217. Lend Me Your Shoulder For The Last Time

After getting further away from the school location and Izumi saw Kyouko walking alone, he got closer to her.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Izumi's voice startled Kyouko who had stopped for a moment, but she ignored him and walked faster. Quickly, Izumi grabbed Kyouko's hand and forced her to stop.

Kyouko turned her face and looked at Izumi. She had mixed feelings and couldn't think calmly. Izumi also saw her eyes which were about to tear up.

Izumi sighed.

"Please, let me talk with you for a moment. Okay? Somehow, I understand why you are avoiding me. Why don't we have a good talk about this?"

Kyouko saw Izumi who was looking at her seriously and made her unable to refuse his invitation. In the end, she agreed to talk about what had happened between them.

Izumi took her to a park close to their location. The park is not that big, but people often use it to relax because there are tall trees for shade. There are also several gazebos at each corner of the park. Izumi led her to one of those gazebos.

The two of them sat side by side, but they remained silent because neither one had started the conversation.

Due to the silence, Izumi started to speak.

"Kyouko, can you act normally at school? You know, things get awkward in class."

Kyouko didn't answer Izumi's words, so he continued.

"If you really don't want to get back together, can we just be friends instead?"

However, what Izumi said made Kyouko swing her right hand.

*slap*

Izumi knew what Kyouko wanted to do, but he didn't avoid it and received a slap in the face. However, Kyouko stiffened after that. She was afraid Izumi would kill her since he didn't even flinch when he killed other people as if he was used to it.

Kyouko sobbed and had tears streaming down her face. Izumi didn't know how to respond after seeing Kyouko's face.

Kyouko tried to say something.

"I just hope we didn't know each other."

What she said left him speechless.

Kyouko said further.

"Could you stop going out into another world and live in peace here?"

Izumi didn't expect Kyouko to ask such a thing. Izumi just shook his head as he said.

"It is impossible."

Izumi felt that his world was getting out of place since he knew a god and a former hero were living in his world. Furthermore, the way Hiiro and his friend, as well as Kyouko, were summoned to another world so easily in which indicated that the dimensions in his world were very easy to breach into.

He didn't want to talk it through and through except with the chat group members. So, his refusal somewhat sounded as if he didn't accept Kyouko's feelings.

"T-Then, are you still... going to... kill people?" Kyouko said while looking around.

Izumi didn't answer her with words, but he nodded in response to Kyouko's question.

Seeing Izumi's response of not wanting to escape from such a world, Kyouko covered her face with both her palms. A sob could be heard coming from the face she was covering.

Then, Izumi heard Kyouko say.

"You know how much it hurts my heart when I avoid you? I still like you, I still love you. I just want a normal, happy life. I don't want you to have that kind of life. Can you consider changing your life, and living peacefully? About the picture that your friend sent to me, although I don't know what happened exactly, I believe that you're not cheating on me. Especially after she explained the other day."

Hearing those words, Izumi asked back.

"Are you sure you still like me? Love me? If so, shouldn't you accept me as I am? I don't want to hide anything from you so you'll understand if "I am like this", or, "this is me"! I'm telling you to accept who I really am! This may be my selfishness. But all I want is to protect the people I care about. If you can't accept it, then it's better if we paved a different path."

Izumi said it without taking a breath, he paused for a moment before he carried on.

"I know that you are an ordinary girl, different from me who has superpowers. But I still want to make you happy. Reality is cruel. I'm sure you won't believe it before you experience it yourself, just like you were sent to another world. In order to avoid something like that, I always try my best to get stronger in case something similar happens. It's just too bad you don't want someone like that. I know you're heartbroken when you always avoided me. But, do you think I'm not? I didn't go to school after you asked me to break up because I felt awkward, I felt pain, and mixed feelings filled up my heart. I thought again and again. It can't be helped that I love adrenaline, challenges, combat, and even adventure, I can't just leave the things I love behind. However, I prioritized getting strong in order to avoid unwanted things. After breaking up with you, I started to think that I don't want a normal life anymore. So, our love story should end from now on."

Izumi said everything that was in his heart. He felt a little relieved to have said everything. There was only one more thing that he wanted. But he saw Kyouko who was sobbing and made him stop talking. He waited for Kyouko to stop sobbing.

Before Izumi could speak, Kyouko hugged him with tears in her eyes soaking Izumi's uniform.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid. I'm really afraid. Last time, it was me who was caught and transported into that world. After you told me, at that time I was absolutely sure that it had something to do with you. I'm afraid it will be my little brother, my mother, or my father next time. I was so scared because you'd killed people there. Especially when you gave off that horrible look that caused me to faint, I was terrified at that time. My only thought after I woke up was to quickly get away from you. I'm sorry!"

Kyouko's voice was quite loud, luckily Izumi acted quickly by creating a transparent soundproof barrier using his Devil Fruit power, so no one could hear them.

"Then, from now on, we have to go our separate ways. You'd better forget about me! There are still people who are better than me when it comes to love. Well, I just hope we can still be friends."

Izumi said with a heavy heart, seeing Kyouko cry like that, he also wanted to cry, but he held it back. Kyouko raised her head with her reddened eyes because of her cry. She asked softly.

"Isn't it possible for us to be in a relationship again?"

Izumi shook his head to deny it. Izumi could have made Kyouko gain some power. But since Kyouko was even opposed to killing, Izumi didn't dare bring it up.

Izumi had already said everything he wanted to say. The burden was gone, he already felt relieved after releasing all that he had buried in his heart.

He stood up from his seat and prepared to leave, he said to Kyouko.

"Thank you for everything. Now, I have to…" Before Izumi could say goodbye, Kyouko grabbed his sleeve which made him stop.

"What is it?"

Izumi wondered why she stopped him.

"Could you lend me your shoulder for a moment? For the last time." And what Kyouko said surprised him.

After what Izumi said earlier, Kyouko seemed to want to scream. But she tried to stay strong. Kyouko started to understand why Izumi didn't want to go back into a relationship with her anymore after hearing his reasons. What's more, he couldn't shake off his selfishness. So it is more likely that he will find a partner who is more suitable for his circumstances.

Even so, Kyouko felt sad after hearing all the reasons that made her ask him for something like a couple for one last time.

Izumi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He sat again and allowed her to lend his shoulder. He could see Kyouko's eyes were still red from crying. Kyouko leaned her head on his shoulder while closing her eyes.

It didn't take long after Kyouko rested her head on his shoulder, she fell asleep despite being in that position. Izumi thought that maybe she wasn't getting enough sleep lately which caused her to be like this. Izumi left it like this so she could be satisfied. She was asking this one last time anyways.

An hour and a half later, Kyouko woke up and apologized. Izumi could only reply with a smile and started to stand up from his seat.

"Well then, see you after the summer holiday."

Izumi walked away leaving Kyouko with a wave, gesturing to say goodbye.