my day starts at 5:00, I wake up and start doing some exercises, it's hard to move when I just woke up but after a while you get used to it, after stretching I started jogging around the house until 5:30
After washing off my sweat with a quick shower I started eating the breakfast made by the best chef in the country, I still prefer Aru's cooking though...
I usually eat alone but today my father is eating breakfast at the same time, even then...there's a distance between us, his seat is located on the other side of the long table so it doesn't feel like we're eating like a normal family... mom was the only person that could move my father, when she was here we were able to act like a family, but now there's a crack in our relationship, I can't find how to talk to him
he finished his food first and so he stood up to leave the room, I gathered my courage and started talking
"I-..I will skip the lessons today"
my father normally throws any random lessons for me in the weekends, I can always refuse them but I try my best to follow them, from Piano to martial arts, I learned a lot of things I don't even know when would I even use, but I always put all of my efforts in them, I just want my father to be proud of me
"why?"
his answer is short, he never bothered to keep the conversation going, even when he's asking me about the reason he didn't care at all, he is just using his phone to cancel while giving me the minimum attention
"I'll go with Aru to the mall"
"you mean Sawano right? that's great! tell him to come here sometime we didn't talk at all lately"
he smiled... he never react like this unless I mention Aru, sometimes I think that my father might like Aru more than me, but I stop thinking about it quickly...I don't want to envy him..
well I understand him though, since I too love Aru so much, it's not exaggeration to say he's the greatest person I know
"I canceled it, good luck"
"Thank you"
tge conversation ended like this, I wanted to talk a little longer but the fear of rejection stopped me, I don't want to be hurt so I'll just give up before trying, this is the real Emma, a weak coward who's only good at hiding herself and so today too, I'll continue hiding
***
I spent a lot of time thinking about what to wear so I thought I might end up being late, but fortunately the driver managed to get me to the place exactly on time (he may or may not broke some rules on the way)
we agreed to meet in the park near our school, since it's a weekend I can see a lot of people walking around, but even then my eyes spotted Aru quickly
"Hey Aru!"
I ran to him while waving my hand, he's sitting on a bench using his phone aimlessly, I can see that he's bored so he probably came here early
"you came earlier than I expected, were you that excited?"
I couldn't hide my smile, I tried to tease him but he looked me with dead eyes
"what about you add a time next time you ask me out?"
Oh....I only sent him the day and location and forgot completely about the time...
"just for refrence, when did you come here?"
he smiled at me and crossed his legs confidentially
"I've been waiting since midnight"
"why didn't you just send me a message?!"
and why would I ask him to come at midnight? even if he didn't ask he should at least now the range people meet on
"I thought about it two hours in, but I just decided to continue waiting since I'm already here"
that's 2am right?! he still had a chance to back off but decided to wait for god knows what reason
"Ah don't worry, Shiori came and played with me to pass time"
"Shiori?"
did he just spend time with another girl before me? I know he's a trash but that's a lot to take...and who is this Shiori? a new girl? how many girls does this man have!
"Oh right you don't know her? she's Makoto's sister"
"Oh so she's garbage?"
"...she's really nice so you should talk with her sometime"
"hmmm so you like her huh?"
"of course I like her, she's like a better sister than my actual sister"
good, so he only see her as a sister, I was going to misunderstand this again, maybe she's the girl I saw him with when I met Haru-chan?
I smiled from the bottom of my heart, maybe it's all just misunderstandings, of course he won't be as low as Tsukasa-kun
"where do you want to go? you didn't even say that"
"Oh right I...."
I completely forgot about that, I decided that we should go to the new mall but what are we going to do there...
"you don't know too huh? why did you even...no, let's just go and figure something to do okay?"
"yes!"
I followed him happily, it doesn't matter what I throw at him he's going to find a solution, that's why I love him so much
after reaching the mall we walked around aimlessly as I watched clothes that I might buy
"do you have money on you?"
"enough to end world hunger"
"yeah, that was a stupid thing to ask"
father never stopped me from using his money as I want, I don't use it often since I'm not...wait isn't this my chance?
"Aru, I want to buy some clothes are you okay with that?"
"yeah sure, it's better than just walking randomly I guess"
as we were about to enter we heard a loud voice of some boy getting hit by other boys, they seem a little younger than us so they're probably in middle school
"are you not going to help him?"
I asked Aru since he was the first one to look at them
"it's none of my business is it?"
they're definitely bullying him, but it's still tame enough that the security can't interfere with them, I doubt they'll stop soon so maybe I should help him..
"let's go, you wanted to try this outfit right? you should try wearing it"
Oh I see what he's trying to do, I quietly nodded and entered the changing room, after two seconds I opened the door just enough for me to see outside, as expected he already left to help that kid
"why can't you be a little honest ~"
I closed the door and started wearing the new clothes with a smile on my face, I love him so much~
it's the same thing that happened when I first met him, he saved me and refused to take credit for it, it's not that he's doing it because of some good reason like "I did what I had to do as long as it's not too bothersome" it's more like..."I can help so I might as well do so" he always help people around him, sometimes he does it without even noticing it
after a few minutes I opened the door and I saw Aru waiting for me after he finished dealing with the kids outside
"that looks good on you"
I don't know if he's just giving me a compliment but I already feel my face burning
"since we're here you too should buy something!"
I said it just to change the topic but it's true that Aru needs some new clothes
"why are you even wearing a scarf? it's not cold anymore"
he's been wearing this scarf since the start of December, the quality isn't good so I don't see why would he wear it this much
"I don't really like buying clothes though...isn't it fiine to just wear anything?"
"No! it's not!"
stop ruining my idea! I want to see you in different clothes, I've never seen you wearing anything but dark things! there's a lot of colors you know?
after a sigh he accepted his fate without any more resistance
"don't choose anything weird okay? I'm trusting you"
I proudly put my hand on my chest and nodded
"do not worry! Emma will show you how much does your outfit change people's impressions on you!"
"I don't really care though..."
"you will care after I'm finished with you"
***
"I still don't care at all"
"why the fuck isn't anything working? there's barely any change even when you wore a dress!"
"that's trauma fuel so please let's both forget it okay?"
I mean he's still so hot even if he doesn't wear anythin- wait that's....
"are you hungry by any chance? you're drooling"
"Ah! righy let's go eat something okay?"
I quickly wiped the saliva and started walking as fast as I can, that wasn't good Emma, you shouldn't show him this side if me or he will hate me
"I like it"
"huh?"
"you know, when you're not acting, I think you're a lot cuter if you just act normal"
"..."
that's not fair....you can't just say something like this and expect me to not to pull your pants off and-
"you may want to wipe your mouth again, it's kinda creepy"
"excuse me, I think I've been spending a lot of time with Haru-chan lately"
"what does that...No, I feel like it's better to not know. let's go eat okay?"
before he could walk away I grabbed his jacket, he responded with a confused "what?"
I took a breath and started talking even though my face is burning red
"you said that I can act like I want right?"
"as long as it doesn't affect someone else, yeah you're free to do anything"
"t-then you won't laugh at me right?"
he stopped talking for a moment before answering
"I'll laugh my butt off if it's something funny so I can't promise you"
I hit his shoulder but it only caused me pain instead, how rough is his body...
"Emma"
"I know already I'll wipe it okay? let's go eat!"
we walked together to find somewhere to eat, we were so close that I can touch his hand if I moved just a little...I touched it and retreated quickly but Aru didn't react at all, there's no way he didn't notice, he just doesn't care...
"by the way what do you want to eat? I'm not sure I can find something for your golden tongue here so you need to compromise a little"
"I want yo eat fast food! take me to the most unhealthy thing you've ever tried to eat"
since I have the chance today I'll try anything that I didn't get the chance try before, I want to be normal, at least for today...I want to be myself
Aru looked surprised at first but he quickly started laughing
"I really should have expected that, you love trying new things right? let's go and do everything you want even if it's on the other side of the world"
***
"are you sure you want a kids meal? there're a lot of options..."
I nodded multiple times as quick as I can
"I saw it on the TV back in primary school and it never left my mind, I didn't have enough courage to ask father since he always get the best chefs to make our food"
normally I'd die from embarrassment if I ordered something like this alone but if I'm with Aru...
"give us two kids meals, don't forget the toy too please"
Aru looked at me with a smile
"since we're at it we should go all out right?"
I thought the waiter's reaction would be much different, she didn't seem to mind this at all
"people don't care about you as much as you do, even if you did something stupid most people won't even look at you if you didn't harm anyone"
"..."
I looked around me, everyone was eating differently, not a single person cared about the others, I normally don't care too so why did I expect everyone to look at me?
"it feels a little lonely...and scary"
I whispered it but I'm sure he heard me
"I know how you feel, people are living their lives, there's no NPCs that exist just for the sake of filling the screen, you are not the center of the universe, you are just another person"
he us right, everyone here is different but somehow we are all just the same, it's so obvious yet so hard to understand
"I see, everyone here is a human just like us..."
he looked at me with a surprised face and asked me the weirdest question I heard in my life
"wait, are you a human? like...a full human?"
"is that supposed to be an insult?"
even I can get angry if you go this far, Humph
"No it's just Chi-senpai...don't mind it I'm sorry about that let's just eat okay?"
"pardon the intrusion"
someone cut our conversation and sat next to Aru, he put his plate on the table casually as if he was always a part of the group, Aru looked at the boy for a minute before smiling
"who the fuck are you?"
he said it with a smile still on his face, and the boy too responded with a smile
"Oh, am I not welcomed?"
"Yup, glad you're fast to catch on things, now fuck off"
"may I ask you for the reason of your hostility?"
"You may not, fuck off"
I need to interfere before something happens
"Uh...he is Aki, my cousin..."
I don't know why did he come here all of a sudden, was he following us? it can't be a coincidence right?
"Oh I'm sorry I was so disrespectful, I didn't know you knew Emma, I'm truly sorry for the disrespect"
"it's fine as long as you understand"
"now can you please fuck off?"
Adding "please" doesn't make it any less disrespectful! why is Aru acting like this? I've been hit on like thirty-five times today and he didn't react like this at all!
"I see, it doesn't look like you are giving me a chance to talk right?"
"yeah, you already talked five more sentences than I would ideally like"
"I only said five sentences though?"
"exactly"
there's a tension between them that I don't understand, the air seems heavy it's hard to even breath
"Please Aru..."
I grabbed his hand with all of my strength, he calmed down instantly
"don't you think you are being too close for a bodyguard?"
"don't you think you are being too close for a stalker?"
he's a little calmed now but he still seems angry, this won't end if I don't do something
"worry not, I'll leave after I say something"
"hurry it up then"
Aki smiled and whispered something that I couldn't hear, Aru's face instantly switched as he grabbed the collar of the boy sitting next to him
"Is that true?"
"it makes sense now right? you should've felt that there's something weird going on lately"
"I see..."
he released his hand but it's already too late, the stuff are here since we made a huge noise right now...we probably need to get out
before he leaves us Aki smiled and said
"I saw what you did with kids earlier, you are a good guy Sawano Aru, Im excited to see you at school"
Aru just looked at him leaving without saying anything, he's not even angry anymore
"he's not a bad guy too huh?"
Aru sighed and then looked at me
"I'm sorry about it Emma..."
he apologized about the food since we didn't get to finish it there we had to get it as a takeaway, I don't mind it that much but still...
"what happened there?"
I decided to ask not expecting an answer
"the city is dangerous right now, there's a group of people who are looking for trouble"
I was concerned for a moment but if it's just that than it doesn't matter
"you said that the city is dangerous right? I don't think so"
I grabbed his right hand and squeezed it using both of my hands
"there's no place in this world that's safer than being with you"
as long as I'm with Aru, I'm sure I can survive even if the world itself was destroyed
Aru covered his mouth using his hand and looked away trying to hide his embarrassment
"I can't get used to it..this is just..."
for the first time today I think I moved him a little
"sorry that we got interrupted like that, I'll compensate you for it later"
"nope~ I already got what I wanted from you today so we can go back"
"is that so..."
he doesn't seem convinced but he accepted anyway since he didn't know the reason we were here from the beginning
"your driver is already here so...see you tomorrow at school"
Aru waved his hand and started moving away but I stopped him before he get too far
"you're the one who said that I can do what I want today right?"
"huh?"
when he turned around I pressed my lips on his cheek, even though it's just a second it felt like forever, after I separated from him I ran to the car and ordered the driver to go as fast as possible
"I can't believe I did it..."
I covered my face completely, I really want to bury myself now...no, it was my only chance, now he will definitely look at me more!