even though she wasn't saying anything about it.
"Do you want to stay here to eat?" I asked, in a completely unrelated offer that had nothing to do with our previous conversation. Maybe it was because I was hungry, but I wanted to know if she was hungry too. Or maybe I just wanted to offer her some pizza, because pizza was always the solution to everything.
"No, I'm fine," she said, her cheeks flushing. She was blushing. It was kind of cute, but honestly, I wasn't sure why she was blushing. I didn't do anything special.
"Oh, okay then," I responded, not knowing what else to say.
We both sat down in the middle of the room, neither of us making eye contact. After a few seconds of dead silence, I started laughing, probably because I realized how ridiculous this all was, and she started laughing too. It was like a bizarre laugh-off, but we both stopped after a minute because we were both confused by what was happening.
After calming down, I smiled and she blushed even harder.
"So what were you going to ask me?" I asked, wanting to get back to the point. I mean, we couldn't just keep sitting here forever.
"Umm, well, I kind of want to come with you," she said, nervously twirling a lock of her hair.
"What?" I responded, because I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. "I mean, why? Like, are you… are you sure? I don't know, that's a lot of responsibility."
"I'm prepared and have started to train," she said seriously, but I could tell she was exaggerating. What kind of training could she have done? I was the one who had been doing all the heavy lifting. "I should be fit enough to do whatever you are preparing for."
I stared at her for a moment. "Well, I am climbing a mountain. Changed your mind yet?"
"No!" she said quickly, with that cute expression that made my heart skip a beat.
"Sure, I guess," I said, shrugging like I wasn't really sure about any of this either.
We started to talk about life and stuff, and honestly, I forgot what we were talking about after five minutes. It was mostly just filler conversation, you know, the kind that's totally meaningless but makes the word count go up.
Then, she decided to stay over. I figured it was okay because my mom knew I was responsible enough to have a guest over, and her parents were apparently okay with it. But I wasn't entirely sure they knew what I was getting into.
We chatted for most of the night, but nothing important really happened. Eventually, we ran out of things to say. I didn't know if it was because we were both tired or just awkward, but we sat there in silence until finally, she decided it was time to sleep.
She was going to sleep on the floor, with a bunch of blankets and a pillow, but then after only like five minutes, she came into my bed.
It was uncomfortable at first, like having a giant pillow crush you, but after I got used to it, it wasn't so bad. I started to think.
"Hey, maybe this isn't as bad as I thought…"
And then I fell asleep with a smile on my face, wondering why I never got around to turning off the TV, which had been playing in the background the entire time.
And I fell asleep with a smile.
