Forbidden Protege

Ch. 10: Charged Emotions (Part 3)

Alexia took a deep breath as she stood outside Chris's dorm. By some weird luck, he lived in the same building as her, just on the opposite side so she rarely ran into him. She raised her hand to knock and heard a voice call from inside. The door opened to reveal Kanemaru who went wide-eyed when he saw her.

"Oh! Miya-san. What is... What can I help you with?" he stuttered slightly.

Alexia gave him a small smile. "I was hoping to talk to Chris-san actually. Is he here?"

"Ah, he's at the baths actually," Kanemaru said, a look of disappointment quickly passing over his face.

"I see."

"But he should be back soon. You can wait for him if you'd like," he said quickly. He moved to the side and motioned her in.

She nodded at him. "Thanks, sorry to intrude."

"It's fine," Kanemaru said as he closed the door behind him. Alexia made her way over to a desk chair and sat down. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you want to talk to him about?"

Alexia grimaced. "Actually about some shit Eijun said today during that game."

"What? Don't tell me Eijun's picking a fight with him," he said angrily. He sighed and Alexia noted disappointment and a lack of surprise in his tone.

"It's mutual actually," Alexia said. She received a confused look so she elaborated, "Chris said some stuff that Eijun had a right to be angry about, but the way he called Chris out on it was rude to say the least. I understand where Eijun is coming from, so I'm hoping to hear the other side to try and smooth things out."

"You know you don't have to fix that idiot's messes for him," he said gruffly.

"Yeah I know. But what Chris said pissed me off, too, so I do have some words I want to say to him as well," Alexia replied as she pressed her lips together. She saw Kanemaru lean back on his heels slightly, looking mildly scared. She chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight, just a conversation."

At that, the dorm room door opened and Chris entered the room, confusion glancing across his features. His hair was down and slightly dripping from his shower and he wore a white tee shirt and black track pants. His eyes were still dull as he took in Alexia sitting on his desk chair.

She stood up and faced him. "Hey. I know we haven't officially met, but I'm Alexia," she greeted him, hoping to start off on the right foot.

Chris nodded. "I've heard about you. It's nice to meet you." His eyes glanced to Kanemaru for an instant. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," Alexia said quickly before Kanemaru could make a fool of himself. "I was waiting for you actually. I wanted to talk to you about the end of the game today. About Eijun."

If it was possible, Chris's eyes grew bleaker. "I remember you were there. You looked even angrier than Sawamura." His voice was stiff and carried a hint of a challenge.

Alexia swallowed. "Yeah, what you said hit on several of my nerves. What Eijun said was wrong, of course, but he also had a point." The air was tense for a minute as neither of them spoke again.

Kanemaru mumbled quietly as he hurried out the room, "I'm going to see Tojo." With that, Alexia and Chris were left alone in the room.

Chris sighed heavily with exhaustion, mental and physical, as he moved to put his shower stuff away. "So what did you want to say?"