Chapter Text
The sky cracked open at exactly 7:43 p.m.
Color bloomed overhead—gold, then red, then blue—fireworks scattering light across the school grounds like stars being thrown by careless hands.
Mitsuba froze mid-step.
“Oh,” he breathed.
Kou glanced at him. “You okay?”
“They’re… louder than I remember.”
Another explosion echoed, deep and resonant, vibrating through Mitsuba’s chest. He pressed a hand there instinctively, surprised to feel it.
“I forgot how much they shake everything,” Mitsuba said. “It’s like the world reminding you it’s still here.”
Kou smiled. “Yeah.”
They stood near the edge of the school field, far enough from the crowd that no one would bump into Mitsuba by accident—but close enough to feel the heat of the fireworks, smell the smoke, hear the distant laughter.
Mitsuba tilted his head back, eyes reflecting bursts of color.
“I didn’t think I’d get another summer,” he said quietly.
Kou didn’t answer right away. He just handed Mitsuba the camera.
Mitsuba blinked. “Why?”
“Because,” Kou said, “this one should be yours.”
Mitsuba hesitated. “You know I still—”
“I know,” Kou interrupted gently. “But you can do it now.”
Mitsuba stared down at the camera. Solid. Real. Heavy in his hands.
Another firework burst overhead—white and pink, like petals tearing through the sky.
He swallowed.
“…Okay.”
---
At first, his fingers shook.
He lifted the camera slowly, adjusting the lens the way Kou had taught him—breathing through it, grounding himself in the weight of it.
“Don’t overthink it,” Kou murmured beside him. “Just take the picture.”
Mitsuba nodded.
The sky flared gold.
Click.
The shutter sound rang out—sharp, clear, his.
Mitsuba sucked in a breath.
“I—I did it.”
Kou laughed, bright and a little breathless. “You did.”
Mitsuba checked the display.
The photo showed the sky mid-bloom, light bursting outward—and at the bottom of the frame, barely visible but unmistakable, was a shadow cast beside Kou’s.
Two shadows.
Standing together.
Mitsuba’s vision blurred.
“Oh,” he whispered again, this time shaky. “Kou.”
Kou leaned in. His voice softened. “You’re here.”
“I’m really here.”
“Yes,” Kou said. “You are.”
---
More fireworks followed—layered colors, overlapping echoes. Mitsuba kept taking photos, each click steadier than the last. His laughter came easier, his presence stronger.
At some point, a few students nearby glanced their way.
“Did you hear that camera?”
“Yeah… thought I saw someone else.”
Mitsuba stiffened.
Kou didn’t move away. He just stood a little closer.
“It’s okay,” Kou said quietly. “You don’t have to hide.”
Mitsuba watched the crowd for a moment—then looked down at himself.
His hands were solid.
His shadow was dark.
His heartbeat—faint, but there—answered the fireworks’ echo.
“…I don’t think I am hiding anymore,” he said.
Another explosion lit the sky—brilliant white, filling everything.
Mitsuba lifted the camera one last time.
Click.
---
When the fireworks finally faded, smoke drifting lazily into the dark, Mitsuba lowered the camera and exhaled.
“That was,” he said slowly, “objectively incredible.”
Kou laughed. “High praise.”
Mitsuba turned to him, expression unguarded, eyes bright with reflected starlight.
“Thank you,” he said. “For waiting. For looking at me. For not letting me disappear when it got hard.”
Kou met his gaze, steady as ever. “You stayed because you chose to.”
Mitsuba smiled—a real one, warm and fearless.
“Maybe,” he said. “But choosing is easier when someone stays with you.”
The last ember of light faded from the sky.
Mitsuba’s shadow didn’t.
He reached out.
This time, when his hand found Kou’s—
it held.
Fully. Solidly. Warm.
Kou froze.
“Mitsuba—”
“I know,” Mitsuba said softly. “I feel it too.”
They stood there, hands intertwined, the night quiet around them.
Not a miracle.
Not forever promised.
Just real.
---
Later, when the final roll of film was developed, Kou stared at the last photo for a long time.
It showed the empty sky after the fireworks.
And in the foreground—
two shadows, clear and inseparable.
---
Mitsuba leaned over his shoulder. “Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“If tomorrow comes…”
Kou smiled.
“Then we’ll take it,” he said, “one more day at a time.”
Mitsuba squeezed his hand.
“And maybe a other."