Warm Hands [Hiroomi x Akihito fanfic]

Chapter thirty-two: Spiritual Presence

Hiroomi Nase

      "Hey, um, Hiroomi...I would like to say sorry...for everything." The words were shocking and left me stunned. His cheeks were a little pink and he hardly made any eye contact. Is he...apologizing? I wondered and tried to keep myself from grinning. Killing the yumo worked! I snapped back and cleared my throat.

     "Uh, yeah. Thanks." Were the only words I could manage to utter. He rubbed his neck while saying see ya later. He quickly rushed away to avoid any further discussion. I grinned and whipped around to find Akihito. He'll never believe it–I hardly believed it. I found him messing with his shirt and quickly spoke with a stupid smile on my face.

"Isn't it crazy?" I raised my eyebrow. Akihito smiled and looked away.

    "It sure is." It was then that I noticed the small bruises on his neck. My face fell and I gently reached my fingers to touch them. Akihito flinched and stared at me.

    "What?" His hand fell on top of mine and he carefully rubbed the spot I was touching. He winced and frowned.

    "Oh yeah, you–" he stopped himself and smiled lightly, "–it's nothing." I felt the ache of guilt in my stomach and frowned.

    "I'm sorry Akihito, I-I don't know what came over me." Nerves started to pile in my gut. Why did I do that? Akihito shook his hands at me.

     "No, no, no, you're fine, you're fine." He urgently said while it was obviously not true. People will start to talk and soon rumors would spread. Rumors lead to bullying; I would know. I suddenly took off my scarf and wrapped it around Akihito's neck. He was hesitant, but let me do it. I then smiled and held up a thumbs-up. He smiled with red cheeks and thankful eyes.

    "That should keep them hidden." I said while shivering a little. This would be my first time without a scarf in public. Akihito watched me and narrowed his eyes at me with a leer.

    "What about you? Aren't you going to freeze?" That last word made me twitch. I soon recovered and shook my head.

    "I'll be fine, Akkey. Besides, it's my fault you have those." I gestured to his marked neck. I did that, I thought. Why did I do that? I started to blush. I can't believe I did that. It looks like Akihito isn't the only one struggling to stay in control. He kissed my cheek and waved goodbye. Once I was out of his line of sight, I slapped both sides of my face and felt flustered. You need to get ahold of yourself, I told myself.

When I finally calmed myself, I felt something. A twinge from my spirit world warrior senses. Something or someone was near and it wasn't Ninomiya Shizuku's presence. Someone more familiar. I narrow my brows together and look around. Who is it? I tried to pinpoint the person with the spiritual presence. It bothered me how I have sensed this presence before, but couldn't figure it out. I spun around in circles until something caught my eye.

An outline of a familiar figure surrounded by groups of students. My eyebrows fell hard above my eyes and I frowned. An annoying twitch started under my left eye. I don't know if it was because I didn't have a scarf, but a shiver went down my spine. Or maybe it was from the sudden hand slapping me on the back. I spun around to find Mitsuki; my little sister. I let out a deep breath. Maybe it was just her presences I was sensing. She gave me a look and poked her hip out while twirling a sucker between her fingers.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, a slight bit of concern in her voice. I looked back where I saw the figure, but couldn't find it.

"Nothing." I sighed and started to walk away before her hand stopped me.