Running After You

Chapter 30: Past and Future

Youta surprisingly enjoyed today much more than he expected with Mitora and Fuwaka. Lunch was wonderful and having the chance to eat with Mitora some of his homemade stuff was great. Eventually after all the fun, the trio got a bit tired. Mitora so much so that she ended up falling asleep on the couch.

"Maybe I probably should've paid more attention to what I was cooking." He commented as he and Fuwaka stood over the girl seeing her all tuckered out. "You two have only been here for an hour."

"I don't think it was the food that got her to sleep." Said Fuwaka. She figured that his childhood friend was likely in the same boat as herself. As in they both had difficulty sleeping last night due to their fears regarding their relationship with him. "And I have some things to take care of too, so I gotta get going soon."

"It was nice seeing you." He assumed she would be making her leave, but there was one last thing before this get together could end.

"I want to ask you something before I go." She took one look at the sleeping girl to make sure she was actually sleeping. "Maybe this is a little too personal, but you know how you've grown up with her? I'm sure people have asked why you two are still only just friends."

"You mean..." He could tell what she wanted to say without her directly saying it. "Yeah, we're not dating or anything, but that's because she's not interested in me."

"What makes you so sure?" Fuwaka was fairly confident that Mitora actually had feelings for her childhood friend. There were so many signs she would've believed anyone would see it.

"Because she likes someone else." His answer shocked her. This whole she she assumed him to be just dense, but this came from out of left field.

"How do you know that?" She couldn't believe his words. It just made no sense to her based on everything she knew about that girl. "Did she tell you?"

"She doesn't know that I know..." He went on to explain how he learned of such a fact.

This was all the way back when they were in junior high. More accurately this was right at the cusp of when they were to make the leap into high school. On the day of their graduation.

Everyone was excited that day. After all it marked a major milestone in their lives. For him, he had gotten the news that he had gotten into the same high school as Mitora. The school they both applied for was more known for sports, so it was a bit tougher for him to prove his other abilities to make up for it.

The boy still remembered this day vividly as he roamed the halls searching for her to tell the great news. After peeking his head into her classroom, he was more than happy to see her. However right before announcing his presence, Youta saw her writing something on the blackboard.

It was a simple drawing of an umbrella, a clear sign of someone writing their crushes name with theirs under it as well. When he saw that, his heart sank. For besides her own name was the name of a boy who wasn't him.

Without allowing her to realize what he saw, Youta quickly ducked out the room in a panic. He was upset with seeing it, but couldn't understand why it made him feel the way it did. There should be no reason for him to take any issue with seeing his best friend, the person closest to him that wasn't family, begin to develop feelings for anyone.

After that, he pretended as if nothing was wrong for the rest of the day once seeing her again. Not that there was anything wrong. "It's a little silly looking back, but I was young then. If I had a second chance, I'd embrace it fully and help her get her feelings across to that boy."

"Yeah." Fuwaka was only left with more questions than answers. If what he said was true, then why does Mitora act the way she does? From her observations, it should be clear she's interested in her childhood friend, which isn't a shock after all these years.

"I always wondered why she acted so strange whenever I meet a new girl. I guess the two of us aren't so different after all." He chuckled, taking a look at her sleeping face.

"Thanks for answering my question." She said, not content with the response. She obviously didn't think he was lying or anything, but his story made no sense to reality. There had to either be a misunderstanding here. Or perhaps time really does change people. After all as high schoolers, a year really is a long time. "I need to get going, so I'll see you in class later."

"I'll see you later too." He opened the door for her and gave the girl a proper farewell. Then he returned to the living room to see Mitora still napping peacefully. "I guess I can't exactly do anything loud..." Because of her presence, he couldn't just turn on the TV to watch someone play a video game and scream loudly for entertainment.

So Youta did the next best thing for himself, which was to pull out a book and catch up on some reading. Before he sat down to read, the boy made sure to grab a blanket. Carefully, she laid it out over her so that she wouldn't get cold. Then he finally was able to have some peace to himself.

"Mmmh, Youta stop." He heard her say.

"Stop what?" He asked in bewilderment before realizing she had simply mumbled in her sleep. "Oh, she's talking to dream me." Youta didn't think much of it and resumed his reading.

"Youta, you can't do that." She continued to sleep talk, which he did his best to ignore until her next words. "Y-Youta, don't touch me like that."

"What is dream me doing?" Now he was concerned as he put down the book and went over to her. A part of him wanted to wake her up as this could've been a nightmare. Though that smile on her face made it difficult for him to believe she felt in any way troubled by her dream.

"Youta... You're getting so close now." With those words, he couldn't tell if this was her dream self bleeding through or if Mitora had noticed his real presence nearing her. "You want to...?" Her arms moved, wrapping themselves around his neck and pulling the boy close to her.

In a sudden surprise, Mitora took him in and planted a kiss on him. Not on the lips, but a strong one right on his cheeks as if it were his lips. Fortunately he was quick enough on the draw to turn his head to not lose his first kiss just yet.

"Mitora!" He couldn't stay quiet anymore and spoke to wake her up.

"Hmm?" Slowly, she opened her eyes to see his entire face taking up her view. "What is it, Youta?" She spoke as if everything was normal. She didn't even let go of him.

"I don't know what you were dreaming about, but you're awake now." He told her.

"Awake?" She looked around to check her surroundings. She saw they were in his living room and on his family's couch. Slowly, Mitora's mind caught up to the situation as she began to realize what happened prior to the point of her falling asleep. The girl would then look at him and realize the position they were in. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"

She let go and quickly shuffled herself off the couch. Her quick movements were ungraceful as she took a tumble onto the floor.

"It's really my fault." He said. "I just got a bit too close to you because you were talking in your sleep."

"I was talking in my sleep!?" She still had memories of what that dream was about. If he heard those things, then... "Well, I, it was..." Mitora struggled to find the words to explain herself. "Does that mean when I grabbed you, I..."

"Just on the cheek." He gently touched the spot where her lips graced his skin.

"Oh my gosh..." Her eyes widened as she slowly put her hands up over her mouth. Mitora found herself on the edge of an emotional breakdown.

"It's fine, it was just an accident."

"How are you not reacting more to this?" Somehow his lack of a freak out seemed to cause more concern to the girl. "Does it not mean anything to you?"

"You were sleeping, so anything you do isn't your fault." He explained. "Could've easily been Fuwaka, but she left a little bit ago."

"We're alone here?" She had assumed their friend had gone to the bathroom, but realizing it was just the two of them made her feel a little more at ease. "Why didn't you wake me up then? We gotta do something then." As it turned out, he would not be able to find any reading time today.