What Kind of a Strange Fate Was This?

The music blasted from the booths mixed with people's chatters, filling the air with the joyful ambiance. The visitors were happily spending time at the brightly lit streets with rows and rows of cherry blossom trees around them.

None of them wore the complicated look the same on Himari's face.

A sense of panic slowly surged from Kazuya's heart.

"Himari, are you okay?" He asked again in an attempt to make her reacted. Kazuya kept his voice low.

The lady blinked.

Himari blinked a few times, shook her head then staring back at Kazuya. This time, even though she still appeared confused, she wasn't in a daze.

"Kazuya, why do you look so interested in what happened to me on that night? Did I accidentally tell you something?"

Even though Himari herself freely telling him about that night earlier, as time passed by, she found that his questions were a bit strange.

From the beginning until now, his focus was on that night.

He had even asked her about the name card and note that should not bring any significance to him.

Why was that?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt weird.

He wasn't asking the questions randomly, right?

Kazuya carefully took in her expression. It was inevitable if Himari found his questions suspicious.

He shouldn't keep it from her any longer.

"Himari, I won't ask you questions anymore but, would you listen to me first?"

After several times contemplating with himself, Kazuya warily put forth such a request to her.

Himari lightly nodded, "Tell me."

To have Kazuya appeared so mindful right now, she couldn't help but be curious about the important matter he had wanted to say to her.

Kazuya took a long breath. He fixated his gaze on her inquiring eyes. Slowly, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Three years ago, after my brother fell into the coma, his company was in unrest. Although the company wasn't as big as any conglomerate, it still has its own significance. A group of people on the board was restless. They found me troublesome ever since I took over my brother's company so, one night, they planned to deal with me."

His voice grew lower and the pace of the words that came out of his mouth turned slower.

Even then, Himari could still hear him within the short distance between them.

"I was at a hotel to meet a potential investor. I let my guard down and, when I found that I was being drugged, I could only run and hide from them. Luckily, a young woman helped me even though at first, she was being forced by me. I stayed in her hotel room until morning came. Of course, I did not do anything untoward to her."

Himari, who was carefully listened to him, slowly had a change of expression.

It was something that Kazuya had anticipated.

She was in a daze with her eyes losing focus for a moment before little by little, those same eyes gradually widened with doubt and surprise layered in them.

Realization finally dawned on her as the loose threads connected.

"...Kazuya, you... That story, are you serious?" Himari stuttered with her eyes blinking a few times. She forced the next words out, "That man, was that you? Don't tell me... That man was really you?"

Due to shock, Himari abruptly stood up even before Kazuya confirming her questions. Her eyes were still wide as she stared at him with an open mouth.

"Himari, I don't mean..."

Her reaction made him anxious.

Would she hate him after knowing all this?

Kazuya wanted to say something, to even make excuses before his words were cut short by a string of sentences from the woman standing in front of him.

"Do you have always known that woman is me? Even before we met because of Chiharu? Ah, your name indeed sounds so familiar to me but I couldn't recall from where I have seen it. No wonder, it must due to the name card. Wait, wait, the most important thing, has the bad guys being caught? What happened to you after that night?"

Kazuya was dumbfounded. He foolishly stared at Himari for a while, thinking that this kind of reaction was something that he didn't expect from her.

"Kazuya, I ask you! Did those guys ever do something else to you?" Himari urged an answer out of him.

The moment she realized that man was Kazuya, Himari was instantly reminded of the men who appeared later. Those men looked so vicious. One of them even wanted to barge into her room when he smelled something suspicious from her.

If Kazuya was caught by them, no one knew what would they do to her as well. They must have thought that she had deliberately hidden Kazuya from being found by them.

While Himari was frightened by that thought, a burst of laughter coming from Kazuya perplexed her.

"What... what are you laughing at?" Her confusion doubled.

"Hahaha! Relax, Himari... Let's sit down first, sit."

Kazuya continued laughing as he stood up, gently clasped both of his palms around her wrists and pulled her to sit next to him.

The touch lightly startled Himari. The warm sensation made her flustered. With her cheeks reddened, she followed his movement.

Once she sat again on the bench, Kazuya let go of his hands.

Even then, the warmth of his hands still lingered on her skin.

"Sorry... I just grabbed you like that," Kazuya smiled faintly, "Sorry."

"It's nothing..." Himari shook her head.

She sat quietly. She suddenly didn't know how should she react after the outburst of her questions.

One by one, the memories of that night and what she occasionally thought after that resurfaced in her mind.

The figure and the face of that man were a blur yet, Himari could safely believe that he was indeed Kazuya.

And...

The name printed on the name card was Hayashi Kazuya.

No wonder...

No wonder she had always found that his name was familiar to her. But, Himari couldn't even link his name to the name card that she placed inside one of her books.

There were times when she would open the book and take out the name card but, other than staring at the name, she did nothing further than that. Although that man, Kazuya had written the note saying that she could seek him if she ever needed any help, she did not do anything.

What kind of a strange fate was this?

Kazuya carved a smile on his face as he recalled how she had acted.

It was a bit funny but, at the very least, he knew that Himari didn't disdain him after knowing the truth.

"Those men have been imprisoned. They drugged underage girls to frame me. The girls have been saved. Because there was plenty of evidence of their crimes, the court sentenced them to prison."

Kazuya started explaining about those old foxes.

The men that came chasing after him were the minions. The real deal was the ones standing above them. Yet, he just told her until that point.

There was no need for her to be concerned about that scummy men.

Himari was relieved once she heard that the bad guys had been imprisoned. If they continued roaming freely outside, more people would fall into danger.

"Then, about my question earlier, since when do you know that woman was me?"

Himari was back to repeating the earlier questions. There were still things that she wanted to confirm from him.

"Actually, after I met you twice, I feel like you're familiar to me but, I couldn't really pinpoint from where did you make such an impression. Well, that night from three years ago is something I couldn't help but think about often because, if not for the girl acting as my savior, I would meet my doom."

His words made her both flustered and blushed.

Himari darted her eyes away from him, directing her gaze to the cold cup in her hands. She mumbled, "What savior... It's not like my contribution was really that great."

Kazuya didn't realize his eyes and smile were incredibly soft as he continued looking at her.

"To be certain, after we met again, I asked my friend Shuichi to check on the guest list on that particular night. It really turned out that the woman was you."

Himari slowly lifted up her eyes, looking past his shoulders before she met her gaze.

"Why did you decide to come clean with me? What if, I got scared of you and what happened that night actually traumatized me? Aren't you afraid I would lodge a police report about your barging into my room?"

Kazuya was baffled for a second before once again his laughter filled the space between them.

"Don't laugh!" Himari frowned, "Even though the event happened three years ago, the report would still be valid."

"Hehe, do you want to let me go to jail so bad?" Kazuya's shoulders shook as he couldn't stop laughing.

Himari shot him a glare, "En, since I'm a magnanimous person, I would just forgive you. After all, you really didn't have any bad intention to me that night."

"My Lady, your heart is a wide as the ocean. Thank you for forgiving the sin that my humble self has committed," Kazuya playfully bowed at Himari with one palm pressed on his left chest.

Himari finally laughed.

Really, never did she expect this was what he wanted to tell her about.

How uncanny it was that they met again after three years?