Chapter 40:

Beginner At Love

Master Of Rejections But Beginner At Love


"And here we are."

"Yeah..."

It was the next day when Yousuke offered Kazuma to drive him back to his house.

"Feels like I wasn't here for years, haha..." Kazuma joked.

"Well, I hope you can at least enjoy the rest of your holidays, Ichinose."

"I hope so, too."

Kazuma got out of the car.

"Thank you for driving me home, Ikari-san."

"No problem."

"Oh, let's go eat something again in the future! It's on me like last time." Yousuke pointed with his thumb at his chest.

"Really?"

"Yes, of course! After all, we solved the case concerning 'The Owls' thanks to you!"

"I see... If that's the case, isn't a dinner a bit too little?"

"Tch. Fine, I'll pay the next three dinners as well."

Kazuma sighed.

"In the end, it's still just food... Whatever. I'm fine with it, I guess." Kazuma gave in.

"That's settled then! See you, Ichinose!" Yousuke stated and was about to drive away.

"Ah, wait!"

"Hm?"

"I have a question which bothered me for a while..."

"I remembered that you mentioned my parents' names during our fight. Did you know them?" Kazuma asked with a stern and yet nervous expression.

"Huh? Don't you rememb-"

Bzz.

"Sorry, it's urgent."

Yousuke had to take the call after his phone rang.

"What?! Understood. I'll get there now."

"I have to go now. Let's continue our talk next time. See you, Ichinose!"

"H-huh?"

Thus, Yousuke drove away. Not being able to say goodbye, Kazuma only waved his hand awkwardly.

After the car disappeared in the horizon, Kazuma entered his home.

Being in the house again, he took a deep breath through his nose.

"How I missed this smell!" he commented with a relaxed expression.

He took a little stroll within his house.

"Ah, there it is!"

When he entered his own room, he noticed that his phone was on his bed.

[11 missed calls.]

[39 unread messages.]

"..."

Kazuma immediately checked who called him in spite of already knowing who it was.

"So Emma called me two times, Yui eight times... And Kirisaki one time?!" he leaned with his face closer on the display.

He could not believe that Kirisaki tried to call him on his own accord.

Then, Kazuma proceeded to read his messages. Most of them came from the group chat where Emma, Yui and Kazuma were part of. His private messages only contained the question about his whereabouts.

Besides them, even Kirisaki wrote him.

[Sorry. Emma is coming to your hospital.]

"I see. He tried to warn me..."

After he checked everything on his phone, he dialed a number.

[Kazuma?]

"Hey, Yui. Sorry for not contacting you in the last few days. My phone died and I didn't notice."

[Don't you have a better excuse?]

"..."

[Oh, well, it doesn't matter. What's up?]

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm back."

[What a coincidence! I'm also back from my family trip.]

"What? Didn't you say that you would be away for two weeks?"

[How should I say... I forgot something important and therefore we had to head back home, haha...]

One could hear how embarrassed Yui was.

"How stupid..."

[S-shut up!]

[Anyways, are you free tomorrow?]

"Yeah, I think so."

[Perfect! Then, come to my house at 3 pm.]

"Alright."

[Bye then, hehe!]

"Bye."

Kazuma threw his phone on his bed.

"Now then. It's 3:22 pm. What should I do?" Kazuma asked himself as he stretched his body.

He looked at his bed.

"Maybe a short nap?"

The next day.

"Geez, I still can't believe that you slept for almost 24 hours..." Yui sighed in disappointment and astonishment.

"Haha..." Kazuma only laughed wryly.

"We even almost missed our bus thanks to you..." she massaged her forehead with her fingers.

"W-well, no need to talk about it further, after all, we arrived. Right?" he tried to calm her down.

"Guess you're right..."

Currently, Kazuma and Yui passed the gates of an amusement park.

She took a deep breath.

"Let's have fun today!" she said with her usual energetic and carefree attitude as she took his arm and dragged him behind her.

"Heh..." Kazuma had a small smirk on his face.

Thus, the two went on to have fun at the amusement park.

For Kazuma, it was a nice change of pace after everything he went through in the last couple of days.

Be it the roller coaster, the merry-go-round or the haunted house, Kazuma and Yui enjoyed their time in every ride and place they visited.

They had so much fun that the sun began to set in a blink of an eye.

"Can you wait here? I need to go to the restroom." Yui asked as she pointed at the bench near them.

"Sure."

After Kazuma sat down, Yui already vanished from his vision.

"..."

Bzz.

While he was waiting for Yui, he got notification on his phone.

[Hey, Kazu-kun! It's me! I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to transfer to your school after summer break.]

"What?" he reacted in a dull tone.

Due to the way he was addressed, he could conclude that it was Shiho.

"How the hell..."

He rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he tried to comprehend her message. Why would she want to transfer schools? And how did she even get his number?

Wanting the answers, he was about to message her back until he spotted a person approaching him.

"I'm back!"

"That was fast, Yui."

"I was just lucky that there was no queue."

"Is that so?"

Kazuma noticed how the orange tone faded away gradually in the sky.

"Oh, it's getting dark soon. Want to head back?" Yui asked.

"..."

He smirked as he watched into a certain direction.

"How about riding that before we go home?" he suggested while he pointed at the Ferris wheel.

"The Ferris wheel?"

"Yeah, I think we rode and visited everything besides that."

"Hmm... I guess so. Well, fine." she agreed.

The two went over to the Ferris wheel and sat down opposite from each other in the cabin.

"What a beautiful view..." Yui commented in astonishment.

"Yeah..." he silently agreed.

They looked out of the windows to enjoy the view. Yui was completely entranced whereas Kazuma was in deep thoughts and only pretended to enjoy the view.

"Yui?"

Kazuma fixed his posture and faced her.

"Yes?"

"There is something I need to tell you."

Seeing his stern gaze, Yui also turned serious and faced him.

"You see, ..."

He began to tell her about his previous meeting with Emma and what happened. Naturally, he left out the fact that they were in a hospital.

As he came to the end of his story, Yui felt a throbbing pain in her heart.

"H-heh, you truly are the 'Master Of Rejections'." she tried to mock him.

"Well, I did it on purpose." Kazuma stated as he leaned back.

"?" she tilted her head.

"My feelings for her already vanished even before that 'confession'. Knowing that, I just wanted to end my pursuit officially."

"I see." she looked out of the windows again so that she had not to face him.

Her heart began to calm down a little.

"But that's not all." he stated when their cabin reached the peak of the Ferris wheel.

Just like her, he turned his gaze to the side.

"I realized that I already had feelings for another person."

"!"

In a shocked state, she turned her face in his direction again. Her mouth was open, her eyes widened, sweat started to from on her forehead and her face reddened.

She knew exactly whom he meant. When she looked at him, she could only notice his blushing cheeks due to him still not facing her.

Even though her heart calmed down not too long ago, her heart was throbbing again and even faster than before. It was not due to pain.

"I promised to myself that this time I won't fail."

Kazuma's eyes finally met hers again. Despite being red due to the embarrassment, his eyes were determined.

"I promised to myself that I will try to know her even better. I will go on lots of dates with her. Talk a lot with her. Have even more fun with her."

His mouth formed a smile beaming full of resolution and confidence.

"And I promised to myself that when I'm truly ready for a relationship, then I will confess to her without getting rejected."

Their ride slowly came to an end.

Even Yui had to smile wholeheartedly.

She stood up from her seat.

"Don't make her wait too long, okay?" she pointed her finger at him playfully.

"I won't." he replied in a relaxed manner.

The door opened.

"Haha..." he snickered silently.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, you know, since I got rejected by Emma for the last time, I decided to change my title."

"Your title?"

"Yeah, previously I was known as the 'Master Of Rejections'. However, times have changed."

"And what's your new nickname?"

"I made up my mind to learn step by step what love is."

Kazuma exited the cabin with one foot and stretched his hand towards Yui.

"..."

After she took his hand nervously, Kazuma gripped her hand tightly and pulled her with him out of the cabin.

He turned to her with a toothy smile.

"Therefore, call me 'Beginner At Love'."