"Huh...finally safe heaven!" Yozora breathed out falling onto one of the two beds inside the room. It was noon and they had happen to find a hotel nearby and decided to spend the night there. For their luck,there weren't much spheres there leading with better relaxation for them.

"I know I agreed on helping you k!ll every sphere we can,but I didn't expect it to be this exhausting honestly" She groaned at the sore feeling in her hands and legs. Soocheol looked at her with an apologetic manner,feeling sad for what mess he had pulled her into. He went over and sat next to her as she sat back up with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry I brought you into this whole thing...I really am..." He kept his hand over hers,sharing his warmth with her as their eyes interlocked for second before she looked away,slightly blushing at the boys gesture.

"I can't really say it's okay,I mean...it is just the two of us looking after each others back by ourselves which riskier than bungee jumping without the bungee cord..." Even in a serious conversation,she couldn't hold back her bad humourous jokes the boy enjoys,surprisngly "But it will keep the others safe and we will wipe out as much spheres we can..." She stated with a soft smile spread on her lips.

"Oh well,sooner or later all of this will end. Till then let's hold on by surviving on pepper tuna" She said before plopping behind on the bed with a airy chuckle. Soocheol couldn't contain his laughter and joined her,falling behind and staring at the celling as laughter gradually filled the room. It felt nice,it felt pleasant,to be able to laugh like this over something so simple,forgetting everything they had to went through and only focusing on the feeling they were experiencing.

Seconds later,the room fell at silence,their gaze still on the celling-observing the spotless white paint it was coated in. Yozora couldn't help but wonder if any sphere had crawled over it. She assumed that it probably was touched by atleast one of those hatful creatures,they can't keep their tentacles to themselves since their always on the hunt for innocent human beings.

Her mind was starting to calm down from her earlier thoughts when suddenly, she drifted off to that night few days ago when she raised her tone against Soocheol. Guilt rushing to her thoughts,she felt bad for the way she talked to the person who spent alomst every night with her,talking about random topics,cracking up jokes and ocassional arguments over childish things. Simply,being able to let loose and feeling comfortable in one anothers presence.

"About that night..." She spoke turning her head towards him "I'm sorry for talking to you like that..."She blinked her eyes few times,looking away to avoid his stare.

"It's okay,It's quiet reasonable how you reacted like that. I'm kinda glad you stayed behind and listened the whole thing,I'm pretty sure the others would have caused havoc if they knew" He shook his head as a shiver went down his spine,thinking about how dramatic they would be. Her laughter echoed in the small space once more before Soocheol did the same. Her joyous sounds of tittering never failed to make anyone join with her,could even be assumed as the happy virus for how contagious it is. Both of them where facing each other with the backs lying flat on the soft mattress. Their eyes drowing more into each others,reflecting the same sentiment they held from one another.

They were now in dead silence,their eyes still in contact-blinking occasionally as they admired the others eyes while thinking back to the times they sat under the stary night.

Soocheol reached out his hand towards her face,brushing a strand of misplaced hair behind her ear and held the side of her face. He looked down at her lips shortly and averted his gaze back to her eyes. He inched closer to her slowly,moving towards her lip to place his upon hers. Their breath fanning over each others face as he almost connected with her soft lips,but as soon as he was about to,she kept a finger on his,slightly pushing him away from her untill they were farther apart. She then removed his hand from his face with a puzzled but sad expression.

"I thought you like Nara..." She looked him in the eye and waited for his response,but it never came. Instead he looked blankly above them for some short seconds before getting up and leaving with his rifle. The girl just stayed there,not being able to understand what happened right about now. She was going to follow him but then thought that he might need some time to sort out his emotions by himself and started to unpack few of their necessities.

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"Just don't make me wait for too long" Was what he said to Nara after asking her to be his girlfriend when they return to school. He liked her ever since they were juniors and finally,he asked her out a while ago but what's happening now?

Ever since Yozora came along,He felt his feelings for Nara fading away and the girl who saved him, replacing where Nara was in his heart. It was confusing him,does he like Nara or Yozora?

"Aish Shibal..." It was more frustrating than killing five spheres all at once,he thought. It made his heart feel uneasy of why such thing has happened to him. It makes him feel guilty in some sort of way.

"Ishhh...." He ruffled his hair in irritation at the mere idea of breaking a girls heart. It sounds so bad in his perspective to ruin a girls' hope.

"Aish why did...how did I..." He was mumbling nonsense to himself. He just didn't feel right to be leading two of his members like that. Aspecially Yozora,one side of him regrets what he did few minutes ago while the other side of him is upset he was rejected so quickly.

'I used to like Nara but,now I don't feel it at all. I barely even noticed her after Yozora appeared. We spent a lot of time together so that's probably why I like her more. But then I already asked Nara out,what should I do?' He paced back and forth thinking through the situation he was in. He felt enough of vexing over it for a good ten minutes before he changed his mind to solve it later on. He will eventually come up with some answer for this.

⥊ ◯ ⥋

"Oh hey...your back" She looked back at him hearing the door creak open. She had blocked the window by moving the wardrobe at it and was now rumaging through the clothes that was there. For their luck,there was plenty of clothes for them and some of the others back at their place.

Soocheol watched her,she was acting as if nothing happened at all and he was glad at the same time kind of dissapointed at it.

"Yeah..." He cleared his throat looking away.

"Oh um...I found some fresh clothes and I think these would fit you" She showed the neatly folded clothes on her hands. Soocheol took them from her with a small 'thank you'.

"There's hot water so better take a shower or else the spheres will come after you" She mocked earning a yell from the boy before he threw the shirt at her. It landed right on her face making Soocheol laugh at his good aim. He clenched his stomach laughing hard at the sight before him.

"Yah!" She threw back the shirt and quickly balled up two other shirts from the wardrobe,on guard for another attack by him. The one she threw had flown away and landed on the ground next to the sideboard.

"Woah what happened to our perfect rifleman Yozora?" He voice sounded sarcastic at the way she had missed.

"I'm good at aiming with a rifle not with objects" She said still in the same position. Soocheol reached to get the shirt from the floor when his eyes landed on the see through side view of the sideboard. He saw packets of ramyeon stacked up on one another. He moved the cabinet door aside and pulled them out and counted them to be about twelve of them. Yozora seeing this was beyond happy for how they had gained an all time favourite delicacy so easily and smiled.

"Thank you god!" She expressed looking up and moving her hands back and forth. He softly laughed at the girl before he asked for her suggestion.

"Should we eat first and then take showers or take showers then eat?"

"I'm pretty much hungry but it feels better to eat after a hot shower" She opinioned.

"Hm...then you go ahead and take a shower first,I'll go next" He requested the girl to go first.

"You sure? I don't want spheres-" She couldn't complete her tease when he started.

"-Yah! Go already!" He exclaimed acting serious, directing towards the bathroom.

"Okay okay I'm going..." She said before she grabbed her clothes and went in to take a relaxing shower properly. Without even knowing she felt herself losing all her tense thoughts washing away with the simple rinse. It has been who knows how long since any of them had a shower to clear their thoughts.

Meanwhile Soocheol was busy scheming places on the map that would have more space for spheres. To lead themselves to better survival areas and to find things that would help them along the way.

The rest of the day went by as they discussed places they will wipe out and places they would be staying at. At night,one of them had to stay at guard while the other was sleeping soundlessly. Yozora asked Soocheol to sleep first but the boy refused using the phrase 'Ladies first~' against her and she was left with no choice but to oblige. Soocheol sat on the bed opposite to Yozoras' admiring the memories he had with her and how she saved him from dying at the right moment. He haven't felt any happier after meeting her. She lit up the darkness of what he and the others were facing by just being there,being herself.

His heart was in a daze with how much he had enjoyed her presence...and then he soon realised,

'I love her more and truly...'

To be continued🎐

Written: 04/05/23
05/05/23
Published: 04/05/23

Our boy Soocheol finally realized hehe~
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