Ch 32: I'd Gladly Be Your Knight

Throughout the rest of the day, Minami had called and texted Akina but to no avail. Her concern only grew as she struggled to get ahold of her.

'This isn't like her. She would've let me know if she wasn't coming. She wouldn't leave me hanging like that.' Minami thought as she anxiously chewed on her thumb nail.

She glanced up at the clock in her bedroom.

'There's still time for me to run to her place really quick…'

For a moment, she contemplated if this would be a good decision or not.

She grabbed her white bag and rushed out of the house.

'Akina could be in danger, something could be wrong. It's better to check if she's okay rather than wait.

It was better to take the station to Akina's house, but she couldn't wait for the next train. Instead, she ran over there as fast as she could.

She stood at Akina's door, frantically ringing the bell with one hand as she stood hunched over and sweaty. Her legs burned and felt like they would give out at any second. Running was never really something she was good at nor was it something she enjoyed.

On the other side of the door she heard movement. Akina lived alone, so it was either her or some sort of intruder.

Minami clutched her bag tightly, ready to use it as a weapon or defense, or…whatever the situation called for.

The door opened and Minami breathed a sigh of relief to see Akina standing there.

"Akina! You're okay!" Minami smiled wide.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Akina replied, her tone curt.

"Huh?" Minami's smile faded, "You never…came to the….cafe…." Minami panted as she stared at Akina confused.

"Why would I go?" Akina leaned against her door frame and crossed her arms, her red hair pulled up into a messy bun.

Minami wiped the sweat off her forehead and dabbed her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"What do you…-huff- mean? You said…-huff- that you'd…-huff- come…" Minami stood straight and tried to steady her breathing, the pauses between her words starting to irritate her.

"Can you leave please?" Akina's words were filled with annoyance and disgust.

"Akina, what's wrong with you? Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Why would I want to talk to you?" Akina narrowed her eyes at Minami, a hatred igniting in them.

Minami stared into them. Her body trembled as fear filled her from head to toe.

"Wh-what? What's wrong? Why wouldn't you want to talk to me? I'm confused. What happened? Why don't you want to talk to me?" Minami slowly stepped forward and started reaching her hand out as tears filled her eyes.

Akina slammed the door in her face, the edge of it scraping against Minami's hand.

"Ah!" She looked at the throbbing area of her hand, some of the skin was peeled back and it was beginning to bleed.

She ran to the nearest pharmacy and purchased some bandages and disinfectant.

'I'm so glad I brought my bag with me…' She thought as she sat on a nearby bench.

She plopped her bag next to her and sprayed some of the disinfectant on her wound.

"TCH!" She winced and pinched the area around the injury as the painful stinging rushed in.

"Hey, you shouldn't do that. It's not good for you." A male with long brown hair shouted as he jogged up to her.

"Huh?" Minami looked up at him. He looked familiar but she couldn't place her finger on it.

"Do you want some help? You're going to make that cut worse and squeeze more blood out of it if you do that."

Minami nodded, "Yeah….but it hurts…."

He knelt down in front of her, "You can hold onto my shoulder if you want, here give me your hand."

She gave him her hand, trembling a little as she prepared for the next wave of disinfectant spray.

"It'll be okay," he reassured her as he felt her tremble, "Just grab onto me. Alright? One. Two. Three!" He sprayed it as she clutched tightly onto his shoulder.

"TCH-AH!" Tears welled in her eyes as she whined, her leg started bobbing up and down as if to distract her.

He gently blew on it and dabbed it with the cloth she had prepared next to her.

"It'll be worse if this gets infected…" He blew on it some more dabbed carefully before applying antibiotic ointment and a bandage.

"There, is it still hurting?" he questioned.

Minami bit her lip, "It's a little sore but I think it'll be okay…."

He rubbed her head softly, "Good. I'm glad you'll be alright Miss No Name."

Her eyes widened. "Oh! You're! ….."

"Yuu." He responded with a chuckle.

"Yuu! ….Sorry…..I forgot your name…"

"It's okay," he ruffled her hair, "I didn't expect you to remember Minami."

She felt a twinge of guilt. He was able to remember hers but she couldn't remember his?

"How'd you get that nasty injury huh?"

She shook her head, "Just in passing. It's nothing serious."

"Well….are you busy right now?" He stared deep into her big brown eyes, pleading to the universe that she say no.

"I was just going to head home right now is all." Minami carefully grabbed her bag and stood up.

"Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. You seem to always be helping me." She bowed and smiled at him, "I should probably call you my knight, Yuu!"

A red hue spread across his face and he felt his body heat up as his heart skipped a beat.

He laughed, "You can call me that if you want to. I'd gladly be your knight Minami."

Yuu bowed and gently grabbed her hand, careful not to touch her injury. "If you'll allow me to be anyways," he gently placed his lips on the top of her hand, kissing it before letting go.

"O-Oh…" Her heart started racing in her ears and she fake coughed into her other hand to hide the embarrassed blush that she was positive was on her face by now.

"Well, can this knight escort you home?"

'Please say yes, please say yes.' He chanted in his mind.

Minami bit her lip. As much as she'd like that, it came back to her career, and now her relationship with Naoto. If he couldn't be seen with her, she had no business being seen with someone else either.

She took a step backwards, putting some distance between the two. "Actually, I think it's better for me to go home on my own. Thank you for the offer though!"

Minami turned on her heel and started going back, when Yuu ran up to her side and kept up the pace with her, "Wait! Can I at least have your phone number?"

The girl who had captured his heart, who had filled his mind, who had made him feel numb to every other woman out there….he had to get her contact information. He couldn't lose her again.

She thought for a moment, wanting so desperately to exchange numbers with this handsome stranger. Had she not wanted to be an idol, that probably would've been possible, although she would probably not be having issues with Naoto either. Right, Naoto. They still hadn't broken up yet anyways….

Even though she planned on breaking up with him, it wouldn't be right to exchange numbers with someone before that happened.

"I'm sorry, I don't think it would be a good idea. Really, I'm grateful for your help, but we should part ways now." She felt a bit sad.

Being around Yuu, didn't ring any alarm bells in her head, there was no 'DANGER! DANGER!' giant neon flashing lights or nervousness with him like there was with Naoto. Then again, she'd known Naoto for years already and she didn't exactly have those feelings when they had first met either.

Yuu's face fell upon hearing her rejection, his heart about to break. "Oh. I understand! We're strangers after all! Return home safely!" He halted his steps and instead waved to her with a big smile on his face.

'At least let her remember you like this, Yuu. The guy that helped her with a giant smile on his face. Let's leave that impression in her mind.' He thought to himself as his arm began feeling tired.

Minami returned his smile, "You too! Be careful on your way home! Thank you again!" She waved at him before running off towards her home.

It had gotten a bit late now, and truthfully, she felt nervous going home alone. It would've been nice to have an escort, but then again, Yuu was also still a stranger to her.

Contacting Naoto was always an option, but being seen with him…she couldn't do that.

She wandered into a building and pulled out her phone. There was one other person she could call.

"Hello? Can you come pick me up and take me home? It's a bit far…"She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as the voice on the other side of the line asked for the address.