Your Protector

Chapter 19

After she finished cleaning, Osana quickly made her way downstairs and slipped on her shoes. She caught sight of Raibaru already leaving when she got to the lockers, so she called out to her before she was too far away. "Hey Raibaru!"

The orange-haired girl turned around, and Osana came running up to her. "Oh. Hi Osana," she greeted her in a monotone voice.

"So, are you free right now?" the ginger asked.

Raibaru furrowed her brows. "Uh... yeah—why?"

Blush began to form on Osana's cheeks. She looked down at her feet as she started shifting in place awkwardly. "I was wondering if... you'd like to go to the café with me."

Raibaru's eyes widened as her cheeks turned pink. "R-really?" she asked, her voice shocked. She had thought that Osana wouldn't want to talk to her at all today after this morning's explosion, but then she remembered that Taro had volunteered to talk to Osana at lunch. He must've gotten through to her.

Osana nodded to her question. "Yeah." She then reached up to rub her neck. "I wanted to apologize for snapping at you this morning. I just... have had a lot on my mind recently."

Raibaru smiled and nodded in understanding; she was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel once again. "I appreciate the apology, Osana, and yes, I would love to go to the café with you."

Osana's cheeks darkened. "T-t-this isn't a date!" she stated defensively, turning her red face away.

Raibaru chuckled and began walking away. Osana quickly followed and walked by her side.

Up on the rooftop, Taro witnessed the entire exchange. From there, he could see that Osana and Raibarus' relationship was beginning to blossom into something stronger. Hopefully Osana learns to be less abrasive when it comes to her feelings.

Speaking of feelings, now was time for Taro to come clean about his. Budo was in club activities, so he had an hour and a half of finding the right way to go about this.

He knew that no matter what he said or what he did, Budo would willingly take him in his arms, but he didn't want this confession to be a blubbering disaster. Overthinking has hardly worked in his favor in the past, but does winging it ever work?

His face started to get really hot. Maybe he should go to the bathroom and splash some water on his face, then practice what he's going to say in the mirror.

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"Kick! Kick! Kick!" Budo commanded, his pupils kicking their legs high in the air every time.

Yelling commands at his pupils was the only way Budo could keep his mind off of Taro. Every time he had the opportunity to let his mind wander off, all that would appear were those charcoal-black eyes of beauty, those slightly curved hips, and that radiant, white smile. God, he was perfect...

"Sensei!"

Budo jumped at the sound of his pupil calling for him. "Yes?" he asked.

"We're finished with our fifty sit-ups, now what do we do?"

Budo mentally cursed himself—he only hoped his face wasn't obviously flushed. "R-right. Uh..." he quickly looked around the club room. "Spar with each other," he decided. "Sho and Mina, you go first."

For the next hour, that's what they did. Budo even took his shot at sparing Sho, the second strongest member of the club, to keep his mind off his dearly beloved.

He was so relieved when it hit 5:30, meaning club activities were over. The members quickly got changed and packed up their things and left. Budo still had to remain behind to clean up the club room.