The Rising Of The Anomaly - Chapter 185

“Wait, what exactly freaked you out? For a moment, I thought you were referring to my c-confession, but…,” She trailed off, as she pulled away after kissing me.

“Huh? Oh, when you said ‘that’s not quite accurate’…no offense, but I was starting to imagine the worst,” I replied apologetically.

She looked confused for a moment, before her eyes widened in realization…

“I forgot…that time we hung out with most of our classmates for the first time, you mentioned what happened between you and Bytra…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memor-…,” She began with a guilty look on her face.

“No, stop, don’t apologize…if anything, I should apologize for doubting you like that, that wasn’t cool on my part…so, I’m sorry,” I cut her off, feeling kinda guilty myself.

“In that case, let’s just call it even…okay?” She responded with a wry smile.

“Okay…and hey, about you confes-,” I began, admittedly feeling a bit overwhelmed by this whole situation.

“Wait…you don’t have to respond right away. Give it some thought, and take all the time you need, okay? But, um, you know…don’t leave me hanging for too long,” She interrupted with a slight smile, as her face turned bright red.

“Hey, uh, if you don’t mind me asking…what exactly, y-you know, made you f-fall in love with me?” I asked her, as my heart started beating faster.

“H-huh? I-I, um, well…,” She stuttered, before holding my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine and adding, “Well, there wasn’t any one particular thing…I really liked spending time with you, and the more time that I spent with you, the more comfortable and at ease I felt whenever you’re around. I was pretty happy when you got so angry on my behalf during the tournament, maybe that’s when it started…it’s hard to pin down exactly, I didn’t fall in love with you overnight or for any specific reason…my affection for you just kept gradually increasing the more time we spent together, and I’d been denying it to myself for the last few weeks, when my heart started to beat faster whenever I even thought about you…but I finally accepted it during Mitchell’s party, I couldn’t ignore my feelings for you anymore. So, yeah…I love you, Kilzachs.”

As she said all that, a realization hit me…before this, I never expected anyone to feel this way about me. Her words, they seemed so unbelievable to me, and yet, I could clearly see that she was a hundred percent serious.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve slowly but surely regained my self-confidence, which was absolutely destroyed during my time in middle school and early highschool, not to mention at home…I thought I’d gotten over all my negative experiences from back then, but I guess some lingering effects had stuck around.

Maybe that’s why I’ve never actually given thought towards getting into a serious relationship, because deep down, I didn’t really think it was possible for me.

“I…don’t know what to say. For starters, I’m flattered as hell, this a pretty big boost to my ego,” I replied, half-jokingly, before continuing, “I mean, I really admire you, you know. Your powers, talent and your mastery over them are just a small part of that. You’re quiet and unassuming, but you won’t let anyone walk over you, that’s something I seriously respect. And I genuinely enjoy spending time with you too, even if we don’t have anything to talk about, I’ve come to find that something as simple as sitting in silence with you is comfortable and relaxing. I’ve never been in a serious relationship before, and I’ve never even considered being in one before…so I’m not sure how to respond to this, there’s so many thoughts flowing in my head right now, that-…”

“Like I said, you don’t have to respond right away. Take your time in getting your thoughts in order and then decide, okay? I’m more than happy to wait,” She informed me, as she rested her head against my shoulder.

“Yeah, but…I don’t really know if I’ve ever even really been in love with someone before, so I’m not sure how it’s supposed to feel-,” I began.

“Hey, calm down, you don’t need to get all stressed out over this…and besides, there’s a simple technique that can help you realize whether or not you’re in love with someone,” She responded with a smile.

“Seriously? What is it?”

“All you have to do is imagine the person being romantically involved with someone else. Simple as that. Well, it worked for me, anyway.”

Huh? That’s all it takes? Okay, guess I’ll give it a tr-…

“Stop, not right now! First get your thoughts sorted out, otherwise you’ll just get more confused. And besides, our date’s not over yet,” She interrupted me before I could start, and then glancing at her I-Watch, “We’ve still got about half a minute left before we’re out of the tunnel…”

“Oh, it’s almost over? Ten minutes went by pretty fast, huh.”

“I’ve got a favor to ask for these last few seconds…do you mind?” She asked in a quiet whisper, as she met my gaze.

“Hm? No, I don’t mind, what is it?” I responded, as my heart rate began to spike.

“Kiss me,” She requested, closing her eyes and tilting her head up, her face turning red with anticipation.

H-huh? I feel like I shouldn’t with all these thoughts bouncing around in my head, but looking at the expectant look on her face, it felt like it’d be even worse to deny her…I slunk my arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer, before leaning down and pressing my lips against hers.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back, caressing my lips with hers slowly and softly, and then abruptly pulling away…

“Just a little something to help you make the correct decision,” She whispered with a slight smile, before her face turned bright red and she averted her gaze, right as the boat reached the end of the tunnel.

“Uh, r-right,” I responded, unable to say anything else, my face heating up and my heart beating like a drum, as the ride came to an end…

…

After that, we went on a couple more rides, but it was really hard to focus, and we were kinda silent and awkward around each other. She was holding my hand the whole time, but whenever our eyes met, either one or both of us inadvertently ended up averting our gazes.

She’d seemed so bold and confident earlier, but I guess she was putting in some real effort to appear that way, and couldn’t do so anymore. Which is understandable, I’m feeling pretty mentally worn out here myself.

“That was the last of our tickets. Do you want to get a few more?” She asked me, as we finished up a death drop ride, the one that slowly rises up and then drops down rapidly.

“Nah, I think I’ve had my fill, I’m feeling kinda spent. Plus, uh, it’s kinda hard to focus on the rides anymore, you know?” I responded sheepishly.

“Y-yeah, I know what you mean…it’s almost 6 PM now, the amusement park is gonna get pretty crowded soon. It’s a bit early for dinner, but wanna go find a place to eat?”

“Sure, sounds good to me. We passed by quite a few restaurants on the way here, you pick a place, it’ll be my treat.”

“Huh? No, I can’t let you do that-,” She started to deny.

“I insist…you’ve paid for everything today, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I also kinda feel bad about it. So, at least at the end, let me treat you instead, ‘kay?” I responded with a firm smile.

“Well, when you put it that way…fine, okay.”

“Oh, and you better not pick a cheap place out of consideration, I want you to pick a place that you genuinely like, the price doesn’t matter. Got it?” I stated with a smirk.

At this point, I’ve saved up more money than I know what to do with, so I’m far from lacking in funds.

“Wha-…alright, then, I guess I’ll pick-…,” She started to choose, before being interrupted as she received a notification on her I-Watch, “Ugh, should have muted my notifications…whatever, I’ll just ignore it.”

“Uh…maybe you should see what it says. It could be something important,” I pointed out…gotta say, her annoyed expression is pretty cute.

“Yeah, but-…no, you’re right,” She sighed in exasperation, before tapping on the screen and reading the message, a look of dismay on her face.

“Hey, everything okay?”

“My younger brother has caught a fever, but my parents are out and won’t be back till late tonight…they want me to go back home and take care of him,” She groaned.

“Huh…first off, I didn’t know you had any siblings. And second…you should go home, I’ll walk you there. Oh, and let me know where your favorite place to eat is…next time, I’ll treat you, deal?” I offered her with a smile, as I patted the top of her head.

“Next time? You really mean it?” She responded, perking up.

So cute…

“Y-yeah, for sure. Uh, let’s see…how about the weekend after classes start back up?” I suggested, after thinking it over.

“Okay!” She replied immediately, before catching herself and turning red, averting her gaze in embarrassment.

“Come on, let’s go,” I suggested, as we got to the entrance of the amusement park.

“Fine, but let’s walk slowly, okay?” She responded, as she latched onto my left arm with a blissful look on her face.

“Uh…sure, but not too slow.”

“Whaaat? Aw, fine…”

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