If I Can't Have Senpai

Chapter 17

"Heheh, I guess you two had a big night." The Ramen shop owner named Sakimoto says with a kind smile on his face as he looks to Budo and Ayano. The two were currently passed out on the cot in the back room.

Mr.Sakimoto rubbed his aching shoulder wearily as he had carried them there in the first place.

Mr.Sakimoto could clearly recall when the pair had first arrived at his little Ramen shop. The shop wasn't open yet but Mr. Sakimoto was there early in his uniform to polish his tables and prepare the noodles and vegetables when, in the corner of his eye, he could see the two of them racing to his shop. He remembered when they both had finally made it, they had passed out on one of his tables fast asleep before he could even dish them out breakfast. Indeed, the two had had a big night.

"My, how good it must be to be young and free." Mr.Sakimoto chuckles as he leaves the two to rest and to resume back to his work.

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Ayano awoke smelling the sweet aroma of noodles in the air, at first it confused her but then she remembered that Budo and her had arrived at the Ramen shop earlier and must have passed out without realizing it. While she was awfully hungry with an empty, rumbling stomach, she felt that she didn't want to get up. For some reason, she felt warm and very comfortable like she was on an expensive bed.

Ayano could faintly hear some light chatter coming from outside the door of the back room telling her that a couple of customers were at the shop. The rumbling in her stomach urged her to get up and eat and eventually Ayano succumb to it.

Ayano lazily stretches her arms and legs hearing them crack into place before getting up, but to her surprise she found that she couldn't. Ayano laid there dumbfounded for a few seconds when she suddenly heard the sound of soft breathing to her left.

"Huh..!?" Startled, Ayano turns around to be face to face with no other than the Martial Arts Leader. Budo seemed to be in a deep slumber exhaling and inhaling air and perhaps dreaming too. Budo looked very peaceful the way he slept, almost mature looking then his usual childish demeanor. Ayano suddenly tore herself away from his peaceful sleeping face when she had came to realization that they were in the same bed. But that wasn't what made Ayano internally freak out, what made her freak out was that the Martial Arts Leader had his arms coiled tightly around her body. She didn't notice this at all due to her just waking up.

"You idiot, release me this instant." Ayano says glaring at him.

"Nn...hm" Budo mumbles in his sleep and only buried his face into the back of Ayano's neck before sighing comfortably.

Ayano felt her face redden in embarrassment and anger. Why were they placed in the same bed together? The only person who is ever allowed to sleep beside her is Senpai!

"Senpai..." Ayano felt her heart stricken with grief again just at the thought of that beautiful name. She still couldn't accept the fact that he saw her like that. In truth, she still had strong feelings for the boy despite him calling her a monster. She couldn't help it, Taro was like an addiction she didn't want to go to rehab for, she wanted to sink deeper into the madness of Taro's captivating spell on her. She missed him.

Ayano suddenly felt Budo's hot breath hit against her bare neck causing her to shiver with goosebumps.

But then there was Budo Masuta the only person who managed to be accepted as her friend and the only one who was there to console her in hard times. She felt that Budo was important to her like the bonds in a family, she didn't want anything bad to happen to him despite him being a complete idiot at times. If she would slip into depression she felt that she could rely and trust Budo to get her out of it.