Although it seemed like the other was getting over the anxiousness, it was clear that something caused her to revert back to her usual behavior. Hm, weird. He could’ve sworn that he didn’t do anything outrageous this time. Unless, him laughing at her terrible excuse was what caused her distress. Now that he thought about it, it was quite probable. It wasn’t the nicest thing coming from him, but he couldn’t help it. It was so lame… how could he not laugh? Such a pathetic attempt only deserved to be laughed at. It was both hilarious, but also somewhat cute coming from the girl. So naïve, and so adorable for thinking someone would buy this excuse, especially someone like Yuji. However, he couldn’t be sure that this is what gotten her so upset. Perhaps she was upset about one of his remarks? Ah, girls were so confusing to him.
Then she surprised him once more, when she began speaking but never finished what she intended on saying. How peculiar, didn’t she do this before? Why would she keep forcing herself to not speak up when she wanted? How troublesome, he thought before stretching his arms a little. He decided to ignore the matter for now, as he planned on bringing it up later. Instead he paid attention to the fact that Chiaki gave him an okay in regards to hanging out with her. Sweet. “Oh love? You are flattering me, Chiaki-chan” he said smiling from ear to ear. “I am happy to hear that though! I’d enjoy hanging out with Chiaki-chan too. After all it’s merrier when you shop with others, right?” he paused for a second, to think of the mother’s present matter. That was a difficult one, considering he was never close with his own mother. He was quite unexperienced to say the least. He had no idea what a mother would like for her birthday. Anything he ever made or gave his mother was left unnoticed, so he wasn’t sure what present would work best. What a bother.
“You are right, if your mother truly loves you she’ll appreciate anything you give her. It’s the thought that counts after all…” he spoke simply and trailed off once again. Would a bouquet of flowers be enough? Maybe a new dress? Necklace? What did girls like anyway? “Say, what about a bracelet with her initials? Or initials of you and your siblings?” he said simply out of the blue. “I think that could be quite cute, don’t you think Chiaki-chan?” he smiled brightly at her, lowkey hoping that she’d appreciate his idea, perhaps even praise him for it. He wasn’t sure why he expected so much, but perhaps it was his constant need for approval that was speaking. “Say… I been meaning to ask you, did I do something wrong?” his tone of voice seemed to be softer, quieter even. “I am just asking because I noticed you haven’t responded to any of my texts, and I thought that maybe Chiaki-chan is upset with me. If that’s the case you can tell me! I won’t be mad”
She thought about his suggestions for a moment. A bracelet didn’t sound too bad, her mother seemed to like jewlery. One time, Kou bought her a silver ring with a small butterfly on it, and ever since then, she’s been wearing it like a good luck charm. So, surely, if it’s a bracelet that would remind her of all three of her kids, it would put a smile to her face. While pondering about the many possibilities, Chiaki seemed to calm down again. Her tense muscles loosened up for what felt like a mere minute before Yuji continued to talk. ‘Say… I been meaning to ask you, did I do something wrong?’ Her eyes widened in shock and surprise and at once she froze up again. A small gasp escaped her, anxiety stole her breath and made it harder to inhale air. She felt a tingling sensation on the tip of her fingers, which soon covered her hands fully. Remaining silent, she appeared to be anywhere but here, as if her mind teleported her to some other place where she felt comfortable and at ease. A place far away from the fear and guilt in her heart.
Her face heated up while her hands remained cold, this combination of temperatures helped her to return to reality. As if she tried to distract herself from the feelings, she turned away and started clearing her throat with a few coughs. Her throat was dry and she suddenly felt dizzy but since she didn’t want to worry Yuji, she tried to ignore whatever her body was trying to tell her. “Ah.. I.. n-no.. I.. actually.. I..” She couldn’t grasp her thoughts properly and only managed to stammer out a broken sentence. Hearing herself talk in such a manner only increased the pounding of her already panicking heart. Chiaki was not prepared to be confronted like this. The past days, she tried really hard to solve this problem on her own. She wanted to text back before meeting him in person to avoid awkward situations. That, and she didn’t want Yuji to suddenly hate her or to misunderstand her, but things turned out the way she never wanted them to be. She was confronted with a situation she didn’t want to be in, stuck in a conversation with the person she had ignored for so long. If anyone should be upset, it should be Yuji.
She was the worst. Her head hung lowly as she tried to control her breathing to calm herself down, however it didn’t work. She didn’t want to stay silent for too long since the other was still waiting for a response. “I’m.. I’m not—” As the words left her, so did her breath. It seemed that all this agitation caused her to breathe the wrong way, making her even more light-headed than before. She paused, as she took a few wobbly steps forward. Without thinking, she held onto Yuji’s arm to support herself. This close distance was actually quite helpful. At least now she didn’t have to put all of her strength into her voice and his figure blocked out the people inside the mall which caused her stress. A small sigh left her when she rested her forehead against his arm. “... I’m not upset at Yuji-san. The truth is... I.. was very scared. And I’m still... very scared. I’m so... so sorry... I wanted to be a friend to Yuji-san... but... I’ll.. try harder.. I promise..”
