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The car’s tires screech on the concrete, the continuous honk sounding like a death sentence to Nagi’s ears. She curls over the cat, and presses him against her.
“Watch out!”
A body slams against hers, holds on to her tightly as they roll on the pavement.
Nagi’s heart beats in her ears, the loudest sound she ever heard in her life. She comes back to her senses to the cat’s soft fur curled in her fingers, his struggling body.
He squeezes between their two bodies to escape once she loosens her arms, and she cranes her neck to try to determine his state before he runs too far.
The boy who saved her moves and whimpers, and she immediately feels ashamed of her misplaced priorities.
Nagi pulls away of his loose embrace, sits on her knees.
“Are you okay? Do I need to call an ambulance?”
His arms are badly grazed, blood here and there, but hopefully it looks worse than it is.
He sits up, and she recognizes him as a Namimori Middle student going by his uniform.
Big brown eyes like doe look at her worryingly. “Are you? That was really close.” He blinks, glances around them. “What about the cat? Did he…”
“He left already. I think he was fine.”
The boy smiles. “Thanks to you.”
He wipes his bleeding cheek on his shoulder, staining his white shirt. Nagi reaches for her handkerchief, hoping it didn’t get dirty.
A honk startles her.
“You lovebirds, get out of the way if you’re fine already. Some people have to go to work.”
The crowd boos the driver—and oh no, they attracted a crowd—, and she gets back to her feet.
The boy does the same before she can offer him her help, his eyes ducked and his cheeks red, much like herself.
They get back to the sidewalk, Nagi picking up her school bag.
She fidgets with its strap. “You don’t… have your bag with you?”
“Oh, um, well, no?” He scratches the back of his head, looking everywhere but at her. “It kind of got taken away from me on my way to school, and then I kind of…” he shrugs, his voice getting quieter the more he talks “decided… to ditch school today altogether.”
“Oh.”
“Are you kids okay?” a man asks, stepping up from the crowd. “I can go with you to the hospital until your parents gets here if you want.”
Nagi tenses, and doesn’t find her voice to tell him it won’t be necessary.
The boy does, flailing his hands and stumbling on his words to assure him they’re fine and can take care of themselves.
He manages to disperse the crowd too, to her relief.
Her relief doesn’t last long though, upon the awkward atmosphere that embraces them once they’re alone.
“Here.” She hands him her handkerchief, his right shoulder and collar already bloodied beyond repair. “Also…” Nagi bows, formal and genuine. “Thank you for saving my life and protecting me from the impact.”
“Oh no, please, you don’t have to! I mean, I’m glad you’re okay of course, but, um—actually, I should be the one thanking you, you know? For saving the cat. Knowing me, I would have miscalculated and just try to scoop up air.” He laughs derisively. “Anyway.”
Nagi straightens at the same time he bows. They bump their heads, and sparkles fly.
Literal sparkles fly from his forehead, amber colored like the sunsets she likes to watch from her window.
Nagi crouches, hides her face in her lap, her eyes squeezed shut. She tries to ignore the indigo undertones of the darkness.
She’s about to feel the greatest heartbreak of her life, before even knowing love, but it’s okay. It will be easier to deal with it that way.
It feels like forever passed when the boy—her soulmate—speaks up.
“Right. I guess you already heard of me, uh?” He laughs, something bitter and brief. He sounds sad too, but more than that, resigned. “It’s okay, I get it. And I’m sorry it’s me, and you won’t—well, you know.”
Nagi frowns. What is he talking about? It’s the first time she meets him, and if she ever heard of him before she can’t recall him.
He clears his throat. “Right, um… I’ll just go now. Don’t forget to treat your wounds, alright?”
Nagi abruptly stands, urgency in her heart she doesn’t understand, but she guesses was to be expected.
What is he talking about? This isn’t about him at all.
Didn’t he heard about her? And even if he didn’t, can’t he see how… how Nagi she is?
“Wait, please. Please.” He stops, not turning fully back to her, his eyes cast down. “I’m sorry I reacted that way, I should have known it would be confusing. It wasn’t about you at all. It’s me.”
“What?”
Nagi nods. “It’s me. I’m just… me. I’m sorry I’m the one for you.”
“What?” he says again, looking utterly dumbfounded. “What about you? You—you saved the cat! You just ran to him without a second thought, I saw you. And you were ready to protect it with your body, that’s very brave and kind! And, um, well—” his hands freeze mid-air, and he blushes, slowly but surely “—you’re—you’re… really pretty.”
Nagi casts her eyes down, blushing to the tip of his ears, terribly self-conscious all of a sudden.
She just got saved from a car accident, how pretty can she really look like right now? Is he lying to her? Trying to be nice?
No, she doesn’t think he is. She would have seen it in his eyes otherwise.
It only makes her blush deeper.
“You saved me too.” Nagi breathes deeply, meets his eye the way he found the courage to meet hers. “You risked your life for a complete stranger. That’s at least as brave and kind as me.” He scratches his cheek, laughing a little, his first genuine laugh since they met. “Why… would anyone say anything bad about you?”
“Ah, that. Well, you know.” He puts his hands in his pockets, and shrugs. “I’m just… No-Good.”
Nagi hears the burden in his voice, the hurt and resignation and yearning. A strong sense of kinship grows inside her, and how pathetic is that of her?
“I’m the Weird Quiet Girl. Or the Quiet Scary Girl some days.”
“Oh. That’s… really lame of us.”
“Yeah, I was telling myself the same thing.”
He huffs a laugh, and she smiles, a little thing at the corner of her lips. They make eye contact, and bursts out laughing.
It sounds a bit hysterical at the end of it, and neither of their smile disappear once they get their composure back.
“You should go take care of your wounds,” Nagi blurts out, when she thinks for a second his cheek will bleed again.
“My house isn’t that far from here. My mum can look over us both, if you want.”
“Thank you. I wouldn’t mind, if that’s okay with you.”
He grins. “Yeah, of course!” He clears his throat, offers her an unsure hand. “I’m Tsuna. Sawada Tsunayoshi, but you can call me Tsuna.”
Nagi holds his hand, warm in hers. “I’m Nagi. Nice to meet you.”
Sparkles fly, orange and indigo mixing together, falling over their linked hands.
They smile at each other, soft and warm.