Let's get this trainwreck moving.

It's the day of the festival. I wake up early, surprisingly, and rush over to Miki's room. There's no way she'll be conscious yet, I tell myself, and as I open her door (unlocked, as usual,) I find that I'm right. Closing the door, I seal us off and make sure nothing seems misplaced. I initially came over to wake her up, but she looks so peaceful in her sleep that I feel like I shouldn't.

Now, how to make this fun?

I've never been one for practical jokes, but her bed looks big enough for me to hide under without shuffling or struggling. I resist the urge to draw on her face with a permanent marker, and slide under her bed instead.

When she wakes up, only a couple minutes later, I resist the urge to clamp a hand down on her ankle. She takes a couple steps and turns around; I hear her yawn and imagine her stretching her arms up over her head, which I know she's doing. She turns back around, then, facing away from me, and I move without sound until I'm standing right behind her. Do I reach out and touch her, or just let her turn around?

She wheels around, as if forgetting something, and I move a hand into her mouth before she can shriek or shout. It's a weird feeling.

"Yuck. What the hell?"

"You were about to scream, so I did the only thing that I could think of to stop you. I didn't have the reach to stop you without extending my whole hand, so..."

"Whatever. Now that that's out of the way, though," she leans in, and up, kissing me. "Good morning."

"Good morning. Today's the-"

"Oh, fuck, the festival!" Now Miki does shriek, and I could swear I heard someone laughing from across the hall. She grabs a towel, running out to the showers, probably hoping that they're not filled with her hallmates.

The unspoken, "stay here," remains hanging in the air. I shut the door, though, so nobody can see me.

Despite all the months we've been together, I've never actually been inside of Miki's dorm room. We've only ever been in mine, or out on the fields, or...other places. Never actually her room. I only know it's hers because she told me the number, and I'm glad I remembered.

Fifteen minutes later, she comes back with wet hair and a towel around her body. I can feel her smirking as I turn around to give her some modicum of privacy.

Well, if she wanted me to watch, she'd say something. Still, I can't help that I look back over my shoulder once or twice. I justify it with the thought that anyone else would do the same in my position, and also that we're at the level where it's permissable. For fuck's sake, we've slept together. Compared to that, what's this?

She dresses quickly, and before long she says, "You can turn around now."

"What makes you think I didn't before?"

"If you didn't, you're gay. I'm pretty sure that's not the case."

"Yeah, screw you too."

She grins. "What about the festival?"

Damn it all, why is she so good with these quips?

Doesn't matter. "I'm ready whenever you are." I say.

"Well then, let's go."

Miki's wearing a sundress that matches her hair, and it's the first time I've seen her when she's not wearing shorts or a skirt. While it's not exactly her style, she does look good in it, and I smile. "You look nice."

"Says the man in his best suit."

I'm wearing my black outfit, with black tape on my hands, the uniform I fought my last tournament in. Though I feel like I've cast aside the violence of the person I once was, it's always good to look back and remember the good times.

"I do try my best to look nice for these sorts of things, you know. Warrior's pride, and all that."

"Mhm." She wraps an arm around my waist, and I drop one on her shoulders, as we continue our walk.

"Anything you want to do first?"

"Eat."

"How did I know?"

We get in line for some food, and get it soon enough. Miki took a hamburger, and I have chicken on a bed of fried rice.

I can tell she wants to say something about getting better nutrition, but I really like chicken and fried rice. Besides, she's the one with fast food.

Once we finish eating, and I throw the plates away, there's a surprise waiting for us. Mondo, his orange pompadour singling him out even more than his height, is leading my brothers around the grounds...looking for me, undoubtedly.

"MONDO!" I bellow, getting his attention, and all of their faces brighten.

We meet in the middle of the field, clasping hands and clapping one another on the back. "Ya bastard, do ya know how hard it is to look for ya in here?"

"Don't even lie, you were trying to see if you could ditch my brothers and get a date."

"No I wasn', an' ya know it." I do, but that doesn't stop me from laughing.

"Some of 'em had to have caught your eye. You're not picky, even if you're loud and scare them away."

"Okay, there were one or two, but I was gonna find ya first and then maybe go after 'em later. Probably not, given how I get."

He's not exactly a dreamy kind of guy, not by any girl's standards. I'm pretty sure the only girls who'd be able to stand him are the ones who run with other motorcycle gangs; he scares all the others off. It's a real shame, he's a gentleman at heart.

We catch up over the course of the next couple hours, wandering around the school grounds. "I knocked that tree down with my bare hands." I tell my brothers, and Mondo gives a low whistle of appreciation.

"That's a damn big stump."

"Was a damn big tree, too. If the wind had been blowing the wrong way, it probably would've fallen on me."

"Lucky I got you, then, huh?"

I give Miki a look. "What do you...no way."

"Yeah. Kind of. You didn't even realize it, did you?"

She moved me out of the way as the tree fell. There's no way she can lift me, is there? Although...she wouldn't need to lift me. Not really. She'd just need to drag me. Maybe she caught me as I fell.

"Are you serious?"

"It seemed like a shame to let your life just...end...so I didn't let it. The tree barely clipped your toes, and I dragged you to the other side of it. I fell asleep, but I woke up when you started to move."

"One-handed."

"I put it under your shoulders."

Goddamn, but I love this woman. The thought hits me before I can do anything about it, as does the motion to kiss her. I move both arms around her in a forceful press, drawing her in, and it feels almost like I'm trying to inhale her insides with the kiss we're sharing.

"Holy shit." She says after we separate. "I should save your life more often."

"You are a fool, and I love you for it."

I don't think my mind registers that I said "I love you," even though Miki, Mondo, and my brothers clearly do. I don't care, either. If she doesn't love me, so what? I can wait until she does. That's the point of taking a relationship seriously, isn't it? Finding out if you love someone, enough to spend your life with them?

Jake bows. "Nice to meet you, big sis!"

Oh, good fucking graces.

Lucas, for his part, has the decency to do what I'd do in his situation. He nods curtly.

"Oh my god, you're dating. Miki is your girlfriend."

"Good to know someone else from back home remembers me." She replies. There's something off in her voice, in the way he looks at her.

"I'd be an idiot to forget helping you. It's probably the only time a girl's ever let me take her anywhere."

Part of me wants to know, but part of me says I already do; it's been staring at me, almost in the face, for the better part of a year.

"Your hand."

"Cut it open one day, didn't think much of it." Miki says. "Waited a few days, but it got infected instead of healing up. On the way to the hospital, dad's car broke down, and Mondo stopped when he saw us waving for help. I was fine with it, but dad didn't trust him, and-"

"We got in a fight. I won." Mondo interjects. "I ended up takin' em both to the hospital. Got arrested for beatin' him up."

He never did tell me what he'd been sent to jail for. Weird, that all the puzzle pieces are coming together like this.

"I ended up needing my hand amputated, and my dad eventually got released from the hospital. We don't really talk much anymore, which I'm fine with."

"She gave me hell for helping you over the break." I tell Mondo. "Yelling, crying, the works. At least now it sort of makes sense."

For the rest of the day, we drop the subject, and simply enjoy the company that each of us brings to the others.

"Do you guys want to go down into town, or just stay here? There'll be fireworks at the end, and we'll see them best from..." I grin, looking to Miki and then my brothers. "...say, how do you guys feel about hiking?"

They all seem intrigued, so I lead them onward.

We go on an uphill trek, and it almost feels like we're climbing a mountain instead of a big hill. After another five minutes, all the trees clear, but there's still a little climbing to be done before we reach the best view.

"Do you guys want to stop here, or keep going to the top?"

"Are we even on school grounds anymore?" Miki asks, panting.

"Yeah."

"Let's keep going." Lucas says.

"I'll carry 'em." Mondo picks Jake up, putting the little fifth-grader on his shoulders, and he pulls Lucas up to keep walking.

Soon enough, we're there. Nobody else around, with total silence, as the sun starts to set. My brothers and Miki are recovering from the half-hour of walking, while Mondo and I are playing rock-paper-scissors and flipping coins to pass the time. We stop when there's nothing but the moon and stars to light our vision, but it doesn't stay that way for long.

We hear, rather than see, the first of the rockets shoot into the sky...but all of us are looking at it when it blows, a bright scarlet color that sears my eyes before vanishing. A brilliant white one is next, and then a dazzling green. They come slowly, at first, then faster, and even faster, making patterns in the sky that make my brothers gasp and Mondo give a slack-jawed expression. Miki and I hold hands, and I can't think of how this night could be better. I've been reunited with my brothers again, probably my best friend as well, and my girlfriend is here with me.

After almost ten minutes, the longest fireworks show I've ever seen in my life, the final volley is launched and explodes with all the force of a thunderclap. Every imaginable color, it seems, is lighting up the sky in that brief moment...and then it's done.

It's a much shorter journey back, going downhill, only taking about ten minutes.

"It's been good seein' ya." Mondo says. "I'll keep 'em straight." We clasp hands again, and clap each other on the back.

"Good bye." Jake hugs me, and then he unexpectedly hugs Miki as well. "Be nice to my brother!"

Lucas and I slam our fists into the other's arm, and then into the opposite fist. He and I, we need no words. When I visited, a few months ago, we said all we needed to say; those words don't bear repeating, especially not in public. It's a sacred sort of bond, a warrior's oath.

We watch them drive off, into the darkness of the night, and part of me...part of Miki as well, I'd assume...wants to go with them.

My place is here, though. For now, at least, this is where the battles of my life will be fought.

With Miki by my side, I know I'll win.