The Call of Aphrodite

Ch.21 Cyno's Feelings (pt2)

Cyno's Pov
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I had spent the last two days alone because Tighnari and Lumine were out helping with the festival preparations.... Honestly I've missed Lumine so much it's not even funny...

You may ask "but cyno why don't you just go help them with the festival prep?"

Because I am so antisocial I wouldnt be any help anyways... people get so scared of me nobody would want to talk to me anyway... at least that's what I thought until today.

On one of the days I was alone I spent wandering the forests of Inazuma... the trees where beautiful and the sky was always a tint of pink purple and yellow. I found the perfect spot where you could see an amazing view of the Yogou Mountain and the Kitsune Shrine at the top. The Sakura tree that bloomed and wrapped itself around the mountain paints itself against the sky as the clock hits exactly 8 pm.... And it's a wonderful sight to see. I wanted to show Lumine so I told myself that I'd go out and meet up with her as soon as possible.

As I was taking in the sight, a little girl came and sat next to me.

"Oh?" She said looking up at me.

I tried to avoid eye contact, I didn't want to scare her off. But she looked over and met with my eyes... to my surprise, she smiled.

"I think your eyes are very lovely..."

"You think so...? I think they're pretty scary..." I answered back. She giggled a little and shook her head.

"You're just like a puppy, how could anyone be scared of you?"

"A puppy-???" I looked at her confused and slightly offended.

She smiled again, I realized that this was because I finally looked her in the eyes.

"I don't think you're scary at all.... You have pretty white hair, your eyes are a cool red color.... And you're dressed like a puppy..... how could anyone be scared of you?" She said looking up at the sky as she spoke.

My heart melted on the spot... this little girl wasn't scared of me at all.. so I thought, maybe.... I could practice talking to people with her!

I smiled a bit and she gasped loudly.

"You have such a nice smile!" She said clapping her hands in amusement.

So we talked and I got to know this little girl... it was quite nice.

Apparently her name was Talia and her mother was a shrine maiden and she was coming to visit her work for the day. Her favorite color was purple and she loved Lady Yae and her fluffy ears...
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I had originally made plans to meet up with Lumine to show her the spot, and I felt it would be the perfect place to tell her how I feel...

But she had been busy with a girls day so, I decided to meet up with Tighnari.

"I have some things to do first but we can meet up at the tea house afterwards okay?"

"No problem, see you then." I responded and waved as he walked away.

Suddenly a loud voice boomed behind me startling me a bit.

"Aughhh.." he said in disappointment.

A big guy with long white hair and... red horns? I noticed him, he was one of the guys that welcomed Lumine back when we first came to Inazuma..

"I can't believe I missed her again!! I'm supposed to go beetle fighting with her soon she promised!" He whined. Not noticing me standing there.

Nows your chance Cyno, talk to him.

"H-hey, we're you hoping to meet up with someone?" I spoke briefly.

The big guy looked up at me and smiled.

"Ahh little dude from Sumeru." He laughed.

I gave him an irritated look...

"I am not little... are you trynna die?"

He laughed and patted me on the head like a DOG.

"I think you're pretty cool actually, glad I could talk to ya." He continued.

"I was hoping to hang here with Lumine, but she's busy.... Were you hoping to see her too?" He asked.

"Yeah.... It was pretty important but, she's the traveler so I'm not surprised that so many people want to spend time with her... I just hope she rests up afterwards." I said smiling to myself thinking about her.

"Ohoho you got it bad... can't blame ya.." he laughed.

I whipped my head around so fast I could've snapped my neck.

"WHAT??"

All he did was laugh, his loud laugh that was a little comforting.. very friendly.

"A-anyways... I decided to meet up with my other friend... the fox guy from Sumeru.. here later.."

"How about this, I'll go get some friends and then we can all hang out today.. have our own girls day YEAHAHA!" he said clearly proud of himself for this idea.

"That's not a terrible idea...."

"Then it's settled, I'll go get some dudes to join us, see ya later compadre!" He said, saluting me off as he walked away.

I couldn't help but feel a little happy on the inside...

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When the time came everyone showed up to the tea house and to my surprise it was a whole lot of people...

Itto smiled and waved as they all approached.

"Turns out a lot of people wanted to hang with Lumine today! What a cool coincidence.." he stated aloud.

"Heizou here wanted to go investigate some puzzle maze with her today!" Itto explained. The red haired detective looked away quite embarrassed.

"Gorou wanted to go collect Sango pearls with her at Sangonomiya shrine because he said today would be a good day to!" Itto continued.
The dog boys ears flattened and his tail wagged a bit.

"Thoma here wanted to have tea with her because he didn't get to last time!" Itto spewed.

"Hey now.... Let's not..." Thoma said feeling a little shy.

"Kazuha just flat out wanted to see her today, he said he was going to-" he was cut off with a swift hand over his mouth.

"Now now, let's not go spewing everyone's secrets.." he said putting a finger to his lips and one eye closed as a wink. His voice was calm and relaxed, it was kind of intimidating.

"And what about you?" I asked the blue haired guy. He looked in my direction and smirked.

"Just some festival preparations again... nothing more."

I couldn't believe how many people were lined up to talk to Lumine... it was nice to see that so many people liked the girl I love....

It made me feel relieved that she always had people to go to no matter where she went..

I finally noticed Tighnari walk up, he looked shocked that so many people were here. I looked in his direction and waved, he smiled and waved back...
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Authors Note
One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite anime's is in here can you guess where it is? More to come! Stick around to see my favorite part of the book unfold!!