Butterflies? Or something telling me to run away? || GiyuShino

Chapter 12 | Unwavering

A knot that cannot be opened, dreams that have been shattered.

Yet there was never any wavering on what he and she resolved to do.

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Dinner was awkward to say the least. The food was delicious, but Kocho found herself needing to force the food down her throat to prevent Tomioka from thinking anything was wrong with her. Her body clearly needed food, yet she had no appetite. The words 'I don't think romance is an option for us Pillars, unfortunately' that Tomioka had just said echoed in her head.

She wanted to cry but couldn't find any tears to, she felt suffocated, her thoughts were a mess. She glimpsed at Tomioka's plate, and to her surprise the food had barely been touched. He seemed to be agonizing over something as well, and Kocho felt a pang of happiness knowing she wasn't suffering alone, but quickly realized how selfish that thought was and scolded herself.

"I'm done" the Insect Pillar looked at the male who quickly raised his head upon hearing her voice, "I'll go lay out the futons in our room first". She excused herself from the table and thanked the woman graciously as she left the room. She couldn't stand being in that awkward room for another second, she had already made the conscious decision to keep her feelings to herself, so it was clear what she had to do.

She just needed a bit of time to process and come to terms with her situation.

Treading lightly on the wooden floors of the house, she went back to their shared room and laid out two futons on opposite sides of the room. Sighing, she cleaned herself up and decided that she would sleep earlier today to avoid facing Tomioka.

❀❀❀

Tomioka watched Kocho leave the dining area, his facial expression remained unchanged but he felt some sort of uneasiness in his chest. Was she mad? He could tell that she was her same smiling self, but those eyes. Those eyes showed conflict.

What was she conflicted about? Did he say something wrong?

Actually, why did he care so much anyway?

He continued poking at his food a little, the host finally couldn't hold in her questions and asked him.

"Um..." Tomioka looked over at the woman who had kneeled down nearby "Excuse me for asking, but is your partner ok? Would you like me to call in a doctor for her?" She smiled at the Water Pillar who scratched his head and answered.

"I'm not sure, she seems to just be in a bad mood" Tomioka replied politely "She did witness some upsetting things today, so maybe she just needs a bit of rest. Thank you for your concern."

The woman nodded and continued "Young man, she seems to care greatly about you, are you two perhaps in a relationship?"

"Oh yes, we are friends" Tomioka replied seriously, with a victorious look in his eye. It was hard for him to make friends after all, he was honestly happy that he could call Kocho his friend.

The woman smiled with sympathy; her heart went out to the beautiful young girl whose feelings were not recognized. No wonder she had such a pained expression on her face the whole time she was eating.

"Young man, life is short. I do hope your heart's true intention shows itself soon." She placed her hand on Tomioka's shoulder, sighing gently before taking away his empty dishes and leaving him.

Walking back to their room, he noticed that the lights inside were already off. Was she sleeping already?

He opened the door as gently as he could and saw two futons laid out, one of them already had Kocho's small body wrapped inside. He cleaned himself up, walked over to the futon where she was sleeping and sat down, her small face was surprisingly peaceful as she slept. He wondered what she was dreaming about.