Shangri La Pt. 1

31: Appreciative

"Ah– I-I–" 

"You know how I said we should act like strangers?" he questioned, catching her attention. 

"Y-Yes?" 

Without any warning, he leaned his head towards her to let his forehead rest on her while gazing intently at her. 

"I meant that we can act like strangers up there, but down here... we're friends. And like I said before, don't be afraid to ask me to do something like this again, cause I'll do it in a heartbeat."

Hearing him speak with sincerity and longing made her heart skip a beat, as she was certain that these kinds of feelings would never happen towards this man. Just staring deep into his intense Ruby red gaze almost felt like her chest was burning from these feelings of just thinking about were unimaginary. 

"You got that?" he spoke, making her gulp without realizing it. 

"Y-Yes!" 

"Good. Hah~" he paused as he pushed himself off the wall and gave the disguised greenette some space to breathe and collect her thoughts. 

'That– That was close!' 

"It just had to rain again and get in the way of your plans today. So, were you planning on going anywhere else?" he asked as he peeked in the corner of his eye back at her and made her flinch.

When she soon realized what he meant, the questions started to pile up in her mind on where else she did think about going. 

'That's right, seeing Kendo wasn't the only place I wanted to go, but now that Neito said all those things–including Shinso–I don't think it would be a good idea to see Shinso for a bit. Oh yeah, there is one other place I need to go to.' 

"I haven't visited my mom since the last time you were my guard." she answered. 

"Then that's where we're going. C'mon, I don't wanna stand out in the rain and wait to head back." he spoke as he grabbed her hand without her expecting it.

"Ah– H-Hey wait!" 

"What?" 

"Do you... know where you're going?" 

"Yeah, you act like I've never been to where you used to live before." 

"B-But– We went to see my mom weeks ago." 

"Yeah, and I got the path memorized, so let's go." 

"O-Okay." 

'He has it memorized on where we need to go? But the city's huge, so how has he managed to do something like this after seeing it once? He must have really a good memory, and I'll confirm that if he gets us there.' she thought as she squinted her eyes at the Captain who remained unnoticed by her expression.

'No... No way...' 

"See, I told you I knew where I was going." Katsuki commented as Izumi thought she was dreaming to see them standing before the small hut that was where her mother was living. 

'HE REALLY IS A GENIUS!!!' she screamed in her head. 

"Anyway, since we're here, go inside, I'll wait out here." Katsuki said as he tried not to shove her towards the hut. 

"Ah– You– You don't want to go inside?" 

"Why would I? I didn't last time." he pointed out. 

'That's true, but we're in disguise this time... I guess brute force might help!'