Soul for a Girlfriend?

After that awkward exchange between us, she didn't seem to mind it much, as it looked like she was invested in something else. She again looked at me, and in a soft voice she said, "Thank you again… I…" 

There was a slight hesitation in her voice as she continued, "I'm trying to change…"

"Change to?" I asked, and she replied with a dubious look, "A better version of myself."

Hearing her words, I was a bit relieved to know that my words actually affected her enough to make her realise her mistakes. Looking at it from the perspective of my progression, I was scoring quite a lot.

With a small chuckle, I said, "How interesting… Naoto Senpai, the apparently perfect girl trying to change?"

She raised her right palm slightly as she said in a down casted tone, "Don't put it that way… I… I don't like it."

"Sorry… I didn't mean it in that way… I'm just intrigued." Realising that my tone might've sounded as if I was mocking her, I immediately apologised.

I know thinking of changing oneself and then acting on that is quite a tough feat in itself. The fact that she slowly came to realise her negative traits and started to work on them was quite impressive.

"Well what made you take this decision?" I asked in a prompting tone as she looked at me for a few moments before answering, "I did some introspection after you told me those awful things… So…"

"You slowly realised the faults in yourself?" I added, and she moved her head from left to right in denial, as she lifted her index and continued, "Not like that… I was already aware of my toxic behaviour."

Hearing that was quite the shock for me because I wasn't aware that she was acting like that even though she knew about the consequences of her actions. "And still you kept acting like that?"

Her dark eyes crept towards me, her hair fell in front of her face as she bowed down, "I'm… sorry for that…"

I just swayed my palm and said in an awkward tone, "Apologising to me won't do shit…"

She instantly looked up at me and said, "No no… I apologised to my friends too…"

Only I was aware of that injury being fake, so I asked her, "Did you tell them about that fake injury?"

"Yes…" She nodded with a somewhat wry smile on her face, as out of my curiosity I asked, "How did they react?"

Her eyes were actually quite the prominent feature on her face despite them being dark as the night sky. A regretful smile on her face she sighed and said, "I don't know… they said they're cool with it, but it seems like they need some time to come to terms with it…"

After waiting for a bit as silence enveloped us, she continued in a broken tone, "To be honest, if they don't forgive me, I can't blame them… I wouldn't forgive myself if I was in their shoes…"

A smile formed on my face, as I said, "That's really mature of you to say…"

The serious tension between us broke as she again became flustered, "What do you mean? I'm mature… I'm older than you."

At first glance, one might think that she is quite the serious girl who doesn't even smile, but if you get to know her, she is actually quite clumsy like normal girls. I chuckled as I said, "You definitely don't act like a senior."

"Shut up!" 

"But… I'm happy for you… that you took this decision and acted on it…" I said with a warm smile as her face froze at that moment. She was probably feeling a lot of emotions in that instance. I walked closer to her, "It takes a lot of courage to apologise…"

Standing right next to her, I gave her a pat on her shoulder and hyped her a bit, "Good job, Senpai."

Her head slowly turned towards me, with the same blank expression as her eyes appeared like they might break any moment. In a soft and low voice, she said, "I… feel quite light… it feels like a weight has been off my chest."

"The weight was from constantly trying to maintain your lie by lying even more, I'm assuming?" I said, and she chuckled slightly, "You… talk as if you can see right through me."

"I can't… it's just common sense." I gave her a shrug, and I was actually quite relieved because she was doing great and didn't hate me. After not talking with her for a week, this was quite a pleasant conversation.

She shook her head, and said, "If that's common sense, then it might not be that common after all."

I know that the weight she was referring to wasn't actually from her constant lying to others, but it was the exhaustion of her mind from constantly being in contradiction with itself. Though I might've been wrong at that moment, so I decided not to pry further.

Trying to change the topic, I asked, "What was Yuna's reaction?" 

Naoto couldn't help as a chuckle slipped out her lips. With a warm smile on her face she said, "Oh… she was more happy about the fact that I wasn't actually hurt and can continue Kendo."

Well, I expected that from Yuna to be honest. She is quite an airhead, but a pleasant person at heart. With a nod, I replied, "That's really sweet of her."

"I know, right… she is so cute sometimes." Naoto squealed, and I abruptly looked away from her. I don't know, but she was acting really cute. Her smile and slightly blushed cheeks were really cute.

Clearing my throat, I asked, "So… what are you thinking about your Kendo career?"

She gave me an affirmative look, but her tone was hesitant as she said, "I don't know… but right now, I don't feel like leaving it."

Looking at me for a few moments, she sighed and continued, "If I stopped doing it, I feel like I'd lose myself. Naoto will cease to exist."

"Don't worry, as long as you're being honest with your desires, you'll never lose yourself." I looked into her eyes, and with my usual blunt tone, I said, "And if you do get lost, I'll make sure to give you a scolding again!"