The bird who fell in love with the sea

Chapter 9

Its been a week since Umi 're-introduced' herself to Kotori, the two of them began to be close again, they can talk with each other normally and Kotori seems to regain some of her memories with Umi when they were young though she can't remember the cause of the accident all she know was that she got into a car accident but she can't remember anything prior to that. At least for now they are back to their daily routine.

As days passed Umi noticed that when she's around Kotori she felt something that she herself didn't understand. Like her heart is beating faster than normal, she always flushed whenever she touched Kotori's hand unintentionally and when Kotori is with other people she felt sad or rather jealous(?) though she doesn't know why.

It's sunday but Umi has an archery practice and after that she will meet with Kotori & Honoka because they decided to help Kotori in finishing their costumes for their upcoming live.

Umi is on her way to their usual meeting place, she saw Kotori waiting under a tree when suddenly a group of unknown men approach Kotori. One of the unknown man touch Kotori's arm and force her to come with them. She saw Kotori's scared expression and on the verge of tears because of that her vision went black, luckily she has her bow & arrow with her, she aim and shoot the arrow near where the men were standing that made them to focused their attention to Umi.

'Did you just made Kotori cry? Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!' she immediately run towards Kotori

"Hey! What are you doing with Kotori? Hands off you jerk!" she told the man holding Kotori's arm

"Umi-chan..." she pulled Kotori behind her.

Kotori leaned her head on Umi's back and she started to cry

"Hey! What's your problemー" one of the man said

Because of Umi's anger she punch the man

When they saw Umi's angry expression they became scared and fled off.

"Are you ok Kotori?" she asked Kotori worriedly

"A-ah... T-thanks Umi-chan!" Kotori hugged Umi

>////< "K-kotori!" Umi flushed furiously

'W-what's happening to me! This isn't the first time Kotori hug me... but why is my heart beating this fast!?' Umi thought

"A-ah K-kotori where's Honoka?" after a moment of silence Umi finally said

When Kotori just smiled at her sheepishly she already know the answer.

'C-cute... Is Kotori really this cute? whaー wait did I just think of something shameful?! she blushed again of the thought

"Umi-chan...? Is there something wrong? You've been staring at me." Kotori asked Umi worriedly

"Ah...ah... No! No! I'm ok! So... Honoka overslept again..." she said shaking her head and covering her face in disbelief (and also because of her blushing face)

"Now...now... Umi-chan... Honoka-chan said thatー" Kotori said but was cut by Honoka

"Good morning Umi-chan! Kotori-chan! I'm so sorry!" Honoka bows her head and apologized to the both of them

Umi sighed. As usual she lectured Honoka for her tardiness.

(At Kotori's house)

"Hey Umi-chan, Kotori-chan, let's take a break for now. I'm tired!" Honoka whines

"Ah Honoka... What are you talking about? We only have few days before the live. That's why we are here at Kotori's house to help her with the costumes besides you've been just slacking off" Umi said

*gulp* "I-I'm doing some work too! L-look at this, see? Honoka proudly showed Umi the costume which she's working at.

"Now...now... you too... Umi-chan, Honoka-chan is right, how about we take a break for a while. We've been working since morning. I'm kinda hungry too." Kotori said siding with Honoka

She don't know why but she felt a slight pain in her chest when Kotori sided with Honoka again.

"You're too soft on her Kotori. Fine... Let's take a break." Umi gave a defeated sigh

Honoka and Kotori hug Umi and thank her.

"Hey Umi-chan...Kotori-chan... I just remember I promised mom that I'll be going home early today and help with the store... can I go early?" Honoka said nervously

"It's ok. You can go. We can do this, right Umi-chan?" Kotori said sheepishly not knowing the other girl's inner turmoil

'Huh? Alone with Kotori? huh? What? Wait! My heart is beating fast again... Am I nervous? Why? this isn't my first time being alone with her but what is this?!" Umi's thoughts are full questions.

Kotori called Umi and asked her again. Umi said it was ok for Honoka to go early

'calm down Umi!' she thought to herself

"Umi-chan, are you feeling under the weather? You've been spacing out a lot today" Honoka asked

"N-no... I-I'm fine! you can go now... see you tomorrow" Umi replied

"I see. See you tomorrow then. Bye bye Kotori-chan" Honoka said her goodbyes and then she went home

Kotori noticed Umi's troubled expression. She tried asking her but Umi said it was nothing.

'maybe she's still thinking about that incident this morning' Kotori thought feeling a bit guilty

"Hey Umi-chan... about that incident earlier... I'm really sorry for dragging you into that mess..." Kotori apologized

"What are you talking about Kotori? It's only natural for me to help you when you're in trouble. It's not your fault!" Umi said. She hold Kotori's hands and then she embraced her to reassure her.

When she realized what she have done she immediately let go of her apologized to her.

'D-did I just hug Kotori? Oh myー what am I thinking?!" she thought

"I-I'm really sorry!" she averted her burning face from Kotori

"Huh?" Kotori tilted her head

'Why is Umi-chan apologizing? oh i see...' when she understand the situation she teased Umi

"Umi-chan you're so cute!" she poked  Umi cheeks

"whaー Kotori pls. stop teasing me!" Umi covered her face with her hand

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uwaaah! Chapter 9 done~ next chapter will be the last coz' I want to start with my NozoEli fanfic! Pls. look forward to my NozoEli fanfic. ...and oh I'll be introducing an OC next chapter. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading! And again I'm sorry for any typos/grammar errors! bye bye! See you next chapter!