"I have a confession to make."
Daichi said, moving his gaze away from her face. Every time that he looked at Miho, the words that he'd formulated in his head would just fade away from her beauty.
At the word confession, Miho's cheeks visibly reddened, though it was imperceptible in the moonlight.
Despite being almost 18, she'd never been confessed to, at least not so earnestly like this. Thus she began to panic a little, though she tried to hold it back.
"I… I didn't create that training plan."
Daichi's words seemed like a douse of cold water which was poured over her head. Suddenly, Miho began to feel embarrassed that she had misunderstood his words.
"Hmph."
Instantly, she went on the defensive, crossing her arms and looking at him with annoyance. In truth, she had an inkling that such a training plan was not written by him.
These days it was easy enough to research such a thing on the Internet and just claim it as their own. Even she herself had been doing all of her research online since she had not yet studied at University.
Daichi heard her harrumph and looked up slowly to see her annoyed face. He felt a little sadness creep up into his mood, but he resigned himself to his fate.
"And here I thought you were going to confess to me." She muttered under her breath, a small pout forming on her face.
"Ah what was that?" Daichi asked as he blinked a few times in shock.
"Nothing." Miho stated, still keeping her same expression.
"W-Wait, did you think this was a confession?" Daichi asked, gulping loudly.
"N-N-No w-what are you talking about?" Miho quickly stood up and gestured with her hands, forcing down her embarrassment.
Seeing her cute reaction, Daichi couldn't help but grin, feeling his heart throb in response.
For some reason his mind flashed back to the messages he'd seen on Ken's phone between him and Ai. He had known his brother regretted not making a move much earlier, therefore something shifted inside of him.
Without worrying about the consequences, he stood up and walked towards Miho with a serious expression.
"I wanted to tell you this because I didn't want our relationship to be built on a lie."
His words were quiet, yet they held a certain weight within them which forced Miho to listen. It wasn't that she couldn't respond, just that she could see his conviction and did not want to interrupt him.
'What… What is happening?'
Feeling her heart flutter, Miho stood in place as Daichi approached her.
"I might be a bit slow sometimes, particularly when it comes to these things. But I wanted you to know that ever since the first time I saw you, I wanted to be closer to you."
He continued forward, not stopping until he was at arms length from her.
Daichi seemed to have a burst of courage as he grabbed Miho's hands and placed them in his own. His eyes never left hers as he said the next words that seemed to come naturally.
"I like you Miho. Will you go out with me?"
Miho felt her face flush red, yet the feeling was overtaken by the butterflies which seemed to stir in her stomach. It was something she'd never really experienced before, but she didn't hate it.
"I… I'm not sur—"
"Miho? What are you doing?"
Suddenly a deep voice sounded from behind Daichi, causing him to almost jump in fright.
The moment she heard that voice, her face turned up into a frown. All of the tension in the air seemingly exploded as she glared at the figure who had appeared and ruined her moment.
Without a word, she stormed off back towards the campus, leaving Daichi and the newcomer in place.
Daichi felt his heart sink, so much so that he didn't want to turn around. He had yet to reveal his face to the person who'd just arrived, so he debated on whether or not to make a run for it.
However, if it was the Head Coach then he would practically be agreeing to his disposal from the team, perhaps even jeopardizing his father's job.
At the end of the day, Daichi was not a rebellious child, despite how he had grown up. For some reason, he felt as if running away now would only worsen his situation and bring shame to his father.
He let out a sigh and slowly turned around, ready to get his head chewed off.
However, he didn't seem to recognize the newcomer at all as he looked at his features.
The man was in his mid-40's and was wearing a suit. He was clean shaven and had a prominent brow which did little to hide his widows peak. Though he was unfamiliar, there was a few similarities with someone that he knew.
"H-Hi there." Daichi stammered, feeling quite exposed in that moment.
"Who are you?" The man responded, not in a good state after Miho had walked off.
"Err, I'm Daichi from the baseball team…"
The man's face turned up in a frown for a moment before he let out a sigh.
"I'm Miho's father, the Dean of Tokyo University." He said, holding out his hand.
Daichi despaired inwardly, trying his best to maintain a neutral face as his entire world seemed to be crumbling before him.
'I messed up… Father forgive me.'
As his mind was in turmoil, Daichi reciprocated and shook the man's hand, feeling the tight grip. There were callouses on his hands despite wearing business attire, making Daichi shiver subconsciously.
"N-Nice to meet you…" Daichi uttered.
The two stood in silence for a while and Daichi didn't dare leave before being dismissed by the big wig. Now that his identity was exposed, he needed to be completely respectful in front of this man.
Miho's dad seemed deep in thought as he brought his hand to his chin, almost as if he was going to stroke his non-existent beard.
"What are your intentions with my daughter?" He asked in a deep tone.