Feeling Thoughtful: Enticed (Season 2)

Heavy Burden

It's Thursday morning, and Inei's Wednesday is going quite average compared to the previous two days, having spent a night with or kissed the Kazuki twins. As Inei approaches the school, he runs into someone different than usual. Chura stands at the gate, leaning against it, until she notices Inei getting up and going to him.
"Good morning Inei."
Inei puts his hand up as a wave, and then Chura smiles, continuing.
"Can we spend some time this evening together?"
Inei tilts his head.
This request is sudden.
She still smiles.
"Well, you spent an evening with Yasu, and I know you spent one with Yui, and to be honest..."
For once, she becomes nervous, holding her arm and looking to the side.
"I've been lonely in the evenings; I live alone."
Inei looks her in the eyes and nods.
Of course, I can spend time with her.
She smiles more.
"Okay! Then after school, we'll go to my house! Spending time together will be so much fun! I'll walk with you to class!"
Inei tilts his head.
What about Azami?
That's when Azami runs around the corner, leaning over and breathing heavily.
"Hey! I'm sorry, I was running late."
Chura tilts her head, then looks at Inei, who shrugs, and they both look back at Azami.
"Azami, are you alright?"
Azami stands up quickly, nodding.
"Yes! I'm okay! Again, just running behind! Time to get to class!"
And with that, Azami takes off toward the classroom.
I suppose she's going on her own today.
Chura giggles nervously.
"Silly Azami. Shall we?"
Inei nods, and they begin walking together to class. They eventually reach the classroom, and the course starts. As Inei sits, he feels a presence landing on him.
I had this feeling yesterday, too; what is it?
Inei slowly looks up and looks around, seeing nothing but people studying; then he looks down, the presence returning.
I see what it is.
Inei moves his eyes and side eyes towards Yasu, seeing her eyes landing on him with a smile on her face. Inei turns his head towards her, and as quickly as his head turns, her eyes leave, and her smile disappears, trying to look at him sneakily.
Geez, these girls.
As the class continues, Yui gets up and walks past Inei's desk. As she does, she opens her hand, and a blue flower forms and lands on his desk; turning her head and winking at him as she exits the room. Inei sighs and puts the flower inside his bag. Eventually, the class ends, and all six walk out together. Yasu and Yui try to be the closest to Inei, but Aneko and Chura beat them to it. As they walk, Inei notices that people, specifically other guys, are beginning to give him ugly looks.
Eh, whatever; it's not like I was used to them.
As they sit in their chairs at the study grounds, Yasu reads, Yui plays with her powers, Aneko kicks back and looks at her phone, Azami makes fancy paper crafts, and Chura sits uneasily excitedly afterward. Aneko notices Chura's anxiousness.
"Chura, what's wrong?"
Chura's eyes snap up, her hands on the chair between her legs, shaking her head.
"It's nothing! Really!"
Aneko raises an eyebrow.
"You don't seem like it's nothing. Something,"
She glances at Inei.
"or someone,"
She looks back at Chura.
"Have you super hot and bothered."
Chura squints at Aneko, stammering.
"U-um, well, t-there's a new restaurant in town, and I wanted to try it."
Inei raises an eyebrow.
You're nowhere near as good at lying as Yasu now.
Aneko gets a smirk on her face, realizing the lie.
"What restaurant? Maybe you and I can go this evening if you want somebody to accompany you."
Chura chuckles.
"No, no, it's okay. I can go on my own."
Aneko smirks more.
"You didn't say which restaurant."
Chura gulps.
"It's, uh, it's a tiny restaurant. You wouldn't know it! Some of my other friends I have on campus, yeah, one of their parents just opened up a restaurant."
Aneko notices the faulty explanation but decides to let it slide.
"Well, okay, suit yourself. I'm expecting you to take me one day, though."
Chura smiles, relieved, speaking more calmly.
"Yes, I will take you one day."
Then suddenly, there are heavy footsteps. Inei notices them and turns, noticing the four other starters on the basketball team standing behind him. Inei tilts his head, Takiya examining him.
"Seems like you got over your sickness quite quickly, Inei."
Inei nods, and Takiya looks over to Yasu, giving her a thumbs up.
"Thanks for healing him up."
Yasu blushes and looks away, then Takiya looks back at Inei.
"So we should be expecting you in practice then, right?"
Inei doesn't move.
Shit. Coach says I don't have to go, and I told Chura I would go with her this evening, but that doesn't make me look good as a teammate.
Inei glances over to Chura, who is now looking down and upset.
I can't bail on her.
Inei shakes his head, Chura looking up with her eyes beginning to sparkle, Takiya a little shocked.
"Damn, fame hit you quickly. If you're not going to practice, you better score more than fifty-three on Saturday, or we'll try to replace you regardless of how good you are."
Inei nods, and Takiya and the other three leave the study grounds. Aneko now questions Inei.
"That's not you, Inei."
Inei turns and looks at Aneko.
"You don't turn down practices like that. What's going on?"
Aneko is getting very suspicious, but on her behalf, she deserves to be. Chura has been this way before about me, and now I rejected a practice? I have to do something.
Inei shrugs and grabs a ball out of his bag, scooting his chair back a little and dribbling the ball around his legs. Aneko shrugs.
"Well, if you're not going, you'll put in some effort now."
Aneko looks back to her phone, and Chura grabs her stuff and begins to leave, Azami questioning her.
"Chura! You're leaving already?!"
Chura turns with a smile, nodding.
"Yeah, I want to make it home before it snows, then I can go to the restaurant. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"
With that, Chura leaves, and Inei is a little confused.
Did she forget?
Inei's phone buzzes and Inei spins the ball on his finger as he looks at his phone, seeing a message from Chura.
"You know where my house is? Just come in a few minutes."
Inei then puts his phone away and continues dribbling. After a few minutes, Inei puts the ball away and begins to leave, Yasu speaking.
"Inei? You too?"
Yui talks as well.
"Yeah, where are you going?"
Inei looks at them and puts his hands next to his head as if telling them he's going to sleep. They nod, and Azami waves to him.
"Okay! Sleep well, Inei!"
Inei waves back and leaves. As he leaves the college and walks down the road, he looks at the dark and cloudy sky.
I am curious as to how this is going to go. I should prepare for anything to happen, considering Chura is the most mature of the group.
Inei thinks back to Yui's kiss, then comes back to reality.
If she had to courage to kiss me, then there's no telling what Chura would do.
Inei stops and looks to the side, standing in front of Chura's house. He walks up to the door and knocks. She opens it and quickly pulls Inei inside before Inei can react, her strength immaculate. The door slams shut, and Inei looks around the dimly lit house, a table with a cliche red tablecloth and candles set up in the dining room. Chura walks past Inei, leaning with her hands behind her back and looking up at Inei.
"Surprise! My own house is the restaurant I wanted to try."
So it wasn't entirely a lie?
Chura walks over to a chair and stands beside it.
"I know you're my guest, but we can treat this like a date and pretend this is not my home. My home is as much your home."
Inei walks over and pulls out her chair, her sitting in it, and he pushes her in and then sits across from her. Chura then opens a plater, which contains a large bowl of spaghetti. Steam slowly rises, and Chura slowly scoops some for Inei, placing a small bowl of it in front of him.
"It's homemade, full of love, for you."
Inei's mouth already waters from its scent and the excellent knowledge of Chura's fantastic cooking. Inei looks up at her and puts his hands together, nodding to her as if thanking her, and then grabs a fork and spoon, elegantly getting some and taking a bite. Inei feels his soul leave his body as the spaghetti rests in his mouth as he chews, chills running down his spine. He looks at Chura with a huge smile, her smile matching his.
"I'm overjoyed you love it. You know, ever since you criticized my soup and gave me ideas, I've been able to make food like this."
Inei smiles, continuing to eat as Chura continues to talk.
"You've inspired me to make my restaurant. As you can tell, I've been working hard on Italian-based foods, like lasagna, pizza, and different kinds of pasta. I can do very well if what you say is true about my cooking; what do you think?"
Inei nods quickly.
This opinion isn't even because she's my friend or I like her like that. This opinion is pure because this food deserves to be eaten by the world; she slams my spaghetti into the soil.
Chura smirks.
"You also fell for it. You ate my love spice."
Inei stops for a moment, putting his fork down.
"I put a spice in it that makes you love the spaghetti but love me too. So now you won't have to choose. You will pick me."
Inei gets up to leave and then stops.
Wait a minute.
He looks at himself, then looks at her, her struggling to hold in a laugh, then she bursts out laughing.
"Wow! Like that even exists! It kinda hurts to think you would think I would do that!"
She continues to laugh as Inei smiles and sits back down, continuing to eat. As her hard laughter slowly becomes giggles, she finally stops once Inei finishes his bowl; Inei gets up, grabs his bowl, and reaches out to her finished bowl as well, Chura handing it to him as he goes and washes them, placing them on a dry rack. As he turns, Chura runs into him, hugging him tightly, and Inei then hugs her back.
"It feels so good that I can do this, and there's not a single person here who can judge me for it."
She clings for a few minutes and then lets go, grabbing Inei's hand and pulling him to the living room.
Wow, Chura is so strong, and she doesn't realize it; she has some super strength from her typing.
She then pushes Inei onto a coach and turns on her tv, turning to some streaming channel.
"What would you like to watch, Inei?"
Inei shrugs.
Anything you want to watch, I'm okay with Chura.
Chura smiles, looking at things.
"Look! There's WALL-E! Let's watch that movie!"
Inei smiles, nodding, and Chura turns it on.
"I'll be right back!"
Chura then takes off to another room, Inei lying down looking at the ceiling of Chura's house.
This event is honestly really nice, I expected a little more inappropriate actions from Chura, but honestly, this has been quite lovely so far. Also, she doesn't live with anyone, and she doesn't work; how does she have some of this stuff?
"Ineiiii~"
Inei turns his head and turns to beat red, Chura standing in an oversized t-shirt and what seems to be nothing else. She giggles and returns, carrying a bucket of popcorn and a blanket. She places the popcorn on a side table, then, without warning, straddles Inei and puts the blanket over them, laying into him and grabbing the bucket, starting the movie.
Okay, she has underwear on, I hope. But this is only slightly worse than Yasu; this still isn't as bad as I thought it could be.
Chura snuggles into Inei's chest, making herself comfortable as she watches the movie, snacking on her made popcorn and offering some to Inei. Inei takes a handful and tries it, which is delicious. As the movie plays, small talk pops up now and then.
"Inei, have you ever watched these kinds of movies before?"
Inei nods.
"We don't have to watch it if you have already seen it."
Inei shakes his head.
"Are you sure? I don't want you to hate it."
Inei nods, and Chura looks back to the tv.
"Well, okay. I still feel you don't like it, though, and rather do something else."
As she finishes, she blushes in shock as Inei wraps his arms around her waist.
"You know, I don't know what all you have done with the twins."
Inei listens to her.
"But I'm willing to do anything to get you. You can't possibly like any of the girls over me. I can make a perfect wife. I already know everything, laundry, dishes, I can cook, everything. Even this being our first time together casually, I'm willing to be as close as possible to you in a t-shirt and underwear and be comfortable!"
Well, at least the clothing thing is confirmed. Suddenly Chura moves confidently, her face facing his, her body hovering over his as she looks him in the eyes.
"I will do anything because I truly love you, and I will not accept you to be with anyone else but me. You can't love anyone else."
Chura leans in a little.
"You just can't. I'm the perfect person for you."
Her lips reach his before he can react, their lips locking, and then after a few seconds, Chura pulls away and trails a finger down his chest.
"Anything."
Inei slowly backs away a little in a panic, Chura smiling.
"Not that much, huh? That's fine. I want what you want, which makes me perfect."
She then retakes her place, snuggling into him, the movie being at the part after the two robots had kissed. Inei lies, blushing.
That was more of what I expected! I hope I reacted adequately and didn't upset her. I already don't have the heart to tell her just to be herself and that I haven't chosen anyone yet. But-
Inei thinks back to the nightmare he had a couple of weeks ago about all the girls fighting over him and begging him to be with them.
That nightmare is slowly becoming a reality.
As they quietly lay, Chura's voice suddenly breaks it, her voice sounding a little broken as well.
"Inei, am I a burden?"
Inei looks down at her, tears in her eyes.
"I'm always alone, I hardly ever have fun, I refuse to think I'm not a burden. That's probably why no one wants to hang out with me. I have no friends but you and the other girls."
Inei frowns, listening to her.
"Am I a burden, Inei?"
She looks up at Inei as tears stream down her face. Inei softly wipes them away, then grabs his phone, typing to her. When he hands it to Chura, she reads it to herself.
"You should accept things a little more than just outright denying them. It's human, and you have to grow by accepting things sometimes. But no, you're not a burden."
She cries a little more.
"You skipped practice because of me, and your teammates are mad at you because of me."
Inei shakes his head and shows her a new couple of sentences typed on his phone.
"No, I chose to come to be with you. It's neither one of our choices that they are mad at me; that's their choice. Besides, I carried the team on my back last game, and I deserve a happy break."
Chura's tears slowly stop, a blush on her face.
"You're happy?"
Inei nods.
Even if this is a little much, it is nice to be able to spend time with someone independently to get to know them better, even if it's not precisely entirely in a friendly manner.
Chura stares at Inei for a moment, then says nothing more, laying her head on his chest again. As the movie finishes, Chura gets up and stretches, her shirt rising enough to see what she is wearing, and Inei looks away. After she stretches, she sees Inei's look, then smirks, leaving her arms above her head.
"Inei, let's play a game."
Inei looks away again, blushing more, realizing that she said his name to get him to look in the first place. She giggles, finally lowering her arms, going to the tv, and turning on a gaming station. She hands Inei a controller.
"Come on; you've had to have played video games before. Although I don't have a lot of multiplayer games."
As she scrolls through her games, she finds one.
"I have this fighting game, and it's about what we are doing now."
She clicks it, and the intro music starts. The game is titled "War Among Fighting," as super powerful characters from each team are on the title screen. Inei notices that the game has poor quality and seems old.
"It is an old game. Probably from about a few years ago, I think people made it to try to show how bad it would be if the factions fought. But I mean, I just thought it was a myth at the time, and this was a fairytale, a sad one at that."
As they get to the screen to select a character, Chura clicks on a character that is in the Judo faction, a girl with little clothing and red hair, and red eyes, her name titled "Chance." Inei looks at Chura, who smiles, covering her mouth.
"Sorry, I always played as this character."
Inei shakes his head and examines the characters, selecting a middle-aged man from the karate faction; he holds the name "Earth Dragon."
Chura chuckles again.
"I know all his moves. I should win!"
Inei raises his eyebrows at her.
Is that so?
As the characters ready themselves, they begin to fight, Inei immediately taking control of the situation, using a combo that is two kicks and then a slam on the ground that tosses Chura's character up, and stones rise, smacking her character repeatedly. She falls to the ground at half-health, and she looks at Inei with disbelief.
"So you know how to play?"
Inei nods, and she smirks.
"Very well then."
She pushes a few buttons, her character's head shining, and a flash from her eye stuns Inei's character. Chura's character rushes Inei's character with a few smacks with a constructed pole, spinning it to make it smack Inei's character repeatedly in the face. It hits him up, swinging herself with the bowl up to hit him three more times with a few kicks, then constructs nunchucks and slams Inei's character into the ground, knocking him out instantly.
Wow! She's very good at this!
Inei looks at her as she smiles happily.
"Yay, I won! Time to finish you out with a sweep!"
The round starts again, Inei and Chura blocking each other's attacks, now and then a few landing their strikes. As they play, Chura gets an idea and sits in Inei's lap, causing him to lose focus, her landing a critical combo on him and winning the game. She throws her hands up in victory.
"Yes! I beat Inei in martial arts!"
She leans her head back to see a blushing Inei and smiles with a giggle.
"What? All is fair in games! I won because you didn't focus!"
I don't believe that it's my fault you're in my lap! Rematch!
Chura continues looking at him.
"Rematch?"
Inei nods firmly, and they start again, playing the same characters. Inei wins the first round after landing a combo on her, and Inei crosses his arms under her chest at her stomach with satisfaction, Chura pouting.
"No fair! That's a cheesy combo!"
Inei smiles more.
Sore loser, huh?
As they play again, Chura begins to beat Inei, and he gets an idea. When she goes to strike, he leans down and kisses Chura. Chura losses complete focus, dropping her controller and touching her cheek. Then before she can react, Inei knocks her character out and wins the game. She looks up with a scolding look.
"Hey! How dare you use my affection to help you win!"
Inei shrugs.
'All is fair in games!'
She pouts, crossing her arms, releasing them, and giggling.
"Alright, fine, that was fair-you did a good job beating me. It would help if you considered playing competitively, though. Even though I don't have many multiplayer games, I do play online with this one, but I don't ever talk to anyone."
She goes to the leaderboard, showing that she is top ten in the world at the game. Inei realizes this and then types something on his phone.
"You know, if you treat training as if you were in this game, you have the potential to fight exactly like these characters."
Chura beams.
"You think so, Inei?"
Inei nods. She giggles more, hugging Inei tightly.
"I'm happy that you believe I can do it. However,"
Her face changes, and now she gets off him, sitting across from him.
"my power is kinda strange. Other than that cube forming when I put my hand out, I can't seem to create anything as Yui can or change like Aneko. I seem to get heavy. And one time when I tripped, I hit my head on my kitchen counter, and I didn't even have a bruise."
Inei tilts his head, then types something.
"Maybe you aren't supposed to transform, and you get statistical boosts, such as a higher defense and weight, so it's harder for people to beat you."
Chura kind of pouts.
"That's lame; I want to be able to create metal things."
Inei smiles, rubbing the back of his neck after typing something.
"Maybe that power to make things with metal would be too powerful. If it means anything, I think your power is pretty cool."
Chura smiles again, putting her hands together.
"You think so?"
Inei nods and then types something else.
"You know, you can believe in something even if I do not. You don't have to do everything that I do or think everything I think. You be you; that's all I could want."
Chura shakes her head.
"Nope. You have to change for love sometimes, Inei."
Didn't you ironically do what I just said by denying it?
Chura sighs.
"You'll understand one day. I'm getting kinda tired."
Inei nods and gets up to leave, but Chura grabs his hand.
"Inei, please stay. It gets frigid, and I get scared sometimes when I'm alone."
Inei sighs a small sigh and nods. Chura smiles and takes his hand, and leads him to the bedroom. Her queen-sized bed fits in a medium-sized room with a few things.
"Come on, Inei!"
She lets go and goes to bed, getting underneath the covers, sitting up, and waiting for him to follow.
Am I going to do this?
Inei follows and gets in bed with Chura. She smiles at him and takes off her shirt, throwing it to the side, then turns out the lights.
"Goodnight, Inei. I'll see you in the morning."
With that, she pulls the blankets over her and pushes herself against Inei, Inei blushing heavily. As he lays in Chura's bed against her, his mind runs.
Man, out of the three so far, Chura is the most demanding. It's not always bad; it at least makes me feel very wanted.
Inei puts his arm around Chura's waist.
This situation isn't so bad. Again, it could have been worse, but Chura needs some attention. I couldn't imagine living alone like this.