DISCLAIMER: You know.
Angelic High: Episode Nine: One Fine Day
Wizard lay on the ground beside the lake in the park, the clean fresh grass creating for him, a suitable resting spot. Above, the sky was a perfect blue and the sun and clouds were in great correlation and balance with one another, making it overall, a very fine day...yes, one fire day indeed. His companion of choice as usual, was Oujirou, who sat also on the ground nearby, propped on his elbows and reading a small book of sorts.
The former was about to drift into a noncommittal sleep when his compatriot's voice woke him again.
"Wizard, what do you think of Misaki?"
It was so very blunt, much like his own style of talking, but the subject hitting so close to home, Wizard thought he might see a part of what exactly people found so very confounding about him.
"She's a nice person," Wizard managed to strangle out of himself.
"Hai, and what else?" Oujirou turned to stare directly at Wizard, dead serious.
"What for? Why are you asking me this?" Wizard for the first time in forever was flustered, undeniably and indisputably flustered.
"I like her you know," Oujirou explained simply. That he could be so much more free with his feelings, it almost pained Wizard to realize how much more effort that would have taken himself to say.
"Hai, I guessed something like that," Wizard replied.
"Ano, I didn't want to do anything else, say anything else, until I knew what you felt for her," Oujirou admitted companionably.
"Stupid Mihara, always thinking of others like that, you'll never get anyone if you worry about who else likes who," Wizard joked unconvincingly.
"Perhaps, demo, I need to know," Oujirou stated firmly, shutting his book definitively.
"I..." Wizard stopped. He did like her he supposed but...didn't he also like Hikaru? When he thought of Hikaru, he thought beautiful, strong and perhaps a little bit bold. When he thought of Misaki, he thought strong, cute, determined and though not at all offensive, very willful in her own shy way.
"You don't know do you?" Oujirou sighed in exasperation. It was, he supposed, too much to hope for, that his friend would sort out his own feelings equally as speedily.
"Gomen Oujirou, but when I know, you'll be one of the first to know," Wizard promised.
"Arigato Wizard," the Prince of Angelic High thanked him and then nonchalantly went back to his reading.
This stupefied Wizard somewhat; how could he go from something so serious to merely reading a book? It was incomprehensible to him. Yet he had not figured out his own feelings and perhaps, he reasoned, that is why.
Perhaps it was.
Not far from the handsome duo, Misaki walked with Hikaru along the park pathways. There were many.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan," Misaki began shyly.
"Hai Misaki-chan?" she smiled down at the younger girl benevolently, the ever-present spark of kind laughter filtering in and out of her eyes.
"Ano, I was wondering, what does it feel like..." Misaki gulped and then steeled herself back to her purpose, "What does it feel like to be in love?"
"Why do you ask?" Hikaru responded almost hesitantly.
"Because, because I'd like to know," Misaki stumbled over her explanation.
"Well," Hikaru paused and placed her hands on her hips thoughtfully and rolled her eyes skyward as if searching for the answer somewhere in the clouds above. "It's a warm feeling, that sometimes might be confusing but makes you feel definitely good, you know?"
Misaki nodded slowly.
"If you're in love, you might blush when they who you love is near or you might be nervous. Most of all though, you just want to be with them," Hikaru finished, a little sadly to Misaki's dismay.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan, does Hikaru-chan love someone?" she asked, knowing the answer somewhat already.
"Hai, demo I think," Hikaru laughed slightly but it wasn't her normal laugh; it was empty, void and lost.
"Hai?" Misaki prompted.
"I think it might be a little too one-sided," Hikaru sighed.
"D-demo, why? Hikaru-chan is wonderful, strong and beautiful and nice...everyone likes Hikaru-chan, ne?" Misaki spoke from her heart, knowing that Hikaru was all those things to her and more, like an older sister she admired.
"He's just that way I think," Hikaru shrugged and Misaki had to ponder for herself what 'that way' was precisely.
"Demo, how can he know if you don't speak? How will you ever know if you don't say anything Hikaru-chan?" Misaki compelled her friend persistently.
"I just don't know Misaki. It's scary to think you might not be loved by a person you know you love for certain," Hikaru explained. Misaki felt a twinge; she knew what that was like. That was how she felt about her Okaasan, the not knowing if she loved her or not, was loved by her at all.
"Hikaru-chan..." she paused.
"Hai?"
"I still think you should tell him," Misaki paused before continuing, deciding to follow her instinct, "Because Wizard-san isn't as unattainable as you might think."
Hikaru could not help but gape. Misaki apparently knew a bit more than she let on...quite a bit more actually.
"How did you know?" Hikaru asked dully.
"I just guessed," Misaki laughed nervously and breathed an inner sigh of relief that she was right.
That means she doesn't like Oujirou-san, Misaki thought happily. Ano...wait a minute. Why do I mind? Wouldn't it be good for Hikaru to like Oujirou- san? He's so nice and so is she...but even as she thought about it, her heart rebelled and came up with a forceful "No!"
No.
I like him.
Misaki was stunned.
Apparently she had fallen for him...somewhere along the way of...somewhere.
I like him, she thought again, suddenly feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from her.
Things were getting clearer.
"Ano, gomen Hikaru, I have to go!" Misaki said excitedly.
"Hai, demo where are you going Misaki-chan?" Hikaru asked curiously, a smile hinting at the corners of her lips.
"To tell someone I love him," Misaki smiled brightly and ran off.
---------------------------------------------------
The fact that she had no idea where he was did not help, Misaki groaned. Leave it to me to run off without any direction, she thought balefully.
Fortunately or unfortunately though, she did run into someone:
Wizard.
"K-konnichi-wa Wizard-san!" she greeted warmly as she came upon him beside the aforementioned lake. Oujirou had left some time ago unbeknownst to her. Wizard glanced up and nodded.
"Konnichi-wa Misaki," he replied cordially.
"Ano, may I sit?" she asked and he nodded again. They sat that way for an undetermined amount of time, neither speaking aloud though always speaking inside. Finally Wizard, after much debating with himself, spoke.
"Why does Misaki look sad sometimes, as though she is not loved?" he asked and then blanched. Aside from Wizard blanching [making history here people] there was a very awkward silence. He had not meant for it to sound so blunt this time but...that was how he was with everything, intentionally or not, wasn't he?
Misaki didn't seem to mind. She only shrugged and offered one of her light little laughs, not half so carefree as normally they were though.
"Ano, I suppose it is because of my Okaasan," she admitted. Why hide it anymore? She needed someone to listen and Wizard, though social he may not be normally, Wizard was just the kind of listener she needed right now, as she hadn't been able to find Oujirou...
"Your mother?"
"Hai..." she paused but found strength in his reassuring silence of one who was prepared to listen and continued: "When I was very young, Okaasan left; I always wondered, what...what it was I had done to make her leave," she stopped.
"I doubt it was you who made her leave Misaki-chan," he commented truthfully.
"Demo, why else? And yet, I couldn't think of what it was I could have done. Had I just, had I just been a bad person? Had I," Misaki gulped an uncomfortable lump in her throat, "had I been a burden?"
Misaki was ashamed to find that familiar warmth of discomfort welling up behind her eyes, threatening her with traitorous tears.
"Don't cry Misaki-chan," Wizard felt he was almost begging her. He, for all his high words and tough exterior, could not stand to see a girl cry any more than Oujirou. It made them vulnerable and him feel useless, like he could do nothing for them, or for anyone. Misaki sniffed bravely, wiping away the so far unshed tears, pushing them back unhappily.
"I try to be happy for everyone; I don't want them...I don't want you to leave me too," and Misaki's true fears were revealed.
She was afraid of being left behind again.
"Misaki," Wizard moved without really knowing what he was doing but was suddenly sitting in front of Misaki, very close, peering down at her through yet another perspective. And then, to both of their startled minds, he was holding her, gently, comforting her just by letting her fall into him.
"I've changed my mind Misaki; cry. Cry all you need to; you seem to have kept it in unnecessarily for our sakes long enough," Wizard whispered softly, rocking her back and forth slightly, ever so slightly, like an older brother did for a sister who had been lost.
And she had.
She had been very lost, trying to find her way on her own, he now realized as he felt the first of her hot tears seep through his shirt. Unconsciously she gripped his arms, as though searching for support as she quietly sobbed, obviously trying to avoid any more attention than that which she already had.
"G-gomen W-wizard-san," she swallowed hard. Here she was, crying on his shirt, grasping onto him to her mortification. She felt like quite the little child. And yet, when she attempted to move off of him, he simply held her closer.
"There is nothing to apologize for. We all..." Wizard paused. He couldn't ever remember being compelled to speak this much in one sitting ever. But compel him she did in her soft-spoken way. So he did. "We all need to depend on people sometimes, outside of ourselves."
"Even Wizard-san?" Misaki asked shrewdly, even through her still noticeably wet tears. Wizard, after recovering from the subtle attack on his consciousness, smiled...he smiled!
"Even Wizard," he confirmed and Misaki knew that she had a friend in this boy, this Wizard. And Wizard, finally knew what drew him to Misaki and what he felt for her.
Her utter goodness, her staggering compassion, her unbelievable depths of understanding and simultaneous innocence, they attracted him to her.
Her surrogate role of a little sister, an extended family, he had suddenly come to realize, was what connected them, what made him think of her so often.
And in realizing that, he knew what he felt for Hikaru was something more romantic, something much less relative to his current state of affairs, but totally recognizable. Misaki sighed and relaxed in his arms. They were a safeguard for the moment as she shook slightly still with remaining tears.
It felt good to cry.
No, Misaki corrected.
It felt good not to have to cry alone.
Neither Wizard nor Misaki saw the piercing blue eyes watching them intensely, taking everything in and unlike their normal logical selves, not bothering to seek behind the computed images. Instead they glazed over with a slight stab of pain. Was this how it ended? Oujirou had always dreamed as a child to be the Wizard or Enchanter like in all of his fairytale stories. Instead he had grown into the Prince, supposed winner of the hand of some maiden-fair.
But it seemed, his eyes darkened a bit more, beginning to take on a bluish inky quality, this story would end with the maiden-fair and the Wizard together, the Prince left to his harem of empty fans, devoid of that which made him love that particular maiden-fair.
And that which made her irreplaceable.
And he simply wanted to walk away.
But he couldn't bring himself to do so in time before Misaki softly lifted her head and saw him standing there, his Princely façade dropped to reveal a seemingly shattered young man.
"Oujirou-san?" That was it. Her voice, her face, her whole being, he couldn't help but love her and want her to be his. But seeing her with Wizard as such...confused him. Had his best friend really decided that was how he felt?
"Oujirou," this came from Wizard who lightly shifted Misaki to one side and turned to face the Prince who wondered none too lightly if he would have to fight the Wizard for his maiden-fair, yes, His maiden-fair. He was convinced she could belong with no other. Then to his surprise, Wizard stood and lithely walked up and past him, whispering as he passed:
"I love her too, but at most, she is my little sister. Treat her well Mihara-san," he chuckled. Wizard chuckled! Oujirou, ever-unflappable Prince felt like he might die then and there. His stony best friend, with the "I never even crack a smile unless I'm put up to it against death," expression, chuckled!
"N-nani?" his eyes widened in realization. They were not together. Misaki was not really with Wizard. Wizard was not really with Misaki.
Misaki was not with anyone.
-----------------------------------------------
Wizard stumbled upon Hikaru on his way out of the park, heading to find her before he convinced himself he had fooled his higher self into a trick and that his feelings now were mere imaginative figments. Beautiful as always, Hikaru stood there, looking at him warily, as though she wasn't certain whether to run or to stay.
She began to turn away.
He reflexively reached out a hand and grabber her wrist gently.
"Suppose I told you," he began slowly, and then bore into himself the courage to go on, "Suppose I told you, Hikaru, that I love you?"
"I'd say," Hikaru paused; she had intended and had prepared something of a scathing retort for anything undesirable he might say. As it was, he got everything right.
"You'd say," he prompted, blue eyes worried terribly like tide line storms.
"This," Hikaru said and walked closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a soft and brief, yet fulfilling kiss of sincere promises yet unspoken.
Wizard couldn't help but find satisfaction in that answer.
-----------------------------------------------
And meanwhile:
Misaki only sat there, staring at him, still trying to identify with what Hikaru had told her earlier about love. Well, it was true that when she looked at Oujirou, she blushed, as she was doing now, and her heart sped up, as it was also doing now.
I guess I'm in love, Misaki thought bluntly.
"Misaki, I..." Oujirou began and was cut off by a spontaneous Misaki jumping up from her spot on the ground and hugging him fiercely.
"I like you...I like you a great deal actually, and I think perhaps...I even love you," Oujirou breathed a sigh. He'd said it. Now all that was left was to know how Misaki felt.
If he hadn't been listening so carefully, so hopefully for it, he would have missed it entirely. As it was, Oujirou was blessed with very sharp hearing:
"Me too."
It had been no more than a whisper, carried swiftly away by a passing breeze.
But Mihara Oujirou caught it on its way out and smiled, his previously borderline heart now back in the safe zone of what he suspected forever must feel like.
For Suzuhara only declared her love for anyone once in life and that once was now as far as finding her Prince in life.
Misaki sighed.
Oujirou's heart warmed.
They fell deeper into each other's arms.
The sun still shone brightly.
Yes, indeed, it was one fine day.
----------------------------------------------------
REVIEW ONEGAI! Gomen for this chapter, but it was on a time schedule what with my time limited on the PC because it is shared in my family so, gomen again Minna.
Arigato gozaimasu to all my faithful reviewers! Once more, they mean the world to me, so thank you for taking a few seconds to drop my story a review when you did/ do.
-Kaji
Angelic High: Episode Nine: One Fine Day
Wizard lay on the ground beside the lake in the park, the clean fresh grass creating for him, a suitable resting spot. Above, the sky was a perfect blue and the sun and clouds were in great correlation and balance with one another, making it overall, a very fine day...yes, one fire day indeed. His companion of choice as usual, was Oujirou, who sat also on the ground nearby, propped on his elbows and reading a small book of sorts.
The former was about to drift into a noncommittal sleep when his compatriot's voice woke him again.
"Wizard, what do you think of Misaki?"
It was so very blunt, much like his own style of talking, but the subject hitting so close to home, Wizard thought he might see a part of what exactly people found so very confounding about him.
"She's a nice person," Wizard managed to strangle out of himself.
"Hai, and what else?" Oujirou turned to stare directly at Wizard, dead serious.
"What for? Why are you asking me this?" Wizard for the first time in forever was flustered, undeniably and indisputably flustered.
"I like her you know," Oujirou explained simply. That he could be so much more free with his feelings, it almost pained Wizard to realize how much more effort that would have taken himself to say.
"Hai, I guessed something like that," Wizard replied.
"Ano, I didn't want to do anything else, say anything else, until I knew what you felt for her," Oujirou admitted companionably.
"Stupid Mihara, always thinking of others like that, you'll never get anyone if you worry about who else likes who," Wizard joked unconvincingly.
"Perhaps, demo, I need to know," Oujirou stated firmly, shutting his book definitively.
"I..." Wizard stopped. He did like her he supposed but...didn't he also like Hikaru? When he thought of Hikaru, he thought beautiful, strong and perhaps a little bit bold. When he thought of Misaki, he thought strong, cute, determined and though not at all offensive, very willful in her own shy way.
"You don't know do you?" Oujirou sighed in exasperation. It was, he supposed, too much to hope for, that his friend would sort out his own feelings equally as speedily.
"Gomen Oujirou, but when I know, you'll be one of the first to know," Wizard promised.
"Arigato Wizard," the Prince of Angelic High thanked him and then nonchalantly went back to his reading.
This stupefied Wizard somewhat; how could he go from something so serious to merely reading a book? It was incomprehensible to him. Yet he had not figured out his own feelings and perhaps, he reasoned, that is why.
Perhaps it was.
Not far from the handsome duo, Misaki walked with Hikaru along the park pathways. There were many.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan," Misaki began shyly.
"Hai Misaki-chan?" she smiled down at the younger girl benevolently, the ever-present spark of kind laughter filtering in and out of her eyes.
"Ano, I was wondering, what does it feel like..." Misaki gulped and then steeled herself back to her purpose, "What does it feel like to be in love?"
"Why do you ask?" Hikaru responded almost hesitantly.
"Because, because I'd like to know," Misaki stumbled over her explanation.
"Well," Hikaru paused and placed her hands on her hips thoughtfully and rolled her eyes skyward as if searching for the answer somewhere in the clouds above. "It's a warm feeling, that sometimes might be confusing but makes you feel definitely good, you know?"
Misaki nodded slowly.
"If you're in love, you might blush when they who you love is near or you might be nervous. Most of all though, you just want to be with them," Hikaru finished, a little sadly to Misaki's dismay.
"Ano, Hikaru-chan, does Hikaru-chan love someone?" she asked, knowing the answer somewhat already.
"Hai, demo I think," Hikaru laughed slightly but it wasn't her normal laugh; it was empty, void and lost.
"Hai?" Misaki prompted.
"I think it might be a little too one-sided," Hikaru sighed.
"D-demo, why? Hikaru-chan is wonderful, strong and beautiful and nice...everyone likes Hikaru-chan, ne?" Misaki spoke from her heart, knowing that Hikaru was all those things to her and more, like an older sister she admired.
"He's just that way I think," Hikaru shrugged and Misaki had to ponder for herself what 'that way' was precisely.
"Demo, how can he know if you don't speak? How will you ever know if you don't say anything Hikaru-chan?" Misaki compelled her friend persistently.
"I just don't know Misaki. It's scary to think you might not be loved by a person you know you love for certain," Hikaru explained. Misaki felt a twinge; she knew what that was like. That was how she felt about her Okaasan, the not knowing if she loved her or not, was loved by her at all.
"Hikaru-chan..." she paused.
"Hai?"
"I still think you should tell him," Misaki paused before continuing, deciding to follow her instinct, "Because Wizard-san isn't as unattainable as you might think."
Hikaru could not help but gape. Misaki apparently knew a bit more than she let on...quite a bit more actually.
"How did you know?" Hikaru asked dully.
"I just guessed," Misaki laughed nervously and breathed an inner sigh of relief that she was right.
That means she doesn't like Oujirou-san, Misaki thought happily. Ano...wait a minute. Why do I mind? Wouldn't it be good for Hikaru to like Oujirou- san? He's so nice and so is she...but even as she thought about it, her heart rebelled and came up with a forceful "No!"
No.
I like him.
Misaki was stunned.
Apparently she had fallen for him...somewhere along the way of...somewhere.
I like him, she thought again, suddenly feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from her.
Things were getting clearer.
"Ano, gomen Hikaru, I have to go!" Misaki said excitedly.
"Hai, demo where are you going Misaki-chan?" Hikaru asked curiously, a smile hinting at the corners of her lips.
"To tell someone I love him," Misaki smiled brightly and ran off.
---------------------------------------------------
The fact that she had no idea where he was did not help, Misaki groaned. Leave it to me to run off without any direction, she thought balefully.
Fortunately or unfortunately though, she did run into someone:
Wizard.
"K-konnichi-wa Wizard-san!" she greeted warmly as she came upon him beside the aforementioned lake. Oujirou had left some time ago unbeknownst to her. Wizard glanced up and nodded.
"Konnichi-wa Misaki," he replied cordially.
"Ano, may I sit?" she asked and he nodded again. They sat that way for an undetermined amount of time, neither speaking aloud though always speaking inside. Finally Wizard, after much debating with himself, spoke.
"Why does Misaki look sad sometimes, as though she is not loved?" he asked and then blanched. Aside from Wizard blanching [making history here people] there was a very awkward silence. He had not meant for it to sound so blunt this time but...that was how he was with everything, intentionally or not, wasn't he?
Misaki didn't seem to mind. She only shrugged and offered one of her light little laughs, not half so carefree as normally they were though.
"Ano, I suppose it is because of my Okaasan," she admitted. Why hide it anymore? She needed someone to listen and Wizard, though social he may not be normally, Wizard was just the kind of listener she needed right now, as she hadn't been able to find Oujirou...
"Your mother?"
"Hai..." she paused but found strength in his reassuring silence of one who was prepared to listen and continued: "When I was very young, Okaasan left; I always wondered, what...what it was I had done to make her leave," she stopped.
"I doubt it was you who made her leave Misaki-chan," he commented truthfully.
"Demo, why else? And yet, I couldn't think of what it was I could have done. Had I just, had I just been a bad person? Had I," Misaki gulped an uncomfortable lump in her throat, "had I been a burden?"
Misaki was ashamed to find that familiar warmth of discomfort welling up behind her eyes, threatening her with traitorous tears.
"Don't cry Misaki-chan," Wizard felt he was almost begging her. He, for all his high words and tough exterior, could not stand to see a girl cry any more than Oujirou. It made them vulnerable and him feel useless, like he could do nothing for them, or for anyone. Misaki sniffed bravely, wiping away the so far unshed tears, pushing them back unhappily.
"I try to be happy for everyone; I don't want them...I don't want you to leave me too," and Misaki's true fears were revealed.
She was afraid of being left behind again.
"Misaki," Wizard moved without really knowing what he was doing but was suddenly sitting in front of Misaki, very close, peering down at her through yet another perspective. And then, to both of their startled minds, he was holding her, gently, comforting her just by letting her fall into him.
"I've changed my mind Misaki; cry. Cry all you need to; you seem to have kept it in unnecessarily for our sakes long enough," Wizard whispered softly, rocking her back and forth slightly, ever so slightly, like an older brother did for a sister who had been lost.
And she had.
She had been very lost, trying to find her way on her own, he now realized as he felt the first of her hot tears seep through his shirt. Unconsciously she gripped his arms, as though searching for support as she quietly sobbed, obviously trying to avoid any more attention than that which she already had.
"G-gomen W-wizard-san," she swallowed hard. Here she was, crying on his shirt, grasping onto him to her mortification. She felt like quite the little child. And yet, when she attempted to move off of him, he simply held her closer.
"There is nothing to apologize for. We all..." Wizard paused. He couldn't ever remember being compelled to speak this much in one sitting ever. But compel him she did in her soft-spoken way. So he did. "We all need to depend on people sometimes, outside of ourselves."
"Even Wizard-san?" Misaki asked shrewdly, even through her still noticeably wet tears. Wizard, after recovering from the subtle attack on his consciousness, smiled...he smiled!
"Even Wizard," he confirmed and Misaki knew that she had a friend in this boy, this Wizard. And Wizard, finally knew what drew him to Misaki and what he felt for her.
Her utter goodness, her staggering compassion, her unbelievable depths of understanding and simultaneous innocence, they attracted him to her.
Her surrogate role of a little sister, an extended family, he had suddenly come to realize, was what connected them, what made him think of her so often.
And in realizing that, he knew what he felt for Hikaru was something more romantic, something much less relative to his current state of affairs, but totally recognizable. Misaki sighed and relaxed in his arms. They were a safeguard for the moment as she shook slightly still with remaining tears.
It felt good to cry.
No, Misaki corrected.
It felt good not to have to cry alone.
Neither Wizard nor Misaki saw the piercing blue eyes watching them intensely, taking everything in and unlike their normal logical selves, not bothering to seek behind the computed images. Instead they glazed over with a slight stab of pain. Was this how it ended? Oujirou had always dreamed as a child to be the Wizard or Enchanter like in all of his fairytale stories. Instead he had grown into the Prince, supposed winner of the hand of some maiden-fair.
But it seemed, his eyes darkened a bit more, beginning to take on a bluish inky quality, this story would end with the maiden-fair and the Wizard together, the Prince left to his harem of empty fans, devoid of that which made him love that particular maiden-fair.
And that which made her irreplaceable.
And he simply wanted to walk away.
But he couldn't bring himself to do so in time before Misaki softly lifted her head and saw him standing there, his Princely façade dropped to reveal a seemingly shattered young man.
"Oujirou-san?" That was it. Her voice, her face, her whole being, he couldn't help but love her and want her to be his. But seeing her with Wizard as such...confused him. Had his best friend really decided that was how he felt?
"Oujirou," this came from Wizard who lightly shifted Misaki to one side and turned to face the Prince who wondered none too lightly if he would have to fight the Wizard for his maiden-fair, yes, His maiden-fair. He was convinced she could belong with no other. Then to his surprise, Wizard stood and lithely walked up and past him, whispering as he passed:
"I love her too, but at most, she is my little sister. Treat her well Mihara-san," he chuckled. Wizard chuckled! Oujirou, ever-unflappable Prince felt like he might die then and there. His stony best friend, with the "I never even crack a smile unless I'm put up to it against death," expression, chuckled!
"N-nani?" his eyes widened in realization. They were not together. Misaki was not really with Wizard. Wizard was not really with Misaki.
Misaki was not with anyone.
-----------------------------------------------
Wizard stumbled upon Hikaru on his way out of the park, heading to find her before he convinced himself he had fooled his higher self into a trick and that his feelings now were mere imaginative figments. Beautiful as always, Hikaru stood there, looking at him warily, as though she wasn't certain whether to run or to stay.
She began to turn away.
He reflexively reached out a hand and grabber her wrist gently.
"Suppose I told you," he began slowly, and then bore into himself the courage to go on, "Suppose I told you, Hikaru, that I love you?"
"I'd say," Hikaru paused; she had intended and had prepared something of a scathing retort for anything undesirable he might say. As it was, he got everything right.
"You'd say," he prompted, blue eyes worried terribly like tide line storms.
"This," Hikaru said and walked closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a soft and brief, yet fulfilling kiss of sincere promises yet unspoken.
Wizard couldn't help but find satisfaction in that answer.
-----------------------------------------------
And meanwhile:
Misaki only sat there, staring at him, still trying to identify with what Hikaru had told her earlier about love. Well, it was true that when she looked at Oujirou, she blushed, as she was doing now, and her heart sped up, as it was also doing now.
I guess I'm in love, Misaki thought bluntly.
"Misaki, I..." Oujirou began and was cut off by a spontaneous Misaki jumping up from her spot on the ground and hugging him fiercely.
"I like you...I like you a great deal actually, and I think perhaps...I even love you," Oujirou breathed a sigh. He'd said it. Now all that was left was to know how Misaki felt.
If he hadn't been listening so carefully, so hopefully for it, he would have missed it entirely. As it was, Oujirou was blessed with very sharp hearing:
"Me too."
It had been no more than a whisper, carried swiftly away by a passing breeze.
But Mihara Oujirou caught it on its way out and smiled, his previously borderline heart now back in the safe zone of what he suspected forever must feel like.
For Suzuhara only declared her love for anyone once in life and that once was now as far as finding her Prince in life.
Misaki sighed.
Oujirou's heart warmed.
They fell deeper into each other's arms.
The sun still shone brightly.
Yes, indeed, it was one fine day.
----------------------------------------------------
REVIEW ONEGAI! Gomen for this chapter, but it was on a time schedule what with my time limited on the PC because it is shared in my family so, gomen again Minna.
Arigato gozaimasu to all my faithful reviewers! Once more, they mean the world to me, so thank you for taking a few seconds to drop my story a review when you did/ do.
-Kaji