Hey, stranger (Shuca)

Chapter Ten

*knocks*

"... Coming...!" A voice replied in a distance.

"Oh, hey -- Luca? What're you doing here at this time of hour?" Ike asked as he opened the door, signalling Luca to enter.

Luca slumped into Ike's couch in the living room and buried his face in his palms. "Ike.... I messed up..."

"What do you mean you messed up?" Ike asked as he closed his door and sat beside Luca.

"I -- Ididntknowwhathappenedtomeican'tbelieveididthatwhyonearthwouldidothattohimi -- Argh!!" Luca rambled frustratedly as tears were fighting not to fall.

"Woah, relax there, buddy. Just breathe in and out. Tell me everything slowly." Ike reassured.

Luca sighed loudly, eyes shut tightly as his face still buried in his palms. "I... I hurt someone..."

"You hurt someone? Who?" Ike asked carefully.

".... Shu..."

"You hurt Shu? How?" Ike furrowed his eyebrows.

Silence filled the room. Ike was trying to keep calm, not wanting to make any assumptions. He knew that Luca wasn't someone that would hurt anybody. He may look like he's gonna kill someone, but he's a real softie inside.

"Haha, come on. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, right?"

"..."

"Luca...?" At this point, Ike was scared. Luca looked like he's gonna explode any moment.

"I assaulted Shu..."

Ike widen his eyes, not believing what he just heard. "What?"

"I assaulted Shu, Ike!" Luca cried out.

"Luca, what the heck?!"

"I know! I didn't mean to! I regretted what I did to him, okay?!" Luca turned to face Ike abruptly.

Ike sighed. "So tell me. How exactly did it happened?" Ike crossed his arms, waiting for Luca to answer his question.

"He was just being nice. You know how I confessed to my crush today, right? But I got rejected and found out that she has a crush on Shu instead. So I went to Shu and, he suggested that I could pretend that he's my crush and kiss him since I never got the chance to kiss her after all those kissing practices. You know what happened next..." Luca rambled, eyes not daring to look at Ike's.

"Woah woah, wait. What do you mean 'kissing practices'?" Ike asked.

"Well, since I had no kissing experiences, whatsoever, I asked Shu if he could help me with those until I confessed. And Shu, being a great friend he is, agreed to help me." Luca sighed. "What the heck have I done...? "

Ike stared at Luca amusingly. "You know, friends don't do that to each other, even if they really wanted help with kissing."

"Wait... They don't?"

"No, Luca! Jesus, why did you even asked Shu that? You know he'll agree with anything as long as he's capable of doing it." Ike facepalmed.

"Ugh! I don't know, okay?! I guess,  I just wanted to raise the chance of me getting accepted by my crush..."

Ike gaped at Luca and sighed tiredly. "How did it happened anyway? You're not the type of guy who would just lose his cool over something so trivial like this."

Luca bit his lips, thinking. "To be honest, I don't know. I just...snapped. All I remembered was me being frustrated."

"Frustrated? Of what, exactly?" Ike raised a brow.

"Uh... I don't know! Her voice kept ringing in my head. Saying that she has a crush on Shu." Luca exclaimed.

"... What does her having a crush on Shu got anything to do to make you mad?" Ike stared at Luca suspiciously.

Luca kept quiet. He didn't know either. Why did that thought made him so mad to the point he'd hurt Shu?

"You.... Do you have feelings for Shu?" Ike asked carefully.