Chapter Text
"Inoue-san, you are so precious to me. I would do anything for you to give me, even just once, the smile you've been giving him for years."
He looked at her, his eyes almost pleading. She couldn't bear the intensity of his gaze any longer and dropped her eyes to the floor.
"Inoue, please look at me."
"Honda-kun..."
She felt his hands rest gently on her shoulders.
"Orihime," he whispered, and she gasped at the sound of her first name on his lips for the very first time. "Please, open your eyes and look around. Where is he right now? Where has he been all these years?"
Orihime bit her lip hard, fighting back the cry that threatened to escape. His words stung, sharp and unwelcome, piercing the soft places in her heart.
"We—you and I—we've been working together for years. I know everything about you, and you know everything about me."
It was true. Honda knew about her supernatural powers, about the strange and dangerous things that had happened to her. Because Honda had seen ghosts for as long as he could remember. He’d often watched Orihime rush out of the bakery to confront a Hollow with her fairies, and it had taken several tries before she managed to explain to him how the world really worked.
"Orihime, please look at me."
She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears from her eyes, but they kept coming, unrelenting.
"I hate seeing you wait for him every day, wasting your time. You know how many men are chasing after you, and so does Kurosaki. He’s not stupid. He sees how you look at him."
At those words, a soft, frustrated sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it.
"Orihime..."
Summoning her courage, she lifted her head and met his eyes.
"Haven’t I earned a chance? Just one? You give him a chance every single day, and he never takes it. I’m only asking for one day. One day where you meet me with an open heart, and let me show you what you mean to me."
"It won’t change how I feel, Honda-kun."
"Just tell me you'll give me a chance."
Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She had waited for Ichigo for so long. Now they were adults—she, a full-time worker at the bakery, and he, a college student. But Orihime didn’t feel any more grown-up when it came to love. No matter how many men had asked her out, she had always declined, because the right one had never asked. And she knew Ichigo had never shown interest in anyone else, not in that way. That was the only thread of hope she held onto—that maybe, one day, they could be more than just friends.
But Honda-kun's words made her think. They sparked doubts she hadn’t wanted to face, because everything he said was true. And that truth hurt.
"I’ll think about it, Honda-kun."