Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter seven│do my best

"Chieko!"

The door slammed wide open, and flew straight towards her face. It all happened so fast, she had no time to react. The door hit her in the face, and she stumbled back before falling to the ground just like that. Whoever stood behind that door was surely going to be in trouble once she gets up, if she can get up.

Minji, having just called out her name in fright upon seeing the blue haired girl laying on her back on the ground, arms spread out that were supposed to catch her. The older female rushed over to her side, though she stopped halfway in Chieko's sight, staring at the person who stood at the door. The idiot who must have kicked open the door to give it that much power. Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if she had been knocked unconscious from the impact.

Hopefully Minji would take care of them as she just continues to lay lifeless on the floor, being surprisingly comfortable. Chieko lifted up her head the slightest to see who the idiot was, her narrowed eyes widened and she almost let out the loudest gasp humanly possible.

Of course it had to be Taichi. Who else would open a door with that much power? It was always Taichi, wasn't it?

"Taichi? You're back... you weren't gone for long," Minji looked at the male with a puzzled gaze. Usually when he'd leave, he'd be gone for the rest of the day, two hours minimum. He had only been gone for half an hour.

Moving a hand to his neck, Taichi started rubbing his neck in a sheepish way, his eyes looking off to the side. His expression, as per usual, a blank and bored stare. "Yeah, I didn't really find much, got bored and decided to head back..." and he just had to make a grand entrance.

Then, looking down, he noticed Chieko laying on the floor and gave her a confused look. "Uhh... what are you doing?" He asked her, and all the girl could do was give him a glare she wishes had looked more threatening. Apparently what had happened wasn't obvious enough for him, like he needed it spelled out.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Chieko slowly lifted herself up off the floor with the help of Minji. Brushing off her clothes, she felt slightly hesitant to look him in the eyes. "You hit me in the face when you opened the door..." she explained, her words almost coming out as a mumble.

He rose a brow, as if still not getting it. "You okay?" He finally asked, for some reason that wasn't the first thing he said when he saw her. She's pretty sure there was a red mark somewhere on her forehead, especially because Taichi turned his gaze and obviously tried to hold in a laugh.

She puffed out her cheeks in frustration, realising why the two hadn't made up yet. It was way too easy to get mad at Taichi, and the reason why he hadn't apologized to her? She didn't have a clue. Did he still blame her? Did he still feel angry at her? Or was there another reason stopping him, stopping the both of them?

A quiet snicker he failed to hide snapped Chieko out of her thoughts, and narrow her eyes at the male. She played with her fringe, not quite sure where the red mark was ─ most likely on her forehead, and tried her best to hide it. Only causing more chuckles to escape from his lips, and more narrowed gazes.

"Okay, okay, break it up you two." Minji stood in between the two, stretching her arms out. Chieko kept her eyes on Taichi, who was actually smiling, the last time she saw him smile was when they went to an amusement park. That was also the last time they actually got along, that happened months ago...

Letting out a huff, Chieko crossed her arms over her chest and turned away. Only thirty minutes, she wishes he had been gone for longer. Despite having thought about re-establishing their friendship, which was before, and this was now. After all, he obviously didn't want to fix things.