Capítulo 68: Your Feelings for Him
"What are you two talking about?" Yogi asked the two. Arata was really regretting what he had done. Not only did he get himself into an awkward situation, Ayami was stuck right beside him. In front of Yogi of all people.
What was he going to do? She was the last person he'd try to humiliate. Thankfully, Yogi's was quite the clueless person.
"We were just talking about the two of you studying together, right?" He signaled to his sister, where she played along. "You know, like how we do it? I was just wondering if she ever had other guests, like we have with Yuki." That was the only excuse he could come up with. Thankfully, it was of sound logic.
"Oh that's what you meant." Yogi bopped his head on what seemed like a simple revelation. "The answer to that is no, we never had anyone but us together when we were studying." With Erina standing right beside him, Arata could tell that she wasn't happy to hear that. He silently apologized for causing her discomfort, but this was the only thing he could think of.
"Yes." Ayami agreed. "It was only the two of us. It's nice though, that you have others to study with… And this Yuki is?" There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"She's my cousin." He answered. She breathed a sigh of relief from hearing that. Arata could tell from the way his sister was acting. That he should probably do something to help her.
He never gave her an answer to her request. Back then, he had other matters to worry about. Now that he was supporting everyone, it couldn't hurt to favor a certain someone over the rest.
But what could he do? With Erina here, it wasn't going to be easy to force something to happen. Unless…
"Hey, it looks like there's a sparkler display going on over there." He pointed over at nothing.
"Really where?!" They all turned to look where he pointed. What he had planned wasn't at the top of the list of proudest things he ever did, more like at the bottom. While they weren't paying attention, he pulled the bow keeping Ayami's yukata on.
"What?!" She felt it slipping down, nearly revealing herself to the public. Quickly, she used her arms to keep her chest covered, and dropped down in a sitting position to make sure she wasn't exposed. "I don't understand, what's going on?"
She was panicking, which made him regret his actions. He didn't want to embarrass her, but it was time to see this plan to the end. Hopefully she'll forgive him later, or just not find out.
"Oh no, are you all right?" He acted, thankfully that time at the theater was paying off here.
"My outfit, it's…" She was flustered. She couldn't believe this was happening here, with all these people around.
"Uh, say Yogi. You got any ideas?"
"Me?"
"Well, I've never really worn one of these things before. And Erina's wearing a kimono. So I was hoping that you had some more experience."
"I guess you are kind of right." Yogi scanned around him, thinking of a strategy. "I got it, just give me a second." He ran away from them, then as soon as he left. He returned with a blanket.
"Where did you get that?"
"I know one of the people running a stand here. So I just asked them for it." That was easy. Arata wasn't really sure how they were going to handle this situation, and he was the one that set it up. Yogi covered her with it, and helped her up.
"Great, well can you find her a bathroom so she can get some privacy." Arata relied on his lack of experience with this venue to his advantage.
"But don't you want to come with her?"
"I actually needed to talk with Erina about something." That was half a lie. He really had something important that he was hoping she'd help with. Once he left with Ayami, Arata wasn't surprised at the glare Erina was sending his way.
"What was that all about?" She spoke irritated. She could tell that this was one of his schemes. "I thought you were supporting all of us."
"I am." He answered firmly. "That includes her too."
"Your sister? She's in love-"
"Yes, I didn't tell you because you were blackmailing me at the time. So I was worried that you might think I wasn't on your side anymore."
"I see… Then I guess that she's probably your favorite though."
"Of course." He let his guard down, seeing that she wasn't mad at him anymore. "Ayami, she's the most important person to me. So I want her to be happy."
"I understand." Erina wasn't happy with this, but she couldn't really be mad at him for this.
"Good." He was relieved. "But I also wanted to ask you something. Privately." The two walked around the ground, keeping the conversation moving.
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, I was wondering. What exactly do you feel about Yogi?"
"Feel… About Yogi." She got nervous at hearing his question. "Of course I love him."
"I know that." He clarified. "I mean, what exactly do you feel? Those feelings of love?"
"That's odd coming from you." This made her think he had a girl on his mind. Hints of jealously bubbled up within her, which she kept in check. "I mean, it really isn't that easy to word it out."
"Please, take your time." He assured her. "I just wanted to know. That's all."
"I guess you could say it started when we first met." That fateful day, when she first arrived at school. She had moved away from his parent's old house, for reasons she didn't divulge to Arata.
Living alone for the first time, things were scary for her. The fear of being alone again, getting hurt. She had avoided contact for about a week when school started. That was when he came to her.
Yogi… He was always the type to make friends. The type to walk up to someone just because. That was something that Arata knew too well about that boy.
"I've never had someone do that for me."
"Talk to you?"
"I mean, actually trying to get to know me. Caring about me." Those feelings were always there. But she found them, little-by-little. Every single moment together etched into her mind. "That's why I vowed to be by his side forever… To love him."
"Forever? But he doesn't even know-"
"The truth is, I've already confessed to him." That was a shock to Arata. He figured that the boy was just clueless about her feelings, like he was with everyone else. That was despite everything she ever did.
"What did he say?" He could assume what the answer was. Considering where they were at this point.
"He told me that he had no feelings for me." She responded to him, feeling the burn of having to remember that memory. "That was, shortly before I blackmailed you." So that was her true reason, he thought.
"I can see that you didn't give up after that." And judging from Yogi, he was either too weak willed to stop her. Or perhaps was slowly realizing that his rejection was an error.
"Yep, because like I said. I promised that I'll always love him. No matter what." That level of devotion, he was almost envious of Yogi for having a girl like that by his side. She might not have directly answered his question, but he was slowly realizing what he wanted from a girl.
"If that's that. Then we should at least enjoy some of the stuff they got around here." Arata wasn't really sure what was offered here, but he was going to try. However, so was a lot of people.
"Arata! Where are we…" Erina attempted to communicate with him though the sounds of the crowd. This was getting bad, with how many people were around them. Getting pushed around, at this rate they would surely separate. "I can't see you! Where are you?"
"Hang on." He saw her hand sticking out. With a burst of energy, he grabbed it. "I got you."
"A-arata!" She was jolted by his grab.
"Don't worry, I promise. No matter what, I won't let go." Pulling her closer to him, he was able to solve part of their problem. "I guess we should hold… hands." This was embarrassing, even though it was a bit of a joke among other the otaku community. Actually offering his hand to her, that made him feel a bit anxious. Even if this wasn't a romantic gesture.
"Right…" She tightened her grasp on him. "After all, it would be pretty bad if we lost each other." Erina turned a bit quiet with this. He could tell she didn't like this, but it couldn't be helped.
Together, they wandered from stall to stall. Seeing all of the cool items for sale, some fun games to play.
"Watch this." They found a booth that had darts to throw. Feeling confident from the last time he did this. Arata decided to try it again.
"If you win, can I get the prize? So I can give it to Yogi." He agreed, then prepared himself.
"Hiya!" Miss. "Ho." Miss again. This was terrible, disheartened. He put his head down in shame. He tossed his final dart. Pop!
"Wow, I can't believe you hit that." The booth runner was impressed. They figured he was just messing around with the first two so that he could show off. "Here you go." He handed Arata a plush red panda doll, where he promptly gave it to Erina.
They left the stand to go look for their next destination. Or for the others, whichever came first. The whispering of the crowd weren't lost on Arata. He could tell from the moment he handed her that toy.
"Those two look so close together."
"I wonder how long they've been a couple." Murmurings of people they walked by. He wasn't really upset about this talk, even though he knew it wasn't true. Arata was aware that to anyone outside of these two could assume they were dating. After all, he did give her that toy he won and they were holding hands.
Wait a second… Why were they still holding hands? It wasn't as crowded as before, and he knew that they weren't when he was throwing those darts. So when they started walking again, they did it as if it were natural. Without even noticing.
Arata turned his head to look at her. She was smiling, enjoying herself. Walking by her side, hand-in-hand. Something about this felt right to him.
But, should he let go? Or was she going to do it? Too many questions ran through his mind, worried about what to do next. Then she turned and noticed what they were doing.
"Ah! I'm so sorry." She lurched away from him. Pulling their hands apart. Stumbling over her words for an excuse. "I didn't mean to… I mean, I must've just grabbed your hand when we left." A wave of guilt washed over her, she couldn't take it. "I… I need to go to the bathroom."
Without giving him a chance to stop her, she sprinted away from him. Barely holding onto her toy.
"Erina!" He yelled for her, but she didn't stop. "I… I wasn't mad…"
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