Soul for a Girlfriend?

Standing before me was the figure of Tsubakihara Naoto, who was holding the door of the club with one of her hands and staring at me with an intense look. With a nod and tensed eyebrows, her lips moved, "Yeah… who the hell do you think you are?!!"

Looking at her agitation, I decided to ask her, "What do you see me as?"

Her eyes widened for an instance as she took a slight pause and the words came out of her mouth were, "Huh?"

Judging by her reaction, I knew that asking that wasn\'t a good move. To improvise it and play it off, I answered in my usual blunt tone, "To answer you, I\'m your underclassmen. That\'s it."

Narrowing her eyes, a look of distaste washed on her face as she shot back, "Then what gives you the right to tell me those things that day?"

I sighed and looked at her with an annoyed expression. Narrowing my eyes, I said in a low tone, "Senpai… if you\'re going on about the same bullshit, then…"

She looked at me with eyes, which clearly showed that it hurt her, as she slowly and hesitantly repeated the word, "Bullshit?"

"Yes!" I nodded and her eyes shifted away from me and she looked down, and between her light breaths, she muttered the words, "You think everything you said…"

Realising that I was again following the same route and hurting her, I cleared my throat as she turned up to look at me and I continued in a soft tone, "Senpai… tell me honestly… did everything I said that day was useless?"

I looked at her with as much politeness as I could muster up and added, "Did none of them make sense?"

Looking at each other for a few moments, she bit her lips and said in a hesitant tone, "No… but you could\'ve said them a bit politely!"

She stared at me with her dark eyes, which looked darker than usual as she was standing in the opposite direction of the light source, and nodded, "Everything you said was true… but still!"

Putting my hands in my pockets, I said in a tone filled with confidence, "Listen… I don\'t regret any of the words I said. You needed someone to beat some sense into you."

She stared at me with a sharp look as she said in a confused tone, "Beat sense? You think you can beat me?"

Assuming she took my words in another sense, I replied with, "Depends what you\'re talking about."

Her sharp stare was still on me, as I smiled awkwardly and continued, "If it\'s kendo, then of course I stand no chance."

Somewhat inaudibly, she said with a pout on her face, "I still haven\'t forgiven you for that though!"

There was a moment of silence between us, as her voice rose again, "You know how hurt I was!?" Looking at me with clear annoyance in her eyes, she continued, "A stranger like you who didn\'t even know anything in the first place…"

"Gave a lecture… made me cry!" She covered her face with her palm as the last words escaped her lips, as I could tell the shaky tone that she was embarrassed.

"Oh my god! I can\'t cry because an underclassman scolded me." She said while doing one of those muffled screams out of frustration. 

"Please… forget that!!! Pretend you never saw that!" She paced towards me with an intimidating look, but stopped midway and asked in a confused tone, "What?! Why are you staring at me like that?"

As for the last few minutes, I said nothing except to keep staring at her. With a chuckle and averting my eyes from her, K said, "Nothing, you just seem cute when you\'re talking quickly."

Her eyes widening up, and her lips twitched in embarrassment as her cheeks flushed up in a red tint while she yelped, "Wha… Idiot! Idiot!"

"Ooof! what the heck? I just complimented you!" I tried to defend myself, but she just gave me a sharp look as her hair flew freely behind her. "Shut up! I don\'t need your compliments."

"Hai Hai!" I nodded without saying anything further, but it seemed like she had more to say as she continued, "But…"

"But…?"

Shifting her glances at me, and then averting them the next instance, she said in a low voice and wasn\'t really audible, "Thank you…"

"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion as the only words I could make sense of were \'Thank you\'.

Staring back at me, she took a deep breath and, with a louder voice this time, she said, "Thanks… for like… helping me a bit!"

Looking at her, I couldn\'t tell if she was actually grateful or if she was pissed at me. Girls are strange in this sense as they sometimes send really crazy mixed signals. Approaching a safe mode of reply, I just gave her a nod, "I uh… welcome?"

"I really needed that harsh treatment. I\'m glad you didn\'t try to sugarcoat me." She said while keeping her hands behind her, and I replied instantly, "The amount of bitterness you have… you definitely need a sugar coat."

Understanding the pun intended, she gave me a sarcastic roll of eyes, "Haha… really funny."

"Oh, you didn\'t like it? Let me tell you otherwise…" I said as she looked at me in confusion, "Huh?"

Never had I ever imagined that I would use cheesy pickup lines, but there I was, with a serious look on my face as I uttered absolutely bullshit, "You\'re already quite sweet to begin with…"

Sighing in disappointment, she gave one of those \'seriously?\' looked and said, "I can\'t believe you\'re this smooth being my underclassman."

"Ehe…" I was feeling quite embarrassed as an awkward smile formed on my face.

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…"