Chapter 192 - Being Embraced By Him

Naoto's POV

I was feeling quite happy for some reason as I was sitting while glancing at the fallen leaves in the backyard. Time sure flies, as it felt like it was summer a few days ago, but it was already autumn.

The wind was dry and a bit chilly, as I was immersed in my own world of thoughts. I texted Saishi to visit me, but I actually wanted him to watch my match with Vivian, but he didn't come, as the fight ended and I won.

He was probably busy, but what does he have to do at lunchtime? He is probably buying chocy milk and forgot about me. So chocy milk means more to him than me. But he can be really busy with some other stuff, as mid sems were approaching.

I heard faint footsteps approaching me from behind as I turned around to look at the figure of Saishi walking towards me with his eyes locked on me. I was a bit startled to see him, since I wasn't expecting him to come at all.

He came to an abrupt stop next to me and said, "So it's autumn already, huh?"

His eyes wandered into the backyard and it appeared like he had the same thought as me about this. His eyes were wandering at the ground where a bunch of dried leaves were lying around.

"So… you wanted to talk?" He asked me in a polite tone as I reverted my gazes back towards the tree and said in an indifferent tone, "Nothing…"

"Eh?" He probably knew that I was sad by my tone because he looked at me nervously and as he was about to say something I interrupted him, "It's nothing…"

I did want him to watch my fight because I was in such a good mood, but he missed it so there is no use of sulking over it at that point. I just gave him a smile, but knowing how perceptive he is, I knew that he had an idea about everything.

He stared at me for a while as I got up and walked into the backyard, but he followed me too as he said in a questioning tone, "Did you want me to see you fight, Vivian?"

I knew he would say that. I turned around and looked at him a bit embarrassed, and quickly denied it, "Definitely not."

His eyebrows furrowed as a sheepish smile formed on his face and he apologised, "Oh sorry about that, our biology teacher took a lot of time to dismiss the class."

So it wasn't chocy milk after all. That's a relief.

He was quite considerate about small things like this, which was a good thing, but it also had its own downsides. I just shook my head from left to right and said casually, "It's okay… Did I say anything?"

He shook his head and walked towards me without saying anything. His dark eyes narrowed at me as he opened his mouth and his voice box moved, "That's the problem…"

How is that a problem?

"Huh?" I looked at with clear confusion on my face, as he put his hand on my shoulder than said in a calm tone, "See, I know you're a bit down and it's okay… I'm sorry for that…"

I understood what he was trying to say but at that moment, he had no reason to apologise since he was late because his teacher didn't dismiss the class in time. There was nothing that could be done about that.

"You don't have to apologise, it's not your fault." I turned around completely to face him as his hand fell from my shoulder, and gave me an awkward nod and changed the topic, "By the way, I heard you won."

"Like that's a surprise." I said, being a little arrogant about my skills, but he just shook his head and replied, "The surprise is that you're again practicing Kendo that you're thinking of leaving a few months ago."

What he said was completely true. Last month, I used to think of ways to escape from Kendo and I had no motivation to do anything. Now that I have much motivation now but I was trying to at least change stuff about myself. 

At that moment, I was rather happy about beating Vivian and also about the fact that after quite some time; I had a fight that made me feel alive again. That's why I loved sparring with him. "Well, I'm really happy right now because I had a great fight after such a long time."

"Well, that's great I suppose…" He said as I cut him off and with pure excitement in my voice I started, "Yes it is! Man, it felt so good to swing the sword after such a long time… I enjoyed this too much!"

As I finished my rant, I noticed his clueless eyes looking at me as I realised that I did something childish and smiled in embarrassment, "Ehe!"

"So… looking at your face and your actions are so contrasting." After staring at me for some time, he finally said, and I exclaimed, "Hey!"

"I mean you do cute things…" Looking at my reaction, he immediately tried to cover it up, but I wasn't actually offended. I just liked playing with him, as I asked, "So you mean I'm not cute?"

"Definitely." Without a second thought, he nodded, as I narrowed my eyes and stared at him in silence, "I… what!?"

He also stared back at me with a confused look on his face as a frown formed on his face. It appeared like he realised what he said as he immediately shook his hand and said, "I mean definitely cute!"

"Oh… then hug me." He was quite nervous, or I think he showed me that he was nervous at that time, but either way I was putting him in the spot as he shot back, "Where the fuck did that come from?"

"I don't know…" I shrugged with a smile as he said while narrowing his eyes, "You seem quite happy today?"

"Yes… now come… hug me!" I nodded and said as he stepped back and looked at me nervously. I didn't say anything, but I wasn't actually expecting him to hug me as he walked towards me and put his arms around my shoulders and pulled me towards him.

That day, I received my first hug from him and my last one too