Storm

Dreams

The rest of the movie passed. And after being scared by Takagi some more, and failing endlessly to get back at her he noticed something.

Or more, someone.

Someone was leaning on him. 

That someone, was Takagi.

It took every ounce of willpower not jump back. But when he calmed down from a beet root face and a racing pulse he realized the magnitude of the situation.

Takagi, was asleep on his shoulder. It sounded wrong, kinda, but she was asleep.

She was defenseless.

He began to think about the many ways he could wake her up. 

'Loud TV? Nah, kind of wack.'

'Yelling? That's not funny, just rude.'

Then an idea popped into his head. He could use his phone to play that audio recording  Kimura sent him. It's a recording of a loud goat making weird noises. Heh, he couldn't wait to see her reaction. 

He reached for his phone and moved ever so slightly, causing Takagi to lean on him even more. She was practically hugging him at this point and Nishikata was now in danger of a heart attack. 

Even when she slept she managed to tease him.

That's when he thought about it. 

She looked so tranquil there, asleep. She was breathing softly and she looked so at peace. He didn't have it in him to wake her up. In fact, at that point, he felt quite the opposite. He like he had an obligation to protect her.

Without really thinking his snuggled into Takagi closer and put his arm around her. Then he stopped himself midway from putting his arm around her and flinched.

'What am I doing. We're going to be snuggling like we're c-c-couples."

But even with that thought, his arm moved on its own. It found a home around Takagi's shoulders and it pulled her in.

He was nervous, extremely nervous that she would wake up and be mad, maybe even disgusted with him. But at that moment, he didn't care. He didn't want to admit it, but he could've stayed like that forever, with Takagi-san so close nothing else mattered.

'Nothing else mattered.'

At that moment he was forced to face his feelings for her. What he wanted to avoid for so long came to surface as he held her so close.

He wanted her around. He wanted to protect her. If she was happy, he was happy.

He realized, that all this time he felt this way. But he just didn't know how to put it.

He liked Takagi-san. Like, really liked. Maybe even loved.

But it didn't matter, because he was with her; and that's all that mattered.

With this realization and his feelings put to rest, he drifted off. He fell deeper into the warmth next to him, pulling it close and making sure nothing could harm it. 

---

He opened his eyes and blinked. Feeling a tug on something around his neck, he looked down.

Brown hair. Thats all he saw when he looked down.

Skipping the who, he moved to the what of his situation.

This woman was tying...a necktie for him? A white dress shirt, tie, dress pants, and a navy blue blazer.