I Love You, Dummy

As we met in the backyard, I could hear the field and track team running and sweating it out at full speed like they are chasing that dream we decided on when we were in kindergarten. Thinking back, what was my dream? Surely, it was not to be tangled with this person who stood right in front of me now, glaring at me all the same while looking into my eyes with such gentleness that I could feel her peering into my soul. I had decided that today is the day I need to get answers for everything concerning this person, and maybe... we can continue to stay as friends.

"So, I just wanted to ask, but why do you always glare at me like that and act so angry with me?" I started.

"Huh? Whatever are you talking about? I don't glare at you, I just call out your stupidity from time to time, Natsuki."

"We both know that's not the truth, and you are also using that tone again. I have noticed you speak gently with others, so what's your problem with me? I'm your friend, right?"

"I don't want to comment on this. Let's just leave it at that. If you hadn't been that dense, we wouldn't be meeting like this." As she said this, I could notice a twinge of sadness in her voice.

Is this all my fault? Granted, I know that I'm not the most emotional person and that I can't always grasp people's feelings or read between the lines, but was there something so obvious that I made her this angry?

"Anyway, I just want you to be as friendly with me as you are with others, so can we come to a conclusion? I'm ready to talk about anything."

"Sigh... Let me lay it out for you, so that even a dumbass like you can understand."

She started approaching me, slightly too close into my personal space, just like she always does. As she walked briskly toward me, I could observe the slight blush on her face, and then she stopped right in front of me, our noses only a few centimeters apart, where I could feel her breath. She looked directly into my eyes, took hold of my hands, and said the words that I could never have expected to come out of her mouth in an eternity.

"I love you, dummy. I just wanted your attention somehow."

I was so dumbstruck by that, I took two steps backward, and then one forward. The world started to spin around me, like those science projects that we see middle school students prepare where planets revolve around the sun.

Do I even have an answer to her feelings? Yes, but do I even have the heart to lay it on her? Is it the right answer, or am I being the coward here? While I contemplate and decipher my feelings, I see Saya run straight pass me and past the school gate which invoked a slight pain in my heart. I cannot leave her alone. Not again.