A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Eighteen: Part Two

“Hotaru, aren’t you coming into class?”

Amanatsu had already opened the door, and it was holding it open for me. But I was glancing ahead, down the hall.

Mikan had already dashed towards the classroom. Keita was following slowly behind her.

His black was straight. His free hand was stuffed into his pocket, and his other hand was still grasping onto his briefcase.

He hadn’t said a word since we began our journey to our classrooms.

I was starting to wonder. Did he really want to escort me to class?

Usually when I was silent, I was miserable. If I was happy, there would be no way that I’d keep silent.

Was something wrong with him, today?

There was probably nothing wrong with him. He was always silent, and he never talked as much as anyone else did.

“I’ll be there in a second,” I stated, turning towards Amanatsu. “You go on ahead. Save me a spot, okay?”

If he didn’t save me a seat, I’d probably have to guess which seat to sit in, and if I sat in the wrong seat, I’d definitely get scolded by someone.

Amanatsu glanced back at me with pressed lips. “Alright. But hurry, the bell is going to ring in around a minute or two.”

I nodded and dashed towards Keita’s figure. “Keita!” I called.

Keita stopped walking. He didn’t turn around to look at me.

“Keita, is something wrong?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and stepping in front of him to make sure he didn’t continue walking out of my attention.

“What would be wrong?”

“Did you want to escort me to class?” I asked, running my hand down the side of my hair. “I know I asked you to, but I just wanted you to know that you have a choice. It’s more fun to walk with both of you than choose one over the other, and you’re always alone, so—“

Keita interrupted me. “Did you not want me to escort you?”

“No, no that’s not it. I was just wondering if you wanted to.”

A thought entered my head, and it gave me a chill. I half-expected him to answer with, “No, I didn’t want to. But I had to because I owe you a debt.”

I could care less about the debt. I didn’t want him to answer that way.

I didn’t want him to force himself to do things for me just because I saved him that one day. It meant more to do things for someone because you want to, not because you have to.

We exchanged gazes for a silent moment. It took him a little while until he finally whispered his answer to me.

“I wanted to.”

I felt a feeling of relief. “Oh,” I sighed. “Well—“

“I owe you a debt.” He lowered his gaze to my level, bending his back enough for his height to match mine. “If you want me to do something, you must ask. I’m in your service.”

It was as if my relief disappeared and a large ton was suddenly lugged onto my shoulders.

“So,” I began, keeping my voice a little quieter than before. “You didn’t want to.”

“I wanted to,” he corrected.

“But you wanted to because you owed me a debt.”

“Yes.”