Irrational

Sometimes he finds her just staring out into the sky during windy days and recalls how she once told him that Terashima reminded her off the wind. Moreover, she carries a lighter and cigarettes even though she doesn't smoke. He latter discovered that lighter belonged to Terashima and those cigarettes are the ones Terashima likes to smoke.

There is also that worn out looking leather bookmark, and also a box on top of her shelf. That she acts oddly secretive about. According to Tsueno, when Terashima left. He left behind a lot of belongings in the Holy knights headquarters and Sumire was in charge of packing everything.

Toh sighed. The more he thinks about it, the more defeated he felt. He already knew before he asked her to make a decision. He knew that Sumire was in love with Terashima. But, he still asked her regardless.

Now that he thought about it, perhaps that was his mistake. Perhaps that was where everything started to go wrong. Why did he ask her out knowing that her heart still belonged to another man?

His patients are correct. Love truly makes people do irrational things, but even when they know it is irrational they still do them. It was the same for him. Despite knowing she loved another, Toh decided to take his chance.

She may have agreed but Toh knew better than to assume she was in love with him.

After a few minutes he hears shouting

"Don't give me that crap. I told you repeatedly already, that unit needs reinforcing. Asahi can't be expected to solo everything."

Toh switched the shower off and wrapped a towel around his waist as he walked out. Even though she was angry, Toh couldn't help but think how adorable she looks when she is mad.

"Uh hello? Wasn't what happened last night enough evidence?

Asahi is indeed capable. But even she has her limits, she's not like us or Ru. Even for us that would have been hard to handle. She has her limitations. You need to get that into your thick skull, that not everyone is invisible." Sumire raised her voice.

Toh frowned. She is getting too worked up. He walked over until he stood behind her and covered her eyes with his hands.

"Take a deep breath. One, two."

Sumire gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand to say thank you as he moved his hands away.

"I'll list the members I think are capable of assisting. Mmm, I'll go to the meeting."

After a few more words Sumire ended the call.

"There's going to be a meeting?" Toh repeated.

"Yes, asahi the girl who was taken was in charge of one our strong holds. She is very strong, but even she can't solo two hundred people."

"You're going?" Toh asked.

"Unfortunately. I am still technically the leader." Sumire sighed.

'She hates being the leader that much, and that's why Aki is still the one in charge.' But, if she didn't want to become the leader. Then why did she fight with Aki? Surely she knew what the outcome would be if she won.

"Should I go with you?"

"Uh, that would cause another set of problems." Sumire said nervously.

"I think it will be amusing to see their faces."

Moreover he is worried that she will get too angry. It's not good for her.

Sumire shakes her head. "As much as I want to see that, I still have to uphold tradition." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thank you though, talking to Aki sometimes gets me worked up."

"It's not an issue."

"I thought you'd say that." Sumire trailed off. "You were working on a new design right? Can I see it?"

"Sure Princess, you'll probably beg me to wearing it." Toh pulled out his sketchpad from the drawer and passed it to her. When their hands brushed together however, Sumire suddenly pulled back causing him to drop the sketchbook onto the ground.

Toh raised his eyebrow. "What's wrong-" He paused seeing her averting her gaze from his torso- It takes him a moment to understand why. His upper torso was completely naked with traces of water droplets and aside from the towel, he was showing a lot of skin.

"You don't have to act so strange about it. I'm still wearing something, I'm not fully naked."

"T-that towel is very small." Sumire insisted.

Toh chuckled. "So, does it bother you?"

"I guess men don't mind showing that much skin, but as a woman I mind! So don't get any weird ideas."

He raised his eyebrow at her words. What does she mean by weird ideas? Maybe he can get her to clarify. He can think of several weird ideas. But, maybe she has something else in mind?

"G-go get changed, I need to head out and I'm sure you do too." Sumire stormed away.

The minute she left, he burst into laughter. She really is an intriguing one.

....

At the Northern shooting range

Sumire sighed. "I can't believe that jerk, suddenly cancelling the meeting-and he is suddenly too busy to see me."

Toh chuckled. "Don't get so worked up. It's actually good, it means we can spend some time together."

At those words Sumire looked over at him concerned. "What about--"

"It's alright, there is still time. " Toh looked around. "You come here often?"

The staff members were looking over at Sumire, wondering if they should come over or not.

Sumire nodded. "I do." She paused and called out. "Is the booth I usually use free?"

"Of course it is, nobody dares to use those bullets."

Sumire laughed. "Right."

Toh raised his eyebrow curious but didn't say anything, and allowed Sumire to lead him to the booth. Once they were there, Toh spotted some odd looking red coloured bullets. Those aren't rubber bullets. He picked one up curiously and realized how heavy it was.

"You can shoot these?" Toh said surprised and Sumire laughed again.

"Yes, just watch."

He followed her to one of the booths on the corner of the room. This booth appeared to be more isolated than the others. Sumire picked up one of the bullets in the boxes and handed it to him. The minute she placed it on his hands, Toh almost dropped it.

Why is this single bullet so heavy? He isn't unfamiliar with guns and knew that the more weight bullets have, it can transfer energy onto the target. However, this is three times as heavy as a normal bullet. Now he understood the comment by that staff member just now. No normal person should be able to shoot these.

Koichi is right, he can't call Sumire a normal girl.

8Unedited*