Guys Don't Like Me

Chapter 19

  Ryuu had two options. He could go home and talk with Kazu (not Kazumi) the next day and apologize for whatever it was he'd done wrong (he still hadn't figured it out), leaving Kazumi alone with a bunch of boys he didn't know...
Or he could tag along.
***
Fifteen minutes later, six of them were in a karaoke room - Kazumi, four of her male classmates, and Ryuu. There were another 6 boys that had come with, but the owner split them up into two rooms. Ryuu had no doubt that they were trying to listen through the wall.
It wasn't lost on Ryuu that Kazumi was sitting as far away from him as possible.
When food came, Kazumi proceeded to ignore everyone else and simply eat, but the boys didn't mind. They carried on the entire conversation as though assuming that Kazumi cared.
She didn't, by the way, if that wasn't already obvious.
Then people started singing, the guys all trying to impress Kazumi, who declined each time. Finally, she was forced to choose something, and so she decided to do a song, only while her singing wasn't half bad, she had little to no expression in her voice, and her face just said This is such a waste of effort. After the song, she passed the mike off and sat down.
Ryuu noticed that one of the boys sitting next to her was slowly sliding closer to her, and he looked like he was up to no good. Before he came in physical contact with Kazumi, Ryuu jumped up and grabbed Kazumi's hand, pulling her up to her feet, waving a "bye" and "thank you" to the surprised boys before hurriedly dragging Kazumi out of the karaoke place.
"What was that about?" she asked in a bored voice once they were a block away.
Ryuu almost wanted her to be angry, to show some expression, any at all. It also frustrated him that while he was panting, Kazumi wasn't out of breath. Although not quite as strong and physically superior as Kazu, she seemed to have retained some of his physique. "I just...I don't think you should be around those kinds of guys," Ryuu said, turning away so Kazumi couldn't see his face.
"Why would I have to worry when I'm violent, lazy, moody, and average?" she said darkly, and Ryuu turned in surprised, wondering why the words sounded familiar -
- until he realized that he'd been the one to say them. "Kazu, I-"
Kazumi crossed her arms, looking down and turning slightly away. "It's Kazumi. I'm Kazumi right now."
So there is a difference between them...Ryuu learned. Even Kazu - Kazumi - whoever it is -distinguishes between the two of them. "All right, Kazumi." Ryuu sighed. "You know that I didn't mean any of that, right?"
Her jaw clenched.
"I swear, Kazumi. I was just trying to keep those guys away from you," Ryuu admitted, although never would he ever confess the truth as to why.
To his complete surprise, Kazumi puffed out her cheeks slightly before exhaling and dropping her hands to her sides. "All right."
Eh? EH? In this situation, Kazu would glare at me, or punch me, or give me the cold shoulder!
I guess there are more differences to them than meets the eye...
Kazumi, not waiting for Ryuu's inner thoughts to wrap up, turned around and started walking.
"Eh?" Ryuu cried out, slightly shocked. "Where are you going?"
Kazumi turned and gave him a looked. Really, you idiot? "Home," she said slowly. As in, the place I live. Baka.
"Then I'll walk you," Ryuu found himself saying, the words slipping right out of his mouth. "A girl shouldn't walk home alone," he continued, all while inside, he was screaming, SHUT UP, RYUU! JUST...SHUT UP!
Kazumi just shrugged, indifferent to his internal struggle, and resumed walking. "Suit yourself."
Ryuu hurried to catch up with her, and he walked her home in silence, often toying with the idea of saying something, but never quite brave enough to spark a conversation, not with the current stupid things he was saying.
***
Back at Kazumi's house, she started walking to the door and stopped, Ryuu stopping beside her.
"What's wrong?" he asked, and she gave him another look. What did I do wrong this time?!
"This is my house," she said slowly, clearly not trusting Ryuu's brain to handle fast processing.
"Right."
"And it's night time," she continued, tilting her head forward and down a bit so she was looking at him from under her lashes.
"Uh huh."
"...and I'm going to go to sleep, Ryuu."
"Mmhmm."
"...Were you planning on sharing the bed with me?" she finally asked, her tone dry, and Ryuu blushed bright pink.
"What?! No! No way!" he immediately protested. "I'm not a perv-"
"Then why does it look like you're going to follow me into my house?" she deadpanned, and Ryuu just stood there gaping before quickly backing away.
"I wasn't-"
"Mmhmm," Kazumi grunted before going inside without so much as a goodnight.
Maybe I deserve that though...I'm the worst, Ryuu thought to himself. Why am I acting like this? Spacing out, not thinking clearly, jealousy...
I'm not falling for Kazumi, am I?! No way! She may not be violent, but she can definitely be lazy and moody! And yeah, I was totally lying about the "average" thing - she's way off the charts, so far out of my league...
And she's my friend, for another thing! She's Kazu. If he knew how I felt, he'd stop talking to me entirely...
Ryuu wasn't sure quite what he felt or why he felt it, but he decided to hide it until he could ignore it. He valued his friendship with Kazu far too much to lose it to Kazumi.
With a sigh, he walked back to his apartment.