Shirakawa yofune (白川夜舟)

We arrived at Kyoto and things felt awkward between me and Inei but he didn't seem to be bothered

I'm sure he is acting like it does bother him 

"Where is the house?" Yosuke asked my dad

"Hold on! I have to check it on my phone!" My father said before checking everything up

Suddenly I felt something pull my hand, it was Yua

"Hey let's take a photo together!" Yua said as she got ready for a photo

"No thank you! I don't like photos"

"What are you? A celebrity approached by the paparazzi? Come on get inside the frame!" 

"I hate seeing my face in photos, I'm the most unphotogenic person, and I will totally ruin your photo"

No matter how much I refused in the end we took a photo of us holding hands which she posted and one with our faces which she kept for herself as she promised

I think this may be the first photo we have taken together

Plus one thing that surprised me was the feel of her hand, it felt oddly cold and skinny but I assumed it was because of the cold, it must be a cold autumn day

All the time I spent near Yua now felt short of weird after what Inei told me and I don't like it but sadly I can't do anything about it really, I have to act like everything is good

"We must get on a bus since it's a bit far from here!" My father said as he pointed at his phone, he was referring to the Airbnb

Everyone silently walked to the bus station and waited for the next bus to arrive

"Hey, Su want to go buy drinks for everyone?" Inei told me with a smile

"You should definitely go! I'm thirsty for some good iced tea!" Yua seemed to agree with Inei's idea

He definitely is up to something which might be good or bad

Nevertheless, I accepted and we went to a nearby family-run market to buy some goods

"Why are you even here Su? Do you really plan on sticking thee years here or do you just come here like all the other foreigners because Japan is "cool" and you will just leave after the first inconvenience? I won't appreciate you if you do that Su"

"I won't run away, I made it clear to her from the start" 

"Everyone says that Su, actions speak louder than words"

"Wait are you getting mad at something I haven't done yet and not planning to do?" 

I was genuinely confused

"No just a warning that every single bad thing you do will result in something negative for you"

I can't let this go anymore, I walked in front of Inei and got ready to confront him 

"You know what Inei! I'm tired of this! How many times do I have to tell you I love your sister? I'm actually looking forward to a future with her so can you trust me for once? What happened to the guy with a smile that was cool with everyone? Is this a mask of yours?" 

Inei chuckled as if he found everything I said a joke

"I'm the school idol after all, I can't appear as something other than that, my problem isn't you, is Yua's stupid feelings so don't get it twisted, I still find you an interesting guy to hang around, if I didn't you wouldn't have the success in school you have now"

"So are you saying all the people I consider friends are my friends because of you?"

"Sort of, but no, I couldn't oppose you for no reason, that would only make me the bad guy but I could set a lot of traps for you to fall in resulting in shattering your image" 

"You are scary"

I said as I started walking at a fast pace

I don't know the reason why Inei feels the need to do and say all that about me or his sister but no matter what he said now I feel like he had a reason to say, I surely can't tell or understand his reasons but they must be good

"Hey, aren't they supposed to wait here?" I asked confused after I arrived at an empty bus stop

"Oh, crap! The bus had arrived two minutes ago!" Inei said as he started running into an alley 

I simply followed

"Why are we running?" I asked him

"A bus stop is close and since the bus takes a long time to pick up passengers in other further stations we might be able to catch it if we go there"

"When the hell did you obtain this information?" 

"I downloaded the schedule of the buses through the internet!" 

Long story short, Inei's weird plan actually paid out

"Wow! They actually came!" Yua said impressed

My dad and Yosuke were almost tearing up from laughter

"See? I told you they will run like hell to get to this station!" Yosuke told my father as he pushed him around

"This is truly top-tier parenting! I should take notes"

"Yeah abandoning your sons in a city they have no idea how to navigate is totally good parenting" I said while taking deep breaths 

"That's the famous scholar Yosuke for you!" Inei said with a smile

"Here I took you peach flavored!" I said as I gave Yua her tea

She thanked me and things continued

We arrived at the house and everyone took turns going to the bathroom, I then decided to get ready to bath since all that running from before made me sweaty but my dad had another plan on his mind

"WE ARE GOING TO PUBLIC BATH TOGETHER IN A HOT SPRING! What do you say?" 

I was afraid when Dad suggested that because Yosuke would say yes and if he agreed then he would have taken us too

Turns out we went there but we didn't stay long, my dad got a bit awkward and forgot how embarrassed he is around other people when he is naked or when they are naked or both 

We didn't take long to return home so I started writing a demo of the speech for Yua, I was in the room alone since the others decided to watch a movie, it was a horror so it wouldn't hurt to skip it to focus on my "job"

"What are you doing all alone out here? You will get cold" Yua said as she entered the balcony

I forgot to mention the "room" I was in was quite open

"I'm not sure if we can win him Yua, how about we shift our focus from this and focus on our lessons you know? I'm not the brightest person out there so I don't think I can handle the council and studies at once" 

I figured I could listen to Inei's advice partially

"Don't you think you are underestimating yourself?" 

This question came out of the blue 

"I'm not really that great compared to you"

For a moment Yua froze up and stared at me

"Did my brother mess with you?"

"Why would you say that?" I asked quite suspiciously 

"I know him, Su! He cares a little too much but he shows his affection in a bad way, so what did he say?" She asked me as she smiled 

I hesitated to speak, what if I damaged their relationship?

"Nothing crazy! He just said we are never going to win and to give up"

"Come on!!! When you say nothing crazy it usually is something crazy, don't lie to me"

She got me

"Okay just promise you won't be mad at him"

"Come on do you think I'm a kid?" 

"I guess not... He said something along the lines of "Leave my sister! You are a bad influence and you will drag her down to your level" and other similar stuff" 

Before I even knew it she was gone from the balcony 

Shit 

I quickly ran after Yua but I was late, she was already talking to him

Oh crap, she is dragging him up here...

"Did you really tell Su what he told me you said?" Yua asked him straightforward on his face

"I thought you would keep this between us" Inei said as he glared at me

"You are talking to me not him!" Yua said as she got in front of me

"Stop this nonsense! He thinks the same as I do, he simply is too selfish to accept it" 

"So what if he is selfish? He is a selfish teenage boy who wants to stay with his girl, what's wrong with that, huh? 

"Do you understand that your future is at stake here?" 

"If a relationship doesn't get me a scholarship in a university then I never belonged to a university in the first place" 

Inei seemed quite mad at what Yua said

"I KNOW YOUR POTENTIAL DAMN IT! WHY CAN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE" Inei punched a sliding door breaking it in the process 

Yua seemed scared for a bit, quite literally devastated

I felt like I didn't have the right to speak, at the end of the day I don't know Inei well nor do I know Yua like he does so there is no point speaking

"Hey, brother..." Yua said with a dynamic voice

"...Watch me reach the peak of my potential" 

Yua tried to reach the stars with one of her hands and grabbed my hand with the other while staring deep into Inei's eyes

"Heh! Do whatever you want loser" Inei said as he chuckled

He then left the room silently 

"What just..." 

My question was disturbed by a scream 

"AAAAA THE DOOR IS BROKEN!!!!"

After the realization that we damaged the house and we would probably be fined finally kicked in Yua screamed loudly

It was a hard night for Inei since he had to explain the reason he broke the door

I suddenly woke up during the night, I felt warm and being in the same room with my dad, and the two Yosukes didn't help so I simply went to the living room where I found Yua awake 

"Why are you awake at that time?" 

Yua asked me the same and in the end, we simply used earphones to listen to music

This time we listened to music Yua played since I left my phone on the other floor 

While listening to music, the thought I had back when we were arguing with Inei came back

I don't know Yua

I don't know if she knows me

"Hey Yua..."

"Yeah?"

"What's your favorite color?" 

She looked confused 

"What?"

"Just answer"

"White..."

"Mine is black... Yua, what's your favorite thing to eat!"

"I like chicken and salty food overall! And I sort of dislike overly bitter or sweet dishes, I like to have balanced taste rather than a ton of something" 

"Yua"

"What now?" 

"I love you"

"I know..." She answered as she looked away

After being silent for a bit our discussion continued and we learned many things about each other

Yua is an introvert but likes to be around people, her favorite type of places to go are places where she can make long-lasting memories and she has a strange dislike toward social media

She says that every time she wants information from comments and stuff she only sees negativity and she says that social media pushes this negativity toward the user

That's why she prefers to speak through LINE which is a chatting platform rather than a social media

But not only that! I learned many things about her thought process and the way she likes to interact with people 

Little by little I learned more and more about her, which is something I highly appreciate

"Su, can I ask you a question too?" Yua's voice sounded cold 

And after seeing her face I saw her tearing up

"You are not going to abandon me like you did last time right? You are going to stay with me right?"

I couldn't answer immediately so I simply hugged her

"Is that why you seemed distant even though we dated?" I asked but the sounds of her crying covered my voice

Of course, she wasn't going to open up to me...

If a person I became transparent simply left me behind would I ever let them back into my life?

Of course, I wouldn't... I'm not kind like Yua, I'm not strong like her either and I'm not a beautiful human being like her, compared to her I'm the ugliest person alive

But I promised myself I would change! I know I can change! So I will... I will not drag her down like Inei said!

I will lift her up, I will make her use my body as a boost for her, I will kill for her

That's how I feel about Yua, I wish I could tell her that... 

I wish I was strong enough to open myself like she does for me...

I wish...

I wish I was someone better for Yua...