Title: Story after the summer
Summary: Set after the Summertime Record. What seemed like a silly question to Shintaro turned out to be something else to Haruka.
A/N: Fluff. Lots of fluff. I'm not good with fluff. Why did I even write a fluff story anyway?
Disclaimer: I do not own Kagerou Project
Shintaro thought he was suffered from some kind of amnesia.
It hadn't been a year yet, but the memory about his time in the Mekakushi Dan was blurred somehow. It wasn't like he had forgotten his friends' face completely, it was just he couldn't remember all the details about them.
It doesn't matter, he thought, I'll never forget what's important to me.
The funny thing was, even though the memories of the last summer seemed to fade away slowly, Shintaro still remembered the time he spent with his schoolmates years ago.
Maybe it was because of the Heat Haze, a new idea came to him just now. The dark-haired boy wondered if the others were the same as him, forgetting about their journey little by little.
He shook his head and continued to walk. It's fine, they aren't in the Dan anymore. All of them are adults now, so everyone has to go their own way, he thought ho himself.
But, it'll be nicer if he hadn't forgotten.
"Takane…Don't you think you should spend a little time enjoy the spring instead of focusing on that game of yours?" The girl wearing a red scarf tried to convince the girl next to her.
"Why should I? I'm about to break my own record." The black-haired girl answered, not moving her eyes from the handheld console.
"Please Takane, even Shintaro is enjoying the view." The long-haired girl smiled and turned to the other direction. "Shintaro, can you help me?"
"Just leave her there Ayano. There's no point in persuade Takane if she doesn't want to."
The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow when seeing his friend making some sign of "I won't give up" and went back to the other girl. He just grumbled "Do whatever you want", then moved his eyes to the cherry blossom in front of him.
"The view is nice, isn't it?" The boy sitting next to him asked with a smile.
"Yeah… Are you drawing it right now?" Shintaro glanced at the other's sketchbook.
"Not really." Haruka smiled again and showed the shorter boy what he had been working on. In the picture was a boy standing in the cherry blossom background with a grumpy look on his face.
"What the hell are you drawing?" The dark-haired boy looked away. He tried to hide his face from the other but feeling his cheek reddening at every second.
"You don't like it?" He could hear the disappointment in Haruka's voice and had no other choice but to turned back and face him.
"No…It's just that… It's embarrassing!" Shintaro mumbled.
"So you don't want me to draw you?"
"What? No! Fine, draw whatever you want!" The shorter boy let out a sigh.
"Okay!" Haruka smiled and turned to a blank page of his sketchbook, then sank into silence.
The dark-haired boy glanced at his friend. The view was nice. The air was nice. Sitting next to his friend was nice. Spending his time like this was nice. He wished he could spend all of his springs like this. And suddenly, that came out as a question.
"Hey Haruka." He paused and waited for the other to look at him.
"Do you want to spend all of your springs watching the cherry blossom with me?"
It was a stupid question, Shintaro thought as he entered the park. Although he never got to hear Haruka's answer since Takane interrupted them, saying that she had beaten all of the record and wanted to challenge them into a match.
Still, the NEET didn't know why he was heading to the same park he went three years ago. Maybe he was looking for some left-off memory. Maybe he was looking for a confirmation.
After he beat Takane at that shooting game, she was frustrated and quickly left the park, dragging the taller boy with her and stated that he'd help her practiced until she could beat Shintaro.
That was the last time he saw them, though. Ayano died not long after that. When he came to the usual classroom looking for Haruka, the only thing he saw was a flower vase on his table.
Maybe he didn't remember, the dark-haired boy fixed his jacket. Almost three years has passed, maybe he's going out on a date with Takane right now. The NEET shook his head, forcing the image of the pair holding hands away. And assumed that he remembered, how could Shintaro knew for sure he'd agree to that? The dark-haired boy held back a sigh. He stared at the ground for a few seconds, then looked up again.
That was when he saw him.
"You're late." The boy said with a smile. He had brown hair now, his eyes were black instead of the grayish brown eyes Shintaro used to know. The circles remained under his right eye, but they were black and smaller compared to the ones Konoha had.
"Hi. How's it going?" The dark-haired boy walked to his friend.
"I'm good." He smiled again. "How about Shintaro?"
"Normal. Are you here to view the cherry blossom?"
"That reminded me. Why are you late?" Haruka turned and looked at the shorter boy directed in the eyes.
"Late for what?" The NEET felt his heart beat faster, but decided to act dumb.
"What are you here for? Remember what you told me three years ago?" The brown-haired boy titled his head.
Shintaro looked away, trying to hide his blushing face. Suddenly, he had some strange sense of déjàvu. "It was a stupid question." He mumbled.
Haruka laughed a little.
"It sounded like a confession to me."
" It does?" The dark-haired boy turned around, his eyes were filled with surprised.
The former android nodded.
"Then…" The shorter boy looked down. "If it really was a confession, well, a clumsy and odd one, will you accept it?"
The brown-haired boy laughed again.
"Do you even have to ask?"
And that's when Shintaro realized it.
The reason why Haruka came here on the same day as three years ago, why would he said "You're late" when he first spotted him.
It all means one thing, the dark-haired boy looked up, only to meet the black eyes that were staring at him.
"I" He paused a few seconds before gathering all of his courage to continue. "I love you, Haruka."
Only a second after the NEET finished his sentence, he felt a pair of lips placing on his own.
The other boy pulled back after a few seconds. He looked at the blushing face of his friend and smiled.
"I love you too Shintaro."
It would be nice if all of their springs were like this, they both thought as the same time.