o3.
chapter three
what the freaking
hell?

My heart weighed heavily against its enclosure, every guilty thud reminding me of the silent heartbeat that had passed when May careened to the floor, Dawn following suit in a flurry of unconsciousness.

The air shifted as I treaded on the tar road. There was a crashing honk, and my shock widened. My eyes darted to the side, feeling my wet hair whip against my face.

"Look out!"

The blurred flurry continued. The air supply to my lungs was abruptly cut off as something heavier than me collided against my back. I instinctively closed my eyes, bracing for the muddy impact that came a split moment later.

A sharp pain shot up through my knees, and I muffled a yelp, feeling my stomach turn sick. There was a loud screech, and a shout of incoherent disapproval before everything quieted — except for the rain thumping with due respect to gravity and my heart pounding in my ears.

The pounding all but abated when I heard a groan of pain. The heavy thing — or person, as I realised — that was weighing me down was lifted.

"Are you... okay?"

This was an unfamiliar voice. It was only natural my neck snapped to look at the owner of the voice like a frightened owl being called out for.

A boy kneeled beside me, hair wet from the downpour and almost obscuring his brown eyes glimmering with concern. He looked to be about my age — give or take.

"Hey?" he pressed, his grip on my waist tightening.

I blinked, realising what was going on, before trying to sit up. But my body decided to shriek in rebellion, and my elbows — which had supported me to find this handsome stranger — gave way, letting my head fall back into my arms on the road.

Now that the adrenaline rush of an almost-death encounter with a speeding car was dissipating, I felt no energy to answer him, let alone walk home.

"Hey?" he tried again, and for the sake of him, words formed on my tongue.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look the part. Are you scraped somewhere?"

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end when I felt his hand move up to my shoulder. His hand?

"What in the freaking world—" I swore, my heart rejoicing at all the adrenaline my endocrine glands had decided to secrete back into my blood again.

The force with which I straightened was enough to dislodge his hand. A bubble reinforced itself between us, shifting awkwardly to house us separately. I blinked, my eyes boring into his, a strange realisation settling over me and warming my cheeks.

However, this boy didn't seem to have realised it. Maybe his endocrine glands hadn't calmed down yet either. "Nani?" he probed in otaku Japanese. "What?"

I hesitated, my fingers trembling. My mind reeled. Was he actually touching me, or was it just the heat of the moment? Deciding it would be better to ask than test and die if incorrect, I cleared my throat, tucking my knees properly and straightening my skirt.

"Y-you saved me."

It wasn't a question. More of a statement. The rain between us filled the atmosphere before he nodded slowly.

"By pushing me out of harm's way," I continued, words getting better with each syllable I enunciated. The rain intensified, as if aligning to my racing mind. Pushing my dripping bangs from my eyes, I took a better look at him.

His brown eyes narrowed rather comically, his jaw set. Then he blanched and reddened fifty shades of crimson all under a minute. His lips parted, and he gaped like a goldfish out of its habitat before any words were spoken to the howling.

"I did..."

I gulped, nodding unsurely. If anyone were to watch this scene — this bizarre scene of two teenagers sprawled on the edge of the road, on their knees and covered in marsh no less — they'd probably think we were out of our sane minds.

Without another word, our arms shot up, hands reaching for each other, palms forward and tingling with anticipation. I held my breath, blues widening as rain tapered against us.

Our bubbles began curving inward, the movement delicate and unprecedented until it reached its climax, uniting into one just as our palms surfaced against the other's.

My breath hitched, a warm tingle spreading from where our fingers grazed to the rest of my body, to every living fibre.

My eyes shut instinctively when he affirmed my thoughts lowly, as if his whispers were a ventriloquism of their own rhythm.

"Bro woke up, saved a beautiful girl, and found that she's his soulmate." My lips twitched into an involuntary smile, feeling his eyes on me. "Sounds like a perfect start for a shoujo anime, don't you think?"

— 🫧 —

Who do we think is this
handsome stranger?
;)

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x