"That one was the best!"
Chi walked with a spring in her step and a jovial smile on her face while Tanabe wore a relaxed smile.
"Yeah. Once you ride a few big ones, you start to get used to it."
"So, does that mean we can come here again one day?!"
Chi looked at Tanabe with stars in her eyes, eliciting a giggle and a thumbs up from him.
"Yes, yes we can, Nishikata."
Tanabe's expression quickly turned to confusion as Chi began heading towards the exit.
"Where're you going?"
"Aren't we heading home now? I think we've gone on every ride here."
"It's 5:50."
"Yeah, and what does that-"
Chi's mouth made an "O" shape as her mind flashed back to that day on the beach.
"Ah. Right. The lights show."
Tanabe raised an eyebrow at Chi's now-extended hand.
"This is to make up for the fireworks right? So we should… y'know."
Tanabe suppressed a grin as he took her hand in his.
"Mm. Let's get going then. Wouldn't want to miss this one. Ready to run, Nishikata?"
"Wait, we're running? I didn't think- GAH!"
Tanabe began sprinting to the sight of the lights show with Chi in tow. After a few moments and a bit of adjusting her hand (she had too much adrenaline to be embarrassed) she began to pick up the pace and before long, they were running side by side, their pace exactly matched.
"What was that for, Tanabe?!"
"Let's race to the show!"
"Wait, what?!"
And with that, Tanabe took off, although Chi quickly closed the gap. Left, right, left, right, she was slowly gaining on him muntil she got to the point where she could reach out and touch him if she really tried.
Trying to get an easy win with a false start, huh Tanabe? Well, guess what? I'd bet that you haven't been training since it got cold, but I've been going every single day! You won't beat me no matter what tricks you use!
Left, right, left right, left, right, every step she took brought her a few centimeters until with one stumble by Tanabe, the gap had been reduced to 0 centimeters for a split second before Chi completely passed him.
"Gah… Bah… I…"
Chi was gasping for air, staring at the floor, body drenched in sweat and a smile of elation forming on her face.
"I won… I won! Ahaha! I did it! I really did! I beat you, Tanabe!"
Tanabe was also covered in swewat, though less so than Chi and his face wasn't red, but it still showed signs of tiredness as he dropped to his knees.
"Damn… I didn't… I didn't think you would win."
"Eh? Why's that? You knowI've been training more than you."
"You haven't, actually. I've still kept up my training. Besides, haven't we gone for more than a few morning jogs together?"
Chi's mouth opened in confusion.
"But then how-"
"On top of that, the shoes you're weaaring aren't very good for running. I thought you would've gone a little slower."
"Then how'd I win?"
Tanabe gave a chuckle before returning to his usual deadpan expression and starin into the sky.
"I guess you're just that quick, Chisa."
"Yeah, I guess I am- wait, what?"
Chi stared at Tanabe for a few moments, blinking several times in those few seconds before going completely red again, albeit for a different reason.
"D-did you just… Did you just call me…"
"Is there something wrong, Chisa?"
Chi flinched again, going even redder but shook her head.
"N-nope! Nothing…"
Damn you, Tanabe! Trying to compensate for your loss with a quick win huh? Well I can't be defeated that easily!
Chi fidgeted on the spot for a few moments before muttering out…
"Daisuki…"
…
"Eh?"
It took a moment for it to register in Chi's mind what she just said, but when it did, well, let's just say her blush a few moments ago was nothing compared to the one she had now.
"U-uh, that's not what I meant! I-I mean I do love you- wait, that came out wrong. I meant to say 'Daisuke' like your first name- wait, that's embarrassing too! Guh…"
Chi was now covering her face with her hands and doing her best to not face Tanabe.
"...Ah. I see. That's all fine then."
This meant that she didn't even notice the fact that Tanabe's face had gone completely red too.
…
"So, uh, it's getting pretty crowded, huh Nishikata?"
"Hm? A-ah, right. We should probably-"
"We hope that all of you have had a wonderful day at the theme park today! The day's coming to a close, so what better way to end it than with a 24-year-old tradition? This year's Christmas Eve lights show will now begin!"
The loudspeakers fizzled out and as the crowd began to thicken, Chi felt herself getting pushed around.
"Hey, what the- Sorry, excuse me, I need to-"
Chi saw herself beginning to be pushed away from Tanabe and without thinking, she snatched his hand and yanked him into herself.
The rest of the world faded into the background as Tanabe fell securely into her arms.
"Ah! Sorry, I should've asked for permission- wait, are you ok?"
Tanabe steadied himself and stood back up, dusting himself up.
"Yep, all good. And don't worry about it, you can hold my hand whenever you feel like it."
Chi went a little red at this, scratching her cheek.
"W-well, in that case… Why don't we enjoy the show?"
"Mm. Good idea."
The 2 of them watched as the stage in front of them began brimming with life. The lights emanated from the different sections, at first creating abstract shapes, but then becoming something resembling a short animation. At first, it seemed like a simple story about an old man going about his day, but what Chi realized was that it was a heavily pixelated rendition of "A Christmas Story".
The lights appeared to have some sort of stencils being swapped in and out and in and out, being projected different shapes and pieces of text as if they were being directly shown on the screen. Chi watched in awe as the images shifted and moved and by the end, she was in tears.
"Gah… That was so good…"
"You've never seen 'A Christmas Story' before? I think it's not as popular as it is in the west, but I still would've thought you'd have heard of it."
"I've watched it, I'm just… it's so emotional…"
"I guess it is, huh?"
Tanabe looked away for a few moments before peeking at her tear-covered face before slowly reaching out and beginning to rub her back. Chi looked up with a confused expression, her tears still flowing out.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to comfort you, I think."
Chi's mouth opened as a look of slight surprise came across her face before her expression changed to a flustered one. Red-faced, she turned away, recomposing herself.
"I guess doing something like this every now and then doesn't hurt-"
Tanabe looked at Chi again to find that she had begun shivering on the spot with her eyes shut tight and breathing into her cupped hands.
"I didn't expect it to get cold so fast… Nighttime is really something, huh?"
"Ah… Yeah, I guess so."
Seeing this, his eyebrows raised in realization and he started digging around in his bag, pulling out a seemingly hastily wrapped package. Again, Chi looked at it with slight confusion before looking up at Tanabe's face.
"Can I…"
Tanabe gave a nod and Chi reached out, reeling in her hands, then carefully removing the packaging as not to rip it (it was just some pretty standard red and gold wrapping paper). She folded up the packaging and put it into her bag with one hand while in the other hand, she held what seemed to be a pile of dark green cloth. She looked at Tanabe again, and while his expression was mostly as it usually was, his wide eyes gave off a look of anticipation. Chi unfurled the cloth to find…
"A sweater?"
Tanabe gulped (Chi could sense a hint of nervousness) before beginning to scratch his cheek and turning away..
"You seem to get cold easily like back at sports day, or the culture festival, or when I asked you out here, and I thought of knitting when you were knitting that scarf back then. Thing is, I didn't know how to knit, so I ended up picking up crocheting instead. I've only been doing it for a few months, but…"
Tanabe felt a tap on his shoulder and turned in that direction to see Chi wearing a toothy grin and a loose fitting green sweater.
"Thank you, Tanabe!"
The 2 of them were quite still and for a moment, it seemed like there was no one else in the world, until a lady bumped into Tanabe from the side.
"Ah, sorry."
"Oh, no, that was my fault, I apologise."
Chi extended her hand which Tanabe gladly took as they interlocked fingers began to make their way out of the park. Since there was still quite a bit of time before closing, the entrance didn't have many people. As they got out, however, Chi let go of his hand and ran around to face him head-on.
"Nishikata?"
"Hold on a minute."
Chi put her bag down in front of her, beginning to rifle through it until she found a sky-blue package with small snowmen dotted across it like polka dots. She looked at it for a few moments, her cheeks going red before drawing herself up to her full height, holding the package close to her chest with a determined expression on her face.
"Look, Tanabe, I haven't been the best g-girlfriend in the world."
Tanabe, sensing an emotional moment, elected not to object no matter how much he wanted to in that moment.
"I've gotten cold feet, I've dragged things out for way too long, and I've been kinda cruel and childish at times. Before we got together, we'd already been talking for a year, but I feel like I was just too obsessed with winning to ever… notice how I felt about you."
Chi paused, letting her blush recede a little more.
"But either way, you're not exactly perfect either!"
Tanabe raised an eyebrow, curious as to where this was going.
"One of the first times we spoke in class was because you stole my lunch, you never let me win once, and you always have this overly candid persona that follows you no matter what you do!"
Chi took another deep breath, a smile slowly finding its way onto her face.
"But you know what? I feel like I needed someone exactly like you in my life. After all, with how dense I was, any less than a daily direct assault would result in something like a slow-burn romance with the length of 3 12-episode seasons and a feature film. And you know what else?"
Chi gave a full toothy grin, letting the blush fully overtake her face as she held her arms and her package behind her back.
"I love you so, so much that I don't really know how to say it without, well…"
With that, Chi brought her arms in fron of her and stepped forward, closing the distance between them. Tanabe accepted the package, picking it up in his hands. He carefully unwrapped it in much the same way as Chi, opening it to find a long, tightly-knit blue scarf.
"You said that you didn't have a scarf, so…"
Tanabe stared at it for a few seconds before looking up at Chi, looking back down, looking back up, and asking:
"Can I put this on?"
"Wha-oh, yeah, of course!"
Tanabe wrapped it around his neck with the childish glee of a kid who had just received exactly what he wanted for Christmas.
"It's perfect, Chisa."
"Hna- I- uh…"
Chi's expression once again switched to flustered before she paused.
She took a deep breath in…
And a deep breath out.
She reflexively looked left and right before shaking her head vigorously and stepping forward, close to the point of their faces almost touching. They kept looking into each others' eyes for a few moments before…
"So… are we doing this?"
Chi blinked twice before her blush returned in full force and her face contorted in embarrassment as she stepped back.
"Way to ruin the mood…"
"Ah… sorry about that…"
Chi took her bag again while Tanabe stood of to the side, kind of awkwardly before he felt a short tug on his sleeve. He spun around to find Chi looking directly at him.
"Y'know, that doesn't mean I don't want to do it…"
Tanabe's mouth hung open for a moment before a tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks and he gave a short nod.
"Ok then. Let's…"
Chi put her hands on his hips before pulling back again.
"Hm?"
"Wait, weren't you supposed to be the one putting your hands on my hips? Since, like-"
"I don't mind."
Chi looked at the look in Tanabe's eyes; it was a look of determination mingled with a hint of embarrassment. A small, sincere grin formed on Chi's face as she gave a nod.
"Of course. And I guess I don't either."
Chi put her hands on Tanabe's hips as he put his on her shoulders. They slowly moved their faces towards each other, moving ever closer until…
*chuu*
They each pulled back for a moment before Tanabe gestured towards the road.
"We should probably get going. Wouldn't want to miss the bus."
###
The 2 of them were now on the bus, Chi happily chatting away while Tanabe leaned back in his seat.
"And then, there was this really fluid scene with the walking loop combined with a different hand-waving motion and it was so pretty! I mean seriously, I had no idea lights shows could be that amazing, although I guess that that was more of a film then a lights show?"
"So you had fun today?"
Chi gave an immediately nod."
"Yeah, definitely! Still, it's a good thing it gets dark this early, isn't it? After all, this way we can actually see the lights, so-"
"That's… good…"
Without being able to hold out until Chi finished, Tanabe closed his eyes, leaning slightly forward as his body went limp. Chi giggled before readjusting him so that he was leaning back.
"I guess you must've had so much fun that you passed out? Or maybe you woke up early so that you'd be here on time? Knowing you, it was probably both, wasn't it? Either way, it's probably a good idea to let you sleep-"
*whump*
Chi stopped in her tracks as she felt Tanabe fall onto his shoulder, still fully unconcious.
"Eh?"
She looked down at Tanabe's sleeping face before sheepishly readjusting him so that he was in a more upright position, then wrapping her arm around the back of his neck, securing his body to hers.
"In the end, I'm always the one who ends up flustered, huh?"
Despite the annoyance in her tone, Chi couldn't help but smile the entire way home.
