All of a sudden, Mizuki hears the door of the room open behind her and Hinata pauses at the door, wondering why she's standing in front of a wide open door while it's storming roughly outside. He stalks forward to her side, worried that something happened and instead, she turns, her hair pinned to the side with an emblem-looking pin unfamiliar to him.
"Why are you standing here alone? Did something happen?" he coos.
Mizuki furrows her eyebrows, wondering why he mentioned being 'alone'. Turning her back, she notices that Cheshire is no longer standing behind her and has once again vanished, leaving no trace of his presence except the pin in her hair.
Hinata closes the door firmly, sighing, "You got yourself wet again. I ordered food downstairs so Doro can bring it up to us once he's done sorting out the window problem."
"Oh," Mizuki replies simply.
"Do you want to freshen up first?" Hinata suggests gently. Mizuki nods and saunters to the bathroom quietly, even her footsteps barely heard when she walks.
When she closes the bathroom door with a thud, lightning strikes and Hinata winces, narrowing his eyes at her, put off by her sudden change in attitude. Lowering his head in defeat, he proceeds to slump against the bed.
Thunder's growling gets incessantly louder as Hinata's ears start to ring painfully. He sits in thought, the memory from just moments before replaying in his head like a broken record, surely not leaving his mind any time soon.
"I've come to deliver the snacks," a formal voice calls out on the other side of the door, following three firm knocks. Hinata sighs under his breath, willing himself into a stand as he loiters sluggishly to twist the knob of the door. Theodore greets him with a welcoming smile, holding out a tray with tea and a platter of biscuits.
"Thank you," Hinata mutters, forcing a smile, at least to honour Theodore's efforts for coming all the way up here when he's partially drenched and is still managing to put on a patronising smile despite the long day.
Theodore only bows in response and leaves once Hinata closes the door on him with his foot, hobbling off to make sure that Kaito isn't struggling with another unprecedented issue.
Hinata rests the food against the sheets, holding his hands out a short distance away from it to make sure it's stable.
Sitting down slowly beside it, he slouches over and angles his head towards the balcony, listening to the harsh discord of the rain. He counts the minutes till Mizuki leaves the bathroom, not exactly to wait for his turn to dry up, rather to steal a look at her face and make sure that she's doing okay.
Admittedly, it's embarrassing for him to be so worried about someone he's known for months. The kind of trust they have—he's sure he couldn't have built it so quickly if not her.
When he hears the creaking of a nearby door, his back straightens with anticipation and he turns his head immediately.
Mizuki steps out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her semi-dry hair. She has changed into a night-gown, one which is nicer than most days with a ruffled collar and ribbons around the waist band.
"Sorry I took too long," she mumbles and Hinata has to lean towards her to catch the sound of her words. Her hands are clenched around something he can see glistening from the moonlight filtered through the windows.
"You should eat something to warm up," he invites, curious as to what's in her hand. Instead of stopping at the seat next to him, she ambles all the way until she's standing over him. Hinata raises his gaze to her face, most of which is covered by her hair. He tilts his head, waiting expectantly for her to say something but only catches her hands trembling.
"This is selfish of me to ask but there's something I want to do. Can I have your permission to do it?" Mizuki stammers, quickly shutting up after making her request. Hinata blinks, utterly confused but nods slowly.
Without waiting another second, Mizuki reaches forward and wraps her arms around him, placing one knee between either of his legs on the bed frame.
Hinata stiffens, turning his head slowly to catch a glimpse of her face which is now buried in the crook of his neck. Warily, he tightens his grip around her petite waist, helping her clamber onto his waist.
"What's wrong?" Hinata coos, leaning his against her shoulder. Mizuki melts into his touch, wrapping her legs around his waist as she stares at the shining emblem-looking clip against her palm.
She searches for words to say, for a reason to give him as to why she's suddenly so disappointed, but decides there's nothing more she wants than for this understanding silence.
"I'm worried," she sputters, averting her gaze to the wrinkles on the sheets. She observes the parts where they've sunken into the mattress, leaving the marks of when she collapsed against them earlier. "We have a fight, an oncoming danger, and I haven't prepared for it at all. I'm not scared… I don't think… But I'm worried I won't put up a good enough fight and that I can't protect you when the time comes."
"What made you so insecure?" Hinata asks and Mizuki pulls away, pushing against his chest with shaky palms. She looks at him with a resolute stare, eyes glassy and practically shimmering in the little light that penetrates into the room.
"Do I sound immature?"
"I didn't say that," Hinata corrects, reaching a hand up to tuck a couple strands of hair behind her ear. Faint pink dusts the skin on her cheeks and heat rises up her neck, which she forcibly takes her mind off for the sake of sorting out her feelings at this moment.
"I tease you a lot but none of it is supposed to… actually hurt. You're good enough and you're strong, and you've developed so much in six months, all the skills which took me years to master since my childhood. You're going to be fine, I swear."
Upon hearing sniffling, Hinata adds, "I'll even train with you tomorrow before we head to the village. We'll sort things out together."
"My nose is itchy," Mizuki coughs and Hinata partially assumes it's an excuse. Shifting on his lap, she lets out a light-hearted giggle in hopes of hiding the truth of her emotions, "It's funny getting comfort from you. You're not usually like this, feels odd. To some extent."
Hinata's expression darkens. Lips parting, he mutters in a low voice, "Forgive me for what I'm about to do next," and upon reaching a hand onto the back of her neck, lowers her head to meet his lips in a kiss.
Chapter 114, Temptress of Storms -
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
A/N (16/09/21) :
Hey readers, thank you for all the support thus far! Any form of encouragement which has been offered to me through reads, collections or gifts is greatly appreciated and I will continue to strive harder to provide the best for you all. If you're new, I expect to see you wanting more from this by the end of the first volume and for that, thank you for your time.
Before you move on :
➤ For every 50 powerstones, I will release an extra chapter.
➤ Do consider supporting my newer novel 'Steal the Prince's Heart' and this one as well, for every hundred collections, I will release an extra chapter!
➤ For every Dragon, Castle and Spacecraft gifted, there will be two extra chapters.
➤ If this book reaches Top 25 in bi-annual ranking, ten bonus chapters will be offered, and for Top 50, five bonus chapters.
Look forward to the unique story of a girl who tries to return to her own world, only to realise it would mean leaving the boy who, at some point, started to mean more than the entire universe could to her.