RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Twenty-Six: Aren't We Getting Personal?

"For real... I really like you."

He was her enemy.

Yuko Amazawa sat there in silence, masking her shock and total disbelief right after hearing what Kyouhei Kurosaki had just said to her, wearing that solemn face that made her feel extremely nervous. Was he out of his goddamn mind? What was he saying all of a sudden now? She tried to process the words, swallowing them with skepticism while Kyouhei just sat there, looking so easy-going as if none of what he said actually meant anything.

"Do you like me?"

"Excuse me?" Scoffing, Yuko glared at the question, feeling quite offended. He was getting too bold, that it was not actually funny nor was it tolerably acceptable now. She can only take that much but this was bordering personal and she felt disgusted with what he was trying to insinuate. 

"I don't like you,' she quickly added to her baffling remark, her eyes shooting daggers his way. Kyouhei met her glare and chuckled lightly, smirking at her answer. 

"Well, just asking. Since you've been doing all these things for me for years and you never left my side," he casually explained, ignoring her angry expression, "Doesn't that mean that you like me, at least in some kind of way?"

"You're completely full of yourself," Yuko snarkily retorted back, snorting, "Don't read too much in it, because I'm only using you as a mere pawn."

Revealing it as something true, Yuko suddenly got ahead of herself, blurting it out unintentionally with not much of a thought. Then she stopped for a second, peering at him but Kyouhei seemed to have failed to read between her lines, as the last word hit him differently and he quickly turned to her, frowning.

"A pawn?" he remarked with a raised voice, sounding truly offended, "Wow. That really hurts me, you know? You just needed to prove something by using me, don't you?"

Rather than to prove something, it was actually something else... that he entirely did not and will never know. But Yuko tried to stick to his naivety and quickly moved forward, afraid to say anything more now.

"Oh, my gods," she said, rolling her eyes, slightly laughing at his face, "You're so sensitive. Isn't that what we already agreed on years before?"

And that was true. The only reason why they even stuck to each other was because of that long yet rewarding ambition to take the Prime Minister seat. In fact, Yuko was the one who planted that idea in his head, trying to entice him with the possibility of making this country much better if he pursued it... Not knowing that she was deliberately leading him into a trap. The first moment she heard him saying he had wanted to become someone that people could look up to, she practically devised up a plan to make him achieve that and then ruin him perfectly for the purpose of her undying revenge against him... At least, against his previous identity. Her rival.

"I would have liked it better if you said I was the bishop or the horse, or at least a rook to you," he complained, stuck in that "pawn" word, as he went on, "You using chess reference here, you could have chosen something that was quite better than that. A pawn?"--he repeatedly emphasized, scoffing--"You just think of me like that? Do you really hate me that much?"

Does she? 

"I don't."

For a second, the words came out of her lips a little too soft and barely coherent and she immediately wanted to take it back. She never really wanted to admit it, but maybe... just a little, he was not that completely dislikable. She actually appreciated him, but he did not really have to know that. She still wanted to hate him and ignore him... but here he was, popping into her life and invading her personal space. And she knew that no matter how much she would try to avoid letting him into her life, he would still try and try to find his way in. He was just like that... Incredibly annoying.

She intended not to say that loud enough but Kyouhei's ears perked when he heard it. And even with just that simple revelation, his chest warmed up to the thought that it made him overthink it to the point that he was starting to smile so cheekily as he turned to stare at her.

"What did you say?" he said, just teasing her while he reveled in the idea that she did not really hate him. At least, to him, that was some progress in their relationship when all this time he had thought she never liked him. Yuko could even feel the chumminess of his remark, feeling quite uncomfortable that she was having this conversation with him, that it was wearing her out of reasons.

"I didn't hear that Yuko-san," he annoyingly egged on, "Can you repeat that again?"

And she regretted it so much now, closing her eyes as she held back a groan.

"Stop it," she snapped back at him, her nostrils flared, "I don't hate you, okay?" She paused, and after taking a deep breath, she continued, "At least... This version of you," she clarified. 

"I don't hate it all. I don't hate Kurosaki." 

For Yuko, that meant something deeper than what it was when she confessed it vaguely, but she did not want to elaborate that anymore. Yet for Kyouhei he only took it by words. He never really expected her to be this honest and it pleased him extremely to hear that she was admitting this. Even though he did not quite comprehend what she meant by "version of him" and why she had referred to him in a third-person point-of-view, he just accepted it as it was. He was already satisfied just by those words alone and it made him feel a bit hopeful, cause she did not hate him at all.

"Thank you," he said after a moment, smiling genuinely as he looked up and sighed.

"For what?" Yuko asked, scowling but she was no longer annoyed.

"Because you don't hate me," he said, smiling wider as he basked in the relieving feeling of the soft wind hitting his face, "And that gives me confidence."

"Confidence?" Yuko remarked, snorting.

And for no reason, as if that got him much braver to face her, Kyouhei turned to her and gently reached to tuck the hair beside her face and put it gently behind her ear, startling her at the same time. 

"Maybe someday," he said, meeting her eyes when she suddenly looked his way after being taken aback by his unexpected sweet gesture, "I could finally make you like me... And you can finally call me by my first name, Yuko-san."

Later that evening, when she was already getting ready for bed, she thought about it again. Kyouhei Kurosaki was given a spare room at her cousin's house next door, and he told her that he would be going back to Tokyo tomorrow, no longer in the pursuit of saying the reason why he had suddenly shown up here in her hometown. But regardless of that, Yuko was still distracted by those words he had told her while they were sitting at the patio and looking at each other's eyes.

He looked so genuine and his voice came out so passionate and earnest. It bothered her yet made her feel soft at the same time... And she did not want to acknowledge that, of course. But something had gotten into her when she was staring at him for those few seconds and felt the time stopped when he had gently touched her face. She did not want to think too much of it, but as she stared up to her ceiling, still wondering what just happened, her heart began to pound so hard, it hurt but it got her feeling fluttery inside.

What was this feeling just now? Why was this getting weird? She wanted to erase all of these confusing thoughts but the more she tried to brush them away, the more it played back again in her mind. But no... No. She must not let him get into her like this... He was her rival. She still had to do her revenge. She had to get a grip.

Yuko forced herself to sleep, ignoring the fact that something had already changed and as she closed her eyes, trying to block all of the thoughts off, she could still feel that small part on her face... That spot just between her ear and her cheekbone, the very part where he had touched her... And it was still tingling... As if the mere touch of his burnt her. And even though she did not want to admit it, she subconsciously raised her hand and touched it with her fingertips...

This was getting out of control. But she could not stop herself, and eventually fell asleep... With her hand laid over the side of her face... That very side where he had once touched him... Sweetly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Twenty-Seven