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Kento couldn’t even describe his feelings in words at all at this very moment.
This was it.
The very dream that he had longed for since he was in his teenage years, after reading those travel magazines that piled up in the jujutsu high library that seems to be untouched or was assumed to be thrown away from recycling, never did he knew just a tiny bit of a small action, which scanning through a magazine that he thought was nothing had led him to this .
This….very majestic place.
Kuantan, Malaysia.
He’s finally here.
Just because of a pulchritudinous photograph of the Kuantan Beach that was inserted in the magazine. Never will he think he can be intrigued so fast . He assumed himself that he was incapable of even having such a passionate feeling towards something. But he never thought he would fall in love with Kuantan in an instant, from the first time he saw it.
It was love at first sight for him.
By just one picture, he has been determined to get himself there. Not in a way to just go for mere travelling and sightseeing. He wants to live there, build a small house at the beach, read all the books that he bought that were piling up like mountains and most importantly, finally living in the parts of the world where everything is tranquil and peaceful.
He had enough being a jujutsu sorcerer. He loathes it so much and he doesn’t want to see it as an obligation anymore.
Haibara’s death had proved and traumatised him enough about the fact that the jujutsu system will always stay fucked up and the corrupted ones will forever survive, while the ones that are genuine of wanting to save lives will forever be lead to death…which now he thinks can be prevented.
As much how Kento was in such bliss at the moment, after finally being able to be in the place of his dreams, it will be a lie if he didn’t say that he doesn’t feel guilty for quitting the second…or probably the last time, and how the very image of Yuuji’s crestfallen expression was haunting him.
I mean, how couldn’t he?
Yuuji had begged him with endless tears for him to not go and stay.
The young pink-haired kid had reminded him of Haibara all the damn time. The way he brings himself and his enthusiastic personality, Kento felt letting Yuuji down will be equivalent to letting his late friend down too.
But…a part of him, the selfish parts of himself that he thought he should bury them deeply and never let it out, had persuaded him to exit the jujutsu world.
Who cares if he can see cursed spirits and not choose to be a jujutsu sorcerer?
He has his own right to choose. And he has enough of choosing a life that was nothing but committing suicide. He never liked being a jujutsu sorcerer anyways and he hates being a salaryman either, so in the end, he thought being jujutsu sorcerer will be worthwhile of his time…but how wrong he is. He then reminded himself all over again on why he had decided to quit from the first place.
Sure, he wants to continue living a life with high moral values and he stayed firm with himself to not be swayed and be corrupted and still, he wishes to help the ones in need.
And he knows, maybe jujutsu isn’t the right pathway to go or a place for what he’s truly passionate about. There’s so many other ways he can give a helping hand for the ones in need. It’s not like he was given only one last choice.
So that’s how he ended up here.
Quitting jujutsu sorcery and making his way to Kuantan, Malaysia. Staying in a beach resort for the moment as he was still in the process of building a small house near the beach later.
So now he savoured the scenery of the Kuantan beach in front of him. The vast blue green sea was so clear and beautiful that the sun rays reflected on them. The surrounding wind that had pushed his blonde strands to the back but not in an aggressive manner, it was more in a comforting type of way. The softness of the sand on his feet as he wiggled his toes on it to feel the texture even more and it came with small waves of the sea, hitting on his toes gently, making him feel a cold sensation on it.
He closed his eyes, breathing in and out so calmly like he never knew that he could be in such peace. This just feels like an unattainable dream for him and it was too good to be true like it was just something for him to fantasise about only and nothing else.
But no. That’s not the case anymore.
This was beyond real.
The tranquil sound of the sea hitting the shore as it splashes back and forth slowly, bumping it lightly into his toes, the breeze that sends comfortness that he thought he could never experience as the cold air slowly went into his nostrils, reaching to his lungs as the Kuantan air was completely out of this world, it’s like he’s in a different realm and he might as well lie to himself that his life was about to begin here and before this, all he had been doing is become a walking corpse, not even living a moment one bit.
Kento felt like he just wanted this peacefulness he was feeling to never come to an end. He wishes that every day is like this, things staying stagnant, no conflict or difficulties, just him standing on the Kuantan beach, appreciating every Godly existence of it and nothing else.
Even the ambience was full of serenity. Just the beautiful sounds of the birds above chirping to one another, the wind blowing like it was the last day for it to do its job and the sea hitting the shore as it pulls in the sand to their direction in repetition, all the very little details that was happening in the beach was going to Kentos’ liking.
All of the odds were in his favour.
They were all on cue.
Just how he likes it.
Nothing in this world can ever disturb his peace ever again.
Not even a single thi–
“Weh! Kasut aku!” [ Oh my god! My shoes! ]
Seriously?
Right when he recently stated that nothing in this world can ever interrupt this wonderful moment for him.
Someone near his radar was shouting endlessly like she just saw a ghost on the beach or something. And as a reflex or the designated reaction of a former jujutsu sorcerer has, Kento forced himself to open his eyes and I’m telling you, he just couldn’t control an irritated expression on his face.
But it wears down in an instant.
As he suddenly saw a young woman with neatly styled (hair colour) hair, in an outfit that was obviously showing that going to the beach is not in her plans and just a spontaneous thing she’s doing. Her outfit was too formal to wear on a beach anyways, it would be crazy of her to think that going to the beach in that outfit was a good idea. It was already hinted to Kento that this woman just got back from work, and out of his guesses, the only thing that he can assume is that the woman decided to step foot at the beach to calm her nerves or as cliche as it is to say, she wanted to release some stress.
But pretty sure, in this circumstance, the beach was doing anything but that for her.
Because now he witnessed how her (favourite colour) sparkling high heels were in the sea, cruelly being pulled in by the sea and now she was struggling to chase after it.
Poor her. Her fancy slack pants were now drenched with water and might just be tainted with nasty sand that might as well take so much effort for it to come off. She forced her way into the sea, trying her best to fasten her steps but it seems that walking in the sea sure was much more of a struggle, especially from the looks of it, Kento can tell that she is not brave enough to go much farther into the sea.
At first, Kento wanted to ignore her. Convincing himself that he had been wanting to go here since he was young and it finally happened. Can’t he just for once be selfish and have his own me-time? Can it just be about him and not about anyone else?
It somehow has been ingrained within him that anyone around him is his obligation. Anyone in trouble or in difficulties should be saved by him, no matter what background or how awful they may treat him but as long as they deserve to be lent help by him, then he should not act ignorant and he will act upon it in an instant. He has to force himself to be the adult in every situation, since he was so pissed that no one was able to be that when he was young.
But now…as he left the jujutsu workforce, should he stop having that mentality?
Should he now start to be more selfish to make himself feel better?
But…can he even do that?
When he saw the young woman finally getting her left shoe but she was just a little too late to get the other one, she was already at a different type of depth of the sea than Kento’s, it had now reached her waist instead. And it seems that she was not planning to walk further as he witnessed her figure staying still, accepting the fact that her other shoe couldn’t be saved.
Good god.
Will it be his fault if the woman comes home with only one shoe?
Well, of course, looking back to it, she was the one that was careless of leaving her shoe at the shore and not thinking of the risks for it to be pulled in by the sea. But what Kento meant is, will he be able to sleep into thinking that things will be much better if he helped her?
I mean, he hated the jujutsu world and how the system works. But did he ever hate helping people?
No, he didn’t.
He never did and he never will.
Because helping people did not stem from him being a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer. It was all from the deep parts of his soul and his own heart that God had moulded.
Right.
Guess…no matter where he is or what path he decides to choose for himself, he will always be the selfless man that he always will be.
“Dah jauh sangat…Macam mana – ” [ It’s too far away…How am I –]
Your words come to a halt as you suddenly witness a man swimming towards your other shoe that you thought you would have lost forever. You were at the verge of tearing up if you were being honest, you couldn’t afford to lose these pairs of shoes. It was a gift from your late best friend, of how she struggled so hard to save up money just so she can buy these designer shoes that you have been dreaming to wear.
You owned it for almost 5 months already. And you still couldn’t believe that 2 weeks ago, she had left this world for good and she’s never going to come back.
How can you live on the fact that the only thing left from her had turned imperfect just because of your own carelessness?
Working these days has been so hard. With your boss not even showing an ounce of mercy with his asshole behaviour, all you can ever do since the day of her passing was step your foot into this beach.
It reminds you of the days when you’re happy with her. This beach can be considered as your second home.
How you and she played kites on this very beach since you two were 6 years old. How you both had made numerous types of sandcastles to the point in the sand castle making competition you both decided to participate in, you two managed to get first place.
The memories of you and her will never be forgotten by you. And you don’t know visiting this beach was even helping. Because the more days you come here, the more melancholic and depressing you feel inside.
How you kept on chanting to yourself of your desires to spend one last day properly with her.
‘I want to see you again’ was already occupying in your mind like it's like the only thing you can ever think of and nothing else.
And now, you can't describe how grateful you are. Just for a brief moment, you realise that the world isn’t full with horrible people, amazing and kindhearted people still do exist.
And you were glad that this stranger was even kind enough to waste his time and energy to give you a helping hand.
Just as you saw him succeeding in getting your right shoe, you then finally saw him standing up in the water. By just that, you can already tell how tall he is. You might be struggling to breathe properly in that level of depthness, maybe exaggerating to say that it has reached your neck level, but to him, it didn’t even reach his shoulders yet.
As you were busy eyeing on him, you realised that he is now reciprocating your stares on him. But with that gesture of his, you still didn’t break eye contact with him and you see how he was slowly walking his way towards you, with your shoe still being in his hands.
The more closer he was getting, the more it revealed of him as the water depths slowly decreased. There you saw clearly that he has blonde hair that was drenched that the front strands sticks on his forehead and he was wearing a blue dress shirt that was also in the same state as his hair, and of course, you were trying so hard to keep your gaze on his face instead, because that beautiful view of his physique sure seems not right for you to stare at.
You wanted to be respectful of course, and remind yourself that this man was helping you, and ogling on him sure was making you as disgusting as perverted man can be.
“I believe this is yours…miss?” He is now standing in front of you while his hand that was occupied with your shoe is reaching out to you.
Oh…dia bukan orang sini ni… [Oh…he’s not from here…]
Just by his words, you can tell that he’s a foreigner, especially with his English that seems to have a thick accent to it. But you couldn’t make a guess where he is from as guessing people’s nationality is not your specialty.
But for the love of God, you can just literally thank him right away and take the shoe from him and move your merry way.
Unfortunately, you can’t afford to do so. Not when you have gotten a closer look at the man in front of you. Not with his small smile that was nothing but the most enchanting thing you have ever witnessed. Not when his brown eyes that were looking into yours were taking you somewhere foreign and you could just get lost into them.
Not when you just found out that your shoe saviour is a very handsome man that you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. This was absolute madness. Never in your life will you ever think you can humiliate yourself like this.
You don’t fall or get butterflies easily over someone.
But this …was something else.
It’s like this man had put a spell on you because without him even trying and with just his presence, he had succeeded in hypnotising you.
Dear God.
Someone please wake you up from this trance that you were in.
“Miss?”
In an instant, his voice had knocked a sense out of you. And your staring before was quickly brushed off by you as you shook your head a few times.
“Y-yes, it’s mine!” You let out a chuckle and gently took the shoe from him, “Thank you so much for helping,” A grin was the only thing you can give him, just so you can mask your embarrassment, solely because you accidentally stared at his beautiful face just now.
“You’re welcome,” He replied simply.
As you thought the conversation between you both will end there, the man strikes you a question, “Do you live around here, miss?”
All you did was give him a nod. You just couldn’t say a word to him anymore, you were afraid if you squeaked or said something that would make you regret or embarrass yourself.
“That’s great! I was wondering…if you could recommend some restaurants that I can dine in…” He said in a happy manner. He may not have sounded so excited as the way he speaks was very calm, but you know, from his very words, that he is actually having a good time here and wishes to enjoy the fullest.
You sure knew that question would be a piece of cake for you. I mean…Kuantan is your very own hometown and you grew up here. So you know every damn place and corner of the Kuantan world, might as well make yourself a tour guide if you wanted to.
Even your friends that were from outside of Kuantan that decided to travel here will always ask for your recommendation. Like that's basic logic, of course people will ask the people that were born in the place that they were travelling to, to recommend the good stuff.
But now…you couldn't even think of a thing. A thought was not even forming or popping inside your head.
Fuck.
This beautiful man was making you nervous and he unfortunately had stopped your nerve impulses to be sent into your brain.
You had gone completely blank without you knowing.
All you could do was just look at him in silence and struggling to finally find any name of a restaurant that you will always go to since you were little.
But nope.
It's not working.
“Umm…miss?” Again. He had to try to catch your attention.
And all you could do was just stare at him as you went blank, it seems like a single thought was not processing in your head. All you can think about was how mesmerising he is and how you don't want him to go and just stay with you here…in the depths of this sea.
Fucking hell.
You were sure to regret later on from doing this.
But you can't control yourself, it's like something else has possessed you. You weren't being yourself at all. Never in your life have you ever been hypnotised by someone this much.
And come to think of it, you know how if you name one damn restaurant to him, he will be on his merry way and you will never see him again.
You don't want that to happen. You wanted to see him again. You wanted to see him everyday. You wanted to get to know more of him. You wanted to know his name, where he is from and why out of all places…he decided to go to Kuantan. There's no way you wanted this to be a once in a lifetime encounter.
There's no way you can leave that be.
And you sure hate yourself for acting like a fucking pick me girl, but you couldn't help it. Your emotions are taking over you.
So that's why you ended up saying the most unhinged shit that someone can ever imagine, “Do you mind if I treat you?”
Apa aku cakap ni gila?! [What on earth did I just say?!]
Well, that's hilarious.
It was not just Kento that was shocked with your words. You had petrified yourself too. You were sure not believing that you are capable of even saying that.
You have never acted like this in your whole life.
But this beautiful man was able to do that to you. This man was on a different level. A beauty that can make you not think straight or even be yourself anymore. He was overruling you like a damn deadly disease.
And it's even more pathetic how much you like and enjoy it. Instead of pushing it away, you decided to give in.
Kento only a blinked few times, still in a state of disbelief with your words, “Pardon?”
“Can I treat you to dinner?” You replied in an instant, very sure of not correcting your words before.
Kento only let out a small laugh as he proceeded to say, “What for…miss?” He is totally confused with all of this so he can't help but bring himself to ask you.
“For…”
Ah sial, aku nak cakap apa pulak ni? [Damn it, what am I supposed to say?]
Kento may not see it, but comically you were breaking a sweat and comical sweat drops were forming on your forehead.
What excuse can you give?
You can't just straight up say that you find him handsome and you were sure that your meal will taste 1000 times better than it already is if he were to dine in with you.
Now, that's just embarrassing. It will make it even more obvious of how much you were infatuated by him.
So no.
You can't say that. That'll just be you making it ‘game over’ and the game barely even started yet.
After thinking so deeply and you moved your gaze to your shoes that were in your hands, that's when an idea popped up in your head.
Of course.
Why didn't you even think of that from the very start?
It was obvious that you can use it as an excuse.
Guess your mind really went blank. And his presence sure was making it way worse than it already is.
“As a form of gratitude… for helping me…” You scratched the back of your not so itchy nape and continued, “Getting back my shoe,”
You then beamed at him. Wishing upon every star or whatever damn thing that can grant your wishes to make him agree and not refuse your offer.
But by the looks of it, you knew you're going to get rejected. Especially with the disbelief stares he gave you just now, you were sure that he would not do something as crazy as having dinner with a stranger…in a place that he has yet to learn and discover about.
All you could do was just stare at your shoes that were in your hand, waiting for him to say ‘no, thank you’ already.
But his sudden response sure had shocked you to the point you snapped your neck towards him.
“Sure,” His reply was short and simple but you couldn't describe how much joy it has brought to you.
So you gave him an excited smile and said, “That’s great!” Now you just couldn’t control the excitement in your tone, “I think we should have dinner at Restoran Hoi Yin. It's not far from here,”
Right.
That very restaurant.
How can you not recommend that place to him?
Every time you visit the beach with your late best friend's family, all of you will end up in that restaurant to gobble up their Chicken Curry Noodle Soup that you have always adored till this very day.
Even if now you have turned 25 years old, the things that you have done or gone to in your childhood days, you will always end up going to it and reminiscing back those endless happy days you had.
How pathetic can this all be.
Guess every little thing you do will always revolve around her.
How you can predict that she will absolutely root for you and this beautiful man if she were to still be here. She will be your number one hype man. Even if you don't expect for you and this man to be really happening, your late best friend will convince and encourage you, asking you to not give up and not see it as impossible.
But you knew, from the very start it would be impossible.
Because she's not here to convince you that it's not.
So you and him decide to move your way out of the sea, as he just followed beside you and agreed to go to any restaurant that you wanted to take him.
As you two walk side by side, Kento decides to break the silence again, “What's your name, miss? I didn't get to ask for it,”
You only gave him a smile, how you couldn't control the overwhelming butterflies from just hearing his honey coated voice that you would like to hear every single day, “My name is (Name) (Second Name). But call me (Name),”
Kento quickly replied, “You have a beautiful name,”
And that sure has made your cheeks heated up. How you didn't expect his response to turn out that way.
Hmmm cair siak aku… [Hmmm that's making me melt…]
“What about you…sir?” Now it's your turn to ask. It will be a lie to say that you're not curious at all about his name. You have always been, since you first locked eyes with him.
“Nanami Kento.” He responded. Not furthering his words and ending it there.
“What should I call you then?” You asked. You were already making predictions that he might be from Japan but you don't like to assume so quickly. The fact is…you were not sure if he's comfortable with people using his first name or not. So that's why to play safe, you asked that question.
At first, Kento stayed silent. Not knowing how to respond. All his life, he had never let people use his first name. Not even Haibara, who was very close to him, had ever called him Kento.
Only his family did and no one else.
But now… as he is not in Japan and is already in a foreign country…should he just make a change already?
Not everything that he does before should remain here, right?
He can do whatever he wants.
And no one can ever stop him.
“Just call me…Kento,” He said.
And as you nothing finally managed out of the sea and you were busy wearing back your high heels while he was wearing back his boots.
You looked back at him and said, “Well, then…
…Welcome to Kuantan…
….Kento,"
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A/N: Is this good enough to get a next part? Let me know in the comments hehe ;)