There is a hill near the campus, popular among the students. A wide, clear lake reflects the midday sky. Sitting here, the scene is almost picturesque, save for the buildings. Yet nature and manmade do not look so out of place together. From a certain distance that is. When you are not a part of it but merely a gazer.

"Enjoying the view?"

He blinks his eyes a few times and turns to look at the source of the voice. Shizuka smiles at him, her eyes shining brightly.

Speaking of picturesque...

"You are late," he indicates while she settles herself down on the grass. Stretching her legs, she pours herself a cup of tea from the thermos Hachiman had brought her.

"Yeah, sorry. Got caught up with work." She takes a sip from her tea and stiffens because of how hot it is.

Hachiman grunts and turns his eyes back to the view in front of him. He thinks about what she had said to him, about a week ago on their way to the campus. You need to learn to love and I need to learn to be loved. They hadn't had the chance to talk about it since then. It is one of the reasons why he had called her here. And also because he wanted to see her. Something has changed between them and he wants to make sure that it is not something temporary.

"Hey," she bumps her shoulder against his. "Why did you call me here for?"

He stares at her eyes, watching him curiously and irrelevant but thinks about kissing her again. Instead takes a sip from his tea. "I thought we could talk."

"Okay," she says. "About what?"

She tilts her head a little, her glasses have slipped a little down. Hachiman is sure she knows, maybe she doesn't care about it as much as he does. Or maybe he is just overthinking.

"You kissed me," he says.

"I did," she says smiling. "And you kissed me too."

"Yeah," he sighs and tears his eyes away from her. "What am I trying for? We are hopeless."

Shizuka laughs and gets a little closer to him. Shoulders touching, she leans in as if to see him more clearly. "What makes you think that? I think we are okay."

When he responds to her stare he realizes how close they are. "It has been a week."

"It has," she approves. A big, pretty smile illuminates her face. Fresh spring wind slowly blows and the leaves on the branches of the plane tree rustle quietly.

She laughs, it is like hearing his favorite song out of nowhere.

"It is a shame that Valentine's Day is already over."

"Don't you dare," he says frowning but reaches out to move the stray hair fallen on her face back. She leans against his touch, the smile never leaving her lips. Then shifts a little to rest her head against his shoulder. Hachiman hesitates at first, all kinds of physical contact is weird for him but at last, he decides that he has to at least put his arm around her shoulder. And he does.

"It is weird," Shizuka says, signs of laughter in her voice. "But good."

Hachiman hums. She looks up at him and he decides at that moment that watching her hadn't been a bad idea at all. Life is short and the world is full of pain. The things a pair of mortal eyes can see are limited. Shadow and light, night and day, push and pull. He understands then that this is what it is about. Completing yourself with someone else, to see the brighter and darker sides and to have a sense of home.

His lips turn upright with a smile and under the shadow of a tree, he leans in to kiss her.

Hello everyone! My apologies if you were expecting a longer chapter, rather of this short epilogue. I'm really sorry if it feels like I'm cutting things short. Thank you so much for your kind comments. I appreciate every review you gave me, not only for this fic, but for all the other ones as well. Thank you very much for reading. I'm thinking of writing a prequel to this fic at some point in the future, about how Hachiman and Shizuka first met in this college AU.