Chapter Nineteen: Love Puppet:
-October 12th,
2011-
Kazue can’t
handle it. She’s not equipped to. But this man, boy…
She shook her
head.
“Stupid,” the
demon muttered to herself. Hotaru looked up.
“Problems?” she
asked.
“No,” Kazue
lied. She hurried back to her room. She didn’t need to hear her mouth this
morning. Kazue rubbed her head behind her door. This got worse by the minute.
Now, he had a name.
Sota.
It didn’t help
to run into him again. Funny story about how that happened. Hotaru sent her on
some errand.
Kazue rolled her eyes.
“Why do I have
to do it?” she complained. “Can’t you do it?”
“I’m tied up at
the moment,” Hotaru said. “Please. Just do it. I’ll make it worth your while.”
Kazue rolled her eyes.
“Whatever,” she
muttered. Kazue frowned as she stood up. She walked to her room, mumbling to
herself.
“Lame,” she
said. “This is lame!”
“Huh?” Hotaru
asked.
“Nothing!” the
other demon lied. She disappeared to her room.
----------
“This is
stupid,” Kazue muttered to herself. Why was she out here again? Why couldn’t
Hotaru do it herself?
“Lame,” she said
again. But, she had to get this over with. Kazue began her walk to the store.
The temperature dropped again. It would get colder this weekend. Kazue snorted.
7-11 it was then.
She pushed open
the glass doors. Not too empty, but not too busy this morning. Perfect. This
trip would be easier than she thought. Just go down to the wine section, pick up
some cooking wine, and go home. Shouldn’t take too long.
Then, Kazue saw
him again. That beautiful man stood in the aisle looking at a bottle of red
wine. She thought she heard angels singing. Kazue’s face turned light red. What
was he doing?
It got worse
when he turned his head.
“Oh, it’s you,”
he said. Kazue froze.
“H-H-Hi…” she
mumbled. They paused. She couldn’t keep her eyes on him. Why did he have to be
so pretty?
“Are you okay?”
he asked. Kazue’s face turned redder.
“I… I…” she
said. What was she doing? Why was she acting like a shy schoolgirl?
“I’m fine!”
Kazue shouted. It should’ve stopped there.
“Hey!” Kazue
spoke up. “Uh…”
The beautiful raised
his eyebrow.
“Yeah?” he
asked. Kazue’s mind blanked out. Why didn’t she just turn around and walk away?
It would make more sense. It would be more of her.
“Excuse me… uh…
What is your name?” Kazue finally asked. Too late to run out now. The beautiful
man smiled.
“Sota,” he said.
“Ito Sota. Are you sure?” She lowered her eyes.
“Kazue,” she
muttered.
“What?” Sota
asked.
“Kazue,” she
repeated. “My name is Kazue.” His smile shot a hole through her heart. Why? Why
was this happening? Her heart pounded against her chest.
“Hey,” Sota
spoke. She looked up.
“Are you free
this weekend?” he asked. Her eyes widened.
“Why?” she
asked.
“I want to get
to know you,” he said. “Is… that okay?”
“Yes!” Kazue
yelped. “I mean… Yeah. Sure, whatever.”
“Great,” the
beautiful man said. “Let’s meet up for coffee. I know a really good place. I
think you would like it.”
“Sure, sure,”
she said. What the hell was this? Before she knew it, she had his number.
“Oh…” Kazue said
once he was gone.
That all
happened yesterday. Kazue looked at the number on her phone. Surely she wasn’t
going to call Sota, would she? Surely not.
Kozue’s finger lingered over the keys.