135. Heart to heart
That same day Nozomi waited for Tomoka near her house. In truth she could have knocked on the door and asked to speak with the girl. However, her nervousness didn’t allow it. She had been constantly thinking about the topic, how best to broach it and whatever else.
The talk with Hinata had helped her calm down, or at least it helped her deal with her darker thoughts. In the end, unless she talked with Tomoka and made things clear so they could work it out, she wouldn’t be able to calm down.
An hour later Tomoka walked out of her house, a small genuine smile adorning her face. It was at times like this, when Nozomi got to see her making such an expression, that made her feel like it was all worth it. To tell the truth, the last month has been extremely stressful for Nozomi. Seeing Tomoka’s messed up mindscape made her feel all sorts of negative emotions.
Shaking her head, Nozomi pushed those random thoughts out of her mind. She needed to focus for what is to come or else she might make a silly mistake and look dumb or something of the sort. Taking a deep breath to try and calm down even just a little she walked towards the red-head.
“T-Tomoka, we need to talk.” Having managed to take the first step of her little plan Nozomi waited for Tomoka’s answer, which came in the form of a simple nod.
A while later the two girls sat on top of some random rocks in a random clearing within Konoha’s forest. One, the red-head, waiting for the other to start speaking while the latter seemed to melt into a puddle of nervousness and stress.
“I don’t understand” The girl truly didn’t. It all sounded too complicated for her.
“Think of it like water, now add some dye. The water is still water but now it has color added to it. I am the water, and that thing is the color. You and everybody else met me when the dye had already been added, just not well mixed. Now it is well mixed and so there is no difference between the water and the dye, or in this case, me and that thing.”
“Then...”
“What I am trying to say is that, when you, Hinata and Kurama helped heal my mind it also helped those parts mix properly with myself as well. There is no longer Oditomnia, Kakumo and Tomoka. Now, it’s just me and no one else, just Tomoka.”
To say that Nozomi could understand all of the explanations would be a lie. However, it didn’t matter. What did matter is the fact that Tomoka would stay Tomoka and that made her happy. Feeling a heavy weight lifting off her heart Nozomi launched herself Towards the girl giving her the tightest hug she could.
“Love you!”
“Love you too”