Your Protector

Chapter 15

After telling Budo off, Taro ran in the direction Aishi left in hopes to catch up to him. Fortunately, the mysterious boy had stopped to admire some succulents in a display window nearby.

"Aishi-San!" he called out to him.

The boy looked up from the window, looking worried for him. "Are you alright?"

Taro took a few huffs to catch his breath after he ran up to him. "I'm fine. I just wanted to apologize on my friend's behalf. I don't know what has gotten into him—he's never acted like this before."

Aishi raised a brow. "How long have you guys known each other? This isn't some 'nice guy' stalker you're dealing with, is it?"

Taro shook his head. "Oh no, he's been my best friend for three years. I know it looked bad back there, but he would never do anything to intentionally harm me. He just... lost control of his emotions I guess," he sighed. On one hand, he understood Budo's feelings of betrayal. He had kept something hidden from him that he should've known after they became friends. But on the other, he went way far off the rails, physically shaking him and snapping at strangers.

"Sounds like he'll cause you problems in the future if he continues to act like that," Aishi muttered. He then looked closer at Taro's facial injuries which he hadn't failed to notice. "Did he do that to you?"

Taro eyes widened slightly as he lifted his hand to gently touch his injuries. "Oh no, this was from a fall I took yesterday," he displayed his most convincing smile. He then looked at the taller boy with slight suspicion. "I'm sorry, Aishi-San, I don't mean to sound rude, but... were you just passing by?"

"Yeah," he casually responded, not noticing Taro's distrust in him. "I was shopping in town, and I stumbled across that guy harassing you."

Taro shook the thought away that had been creeping in his mind. This guy wasn't following him or anything like that. He was simply an average Joe shopping in town and happened to have overheard his and Budo's rather loud argument. And being a normal good samaritan, he stood in to defend him from someone who he believed was harassing him.

Still, this guy did give him an odd feeling he didn't like. "It's just, I know nothing about you, and you know nothing about me..."

"Well, my full name is Aishi Ayato," he bowed politely. "What's yours?"

The boy was a little taken aback by the sudden introduction, but to not be rude, he answered his question. "Yamada Taro."

The boy named Ayato smiled warmly at him. He then looked down slightly. "I see that you attend Akademi High School," he pointed to Taro's uniform.

"Oh!" Taro looked down at his attire, forgetting that he had not changed out of his uniform. "Yeah, I guess that's obvious," he chuckled.

"You know, I was thinking of trying to convince my parents to let me go to Akademi for my last two years of high school," Ayato explained.

Taro nodded with understanding. "Ah, so you're a first-year?"

"Second-year," he quickly corrected. "Anything else you want to know about me?"

Taro giggled slightly. He needed something after his heated argument with Budo to lift his spirits up, even just a little bit. "I would just like to get home and relax. Today has been crazy." This entire week has been crazy now that he thought about it.

"I understand," Ayato nodded. He then rubbed the side of his neck. "Um... if I ever do start attending Akademi, I hope to see you there," he said sheepishly, as well as hopefully.

"Well, you'll only see me if you start attending this year. I'm a third-year," Taro explained.

A certain light sparked in Ayato's eyes, one that Taro didn't notice. "Ah. Well, I'll try to convince my parents to let me start this year," he gave Taro a charming smile.