Chapter: 35
She held his hand last night. That night, her overwhelming emotions clouded her thinking; She couldn't think straight. It wasn't on purpose. He had took her hand to comfort her, nothing more. But the usual her would've rejected help from any guy. She detest them; they had interfered with her normal school life, and changed it into something like a horror movie. She cried all the way home, with her hand interlocked with his. Only when she was calm enough to think straight, had she realized her mistake. Now she was afraid. Afraid that he would like her because of that incident, and afraid that this could ruin her, now close-to-perfect, high school life.
The next morning came, and she tried hard to avoid him. "Good Morning Sasayan!" one of his friend called out to him. She jumped, and immediately knew he was near. She needed to escape, fast. However it wasn't too long before he had spotted her, and greeted her like any other normal morning, "Morning Natsume! I haven't seen you since the fes-" She walked away. She didn't want to be near him, not when her high school life was on the line.
"Good Morning Sasayan!" One of his many friends called out to him in the morning, as he walked into the campus ground. At the corner of his eyes, he spotted Natsume walking into the school building. "Morning Natsume! I haven't seen you since the fes-" he tried to call out to her. However, as soon as he walked towards her, she walked away, ignoring him. He stood there, remembering the other time she ignored him. It was during the summer holidays too. She'd ignored all his text and calls. He wondered what had he done wrong again this time. He couldn't really understand her.
She decided to confront him in the afternoon, during Physical education period. She stood in front of him nervously, as beads of sweat formed. She had tried to think of a nice way to say this, but given her low skill level in Japanese, she could only think of the most straight forward way, "I have to tell you the answer is no."
He finally knew what she was angry about, but didn't want to admit it. He just couldn't let go of the fact that her actions were so childish. He was hurt. "Since morning, you kept ignoring me. Even during the summer holidays, you ignored all my calls and texts too. And now you call me out here to say that?"
He was irritated. She could tell from the tone of his voice, but what other choice does she have if she wanted to preserve their friendship?
She tried explaining about the incident that night, and be frank about how she felt about them being in a relationship. "I think of you as a good friend, and if you fall in love with me or something, I'll be bothered." she said, half nervous about their future friendship, yet relief she actually said that.
His face turned black, half thinking how ridiculously over-confident she was about her past experience with guys. She had always thought that guys would like her so easily. She was too quick to reach the conclusion that almost every guy likes her. He was irritated by himself. He wanted, so badly, to prove her wrong and at the same time express his anger. "Are you stupid, Natsume? If it was like you've said, and I really fell for you, can't I complain about the fact that you've given me the cold shoulder? If you keep acting like that, you'll never make any more friends." and than, he finally told her off,"Natsume-san, aren't you too full of yourself?" He walked away without looking back, and left her standing there in shock.
She was taken aback. What had she just heard? She felt insulted, looked down upon and jealous all at the same time. But she couldn't do anything about it.
During after school clean ups, It just so happened that the both of them were in-charge of cleaning the back yard outside the school building. They had spent a few long moments in silence. It was awkward, really awkward. They were both angry at each other. Both party felt angry and hurt.
He finally broke the silence, "Today I'll be going to the managers' " Hinting to her that he would help her get in, without having her to face the manager. He knew how much she liked the manager. She couldn't act normally around him, especially since the huge rejection she got from him. He had felt so defeated and at the same time glad on that day she was rejected. Defeated because she didn't like him. He had lost to a man, in his thirties, over a girl who is the same age as him. He didn't like that feeling, because no matter how much he cared for her, she didn't notice. All she noticed was the manager.
She was glad when he had made that offer to her. She knew how awkward things were with the manager. Well, at least to her it was. However, she just couldn't let her pride go. She was still, after all, angry with him. She rejected his offer. She thought that to Sasayan, she is just a useless person who can't do anything well.
When she'd rejected his offer, he acted like he couldn't care less. He just walked away, pretending to not care, but in truth it was the other way around. He thought that to Natsume, he is just another male enemy.
She stood outside the batting center, trying hard to calm her nerves. There was no one to company her in. She had no choice but to go in herself. She tried to think of the positive things, and walked into the batting center. However, the first person she saw was the manager, who was on the phone. She started to panic. She didn't know what she should do. Should she walk past like nothing happened? or should she greet him as she walk up the stairs? Right at that time, a voice came from the back. "Hey manager!" it was Sasayan's voice. He walked up the stairs, into the batting center, like he normally did. She took his lead and walked up the stairs with him. She felt glad yet embarrassed. She had accepted his help, even though she rejected his offer that afternoon, and even insulted him.
He waited outside the batting center, and waited for Natsume to come. Even though she had rejected his offer that afternoon, he knew that she would be awkward around the manager. He couldn't leave her alone outside, just because she was afraid to face the manager. Once he saw her walking in, he followed her in. As expected, she stopped walking when she saw the manager. She was panicking, he could tell. "Hey manager!" he greeted the manager and walked into the batting center like he did almost everyday.
He had finished batting, and finally decided to take a break. He leaned against the wall and drank from his canned drink. A soft yet harsh whisper could be heard from the nearby window, "Sasayan!"
He turned his head, surprised to see Nastume peering out from the window. "You surprised me. I never thought that you would be talking to me any time soon."
"Just now... Thank you. And on that day of the festival (she means the summer festival she had went during the summer holidays.) I've always wondered if I could be like Sasayan-kun, even though nothing ever goes the way I want it to," She had finally showed her gratitude for his past kind acts, and reasoned herself out.
He could finally understand her intentions and her feelings, now that she had opened up more. He thought he, too, shall open up more to her, "I think Natsume has the wrong impression of me. I'm not like how you describe me, the type of person who sees everything clearly. Being suddenly ignored, I wondered why and fretted over it. I was sad. I'm sorry."
The argument was not over. She still needed to tell him how she had felt about him. After all, he was a good friend. The first ever (other than Haru) male friend she had made. "I was happy. There had never been a boy who got mad at me or didn't go easy on me, like you do. And because Sasayan is a boy, I can fight with all I've got. When I think of that, I want to be friends with you forever." She had finally said her true feelings.
After hearing her said all that. He couldn't help but like her more. She had finally opened up to him. "Hey Natsume, I get so irritated when I see you." he said, half blushing.
She was shocked when she herd those words. After all she had said, and opened up to him, who knew he would respond that way. But there was still more to what he had to say.
"you're pointlessly frank, and you act weird sometimes. So you make me wonder whether or not you are hurt. But no matter what happens, you never run away."
She was shocked at those words. To think that Sasayan had think so highly about her. "Can't we be friends again?" She finally said.
He stood up, and they were finally facing each other. He felt happy. "Sorry, Nastume," he apologized.
"Me too! I'm sorry for the stupid misunderstanding. We're friends again right?"
"Yeah. Well technically, there wasn't a misunderstanding, since I do like you." he could finally admit his feelings, "what you were saying wasn't actually wrong, so I got a bit angry and ended up retaliating. Falling in love with you after I held your hand. Am I an idiot or what?"
She was utterly speechless and shocked. Did he just said he liked her?! What was all the argument and fight for? She just couldn't believe her ears.
What happened in the Manga:
Pages: 2, 3, 9-11, 19-21, 23-25, 31-34, 40, 41
Manga: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun となりの怪物くん
Website: http://mangareader.net
App: Mangawhat
All Copyrights belong to the respective manga authors and artist. I'm only taking their ideas and forming it into a mini composition. I do not own any of the ideas.
Credits to: Robico (author), Manga Reader, Titania Scans (for Scans & Translation), MangaWhat (App)
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