Hiya! To all you beautiful individuals who choose to take a few minutes from your day to read my oneshot-plus-one-tiny-epilogue, I am very thankful!
Disclaimer: I do not own Whisper of the Heart. I once read a line in a book that I love, which goes something like this: "I do not own the characters; I am simply borrowing them!" Personally, I feel like this describes fanfiction in a single sentence... Please PM me if you feel the need to debate the topic of how to describe fanfiction in as few words as possible. I only debate topics I am interested in, and luckily, anime/manga/fanfiction are definitely things that I am interested in!
Anyway, enough prattle. This is, in essence, an epilogue. Then there is a shorter epilogue to the longer epilogue. Confusing? Yes. Read on.
...
In the crowded airport, Shizuku Tsukishima searched for the one who wanted to marry her in her last year of middle school. That was right before he flew to Italy to study with a violin maker for high school. Seiji glanced over in her direction, saw her, and his eyes widened as a blush covered his cheeks in a light pink. She looked down in embarrassment. Her three years in high school had done her well, both in brains and in body. She had been getting many more love letters and confessions in her last two years because, apparently, some of the boys believed that her love for Amasawa Seiji was shallow enough to vanish over a single year; they would have the two remaining years of their high school lives to take the place of Seiji. Heh, she chuckled to herself. NOT!
Smiling and still slightly red, she lifted her gaze back to one of Italy's newest violin maker apprentices: the boy who accomplished his dreams and was the reason for her motivation in achieving her own aspirations. Thanks to Seiji, she had graduated high school and was going to attend a university with hopes to continue on her creative writing path.
Seiji's loving gaze met her eyes; he began to walk towards her with a purpose in his stride. Even when they were standing face-to-face with one another, he never broke eye contact with her.
"It's been awhile," he muttered, the corners of his mouth slightly curving up in a slowly-growing smile.
He had grown taller, Shizuku noticed. His hair grew out longer too, so that his bangs were lightly brushing the tops of his eyelashes. Everything about him seemed less and less like the ninth-grader that left her behind (temporarily, she'd liked to tell herself) to chase his passion and more like a mature individual whom she could hardly recognize.
After realizing that she had been staring at him for a while, lost in thought, Shizuku blinked a few times and turned a bright-strawberry color.
"I-it has, t-that's true," she stuttered, uncomfortable with the present situation. She crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously. The poor girl was beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe, she had been hanging onto a non-existent relationship. Or, even worse, a one-sided love.
And then Seiji laughed.
He just laughed, with a genuine smile spread across his face, making Shizuku's heart skip more beats than she thought was healthy.
"Wh-what's so funny?!" Shizuku exclaimed indignantly, pulling her arms even closer to her body and puffing out her reddening cheeks.
"Nothing, Shizuku," he began, still grinning, "I just…I've missed you." His smile faded and his eyes darkened slightly as he continued. "You know, my granddad still owns that quirky shop of his? He would write me letter after letter about you and the miraculous adventures that you created. He told me how he soared through the heavens, sailed seas of gems, and solved riddles vicariously through your writings. I wanted to be right there next to you to celebrate all of your successes and help you through any failures…" He paused to scratch the scruff of his neck in embarrassment. "It's too bad that I couldn't do either."
He tentatively reached out to Shizuku, whose heart seemed to want to pound out of her chest. She hesitantly leaned into his outstretched arms, but then placed her head on his shoulder when she felt his arms wrap around her in a comforting embrace.
"Do you remember what we talked about on the morning that I returned from Italy?"
Shizuku silently nodded her head.
"Well, um, I still want to carry through with my promise… that is, unless you have found someone else, then…"
"No, I haven't. Also," Shizuku pulled away, donning a confused expression with a raised eyebrow, "what promise? I don't remember a promise."
"Ipromisetokissyouwhenwenextmeet," the pink-faced Seiji muttered under his breath.
"What was that? I didn't hear y-"
Shizuku squeaked in astonishment when she felt Seiji's lips connect with hers. He smiled against her mouth and gently held her cheeks in his hands. Quickly recovering from the surprise, Shizuku let her forearms rest against the boy's chest. After a few moments, Seiji pulled away, tilted the girl's head down, and softly kissed her forehead.
He spoke into her brown hair:
"Grandpa told me earlier that, a few weeks ago, the lady who he loved in his younger years had finally found him, and that she had brought the cat doll. Louise, is it? So Grandpa and the other woman are reunited, as are Louise and Baron. And lastly, us two. How much can happen in this short amount of time?"
"Quite a bit, I guess!" Shizuku replied merrily.
Seiji smiled and leaned down for another kiss.
Both the individuals' cheeks stayed various shades of pinks and reds for the trip from the airport to their respective houses.
...
Hiya, all you beautiful readers! Thank you so much for reading through to the end! I apologize if either Seiji or Shizuku were OOC, but I do try my best. Reviews are greatly appreciated! ^_^