The train rumbled down the tracks.

Sawako stared at her phone, checking social media as she waited for the long forty minute ride to be over.

She had already switched over from the Toho line to the Tozai line, and was nearing Kotoni station, where she would get off. Sawako spent many anxious journeys on the Tozai line, waiting for the trip to end so she could finally see Shota.

Why do we have to live so far away? She asked herself. Maybe once my lease is up, I can move somewhere closer to him. I'll just have to ride the subway a little further than usual to school.

She spent the remainder of the trip fantasizing of a future in which she lived somewhere closer to Shota.

The price should be about the same, given Kotoni isn't near the city center. Shota says the rent isn't so bad. And I'll have to find a place that will let me take Junko… That should make things difficult.

Thoughts like these flowed through her mind until the robotic woman spoke again.

"This is Kotoni Station. All passengers for Kotoni station, please exit the train. Next stop, Hassamu-Minami station."

Sawako stood up and climbed out of the train car. As the doors closed behind her, she heard the robotic woman speak once again.

"This is the Tozai line to Miyanosawa Station. Next stop, Hissamu-Minami Station. The doors are closing, please do not block the doors, and kindly move-."

The woman's voice was cut off and muffled unintelligibly as the train doors closed.

Sawako heard that robotic voice so many times in one day that she could remember almost everything it said word for word. She would sometimes hear the robotic voice saying its lines over and over in her head even when she wasn't on the train.

The train blew its whistle and was on its way. By this time, Sawako was climbing the stairs to ground level. She mused at the sounds of the train echoing through the now slightly less crowded subway tunnels.

The buildings in Shota's neighborhood were almost as familiar as those in her own. As she walked by them, she almost felt as if she were in her own neighborhood. She had been here enough times that the area had begun to feel like a second home.

Shota and Ryu did not live in an apartment building quite as big as hers. It was relatively small, with only three floors. The building itself was smaller, but the rooms were much bigger. Given that Ryu and Shota were roommates, they were able to afford a much larger place than Sawako would ever have been able to afford. It was part of the reason she liked spending time at Shota's place so much.

She finally reached Shota and Ryu's building after an excruciating hour long commute. As she climbed the stairs, she cursed herself for not moving closer to Shota while she had the chance.

She reached the second story and made it to Shota's room. The numbers on the door read 220. She gave the door a light knock, and as the door opened, was greeted by her favorite bundle of joy.

"Maru-chan!" she exclaimed as she scooped up the little dog that greeted her at the door. She held the dog like a baby and pulled him closer to her face, and was rewarded with a few licks to her nose.

This was the same dog that Shota had adopted back in high school. His real name was Pedro Martinez, after some sort of baseball star, but most people found the foreign name to be too troublesome and simply called him Maru. He was considerably older now, but almost the same size and just as friendly.

She set the dog down and looked further into the apartment. Shota was leaning on the wall a few steps away. He was used to Maru getting attention well before he did.

"I guess I'm just not important enough to you," he joked.

Sawako stared at Shota, taking in his image. She saw him often enough, but could not get enough of looking at him every time she saw him. He had grown a bit more since high school, but looked more or less the same. His hair was as shaggy and disorganized as always, and his smile was just as bright.

Before she knew it, she was making her way over to him. They embraced as they always would upon seeing each other, and simply held the embrace for a moment, saying nothing.

Sawako pulled herself away slightly, tilting her head up towards his. Knowing what this meant, Shota leaned down to meet her, and their lips gingerly met.

Sawako reveled in the moment. She savored the feelings of connection and trust that the kiss brought to her. Her stomach ached with desire and her body shivered from head to toe. Every time they kissed, she felt this way. Especially when they hadn't seen each other in more than a few days. She made a promise to herself a long time ago to always remember how this felt, and she made sure to take in every sensation, every emotion in its entirety that being with Shota brought. She didn't ever want to forget it.

After a few moments, they pulled away, hands clasped together. Sawako rested her forehead on Shota's, smiling with contentment.

"You're always important to me," she said as she lightly stroked his chest with her index finger.

She lifted her head off of Shota chest and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm home."

"So why'd Ryu and Chizuru go to Kitahoro?" Sawako asked from another room.

"I'm not sure, really," said Shota from the kitchen, raising his voice to be heard above the boiling water, "You know Ryu. He just kind of came up to me and said he was leaving. Chizuru stopped by to pick him up, and they were gone."

Sawako let out a genuine laugh. Ryu had been curt and to the point ever since she met him, and it made her laugh to see how that still hadn't changed.

"Chizu-chan mentioned they might be going somewhere this weekend, but she never said where," Sawako said, "She probably didn't want anyone to know she was going with Ryu."

"Those two have been friends since childhood. More than friends. They really ought to get together already," said Shota.

"Maybe they are! They might be hiding it from us."

"That would surely explain a lot."

They talked of various things from separate rooms, raising their voices slightly in order to hear each other. As they talked, Sawako worked on some schoolwork while Shota made dinner. This was a sort of tradition they had started together. In the years since high school, Shota had taken a liking to cooking. Sawako liked to cook as well, she had cooked plenty of times for her family as a child, but not nearly as much as Shota did. Shota reveled in coming up with and implementing new recipes, and was especially pleased to have Sawako try his experiments. They usually turned out fine, so Sawako was pleased to let Shota cook for her. That, and Sawako's course load was much heavier than Shota's, given that Shota was studying to be a kindergarten teacher and she was studying to be a psychologist.

They continued like this for a while until Shota emerged from the kitchen, wearing the apron he always did and bringing with him two steaming bowls.

"We were running low on groceries, so I kept it simple this time," he said.

What Shota had made was not simple by most people's standards, but certainly much less complicated than what he usually made.

Sawako closed her laptop and made her way to the dining room table.

She peered over the tops of the bowls to see what Shota had made. Inside was some quite delicious looking ramen, still steaming from the heat.

"Ramen will do perfectly," she said, "You know that your ramen is by far my favorite."

They ate the freshly cooked ramen with zeal, fitting in a few words here and there between slurps. Once she finished, Sawako set down her chopsticks and leaned back in her chair, hand on her stomach with pleasure.

"That was delicious," she said, "Though if I had to complain, I would say you made too much. I'm stuffed."

Shota laughed as he began gathering the plates.

"Better to overfeed you than feed you too little," he said.

Shota went to put the dishes away. Sawako leaned back in her chair as she waited, looking out the window. She watched people moving to and fro outside as she listened to the domestic sounds of dishes being cleaned. Listening to the clinking of dishes under running water had a strange zen like effect on her. She closed her eyes and allowed the sounds to calm her mind. She took this moment to give thanks to whomever might be listening for how lucky she was.

Her zen like state ended as Shota shut off the water. She slowly opened her eyes as Shota made his way over to her, drying his hands with a towel.

"Well," he began, "Now that dinner's out of the way, did you want to do anything in particular? We could go out, or we could spend the night inside."

Sawako thought on this for a moment. She had been so excited to spend the weekend with Shota that she hadn't given much thought to what they would do with their time.

Luckily, Shota came up with a suggestion before she had to think about it too hard.

"Since it's getting colder, that ice rink near Sapporo Station is open. Do you want to give that a try?"

The mention of this ice rink brought memories back to Sawako's mind. Near Sapporo Station, there was a giant outdoor ice rink that usually opened around this time. It was in the middle of downtown Sapporo, and was a great place to skate and enjoy the winter atmosphere of Hokkaido's capital city. She had gone there many times with Shota, Chizuru, and Ayane throughout her time in Sapporo.

"Yeah, let's do that," she said after some deliberation, "It might be busy, being a Friday night, but that's ok."

"Great!" said Shota, jumping up in excitement, "I'll go grab our skates, and then we can get going!"

Shota went into another room to grab their ice skates. Sawako owned a pair of ice skates, but left her pair with Shota because they usually went together. There weren't any ice skating rinks near her apartment anyway.

She was just starting to pull on her winter jacket as Shota emerged from the other room with the skates. He put them in a bag to make them easier to carry and swung it on his back. Soon, they were off to the station.

The train to Sapporo Station only took about 20 minutes. They had to change trains once, which was kind of annoying, but Sawako and Shota were so used to navigating the Sapporo train system at this point that it hardly bothered them. Normally, the trip would have cost around 700 yen, but their university provided them with unlimited access to Sapporo's train system, so they could take the trains as much as they wanted to.

They emerged from the now slightly less crowded underground platform into the winter air. The glaring lights of Sapporo's city center overwhelmed Sawako as she and Shota left the station.

She spun around in a circle, detaching her hand from Shota's as she did so. She wanted to take in every light, every face, every detail. She heard Shota laugh as she completed her spin.

"Sapporo still dazzles you, doesn't it?" he asked.

He was right. Although they had lived in Sapporo for years, Sawako was still used to the modesty of their small town, and coming to the city center on a Friday night was always a feast for the senses.

"C'mon," said Shota, grabbing her hand again, "The rink isn't far."

Shota pulled her through the crowds. They weaved their way through the thousands of people making their way to their Friday night destinations. They weaved and they weaved, making their way through the busiest part of the city, until they reached their destination.

"Here we are," said Shota with a grin, "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"I suppose it has," Sawako replied, "Since last year."

The year before, they had come here with Ryu, Chizuru, and Ayane. It was supposed to be a triple date type thing, not that Ryu and Chizuru would have admitted to being a couple, but Ayane had dumped her boyfriend at the time right before showing up. Since moving to Sapporo, Ayane had gone through a series of boyfriends, systematically dumping each one because she eventually decided they weren't good enough for her. Ayane was somewhat bummed because of this, but Sawako remembered still having a great time with all of her friends.

Recalling this memory, Sawako made a promise to herself to invite everyone here again before the winter was out. She loved spending time with everyone, even though being here alone with Shota wasn't the worst thing in the world either.

They made their way to the rink and payed the fee. Sawako pulled on her skates and stood up to enter the rink. Using Shota for support and wobbling a little on the thin blades of her ice skates, she and Shota made their way to rink.

Upon entering the rink and sliding around a little, Shota offered Sawako his hand.

"Your hand, miss?"

Sawako grinned in amusement and took his hand, and they began to skate in circles around the rink, gazing at the lights of Sapporo in the cold, winter breeze.

Sawako pushed open the door to Shota's apartment, shivering from the cold. She took off her jacket and crossed her arms for warmth as Shota followed her inside.

Shota took off his jacket and wrapped his arms around Sawako from behind, trying to warm her up. They stood that way as their combined body heat and the heat of the apartment slowly warmed their frigid bodies. Sawako leaned her head against Shota's chest in appreciation.

"It's late," he said, "Ready for bed?"

Sawako nodded and began to take off her shoes. Shota released her as she made her way to her overnight bag. She fetched some pajamas from it and went to the bathroom to change. She and Shota had been together for many years now, but she was still a bit too shy to change in front of him. By the time she was done, Shota was already lying in his bed, waiting for her.

She lifted the blankets and snuggled up against him, wrapping her arms around him in contentment. She savored the warmth of his body. She did not get to do this as often as she would have liked.

As she held her arms around Shota, she could not help but think of her parents. They did not know that she occasionally spent the night at Shota's place. They probably assumed that she had, but they still saw her as their innocent little girl. She knew her mom wouldn't react negatively to the whole thing, but her dad would have been positively shocked and depressed to know his daughter had spent the night on several occasions with her boyfriend. She could not help but be amused at the thought of his reaction.

Thoughts like these zipped through her mind, slowing gradually as she listened to the rhythmic rise and fall of Shota's breathing. Feeling the warmth and protection of the one she loved most, Sawako fell slowly into a deep, restful sleep.