Mamoru strode alongside Konoha in the hallway, the boy being the one who fetched her from her room. Classes are now over and Kikuchi went ahead to practice.
"Bokuto did so good at practice earlier Mamoru-chan! And everyone was very happy he didn't go emo mode, I hope he doesn't later too" Konoha exclaimed with a smile, matching his pace with the girl beside him.
The brunette gave him a soft smile, "For a player, you sure are very caring towards the other members, Akinori-san" she replied, noticing how he was worrying about Bokuto.
Konoha couldn't help but flush a bit by her words. He was used to girls saying he was handsome and such but never did he hear any of them say anything like this. And it was even more flustering with Mamoru's attractive smile.
Lately, he couldn't understand himself. He would always think of the girl whenever he wasn't occupied. Talking to her over the phone gave him much relief and joy. And he always finds himself looking for her presence and wanting to see her priceless smile again.
Sure he dated many beautiful girls but he none of them gave him this fluttering butterflies in his stomach. He only intended to comfort her but it seems his heart doesn't feel that way.
The pair walked happily next to each other until they passed by a certain classroom. It was Keiji's. Mamoru stopped dead on her tracks, eyes widening a bit.
Keiji was there. Hinami had her arms wrapped around Keiji's neck and the boy had his hands on her waist. "Mamoru-chan let's just go" Konoha urged her and took her small trembling hands in his.
But it was a lot harder to pull her along. Mamoru still had her eyes fixed on the couple fawning over one another. She felt suffocated as her heart began clenching tightly in pain.
And all of a sudden, it stopped. The pain stopped as her eyes met with Keiji's. "Mamoru" he even mentioned her name as he got out of Hinami's grasp and desperately ran towards his bestfriend.
Feeling her heart sinking as he strode closer Mamoru whispered to Konoha. "I'll catch up to you later Akinori-san" she said.
"Are you sure, Mamoru-chan?" With a simple nod, Konoha hesitantly walked away.
Before long, Keiji stood right in front of her, staring into her eyes. Oh how she missed being this close to him, how she missed staring into those eyes. "Let's talk, Mamoru" Keiji spoke.
Mamoru's orbs travelled towards Hinami who just walked out of the room. "I want to speak to you alone." She said, pertaining to Hinami.
Keiji turned his head, "Hinami-san, please go on ahead without me"
"But Keiji-kun—"
"Please" the ravenette setter pleaded.
Sighing to herself, Hinami was soon out of sight. Mamoru crossed her arms and leaned on the glass window behind her. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"
Keiji felt hurt seeing the unfamiliar look displayed on his own bestfriend's face. "What were you doing with Konoha-san last week?" He asked.
Mamoru scoffed at his question, "If that's all you wanted to know then I have no plans on answering that" she hoisted towards the other direction and started walking away.
But the boy pulled her back, "You are important to me Mamoru, I want what's best for you" he even said.
Silence fell in between the two but it was immediately broken when Mamoru pulled herself out of his grasp.
"You're so unfair Keiji! One minute you're all too sweet and drooling over Hinami-san and now you're saying that you care for me and you want what's best for me? You even left me for hours just to be with her." Mamoru's bubble finally bursted, her feelings became too much for her to just contain and let die.
The brunette grabbed the boy's collar and harshly pulled him closer, pain and anger etched on her face as she gritted her teeth, "I gave up on you. I gave up the thought of being with you just to keep you happy, even if I know that your happiness isn't by my side. And now that I'm willing to move forward for my own joy, you're standing in the way. Do you see how fucked up that is, Keiji?"
The said boy had his heart breaking seeing tears welling up her eyes and finally rolling down her cheeks and falling on the ground. It was the second time she cried like this and the last time was when she was hurting too much from her father's sudden death. His hand reached forward to caress her cheeks, but then he got pushed away before he even had the chance.
"I'm going home with Akinori-kun starting today" she spat out, head hung low as transparent beads of liquid still fell from her brown orbs. She spun her heel and was ready to leave.
Only to get pulled back again to face Keiji, whose eyes filled with guilt and pity seeing her current state. Knowing fully that it was entirely his fault. "I just wanted to protect you Mamoru" he spoke, gazing straight into her still wet eyes.
Mamoru scoffed at her best friend's words, "Protect me? What could you possibly protect me from?" she pulled her hand back swiftly, face still red from the anger surging through her as she looked at him.
Keiji felt a pang in his chest seeing how the tender look she used to give him was now replaced with a raged and hostile one. He had never seen her like this, and it hurted him even more so that he's the one who drove her to this.
"Konoha would break your heart just like how he's done with his other flings Mamoru. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to end up hurt" Keiji explained, wishing that his reason for always holding her back was acceptable and would at least calm the fire fueling the anger in her.
But much to his dismay, it didn't.
A low mocking laugh escaped Mamoru's lips as her gaze fell on the ground. Surely in a different situation, his words would be bringing thousands and thousands of butterflies inside her stomach right now. However, things are already different now.
"Can't you see? It's already broken Keiji. What more could Akinori-san break from my already shattered heart?"
Her final words left him speechless, watching her staggering figure disappear as she turned around the corner. Keiji had his palms covering his face as he fell on his knees.
"I messed up badly"
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