*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 16 - until i found you

SOUSUKE
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"You didn't know that I just turned 17?" I look at Kou from across the diner table that we were seated at. He shook his head, "I was always used to being one of the older ones in class, and I probably would've kept that mindset if I never came looking for those donuts the other day.." I eat a fry before wiping my fingers. "Who were the donuts for anyway? Nobody usually goes up there at lunch, so seeing you up there had me confused." Kou glances out the window for a second, like he was trying to decide if he should tell me the truth or make up some lie, then his eyes meet mine. "Remember how I told you I'm an exorcist? Last night?" I nod, sucking down my strawberry shake as I listen to him. "Well.. I'm kinda sorta like.." He shrugs a bit. "Friends with a ghost that's bonded to this girl that I had a massive crush on a while back. He told me he left his donuts on the roof so he made me go find them, but I didn't find them obviously." I raise an eyebrow. "You had a crush on a girl a while back?" Kou nods, I could tell he was getting nervous. "I-I mean.. not anymore—her and this ghost guy are kinda.. well—" He was blushing a small bit. I couldn't tell if it was from him getting nervous, or if he still had feelings hidden away for this girl. "Do you have a picture of her?" He nods as he takes his phone out, scrolling through his photos.

He eventually shows me a photo of this girl with light colored hair that faded into a teal looking color. She looked pretty decent, even if girls weren't really my preference. He then scrolled to another picture, and I couldn't help but almost spit out my shake. My hand covers my mouth as I look down, my body shaking as I tried to hold in my laugh. "Hey! What are you laughing for?" Kou watches me as I try not to make a scene, "What's so funny?" I hold my finger up as I swallow, then I point at the picture—my eyes were tearing up from my laughter. "Y-You seriously had a crush on someone that has legs like a radish?" His eyebrows raise as he turns the picture to himself, and I rest my head on my arms as I keep laughing. "Wha—hey! She doesn't have legs that look like a radish! They're just.. a little different than typical legs! There's nothing wrong with that!" He looks at me, but I continue to laugh. "She has a great personality!" Kou tries shoving the picture to where I can see it, even he was starting to crack up at what he just said.

We sat at the diner table laughing as we continued to crack little jokes. As much as making fun of people wasn't a good thing, it was just my forte, something I couldn't exactly help. I was just surprised that Kou was laughing along with me, considering he must've been pretty head over heels for this girl not too long ago.

I eventually decided to try and convince Kou to walk me to the park so I could take some photographs of the "nature", and he eventually agreed. On the way there, we talked more about what we were interested in—and what kinds of things ticked us off. I was relieved when I found out we had quite a few things in common, but still had our own little subtle differences. Kou was very loud and eccentric, while I was more closed off and toned down. I also found out that Kou was pretty into sports, but he was awful at them. We both had similar taste in music, but we both icked at people who felt that asking people if they could "name 3 songs" was necessary.

I was starting to feel like Kou really was my soulmate, but I still felt scared about the commitment bit of all of this. I just needed a little more time.

Just a little more.