Your Protector

Chapter 18

It was Monday again, and Taro and Budo were back to walking to school together. Budo missed this; the entire time, he could not take his eyes off the beauty next to him. He couldn't help but notice that Taro was looking more radiant than usual today. Maybe that date on Friday really cheered him up.

Budo quietly sighed contently as he remembered how that night ended. A simple but sweet kiss on the cheek. He wished that it had ended a different way, but beggars can't be choosers. He only wished that he could now hold Taro's hand as they walked together.

Taro was keeping his eyes mostly forward, but once in a while, he'd glance over at Budo, and every time, he found the martial artist staring at him with a warm smile on his handsome face. The third time Taro looked over to see his admirer looking at him, he turned his face to fully look at Budo. "Is there something on my face?" he asked an oblivious question.

Budo nearly jumped when Taro turned his head and asked him something. "Huh?" he questioned dumbly.

Taro continued with the charade. "You keep staring at me. Do I have something on my face?"

Budo's face began to turn as red as a tomato. "Oh no! No, you look stunning—I mean, you look–"

"I know how you feel about me, Budo," Taro said plainly as he turned his head back forward.

The martial artist began to frown just slightly. "And... how do you–" he attempted to ask, but Taro cut him off rather emotionally.

"I still haven't decided."

Budo wanted to scream in frustration. Why couldn't Taro just give him a straightforward answer? This game of cat and mouse was getting to be exhausting, and surely Taro knew that.

Taro kept his eyes averted from Budo's. Although he was trying to hide it, he knew that the martial artist was becoming irritated with his refusal to just give out an answer, and Taro could not blame him. He wanted to apologize for his ridiculous games, but what he wanted now more than anything was to get off this topic, so he held his tongue.

The two walked in silence until they got to school, where they spotted Raibaru and Osana talking near some trees. They began walking towards them but stopped when Osana's loud and fuming voice could be heard.

"Why didn't you answer my text yesterday?!"

"I did, Osana!" Raibaru defended, holding her hands up in the air.

"Yeah, at ten thirty at night! I expected you to reply to that meme I sent you at least an hour after I texted it, not three hours! What were you doing?!"

"I was out with my parents! We never go out as a family, so I silenced my phone!" she explained, trying to sound angry, but her voice just came out hurt.

Osana raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "So it was too much to ask for you to simply send a laughing emoji? Thanks a lot, Raibaru," she grumbled, before turning on her heel and stomping away.

"Osana, I'm sorry!" Raibaru called out, but it fell on deaf ears. She groaned with irritation as the two boys that had been watching the heated interaction looked at each other confused, before walking up to her.

"Morning Raibaru," Budo greeted, gaining her attention. "What's up with Osana-Chan?" he then asked.

"Morning Budo, Taro-Kun," she waved at them. "Osana is mad at me because I didn't reply to a meme she sent me in a timely manner yesterday."

Taro and Budo exchanged glances again, this time their eyebrows were furrowed. "That's it?" Taro asked in a rather disdainful tone. Osana was disturbing dogs in the nearby neighborhood all for a dumb text?