“THIS is it, right? Kouya’s room.” Azusa stood motionlessly in front of the room given to Kouya inside the mansion. A dinner tray rested in her hands.
Since their argument, Kouya skipped dinner and refused to come out of his room. Subaru was supposed to bring him dinner, but Azusa took it on out of a desire to apologize. The servants were wary of Kouya and kept their distance, which eliminated them candidates to bring him food. Azusa arrived at his door, but couldn’t bring herself to knock.
How do I apologize to him? What is there for me to even apologize for? Sure, I angered him, but that doesn’t mean I can choose not to attend school now. So what do I say to him then? I want to apologize, but I can’t. Azusa paced restlessly in front of his door, mulling over what to do.
“…You aren’t coming in?” Kouya’s voice came from the other side of the door. The door slowly opened, revealing Kouya with his trademark expressionless face. “What were you doing in front of my door for ten minutes?”
“You noticed?”
“…What do you think we contracted for?”
Oh yeah, I forgot contractors can detect where each other are, Azusa only now remembered.
“I brought you dinner.” She held up the tray of chilled food. Kouya quietly stepped back from the door.
Did that mean she could come in? She could have just handed it to him at the doorway, but she genially entered the room because she wanted to talk to him.
The room was tidy and organized—it didn’t seem lived in. If Azusa’s room was once a noble’s guest room, Kouya’s must have been a spacious study or reading room at one point. All the furniture was made of the same black oak, giving the room a dim and gloomy aura.
“Where should I put it?”
“On the table is fine.”
She knelt down to put the tray on a low table in the center of the room and heard the squeak of springs behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find Kouya had sat back in a large, leather upholstered chair with gnarly wood armrests. She was mistaken to assume he lacked expression when she came into the room—his face clearly revealed his soured mood now.
“Um, I’m sorry.”
“About what?” Kouya grunted in a low voice.
“Uh, about earlier. You were only worried for me and I acted that way…”
“Did you change your mind?” he asked. Azusa slowly shook her head.
“…I plan on attending school tomorrow. I can’t sit still and do nothing when I know people will get hurt because of me.”
“Even though you were so scared you cried today? What part of the day ‘went by surprisingly normally’ for you?”
Azusa sucked in her breath. The conversation with Tsukiharu consumed her thoughts to the point she completely forgot she had clung to Kouya’s chest and let him wipe away her tears. Fear had enveloped every fiber of her being that she thought nothing of it at the time, but thinking back on it turned her cheeks a deep red.
“I did not cry.”
“You did too,” he instantly retorted. She had nothing to counter with, because she really did cry.
“By the way, what were you doing there?”
The school was in the center of town. Azusa wondered why he had been at the school gates when he rarely ventured into town.
Exasperation filled his face as he sighed, “…I thought it was obvious I was there to pick you up.”
“You were?”
“While we’re on the subject, I’ll continue dropping you off and picking you up from school. If you plan on going tomorrow, interact with him as little as possible. And be smart about it. Keep conversations to a bare minimum. I’ll let you go if you can do that.”
“Let me go? …You know, I’ve been thinking this for a while, but while you’re normally a man of few words, you’ve got quite the temper and a wicked tongue on you, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Also, you’re a bully and click your tongue at the slightest annoyance.”
“…..”
“But more than anything else, you are incredibly kind.”
Kouya looked like someone who was just shot in the face with a spitball. His forehead wrinkled over how to take her comment.
“Thank you very much. I would be happy to have you escort me to and from school. I may have acted brave with Ichi, but I really am scared… I’m pathetic, aren’t I? That’s why it would really reassure me to have you with me.”
“I see.”
“I have to pump myself up to handle things tomorrow! Ah, I’m sorry, I’ve been rattling on about myself. I’ll go back to my room now,” Azusa said, opening the door to leave. Kouya grabbed her hand. She looked over her shoulder at him.
“Call me anytime you need me. I’ll make sure I’m able to go and save you at any time… Thanks for bringing dinner.” Kouya pat her on the head, perhaps as a sign of his gratitude, and let go of her hand.
Azusa felt the heat rise to her cheeks the moment the door shut behind her.
“It’s kinda hot… Did I catch a cold?” Azusa fanned her face with her hand and walked down the hallway to her room.
Now that I think about it, Kouya stopped avoiding me… Azusa tilted her head in puzzlement over the bubbly feeling rising in her—it was the first time she had ever felt this way.