When Winter Ends || Modern Naruto Love Story

o6

"Mayumi!" Naruto waved.

It was the next day, after school at the park just like they talked about. The blue headed girl flinched by the blond's sudden loudness from a far as he came closer with a wider grin. He stopped in front of her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! I got myself into clean up duty today," he chuckled nervously, recapping his moment of mopping the floors in class.

Mayumi shook her head, and then her eyes opened as she realized something. "Oh! Here."

Digging in through her purse, she pulled out green dollar bills in her hand and handed it to him. But Naruto didn't seem so intrigued of the money as he stared at it in awe. He looked at her. "You know you don't really need to give me this," realizing from yesterday's incident, he almost forgot about it.

"Isn't this what I'm here for?" Mayumi asked. Naruto blinked.

"Well, yeah I guess but we're still going to hang out, right?" After his question, he saw the girl looking down in shame as a gray cloud of despair hovers over her head. This made the blond panicked.

"I don't think that's a good idea..." She mumbled.

"Why not?" She didn't say anything, but silence lingered towards him.

"We're not going to stay out for too long if that's what you're worried about," he retorted. Mayumi shook her head gently.

"That's not it," she replied. Then Naruto eased his shoulders while looking at her. As confused as he is, he doesn't understand why this girl is so sheltered like a rock.

An immediate smile plastered on his face as his blue eyes brightened up. "It's only gunna take a second, I promise!" Then he started to walk forward with Mayumi looking back at him in bewilderment. "Come on! We're just going to walk around."

--

Both Naruto and Mayumi walked silently in the middle of the side walk as people walked pass them. It's a surprise that the blond never find her so antisocial. She hasn't spoken a word ever since they left the park.

He frowned, glancing down at the blue headed girl but spoke out of the blue. "So how come you're not in school like the rest of us?" By the expression she made after his question, Naruto can feel an unwelcoming aura growing out of her which made him in shock. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to offend you."

Again, Mayumi didn't peep a word. He sighed. He might as well jump off a building for his way of making a conversation.

After walking endlessly of a block or two, Naruto didn't notice the other girl falling behind him like a few steps. He suddenly realized Mayumi didn't match up with his pace, so he looked back only to see her facing a store.

Curiosity got the best of him, then he approached her with arms crossed behind his head. "Whatcha looking at?" Mayumi jumped again by his voice, and heard him hum in wonder as he looked up at the sign.

"Nothing. Let's just keep going," she hurried but Naruto didn't budge. He pointed through the glass window to show a picture.

"You like crepes?" He asked. An embarrassed blush crept to her cheeks, but didn't answer anyways. This made Naruto twitch a smile as an idea formed in his mind. "I take that as a yes!" He grinned.

"No I do not!" She lied as her face gets redder. Naruto noticed her bright face which made him chuckle silently to himself.

"Not with that face!" He laughed. "Come on. Let's go in!" Before Mayumi can argue back, he already entered through the shop without hesitation. Unsure if she should follow, her conscious got the best of her and made her walked in through the crepe store along with Naruto.

"What would you like?" The blond asked as he got in line. Mayumi began to bite her lip as she lowered her voice. There's no where else to get out of this. "Vanilla cream with strawberry," she mumbled shyly. This caused him to smile and nod, and then facing at the shop owner and order two of them.

It was crisp, fresh, and warm. The second Mayumi received the rolled up cone pastry, her mouth was already filled with the dessert. Naruto watched amusingly as he sat across from her, holding his own crepe close to his lips.

It only took a couple of seconds for Mayumi to realize there's an extra person with her as she paused in the middle of her feast and looked at the blond in a puzzled way. "What is it?" She questioned. Shaking his head, Naruto grinned again and began eating his own.

"Nothing," he continued to smile. "I never seen you look so satisfied with something." Blowing up cherry red, Mayumi broke eye contact with him as she can hear the small snickers coming from his breaths. "So you do like crepes!" He added. "Well that's a start."

The blue headed girl blinked, lowering her pastry down from her face as a serious atmosphere grew around her. "Start to what?" Naruto looked up in a daze, as if her words didn't exist. He swallowed his food.

"Getting to know you, of course," he answered, but he made it sound like it was obvious; that there's no other reason than that. But in which case, he saw her eyes falter from delight to emotionless and sad that caused Naruto to make an expressionless face.

"I'm sorry, but I think I should go." With quickest shuffling, Mayumi stood up from her seat and didn't manage to finish her crepe.

Naruto stood up with her almost in a hurry. "Wait, what? Why are you leaving?"

Trying to block her way from exiting the store, Naruto stood boldly in front of her with searching eyes. But once he laid his gaze on her, he sees an almost angry face on her profile. "I can't do this," she vaguely said, walking out of the shop but Naruto reached her tail.

"Do what?" He pestered, and then he finally stopped her by cutting in front of her before a crosswalk. "Look, Mayu, I don't know what I did wrong back there for you to leave." Eying at each other solemnly, Naruto looked deeply into her blue pools and found that there was complete emptiness in them. The same ones he saw when he bumped into her at school.

"You didn't," she gently answered which made him feel relieved but still concern. He doesn't want her to leave, not just yet when they're finally hanging out again

Naruto shrugged. "Then what's wrong? I just wanted to be friends with you."

Another silence approached. Nothing but fast cars driving on the streets and people's chattering surrounds them. As the white snow falls over their heads, Naruto can manage to see a bit of hurt through her pupils.

"We can't be friends, Naruto." When she said that final statement, his heart just dropped, from being hopeful and faithful to a disappointment. It made him speechless by this; that she made it sound like a fact.

Although her face showed determination, he can still see a bit of loneliness displaying in her eyes. And just like the other day, Mayumi walked off again, leaving Naruto filled with different kinds of emotions.

"I don't understand."