Stumbling Over Love | ✓

Chapter 31

_Chapter 31~ Be Feared Of_

"Hey." I let out a loud breath, gazing sourly at the boy who continued to send the passing students menacing glares. "I'm trying to eat in peace here."

Turning his head away from the people before him, Ryu faced at me with a deadpanned look. "And? What's stopping you?"

My jaw fell in disbelief. I set down my lunch to scowl at the guy. "You!"

Rising to my feet, I latched onto his arm and pushed him to take a seat on the bench. Reluctantly, Ryu gave in and sat and I sighed as I fell down beside him.

"Why are you acting all hostile to every and all students we see? What'd they do to you?" I demanded, passing him a melon bread we'd purchased from the cafeteria. I surveyed our surroundings. "And you even brought me here. I don't mind spending lunch in the school courtyard for once, but why?"

Taking the sandwich from me, Ryu took a quick scan of the empty place. "It's nothing," he murmured, taking a bite.

"Yeah, right," I scoffed. "It's like you don't want to see somebody."

Brightening, I peeked his way.

"Wait, is that it? Is it Aki?"

Ryu avoided my eyes, and spoke after a pause, "Even though I warned you, you most likely won't stay away from him. This is a precaution."

I let out a gasp. "You're acting like I want to get involved with him! He's the one who keeps appearing out of nowhere like some kind of magician."

"He's a weirdo so he specializes in things like that."

"I've heard the rumours," I assured him. "Either way, I don't need you doing this. I can handle Aki myself."

"...Is what you'll say until Aki goes and takes you to see Raidon Tsuki. Then you'll bawl your eyes out, wailing 'Oh, how I wish I listened to Iwasaki. If only he was here to keep this nuisance away!' and other soap opera worthy things about how I was right."

I shoved Ryu's shoulder, rolling my eyes. "Very funny." I hung my head, biting the inside of my cheek. "Aki wouldn't... take me to see him though, right?"

"I don't know what he'd do," Ryu breathed out, tossing the last of his lunch into his mouth and meeting my eyes. "Look, I'm just stating the obvious. I didn't really think about it before because you voluntarily wanted to keep your distance from guys like Aki, but now it seems like you're doing it because it seems fun or something."

"Fun?" I said incredulously.

"Or something," Ryu repeated with a shrug.

I scowled at him. "It's not my fault those guys like being put down by me. I don't want to get involved with delinquents either but because of you, I ended up being surrounded by them. As ironic as that sounds considering you're supposed to be a class president."

I expected Ryu to immediately retort something back. Instead, however, he sullenly dropped his head.

"Sorry."

His serious response threw me for a loop. My widened eyes settled back to its regular state. "It wasn't like I was asking for an apology," I confessed. "What I'm trying to say is... you need to stop being so paranoid."

For some reason, that made Ryu snort. "I can't believe I'm hearing that from you." He shook his head. "But I'm not being paranoid."

"Yeah, yeah, you're being "cautious," right?" I stated, quoting our past argument and crumpling up my garbage. "Seriously, it's not like I'm at the risk of dying. I hope, at least."