_Chapter 19–2~ Thank You_

The cold evening air wasn't helping in ridding the memories of what had occurred, but it did allow for my nerves to slightly settle. My galloping heart rate had calmed considerably and my breathing stabilized as well.

I felt like a baby in the fetal position that I was in, tucked behind the storage shed at the back of the school, but it brought me comfort. Being the smarty-pants I was, I decided to run towards the back of the school where no security cameras were—my hideaway, in essence. It was nostalgic. All those times I'd run from delinquents and teachers; Dad as well, sometimes. I'd just hide here like this, mollifying my emotions until I was able to control them again, giving myself the pep-talk I so desperately needed to cheer myself up.

But this time it was extremely difficult.

Burying my face into my knees, I brought them closer to myself. I clenched my teeth, feeling my heart squeeze.

I made a fool of myself. It sucked. I got so ahead of myself, grinning my way to sleep after baking all those cupcakes at an ungodly hour, excited to dish them out. All because I'd been assured that I had a shot—that I could prove them wrong.

But it turned out to be wishful thinking.

Me getting worked up about inviting other schools only to learn they weren't in any danger at all. The ruination of my cupcakes, leading to not a single one being sold. Miyabi and Ryu finishing early—unbelievably quickly, for that matter—and yet they were kind enough to offer to help me with my booth even after my stubborn protest. Even burning my hands on that stovetop...

"Sheep? You here?"

I tensed at the nickname. Miyabi.

Reclining further into the wall of the shed, I shrunk myself so that he wouldn't notice my presence. I didn't want to see anyone right now, much less that lighthearted guy. He would only laugh in that ingratiating way as usual.

"What, you lied about your booth? Ew, even your cupcakes look so nasty! This is why we told you you'd be hopeless by yourself. You're such an idiot, Sheep."

I buried my face into my knees. Okay, sure Miyabi wasn't that mean, but I barely knew the dude. Who knew what he would say.

Before long, Miyabi's repetitive yells died out the further he got away. I breathed of relief when he was gone entirely. My shoulders sagged, and I peered upwards at the already darkened sky. The stars were out, clear from the clouds. It was a really nice night tonight. Sucks that I had to ruin the fundraising...

Why didn't life ever go my way?

It never had. Other people weren't even responsible for it. It was me. I was just unlucky. I couldn't get the high school life I dreamed of having in middle school, my grades were horrible, I didn't have any friends—Daichi aside because what was between us wasn't exactly a "friendship."

The only thing I was good at was getting myself involved with things other people never would. And that was why it sucked. There had probably never been a time in my life that I'd ever felt like the top of the world for succeeding in something, and most likely, I never would.

It wasn't fair.

Grounding my teeth, I berated my eyes. No. I wasn't crying. I wasn't. Wasn't. Eyes, don't you dare fill up with tears eyes, or I swear—

"Only you would do something like that."

My breath hitched in my throat. It was close. With a jolt, my heart kicked in full throttle. The skin on the back of my neck stood up. Who the heck was...

"Iwasaki?" I asked in disbelief, whipping my head left and right.

In the blackness of the evening, I could barely see a thing, but at the corner of the shed I caught it: orange hair I'd never miss. And as if proving my thoughts right, the male himself came sauntering out from hiding.

Many questions and emotions bubbled within me all at once. I should've asked him something along the lines of "how long were you there?" or "why are you here?" but as Ryu took a seat on the grass in front of me embarrassment could only swallow me hole, making me unable to even open my mouth.

He so came here to tease me. Tell me "I told you so."

He probably already figured out about the fib about the cupcakes, too.

"You better not say it," I warned, going back into fetal position.

Ryu obliged, and for the first couple seconds I was on edge. The silence I was usually grateful for ended up rubbing me the wrong way.

"You should've teamed up with us," he finally said.

I flinched, burying my face further into my kneecaps. "I told you not to say any—"

"Are your hands all right?"

I subconsciously withdrew my hands from sight. They were still throbbing but I could bend them still. "I'm fine," I choked out through the pain.

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"Y-yes," I stated more firmly this time. "I only t-touched it for a second. It doesn't h-hurt."

"You don't sound very convincing."

I bit my lip, hard. "I-It's your imagination."

He gave me a sidelong glance. I cowered as a result. "Look," he said, "the stove was higher than 100 degrees. There's no way it doesn't hurt. Just give them to me."

"N-no."

"Just do it."

My cheeks burned. "No!"

"Yes!"

"I'm fine!"

"Yeah, right!"

"Y-you're the one acting like a mother now," I said pointedly. "N-no means no!"

Ryu groaned in defeat. "So you're not going to show me your hands?"

"N-never."

"Kikuchi—"

"What are you doing here anyway?"

That silenced Ryu.

"If you came to laugh and tell me "I told you so" just do that already," I snapped. "Don't try to pretend you're actually worried about me."

There was a long pause on his end. "I didn't come here to say that."

"You didn't?" I blanched at the news. "Wait, don't tell me the customers of the booth told you to hunt me down and hurt me?"

"I'm not going to hurt you." He frowned.

I gasped. "Is it a picture of my hands they want? They're going to celebrate from my pain aren't they? I had a hunch those other schools were full of sadists!"

"That's not what they want. Far from it. I came here because—"

I wasn't listening.

"Don't tell me it's the delinquents? Is Mrs. Hamada going to expel me? My parents will kill me if I get expelled! What normal student got expelled from a delinquent school? They'll ship me off to a boot camp or something! Or... or that Seisein Academy; they have to be a school full of sadists! Oh no. I'm a goner. I'm dead. This is the end to my pitiful life. I've—"

"Kikuchi!" Ryu's unexpected shout halted my rambling. I looked forward in surprise. Gingerly taking my hands in his, he barked, "Shut up for a second, will you?"

I shut up.

Ryu grunted. "You talk way too much. Everything that comes out of your mouth is either something negative or a complaint."

I opened my mouth to retort but he squeezed my hand. I yelped in pain, forcing them back. Ryu caught them at the last millisecond, shooting me a cautionary look. I didn't refute it this time.

His hands were softer than I imagined; softer than what I'd heard boys hands felt like. My own hands felt rougher than his. Well, at least they used to. I couldn't feel them now so who knew how they felt like.

Without warning, Ryu's fingers which were gently caressing my hands poked my palm.

"S-s-stop doing that!" I exclaimed, ripping them away.

I rocked them gingerly in the darkness, them aching far more intensely than before. The corner of my eyelids stung, and I rapidly blinked to rid the forming tears.

"See, you really did hurt yourself!" Ryu accused.

"I-I d-didn't!"

He tried to take them in his again. "Stop acting tough."

I hissed, shooing him off. "No! Don't touch them!"

"But—"

"You made them hurt even more!" Sniffling, I glowered pathetically while consoling my quivering wrists. "N-not again."

Ryu arms descended by his sides, a flicker of guilt crossing his features. He ran his fingers through his hair for a moment then released a defeated breath. "You... jeez."

"What?" I demanded, not liking his tone.

"I'm just wondering how you can live your life so negatively like that."

I frowned. "I'm not negative."

He rolled his eyes. "Every single day in the infirmary you hide, going on and on about how you're going to die by the hands of 'delinquents'—"

"How can you blame me? Do you not remember that event where I cussed them out?"

"—Or complain about how crummy your life is compared to everyone else's."

"Were you even paying attention to anything that happened to me today?"

"—Or snap at everyone and anything you don't like."

I simply shrugged. "I don't like a lot of things."

Ryu snorted. Leaning back on his hands, his gaze was glued to me. I swallowed hard and crossed my legs.

"Why are you so negative?" he asked.

"I told you I'm not," I said. "I'm just being extra cau—"

"—tious, right?"

The tone of his voice caused me to frown. I wanted to sarcastically tell him the definition of the word—stack up yet another wall—but instead I settled for "Be quiet, Iwasaki."

Exhaling, I stared at the ground. "It is pretty funny though, huh? Even I can't keep up with myself. I hate being looked down upon but I'm so scared of others I let them do it anyways. But the second I get the chance, I go off on them. People have never liked hanging around me. I excuse it's because of this academy, but in reality, it's me. It's always been me. This event, too. If I just listened to you—"

"So you admit I was right?"

My face enveloped in red. "I-I didn't—"

He cut me off, "But I don't accept a win like this. In the first place, you hurt your hands so badly you're in pain like this."

"You're the one who—"

"—Plus your cupcakes got ruined so you didn't sell very well, right?"

My eyes widened. "You know?"

He avoided to look my way for a second. "I, uh, saw you, yeah."

Wait, he came to my stand? What? When? My pulse quickened. No wait. I recalled back to that accidental collision with that girl from Seisein Academy. I was near their booth at that time, wasn't I? It had to be then.

"Then you know that I lied, right?" I sighed. "Every student who walked by my stand was carrying your guys' ice cream and didn't once look my way. I mean, even though they do look a little messed up, they shouldn't taste that bad."

"I know for a fact they don't." Ryu's declaration stunned me. "You bake well. The students were idiots not to eat your cupcakes. If it were me I'd have eaten them all."

My heart did a little flip. Huh...?

"Anyways," he cut me off before I could speak, "there was also the fact that I left you to work all by yourself at your own stand while I had Miyabi. It wasn't fair, obviously, but you were so insistent about it."

I considered bringing up Daichi but didn't follow through. I dropped my head, feeling his piercing gaze. "That's... because Miyabi wanted to be with you. I wanted to beat you myself too, but I also didn't want to get in between the bromance."

Ryu deadpanned. "What 'bromance'?"

"It's there and you know it."

He rolled his eyes. "Kikuchi, the reason I came out here to find you is because—"

"How did you find me anyway?" I interjected. "You have a horrible sense of direction. I thought it'd be impossible."

"I don't have a horrible sense of direction," he snapped, flushing pink.

Now it was my turn to sneer. "It's so horrible Roronoa Zoro makes you look good."

Ryu tensed at the One Piece reference. Puzzled by his reaction, I cocked my head to the side. His once angered expression morphed to one of awe and just like that, his focus was on me for about a good minute.

A tad uncomfortable, I drawled, "Uh... Iwasaki?"

He jolted from his daze with start and bashfully swerved his head. "Wh-what was I saying?"

I beamed. "Something sappy explaining why you came to find me."

He nodded. "Yeah, about that. Look."

"Looking," I responded cheekily.

I bent forward for emphasis.

"Not like that." He frowned. "Listen to me—"

"Listening."

His features contorted with exasperation. "Kikuchi."

"That is my name."

Ryu looked about ready to blow up with frustration. Finding it unbearably funny, I burst out laughing.

"Sorry," I tittered, rubbing away my tears with the back of my hand. Bad idea, because I ended up wincing. Shakily expunging air from my lungs, I continued, "I couldn't help it."

Ryu sourly primmed his lips. "You..."

"Me?"

He craned his neck, contemplating his next sentence. "I..." he mumbled, "came to see if you were fine."

My eyes widened at the news. Before I could get any ideas, I said, "Yeah. I bet the teachers would worry about me so much that they'd send a student. Ha ha."

Ryu's apathetic stare made me halt my forced chuckle. "No teacher sent me here, idiot."

I was speechless. Wait, what? He was worried about me? Why? Ryu never seemed to worry about anyone. Was I different then? Maybe it was because he felt obliged because I checked to see if he was alright after that delinquent fiasco five chapters ago? Or maybe it was because of the dog incident back when we were picking up garbage a few weeks ago... Yeah, that one had to be it. So stop going off stupid heart.

"Uh, don't worry," I said with a smile, wanting to put this all behind us. "I'll keep the dog event a secret."

Ryu flinched. "That—"

"—was a pretty funny event where you were scared out of your mind," I finished for him. "Don't worry, now there's no more favours between us."

"You were scared too!" Ryu accused.

"Only because you gave me a false notion about "rabies!"" I defended. "By the way, I searched it up and you do not turn into a dog if you're bitten."

When his previous words registered in my mind, I gasped.

"Wait," I said, "so you do admit you were scared! The great Ryu Iwasaki is scared of dogs!"

Ryu gaped. "I-I—"

I guffawed. "It really is easy to fluster you."

He grumpily furrowed his eyebrows. "Only because you—"

"But, you're not scary," I assured him. "At least whenever you're like this."

"Meaning?"

"What it sounded like, I guess." I was smiling even more now, and that brightened my mood even more. I was so down in the dumps minutes before but now I felt light as feather. "Thanks, Ryu—"

"You're not allowed to call me that."

I frowned. I was hoping he'd let it slide. Daichi incorporated my name that easily as well.

Stubbornly, I puffed my cheeks. "You're not allowed to call me Reina then."

"I never once said it anyways," he muttered.

I shoved him but he didn't teeter. As expected.

"Fine," I relented. "Thank you very much, I-wa-sa-ki."

Everything fell quiet. My heart was still pounding, but in that moment it wasn't too unsettling. I closed my eyes, relishing in the refreshing breeze. Maybe this entire situation wasn't so bad...

My cell phone dinged, waking me from my daze. I pulled it out of my pocket. I caught Ryu glancing over to see what it was about but I didn't mind. I checked the text I had received and gaped at the picture Daichi had sent. All the cupcakes I'd baked, gone entirely from the plates.

You ate them all?!

I messaged him, incredulous.

Do you know how sad that is if you, the one running the booth, paid for them all?

No later than a few seconds, Daichi messaged me back.

No! I didn't eat them all! (and nice to see the love after ditching me for an hour...
-__-")

Another picture came up, this time portraying the face of Miyabi and a crowd of people eating my cupcakes, broad grins on their faces.

The infamous 'Miyabi' you always talk about showed up and helped to sell them. They're all gone now, so cheer up!

My pupils dilated in shock. They were... finished?

I jostled the male beside me. "Iwasaki! You won't believe it! They're all gone!"

"Stop shaking me," he ordered.

I unhanded him, realizing just how much strength I was using. It wasn't long before my giddiness returned. I gripped my phone with my fingers, eyeing the picture and grinning like an idiot to myself. "It all worked out! Wow, this is incredible! I can't believe it. I didn't mess up."

To my surprise, I felt something touch the top of my head—a hand. Ryu's. He patted it gently. "Stop screaming. Good for you, okay?"

I peeked up at him but obviously his gaze was averted from mine. Clasping my hands over my already reddening face, I bobbed my head. My lips curved upwards. Iwasaki was such a nice guy.