Nene knew she hadn’t answered him after the correct notes, but given how he had reacted to it all it had thrown her off guard and made her answers only wrong and making it seem like she didn’t have an answer for it.
“Of course I didn’t do this of my own will! You’re right I would never do that, but that person… that stranger was bothering me. He kept bugging me about you and in the end I have had enough!” She sighed and caught her breath again as she had rushed the words out of her mouth. “I was tired of being bugged about how I feel about you. If I loved you and things like that.“
Her breathing relaxed, now finally have gotten it all out. How he would accept it as an answer she wasn’t sure of though. The tension he threw her way suggested for a harsh reply, still not accepting it.
He let go of her wrist and Nene withdrew her hand quickly, rubbing it with her other hand. Right after he instead placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.
"It’s not like I can control it! I can’t exactly decide who I fall for!” She snapped back at him, not even blinking while keeping her eyes locked at his light blue ones.
His voice changed from that previous to a much calmer one. When he spoke Nene’s face decreased in tension, soon finding herself almost shocked by his rushed words. “What? What would you have done?“ She asked with a low tone, lowering her gaze so that she didn’t meet his eyes as she asked him.
"If you–… what?”
Wide cerulean eyes stared at her in bafflement. But oh, he heard her alright. It was mainly the fact her admittance had fazed him to the point his composure began to ebb away a little.
Her outburst had thrown a curve at him, and he merely gazed at her with a confounded look as he listened to her sudden disclosure. True, he did want her to tell it to him straight, but seeing her on the edge like this as her words rushed right out of her mouth… Kiriha could only tighten his jaw in an attempt to contain the anger that had started to swell in his chest. This was too much… It was bad enough that this imbecile had harassed Nene personally; but for them to throw himself into the mix without his knowledge? What the hell were they thinking.
It took him quite a bit of his resolve to will himself from cutting off the other girl’s words by voicing out his own thoughts. No, he had to listen first. Think calmly. Put aside his resentment. Analyze the situation. Come up with a solution for all this.
But then she just had to look back up at him and utter those next words. Something stirred in the recesses of his mind as her eyes were firm upon his. A memory. Slowly, his lips tugged themselves back, almost resembling a half-snarl, and his grip on her tightened by the slightest; but then he noticed it. The tension on her stiffened shoulders. And suddenly, he felt the strangest urge… to just pull her towards him. It was… unnerving, to say the least, seeing her like this; and if his words wouldn’t reach her, then maybe–…
And for a split second he almost gave into that urge. Almost. His fingers twitched, yet his reasoning stopped him from acting on impulse right in the nick of time. Stiff hands remaining in position for a moment; electric blue eyes gazing back at her amethyst ones; and slowly, those blue eyes fluttered close as his hands slid off her shoulders.
Pulling away from her, he gazed back at her silently with another one of his blank, unreadable expressions. And then, his knitted eyebrows seemed to soften, and he gave her a small smile.
“….Then let me be the one to decide that.”
“Remember? ‘I’ll definitely make you mine.’ I haven’t forgotten that.”
He held his smirk for a few more moments, before her inquiry made his curved lips diminish back into a flat line. Lips pursed, he contemplated his thoughts, gaze remaining fixed on her. What would have he done? Thinking about it, if something truly serious did happened to her in his absence… It wasn’t like he’d be there to help her out, let alone know she was in trouble in the first place.
“…If,” he murmured in a low whisper, “If I knew about it, I would’ve come to your aid.” His gaze hardened. “But I don’t always know what goes on in everyone’s lives; If I didn’t know about it… like I didn’t know about this…” He exhaled through his nose, easing out his frustrations. “I don’t know if I could forgive myself.” A tightened look became evident on his features. After all, it was his choice to travel all the way to the other side of the globe, wasn’t it?
The loosening of his grip didn’t help in the slightest and the fact that he still wouldn’t let her go and remained a grip around her wrist just annoyed Nene even more, almost the point were her boiled up anger would pop. There wasn’t anything else to say about the matter.“I would never have taken you to be this sensitive about all this Kiriha. What’s the big deal anyway?” Her expression changed from the sad from earlier to a frown. “And if I’m not mistaken I am entitled to do whatever I want.“ She glared daggers at him, taking a step closer to him.
He squeezed her wrist, the next words uttered from his lips making Nene feel annoyed. He had passed over-exaggerating a long time ago, now also bringing in that. “Well who said I had to please you?! I’m sorry to break this to you Kiriha but people change. But for what it’s worth, you really haven’t changed at all. You have instead gone back, back to before you joined Xros Heart.” She sent him multiple glares, almost getting so angry that she wanted to scream it all out.
She didn’t want to say the next words that were paused in her mind that she had kept from everyone, but she did anyway. “Newsflash Kiriha… I can’t believe I was captivated by you.“
Not letting herself look brought down again she instead turned her head away and looked in another direction, her hand that was still held firmly by Kiriha dropping loosely by her side. “At least… let go of me.” She spoke calmly, but very low pitched. “I won’t walk away.“
His gaze seemed to harden as she gave him her retort, and vexation grew more evident on his face. She still didn’t get him, and it was starting to frustrate him more as the moments progressed. Did he really need to spell it out for her…?
"Don’t give me that, I am not getting sensitive,” he snapped back, not even bothering to hold back his tone any longer. “And I’ll tell you what the big deal is; the Nene I know wouldn’t just nod and go along with a stranger’s impulses!” His own exclamation surprised even himself. Quieting for a moment, he pursed his lips swallowed back silently, then slowly exhaled through his nose. “…You say that, Nene, but I get this feeling you didn’t do it out of your own decision. You were forced to do this, weren’t you? That’s the point I’m trying to make here!”
More and more assumptions ran through his mind in those moments, thinking of the possibilities that would’ve made Nene do such a rather uncharacteristic thing for her. Surely she wasn’t the type to break through people’s personal spaces just for her own amusement? …Well, perhaps that may have been true for the old Nene he once knew in the past, but things have changed since then, and he believed Nene had grown to be more mindful and compassionate. So, why–?
His breath hitched briefly at her next words, however, and it took a few seconds for him to let it sink in. Her words were blunt and biting, and he could just feel them pierce at his conscience. Yet… to hear her say that she was captivated by him? And odd feeling seemed to tug at the back of his mind, though it wasn’t anything like the annoyance he felt prior; it was indescribable to him. But as his mind fully processed her words, agitation rose, and his jaw clenched to the point it almost made a grinding noise. That was the last straw.
Kiriha released his grip on her wrist, placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye.
“No one ever said that you had to!!” He snapped in a voice that almost resembled a low snarl. “I know people change! If you think I’m that dense then you’re sorely mistaken!”
“I believed you changed for the better! I believed in you, can’t you see that!? But…” His voice slowly began to alleviate back into a normal tone. “I never would’ve thought you of all people would become someone who’d let strangers play these stupid demands on you… I told myself, no matter how much you’d change, I’ll still have faith in you and your honorable airs! That’s why…!”
“Do you understand now? This is making me worry about you!” He stressed out almost each word he uttered. “If anything had happened while I was gone… I…”
Taken by surprise by Kiriha grabbing her arm Nene was whirled around to face him. He certainly didn’t look happy. In fact, Nene had never seen him like this before.
“Kiriha.. l-let go!” She exclaimed and started pulling her arm away, but his grip was too tight for her to pry free. She was actually feeling a bit scared, but heck it if she was gonna let Kiriha see that.
She collected herself after a minute or so. “It hurts,” she spat at him and gave him a solid glare. Clearly he hadn’t understood that it was just a joke, but she was foolish for thinking that he would even think in those lanes.
“It. Was. A. Joke.” Nene still glared at him and didn’t feel like explaining herself to him right now. Just get free and walk away was what she really wanted, but he would just hold her back again. “Those grey faces we both have gotten made me go and kiss you. You should be glad I did this instead of giving you a real kiss. Now let me go.”
Strangely enough Nene didn’t feel like acting in her usual ways right now. She just wanted to leave, and if Kiriha were paying close enough attention he could see that her facial expression were sadder than usual. “Need me to shove it in your mouth with a tablespoon?” She spat, trying to cover up how she really felt.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Kiriha barked back, his grip still firm on her arm just as his hard gaze was. He wasn’t gonna let her walk away from him without an explanation for all that, damn it. And he surely won’t allow her to just do as she pleases just because she feels like it, even if it was Nene.
He was too absorbed with the thoughts and assumptions that ran through his mind, that he hadn’t even noticed how tense he was being. At least not until Nene snapped at him a second time.
Eyes widened by the slightest, he parted his lips to speak, but no words seem to come out; instead, he covered for himself by pursing them together into a thin line. His grip on her arm loosened somewhat, just enough for his hand to slide down to her wrist; a gesture that signaled the girl that he had heeded her words, but still wasn’t too keen on letting her walk out on him again.
Penetrating gaze still fixed on her, Kiriha kept silent as he listened to Nene’s retorts. And listening to her explanation, mixed, unexplainable emotions seemed to stir in the back of his mind; his frown deepened, and he felt his irritation grow even stronger. But this time, it was directed at both Nene and those so-called strangers. Possibly her fans, he quickly assumed.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Nene? The calm, dignified girl he’d come to know all those times he fought alongside her, belittling herself to going along with a mere stranger’s whims? This wasn’t the way she would have acted. At least in his opinion, there was no way she’d allow herself to follow a probable fan’s impulses; at least not without benefiting something worthwhile in return. And adding that to her apparent agitation… Somehow, this seemed all too forced to him. It was as if he could sense an underlying reason behind her toughened front. But whatever it may be, this wasn’t right at all.
“Nene.”
The expression she was making… He didn’t want to see it. It didn’t suit her at all. But, he tried to overlook it for the meantime. Disregarding her sharp tone, Kiriha gave her wrist a slight squeeze; this time more controlled. “Tell me. Have you really changed so much that you’d foolishly listen to what a stranger tells you to do?” He didn’t let her answer right away, as he continued, “This… isn’t about the kiss, or fake kiss – or whatever anymore. This is me asking you where your noble airs have disappeared to! …To think that I was captivated by that once…” he voice was barely above a whisper at those words, and he shook his head.
“…I’m disappointed in you, Nene.”
ms-lumina said: Sneaking up on Kiriha Nene placed her left hand on his shoulder, making a movement that made him turn his face around to face hers. "At least try to stay calm," she said bluntly with an amused frown and put her right index finger to her lips kissing them, and then put that finger on Kiriha's lips. "Like I'd ever kiss you for real..." she added and then turned around, walking away.He hadn’t expected the sudden touch that settled itself on his shoulder. Startled, he veered around, only to meet face to face with the frowning amethyst-eyed girl. A quizzical look surfaced on his features as he looked at her.
“Wait, what are you tal—…” He hadn’t registered her quick movements, having her finger pressed against his lips.
Blue eyes stared wide open with surprise at her index finger, then slowly trailed back to Nene’s face as she withdrew her hand. The stunned expression he wore slowly morphed into another… more flustered look as her last statement reached his ears.
Before he could try to regain his composure, however, he caught sight of Nene turning to leave.
Indignation slowly growing and gnawing at him, he hissed under his breath and quickly stepped up to her, grabbing her by the arm. He can’t just let this go; this was just a low blow to his own pride. How could she do that to him? Why would she do that to him? That wasn’t like her at all!
“Hold it, Nene,” he firmly stated as he gave her arm a tug, motioning for her to face back towards him. “Don’t just walk out on me. That isn’t like you. I thought you were a lady of dignity and esteem. Why? Tell me why you did that just now.”
He might’ve been overreacting. Heck, it wasn’t even a direct kiss — could it even be called a kiss? There wasn’t any real reason to get so frustrated at this. But on the other hand, there was no way he could dignify her actions without a good reason behind it, either. It left him bewildered, agitated, thrown off… and muddled.
