The Confession

An endless sea of darkness took hold of my vision... I remembered everything that happened... The moment I stood up for Yukari as well as the moment when his father struck me on the face which in turn made me hit my head against the railing.

The force was enough to make me pass out, but not instantly and because of that... I had to see her crying for me... Saying that she was sorry... Telling me to stay with her... Calling my name...

"I hope I didn't worry her more then I should've..."

Just as the thought crossed my mind, at the far end of the endless sea of darkness, a single speck of light started appearing slowly but surely... I stood up from where I laid and started walking towards that speckle of light.

With each step that I took towards it, it got brighter and brighter and for some reason... It felt warm, it made me feel at ease, but I couldn't put my finger on it as to why it was the way that it was.

"I guess this is telling me that it's time for me to wake up"

I let out a subtle chuckle and stepped towards the light and before I knew it, the endless darkness became a sudden flash of white light.

"Kiyota!"

"..."

"Wake up, Kiyota!"

"Mmm..." I opened my eyes slightly and noticed that I was in my room. Even though I was still seeing a bit blurry, I could tell that I was making her worry still about everything that had happened.

"Hey..."

"H-Huh?" She wiped away the tears streaming down her face at my sudden word "K-Kiyota!"

Before I knew it, she wrapped her arms around me and started embracing me all the while this happened, she was crying and crying "You made me think that you weren't going to wake up!"

"Sorry about that..."

I lightly petted her head and sighed to myself. I continued doing this for who knew how long and once she had started to feel slightly better, she let go of me and simply stared into my eyes.

"You idiot..."

Seeing her acting in such a childish way as well as the fact that she was crying so much for me was enough for me to know that all the hard work... All of those events that led me to find out about her pain had been used to do good... Life had led me to her... The girl who needed help.

Once I had regained control of my body, I tried to get up from my bed, but as I did so, I stumbled but never landed on the ground. Yukari had supported me before I could fall flat on my face.

"You shouldn't get up... You're body is still not ready"

"I can tell..." I let out a sigh and simply decided to sit upright in my bed as to not cause her any more problems "How long was I out?"

"For about an hour"

"I see..."

"I was about to call the ambulance to come pick you up if you didn't wake up"

"Sorry to make you worry. That punch from your father and me hitting my head on the railing was more then I had anticipated... I thought for sure my body would be able to hold out"

"You really worried me back there... You need to take responsibility for that"

Hearing her say that I need to take responsibility for her was more then enough for my heart to skip a beat from the tone of her voice. Never once had I anticipated to hear those words from a girl as cute as her.

I could feel my face start blushing at her words "S-Sorry"

She beamed me a smile and headed on over towards the kitchen "Is there anything that you'd like to eat?"

"A-Anything's fine with me"

"Got it. You just relax. I'll whip up something good for the both of us"

I nodded and stared at Yukari put on an apron and start grabbing out ingredients from my fridge. As she did so, I couldn't help but stare at her... I normally wasn't like this, not now, not ever, but for some reason, something about her was eye catching... I couldn't look away even if I wanted to.

Yukari seemed to have noticed me doing so and when her eyes met mine, she smiled a mischievous grin and turned towards me with that same grin "Are you captivated by my house wife beauty~?"

But that same grin was more then enough to make me not blush as her words "Yeah, yeah"

"You were just blushing, weren't you~?"

"She noticed?!" I could feel my face getting a bit red and all I could do was scratch my cheek and ignore her words.

"So? How do I look~?"

"..."

"Come on, Kiyota~! Tell me~!"

She proceeded to walk towards me and before I knew it, our faces were directly in front of one another, I could feel her breath on my face and that expression that she had was more then enough to tell me that she wouldn't back away unless I said anything to her.

"Y-You look pretty..."

"I-I do?"

"Y-Yeah"

"I-I see... T-Thank you"

I glanced over at her and noticed that she was blushing even worse then me "If you're going to get embarrassed, then why did you ask me what I thought about how you looked?!"

She stepped back a bit all the while she was blushing and before I could say a word, she smiled at me and headed off towards the kitchen without a saying another word.

We talked from time to time while she cooked, but even then, I could tell that the both of us were awkward about that little moment that we had gone through.

"Wait... Now that I think about it... Doesn't this mean that I have to answer her feelings?"

I glanced over at her and stared at her for a bit and before I knew it, she turned around and started bringing over some plates "The foods ready"

"Thanks for doing this"

"No worries, it's the least I can do for everything that you did for me"

"..." I stared into her eyes for a bit and asked the question that was on my mind "What's going to happen to the apartment that you're family is renting?"

"They'll most likely stop paying it since they'll be in jail by then"

"I see..." I stared at her and I could tell that she was slightly worried about what was to come and for that reason, I needed to reassure her that everything would be all right "When do you want to move your things in here?"

"... Huh?"

"I did promise you that I would have you living here once everything was solved... Sure, I know that the apartment isn't that big and I wouldn't mind moving in to your apartment... But I wouldn't want you reminiscing about all the bad experiences that happened there..."

"You... were being serious?"

"Yeah, did you think that-" When I looked over at her, she stared at me as if I had said something unreal "Yukari?"

"Thank you... Thank you..."

I noticed that she was trembling. She was on the verge of breaking down again... The emotions she had holed up for all these years were breaking out...

Seeing her like this... I felt a sudden pain in my heart. I looked over at her hand and proceeded to grab tight hold of it "I'm here with you now"

"Kiyota..."

She looked into my eyes with tears accumulating in the corners of her eyelids. She tightened her own grip on my hand and stared into my eyes for what felt like an eternity to me.

"I love you... Kiyota"

"..." Hearing her declare her love for me once more was more then enough to get my heart beating faster and faster. I knew that I need to give her an answer, but even I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.

"I want to tell her that I love her as well... But... Is this what she really wants?" "Yukari?"

"Yes?"

"D-Do you really love me?"

"I do... I'm sure of it"

She was determined. She wouldn't budge at all. Her answer was the pure truth "I see..."

"If you don't believe me..." She tightened her grip and before I knew it, she had started kissing me in the lips. The warmth I felt in that moment, the way she looked as she did so... That alone was enough to tell me that these were her real feelings.

She backed up a bit and stared into my eyes "What's your answer, Kiyota?"

"I..." I bit my tongue afraid of what could come... But regardless of what did happen, I would be there with her to assist her... I would be by her side through thick and thin "I love you... Yukari"

"I'm glad... I-I'm happy... T-That you love me as well"

She clung to my shirt and started cuddling me without a care in the world "I love you... I want to be with you forever if possible..."

"I'd like that as well..."

We stayed in the warmth of each other for a good minute or so and once we came to it, the both of us started blushing and simply proceeded to eat without talking to each other from the embarrassment that we had in that moment.

Once we had finished eating, she grabbed the plates and started to wash them and dry them "H-How was the food?"

"I-It was delicious"

"I'm glad..."

"Yeah..."

A moment of silence fell between the both of us "This is too awkward!"

"A-About my things..."

"Y-Yeah?"

"C-Can I bring them tomorrow? It's a bit too late right now"

"Yeah... That's fine with me"

"Thank you..."

Our conversation ended almost instantly and the only thing I could do was play around with my phone in order to ease the nerves I had. I glanced at the time and noticed that it was relatively late.

"I should probably get some sleep..."

"Same here..."

I glanced over at Yukari and stared at her for a bit, deciding on what to do. Just when I had resolved myself to speak up, she stopped me by speaking up first.

"K-Kiyota?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"..." She turned towards me and stared me directly in the eyes with a slight blush on her face "C-Can I stay the night with you?"

"W-W-Well... I don't have anywhere else where you could sleep"

"I-I don't mind sleeping on the same bed as you if that's all right..."

Hearing her say those words, I could feel my face blushing even more then before. I gulped a bit and spoke up "I-If you're fine with it... I'm fine with it as well"

"O-Ok... Let me just bring my clothes for tomorrow and nightwear"

"O-Ok"

Without saying another word, she headed out of my room and closed it and before I knew it... I was alone once more. My heart was beating faster and faster just thinking back to her words.

"I'll confirm with her that I want to be her boyfriend... I want it to be official..."

That night... I swore upon myself that I would make her the happiest person and in turn, I hoped that I would become the perfect boyfriend for her and I wouldn't stop at nothing until I achieved what I desired... To make Yukari's life a happy one once more...