Fate [Ai Mikaze x Reader]

Chapter 8 - Suspicions and Confusions

".... [L/N]! [L/N], wait!"

I only fastened my footsteps at the familiar voice of a cyan head.

"Stop already - [L/N]!!"

Slapping his reaching out hand away, I looked down and quickly speed-walked away.

It has been this way ever since Mikaze woke up. I couldn't find the courage in myself to talk to him or even look in his eyes. One, I grew too attached to him, and that was something that had to change. Two, I didn't know what to think.

"AI MIKAZE IS AN ANDROID!!!"

Saotome's voice was still ringing my ears. The man, who asked me to simply call him Professor, later found me and managed to explain the situation. Mikaze is a robot, created to replace an idol, who is known to be gone missing when reality is that he is in a coma. Mikaze's main purposes were to be the perfect idol, and to learn how to be human.
I should've known that I wasn't the only one hiding a few secrets up my sleeves. Finding this out shouldn't have slapped me that hard in the face, yet...

I clentched my fists.

Father will kill me if he will realize that I've grown to actually enjoy his presence...

I shook my head, trying to get rid of my thoughts. I had to go to the office to get a few papers, and if I didn't want any people to realize I was upset, I had to clear my head.

But, why does my heart hurt so much...?

After a good ten minutes of walking, I opened the door to the office, and quietly walked in.
"Aaah, [F/N]-chaan, ohayyooppuu!"

Ringo's cheerful voice greeted me. He was the only one in the room, as he looked up from some paperwork.
When I got back to him in my dorm room on that day, I didn't tell him I know the truth about Mikaze. I actually wasn't really sure that he even knew about the truth.

"Hmmm? What's up, [F/N]-chan? You look down..."

Yup. Told in advance that I should clear my head...

"... Nothing. I'm fine." I forced a smile, starting to search in some drawers. Ringo only frowned and looked at me with a 'really?' look.
"If this is about Ai-chan..."
"No!" I cut him off. "It's... not. I'm just tired. It's fine."
"If you say so..." he slowly muttered, moving his gaze back to his papers.
"...."

I started shuffling with some papers as well. Only the clock's ticking, the shuffling and Ringo's pen sliding against the paper broke the silence. Sitting down, I looked around the desk.
Everything were put in place, as the whole atmosphere screamed neatness and perfection. Hundreds of books, little sticky notes put everywhere. Nothing out of the ordinary, but something has caught my eye.
A wooden picture frame. A photo with the four boys: Reiji, Kurosaki, Camus and... Mikaze. When someone ordinary looks at this picture, they would see complete chaos. After all, nothing was in place, with Reiji completely blurred and making a crazy face, and Kurosaki and Camus fighting in the background. It broke the perfection of the desk.
But, when you look at it closely...
You can see the true happiness of the photo. You can clearly see the bond QUARTET NIGHT has, a bond no other band has. The undefeatable power, that I myself felt back then on the live.
I found myself smiling bitterly.

I.... don't want to break them apart.

My eyes traveled over to Mikaze's form. He was simply standing in the background, a soft smile on his face.
I slowly furrowed my eyebrows, and tilted my head.
Such a gentle expression didn't suit the cyan-head who I got to know. And yet, it did. As I looked at his smile, I felt like I could see into his heart, even when this was just a plain old picture.