A/N:

Hails: Yes, I am well aware of chapter 97 and I am well aware it has all royally fucked us over. I'm just venting, SUFFER WITH ME~

I disregard any claims to the characters, setting, or plot of Blue Exorcist/青の祓魔師, which are a property of the mangaka Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.

The ringing of the school bell released a flood of students from the clutches of the teachers as soon as the desks were sparkly clean and the litter was off the floor. Innate chatter permeated the humid air thanks to a monstrous thunderstorm the night before. Patches of wet cement were all that remained, even with student shoes clambering over them to escape the academy. Two voices rose slightly above as Yukio nearly choked on his laughter—the most genuine laugh he'd had in awhile.

"I'm serious!" Shiemi protested, moving her hands around in large, frantic gestures. "That's what I used to call catmint when I was a little girl, I didn't know any better!"

"I'm sorry," Yukio wheezed. He'd never say such vulgarity out loud and he was sure her mom and grandmother wouldn't either yet he found the whole situation so amusing. "I'm so, so sorry, I shouldn't be laughing. That's so inappropriate of me."

"It's okay," Shiemi smiled, tightening the strap on her school satchel. "I'm just glad to see you so happy. It's been so long since we got to spend some time together."

Call it coincidence, call it simplicity, call it whatever you please that Yukio had just so happened to meet sweet ole Shiemi in the hallway. They didn't need to ask each other, didn't need to acquire permission to walk next to one another, it was a natural friendship they had fallen into. They only needed to be near one another to know that this was genuinely okay.

As Yukio and Shiemi wove through the crowd, babbling to one another about school assignments, Rin's screeching could be heard over the air. He waved brightly from balancing atop a fence post, drawing unnecessary attention and effectively embarrassing his trio of friends, one of which was snapping at him to stop being noisy.

"Shiemiiii! Yukiooooooo!" He leaped off the post, dashing towards them excitedly. He came to a stop, skidding like a cartoon character. "Hey, Cram School is canceled today. Aren't… you guys… you wanna come with us? We were just gonna-"

"Uh, actually, Rin," Yukio cut his brother off with a tone suggesting quite subtly that he wanted very little company. "I just wanted to go on a walk with Shiemi, you know, the two of us… alo-"

"OH!" Rin exclaimed abruptly. "Yeahyeahyeah, I get it," He said quickly, words jumbled together as he backed away with the understanding of a three-year-old who had just walked in on an intimate moment between a family member and a dear family friend. "I, uh… I'll go then."

With that, Rin scurried away, waving goodbye and meeting the Kyoto Trio. They seemed to tease him good-naturedly but Yukio didn't stick around long, too enraptured by Shiemi's sweet smile and just as eager waving.

"Rin's always so happy, don't you think so, Yuki?"

Yukio laughed lightly, falsely, almost a little amused by Rin's spastic, skittish nature, however, pleased that Rin got the hint and left. "He certainly is. Only Rin could be so happy all the time." He paused, adding quietly. "Sometimes I wish I could."

"My mom and grandma used to say that happiness was a choice," Shiemi murmured wistfully, brushing a lock of hair from her face. "But I never quite understood that. We can't always be happy all the time. It's okay to be sad and angry and we shouldn't put on a smile when we do feel that way. I think we should talk about our feelings."

He had to repeat to himself that Shiemi wasn't making a wily, shrewd crack at him. She wasn't the slick or cunning type, then again she was honest when she needed to be and always spoke how she felt so maybe it was. Yukio couldn't be sure, so he intelligently decided not to comment. Quietly, they walked side by side until they were trailing side by side down a loam path that would cut through some of the academy's trees and forestry. They chatted quietly, whispering things to each other like they had when they were younger. Up ahead, a clearing could be seen next to the stream they had been traveling next to. Shiemi stopped in the middle of it, drinking up the sunshine and stretching as Yukio watched on in mild curiosity.

"Shiemi?"

"We should stop for awhile," she said. "And rest. It's such a nice day."

Yukio barely got a chance to ask for specifics when Shiemi curled her fingers around his, dropping her school stuff and kicking off her shoes as she went. Soon enough she had it her way, pushing Yukio onto the ground and joining him, lying next to him. The sunlight was warm as it poured through the trees, meadow birds chirped and twittered, and the cloudless blue sky hung overhead, seeming so still as if the world had stopped moving for them. A smile crossed Yukio's lips as his eyes fluttered shut. It really was such a nice day.

"Do you ever wonder if the Earth is singing?"

"Huh?"

"Like, have you ever laid down in the grass and listened to what the soil and the trees and the roots have to say?"

He wanted to say that the Earth doesn't speak, that Assiah doesn't have a voice but he held his tongue. Quietness enveloped him and for a moment he understood what Shiemi was talking about. The sound was soft, almost like a flute in his head only he and she could hear. It was pleasant to the sound and it suited nature at it's finest.

"You know, it's odd…" Shiemi trailed off. Yukio looked at her inquisitively. "I wish I could stay here forever, with you, and not have to worry about anything else. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Yukio swallowed, a tingling, delightful heat coursed through him and his cheeks flushed like the surface of a Honeycrisp.

"Yes, I think… that would be very nice."

The warmth fled suddenly, replaced by the chilling sensation of a metal table biting his skin and the reek of antiseptics burning his nose. He bolted upward, breathing heavily as his mind attempted to chase the lost fiery feeling of lying in the grass with the clear skies and the sensation of Shiemi right next to him. All his memories came rushing back to him, the bitter, bleak Winter of a reality that was before him. He shuddered, gritting his teeth.

"What would you say… was a moment when you were the happiest you'd ever been?" Tōdō had asked him as they trailed down the hallway. It was a test, Yukio was told, for his emotions. To draw out more than just vitriol or depression or vehement wrath.

"A moment when I was happiest?" Yukio asked. How about when the sun was warmest on a beautiful day, lying in the grass, after school, with her by his side, and completely at peace? It was a time in which he'd never forget, one where he'd never felt more tranquil or calmer when for a moment he had forgotten why he was stressed. It was almost as though the Gehenna Gate didn't matter, or the Morinas contract, or the death of a man who was like a grandfather to him. He didn't have to worry about his job, about exorcism, cram school, or teenagerdom.

It was just him. And it was just her.

It was just them and the sun and the feeling of the world holding still.

All of it, so wonderful and gentle, like a Spring zephyr. All of it, interrupted by a harsh grin and angry fire and orange feathers which belonged to a man he hated feeling a kinship with. All of it, false and a test from Lucifer. None of it real. Tōdō smirked, smiling toothily.

"Gee, Kid. That was one helluva a memory."