Chapter Twenty-Five

"Difficult Decisions"

Mizushima Kasumi's Point of View

Thought it was still quite dark outside, I felt a few rays of sunlight at my face- its warmth gently tickling me to awaken from my deep slumber. Beside me lay Nanase, whose arms were still around me. His soft breathing and slightly hilarious facial expressions caused me to chuckle softly, but nonetheless waking him up.

"Oops," I murmured. "I woke you up didn't I . . . It's only five in the morning too . . ."

"No worries," he replied passively as always. "I was supposed to wake up in thirty minutes anyways."

"I'm going to get up and make breakfast because I'm hungry and you should ready yourself for the final practice before your race later today . . . You already won first on all the other relays and everything . . . so make this your best, okay?" I ranted as Nanase just did what I said. "Wait, do you have a special breakfast or something because of your bodily needs or something?"

"Kind of," he replied from behind the closed closet door. "Could you prepare me five scrambled eggs with a teaspoon of a liquid in the black jar in the right cabinet, and then sprinkle it with a tablespoon of the white powder in the left cabinet in a light red jar."

"Fancy," I chuckled before heading towards the kitchen. "But, I'm up for it."

"Thanks," he replied. "But don't eat the powder or liquid I'm going to eat . . . It took a while for my body to get accustomed to the effects."

"It's not steroids, is it?" I rolled my eyes, knowing Nanase would never do such thing.

"Pft," was his only reply. "You know the answer to that."

Once I reached the kitchen, I took out five eggs from the omelet, cracked them, and then placed them onto the non-stick pan. I turned on the stove to a decent degree before rushing towards the cabinets and pouring the liquid and applying the powder to his meal.

By the time I finished his meal, Nanase was already at the table with the utensils needed to eat for both of us on the table.

"Thank you," he told me as I placed his dish before him. "Where's yours?"

"You eat up first," I smiled at him. "You're the one who's leaving early. I want to go around Tokyo for a bit by myself, and then I'll meet you there."

He nodded his head, "Makoto arrived last night pretty late, so I'll ask him to go with you if you want."

"Naw," I shook my head. "I can meet him at the stadium if he wants me too."

"You sure?" Nanase asked once again. "I don't want you getting hurt somewhere you don't know well adequately."

"I'm twenty-one soon," I pouted. "Don't treat me like a child, Haru-chan."

Nanase slouched in his chair, "Again . . . with that nickname . . ."

I giggled before taking my leave into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for myself.

I applied some soy sauce to my eggs after I cooked it and then joined Nanase at the kitchen table, in which he was almost finished with his dish.

"I should give you that pass to go around the stadium," he told me, getting up and entering his room to retrieve the item before returning. "Rin gave his "special pass for family/friends" to Makoto, so I could give you mine to you."

I gave him a grateful smile before kissing his cheek and saying, "Thanks, Haru."

His cheeks turned a shade of scarlet before he told me, "I probably have to go now. I'm sorry for this abrupt departure."

"It's fine," I waved it off. "I wouldn't want to distract you or anything during your final practice before your final participating race."

He chuckled, "So you think that I would be too busy looking at you? A bit full of yourself, are we?"

I rolled my eyes, replying, "You know what I mean."

He gave me one of his rare smiles kissing my lips softly before exiting the door, saying, "Bye."

"Bye," I whispered after he had left.

The lingering sensation that remained at my lips made me yearn for more . . . Did I really miss him already?

I sighed. I really wished he was always like that, but I should still be grateful that

I snapped out of my reverie and returned to finish my meal.

As Masaru-nii said a day or two before, I had to find something special for Nanase for that Christmas we were to spend together. But what was I to get him?

I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want the goggles I would him since his were probably of a higher quality . . . He wouldn't need anything swimming related, though he loved the water so . . .

I looked around the room. The walls were white, the carpet beige, but otherwise, it was pretty scarce in other household decorations. Yeah, it had the necessities, but nothing to brighten it up.

An idea popped up into my head. I rushed towards Nanase's room, changed into dark skinny jeans, a sweatshirt, and socks before putting on my petticoat and scarf on.

I took my wallet out of the drawer and placed it into my wristlet, which had my phone and hand sanitizer spray in it as well, before dashing out the door, locking it, and rushing all the way to the many streets of Tokyo.

It was daytime, so there were not so many vibrant streetlights illuminating graciously into the night skies, but it was still Tokyo, and therefore it was still as busy and hectic as always. Adding to the fact that it was winter break and that others were taking work off or shopping for gifts for their loved ones . . . Yep, it was going to be a while before I would find something for Nanase.

My gift idea was very simple, and when I say simple, I mean it. A glass dolphin zipping through the seas as one, and the other was a picture album of every picture Nanase and I took together. Yeah . . . I know . . . it's cheesy . . . but it was better than nothing . . . And to add to that list, I would crochet a navy blue scarf for him, as well as sew him a swimsuit. I know, I know, his swimsuits are probably better than what I could ever sew, but it was better than nothing related to water.

I skimmed through various shops relating to glass figures, but none of them caught my eye. Deciding that this would be my last and twelfth attempt to search for an glass aquatic figure for Nanase, I entered an old looking shop where an elderly man greeted me.

"Why hello," he smiled cheerfully at me. "What brings you to Sawamura's Antique Shop?"

"I'm here to look at some glass figures," I replied with equal cheerfulness. "That is, if you have any."

"Of course, we do," he replied, pointing his finger at the direction of the glass figures. "Right over there."

"Thank you very much," I responded before bowing seventy-five degrees and heading towards the direction he was pointing at.

I glanced at the aisle the man said the glass figures were. There were many items that shined and caught my eye, but none of them satisfied my one requirement.

Down to the last item at the aisle, I noticed a small cerulean glint that enticed my eyes almost immediately. Behind the Santa Clause glass figure, there was a small blue dolphin arching above the crystalline waters—clear and free from any non-immaculate spectacle. My hands immediately reached it and admired its beauty, checking if there was any defect on the figure before taking it to the counter to pay for it.

"Ah, wise choice," the old man smiled before taking into account of the to-be-paid merchandise. "2,500 yen."

I gave him the money as he placed the glass item into a container before putting it into a bag and handing it to me.

"Thank you very much," I bowed, thanking him before I left.

"You're welcome," he waved as I then began to search for any stores that specialized in photos and photo albums.

Once I reached that certain store, I asked one of the store clerks to print out the pictures from my USB drive I kept in my wristlet.

"Ah, of course," she smiled. "How many pictures would you like to be printed, may I ask? And what size?

"All five-hundred of them at 4 x 6," I replied. "Thank you."

"Absolutely no problem," she returned a smile. "Please return here in about thirty minutes."

"Thank you," I replied the same answer yet again before browsing the aisles for an appropriate picture album for Nanase.

After twenty-five minutes of searching, I finally found an album to my liking out of the five aisles of albums. The cover was of black leather—simple yet irrevocably stunning. The plastic slides for the pictures were of a good quality, therefore increasing my liking to the album. Not to mention, it also had exactly five-hundred plastic covers for the five-hundred photos I would buy to place into the album. Perfect.

After deciding that that was the album I wanted for Nanase, I returned to the counter where the clerk, recognizing me, pulled out my five-hundred photos into several envelopes.

"Could I also pay for this as well?" I asked, handing her the album.

"Of course," she smiled, scanning the item.

After I paid for the items, I began looking for cloths and linens that I could use to make Nanase a scarf and swimming trunks.

Not many of the stores had the color of navy blue that I was looking for, and there weren't many stores that sold waterproof cloths either . . . It was winter after all, and it was unpopular to swim during that season at that time.

I sighed. It was nearing two in the afternoon now, and I still hadn't finished my Christmas shopping. I reached a linens and cloths store that seemed quite more reliable than the other stores that I encountered, and my eyes had a glint of determination that I would find the two items I was looking for.

"Excuse me," I asked one of the people working for the store. "Do you have any waterproof cloths or any navy blue linens?"

She paused to think for a moment before happily replying, "Yes, we do! This way please."

I exhaled in relief as I followed the young woman to where the items I searched for were.

"Here they are," she told me before leaving.

A royal blue linen caught my eye as I immediately grabbed a packet of that linen. After browsing the second aisle the woman pointed out for me, my eyes drifted to a black waterproof cloth, which I immediately took, in fear of never to find any other waterproof cloth in Japan. However, I didn't want the swimming trunks to be only black, so I grabbed the smallest packet of cerulean waterproof cloth from the aisle before turning around to the counter to pay for them.

I glanced at my watch. 3:30 P.M. I had only forty-five minutes to get to the match in time before the Nanase's final competition for Japan's Championships began . . .

I rushed out the shop and returned to Nanase's apartment, which was in walking distance. After stashing the items into my luggage (hidden in the corner and was empty until I placed the items in), I quickly went into the bathroom to apply some mascara onto my face.

Before long, I was already out the door, hailing a cab to bring me to the stadium.

I showed the conductors and employees my pass, and in the corridor, I ran into Makoto.

"Makoto?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Kasumi?" he replied with equal curiosity.

"Oh my Kami," I exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I could say the same to you," he gave me his classic Tachibana smile.

"The Men's Final Freestyle competition will begin in less than five minutes," the speaker boomed through the microphone. "Repeat. The Men's Final Freestyle competition will begin in less than five minutes."

"We'd better hurry," I told Makoto, as I responded to announcement.

"Indeed we should," he replied as he placed his hand at my back, guiding to where our seats were to watch our beloved friend in his final race of Japan's Championships.