The Spring Is Coming

shine, bright morning light

now in the air the spring is coming

A young, white-haired Wavemaster sat under the shadow of a tree. He no longer felt the grass he was sitting on, or the breeze that was stroking his face. He was free now, but what did that freedom mean? It meant that he could no longer feel Subaru close to him again, like he had done when she had come crying to him in that cave… it seemed so long ago, but just a few weeks had passed since he had been able to log out from the World, since he had seen Subaru in the real world. The real Subaru, trapped in a wheelchair, had been even more beautiful than the high-class lady with wings, because she was real, so real…

"She doesn't love you, Tsukasa, you may be a guy in here, but outside you aren't, and you know what that means," a cruel voice taunted him from inside his mind.

"But I love her, here and in the other world, what does that make me?" he asked himself. Yet he found no answer. He didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore. He couldn't stop thinking about her, couldn't stop torturing himself about it. Today he had finally got enough courage to log into The World and contact her, asking her to come.

"She won't come, why would she? She just pitied you, nothing more"

Tsukasa buried his head in his hands, trying in vain to clear his mind of doubts.

sweet blowing wind

singing down the hills and valleys

An elegant girl with turquoise hair and amber eyes watched the young Wavemaster from afar, behind him. She had never been able to feel him, to feel his warmth, and she had envied him because of it. Yet when they had met in the real world she was too afraid, too afraid that she was wrong, that she hadn't embraced the brown-haired girl that had come out of the hospital, even though she had wanted to so much.

"You're a cripple, you can't move from a wheelchair, who's going to love you? Not Tsukasa, certainly, whatever her character is like, she's a girl and you know it, what does that make you?" her inner voice taunted her.

She had to do something though, she couldn't just stay here, at the edge of sight, forever. Tsukasa had called her, and if she had come this far… she could go a few steps closer.

"Not in the real world you can't, not steps. How can you delude yourself like this?"

Subaru shook her head, trying to shut off her inner voice, and walked towards him.

keep your eyes on me

now we are on the edge of hell

Tsukasa looked round when he heard a noise beside him. There was the person he had been dreaming of all this time, slowly sitting down beside him. Her face, her hair, her eyes…

"Hello… Tsukasa"

…her voice. They were all beautiful. Yet he could never, ever, tell her that, could he? That would end any chance of being around her as soon as the words left his lips. Or would it? He had to know… he had to risk it all. He needed her, needed to touch her, to hold her… but he couldn't do it.

"Hello… Subaru"

She looked into his eyes, and he thought he could see a longing there, or was it just the reflection of his own? She smiled at him, and he knew he would do anything to hold that smile in his memory for all eternity.

"We… always used to meet here, didn't we?" she asked softly.

Yes, of course they did, how could he forget? Subaru leaning against his shoulder, none of them speaking, because no words were needed, just bathing in the ecstasy that was to feel her warmth touching him. Yet now… never again would he have that feeling.

"Yes, we did" he answered, with a touch of longing escaping into his voice.

She looked at him for a long moment, and he gazed into her hazel eyes as if they were the last thing left in the universe. Then, finally, she spoke.

"And do you remember when I told you it didn't matter how you were in the real world, Tsukasa? Do you remember that?"

Yes. Now he remembered what the cruel voice in his head was trying to hide from him. She had said it didn't matter, she had said it was his soul… her soul that had touched her. Touched her heart. He gently put his hand over hers.

"Yes, I do"

She closed her hand around his and leaned against his shoulder, sighing. Then she looked up into his eyes again.

"I love you, Tsukasa"

He put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. New and wild feelings welled up inside him, and spilled out of his lips:

"I love you too"

And with that they pressed their lips together, and felt their mutual warmth. And the scent of newfound love, like a field of flowers open in spring, overwhelmed them. And they tasted each other, the ambrosia of lovers.

dear my love, sweet morning light

wait for me, you've gone much farther, too far

From far above, floating away from sight, but seeing perfectly, a small, white-haired girl saw the two lives, two destinies, entwine into one, and saw it good.