Notes: Happy birthday, Mahiru!

Blue Marble
Chapter 6

It wasn't long that Mahiru had to wait in the hall; another passenger had spotted her when returning to their own cabin and was kind enough to fetch Asaka from the lounge, who immediately returned to open the door. She didn't ask Mahiru for any details, apparently assuming that her distress was related to her seasickness.

That assumption only lasted until the following morning, when Asaka returned from breakfast service. She placed a small selection of muffins on Mahiru's bedside table before commanding, "Get up, Mahiru. I know you're not sick anymore."

Mahiru flinched under her covers. Her mother was right, of course; after a full night's sleep her seasickness was little more than a memory. Still, she had little motivation to even sit up in bed, let alone leave the cabin and risk meeting Amami. Stubborn, she shook her head, strands of red hair spreading across her pillow as she curled in on herself further.

"Mahiru..." She felt her bed shift as Asaka sat on the edge, reaching out to run her fingers through Mahiru's hair. "Tell me what the matter is. Did something happen with Ranta-kun?"

Mahiru stiffened, then internally cursed herself for giving such a visible reaction to his name. "Wh-what makes you think that?" she stammered noncommittally.

"Because he also wasn't at breakfast," Asaka stated gently. "He didn't return to the lounge last night, either. Something happened when he checked on you, didn't it?"

It was more of a statement than a question, and Mahiru knew there was no point in hiding the truth. Sighing, she sat up slowly in bed, feeling her cheeks burn under her mother's gaze. "I... we..." She kept her gaze downward, fiddling with the hem of her pajama top. "We had a fight," she sighed. "So I just, you know. Don't really want to see him."

Asaka hummed understandingly. "What kind of fight?"

"I... well... He saw my mark." Mahiru's face warmed further as she glanced at her own shoulder. "And it turned out that he knew I was his match the entire time, ever since the first day of the cruise. So..."

"Oh, honey." Asaka brushed the bangs from Mahiru's eyes. "Don't tell me you got mad at him for knowing?"

"I got mad at him for not saying anything," Mahiru corrected. "And for... I just... That means he was basically lying during this whole trip, and I can't..." She gave an exasperated groan. "I had just started to trust him, Mom!"

Asaka nodded sympathetically. "I understand how you feel. But you can't just lock yourself away and avoid seeing him for the rest of the trip."

"Why not?" Mahiru huffed and laid down again, wrapping the blankets securely around her. "Today's the last day of the cruise. So if I just skip the extension and—"

"Ah-ah." Asaka stood from the bed, hands on her hips. "After I pulled those strings to get us added? I've already paid the deposit and changed your flight home. You're going on the extension."

Mahiru groaned. She was afraid of that.

"Honestly, Mahiru." Asaka began shuffling around the room to pack their bags, getting ready for disembarkment. "You know better than to act like this, don't you? You can't just run from reality, dear."

Mahiru frowned, pulling the bedding closer around her. Of course she knew that, and she knew she was acting pathetic, but still...

"I'm sorry that Ranta-kun disappointed you," Asaka continued. "And if you really can't bear to face him after such a small thing—"

"It's not small, he lied about—"

"—then you're free to never see him again after the extension."

Despite herself, Mahiru felt her heart constrict upon hearing those words. Never see him again? Logically, it sounded like a good idea in the moment, but something instinctive within her was acting up, her breath quickening in panic. The thought of never, ever seeing him again... completely losing contact with her soulmate... No. Mahiru shook her head. She had to stop thinking of him as her soulmate, he hadn't earned that right.

The bed shifted again, and Mahiru looked over her shoulder to see her mother sitting next to her again. "Mahiru," Asaka started gently. "I know you don't want to hear this, but you know you wouldn't be hurting so much if you didn't like him."

Mahiru bristled, her face heating up. "I—! I don't like him!"

"You do, and that's all right." She reached over and patted Mahiru on the shoulder. "So you should try to make up with him before the end of the extension."

Mahiru simply scoffed in response, not caring that she was venting her frustrations onto her own mother.

"Just try to at least talk with him while you can?"

"I've already heard what he has to say."

"It's all right to like your soulmate, you know," Asaka said, chuckling softly.

"And it's all right to not like him, too!" Mahiru countered, annoyed. "I mean, you—"

She cut herself off when she realized what she was saying, but not soon enough. Silence stretched between them for a long moment, and for a second Mahiru had the hope that her mother hadn't picked up on that, but that hope was short-lived.

"What about me?"

Mahiru sighed, finally sitting up in bed again, making an attempt to meet her mother's eyes but finding it hard to do so. "M-Mom," she started, trying to wet her mouth that had suddenly gone dry. "Do you... regret having ever married Dad?"

"What?" Asaka let out a breath, wavy red bangs fluttering with the action, and sat back down next to her daughter. "Why in the world would you think that?"

"I mean..." Mahiru fidgeted with the blanket in her lap. "The two of you basically never see each other anymore. You're living completely divergent lives. I kind of always thought that you'd want to get divorced if..."

Asaka gave a small laugh. "Nowadays? Sure, if the legal proceedings weren't such a pain, we probably would get divorced. But Mahiru..." She looked directly in her daughter's eyes, fixing her gaze intently with hers. "Never for a moment have I ever regretted marrying your father, nor have I resented being his soulmate."

Mahiru's brows furrowed, confused. "You've... never? Not even once?"

"Not even once."

"But why? Surely you wish your soulmate would be someone who would... would travel with you, or..."

Asaka waved her hand dismissively. "I have friends and colleagues for that, they don't need to be my soulmate to have value! Besides, your father is responsible for having given me something much, much more important than that."

Mahiru blinked at her mother, surprised to hear her father being spoken about in such high regard. "He did? What was it?"

"Oh, honey." With a soft smile, Asaka reached over and ran a hand through Mahiru's hair. "He gave me you, of course. The greatest thing he could have ever given me."

Mahiru could feel her cheeks warming further. "O-oh," she stuttered out, flustered.

Chuckling, Asaka stood up from the bed. "To be honest, I suspect that you might have been my soulmate if Ranta-kun didn't exist. As it is, I suppose the second-best thing was to pair me with the man who would help make you happen."

"I... I see..." Mahiru said, fiddling with her hair idly.

"I know you don't think too highly of the soulmate system," Asaka continued. "Ah, I guess that must be the reason why, huh? Well, I guess you could say that fate doesn't always get it completely right." She looked over at her daughter and smiled. "But for what it's worth, it doesn't seem to get it completely wrong, either."

Mahiru considered those words, twisting her mouth into a thoughtful frown.

"I won't force you," Asaka said lightly as she returned to packing up, "but I really do think you should give Ranta-kun another chance to explain himself, okay?"

"...Yeah," Mahiru sighed quietly. "I'll... I'll think about it."

Asaka gave a pleased hum and briefly returned to Mahiru's side to pat her on the head affectionately before returning to their bags. "Attagirl. Now get out of bed, we have to get ready."

Mahiru hated to admit it, but her mother was right, as usual: she did like Amami. Just a bit. Enough that, yes, that was the reason she was so disappointed in him.

And enough that she didn't want to end the trip on bad terms with him.

She wasn't entirely ready to apologize, though she was beginning to come to terms with the fact that her anger hadn't been entirely warranted. In her head, it sounded like a good idea to try and talk again, but after packing her bags and heading to the lounge for the closing toast, she saw Amami across the room, and suddenly a knot formed in her throat. She couldn't bring herself to approach him, much less speak to him. It was just so... awkward to walk up to him like it was nothing when their last interaction had gone so poorly, and from the furtive glances she spared him throughout the gathering, he didn't seem to be entirely keen on approaching her, either. The entire time, he kept carefully on the complete opposite side of the room, never coming within any reasonable distance of her.

That was fine. It was a relief, if anything, that he wasn't putting her in a situation that she wasn't ready for yet, though a tiny voice inside her was insisting that she was chickening out, that she was grasping for any excuse not to talk to him.

And maybe it was true, but she felt justified in not pushing herself before she was entirely ready.

Fortunately, her mother didn't urge her to talk to him just yet either, and so it went that they disembarked from the ship without Mahiru making any progress on reconciling.

There was still the trip extension though, so—after bidding farewell to those of their group whose trips ended with the cruise—Mahiru and her mother boarded the bus that would take them to Monteverde for the evening.

From Puerto Caldera to Monteverde was an hour and a half ride, and that gave Mahiru plenty of time to sit and stew in her thoughts. She really hadn't been very fair to Amami after all, she decided, as she gazed out the window at forests and mountains that they passed. She hadn't been fair to him the entire trip, really; he said he had given her space and said nothing because she didn't seem ready to talk about their soulmark, and that had been true, hadn't it? If Amami had tried talking to her about it before she had come to terms with it... well, Mahiru certainly wouldn't have reacted well. She wanted to claim that she would have been perfectly reasonable about it, but... she really had been resistant to seeing any good in Amami until just a day or two earlier.

But there was good in him. A lot of it. And yet she had been so unfair to him.

Sighing, Mahiru rose slightly to crane her head, searching out a familiar mop of wavy hair in the bus.

"He's a bit further back," Asaka said softly next to her. "You can talk to him when we arrive, okay?"

"I-I wasn't looking for him," Mahiru stuttered, beginning to turn back forward and catching Jan's gaze as she did. She nodded cordially to the Dutch student sitting behind them.

Jan gave her a friendly smile, then asked in English, "Did something happen between you and Ranta?"

Mahiru paused, thought back for a moment to confirm that she had been speaking to her mother in Japanese, then sighed, realizing that their disagreement must have been obvious to him regardless of language barrier. Probably to the rest of the gaming group, too. It had been sad to bid farewell to Manon and the others who weren't on the extension, but at least there was only one other person hounding her about the situation with Amami now. "It's... it's nothing big," she responded, glancing out the window as her cheeks warmed.

Jan chuckled low in his throat. "Ranta's always pretty even-mannered, so I'm shocked you two managed to get under each other's skin. I suppose it's proof that you have gotten close," he teased.

Mahiru's face reddened further. "That's not— I didn't—" She huffed, sitting back down in her seat. "Not close enough for him to have told me that he knew," she muttered to herself in Japanese.

Asaka laughed lightly, reaching over to pat Mahiru's head. "Yes, of course, dear," she said placatingly.

When the bus finally arrived at their inn in Monteverde, Mahiru was one of the first to get off, not wanting to miss Amami now that she had the resolve to try speaking with him again. She waited by the exit, trying not to look too obvious or desperate but at the same time not really caring what anyone else thought. Finally she saw him descending off the bus, and once he was on solid ground, Mahiru flagged him down.

"Amami!" she called, approaching him carefully. "I—"

"Not right now." His words were sharp and curt, cutting off Mahiru before she could even begin.

Mahiru was immediately put on the defensive. "Wh- what?! But I—"

"I said not now." Amami spared her a weary glance before turning without so much as a proper goodbye and heading for the inn.

The annoyance that Mahiru had carefully eased into a gentle simmer once again flared up into a boil. "What the heck?!" she exclaimed, stomping a foot in irritation. How dare he not even give her a chance to speak?! She hadn't actually pissed him off that badly, had she?

No, she hadn't; she had barely done anything, especially compared to Amami lying by omission! She huffed and stormed away, quickly locating her mother wrangling their bags.

"Uh-oh," Asaka said as Mahiru approached. "That face doesn't look good. I take it your talk didn't go well?"

"He didn't even give me the chance to talk!" Mahiru groused, snatching her own bag from her mother. "I can't believe he's still that pissed at me!"

Asaka frowned, her brows furrowing. "It certainly doesn't sound like Ranta-kun to be like that..." She looked over her daughter carefully. "Were you actually harsher to him during your fight than you described?"

"No!" Mahiru groaned. "I mean... I don't think I was! But..." Her face fell as trepidation settled in her stomach. "Oh gosh, what if I was harsher than I thought? What if he refuses to talk to me at all before the trip is over?"

Asaka sighed and patted her daughter on the shoulder. "All you can do is try your best, dear. Good luck."

Mahiru sighed. "I sure hope it's not luck I need. I don't seem to have much of it."

After getting settled at the inn, Mahiru's mother suggested they go out on the town to do some shopping, and, desperate to find some way to occupy her mind aside from stressing over a boy, Mahiru agreed.

It was nice to have some time with her mother after days of making sure the boys were included, Mahiru decided. Just the two of them, checking out the local wares and window shopping, snapping photographs of the town, and enjoying some local delicacies.

The sun was beginning to dip low in the sky when they came across an old used bookstore, and finding it to be quite quaint, they made their way inside. The rustic furnishings and the smell of binding glue was welcoming, and as Asaka shot some atmospheric photos of the lobby, Mahiru couldn't help but peek around each shelf to see what other angles she could find.

It was in the third row of shelves that Mahiru spotted Shinguji, and she nearly knocked over a nearby display in her rush to retreat.

"Oh, Koizumi-san."

Mahiru stopped in her tracks with a hollow laugh, unsurprised that Shinguji had spotted her after the racket she made, and she nervously peered around him to see... no one. Amami wasn't there with him, apparently, and Mahiru suppressed a sigh of relief.

Shinguji's eyes crinkled in amusement. "If you're looking for Amami-kun, he's recuperating at the inn."

"I'm not looking for him!" Mahiru retorted as if on autopilot. Then the meaning of Shinguji's words fully sunk in, and she couldn't help the twinge of worry she felt. "Wait, recuperating? Did something happen to him?"

Shinguji shook his head as he returned the book he had been perusing to its shelf. "Not exactly. He just doesn't do well with automobiles, so the bus ride took a bit out of him." He placed a hand to his cheek with a sigh, an almost feminine sort of gesture. "Honestly. He can handle airplanes, trains, and boats just fine, but cars and buses put him in such a foul mood for some reason."

"Oh..." Mahiru suddenly remembered Amami's expression when she had approached him to talk... immediately after he got off of the bus. "Oh, wait, then is that why...?"

"Hmm?" Shinguji tilted his head inquisitively, and she flushed, unsure of exactly how much the tall boy knew about what was going on between her and Amami.

"It's just..." She gesticulated aimlessly, as if grasping for the words to speak. "I tried to talk to him right after we got off the bus, but he was pretty short with me. Is that why...?"

"Ah." Shinguji nodded solemnly at her. "Yes, I would imagine so. I can't think of any other reason for that to be the case."

"Oh, uh..." Mahiru flushed, averting her gaze. Did Shinguji not realize, after all? "A-actually... we got into a fight last night. So that's why I assumed he was mad at me still..."

"I'm aware." He chuckled as he turned back to the shelf to pluck out another book. "But Amami-kun was never mad at you in the first place."

She groaned. "You don't have to lie for his sake, you know."

"Oh heavens, no." Shinguji shook his head as he flipped through the book. "I wouldn't lie to you about that, but... well, perhaps he was a bit disappointed. Still, I assure you that whatever anger he felt was directed towards himself."

"Himself?"

"Mm. He does have a bad habit of assuming responsibility more than he should."

Mahiru furrowed her brows; that's something she would have been quite pleased to hear the night before, but now she was more concerned than anything else. "There's no reason for him to be angry with himself, though. He didn't... do anything wrong." She took a deep breath, staring down at her shoes. "It was all my fault."

"Then tell him that." When Mahiru looked back up, Shinguji had his gaze fixed upon her again. "All will be forgiven if you simply tell him exactly that. Before the day is done, ideally. He should be feeling better by dinnertime."

Hesitantly, Mahiru nodded. "I... yeah, I guess I will, but..." Indecision still gnawed at her insides. "You're sure that he'll feel up to hearing me out?"

Shinguji hummed thoughtfully. "He did seem a bit more out of it than he usually is after a bus ride, but perhaps that's due to precisely what you're looking to fix. I wouldn't worry." His eyes crinkled again, telling of a smile hidden behind the mask. "I can say for certain that he'll be more than happy to speak with you. I know him quite well, after all."

"...Right." Her mind made up, Mahiru nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll... I'll give it a try."

He nodded and turned back to the book in his hands. "See that you do. A soulmate is such a wondrous thing, after all; it would be a shame for you two to part on bad terms."

Mahiru's face all but went up in flames; so Shinguji had known about that, after all. "A-ah... yeah," she stuttered, taking a step back. "That's... I'll keep that in mind." She paused, then said haltingly, "Um... can I ask one more thing, Shinguji?"

"Yes?"

"D-don't move or anything," she quickly instructed before he could turn towards her. "Just... can I take your picture? Don't pose, I want to capture how you look right now."

Shinguji chuckled, but mercifully stayed in place. "Of course. It would be my pleasure."

Feeling some of the burden starting to lift from her shoulders, Mahiru smiled, and raised her camera to take the shot.

They returned to the inn for dinner as a group, and after a feast of arroz con pollo, it was time to turn in for the night. Mahiru was ready to rest, but she knew that the evening wasn't over yet. Not for her.

She wandered the grounds aimlessly as she let her dinner digest, and eventually came across a fire pit behind the inn, where a small group had begun building a campfire. There, she found Amami helping to construct the fire, and she settled herself on the grass, watching as the flames grew from a small ember to a roaring bonfire.

Brushing his hands off on his pants, Amami took a few steps away from the blaze, glancing over his shoulder and meeting Mahiru's gaze immediately. He smiled softly, then stepped over one of the logs surrounding the fire pit to make his way over to her.

"It's warmer if you move closer to the fire," he commented as he sat down on the grass next to her.

Mahiru hummed noncommittally. "I think I'm fine right here," she said. "It's better for people-watching."

"You don't have your camera out, though," Amami said with a teasing lilt.

"That's because..." She trailed off, unsure of what her retort was meant to be. After an uncomfortable pause, she decided that it was probably best to just tell the truth. "I... didn't come out here to take pictures."

"Yeah?" Amami said softly, waiting for her to continue.

Mahiru stared at her knees, feeling her face warming for a reason that was decidedly not because of the fire. She whined under her breath pathetically for a moment, huffed, and then pushed out, "I'm here to apologize. For how I treated you last night... and during this entire trip, really."

Amami hummed thoughtfully. "Koizumi-san, you don't need to apologize."

"But I do!" Mahiru turned to face him directly, a deep frown upon her face. "I had such a wrong first impression of you, and I treated you horribly because of it, and I shouldn't have—"

"Don't apologize for having feelings," he laughed. "That's only natural."

"Well yeah, but..." She pouted down at the ground. "I didn't... handle those feelings appropriately. That's why I'm apologizing. At least let me relieve some of the guilt I feel, you dummy."

Amami laughed again. "I'm not sure you should be insulting the guy you're apologizing to! But that aside, I guess it's a reasonable ask." He smiled softly before continuing, "I accept your apology."

"...W-well, that's good," Mahiru stuttered out, turning her attention to the fire and watching it crackle.

They sat there in silence for a long moment, both watching the campfire as it was stoked by the others.

"I don't think you were wrong, for the record."

Blinking, Mahiru turned away from the fire and looked up at Amami. "About what?"

"About me pretending to be a good soulmate."

Mahiru felt her stomach drop.

"You might be right about the real me. All I'm doing is pretending to be a good person." She watched as his eyes darkened, the good humor fading from his smile. "I'm always trying to be the kind of guy I'd want my sisters to encounter, the kind of soulmate I'd want them to have. It's so ingrained in me that I don't even think about it anymore." He looked directly at her. "That's why I couldn't deny what you said yesterday. But I'm their brother, and I'm not going to apologize for that."

Mahiru's breath caught in her throat. It was disheartening to hear him admit such a thing, sure, but... "Isn't everyone like that, sort of?"

"Hmm?"

"Pretending to be a good person, for whatever motivation they have to do so." Feeling put on the spot, Mahiru looked down at her shoes again. "I mean... everyone has to figure out what makes a person good, and everyone finds their own yardstick to measure goodness against. For you, it's creating a good environment for your sisters, and for me... I guess it's based on cleaning up after my dad's failures." She giggled softly before turning back to Amami and continuing. "But that doesn't make it fake. It's part of who we are for real. I was wrong, and I don't want you to apologize for being a brother, either."

Amami's smile softened, turning genuine again. "I guess that does make sense, then."

They sat in silence for a beat longer, and Mahiru had to avert her eyes, feeling awkward under his gaze as she considered the next topic of conversation. "F-for the record," she started, "I don't think you were wrong either."

"Hmm? About what?"

"About keeping quiet about our bond." Mahiru lifted her left hand and placed it over her right shoulder, above her mark.

"Ahh, that."

"I wasn't ready to talk about it." She gently squeezed her shoulder. "You were right to give me time. If you hadn't, I would have just run away, or maybe even lashed out at you."

"I think you lashed out at me anyway," Amami teased.

"Jeez, that's just because the timing was off!" Mahiru retorted, her cheeks pinking. "It... well, I got careless, and I don't think either of us was ready to have the conversation at that moment..."

Amami hummed thoughtfully. "So... are we ready now?"

Mahiru felt her mouth dry up, but she swallowed, determined to see this through. They had been talking around the matter, but yes, she was ready to speak directly about their bond.

"Yeah... Let's start over." Determined, she turned her body towards him and extended her hand as if to shake. "My name is Mahiru Koizumi, and I'm your soulmate."

Amami was silent for a moment, then began to laugh. He rested his elbow upon his knee, cradling his head in his hand, and between chuckles, commented, "What a cute soulmate I have."

"Cu—?!" Mahiru faltered, her face burning up. "I'm not—! Stop teasing me!"

Amami, annoyingly, only resumed his laughter.

"I'm just trying to start over properly, jeez!" Puffing her cheeks in irritation, Mahiru insistently put her hand out again.

"No, you're right." He stifled his remaining snickers and shook his head, then extended his own hand to take Mahiru's with a firm shake. His hand was warm and slightly calloused, and Mahiru felt her flush extend to the tips of her ears. "My name's Rantaro Amami. Nice to meet you, Koizumi-san." He paused, then with a grin he added, "Mind if I call you Mahiru-san?"

"Ma—?! Uh..." Mahiru's face was burning just as fiercely as the campfire by that point. "Um— uh— that's—!" She swallowed to gather her composure, and as she gently took her hand back, she managed a flustered response. "That's... okay, I guess..."

Amami smiled gently. "Mahiru-san, then. You can call me by my first name too, if you want. Or 'Ranta,' like your mom and the others do."

She was so flustered by this point it was making it hard to breathe. Calling him by his first name...? That was... so intimate! But he was her soulmate, so... "Then... um..." Mahiru struggled to force her lips around the syllables. "Then... A... Amami... kun."

He was silent for a beat, his expression blank, before he began to laugh again. "You added an honorific? I can't tell if that's an upgrade or not!"

"Stop making fun of me!" She frowned through her blush. "It is an upgrade! I don't usually use honorifics with boys, all right?!"

"Ahaha, well I'm flattered, then." Amami smiled gently at her. "Mahiru-san."

Mahiru shivered a bit, unused to hearing her name in his voice. "D-don't just say my name for no reason, it's weird."

"Sorry. Let's get along, okay?"

She paused, then nodded, shifting just a bit closer to him unconsciously.

"Are you cold? We could move closer to the fire if you want."

Mahiru shook her head. "No, I... I'm fine right here."

He smiled, then shifted closer as well, his shoulder brushing against hers, right where her mark was. "All right. Let's stay right here."

The next day was spent at the Monteverde Cloud Forest, exploring the wildlife and admiring the unique foggy landscapes there. After following the guided tour for a while, Mahiru and Amami strayed to the back, going at their own pace and eventually losing the group entirely.

They stopped for a while on a rope bridge, admiring the clouds of mist beneath them, taking in the breathtaking view.

"Wow," Mahiru breathed as she peered over the side, though only as much as she felt comfortable with, given the drop below. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah." Amami sounded a degree less impressed—he must have visited before, Mahiru suddenly realized—but still sufficiently appreciative of nature's beauty. "Did you want to lean over to take a picture? I can hold on to you so you don't fall."

"Oh!" She hadn't considered that, but now that she had been given the offer, her trigger finger was itching for the shot. "I— Um, sure, if you don't mind."

He smiled. "All right." He stepped behind her, wrapping his strong hands around her waist, and Mahiru had to bite down an undignified squeak. "Ready when you are."

"Y-yeah." Flustered beyond belief, Mahiru suddenly couldn't keep her thoughts on the task, focusing too much on the warm touch on either side of her waist. She was being ridiculous, she knew—he was carefully not touching anywhere close to being inappropriate—but still. She wanted to back out, to insist that actually she didn't want the shot that much after all, but she was too embarrassed to do so, too self-conscious that she'd just be seen as weird. Taking a deep breath, she quickly leaned over the bridge and, without even focusing the shot, took a quick snap and then stood up straight again. "A-all done!" she announced, pulling away from Amami.

He blinked for a moment, a blank expression on his face, before gathering himself and lowering his arms again. "All right then."

With the movement of Amami's arms, Mahiru caught the glimpse of blue soulscript beneath his T-shirt sleeve. All of a sudden her nerves calmed again, her mind wandering instead to something that had been bothering her for a while—for all her life, really.

"You know," she started, settling her hands on the rope handles of the bridge, "there's something I've always wondered about my mark... o-our mark."

"Hmm?" He leaned his forearms against the ropes as well. "What about it?"

"W-well..." Mahiru squeezed the ropes, mentally preparing to vocalize something she had never shared with anyone else. "You know how there are all those theories about how each mark means something, right? Something unique to each pair. But ours is just a plain blue circle. What could that... I mean—"

"Wait, sorry," Amami said, cutting in. "Mahiru-san, do you really only see our mark as just a circle?"

"Huh?" She blinked up at him, confused. "Well, I mean... yeah? What else could it be?"

Amami's expression was one of mild disbelief for a moment before ultimately becoming a soft smile. "Hmm, I see." He shifted his gaze forward, towards the green trees that surrounded them. "Mahiru-san, you're familiar with The Blue Marble, right?"

"Huh?" Mahiru blinked rapidly, thrown off by the change in topic. "Well... yeah. It's only one of the most famous photographs ever..." She trailed off as the pieces clicked together, and all at once her cheeks burned red. "Wait... huh?!"

He only began to laugh.

"What?! You..." Mahiru clapped a hand over her shoulder, looking up at him in disbelief. "Are you saying... our mark... it's the Earth?!"

"That's how I've always seen it, at least." Amami grinned down at her. "Ever since I was a kid, I sort of got it in my head that our mark meant my soulmate was someone I'd travel the world with. It's how I got into traveling in the first place—I figured it was how I was going to find my match."

"Oh..." She stared down at the fog, eyes wide, still processing. "So that's your reason for traveling."

"It was, but at some point it developed into pure wanderlust, too." He nudged her arm companionably. "And while it did end up being how I met you, maybe I'd have found you sooner if I just stayed in Japan."

Mahiru nudged him back, giggling. "Eighteen is a perfectly respectable age to find your soulmate."

"Yeah, I guess." Amami shrugged, then turned to look at her directly. "So what do you think?"

"Huh?" She blinked up at him, once again losing the train of the conversation. "Think about what?"

"About traveling the world together."

Mahiru's heart just about stopped, and she sucked in a sharp hiss of cool, foggy air, feeling like the bridge was about to give out beneath her. Travel... the world? With Amami? That was... She gripped the ropes tight, her palms beginning to burn. That was big. Enormous. Five hundred and ten million square kilometers enormous. She'd have to essentially give up her life in Japan, her friends, her father. But giving that all up for the sake of traveling the world... for the sake of photographing the world, all the different faces and smiles that she'd encounter there... that was...

That was...

"I'm not saying you have to answer right now," Amami laughed, reading the dumbstruck expression Mahiru must have made. "You still have school and all that, I know. But..." He smiled softly. "Maybe after you graduate? No pressure. If you decide it's not for you, I don't mind making adjustments."

She huffed and looked away, her cheeks warming. "Don't deny your wanderlust on my behalf."

"Haha, aww, thanks."

They stood in silence for a moment, before Mahiru peeked up at him, his face in profile, his hair falling easily across his forehead and brushing his eyelashes. Traveling the word, photographing the world, with this boy by her side...

Well... She'd be lying if she said it wasn't tempting.

"I'll think about it," she said finally, a blush across her features.

Amami nodded, smiling. "That's all I could ask for. In the meantime..." He stepped away from the edge of the bridge, stretching. "Want to join me and Shinguji-kun in the Philippines this summer?"

"The Philippines?" Mahiru repeated, intrigued.

"It'll be the rainy season, just to warn you, but that has its own sort of charm." He nodded his head in the direction of the trail, and they began to walk again, side by side. "Don't wanna steal your entire last summer vacation, but you can join us for a week or two if you want."

"I'll... maybe," Mahiru said noncommittally, even as her heart raced with excitement. Logically, she knew she'd accept the offer, but there was something embarrassing about seeming too eager. So she contented herself with following by his side for the time being, glancing up at him and seeing the glimpse of blue beneath his sleeve as they walked.

The world...

It didn't sound so bad, really.

Two days later saw the end of the end of the trip, and Mahiru's departure from San Jose. Most of the tour group was headed out of San Jose Mineta Airport, disbanding at departures, while Mahiru stuck around with her mother until the gate, with Amami and Shinguji tagging along as well.

"You sure you'll be all right on your own?" Asaka fretted, giving her daughter a hug. "I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but it's an international flight, all on your own..."

"I'll be fine, Mom," Mahiru assured her, squeezing her in return. "You already have your ticket to Brazil, it makes no sense to follow me to Japan before that."

"Oh, I know, honey, but..." Asaka idly patted Mahiru down, ensuring that she had her bags, her boarding pass, her passport. "Don't underestimate what an international flight can be like. Ranta-kun suggested a sleep schedule to best reduce jet lag, right?"

Mahiru felt her heart thump harder at the mention of her soulmate, and she glanced over her shoulder at him. Amami gave a small wave from where he stood at the next gate over, giving the mother and daughter pair their space. "Uh, y-yeah, he did. I'll do my best to follow it."

"See that you do," her mother warned, her tone dropping into something a touch more serious. "You'll be landing barely twelve hours before school starts up, so you have a tough schedule ahead."

"I'll be fine," Mahiru assured her again. "The first day of the term is just the opening ceremony, anyway, so even if I'm a little sleep-deprived..."

"Ah-ah, that's the wrong mindset to have," Asaka scolded. "Don't underestimate jet lag, dear."

Mahiru giggled. "Okay, okay, I won't." Taking a step back from her mother, she glanced over her shoulder again, and this time the boys took this as a sign to approach.

Shinguji nodded at Mahiru as they came within chatting distance. "Koizumi-san, it was a pleasure to meet you on this trip." He extended a hand to shake. "I do hope it was only the first of many."

"Oh, um, yeah." Mahiru hesitated only a moment before taking his hand, smiling up at him. "I'm sure we'll travel together again someday."

Shinguji's eyes crinkled, then he dropped the hand shake and stepped away, giving way to Amami, who stepped forward with his smartphone out.

"Let's exchange contact info before we forget," he laughed.

"Oh! Oh, yeah, let's do that," Mahiru agreed, hastily extracting her own phone from her pocket. She was already connected to the airport WiFi, allowing her to quickly open up LINE and display her QR code for Amami to scan.

"Got it," Amami confirmed as he friended her. "I don't always have service in the places I go, but you can send a text or something anytime you want and I'll respond when I get it."

"Right," Mahiru nodded. "Uh, you said you're headed to Europe next, right...?"

"I'm headed to the Balkans," he said, then nodded towards Shinguji, "and Shinguji-kun will be in Greece for a few weeks, then we'll be sailing the Mediterranean for a bit. Why, wanna come with?"

Mahiru flushed under his teasing grin. "Some of us have school, you know!" she retorted.

Amami laughed. "Yeah, I know. Good luck with all that." He shifted his phone in his hand. "Hey, can I ask you for one more thing?"

Blinking, Mahiru nodded. "Um, sure."

"Well, you took an awful lot of photos of me—"

"D-don't make that sound weird!"

"—but," he continued, "we didn't get any pictures of the two of us together. So..." He stepped towards her, the self-facing camera activated on his phone. "Selfie?"

Mahiru felt her cheeks growing warm. "Uh... huh? You want... a selfie? With me?"

Amami smiled kindly. "You can say no if you want, I just thought..."

"Oh, u-um, no, it's fine," Mahiru insisted, fidgeting slightly and running her fingers through her hair. "I just, you know..." She trailed off, feeling a bit silly that she was so unused to being on the other side of a camera. "Um, well, anyway, it's fine."

"All right." Moving closer to her, Amami placed a hand on Mahiru's shoulder, and she found herself leaning in closer to him as well. She tried to convince herself it was just to better fit in frame. It was a hard sell when her stomach was churning with so many nerves that it took all she had to muster a smile as Amami pressed the shutter button.

Just as they were pulling away after the photo, the announcement system crackled to life above them.

"That's your boarding group, dear," Asaka called over. "Time to get on the plane!"

"Time's up," Amami joked with a smile. "I'll call you when I'm back in Japan."

Mahiru felt her face heating up as she adjusted her carry-on luggage. "Y-you don't have to call me, jeez..."

He laughed. "I'll text you, then."

"...Sure." She stood there for a moment longer, feeling somehow unfulfilled, but she simply stared at the linoleum floor, unable to meet his gaze. Eventually she took a step back, tightly gripping the straps of her carry-on. "W-well, I should get going, then."

"Yeah. Have a safe flight."

With a nod, Mahiru finally turned around and headed towards the gate. As she arrived in the boarding line, her mother intercepted her, pulling her into yet another hug.

"Did you sort out everything you needed to?" Asaka whispered into her ear. "Leaving without regrets?"

"Everything?" Mahiru looked over her mother's shoulder, finally making eye contact with Amami, who was standing at Shinguji's side and waving her off. "I guess I haven't figured everything out, but... that's okay."

Asaka pulled back slightly to peer at Mahiru, her gray eyes boring into her. "You sure you're okay with that? There's still twenty minutes before boarding ends if you want to—"

Mahiru cut her off with a shake of the head, red hair shifting with the action. "No, it's really fine. I mean..." She gave a small smile. "We'll definitely see each other again."

Asaka smiled and patted her daughter's head amicably. "All right, then. The two of you do have all the time in the world, after all."

"Yeah." Chuckling, Mahiru ducked away from her mother's touch and turned to the boarding line again. "Anyway, I should go."

"That you should." With a grin, Asaka waved her off. "Go on, get going now!"

Mahiru nodded to her mother, then looked towards her soulmate and smiled, placing her left hand on her opposite shoulder. "Okay, I'll see you later!"

With that, she headed back towards the world she had known, for however long until she decided to explore the blue marble again.

Notes: I did it I actually completed this fic...! (A bit cheesily, maybe, but... I'll fix the ending if I can think of anything better lol.)

I hope those of you who read this all the way through enjoyed!

By the way, that epilogue that I mentioned before... I decided that its tone didn't actually fit for being an epilogue, so now there's no epilogue haha. It'll be the first chapter of the follow-up to this story instead, so if you're interested, keep an eye out for that!