Third: To Tie a Red String

He asks her the same way he's always asked her for a date. "Are you free tomorrow evening?"

Aoba thinks for a bit, then answers, "Sure. What are we doing?"

"Nothing much. Could you meet me at Kitamura Sports at six?"

She dresses casually.

A taxi is waiting.

"Are we getting into that?"

"Yes, that we are. It's going to be a long trip. Oh. And you have to wear this." He hands her a blindfold.

She glares at him suspiciously, the same familiar glare. "What are you planning?"

"Trust me. It's a surprise." He smiles, the same innocent smile.

When they reach their destination, he leads her out of the taxi.

"Don't let go of my hand."

She doesn't. He leads her across paved floors, through cool hallways, and up stairs.

She feels grass under her sensible shoes, then dirt and the rise of the pitcher's mound. She knows they're in a baseball field. She knows the feeling better than anything. He removes the blindfold from her eyes. She gasps lightly. They're in the inside of the Koshien Stadium.

"How did you get us in here?" she wonders, but maybe for Kitamura Kou, star pitcher, it hadn't taken much convincing.

Wordlessly he takes a box out of his pocket. He opens it. There lies a beautiful ring.

"What do you think?" he asks her quietly. His expression is mild, as always, but there's a deep intensity in his eyes.

Aoba is stunned.

"What do I think?" she repeats.

"Yeah."

She brings both hands to her mouth. She thinks she might cry.

"Aoba?"

Rather than I love yous or I want to be with yous, Aoba says, "If there were a red string tied to your little finger…could the other end be tied to mine?"

Kou says "Sure," and slips the ring onto her finger gently.

She ends up crying.

He wraps her in her arms. She beats his chest once. "Idiot."

Unlike that day during the Koshien qualifiers, her tears slow instead of intensify. He lifts her face, wipes them away from her cheeks. They stare into each other's eyes.

Ah Kou, she thinks. The same Kou that he's been. The same eyes, ears, lips. The expression the same kind, lucid, thinking expression.

And like that, he lifts her head, tilts it up. He leans down and kisses her.

It's a sweet, simple kiss, but Aoba feels that deep undercurrent. A passionate stir she can somehow feel in him too. They deepen the kiss briefly, but pull away.

Kou plays with the short end of her hair at the back of her neck, something he likes to do. They smile at each other.

It's a promise of more.

Amazed and wordless at the depth of feeling they have, they walk hand in hand out of the stadium.

Akaishi, Azuma, Nakanishi, and Akane are waiting for the result. Kou lifts her hand in the air, and they cheer.

The only thing left to do is run for home.