The Tale of a Century \\ SoraMafu

>> Twenty Seven <<

"Soraru-san..." Mafu called, but Soraru didn't look up.

He furrowed his eyebrows and tried again. "Soraru-san."

He still didn't raise his head. Mafu walked around to the front, so he could see Soraru's face better. "Soraru-san," he was pleading this time. "Why are you avoiding me? If I did anything wrong, please tell me."

Soraru bit back the urge to speak. When Mafu didn't hear an answer, he turned away and ran. The sound of the door closing came soon after. Slamming his book down onto the desk, Soraru buried his face in his arms and sighed. What was he doing?

|*|*|

Mafu rubbed his eyes with his arm as he ran. He didn't know where he was going; he just ran. It was less painful that way, he thought. Without even knowing it, Mafu's feet instinctively directed him towards Amatsuki's house. Amatsuki must know what to do.

Ringing the doorbell to the house, Mafu quickly composed himself by wiping away any stray tears and sniffing a few times. It must've looked pathetic. He was crying, yet he didn't know why it bothered him so much.

The door opened, and Amatsuki's neutral expression soon turned to shock. "Mafu-kun, have you been crying?"

"What?"

Amatsuki shook his head. "There's no use hiding it. The cold kind of makes your eyes redder than they might actually be."

Before he could invite him in, Mafu tugged his arm over, making Amatsuki fall outside. Then, he pulled the door closed and took off with Amatsuki behind him.

"Where are we going, Mafu-kun!" Amatsuki called.

When Mafu didn't respond, Amatsuki tried prying his wrist loose. Mafu didn't budge at all. He was stronger than Amatsuki originally gave him credit for, it seemed.

"Mafu-kun!"

They were still running.

"Mafu-kun!!"

He still didn't stop.

"MAFUMAFU!"

At that, he halted abruptly, and Amatsuki crashed into him from behind. Mafu stumbled forward a few feet and then caught himself. "Come on! Tell me what happened!" Amatsuki exclaimed, wringing his hand.

Mafu hesitated, then he slowly turned to Amatsuki. Seeing his face, Amatsuki's eyes widened. "Wh-, hey, Mafu-kun, I didn't mean to make you cry..." he awkwardly patted Mafu on the shoulder.

"No... it wasn't you..." Mafu reached up and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I-I don't know.... I don't know why..."

Suddenly, his head shot up, and Mafu quickly pulled Amatsuki into a nearby alley. Before Amatsuki could say anything, Mafu put a finger to his lips, and abruptly tugged him back.

The jerky movement caused Amatsuki to slip, and he landed on Mafu, pinning him to the wall. They stood, wide eyed and frozen for a moment, before they heard a voice.

"What the heck is going on here?"

--

What is getting life together I don't understand.

Nature is scary