Always Around Him (Anime Story)

Chapter 16

- Tamiko's POV -

"Do we have to leave the restroom?" I begged Kyoko, not to leave.

"We can't stay here forever!" She tried to get me off her leg.

"We can just wait until they leave, please???" I looked up at Kyoko with my puppy dog eyes.

"What are you doing?" Kyoko started to twitch her eye.

"I'm trying something new. So does it work?" I looked up with my puppy dog eyes again. "No...?"

"No." I let go of her leg and stood up. "Just act like how you did this morning." She put her hand on my shoulder. "Nothing has to be weird."

I calmed down and tears started to run down my face. "I missed you so much." I grabbed her leg again.

"Come on, let's go out there and have fun." She took my hand off her leg and dragged me out of the restroom.

"You guys okay?" Itaru and Jin waited for us in front of the restroom. "You took a long time in there."

"Yeah, we're fine." Kyoko smiled.

"So... now what?" I tried to act like my usual self.

"We can walk around, I guess. I mean this is a mall." Itaru said.

We all started to walk around. Then Keomi saw something that caught her eye. "Frozen yogurt! Let's get frozen yogurt." She pointed at the shop.

"Frozen yogurt?" I tilted my head. "I'm not really in the mood for... Ahhhh!!!" Keomi yanked my arm and headed straight for the shop.

- Itaru's POV -

"You like her, don't you?" Jin said out of nowhere.

I started to blush. "How'd you know!"

"Dude, you literally told her secrets that weren't suppose to be shared. It not that hard."

I sighed. "I can't help it if I fell in love with her."

"If you like her so much, why not just ask her out. I personally don't see anything to like about her though."

"I'm too scared to." I looked down. "You remember my past dating experience..."

"Yeah... but I'm pretty sure she won't do that."

"I guess."

- Tamiko's POV -

Keomi got her frozen yogurt and headed out of the store.

"Soo good!!!" I smiled and we headed in Itaru's direction.

"Hey, Kyoko. Why don't we check out the anime store?" Jin grabbed Kyoko's arm.

"But I already went...?" 

He dragged her all the way down the mall. "You can go twice then." 

It was only me and Itaru. "What you wanna do?" He looked over at me and smiled.

My heart started to beat fast. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Anything is fine."

6:20 PM

Itaru took out his phone and looked at the time. "It's getting pretty late we should probably go."

"Let me call Kyoko first."

Calling Kyoko...

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" I said into the phone.

"Near the food court."

"Coming." I put my phone back in my pocket. "They're near the food court. Let's go."

I took one step and Itaru grabbed my arm. "You okay?" I asked.

"I should be asking you that." Itaru's hair covered his eyes. "You've been acting weird ever since last night. So I was wondering... if you were feeling okay."

I smiled. "Of course, I am."

- Itaru's POV -

It seems like everything is still the same as ever. I looked over at Tamiko while we were walking to the food court. I'm glad.

7:18 PM

On the Train

We all sat together. "I bought so much stuff today!!" Keomi looked through all her bags.

"They're all anime." Jin pointed out.

"Yeah, because ANIME IS LIFFEEE!" Tamiko and I sweat-dropped.

"Tamiko." Jin looked at her. "You're contagious, your crazy rubs off."

"Me again!!!" Sparks were in between their eyes.

Next Stop: Kojiya

"This is my stop." Jin got up from the seat.

Tamiko looked out the window. "No, it isn't."

"I gotta help my dad at his company. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye." We all said in unison.

Next Stop: Otorii

"Today was fun, we should do this again someday." Kyoko walked out of the train.

Tamiko and I sat next to each other waiting for our stop. "You guys made up?" I looked over at Tamiko and saw her sleeping.

I slightly smiled. "You must have been really tired." I looked around the train and it was only the two of us. "It feels like I can tell you everything." I giggled. "Probably because you're unconscious."

Next Stop: Anamori-Inari

Tamiko's head fell on my shoulder. Her head was so close to me that I could hear her breathing. "I like you, Tamiko. I always have." I tilted my head and touched hers. "I hope someday I can say it to you when you're conscious."

- Tamiko's POV -

The Next Morning

I woke up and put my hands on my heart.

"For some reason, I feel relieved."

I walked downstairs and saw my parents cuddling on the couch.

"Oh, Mama."

"Oh, Papa."

"Oh, Parents..." -_-

My mother looked over at my direction. "Hey, sweetie. You have a good sleep?"

"Yeah." I walked to the kitchen and saw Chikashi eating cereal.

"You have fun yesterday?" I was shocked by his words.

"How'd you know?"

"The school called and said you were absent." I tried to avoid eye contact. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "I just needed a day off."

Chikashi sighed. "Just get some cereal and actually go to school."

"Fine..."

At School

I opened the door to the classroom and saw Kyoko on her phone.

"Hey. You're early?" I walked over to her.

"Yeah, I heard that today there's gonna be a new transfer student." She came close to my ear. "And I heard it's a boy." Kyoko smiled in excitement.

"A transfer student, at this time?"

"Shhh, don't say it so loud. I even got a glimpse of him in the main office, and he's a total hotty." She smirked while saying that and I awkwardly giggled.

"Take your seats, class. We have a new transfer student today. You may come in." A guy, who was really handsome, walked into the classroom. "Please introduce yourself."

"Hey, my name is..." My eyes widened after taking a better look at him. 

"Reo Nishi!!!" I stood up from my chair and yelled.

"Tamiko Minami?" We were both shocked at who we saw.

"Why does Tamiko always know the hot guys!!!"