Chapter 4: To See You Again

I layed down on my bed, a rombix cube in my hand shuffling around with it but not really paying attention. I finally gave up and dropped it on my bed. I ran my hand over my face in frustration. I heard been searching for a girl for the past week and when I finally found her, I let her literally run away. 
I turned over, my back pressed against the bed, my eyes closed replaying the moment in my head. She seemed extremely nice and shy and frightened. She must have recognized me from that night, that must have been why she ran away... I guess. 
What to do now? 
I opened my eyes, sitting up abruptly, jumping out of the bed and into the shower. I knew exactly what to do. It was a brilliantly stupid idea but it just might work. 
An hour later and I was on Kaiya's front porch with a shopping bag in my hand, already ringing the bell. I heard footsteps approaching the door before it swung open. 
"Good morning... Wait I know you, you're Misumi's classmate, Isao." Mrs Rae smiled kindly. 
"Yes, it's good to see you again." I smiled as she ushered me in. Once inside I looked around the house, instantly realizing the little things that signified that there were four people living in this house and not three. Like how there were four coats on the rack, four pairs of boots tucked away. These little indicators that you normally won't notice unless you were looking for it.
I followed behind Mrs Akasuki into the living room. 
"I'm really sorry but you just missed Misumi. She's gone to the mall with her friends."
"Oh, no that's fine." I already knew that. "I'm here to see Kaiya actually."
"K... Kaiya? You know about her." I noticed how she didn't deny the fact that she even existed. 
"Yeah, we've met... Twice actually. I wanted to give this to her." I handed her the shopping bag. "She gave the last box to my brother. I felt bad so I got her another one."
Once she looked into the bag her eyes widened in realization. She smiled and handed the bag back to me. "Wait here, I'll go get her." 
As I sat on the couch waiting I began to out the pieces together. I mentioned Kaiya and her mother didn't try to deny her entire existence, so maybe she wasn't trying to hide the fact that she had Kaiya and thus maybe it was okay for people to know about her. And I met her at the store the other day, meaning that she went out but probably not often. So she goes out and it's okay to know about her, then why doesn't Misumi ever mention her not even once and why doesn't she go to school? 
I snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed a figure hiding behind the door. 
"Hey Kaiya. It's nice to meet you again," I got up and smiled as brightly as I could without looking nervous. "Uh, I brought this as an apology for yesterday."
She stepped out from behind the door and walked timidly to me, taking the bag from my hand and peering inside. "Cereal?" 
I gasped in suprise but I quickly disguised it with a quick clearing of my throat. "Yeah, since you had to give my brother the last one and you didn't get another one before... Leaving."
"Thank you." She looked up at me for the first time and met my eyes and smiled. 
"It's fine." 
An awkward silence followed after that. My mind raced to find topics to bring up but I couldn't come up with any. All the questions I meant to ask her before had completely disappeared. All my confidence, all my gut gone completely.
"Your brother is very cute." She cleared her throat, looking down at the carpet. 
"My? Oh yes, my brother. Yeah he is. He can be pretty annoying sometimes. His name's Shoya. And I'm Takashi Isao." Embarrassment in the form of a heavy blush bloomed on my face when I realized the fact that I never introduced myself. 
"I knew." 
"You did?"
"Kind of. You go to Misumi's school."
"Yeah." I ran my hand over the back of my head in embarrassment. 
A pregnant silence bloomed between us. Neither of us knew what to say. 
Come on man, speak. Ask her about herself. 
"Um, I guess I should probably head out now." What? No, why did I say that?
"Oh... Okay. I'll see you out."
She trailed after me to the front door and waited while I put on my shoes. I opened the door and stepped out, regret bubbling in my chest. I had much to say, but I was too confused and afraid to say it. This had never happened to me before. 
Once I stood outside I turned back to face her. 
"Thanks for the Cereal." She muttered under her breath. 
"Yeah, no problem." 
A second passed before she said, "Bye Takashi, it was nice meeting you."
Something about that statement held so much finality and that made me anxious. A part of me knew that once she closed the door, I would probably never see her again and I didn't want that. 
"Wait!" I called out just before she shut the door fully. "I know we just met but I really want to get to know you Kaiya, so please can I have your contact?" I blurted out on an impulse. 
She appeared stunned by my sudden request, a soft gasp left her mouth. 
Crap, did I say something weird. I played my words over again in my head and immediately cringed. Wait why would she even want to give her number to a weirdo she just met, I should just apologize and leave so her last memory of me isn't one of me being a creep. 
"F.. forget I said anything. It's fine..."
"I'll give you."
"If you don't want to give.. me... Wait, what. You're okay with it?" I blinked multiple times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. 
"Yeah, but only if you give me yours too." She looked away as the tip of her nose turned pink. 
I had never seen anything cuter than this in my entire life. Thank you God for letting me love this long to witness this. 
That evening after getting home my chest burned with pride. I may not have been able to ask her all the questions I had at her house but with this I could ask her them anytime. I would get to know her, what she likes, what she dislikes, her favorite color, favorite food, why she never leaves her house, why Misumi doesn't y'all about her. I would work hard until I had gotten to know all the colors of Kyla Akasuki.
I pulled out my phone, ignoring the numerous new messages there and searched for her contact. When I found it, I clicked on it and sent a message, a simple 'hey'.
I placed my phone on my bed and went to take a shower. When I got by out, my phone glowed, showing the notification of a new message. It was from Kaiya. I couldn't help but smile when I read it. It was also a simple 'hey'.