"Will you wear a kimono on your wedding day, Oe?"
"But of course."
He never feels alone.
Even in his room, at night, he hears her voice sweetly singing the poems. Her sound is lilting and light, and ever-changing as she tries to perfect, and it is the perfect lullaby to help him fall asleep.
"What poem do you think is my poem?"
"Hmm. Well, Chihaya is Chihaya, and Oe is mine... I think... I think Fujiwara no Masatsune suits you, Tsukuetomu-kun!"
"Ah... which one is that again?"
"Gazing on Mount Yoshino
There is the autumn's breeze
And the evening goes on
My village grows cold
But I hear the cloth, beating."
"What does that one mean, Oe?"
"Saa... dunno! Think about it for yourself? I can't give away all my secrets, you know!"
He wasn't much good at poetry.
But, he thought of some stuff that maybe constituted when they were at tournaments.
Oe looked killer in a kimono.
"Got it!"
"Wah, you've gotten Mount Yoshino every time since I told you about it!"
"Can't be helped, it's one of my sweet cards now."
"Hmph. Well, I'll always have Oe. Oe for Oe."
"...I'll take that one, too. One day."
"Ha! The day you take By Oe Mountain, I'll promise you my hand in marriage."
It is summer, and they have graduated, on the day he takes Oe.
They're down to three cards, and he's sure the Karuta God is watching him, giving him his blessing, because there are only two cards on her side and one on his, and the one on his is Mount Yoshino, and one on hers is Mount Oe. They are two mountains, impeding against time, patiently waiting.
Gazing on Mount Yoshino...
Her small hand spurns forward, an arrow shot true, and his card goes skidding away with his heart. Her expression is fiercely adorable, and he feels light and more sure of anything in the world.
Before the tape even plays, he springs forward in the most graceful play he's ever made, and gently picks up By Oe Mountain. Oe's lips have parted in a silent gasp, and she's flushed from exertion and stunned-ness.
Tsutomu bows deeply, still holding her card carefully in his hands.
"Oe," he says, softly and surely. "I think you make me happy."
When he looks up, there are tears in her eyes, but she's smiling and the tape keeps playing, How do I express/How fiercely I do love her?/Will it reach her/That this love/Burns like Ibuki's root?
Oe bows in return, beaming, glowing, tears rolling down her red cheeks. She's holding Mount Yoshino in her hands, clutching it dearly.
"Will you still wear a wedding kimono?"
"Of course," she says, breathless, smiling away. "Of course."
"I think Mount Yoshino suits you, because even when you are solitary and thoughtful, you remember what you care about, and pursue it without yielding."