Work Text:
一
Gentaro ventured forth, Dice following closely. He peered at his list for a moment before turning into the correct aisle. It had been quite annoying when his lack of grocery shopping had caught up to him, and he’d ran out of meat, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped. With Dice around so often, Gentaro had hardly cooked at all, so he ended up losing track of what he had in the fridge.
He picked up a couple packages of meat and moved to put them in the basket. He tried to rearrange his things so the packages would lay flat on the bottom, but it was just a little difficult.
“Do you want me to carry anything?” Dice asked, rather small.
Gentaro glanced at Dice, a snort escaping him. Dice was wringing his hands, shoulders drawn in. “You walk like you’re scrawny.”
But Dice held out his hands then, and Gentaro had him hold a couple of the other things while he arranged the meat how he liked. Once everything was back in place, Gentaro continued, although Dice kept following him like a lost dog.
It made Gentaro’s heart pang. He knew Dice felt bad about not having… really any money. And Gentaro knew he should probably scold Dice for always gambling it all away, but Gentaro had more money than he knew what to do with these days, and Dice’s lack thereof really wasn’t a big issue.
Still, he turned to Dice as they stopped in the next aisle. “Do you want to hold the basket?”
Dice perked up. “Yeah! Sure. I can do that. Wow, it’s not that heavy at all! Were you really struggling with it that much?”
“Yep,” Gentaro lied. Dice looked overexcited at the prospect of Gentaro showing weakness that he didn’t want to ruin the fun. “It was way too heavy for me.”
Gentaro went back to looking at the shelves of canisters in front of them. He knew what spices he was running out of, but the multiple sales always going on confused him. The bigger containers seemed to give you more for less, but the two for 500 yen deals made it seem like that was better. He leaned forward, hand on his chin.
“So would it be better to get two little packages? That might take up a weird amount of space, though…” he said. “But what if the last bits of the big package get gross-looking before we use it…? What do you think?” He straightened up, holding a big size in one hand and two smaller sizes in the other.
Dice was staring at Gentaro blankly.
“What?
He shook his head. “Nah, it’s nothing. You’re just really cute.” Dice coughed, embarrassed, but he recovered quickly. “Uhh. Do the two smaller ones. You don’t ever get the big ones.”
Gentaro felt his cheeks flushing, so he just nodded and set the two in the basket.
-
Gentaro quickly set to work putting things away. Dice scrambled to help him. Gentaro knew he was right about the two spice canisters taking up a weird amount of space. He really was about to take out every single thing and rearrange it completely. That’d probably be his best bet. He needed to rearrange them anyway because quite frankly, his cupboard seemed like it was a mess. He knew it was because Dice was in here moving things around and not really because it was an actual mess, but it’d put Gentaro’s mind at ease.
“Hey, babe,” Dice said.
Gentaro turned around a little faster than he meant to, but Dice’s pet name for him always had him feeling so giddy. It made him feel nice and warm, but when he met Dice’s eyes, he was flung into somewhere unfamiliar.
It was a little bit like how he made up stories for people sometimes, how he glanced at someone and could instantly see how their lives played out. But it was different, so different, and Gentaro thought he was dreaming.
In Dice’s eyes, he saw their future together. It was a warm spring day. They walked close together, their hands brushing with each stride, and a young child happily walked in front of them. He could feel the wind on his face, he could hear the child—their child, it was their child chattering happily, and his ears were ringing, but maybe it was just because in his peripheral he saw Dice smiling and laughing and it reminded him of the tinkling of a wind chime. Dice looked a little older; Gentaro felt a little older. He could feel everything. It was all so vivid,
and suddenly it was gone.
And he felt tears on his face, and Dice was looking at him worriedly.
“Hey, hey,” Dice came closer, pulling Gentaro in gently. “Are you okay?”
Gentaro let himself be held as he cried. He didn’t fully understand why he was crying. The sudden vision was happy, but it was almost like the emotion was too much for him to handle. An unexpectedly powerful sob ripped through him when he remembered how Dice’s hand felt when their child turned around to smile at them, and Dice rubbed his back a little more firmly.
Eventually the tears stopped flowing, and Gentaro felt a little less like he’d seen too much into his future. It was barely a glimpse. Gentaro wanted to see more.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing his nose rather ungracefully with the back of his hand. “What… What did you ask me?”
“What? ‘S not important.” Dice frowned. “Why were you crying? Did something happen?”
“I…” Gentaro shook his head. He didn’t want to make things weird. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“You were crying—”
“And now I’m not.” Gentaro’s eyes fell to countertop just behind Dice, where one of the packages of meat was discarded. “Meat goes in the freezer, Dice.”
Reluctantly, Dice went back to putting things away. And Gentaro went back to reflecting on what he’d just seen. It was completely odd, but probably nothing to be concerned about. As long as it didn’t happen again, he wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.
二
Gentaro woke with a start.
His heart was pounding, and he felt like he was shaking, and every fiber of his being ached like the half of his soul he was missing was what was pouring down his face.
It’d happened again.
It’d been happening a lot, recently. The visions just weren’t willing to leave him alone, and he was almost wondering if he should try to see a doctor about it. Not like a doctor would believe him, really. And Dice didn’t really know what was going on. He didn’t ask. But somehow he always knew how to make Gentaro feel better. He always knew everything. They were perfectly in tune. The more Gentaro noticed it, the worse the visions got. There wasn’t any scientific explanation for having the visions Gentaro had, so he figured maybe the only professional he’d be able to see was some sort of psychic. But psychics were hoaxes, weren’t they?
For some reason, that thought made Gentaro cry even harder. Was he psychic? Was he a hoax? Was everything he’d been seeing about his future just made up? Just wishful thinking? But it’d felt real —Dice felt real in those visions. Gentaro didn’t want any of it to be just a product of his imagination. Maybe that was why he always ended up feeling awful when he was thrown back into the present. Maybe they were fake, and Gentaro couldn’t physically deal with it.
But this one was so nice. In the dream, Gentaro had been working late into the night. He couldn’t really tell what time it was, but he’d been combing through his manuscript for hours, searching carefully for any inaccuracies. He was sure there’d been a gaping plot hole somewhere, or maybe a gun that hadn’t been fired, but he’d been thinking about it for days and always came up with nothing.
Dice had entered the room, saying something to him that Gentaro couldn’t recall exactly. He was probably telling him to come to bed, leave the book for tomorrow. An offer for Dice himself to look through it if it really was that pressing.
“Just a little longer,” Gentaro had said, “and then I’ll go to sleep.”
“You know she doesn’t like it when you’re still sleeping while she’s getting ready for school.” Dice had been much closer that time, right behind Gentaro.
Gentaro had only a vague idea of who “she” was. She’d been mentioned in numerous visions, yet never by name, and Gentaro felt like maybe he’d seen her before. He couldn’t remember.
He had felt Dice’s hands on his shoulders, then, slowly rubbing out the tension. “You’re working so hard lately.”
“Market’s tough,” was all Gentaro had to offer.
There had been quiet, then, for a few moments. Dice had been humming when Gentaro had returned to rereading. He had been scrolling but not quite paying attention, Dice’s massage making him feel a lot sleepier than he had been originally.
“You know we don’t need the money,” Dice had said, softly, when Gentaro finally decided to close out his writing program.
And then it’d been over, and then Gentaro was waking up with the worst headache he’d ever had.
There was so much there that Gentaro didn’t even know where to begin. He couldn’t even find a timeline for all of these visions. Some of them took place in their current apartment, while others took place in another. Gentaro felt old in some, but nothing in others. “She” was mentioned in a few, but completely absent in most.
It was beginning to make Gentaro’s head spin.
“Hey, you good?” Dice sounded like he was only half-awake, but he was sitting up, slinging an arm around Gentaro’s shoulders. “C’mere.”
Gentaro was quick to obey. Actually feeling Dice with him tended to make the dreadful feeling subside. His warmth and his scent and his heartbeat did wonders for Gentaro’s wellbeing. It was like magic, almost.
“What’s wrong?” Dice asked, gently as usual, carding his fingers through Gentaro’s hair. “Bad dream?”
Gentaro didn’t really have any words. It wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t really a dream either. It was so good, so sweet, yet he couldn’t stop crying.
“I’m okay,” he settled on saying.
Dice sighed. “You’ve been crying a lot lately. I know you think I don’t notice, but I do, and you’re not really okay, are you?”
It felt like a stab in the heart. Caught in a lie after so long. And with Dice, of all people.
“I can’t tell you,” Gentaro said. He tried to inject his usual tone back into his voice, but no matter what, he still sounded tired. Exhausted.
“‘M not gonna laugh at you or anything.” Dice squeezed Gentaro a little tighter. “I love you lots. I know I’m a little bit of a dumbass, but I wanna help if I can.”
“A little bit?” Gentaro laughed emptily. “I—I can’t tell you right now. I’m sorry.”
“Okay, whatever.” Dice sounded slightly annoyed, but Gentaro couldn’t focus on it for long enough to feel bad. “Just tell me when you can.”
It felt like hours had passed before Gentaro finally stopped crying. He should have felt even more tired, but somehow, he felt somewhat… renewed? Like the vision had actually rejuvenated him, and all it took was a half hour of agonizing emptiness.
“What time is it?” Gentaro asked, wiping his cheeks with the heel of his hand as he pulled away.
Dice stretched to reach his phone. The display seemed to light up the entire room, making the tall bookcases seem like trees in a dense wood. That was an interesting concept. An interesting setting. A forest of bookcases… Perhaps Gentaro would have to work that into a story sometime, or right now—
“Four in the morning.” Dice huffed. “Too goddamn early.”
Right. It was four in the morning. It wasn’t like Gentaro hadn’t gotten up to write at odd hours before, but he really didn’t want to make Dice worry about him any more.
“I’m sorry,” Gentaro said, settling back down with Dice amongst the pillows. They really had too many. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“And what? You were just gonna cry by yourself?”
Gentaro flinched. It hurt when he put it that way.
“...It’s okay.” Dice leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to Gentaro’s lips. “Just sleep well this time, got it?”
For the first time in a few days, Gentaro fell asleep without any intense visions interrupting him. Even if it was only for a few hours, it was enough.
三
The timing of the visions became worse each time Gentaro had them.
It was fine when he could predict them. There were certain moments he could feel one coming on, and he knew that as long as he didn’t look at Dice for too long, the feeling would pass. And then he knew they would come to him in dreams if he avoided them while he was awake, but then something upped the frequency, and he couldn’t avoid them no matter how hard he tried.
On the bright side, some of the visions had started to repeat themselves. If Gentaro knew what was going to happen, he could almost speed them up. He didn’t necessarily want to, since all of the visions were so incredibly pleasant, but sometimes he had to. Because he couldn’t afford to cry while talking to a cashier or eating lunch with Ramuda or anywhere near Dice anymore.
Gentaro didn’t know what he was supposed to do on that front. The visions had been coming for almost a year now, but Dice was still just as persistent about wanting to know what was going on. It felt weird to talk about, though. It felt weird just to admit it to himself. They had to be authentic visions, but he didn’t want to change the future by telling Dice about their future life together and potentially freaking him out. Or worse—he’d tell Dice about the visions, and they’d both have to work towards making them happen. Gentaro didn’t want his life to feel like a play, where every movement was being directed.
It wouldn’t feel real, then. It wouldn’t be authentic.
What did feel real was the vision he had when Dice had stepped out just now. It was only for a moment, just a split second of taking out the trash.
But Gentaro felt like hours had passed—in that short amount of time, he had nearly experienced a full wedding. He’d gone through all the motions, even cried at the altar. Dice had wiped his tears away so gently, giving him the softest kisses they’d ever shared. And it was really small, too. Not many people showed up, likely because neither of them had many friends, and it wasn’t like their families would approve. Well, Gentaro’s family was dead, so it was really just Dice’s family that wouldn’t approve.
But they had a nice time at their tiny wedding. They got to drink as much as they wanted and didn’t have to worry too much about making sure everyone was thoroughly entertained. The last thing Gentaro saw before being thrown back into the present was Dice’s face, smiling at him in the moonlight, spilling harshly stitched together words about how much he loved him.
“Gentaro!”
He turned at the sound of his name, seeing Dice in the doorway looking absolutely terrified. Gentaro didn’t notice how hard he had started crying, didn’t notice his hand clutching his chest and nearly tearing the fabric of his shirt open. Dice was by his side in an instant.
“You need to tell me what happened. Now,” he said firmly. “What’s going on?”
Gentaro’s words caught in his throat, coming out more like strangled gasps than anything else. He could only shake his head. Dice moved to start prying Gentaro’s hands from where they were knotted up in his clothes, but Gentaro shied away involuntarily.
“I’m serious. I know you’re hiding something.”
Gentaro froze up.
“You promised me you wouldn’t hide anything anymore. You promised me! You said no more lying, no more games, no more tricks.” Dice huffed. “And now you are! For months. Months! What the fuck can’t you tell me about?”
He still couldn’t move. Couldn’t move or speak or breathe or even think, really, and Dice was looking more and more hurt as the silence went on, and then he was grabbing his keys and putting on his jacket and heading towards the door.
“I’m going for a walk,” he said, rather roughly. “Call me when you’re ready to stop lying.”
“No, wait!” Gentaro shouted, surprised that his voice finally showed up. “No—Wait, Dice, I—I love you—”
Dice scoffed at him, rolling his eyes and slamming the door shut.
And Gentaro was alone.
And he really felt it. Like a chunk had been blown out of his chest. He felt his senses coming back to him, and it hurt, and he didn’t know what else to do besides sit at their low table and wait. Surely, Dice would come back on his own, right? Gentaro would just have to be patient.
He opened his eyes, not even realizing he had fallen asleep. His back ached, having been hunched over the table, and when he tried to sit up, something slipped off his shoulders. He reached for it, finding the familiar feeling of Dice’s jacket. Gentaro had this vision before. He was sick in this vision. He knew this chill. He knew he would look over, and Dice would be in the kitchen.
And he would say, “Hey.”
And he set down whatever he was using—this time, Gentaro could see that he’d been stirring a pot on the stove—and he kneeled down next to Gentaro. He readjusted the jacket on Gentaro’s shoulders.
“Probably should have gotten you a blanket, huh?” Dice asked, and that was strange, because usually Gentaro could never understand what Dice said here. He never had this much coherence in visions before.
“Is this a vision?” Gentaro vaguely felt like asking would be violating some sort of unknown vision rule, but maybe it would be like a dream and cause him to wake up.
“What are you talking about?” Dice placed his hand on Gentaro’s forehead. “You’ve gotta be sicker than I thought.”
“What?” Gentaro swatted Dice’s hand away. That had never happened in this vision before.
“Hey, don’t hit me! I’m tryna help.” Dice frowned. “I came back because I was being a dick. But you were asleep, so I went to go wake you up, but your skin was all hot. I think you’ve got a fever.”
“What year is it? What point in time are we in?” Gentaro asked hurriedly. If this was a vision, then he wanted to get some sort of clue onto whether or not his imagined timeline was right. “Is this real? Am I having a vision?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Dice’s lips quirked up a little, like he was trying his best not to laugh. “A couple of hours ago, you were crying, and then I left because you weren’t saying anything. Because I’m an asshole. And you’re a little bitch who can’t be honest with yourself.”
So… So it was real. The visions… All of them were real. They had to be. How else could Gentaro have experienced this before?
He must have looked confused because soon Dice’s hand was on his shoulder. “Hey, take it easy. I’m sorry I kinda abandoned you when you needed me. I don’t really get you, still, but I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
“It’s okay,” Gentaro said. “I’m sorry everything’s complicated.”
“Don’t worry. I trust you.” Dice pressed a kiss to Gentaro’s forehead, so loving that Gentaro felt like he could have died right then and been okay with it. “Ow, you’re really burning up. I’m making soup, so hopefully that helps.”
“Wow, I can’t believe I have such a hot nurse.” Gentaro pulled Dice’s jacket closer around him as Dice returned to the kitchen. “Ah… that was a lie.”
“You callin’ me ugly? After I said all that shit to you!”
“No, I believe it was just a little too bold of me to even joke that you could get through medical school.”
“That’s…” Dice let the spoon he had brandished return to its normal duties. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
The blurry feeling was finally starting to fade away, and Gentaro felt like he was truly living and not just remembering a nice memory anymore. That was comforting. So incredibly comforting.
四
“Okay, done!” Dice pushed the laptop across the table towards Gentaro, chest puffed out. He smirked a little cartoonishly, like Gentaro was about to walk right into a trap. “You gotta read the whole thing. Out loud.”
“Why? Forgot how to read?” Gentaro asked, eyebrow quirked.
“No! I just…” Dice trailed off, losing the brashness he had before. “I wanna see how you’ll react.”
Gentaro smiled, feeling soft all over again. His eyes fell to the laptop. Right, Dice had decided to write a story just for Gentaro. The title was in capitals at the top of the word processor: THE DICE ARISUGAWA AND GENTARO YUMENO STORY. Stupid. Stupidly charming.
“Okay, I’ll begin.” Gentaro scrolled down past the title page, an oddly large font that Gentaro could hardly read. “‘Once upon a time, there were two dudes…’” A pause. “Dice, are you asking me to read this, or are you asking for my literary advice? Am I supposed to revise this?”
“N-No revisions! Just read it! All the way through.” Dice wasn’t looking at Gentaro, fumbling with his phone or something instead.
Gentaro continued, trying his best not to laugh when Dice’s lack of tact really shone. It was a fruitless endeavor, ultimately, as some parts were just too Dice for Gentaro not to laugh at. He could tell Dice was completely serious as he wrote, but it read like a comedy. It was charming, so charming, and Gentaro really did enjoy reading it.
The story essentially followed their own story, true to the name. Two men who didn’t really have anything to do with each other brought together under circumstance, the little things they did for each other that resulted in them getting together. Ramuda’s hilarious reaction to being the last person to find out about it. Even their fights were depicted, when Gentaro’s visions were at their worst, and Dice didn’t know what Gentaro needed, and Gentaro himself didn’t even know what he needed.
Even the tender make up afterwards was there, and Gentaro finally understood how Dice had felt after the whole ordeal. It was one of the only times Dice’s words flowed nicely.
“‘Dice felt relief like he hadn’t ever before. He’d finally found the last piece to the puzzle of Gentaro, and it’d been deep within his chest the entire time. And now the whole thing was in his arms, and for once, he didn’t feel confused, or like he had to second guess himself. He knew the right thing to do, and he was doing it.’” Gentaro paused for a second, peering over the top of the laptop screen at Dice’s face. “That’s… That’s really nice. I think that might have been one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read.”
“Keep going!” Dice said, face red. “You’re almost at the end.”
Gentaro laughed a little. He wasn’t sure how Dice was going to even end the story, when their relationship wasn’t even close to ending. And if it was some sort of convoluted way to break up with Gentaro, then how could he be mad? It obviously had a lot of thought behind it, and, with some editing, wouldn’t be a bad piece of literature. But he supposed that was his author side getting to him—his true self would probably cry if it ended in a break-up. Especially after… after all those visions. Gentaro wasn’t sure if he’d continue living.
“‘And after all that, Dice gave his pride and joy to Gentaro for him to read. And Gentaro read it carefully, and at the end, he closed the laptop. And Dice said…’” Gentaro scrolled down, but there weren’t any more pages to scroll through. “It isn’t finished.”
“We have to get to that part. Read it again!”
“‘...and at the end, he closed the laptop. And Dice said…’” Gentaro shut the lid, and his eyes fell upon Dice’s hands on the table, closed around a small box.
For once, Dice was looking straight at him. He still looked frazzled, cheeks flushed and a little bit like he was going to cry.
And Dice said, “Marry me?”
Gentaro felt like his heart had stopped, like everything going on in his body had completely come to a halt, and there was nothing he could do about it. There were tears falling down his cheeks, and he could hardly process that Dice was talking again.
“Y-You don’t have to!” Dice was fidgeting now. “I dunno, I thought it’d be cute or something. But you don’t gotta say yes or anything if you hate it or if you hate me or—”
Gentaro reached across the table to take Dice’s hands in his. “Of course I will. God, Dice, that’s all I’ve wanted.”
“Hey, don’t cry! Don’t cry.” Dice pulled his hands away, wiping at his face. “Y-You’re making me cry! You can’t say yes until you see the ring.”
“That’s not going to change my answer!”
Gentaro stood, circling the table so he could sit beside Dice instead. Dice wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. He opened the ring box and shared it with Gentaro like it was a secret.
“How did you…” Gentaro watched in awe as Dice slipped the ring onto his finger. It was a silver band with a small emerald in the center, catching the light no matter how it turned. “Dice, how did you do this?”
“Ahhh, I dunno.” Dice didn’t let go of Gentaro’s hand, admiring the ring himself. “I kinda won big a little bit ago. I was gonna buy us something nice, y’know? Like a couch or a giant TV, but then… I dunno. I wanted this instead. I bought it as soon as I could so I wouldn’t be tempted to use the money for something else. I love you, so it wasn’t hard.”
“I love you, too,” Gentaro said, and he was glad that finally, finally he was crying because of Dice with no reason to worry. “Forever and always.”
五
Gentaro woke up feeling incredibly soft.
He knew it’d only last for a few minutes, but he was perfectly content lying there for a little longer, enjoying the feeling of Dice’s arms wrapped securely around his waist. Dice was shifting a bit, having woken up to the same alarm. He squeezed Gentaro tight, mumbling something or other into his back.
“G’morning,” Dice said again as he let go. “You can stay in bed for a little longer if you wanna.”
“Shouldn’t you be the one resting up?” Gentaro asked. He leaned forward and properly greeted Dice with a kiss before he stood. “You were out late last night, didn’t you?”
“So did you,” Dice scoffed. “Just because you’re at home every day doesn’t mean you’re not working.”
Gentaro waved him off. “A casino is more tiring than this apartment no matter what you’re doing.”
“She’s gonna say good morning to me first anyway!” Dice was racing for the bedroom door in an attempt to beat Gentaro there. “She always does! Because I’m the best! She loves me!”
“Not so fast!” Gentaro shouldered Dice out of the way and started sprinting towards their daughter’s room.
Right. Things had settled down extremely fast after their marriage. Fling Posse, as a battle group, began to fade out of style as they grew older. Ramuda had the fantastic idea of simply passing down the legacy, handpicking three others to be Fling Posse:re. Their popularity picked up easily, and the three former battlers were able to lay low. To make a life outside of battling.
It’d certainly been a process when they decided to adopt a child. Gentaro was sure it only happened because of how well known he and Dice were. If it weren’t for that… If it weren’t for that, they’d never have been able to meet Mizu.
That was her name. Mizu. After two straight years of vision after vision, Gentaro never learned her name until she was sitting right in front of them. As he went through his life, he found himself more and more comforted each time a vision scenario had appeared. He’d mentioned it to Dice offhandedly, but Dice didn’t pay it much mind. Unless he did and just didn’t know how to react to it, which was a very real possibility as well.
Dice got to Mizu’s room first, waiting rather animatedly for Gentaro to catch up. Mizu was already dressed for school and sat patiently at her desk chair. She eyed the two of them.
“Good morning, chichiue.” She almost smirked when she said it, in a way that reminded Gentaro very much of Dice.
Gentaro laughed when Dice yelled. “Ahh… Looks like Papa’s a sore loser. Good morning, Mizu.”
The rest of the morning was just as chaotic. Mornings always were. Mizu had only just started first grade, and neither Dice nor Gentaro really remembered how proper morning routines were supposed to go. They’d spent the summer going to bed late and waking up late, and readjusting to an early bird schedule was just… a mess.
But they made it through. Somehow, they always made it through.
They walked Mizu to school together every single morning. Well, it had only been two weeks of mornings so far, but Gentaro was sure they’d end up doing it for at least a few weeks longer. It wasn’t that Mizu didn’t know the way; she was extremely intelligent with a fantastic memory (that Dice hated sometimes, especially when all of his surprises were spoiled). It was just that the two of them, really, were afraid of letting her go by herself.
He walked by Dice’s side that morning, letting Mizu walk in front of them for once. She liked to act like she was leading them places, sometimes. It was really cute. Gentaro adored it.
He felt… oddly refreshed that morning. Maybe it was something about his body getting adjusted to the new sleep schedule. Maybe it was something about the fragrant spring breeze. Maybe it was because Dice was laughing so purely that it sounded like bells, and—
And Gentaro had been here before. This was the first thing he’d ever seen. He hadn’t lived through a vision in so long that he thought he’d gotten through them, but… But here he was.
It felt like the last puzzle piece had fallen into place. That must have been what Dice talked about in that silly book all those years ago. Gentaro felt complete, felt whole, felt like everything had aligned perfectly for this moment.
Mizu didn’t cry that morning when she ran into school. Gentaro and Dice left her at the gate, and she ran in without a second glance. Gentaro didn’t even realize he was holding a breath until he let it out, and Dice took his chin in his hand and tilted Gentaro’s face towards him.
“Hey, babe.” He smiled, looking incredibly soft against the cherry blossom background. “We did good.”
They shared a kiss, brief but sweet.
And Gentaro was struck with new inspiration for a love story.