Clarification

"Don't you get it? There aren't any churches near my house."

Irina would admit it took her embarrassingly long to understand what Karasuma was talking about, but in her defence, it wasn't the sort of thing one would expect from him.

This had to be a dream, right? There was no way she heard what she thought she did. Not from him, of all people.

And he was acting like it was normal, like he hadn't just told her to live with him.

On Valentine's.

He continued to walk away while she was left behind on the bridge, trying to make sense of it all.

"Wait! Karasuma!"

As she chased after him, her brain finally working again, the flush on her face started to die down.

For a few seconds she had been on cloud nine, allowing herself to fantasise about a perfect romantic future, and then reality came crashing down on her—Karasuma wasn't thinking on the same wavelength as her. That was how he always was. The date probably didn't mean anything, not to him.

And though she tried to make herself believe she would be fine with this arrangement, with just being near him, she knew it was a lie. Working together she could handle. Living together, every day? It would hurt like hell.

With a burst of speed, she caught up to him and reached for his wrist, manicured nails digging into his skin.

"Wait!"

Karasuma stopped at last and faced her with a confused expression. "Irina?"

"Look, Karasuma, here's the thing," she managed to say firmly enough, though she was unable to meet his eyes. "I can't live with you. It's nice of you and all, don't get me wrong, and I'd definitely like to take you up on it, b-but..."

Irina swallowed as a wave of nervousness washed over her. She forced herself to continue.

"But if you haven't noticed, I like—I mean, I love you. It's—it's fine if you don't feel that way or if you never will, I get it, but that's why I—I can't. I don't need your sympathy."

She said all of it in a rush with her gaze to the ground, feeling uncharacteristically timid. The silence that followed didn't make her feel any better, either.

"It isn't sympathy."

"Huh?" She looked up in surprise.

In that one moment, she realised he was much closer than she had expected, close enough for their noses to touch, and in the next he completely removed the distance, his lips meeting her own.

A surprised gasp caught in her throat as she leaned into him, fire burning in her veins, her heartbeat sounding loudly in her ears, and then he pulled away, ending it all too soon.

Irina was too stunned to move. She had kissed several people in her life, much more passionately, yet none of them had ever left her with this heady warmth.

"I apologise for not making it clearer."

Somehow Karasuma managed to be as composed as always, voice even and low, but his expression noticeably softened and she would have sworn she saw him smile before he turned away.

"Are you coming now?" he asked.

Running a finger across her lips, heart racing and twice as giddy as before, Irina followed.