Chapter 22 - Only To You

"Umm… Kei… If I were to ask you…, Would you go somewhere with me?"

"What brought this up all of a sudden?"

As they walked home together, Mai asked him that question out of the blue. Although he was in a better mood, Mai saw some uncertainty in him that made her want to cheer him up. Although Yanagi-sensei told the guard to keep non-basketball members out of the court, she knew that the emergency back entrance would be unguarded and open. Nobody else except for basketball members knew this however. Hence, she saw the whole event during the training session unfold.

"Well, it depends on where you want to go. If it's crowded, then it's a straight up no."

"I see… Well, would you follow me with no questions asked if it's now a crowded place?"

"Well… I don't think that—"

When Kei was about to deny her request, he froze up. His mind was preoccupied before this, so he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. But when he turned to Mai, her face was suddenly up close to his to the point he could feel her warm breath. She was giving him a pleading look. Kei may not have noticed, but Mai had been in this position the entire time since she started asking the question.

"Umm… I… Ermmm…"

"Please…?"

"Haah… fine…"

"Heheh~"

As Mai made one final push, Kei finally gave in and accepted her request. When she gave him a devilish smile at the end, Kei could only think, 'This little devil.' When he finally accepted, he was wondering where she was taking him as it was already quite late at 5 in the evening. They eventually walked to the train station where Mai told Kei to follow her without asking too many questions. Kei quietly obeyed her since he had already agreed to her request.

They sat in the train for around 30 minutes before arriving in Chiba before switching trains for another 30-minute train ride. Since the evening rush hour was not as bad as the morning one, they were able to find seats quite easily. The train was rather empty this time as they were traveling out of Tokyo and this was the time where most of the traffic would be in the opposite direction with people trying to go home.

"You… You're not secretly taking me far away to kill me so no one will find my body, are you?"

"Hmm~ Who knows? You will just have to wait to find out. Heheh~"

"Seriously, where are you taking me?"

"Mouuu~… If I spoil the surprise now, then why would it be called a surprise?"

Kei gave a small sigh before he stopped talking again. The train ride between the two of them were mostly silent. Mainly because Mai was a shy person to begin with and Kei didn't like to talk in the first place, but also because Kei was quite tired from what had happened today. It was a day, for him, where many events had unfolded. When he finally relaxed in the train, he felt all the fatigue built up came crashing down on him.

The smooth train ride and quiet atmosphere had made him quite sleepy to the point where he found it difficult to stay awake. His eyes slowly closed as he finally gave in to his fatigue and fell asleep. Mai, who was sitting beside him, smiled slightly as she watched him slowly fall asleep for the first time ever. 5 minutes after he fell asleep, Mai who was still smiling at the sleeping Kei decided to do something she had never done before.

"Heheh~ I wonder how he would react when he wakes up."

20 minutes later, the train had finally arrived at its destination. The destination they had arrived at was Naruto. When Kei woke up, he felt a warm sensation that covered his left cheek. When he finally grasped what was happening, he was lying on Mai's shoulder who was to his left.

"I'm sorry!"

"Fufu… You were sleeping so comfortably, I decided to let you sleep like that the entire time."

Mai was lying, of course. When he finally found himself in deep sleep, she had taken advantage of the train's motion and slowly put Kei's head on her shoulder.

*Cough* *Cough*

"Anyways… Is this our stop?"

"Mhm! Well not exactly, we still need to take a taxi."

When the two of them found a taxi that was available, Mai told the driver in secret where she was headed. The taxi ride went on for about 15 minutes with Kei still confused as to why they were so far away from their home. When the taxi finally came to a stop, Mai asked the driver to wait for them there. The time was already 7.20 p.m. when they arrived.

"This is…"

"Mmm… welcome to Kujukuri beach… heheh~" Mai, who was standing in front of Kei smiled as she looked back at him.

"But… why…?"

"Hmmm… this is where I always go whenever I have a lot on my mind or when I am sad or troubled. Don't you think this view is amazing?"

The sky was already dark, but the view was still stunningly beautiful. Mai grabbed Kei's hand before taking her shoes off and walking down onto the sand before prompting Kei to do the same. When Kei stepped on the soft sand, he felt unfamiliar with the sand as this was something he had not done in so long. Mai pulled him further to the edge of the water so they could feel the water as the waves came in.

"You know, Kei-kun… I am not as talkative as the others; I don't have that much courage to speak up… But I want you to tell me when you're having problems…"

"But that's…"

"We're friends after all… I know this may be selfish, and you don't have to tell me anything about what happened in the past… But I don't want to see you suffering in silence… no friends would want that…"

When she said that, it hit Kei that he had many others worried about him because of how he currently acted. Chihaya, Azusa, and now even Mai is worried about him.

"I saw what happened in the training today… You're still quite worried about that aren't you?"

"Wait, how did you get in?"

"A-anyways… please don't make me worry about you, or others for that matter. It's not fair for other people who care about you."

Seeing how worried and determined Mai was about him, Kei gave a small sigh before patting her head.

"Alright… But only to you, alright? No one else."

"That's even better… heheh~"

As Kei patted her head, Mai smiled gave him a very sweet smile that made him slightly nervous. When all was done, both of them headed back to the taxi to start going home. When they arrived at their final station, the two of them were sleeping while leaning on each other's shoulders.