[story] just one wish
author: kiseki (_defyingtheodds)
email: starving.artist999 [at] gmail.com
A boy and a girl.
Two different worlds.
Never meant to meet...
This is a story about love.
In the late summer, when the stars Altair and Vega shine brightly in the sky, the Chinese tell a tale of a simple cowherd and a girl descended from the heavens who meet by chance and fall in love - only to realize that their love is doomed in the end.
The Jade Emperor who ruled Heaven and saw to the balance between good and evil in the Middle Kingdom had a daughter he loved and protected fiercely. She possessed an ethereal beauty that surpassed the other stars in the sky and she was, indeed, as lovely as the moon reflected in a still lake. She was kind and gracious and loving to her father and sat everyday at her loom, weaving the colorful clouds of the Heavens that the people of the Middle Kingdom admired. Because she was so skilled, her father gave her the name Chih'nu. Perhaps for others who could not understand, it would be too common a name for someone so beautiful, but for the Jade Emperor, it suited her. This, we cannot question, for only the gods know all.
It was Niu Lang's duty to make sure that the cows he watched over would not stray from where he led them to graze. Each day, it was the same routine: he'd wake up at the crack of dawn and hurriedly pack some rice balls to eat, head over to the paddock and slowly begin leading the cows out over the hills with the help of his faithful dogs. Getting to the grazing pastures was not much of a problem. He was young and strong and could walk eighty miles in winter without complaint. When he was five years old, he had fallen into the frozen lake but when his father saved him and had carried him home, he had not shed a tear. Nor had he ever been afraid.
It was because he knew that he was a man and that the gods had made him so for a reason. When his beloved father passed away, several winters later, it was Niu Lang who allowed his mother to cry on his shoulder and he had not wept. The man must hold the woman in his arms and let her cry. That is his duty.
She was the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on. When Niu Lang saw the black curtain fall past her shoulders, he fell in love. Desire stirred his heart and he knew he wanted no other as fiercely as he did her. As he hid behind the trees surrounding the riverbank and watched the mysterious woman bathe, Niu Lang realized that the stars that mapped out his destiny had been aligned to allow this fateful encounter.
'The gods have blessed me, for I have never seen such beauty in my life.'
He did not even have to think twice before spotting her discarded robes and stealing it away. The silk felt exquisite in his hands and Niu Lang imagined that her skin was the same texture and his heart beat faster. In his desperation, he did not notice that the embroidered phoenix and dragon patterns on her robes danced as if they were alive.
Chih'nu grew frightened when she realized her magic robe was gone. Without it, she could not return to Heaven and would be trapped in the Middle Kingdom forever. It was when she began to shed tears that she felt a pair of hands place a coarse robe around her shoulders.
"Please don't cry... I will take you home..." The boy who had saved her smiled down at her and Chih'nu nodded mutely.
"My name is Niu Lang..."
"I am Chih'nu..."
She took his hand, her pale skin contrasting against the tanned roughness of his own and Niu Lang took her back with him to the village.
When the Jade Emperor found out that his most precious daughter had been taken away from him, he grew enraged. Colorful clouds no longer decorated the sky and soon, a drought came to the land of the Middle Kingdom. The Jade Emperor declared that he would not be at peace in Heaven until Chih'nu was home. He sent the Four Gods to search the ends of the earth, to retrieve his daughter at all costs. The land grew darker still and people grew afraid of the Jade Emperor's wrath.
But for Chih'nu and Niu Lang, they knew no drought for they were secure in their happiness and the love they had for each other brightened their tiny hut. In the Spring, Chih'nu gave birth to twins and she could not have been happier to be with Niu Lang.
It was on the seventh night of the seventh month that the Four Gods came to steal her away. In a flurry of wind and thunder and rain, Niu Lang’s lie was revealed when they ransacked the house and one of the clay pots tipped over and shattered to pieces. There, among the shards, was her magic robe and it was taken - along with Chih'nu - back to Heaven.
Those in Heaven had thought that the balance would be restored now that their weaver girl had returned. But Chih'nu refused to sit at her loom now and instead, wept for Niu Lang and her children. All her tasks lay forgotten and she refused to weave another cloud for her heart had been broken.
"Alas! Honorable Father, I cannot do what you ask of me. I no longer have the strength to weave another cloud for my heart is burdened with thoughts of my husband and the children I have left behind..." Chih'nu knelt at the Jade Emperor's feet and continued to weep bitter tears, refusing to be consoled.
The Jade Emperor, so moved by his daughter's plight, finally relented.
"Then... my most precious daughter, I will allow you to see your husband," he said as he caressed her hair. "But you must resume your tasks and continue to weave. I will allow you to see Niu Lang once a year, on the night that the Four Gods took you away..."
And so it was decreed and Chih’nu kissed her father's feet in gratitude.
So on the seventh night of the seventh month, when the Milky Way dims, time stops and the people of the Middle Kingdom look up to the sky and make a wish for the two lovers as they are reunited once again.
But that is only a story and we cannot say if it really happened, for only the gods know all.
Tokyo, present day
"Yuki, have you decided what to wish for on Tanabata?"
"I don't really believe in that, Mizuki. You know I hate that whole deal about your red thread of destiny or whatever. And wishes on paper don't come true. You have to work hard to get what you want."
Chuckle.
"I suppose you would. You were raised halfway around the world, so I guess the traditions are different."
Yuki snorted, uncrossing her legs from under the kotatsu and stretching. "Kids in America believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy... I never bought that kind of shit."
"Ugh. Honestly, Yuki... you have such a feminine name but you swear worse than a drunken salary man or as if you're a member of a bousou zoku."
The clicking of the lighter was followed by the scent of nicotine burning. Yuki grinned as she lay back on the floor, nursing her cigarette while Mizuki looked on disapprovingly.
"You know that girls shouldn't smoke, dear." The tone was sarcastic but there was still a hint of fondness.
Yuki scoffed. "Everybody smokes. Or at least tried it once."
There was something about summer that she really hated. Not only was it varying degrees of hot wherever you went, but people seemed to change in summer. Always blathering about the ocean, a summer getaway to Okinawa or wherever any of those vapid high school students planned to go. And she certainly couldn't trust herself to pull off a bikini - something which seemed to be in abundance too.
"You know you have a good figure," Mizuki chided, reading her thoughts as she cleared up the dishes. "Why don't you wear the one I gave you last year? It's your style, too, and you'd hurt your best friend by not using her gift."
"Yeah, yeah..." waving a hand dismissively, Yuki rolled over and stood up to go over to the window. "Someday..."
"Someday then..."
But Mizuki knew she'd never really wear it.
Hello minna. It’s Reio again! (^_^)/
Today is Tanabata... Do you have any wishes?
I woke up today and realized I hadn’t decided on
what I could wish for. How bad of me. :thumbsdown:
But if I have no wishes for myself, then I will
wish for my fans... for all of you to always be
in good health! And I will wish that this summer
will be your summer of love. ^_^
I lack a lot of emoji today, but I’m in a hurry!
Don’t forget to write your wishes!
Reio
It's pretty typical of an idol to write his thoughts down in a blog. And he knows that people are going to read it. He’s glad that he can make them happy. No matter how often he gets trapped in a whirlwind of photoshoots, concerts, drama tapings and variety show guestings, Reio is happy when the fans are happy.
Being an idol certainly can be a thankless job sometimes. He's been the subject of rumors: hook-ups with much older women, bad break-ups, substance abuse, a history of pregnancy rumors... Reio blames it on the fact that he looks exactly the part for tabloid fodder. So they may have caught him a few times in Roponggi, big deal. He's twenty-five now, a big boy fighting to survive in a world that keeps growing bigger.
Contrary to what everybody says about technology advancements making the world smaller, Reio thinks that the world has always stayed the same. Humans can't leap across buildings in a single bound, it takes more than half a day to get to the other side of the world, and while buildings steadily rise, they're still not high enough for you to see beyond the horizon.
Even blogging, in its attempt to bring people closer and make them feel like they're conversing with someone beyond their reach, still manages to keep Reio distanced. He doesn't really believe that seeing words on your computer screen will build a connection. It's just an excuse. Everyone's insecure and needs an excuse.
"Moshi moshi. It's Reio. Sorry I can't come to the phone now. Please leave a message."
Beep.
"Are you still going to be stubborn and refuse to come home for summer? Everyone misses you. Your sisters have been asking about you. Can you forgive your father, please?"
Never.
The door shuts behind him as Reio ignores the message. He'll erase everything later.
"You're wishing for everyone else's happiness? Well, that's a nice, superficial wish. It'd work if you were a beauty queen, that's for sure. And you seem like the type to say that your fondest wish is some no-brainer like World Peace."
"It's not nice to read other people's wishes..."
"Well, it's not nice to lie either."
Reio looks at the girl with disinterest, noting that she lacks the formalities of feminine speech. She looks like a lot of the girls here do, but she talks like she's not from this country - complete with the lack of honorifics. She talks like a man, he thinks, and he dimly recalls answering in an interview that if he were to encounter a girl who referred to herself as 'ore' and not 'watashi', he wouldn't be able to stand it. Having been brought up in a family full of disciplinarians, it irks him that she doesn't bother with keigo.
And she's not dressed in a kimono, he notices. It's almost like she's totally against the idea of Tanabata, because she's wearing ripped jeans and dusty boots and a Sex Pistols t-shirt.
"Lemme see that!" She snatches the paper from his hands and reads it aloud in a singsong voice. "I wish for my fans to be able to find their happiness everyday. From Satonaka Reio."
"Chotto! Why are you reading it out loud?!” He glares at the girl, trying to snatch it away from her but she holds it at arm's length and gives him a disdainful look.
"You actually have fans?" She sounds disbelieving and Reio suddenly wishes she were a guy so he could have the excuse to punch her.
His only answer is to growl back and she relents, handing the slip of paper back to him and shaking her head. "Boy, I feel sorry for your fans, then. They may have just been seriously misled."
"Look, if you have nothing good to say, just leave me alone," Reio snaps back, taking another slip of paper to write his wish down since the first one got crumpled pretty badly.
If he was hoping that he somehow intimidated her, Reio is disappointed because she sits down and looks pointedly at him. "You know, if you really do believe this shit works, the least you can do is write down a real wish. The shit you really want to happen instead of making this up."
"Go away." She said 'shit' twice. Shinjirarenai.
She shrugs and gets up, walking out the shrine. He sits there, contemplating and on impulse, he writes a new wish.
That I can really be myself again, someday. - Satonaka Reio
Reio hurries through his prayers and goes off to follow her.
This guy was seriously an idol? Yuki shook her head in disbelief as she handed Reio his order of takoyaki.
"I can't believe you're an idol," she muttered between bites. "For one, I've never heard of you and for another, you fucking made me pay for this!"
Reio winced and looked guiltily at her. She sighed.
"Sorry... I haven't been in Japan very long and my parents died when I was young so I wasn't exactly disciplined," she explained.
"Iie...it's just that I'm not that accustomed to girls like you," Reio shrugged. "Sorry about what happened earlier. I really felt like you were mocking me, so I may have overreacted."
"Maybe because I was?"
He looked at her again, his eyes wide. And then he shook his head and laughed a little.
"Demo sa... in the end, I actually wrote a different wish... my real wish that I've been keeping to myself for a long time."
The grin that Yuki shot him was one of triumph and she clapped him heartily on the back. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
She hadn't written one for herself, but looking at him, she had felt a little sorry that he'd be wasting his one wish and would have to wait a whole year before getting to wish again. She wasn't as cold-hearted as people thought, especially since she DID love Tanabata. It was nice to go out and look at the girls dressed in their best summer kimonos and then wait for the fireworks to come out in the evening. She liked visiting the shrines just to watch people and take note of their little idiosyncrasies, always amused at how much effort they'd put into their wishes.
But she wasn't like them. No, she wasn't looking down on them, but she just didn't have anything to wish for. Life was always the same everyday, wasn't it? A summer wish wouldn't really make much of a difference.
"Do you know what it's like to be on the outside looking in?" Yuki grinned again when Reio turned to look at her, clearly befuddled by what she had asked.
"I don’t follow. Do you mean in general or for certain situations?" he wanted to know and Yuki laughed.
"Forget it. Maybe someday when you finally stop pretending and lying to yourself, you'll understand."
Reio feels like this Yuki girl is really being condescending to him. She has no idea who he is, plus she doesn't hesitate to tell him what she thinks. She's so horribly straightforward that it makes his head hurt, but even if he wants to feel insulted at all the things she's said, Reio finds that she’s actually making sense.
It's difficult to get angry at someone who makes sense.
Evening has set and the fireworks are starting. He doesn't hesitate to hold Yuki's hand and though they started out as strangers that afternoon, she doesn't pull back.
"Will I see you again?"
He turns to look at her and she looks at him. It is in that moment that Reio thinks it would be nice if he could stop time and freeze this moment. There are moments like in those old Hollywood movies that seem to stretch into eternity and he wants that right now. He already knows what her answer is, because she smiles.
"No... you won't." She stretches up on her toes and kisses his cheek. "But we can pretend for tonight that we will."
the end
email: starving.artist999 [at] gmail.com
A boy and a girl.
Two different worlds.
Never meant to meet...
This is a story about love.
In the late summer, when the stars Altair and Vega shine brightly in the sky, the Chinese tell a tale of a simple cowherd and a girl descended from the heavens who meet by chance and fall in love - only to realize that their love is doomed in the end.
The Jade Emperor who ruled Heaven and saw to the balance between good and evil in the Middle Kingdom had a daughter he loved and protected fiercely. She possessed an ethereal beauty that surpassed the other stars in the sky and she was, indeed, as lovely as the moon reflected in a still lake. She was kind and gracious and loving to her father and sat everyday at her loom, weaving the colorful clouds of the Heavens that the people of the Middle Kingdom admired. Because she was so skilled, her father gave her the name Chih'nu. Perhaps for others who could not understand, it would be too common a name for someone so beautiful, but for the Jade Emperor, it suited her. This, we cannot question, for only the gods know all.
It was Niu Lang's duty to make sure that the cows he watched over would not stray from where he led them to graze. Each day, it was the same routine: he'd wake up at the crack of dawn and hurriedly pack some rice balls to eat, head over to the paddock and slowly begin leading the cows out over the hills with the help of his faithful dogs. Getting to the grazing pastures was not much of a problem. He was young and strong and could walk eighty miles in winter without complaint. When he was five years old, he had fallen into the frozen lake but when his father saved him and had carried him home, he had not shed a tear. Nor had he ever been afraid.
It was because he knew that he was a man and that the gods had made him so for a reason. When his beloved father passed away, several winters later, it was Niu Lang who allowed his mother to cry on his shoulder and he had not wept. The man must hold the woman in his arms and let her cry. That is his duty.
She was the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on. When Niu Lang saw the black curtain fall past her shoulders, he fell in love. Desire stirred his heart and he knew he wanted no other as fiercely as he did her. As he hid behind the trees surrounding the riverbank and watched the mysterious woman bathe, Niu Lang realized that the stars that mapped out his destiny had been aligned to allow this fateful encounter.
'The gods have blessed me, for I have never seen such beauty in my life.'
He did not even have to think twice before spotting her discarded robes and stealing it away. The silk felt exquisite in his hands and Niu Lang imagined that her skin was the same texture and his heart beat faster. In his desperation, he did not notice that the embroidered phoenix and dragon patterns on her robes danced as if they were alive.
Chih'nu grew frightened when she realized her magic robe was gone. Without it, she could not return to Heaven and would be trapped in the Middle Kingdom forever. It was when she began to shed tears that she felt a pair of hands place a coarse robe around her shoulders.
"Please don't cry... I will take you home..." The boy who had saved her smiled down at her and Chih'nu nodded mutely.
"My name is Niu Lang..."
"I am Chih'nu..."
She took his hand, her pale skin contrasting against the tanned roughness of his own and Niu Lang took her back with him to the village.
When the Jade Emperor found out that his most precious daughter had been taken away from him, he grew enraged. Colorful clouds no longer decorated the sky and soon, a drought came to the land of the Middle Kingdom. The Jade Emperor declared that he would not be at peace in Heaven until Chih'nu was home. He sent the Four Gods to search the ends of the earth, to retrieve his daughter at all costs. The land grew darker still and people grew afraid of the Jade Emperor's wrath.
But for Chih'nu and Niu Lang, they knew no drought for they were secure in their happiness and the love they had for each other brightened their tiny hut. In the Spring, Chih'nu gave birth to twins and she could not have been happier to be with Niu Lang.
It was on the seventh night of the seventh month that the Four Gods came to steal her away. In a flurry of wind and thunder and rain, Niu Lang’s lie was revealed when they ransacked the house and one of the clay pots tipped over and shattered to pieces. There, among the shards, was her magic robe and it was taken - along with Chih'nu - back to Heaven.
Those in Heaven had thought that the balance would be restored now that their weaver girl had returned. But Chih'nu refused to sit at her loom now and instead, wept for Niu Lang and her children. All her tasks lay forgotten and she refused to weave another cloud for her heart had been broken.
"Alas! Honorable Father, I cannot do what you ask of me. I no longer have the strength to weave another cloud for my heart is burdened with thoughts of my husband and the children I have left behind..." Chih'nu knelt at the Jade Emperor's feet and continued to weep bitter tears, refusing to be consoled.
The Jade Emperor, so moved by his daughter's plight, finally relented.
"Then... my most precious daughter, I will allow you to see your husband," he said as he caressed her hair. "But you must resume your tasks and continue to weave. I will allow you to see Niu Lang once a year, on the night that the Four Gods took you away..."
And so it was decreed and Chih’nu kissed her father's feet in gratitude.
So on the seventh night of the seventh month, when the Milky Way dims, time stops and the people of the Middle Kingdom look up to the sky and make a wish for the two lovers as they are reunited once again.
But that is only a story and we cannot say if it really happened, for only the gods know all.
Tokyo, present day
"Yuki, have you decided what to wish for on Tanabata?"
"I don't really believe in that, Mizuki. You know I hate that whole deal about your red thread of destiny or whatever. And wishes on paper don't come true. You have to work hard to get what you want."
Chuckle.
"I suppose you would. You were raised halfway around the world, so I guess the traditions are different."
Yuki snorted, uncrossing her legs from under the kotatsu and stretching. "Kids in America believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy... I never bought that kind of shit."
"Ugh. Honestly, Yuki... you have such a feminine name but you swear worse than a drunken salary man or as if you're a member of a bousou zoku."
The clicking of the lighter was followed by the scent of nicotine burning. Yuki grinned as she lay back on the floor, nursing her cigarette while Mizuki looked on disapprovingly.
"You know that girls shouldn't smoke, dear." The tone was sarcastic but there was still a hint of fondness.
Yuki scoffed. "Everybody smokes. Or at least tried it once."
There was something about summer that she really hated. Not only was it varying degrees of hot wherever you went, but people seemed to change in summer. Always blathering about the ocean, a summer getaway to Okinawa or wherever any of those vapid high school students planned to go. And she certainly couldn't trust herself to pull off a bikini - something which seemed to be in abundance too.
"You know you have a good figure," Mizuki chided, reading her thoughts as she cleared up the dishes. "Why don't you wear the one I gave you last year? It's your style, too, and you'd hurt your best friend by not using her gift."
"Yeah, yeah..." waving a hand dismissively, Yuki rolled over and stood up to go over to the window. "Someday..."
"Someday then..."
But Mizuki knew she'd never really wear it.
Hello minna. It’s Reio again! (^_^)/
Today is Tanabata... Do you have any wishes?
I woke up today and realized I hadn’t decided on
what I could wish for. How bad of me. :thumbsdown:
But if I have no wishes for myself, then I will
wish for my fans... for all of you to always be
in good health! And I will wish that this summer
will be your summer of love. ^_^
I lack a lot of emoji today, but I’m in a hurry!
Don’t forget to write your wishes!
Reio
It's pretty typical of an idol to write his thoughts down in a blog. And he knows that people are going to read it. He’s glad that he can make them happy. No matter how often he gets trapped in a whirlwind of photoshoots, concerts, drama tapings and variety show guestings, Reio is happy when the fans are happy.
Being an idol certainly can be a thankless job sometimes. He's been the subject of rumors: hook-ups with much older women, bad break-ups, substance abuse, a history of pregnancy rumors... Reio blames it on the fact that he looks exactly the part for tabloid fodder. So they may have caught him a few times in Roponggi, big deal. He's twenty-five now, a big boy fighting to survive in a world that keeps growing bigger.
Contrary to what everybody says about technology advancements making the world smaller, Reio thinks that the world has always stayed the same. Humans can't leap across buildings in a single bound, it takes more than half a day to get to the other side of the world, and while buildings steadily rise, they're still not high enough for you to see beyond the horizon.
Even blogging, in its attempt to bring people closer and make them feel like they're conversing with someone beyond their reach, still manages to keep Reio distanced. He doesn't really believe that seeing words on your computer screen will build a connection. It's just an excuse. Everyone's insecure and needs an excuse.
"Moshi moshi. It's Reio. Sorry I can't come to the phone now. Please leave a message."
Beep.
"Are you still going to be stubborn and refuse to come home for summer? Everyone misses you. Your sisters have been asking about you. Can you forgive your father, please?"
Never.
The door shuts behind him as Reio ignores the message. He'll erase everything later.
"You're wishing for everyone else's happiness? Well, that's a nice, superficial wish. It'd work if you were a beauty queen, that's for sure. And you seem like the type to say that your fondest wish is some no-brainer like World Peace."
"It's not nice to read other people's wishes..."
"Well, it's not nice to lie either."
Reio looks at the girl with disinterest, noting that she lacks the formalities of feminine speech. She looks like a lot of the girls here do, but she talks like she's not from this country - complete with the lack of honorifics. She talks like a man, he thinks, and he dimly recalls answering in an interview that if he were to encounter a girl who referred to herself as 'ore' and not 'watashi', he wouldn't be able to stand it. Having been brought up in a family full of disciplinarians, it irks him that she doesn't bother with keigo.
And she's not dressed in a kimono, he notices. It's almost like she's totally against the idea of Tanabata, because she's wearing ripped jeans and dusty boots and a Sex Pistols t-shirt.
"Lemme see that!" She snatches the paper from his hands and reads it aloud in a singsong voice. "I wish for my fans to be able to find their happiness everyday. From Satonaka Reio."
"Chotto! Why are you reading it out loud?!” He glares at the girl, trying to snatch it away from her but she holds it at arm's length and gives him a disdainful look.
"You actually have fans?" She sounds disbelieving and Reio suddenly wishes she were a guy so he could have the excuse to punch her.
His only answer is to growl back and she relents, handing the slip of paper back to him and shaking her head. "Boy, I feel sorry for your fans, then. They may have just been seriously misled."
"Look, if you have nothing good to say, just leave me alone," Reio snaps back, taking another slip of paper to write his wish down since the first one got crumpled pretty badly.
If he was hoping that he somehow intimidated her, Reio is disappointed because she sits down and looks pointedly at him. "You know, if you really do believe this shit works, the least you can do is write down a real wish. The shit you really want to happen instead of making this up."
"Go away." She said 'shit' twice. Shinjirarenai.
She shrugs and gets up, walking out the shrine. He sits there, contemplating and on impulse, he writes a new wish.
That I can really be myself again, someday. - Satonaka Reio
Reio hurries through his prayers and goes off to follow her.
This guy was seriously an idol? Yuki shook her head in disbelief as she handed Reio his order of takoyaki.
"I can't believe you're an idol," she muttered between bites. "For one, I've never heard of you and for another, you fucking made me pay for this!"
Reio winced and looked guiltily at her. She sighed.
"Sorry... I haven't been in Japan very long and my parents died when I was young so I wasn't exactly disciplined," she explained.
"Iie...it's just that I'm not that accustomed to girls like you," Reio shrugged. "Sorry about what happened earlier. I really felt like you were mocking me, so I may have overreacted."
"Maybe because I was?"
He looked at her again, his eyes wide. And then he shook his head and laughed a little.
"Demo sa... in the end, I actually wrote a different wish... my real wish that I've been keeping to myself for a long time."
The grin that Yuki shot him was one of triumph and she clapped him heartily on the back. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
She hadn't written one for herself, but looking at him, she had felt a little sorry that he'd be wasting his one wish and would have to wait a whole year before getting to wish again. She wasn't as cold-hearted as people thought, especially since she DID love Tanabata. It was nice to go out and look at the girls dressed in their best summer kimonos and then wait for the fireworks to come out in the evening. She liked visiting the shrines just to watch people and take note of their little idiosyncrasies, always amused at how much effort they'd put into their wishes.
But she wasn't like them. No, she wasn't looking down on them, but she just didn't have anything to wish for. Life was always the same everyday, wasn't it? A summer wish wouldn't really make much of a difference.
"Do you know what it's like to be on the outside looking in?" Yuki grinned again when Reio turned to look at her, clearly befuddled by what she had asked.
"I don’t follow. Do you mean in general or for certain situations?" he wanted to know and Yuki laughed.
"Forget it. Maybe someday when you finally stop pretending and lying to yourself, you'll understand."
Reio feels like this Yuki girl is really being condescending to him. She has no idea who he is, plus she doesn't hesitate to tell him what she thinks. She's so horribly straightforward that it makes his head hurt, but even if he wants to feel insulted at all the things she's said, Reio finds that she’s actually making sense.
It's difficult to get angry at someone who makes sense.
Evening has set and the fireworks are starting. He doesn't hesitate to hold Yuki's hand and though they started out as strangers that afternoon, she doesn't pull back.
"Will I see you again?"
He turns to look at her and she looks at him. It is in that moment that Reio thinks it would be nice if he could stop time and freeze this moment. There are moments like in those old Hollywood movies that seem to stretch into eternity and he wants that right now. He already knows what her answer is, because she smiles.
"No... you won't." She stretches up on her toes and kisses his cheek. "But we can pretend for tonight that we will."
the end