"Monk-san?"
The monk turned his head from the wires of the camera to meet his timid friends' voice. The young girl was looking sad and confused.
He tilted his head and smiled, trying to cheer her up.
"Yeah?" He answered with a question.
"Um.." She fiddled with the hem of her hooded top. He glanced at her before getting back to the camera.
He yelped as a wire gave him a slight jolt of electricity, and sucked on his finger, mumbling obscenities in Sanskrit around the offended object.
"Monk-san? You okay?" She asked in surprise.
"Yeah," he muttered angrily.
She didn't relax though- on the contrary, she swallowed and nervously approached him.
"Mai, what's up? Are you okay?" He asked, taking his reddened finger from his mouth and looking concerned.
"Um.. Do. you think Naru really likes me?" she asked quickly, and he had to play her voice back a few times before he understood
"Mai," he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder, "can I tell you a very wise old saying?"
She nodded, looking up at him as he bent down to her level and met her eyes with a friendly gaze.
"Patience is a virtue." He smiled. She nodded, though her gaze remained troubled.
"So he doesn't like me, does he?" She said, after a moment of silence.
"Mai, believe me, he does. A lot more than you will ever know. But Naru is shy, not to mention full of pride."
Takigawa's voice was so earnest she smiled a little weakly.
"Mai, just remember Rome wasn't built in a day."
Years later, as she stood with her husband and looked down at the party beneath her balcony, and her husband pressed his lips into her hair a young man of thirty with tawny brown hair was weaving his way through the crowd, chasing after his fiancée, a young woman with black hair and lilac eyes.
He looked up, and smiled, mouthing something inaudible though she knew perfectly what it was.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
But, it was built, wasn't it Mai?