If I Can't Have Senpai

Chapter 24

Ayano's charcoal eyes widen as she felt the ever so light touch of Riku's lips presses against hers. His strong arms held her tight against him and she could feel the warmth radiating off of his body. Ayano stood frozen as she tried to process that a classmate was kissing her, but what shook her mind to the very core was that all she could think of was the Martial Arts Leader. Nothing but him, not even Taro Yamada plagued her mind anymore.

Ayano shut her eyes tightly as she briskly shoved Riku off of her causing the boy to stumble back in surprise. Ayano's red face seem to glow in the midnight darkness of the town. She lowered her head as she breathed in and out.

"Ayano...!?" Riku says looking at her in bewilderment, he didn't think Ayano would reject his kiss but rather accept it. He gazed at the girl who appeared to be more shocked than he was.

"You..you..."Ayano's voice trailed as her index finger slowly pressed her pinks that had been just kissed. Her shoulders shook in disbelief as she shakily touched her lips over and over as if confirming if she had been really kissed.

"Ayano, did you not like it?" Riku asks taking a step forward to her but she quickly took a few steps back from him as if he was the plague.

"Why...Why did you kiss me!?" Ayano screamed, her hands turned into fists as she gazes up at the purple-haired boy in rage. It felt like Riku had just stolen away something precious to her when he had kissed her. She didn't like it at all.

"I kissed you because I like you, Ayano." Riku says with a serious expression on his face making Ayano take a few more steps back.

"Y-Your mistaken!" Ayano stammers, her midnight bangs shadowed over her eyes. This boy had just confessed to her and all she could feel was a sick pit in her stomach.She didn't want to be here anymore, she didn't want to see Riku's face anymore, all she wanted to do was run to the Martial Arts Leader. 

Ayano met the purple-haired boy's gaze and continued to speak. "How can you love someone when you don't truly know them?"

"But I do know you, Ayano." Riku replies, he gazed back at her with sincere eyes showing her that his affection towards her was nothing but real. "You're the girl I want to be happy with...You're the girl I'm trying so desperately to protect."

"I'm sorry, but I can't be that girl because I feel nothing for you at all, Riku Soma." Ayano says firmly, her charcoal eyes shared straight at him like a sniper rifle ready to shoot. Her expression was  grim and cold like a harsh winter storm. In the end, no matter how many times he claim to have known he would never know the truth. She was a murderer and if he were ever to see her like that his words would be nothing but empty promises.

"Ayano....I..."Riku's voice trails off, his expression was that of disbelief. For some reason this rejection hurt more than his first one with Kokona Haruka. He wanted his confession to reach Ayano but it could not. She felt nothing for him.

"Goodbye, Soma-kun."Ayano says to him and turns to go into the apartment building. They were done here and there was nothing else to say to him. She would leave him there and let him pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

As Ayano turned her back to him, Riku felt his heart drop, the feeling was sick and cold it almost made him want to puke. Just seeing her walk away from him made the world seems so quiet and cruel, he couldn't bare it. He couldn't just let her go when he loved her so much. Before he knew it the purple-haired boy grabbed Ayano's wrist. Ayano paused when she felt his hand wrap tightly around her wrist making her stop mid-step.

"Ayano, don't say goodbye to me, please!!" Riku says with sorrow and a hint of desperation  in his voice. She said it so easily without any remorse or guilt as if she was a soulless doll. He wrapped his other hand around her wrist and lowers his head in a sulking manner. He poured his heart out, letting the words spill from his mouth. "I love you and if you keep going back to Budo Masuta, it might be the last time I see you alive, I cannot not...no...will not bare that thought!"