When we got back to camp, a fire and four tents were built. Mita-senpai took this downtime to explain everything to Junya and Takeshi.
“Besides your healing powers,” Mita-senpai said, raising his noodle-covered chopsticks to cool off, “is there another ability you have, Junya?”
“I can tell how someone is feeling.” He placed his hand above his heart. “When I feel a pain in my chest, I can sense how someone feels.”
Mita-senpai tapped his chin. “Your power is what you'd call empathy.”
“How's that special?” Izuki jested. I stepped on his shoe, making the boy spill some of his broth.
“Does that mean when someone feels pain, you feel it too?” I wondered, ignoring the whining from Izuki.
Junya nodded, peering down at the palm of his hand. “I could feel Takeshi's pain when I touched him.”
The eldest turned to the newest member of the group. “What do you think is yours?”
The boy lifted up his hand and raised the leftover water in the pot. My mind flashed back to when Takeshi desperately shot the icicle at the shadow. My eyes were glued to him as tiny water droplets floated in his palm.
Izuki and Kouji audibly gasped.
Takeshi chuckled, placing his hand down in his lap. “I can manipulate water and its phases, but I can't control it well.”
We continued to talk as we ate our meal. It was a mix of talking about past encounters with the shadows and senseless banter.
The brunette nudged his partner with his knee. “Asuka, does this mean our fight with Resignia is coming soon?” Natsuki questioned.
All of the blood in my veins went cold. The thought of fighting an entire organization head-on was enough to steal my soul out of my body. If I couldn't fight off a bear on my own, how would I be able to fight a sinister organization? My limbs felt numb at the mere thought of battling to the death.
“F-fight them?” Kouji stammered.
“Don't worry, Natsuki and I will train you. We can't let you youngins into battle without some preparations! ”
“What about our family?” Junya asked, expressing the inner turmoil I kept to myself.
“If we don't defeat Resignia, you won't have a family.” Natsuki deadpanned.
Junya covered his mouth with his hand, taken aback by such circumstances. He glanced at me for reassurance, but I gave him the same agitated expression.
Mita-senpai slouched in his seat with a heavy sigh. “To be honest, Natsuki and I haven't planned this far. We never fathomed seven of us would be here sitting together.” The eldest had that same wistful look in his eyes. “Nonetheless, we need to prepare for combat.” Mita-senpai chugged the rest of his cup of noodles and placed the empty cup beside his feet. “First, we should all get some rest. Today was quite a day!”
After we cleaned up our area, Mita-senpai suggested that we pair up with someone to share a tent with. It was a given that Mita-senpai and Natsuki would share a tent, Kouji and Junya shared one, and I paired up with Izuki. Takeshi had his tent all to himself.
I bent forward to enter our tent, where two sets of futons, pillows, and blankets were laid out on the ground. I smiled softly at Kouji's efforts as I patted my pillow into a desirable thickness.
“What are ya smiling at?”
Quickly frowning my lips I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Hey, hey, Ricchan~” Izuki cooed from under the blanket. “I know ya have a crush on Takeshi, but what was happening between ya and Natsuki at the stream?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Izuki leaned in. “You’re lying!”
“Nope.”
“Are ya starting to like Natsuki~?” He gasped, his voice becoming giddy. “I know ya like the athletic type. Natsuki is totally strong and muscular~!”
I rolled my eyes. “No way. Natsuki’s with Mita-senpai.”
Izuki jumped up. His eyes shot open like a deer in headlights. “Wait, they’re a thing?!”
I covered his loud mouth and shushed him. “Yes! I saw them kissing in the bathroom one time.”
Izuki pushed my hand away. “Rito, ya pervert~! I know you’re into men, but I didn’t know ya get a kick out of that type of stuff.”
I threw my pillow at him in irritation. “I didn’t watch them on purpose! They happened to be in the bathroom when I went.” Izuki giggled as he continued to poke fun at me. “Knock it off!”
The boy backed down and handed me my pillow. With the two of us both settled into our mattresses, I could finally shut my eyes.
“Ricchan~” Izuki whined, breaking the quietness. “Sing me a song. I haven’t heard ya sing in a long time.”
“You know why I haven’t.” I hissed.
“Ya don’t have to worry,” his tone mellowed, “it’s only me in this tent.”
I sighed. “Will you sleep if I do?”
He vigorously nodded his head.
I glared at him from the corner of my eye. His grinning face was blinding as I reluctantly turned to him. “Close your eyes.”
He quickly shut his eyes with a contented smile. I felt my chest tighten as I hummed a couple of notes. I let out a tired sigh before taking a deep breath. I sang a lullaby I used to sing to myself when I couldn’t sleep. As my voice trailed off, I watched Izuki's face soften.
Izuki peeled his eyes open and smiled. “Wow, I forgot how great you sound.” He giggled, “That song sounds weird, like it's ancient. Ya must be old to know that song, Ricch—”
I kicked him in the gut as he continued to blabber. “OOF-” He heaved and curled up in a ball.
“If you have energy to complain, go take a lap!” I slammed the pillow under my head while grumbling and soundly fell asleep, ignoring Izuki’s faint groans.
-
The sound of rustling and whispers tickled my ears in the middle of the night. My sudden awareness of those sounds awakened the urge to use the bathroom. I peered over my shoulder to see his long, slim limbs sprawled out on his mattress with a thin line of drool dripping from his lips. I wanted to laugh, but I was too exhausted to do so.
With half-lidded eyes, I opened the tent and tiptoed outside. The moon was held high in the starry night, acting as my only source of light. I groggily turned my head to the tent at the opposite end. The source of the noise seemed to be coming from Mita-senpai and Natsuki. I decided not to let my mind wander as the chill spring air motivated me to quickly finish my business and return back to the warmth of the futon.
My heavy yet quick footsteps led me back to the tent. I pulled up the blanket and lay back down onto my futon. I shut my eyes as the coziness of the blanket eased me back into a deep slumber.
Saturday, 08/31/XX
I turned my head as my body felt uncomfortably warm. My head hit something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I groaned while opening my eyes, when I almost shrieked. His hands pinned on both sides of my head, there he was, hovering over me.
“Ah! S-sorry, I’m in the wrong tent.”
Suddenly, our faces were a breath apart.
His silver messy bangs covered his delicate eyelids. Up close, I could see the slight shadows of his long lashes. Details I'd never noticed before were now a few inches away from my face. I was about to turn myself invisible, but had no will to do so. The warmth of his breath against my cheek made me shudder. I felt frozen in place, unsure of what to do. My mind was telling me to get out of the tent, but my body wouldn’t move. Takeshi started inching closer and brushed his lips onto mine. His lips were softer than I imagined. The hand placed on my left cheek gently pulled me closer to him. When he'd move his head to one side, he’d use his hand to move my face in the opposite direction. Although I was kissing my crush, I felt dread. I attempted to push him away, but it felt as if energy was being drained from my body. As the kiss escalated, my eyes shot open, and I managed to push him away.
“Sorry, did I hurt you?” He stuck out his tongue to show a small orb piercing.
“No, I-I…” I sat up on the mattress. Everything felt wrong. “I need to leave.”
I hastily pushed the blankets off myself and rushed to my original tent. I silently pulled the blankets over me and shoved my face into my pillow.
What the hell happened? I couldn’t tell if I wanted to laugh or cry at the absurdity of the situation. My mind was racing with thousands of thoughts as I pushed my face further into the pillow.
One thing is for sure that was the most confusing thing was that I didn’t enjoy the kiss as much as I expected to.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGsrHwPbm4
