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When Kouki heard the melody of a guitar down the hallway, he felt his day brighten up just a little.
The hallway was quiet and located at a relatively more isolated sector of campus, letting the warming chords of an acoustic guitar wash over to his ears.
“As we gather treasure, a cloud of dust hits us from in the attic…”
Simple, light-hearted lyrics carried by a sweet, youthful voice. It was nothing of a national choir standard or the calibre of a record label song, but be it the elegant simplicity or the accumulated stress from today, Kouki felt drawn in by the song.
He paced down the hallway, following the source of the sound. He had volunteered to look for batteries for the metronome in the choir practice room, but knowing that song and everything about it was so much more important to him in that moment.
Three weeks ago, he signed up to join his university’s choir club. Three weeks later, he was already beginning to question his decision. The metronome in their club room was just there to gather dust anyway. If Kouki had wanted to sing, to enjoy music, then he was better off chasing this song he didn’t even know the title of, rather than return to the club room and waste his time.
As Kouki approached the end of the hallway, the sound of the song grew louder, until it was clear that it was coming from behind the door to third general purpose room.
“—I wrote your name again and again…”
Kouki placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened with a soft click.
“Hey, before we forget, let’s take the memories between us—W-WHAA!”
Kouki got startled as a loud voice yelped once he stepped into the room. He cringed as everything he liked about what he heard walking down the hallway collapsed into a tangle of the abrupt rasp of all six guitar strings and the clatter of furniture.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you,” Kouki apologized, opening the door wider.
“A-ah! No, it’s fine!”
Kouki’s eyes met with that of a young man, probably one a first or second-year student, seated on a plastic folding chair facing the doorway. Judging by how casually he was seated, cross-legged with his shoes off and legs on the chair, he clearly wasn’t expecting any guests.
“Am…I disturbing you?” Kouki asked slowly, afraid that he had given the student too much of a shock to continue playing.
“No, you’re not!” the student shook his head. His voice was bright and lively, and definitely suited to what he had been singing earlier. He lifted the guitar off his legs to set them down on the floor so he was sitting properly.
“Ow, ow, ow!” the student suddenly yelped again, wincing as his hand went to his thigh. “Pins and needles, pins and needles…”
“Are you alright?” Kouki’s brows creased with worry as he approached the student.
The student shot out his palm towards Kouki in a stop gesture. “Yeah, yeah! Don’t sweat it.”
“Oh, okay then.”
“Anyway, uh, how can I help you?” the student lifted his head, grinning at Kouki. His hair and eyes were almost the same colour, Kouki noted. It was the colour of fallen autumn leaves that were left basking in sunlight on the ground for too long. Not faded enough to be of a dull brown, but not vibrant enough to be of a flaming red.
Keep playing that song seemed like a bit of a reach, especially to someone Kouki had just met. Anyway, this stranger looked too bothered by the ants in his legs to keep playing comfortably.
“The song you were playing just now was lovely,” Kouki said, and he meant it.
“Really?” the student’s face instantly brightened up upon hearing Kouki’s compliment. Kouki had never seen anyone grin this broadly. “You liked it?”
“I did. Is it something you wrote?”
The student nodded eagerly. “Yeah! It was some time ago, though. It’s kind of embarrassing…”
“Why?” Kouki tilted his head. “I think it’s a really nice song. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I mean, it’s something I wrote a while back, and looking back maybe I can still work on some parts a bit more. But it was fun, writing it and all!” the student gave Kouki a curious look. “Wait, did you really come all the way here to tell me this?”
“Well, maybe?” Kouki replied thoughtfully. “I just happened to be passing by, and I heard you play, so I decided to come take a look…”
“Where’d you come from?”
“The choir club room.”
“Ooh,” the student drew out his reply in an awed sound. “So you’re supposed to have practice now?”
“Yes,” Kouki admitted. “But we’re not really doing anything at the moment. I was supposed to look for batteries for our metronome, but honestly, that can wait.”
“Aww, you’re a bit of a rebellious kid, aren’t you?” the student said in a childishly teasing tone.
Kouki chuckled. “Maybe. How about you?”
“Waiting for a friend. But they won’t finish their stuff so soon,” the student leaned forward. “Do you want to join me for a bit?”
“It’d be a pleasure.”
“Cool!” the student threw his arms up enthusiastically. Kouki walked over and took a seat on the plastic folding chair across from the student.
“What’s your name?” Kouki asked.
“Ohara Sora!” the student named Sora lifted up his hand and drew characters in the air. “It’s written with ‘large’, ‘field’ and ‘sky’. How about you?”
“I’m Etou Kouki,” Kouki copied Sora and began writing his name in the air as well. It’s written with the characters for ‘protection’, ‘wisteria’, ‘rise’ and ‘radiance’.”
“Wait, wait, that’s way too many strokes!” Sora groaned. He gave a lopsided frown as he tried air-writing Kouki’s name. “How many radicals does ‘protection’ even have?”
Kouki smiled. “You don’t have to remember how it’s written if you don’t want to.”
“I’d probably mess up your name if I had to write something to you!” Sora sighed. “Your name’s really nice.”
“So is yours, Ohara-san.”
“Ohara-san,” Sora puffed his cheeks. “That sounds way too formal. Only the adults call me that.”
“We’ll be adults next year too, you know.”
“Don’t remind me!” Sora pouted. “Anyway, just call me Sora. Everyone does.”
“Okay. Sora then,” Kouki said. Sora propped his arms on the table between them, resting his chin on his forearm. He looked up at Kouki.
“What year are you in?” Sora asked.
“I’m a first-year.”
“Oh, me too,” Sora smiled. “Can I call you by your first name then, if that’s okay with you?”
“Sure,” Kouki nodded. “My friends call me Kou.”
“Kou,” Sora repeated the name back. “Like, uh, Kou-san…?”
Kouki chuckled. “They use ‘-kun’ with me.”
“Kou-kun!” Sora beamed as he sat right back up. “Yeah, that sounds better. It suits you more, too!”
“Does it?”
“Mmhmm,” Sora nodded. “Today’s a great day. I met somebody nice and he said he liked my music.”
Kouki took a glance at Sora’s acoustic guitar. There was a sticker of a cartoon dog stuck to its side. “I meant it when I said that. I really like it.”
“Kou-kun, you’re going to make me blush,” Sora laughed shyly. “It’s not that big of a deal, really. I just write songs for fun.”
“But they’re nice,” Kouki said. “Does that song you played just now have a name?”
“It’s called ‘We Might As Well Become the Wind Now’,” Sora picked up his guitar again, this time crossing his leg and letting it rest on his knee. “The title’s in the chorus. Want to hear it?”
Kouki smiled. “I’d love to.”
Sora strummed a couple of chords experimentally, before he began to sing.
“We might as well become the wind now; just take off your sweat-soaked shirt…”
Kouki closed his eyes, letting himself sink into Sora’s music and voice. Even within the four walls of the general-purpose room up inside a campus building, he could feel the summer breeze and the youthful sounds it brought with it. He remembered middle school and high school, of watching the sports teams practice out in the field in the tireless heat of the day, shouts and cheers filling the humid air.
But even as his eyes were closed, he could still see Ohara Sora in his mind, singing happily as he strummed his acoustic guitar with a dog sticker stuck to its side. This was the music that the student named Ohara Sora wrote, and the music that lead Kouki to him.
That day, Etou Kouki forgot about the choir club and the rest of the world as Sora turned him into one with the wind in that moment.
“ Bye-bye, see you soon; your tears fall just like petals down your smiling face…”
“Sora, I think that’s the 12th time I caught you singing that song today.”
Sora looked up, meeting the eyes of Morihito behind his framed glasses.
“Is that bad?” Sora mumbled from where his face was resting on his forearms.
“Not at all,” Morihito mused as he resumed packing his things. Lecture had just ended and students were already filing out from the lecture theatre. “It’s just unusual. Of all the songs you wrote, you used to sing that one the least because you’d always cry halfway.”
“That’s ‘cause it’s sad,” Sora said. “You agreed with me.”
“Yes, I did and I still do,” Morihito said evenly, giving Sora a sympathetic smile. “Like I said, it’s just a little odd for you to be singing this song so frequently now. Actually, just all the songs you wrote in high school in general.”
“I just revisited them a little, that’s all,” Sora explained as he sat back up, closing his notebook.
He hadn’t seen Kouki in a while. After they met for the first time in the general-purpose room, Kouki asked if they could meet up just to share music together, and Sora agreed. They decided to meet on the afternoons when Kouki had choir practice. Kouki was concerned about Sora having to bring his guitar all the way to school, but Sora didn’t mind.
Sora liked hanging out with Kouki. They only saw each other twice a week, but he looked forward to their meetings. Kouki would usually come in about 15 minutes after his practice started, and would stay about an hour and a half until his friends turned up for practice and he’d return to join them. Sometimes, Sora would share with him the songs he wrote and perform them for Kouki. Occasionally, Kouki brought original pieces written by his senior from the choir club and asked Sora to play them. Most of the time, they just talked.
But Sora hadn’t met Kouki for about a week now. He didn’t know why, but Kouki stopped turning up. He didn’t have Kouki’s contact either, so he was left hanging wondering what had happened. It had only been a fairly short amount of time since Sora had last seen Kouki, but he was already beginning to miss their meetings.
Sora packed up his things on his table, systematically chucking his stationery into his pencil case one by one. He turned around to keep his pencil case in his backpack. As he did, his gaze gleaned past the window, and he did a double-take.
There, walking outside towards the school entrance, was Etou Kouki.
Sora didn’t even hesitate. The thought that the person he saw might not even be who he was looking for didn’t hit him at all. He snatched up his backpack and let his feet take off towards the door.
“Sora? Sora!” Morihito called out from behind.
Sora kept running. He ran down the corridor as fast as he could, and basically flew down the staircase, almost bumping into a couple of students. He was lucky that their lecture theatre was on the second floor.
Sora practically sprinted out of the school building. He slowly came to a halt at the doorway, looking around quickly. He panted, his eyes scanning the groups of students outside, until he saw a familiar head of golden hair.
“Kou-kun!” Sora dashed towards the figure. “Kou-kun!”
As Sora ran closer, the person turned around. Sora had never felt more relieved and happier that the person he called out to was just the person he was looking for.
“Sora?” Kouki was surprised as Sora ran up to him, drawing to an abrupt stop about a couple of arm lengths away from him. Sora was breathless, bending down and grabbing his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
“Kou, do you know him?” an unfamiliar voice piped up, addressing Kouki.
“Yes,” Kouki replied. Sora heard footsteps approach him. “Sora, are you okay? Do you want something to drink?”
“Kou-kun!” Sora wailed as he whipped his head up, grabbing Kouki by the elbows. “Kou-kun, I missed you!”
“I’m sorry,” Kouki apologized, though he sounded clearly surprised by the sudden outburst. “Some things happened and I couldn’t be there, but I basically quit the choir club. I was intending to tell you tomorrow when we were supposed to meet.”
“Thank God I managed to catch you!” Sora exclaimed dramatically. “We should have exchanged Line IDs or something!”
“Yes, we should have,” Kouki agreed quietly.
“You owe me a drink!” Sora frowned. He let go of Kouki’s elbows, but gave him a light punch in the forearm as an afterthought. “And your Line ID.”
“Ah, cool!” the student who was walking next to Kouki remarked in a cheerful tone. He had straight dark hair and smiling bright eyes. “That’s some way to get someone’s Line ID, huh?”
Sora felt his cheeks warm up instantly. “W-w-what?”
“Ken,” Kouki gingerly smiled at his companion. “It’s not like that. He’s the one I talk to and share music with.”
“Ooh,” the student named Ken looked both interested and impressed. He gave Sora a good look. “So you’re the one that’s good in music!”
Sora blinked. “Uh, I guess?”
The student laughed. “You guess! Kou said you’re really good. My name’s Yaegashi Kensuke, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too!” Sora smiled. “I’m Ohara Sora.”
“Sora!” a voice called out from behind. Sora turned around, catching Morihito running up towards them, looking frazzled.
“Ah, Mori!” Sora realized that he had dashed off leaving Morihito in the lecture theatre. “I’m so sorry!”
“Well, tell me before you go running off on your own like that,” Morihito gave Sora a small smile as Sora clapped his hands together and let out another apology.
“Yo, Mori!” Kensuke waved at Morihito.
Kouki looked at Kensuke, then back at Morihito. “Ken, do you two know each other?”
“Mmhmm,” Kensuke nodded. “We’re in the student union together.”
Kouki looked understandably fairly surprised, however Sora took the revelation a bit differently.
“Mori!” Sora began pummelling Morihito’s forearm. Morihito winced though Sora’s punches barely had any real strength in them. “You could’ve told me you knew someone who knew Kou-kun so I wouldn’t have been this stressed!”
“Sora, you’re going to give me a bruise,” Morihito flinched as Sora grudgingly stopped hitting him. “I didn’t know you were stressed about that.”
“Stressed about what?” Kensuke asked innocently. He glanced at Kouki. “About not meeting Kou ever again?”
“Yes!” Sora spluttered out, much to Morihito and Kouki’s surprise. The word had just spilt out from Sora’s mouth without much thought, but as Sora let the moment sink in, he realized how his response must have sounded.
“U-uh, I mean,” Sora hastily corrected himself, feeling his cheeks grow warm again. “I-I just didn’t get Kou-kun’s contact then, so, um…”
“But you have my contact now, right?” Kouki placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder reassuringly. Sora felt his himself relax at Kouki’s comforting touch.
Kensuke laughed. “Geez, Kou. You should have just done that from the start.”
“I really should have, since we did end up leaving the choir club,” Kouki said. He turned to Sora. “Even so, let’s keep in touch, alright? We can still meet up, though maybe not in the general-purpose room anymore.”
Morihito gave Sora a quizzical look. “You two have been meeting in a general-purpose room?”
“It’s a long story!” Sora threw Morihito a vague explanation, before giving Kouki an affirmative nod. “Let’s keep in touch. Message me, okay? Don’t leave me hanging for like a week again!”
Kouki gave Sora a gentle smile and nodded. “Okay. I’ll message you properly this time.”
Kensuke let out a low ‘whoo’ sound from his lips. “That’s cute.”
“I’ll have to go now, Sora,” Kouki said. He gave Sora a wave. “I’ll contact you soon.”
“Mm,” Sora nodded and returned an energetic wave. Morihito exchanged goodbyes with Kensuke as well, and they both watched as Kouki and Kensuke walked away, past the school entrance and into the distance.
Sora didn’t know why, but he felt as though his spirits had been lifted entirely. He didn’t expect that meeting Kouki again like this, purely by chance and luck, would make him this happy. Kouki was just a friend whom he got to know shy of a month ago, and yet Sora felt something tug at his heart whenever he talked to Kouki.
Then Sora realized. Kouki would always listen to him play his guitar or ask him about the stories behind his songs. He was someone who was drawn into Sora’s world through his music, and allowed to sit next to him and bask in the force of nature the melodies he wrote brought about, yet Sora thought he knew next to nothing about him.
As the gentle wind sighed and tousled Sora’s hair, he hoped that his thoughts would take flight together with the falling leaves that were being carried by the breeze.
I want to know more about you.
Sora distinctly remembered spending his high school summers catching up on movies, hanging out in the arcade and going out to play almost every day before rushing all his homework two days before the last day of summer break. But those were his high school days. He was a university student now, and he was determined to make his first summer as a university student different.
Will you be free next week? Kouki had messaged Sora. Ken, Ryou and I are planning a trip.
Yeah! Sora excitedly typed out a reply. I’ll be free. I want to go!
Since properly exchanging Line IDs with Kouki, Sora got to talk and hang out more with Kouki. Sometimes they hung out in school and Sora would bring his acoustic guitar to jam out. Kouki would invite Sora over to his place for a meal, which was when Sora sometimes got to meet Kouki’s friends Kensuke and Ryouta. Occasionally, Sora’s own friends Morihito and Soushi would tag along. Most of the time, though, it was Kouki’s senior from the choir club who had also quit the club. Fujimura Mamoru was a little older than them, but his awkwardly friendly disposition made him approachable. He was entranced when Sora told him he wrote music, and they quickly got along after bonding over their original compositions.
It had been a few months since they all met and became friends, but this summer trip would be the first time they would be hanging out as a group. They had rented a chalet by the beach for three nights, which was complete with a barbeque pit and outdoor picnic benches. They arrived at the chalet in the early afternoon together, and the size of the first floor resolved any worries about the place not being spacious enough.
“Whoa, this chalet is huge!” Sora commented. He looked around. “The kitchen’s big, too!”
“There’s no point in having a big chalet if there aren’t enough beds,” Ryouta remarked.
“Beds?” Sora blinked. “Are we not all sleeping together in the living room? I mean, we all brought sleeping bags, right?”
“That’s actually a good idea!” Kensuke enthused. “It’ll be like a summer camp.”
“Summer camp? What are we, middle schoolers?” Ryouta said, but didn’t object.
Though they had not planned their activities ahead, they managed to have fun with whatever idea anybody suggested. They mostly played at the beach, normally having a few friendly matches in beach volleyball. They had curry for dinner on the first night, which they all managed to finish the entire pot of. They prepared for a barbeque in the evening on the second day.
“Can we invite Ren and Nozomu?” Soushi asked as they were preparing the food. “We bought a lot of food, and they’re having summer break now, so…”
Kensuke looked up from slicing some meat. “Ren and Nozomu?”
“They’re our juniors from our high school,” Morihito explained. “We played in a band back then, so we still keep in touch.”
“We’ve got lots of food, so why not,” Kouki said.
It was still bright out when they began barbequing the food. There was no sign of the sun setting any time soon, but it was still lively nonetheless. Soushi and Ryouta were given the duty of cooking the meat after losing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Kensuke got the biggest pot they could find in the kitchen and decided to make fruit punch in it. Mamoru, amusingly, was dozing off on one of the picnic benches.
“Sorry, are we late?” a loud, familiar voice suddenly burst out.
“Nozomu, Ren!” Sora greeted his two juniors enthusiastically, jumping to fun and running to greet them with a hug. Nozomu grinned and ran forward to accept his embrace, while Ren hung back until he was dragged into the hug as well.
“Sora-senpai, please tell me there’s food,” Nozomu murmured as Sora squeezed them tightly. “I’m starving.”
“There’s plenty of food, don’t worry,” Morihito chuckled as he approached them with two plates of food. “We’re still cooking, so just wait a bit for the rest to be finished.”
With Ren and Nozomu added to their group, it was beginning to feel more and more like a party. They weren’t being particularly loud, but the atmosphere was comfortably cheerful. Sora managed to get first dibs on chicken wings from the grill after bugging Soushi for a couple of minutes, and he returned to his seat happily.
“Sora, you’re back,” Kouki looked at the paper plate Sora was holding. “You’ve got more food.”
“Chicken wings,” Sora sat down and took one for himself. “Do you want one?”
“I’ll wait for the rest to finish grilling, thanks.”
“Aww, you’ll be missing out,” Sora leaned forward to take a bite of his chicken wing. “Ow, ow! That’s hot!”
Kouki chuckled. “Of course it is.”
Sora puffed up his cheeks. “It’s the chicken wing’s fault for smelling so good.”
“You’re blaming the chicken wing?” Kouki looked amused.
“Well, yeah,” Sora hummed. “And maybe Sou for not warning me properly.”
“You can tear the chicken wing apart so the inside will cool faster,” Kouki suggested.
“Oh,” Sora held the chicken wing with both of his hands, and mustered a reasonable amount of strength to pull the chicken wing apart.
“Um, Sora, it’s easier if you—”
“Ah!” Sora yelped as half of the chicken wing was brutally shredded apart, before unceremoniously leaping out of Sora’s grip and descending piteously to the ground.
“Not my chicken wing!” Sora got up hurriedly and tried picking up the half of the chicken wing, but dropped it upon touching it. “Ow! The inside’s still hot…”
“Sora, are you okay?” Kouki asked, visibly concerned.
“Uh, yeah,” Sora picked up the chicken wing miserably by the exposed bone. He blew on it a couple of times. “My chicken wing’s not, though. I think it’s been over five seconds.”
“You’ve still got more,” Kouki pointed out as Sora returned to his table rather dejectedly. “I can help you tear your remaining chicken wings, if you want.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Sora insisted. He turned the half of the chicken wing that had dropped with his fingers, inspecting it. “It feels like a waste to throw this away, though. Do you think it’s gross if I eat it?”
Kouki looked surprised. “If you really wanted to eat it, I won’t stop you.”
Sora gulped. “Well, ‘everything has to be eaten at least once’ is what a wise man said!”
Despite Sora’s bold proclamation, he took a small, experimental bite of his chicken wing. Kouki watched him expectantly as he chewed slowly, before suddenly coughing rather roughly.
“Sora!” Kouki grabbed a cup of drink and handed it to Sora, who snatched it and downed all its contents in a few huge gulps. “Are you alright?”
“It’s freaking salty!” Sora exclaimed, grimacing at the chicken wing. “There’s more salt than dirt on the meat!”
“Is it?” Kouki tore off a small piece of meat from the safe half of Sora’s chicken wing, and popped it in his mouth. “O-oh.”
“Right?!”
“I marinated the chicken wings and it wasn’t this salty…” Kouki murmured. “The salt’s all on the skin.”
“Sou!” Sora wailed dramatically, burying his face into his elbows on the table. “My chicken wings have been tainted!”
Kouki reached out and patted Sora reassuringly on the shoulder. “It’s just salt, Sora.”
“I know,” Sora sniffed as he looked up.
“At least you took only two,” Kouki said. “You can just get more when the rest of the batch is done cooking.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Sora turned to Kouki. He caught Kouki chuckling lightly into his fist.
“Kou-kun, are you laughing at me?”
“No, of course not,” Kouki smiled. “I just found it really amusing that you can write songs that move people’s hearts, but you get so worked up over half a chicken wing.”
“Wha--!” Sora felt his cheeks burn. “That’s…! I-It was a chicken wing I worked hard to get!”
“You worked hard, Sora.”
“A-Anyway!” Sora grabbed Kouki’s arm. “What did you mean by ‘write songs that move people’s hearts’?”
Kouki blinked in surprise. “What I meant…?”
“Kou-kun,” Sora’s voice dropped to a serious tone. “I’m Ohara Sora, not Mozart.”
“I know what I said,” Kouki said. “I mean it when I said that your songs move people’s hearts.”
“No way,” Sora laughed bashfully.
“Your songs brought me to you,” Kouki murmured. He looked down briefly. “If I didn’t hear you play that day, and didn’t hear that song, I doubt that we could have become friends.”
Sora paused. A tight silence hung between them for a few moments, before Sora lightly punched Kouki in the arm.
“Ow!” Kouki winced. He frowned as he rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”
“Kou-kun, you dummy,” Sora said. “All I did was write some songs. If you didn’t meet up with me after that, and talk to me, and message me just to talk about things like food and department store sales, then we wouldn’t have become friends either.”
Kouki tilted his head slightly. “That really wasn’t much…”
“It was!” Sora nodded firmly. “You went out of your way and gave us a reason to be friends. You said my songs brought me to you, but it only worked because you listened.”
Kouki’s eyes widened. He hadn’t really thought of it that way before. He believed that he had fallen in love with Sora’s music and that was what drew him to Sora, but it didn’t occur to him that he had something that brought Sora to him as well.
“If you put it that way…” Kouki’s expression softened. “Then we became friends because we both tried, didn’t we?”
“Kou-kun, you did your best,” Sora grinned. He gave a deep bow. “Thank you for your hard work! I’ll be counting on you from now on, as a friend.”
Kouki returned a slight bow. “Thank you for your hard work, too. I’ll be counting on you as well.”
“Sora!” Soushi’s voice rang out from the barbeque pit. “Do you want some chicken wings?”
“Ah, finally!” Sora shot up, hopping to his feet. “I’m going to get some real chicken wings this time. Kou-kun, do you want some?”
“Yes, please,” Kouki handed Sora his plate. “Thank you.”
Kouki watched as Sora went off to get more food. Even far and away from earshot, Sora’s words still stuck close to his mind.
‘You said my songs brought me to you, but it only worked because you listened.’
Kouki smiled to himself. And I’ll keep listening, Sora.
Sora thought he could escape the misery once he was in university, but his hopes were immediately sent to the trash can when he saw a tell-tale package on the table where Morihito usually sat for tutorial.
“Ah!” Sora yelled, pointing at the heart-shaped package. “Ah!”
“That’s two ‘ah’s,” Morihito laughed as he picked up the package. It had a pink polka-dot pattern on the lid, and was outfitted with shiny fabric bow and a card. “I didn’t know they did this in university, too.”
“You really can’t escape Valentines’ in university!” Sora groaned aloud.
“University is full of kids who want boyfriends and girlfriends,” Soushi pointed out. “Are you honestly that surprised?”
The start of February was usually the time when offers for chocolate were being put up, so Sora didn’t miss the message of Valentines season coming up. Valentines’ Day reminded him of high school, when he got maybe three courtesy chocolates if he were lucky, while Morihito and Soushi would have their desks and shoe lockers overflowing with boxes and envelopes.
It wasn’t so much that he minded not getting a confession or genuine love chocolates, but it was hard to watch Morihito and Soushi complain about their bags not having enough space for chocolates when Sora probably received less than ten chocolates for Valentines’ Day in his life, not counting the pity leftover chocolates Morihito and Soushi gave him.
“Sou, I bet you’ve got a bunch of chocolate waiting for you at your table in the lecture hall,” Sora huffed.
“I hope not,” Soushi frowned. “I’m sick of eating so much chocolate at this time of the year.”
Morihito chuckled. “Why not just give them away?”
“No way. Why would I give second-hand chocolates to someone else on Valentines’?”
Sora and Morihito exchanged puzzled looks.
“Um, no. That’s not what I meant,” Morihito said.
Sora raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’re giving someone chocolates on Valentines’…?”
Soushi appeared nonchalant. “Yeah, I am. What about it?”
Morihito appeared surprised. Sora immediately jumped onto Soushi, grabbing his arm.
“You are? Who is it?” Sora asked excitedly. “Come on, tell!”
“I’m going to be late for class,” Soushi shook off Sora’s grip. “I’ll see you guys around.”
“Wait, Sou!” Sora pouted as Soushi walked away without giving a second glance. “Geez, who do you think he’s giving chocolates to?”
Morihito shrugged. “It could be anyone, though I might have an idea…”
“Ah, you do?! Who is it?”
“Sora, I don’t think you’ll get anything good out of Sou if I tell you.”
Class went by as per usual, and ended right on time. While Morihito had another lesson to go to, Sora was free for the rest of the day. Though it wasn’t normally part of his routine, he decided to go look for Kouki at his class, mostly out of curiosity to whether Kouki had received any chocolates at his desk, high-school style.
Sora arrived at the classroom right when the lesson finished. He peeked through the doorway, and saw Kouki packing up his things at his seat. Sora walked over eagerly.
“Kou-kun!” Sora greeted Kouki brightly.
“Sora,” Kouki said. “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing, I just want to ask you something,” Sora replied. “Did you get any Valentines’ chocolates?”
“Yes, I did,” Kouki nodded. “What about it?”
Oh, of course he did. Sora didn’t know why he bothered asking. Kouki was pretty and had the charisma of a prince. It would be weird if he didn’t get any chocolates.
“Oh. Nothing.”
Kouki hoisted his bag on his shoulder. “How about you? Did you get any chocolate?”
Sora hung his head. “No…”
“Oh,” Kouki patted Sora on the shoulder. “That’s alright. I’ll buy for you chocolate if you want.”
“It’s okay! That’s not really what I meant,” Sora laughed, shaking his hands. “It’s different receiving handmade chocolate, you know.”
Kouki blinked. “You mean you’ve never received handmade chocolate?”
Sora shook his head. “I don’t think those courtesy chocolates I got in high school were handmade… I mean, even those fancy boxes had nutrition labels printed on the back.”
“Do you want to make chocolate?” Kouki asked.
“Huh?”
“If you want to, I can teach you how to make chocolate,” Kouki said. “It’s not that hard.”
“Wait, wait,” Sora’s stuttered. “You mean, now?”
“If you don’t mind.”
Sora had already been expecting not to even get any courtesy chocolates this year, but this was totally unexpected. Etou Kouki asking if he’d like to make chocolate on Valentines’ Day. Not that he really minded, though.
“Yeah, sure!”
They left school together and headed to the supermarket to buy ingredients first. It was an odd sight to see two university-age young men buying ingredients to make chocolate on Valentines’ Day, but Sora managed to ignore the couple of weird looks he got from some young girls. After finishing their short shopping trip, Sora and Kouki headed to Kouki’s apartment. Sora had been to Kouki’s place a number of times, so the interior of Kouki’s home seemed almost familial to him.
“What do we do first?” Sora asked as he helped to unpack to shopping bags.
“We heat the cream,” Kouki took out a saucepan from his cupboard. “After that, we just add the chocolate chips and mix it in. Then we put the mixture into moulds and let them cool in the refrigerator.”
“Wait, that’s all?”
Kouki nodded. “That’s all.”
“Oh, I thought the process was more complicated than that,” Sora rubbed the back of his head. “But it’s just reshaping chocolate.”
“Yes, but it takes a little effort to do it.”
“That’s true,” Sora laughed. “As so long as they’re made with love, they’re still heartfelt chocolate!”
Kouki chuckled. “Of course.”
It didn’t take long for them to make the mixture and put them into the moulds. They had actually bought enough ingredients to make a few batches, but Kouki didn’t have enough moulds to hold the mixture, so they ended up spreading the remainder onto a tray lined with a baking sheet.
“I hope there’s enough space in the refrigerator,” Kouki murmured as he opened the refrigerator door. He looked up and down, before placing the first batch inside a suitable spot.
“I’ll help to clean up first, okay?” Sora hovered over to the table. They actually didn’t make much of a mess at all. They had already disposed of the wrappers and cartons properly, and all that was left was the saucepan, which still had some mixture stuck to the sides.
“Kou-kun, can I eat the remaining mixture?” Sora asked. “Making the chocolate made me kind of hungry.”
“Oh, of course,” Kouki said. “But I can make you something if you’re that hungry.”
“It’s okay! I’m not that hungry, and I’m curious about what our chocolate will taste like,” Sora took a spoon from the drawer, and scooped some of the mixture off from the saucepan. Kouki looked at him as he spooned the mixture in his mouth.
“It tastes good!” Sora exclaimed.
“That’s great,” Kouki smiled. “Then our chocolate will turn out tasty.”
“Um, you don’t mind if I just help myself, right?” Sora laughed nervously, gesturing to the saucepan.
“No, I don’t mind at all.”
“Alright! Bon Appetit!”
Kouki watched on bemusedly as Sora ate the remains of their chocolate mixture happily. It was like watching a child eating cookie dough, but this was Ohara Sora, turning 20 in a few months and had never received heartfelt chocolate before. Well, at least he was minimizing waste, and he actually ate rather neatly.
“Oh,” Kouki suddenly said.
“Hmm?” Sora gave Kouki a curious look.
“You’ve got chocolate on your face,” Kouki pointed to side of his own mouth.
“Here?” Sora rubbed the opposite side with his thumb.
“No,” Kouki chuckled. “Here.”
Without thinking much, Kouki leaned forward and brushed his thumb gently against the side of Sora’s lips, where there was a small spot of chocolate. It was a tiny spot, so a couple of rubs got the chocolate clean off. When Kouki withdrew, he noticed Sora’s face was unusually pink, and he had a look of…surprise? No, it was more like disbelief.
“Is…is something wrong?” Kouki asked slowly.
“K-Kou-kun…” Sora mumbled, pressing his lips together. “You…”
“Yes…?”
“Did…did you do that on purpose?” Sora asked softly.
Kouki was confused, even more so now that Sora had become strangely quiet. “On purpose? What do you mean?”
“It’s…ah, never mind,” Sora hastily shook his head.
Kouki was even more baffled by Sora’s response. “Oh, alright. I’m sorry for asking.”
“I-It’s nothing to be sorry for! I’m sorry I said something weird,” Sora mumbled, pointedly looking away. He stood up. “Um, I’ll go wash the saucepan.”
“Oh, sure. Do you need any help?”
“It’s okay!” Sora said with a lopsided smile. “I can manage. You can just take it easy.”
The chocolates needed a little time to cool, so after Sora finished up washing the saucepan, Kouki and Sora went to watch television in the living room. They switched on to a variety show, something which usually sparked reactions and conversation topics from Sora, but today, he didn’t have much to comment on.
After the show, the chocolates were more or less completely chilled. Kouki helped to pack Sora’s share into plastic containers, and placed them nicely into a small paper bag that was easy to carry.
“Here you go,” Kouki handed the bag to Sora. “Your first handmade chocolate.”
“Ah, thank you!” Sora smiled as he took the bag. “It’s weird that I made it for myself, but it was pretty fun making it.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Kouki managed a small smile. “By the way, if I did anything wrong today, I’m sorry.”
“Huh?” Sora blinked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You were quiet after we made the chocolate,” Kouki explained, looking away.
“O-oh,” Sora slowly let out a bashful laugh as he scratched his cheek. “Sorry for making you worry, Kou-kun. But really, you didn’t do anything wrong. I was just embarrassed.”
“Embarrassed?” Kouki questioned.
“You know, you did that…thing,” Sora vaguely gestured to his mouth.
“I cleaned the chocolate off for you?”
“U-uh. Yeah. That.” Sora let out a dry chuckle. “That was a…very boyfriend thing to do, I…guess? I-I just got really embarrassed by it, so I’m sorry if I made things weird!”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Kouki insisted. “If I had known that you’d get embarrassed, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Sora shook his head. “It’s fine, I was probably just thinking too much too.”
“You can do something to get even with me, if you want.”
“That’ll be too much,” Sora laughed. “You’re not even at fault! You helped to make my first handmade chocolate, so I’m not really in a position to ask that much of you.”
Kouki was still hesitant. “But—”
“Kou-kun.”
Before Kouki could finish his sentence, Sora stepped forward and placed his arms around Kouki’s middle in an embrace. The gesture was uncalled for and caught Kouki by surprise. His empty hands awkwardly hovered in mid-air, before slowly positioning themselves around Sora’s shoulders. He was used to Sora being handsy with him, mostly putting an arm around his shoulder or tugging at his arms playfully when he wanted to ask for something. Physical contact with Sora was nothing new, yet this hug felt so different. Was Sora always this soft to the touch? His auburn hair tickled Kouki’s neck and Kouki could feel him lightly breathing against his chest.
The hug only lasted for a few moments, and Sora was beaming when he stepped away. “There, we’re even now, okay?”
Kouki was nothing short of dumbfounded. “Okay.”
“But really, thanks for today, Kou-kun,” Sora said brightly. “I’ve got to go now. I’ll enjoy the chocolates when I get home.”
“Oh. Let me see you out, then,” Kouki showed Sora to the door, and waved goodbye to him. After Sora left, Kouki closed the door behind him, and leaned against the door.
He didn’t know that two people’s heartbeats could fall into sync like that.
Sora had a feeling for a while now, that his feelings towards Kouki were more that of a friend. But that day when he made chocolate with Kouki in his apartment, his hunch was confirmed.
Having feelings for Kouki was one thing, but expressing them was another ball game altogether.
Somehow, a simple and straightforward ‘I like you’ didn’t sound right in Sora’s head. He tried picturing a scenario where he was the one to confess, but everything in the hypothetical scene that his mind put together just turned out wrong.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt his worries pile up. Even if he did somehow gather the courage to confess, would Kouki accept it? How would he react? Would he be shocked, disgusted even? Would he even want to Sora’s friend anymore?
Sora felt helpless. He felt like the only thing he could do was just carrry on his normal life and his friendship with Kouki, but he couldn’t deny how he truly felt
“Hey, um,” Sora asked quietly during lunch break, grabbing both Morihito and Soushi’s attention. “I’ve got a question.”
“Shoot,” Soushi said.
“Uh,” Sora scratched his cheek as he tried to phrase his words right. “How, how was Valentines’ Day?”
“It was almost a month ago,” Soushi replied in a deadpan tone.
“Sora, is something the matter?” Morihito asked, his brow creased with concern. “You’ve been pretty quiet lately.”
Sora sighed. He had known Morihito and Soushi since high school, and Soushi for even longer, so it was pointless to hide anything from them. They could read him like an open book.
“I’ve—" Sora sucked in a deep breath, before exhaling. “I’ve fallen in love.”
“Oh,” Soushi didn’t look surprised. “Have you confessed to him?”
“No—wait, how do you know it’s a ‘him’?” Sora asked.
Soushi raised an eyebrow. “Who is it if it’s not Etou Kouki?”
“T-That obvious?!” Sora exclaimed. A few students shot brief glances their way.
“Well,” Morihito smiled wryly. “It was easy to tell…”
“Gosh,” Sora felt his cheeks burn. He pouted. “Since you guys know that much already, then you should help me think of a good way to, uh, confess.”
Soushi tapped the side of his temple. “If you can get your brain to come up with something within the next three days, you’ll have a good opportunity on White Day.”
“It’s White Day already?” Sora groaned. “but confessing with chocolates… it’s not very… mm…”
“Not appropriate?” Morhito prompted gently.
“It just doesn’t suit it!” Sora frowned. “It’ll be weird if I just handed over some chocolate and said something like ‘Please go out with me!’.”
Soushi shrugged. “Why not?”
“It doesn’t…” Sora gesticulated wildly as he tried to form a sensible sentence. “…it’s not very refined!”
“This is just my personal opinion,” Morihito chimed in evenly. “But I don’t think these things should be rushed. Why not you just think over it for a while? Who knows, maybe the solution will come to you naturally.”
Soushi nodded in agreement. “Knowing you, it wouldn’t be a good idea to push you over to the edge. You might end up confessing with chicken instead of chocolate.”
“I absolutely will not!”
Though they weren’t able to come up with any solid suggestions, Sora appreciated his friends for listening and chipping in their two cents. It made him feel a little better about the whole confession dilemma.
“Sora,” Morihito called over to Sora after their last class for the day. “Sorry, but some student union matter cropped up suddenly. Will you be okay if you go home by yourself today?”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Sora lifted an arm in a muscle-flexing action. “Good luck for your student union work, Mori!”
Morihito chuckled. “Thanks, Sora.”
Morihito left the tutorial room, leaving Sora by himself. Sora didn’t have a reason to stay in school any longer, but he didn’t feel like going home yet.
The weather’s nice, he thought, looking outside the window of the corridor. Might as well take a walk.
Sora walked around outside, basking in the sunlight. With the cold of winter melting away, the temperature was beginning to feel more spring-like and pleasant. He didn’t really take his time to explore the campus much, so it was refreshing to be able to enjoy his student life a little like this as well.
Sora discovered a welcoming outdoor space right outside one of the school faculty buildings. There were a few large brick tree rings placed around, big enough for students to sit on. Sora sat down on one of the tree rings. It wasn’t exactly the most magnificent view, but being able to see a sea of students go about their lives peacefully was relaxing in its own way.
“We met on a hill blooming with flowers,” The lyrics of a song Sora wrote began to leave his lips in a soft voice. “Even now, it’s something I can’t forget…”
Sora didn’t know why he felt like singing at that moment, and why that particular song, but perhaps with the feeling of spring arriving soon, the moment called for it.
“Bye-bye, see you soon; your tears fall just like petals down your smiling face…”
“Sora?”
“G-Gah!” Sora jumped a little when he heard a voice suddenly come from beside him. He whipped his head towards the direction of the voice, and his eyes met with another.
“K-Kou-kun?”
“Sora, you don’t take classes at this faculty, do you?” Kouki said.
Sora shook his head. “I don’t. I was just taking a walk.”
“I see. The weather today is lovely,” Kouki smiled. “Are you in a rush?”
“Not at all,” Sora said. “Uh, do you want to sit down?”
“If you don’t mind.”
Sora scooted over a little as Kouki sat down next to him. As if trained on instinct, Sora felt his heart begin to beat faster.
“Was that ‘On a Hill Blooming With Flowers’?” Kouki asked.
Sora nodded. “Kou-kun, you remembered.”
“The title’s easy to remember, since it’s in the opening line,” Kouki explained.
“Oh. I guess that’s good?”
“It is,” Kouki turned to Sora. “This feels like last year, when I met you because you were playing a song. You were singing that time, too.”
“I had a guitar, though,” Sora laughed, holding up his empty hands.
“Your voice alone is plenty,” Kouki said, A gentle breeze blew, tousling back his hair. “We also missed each other for about a week, too.”
“Wait,” Sora paused. “We haven’t seen each other for a week?”
“Yes, I didn’t see you at all last week.”
“Oh,” If Sora were completely honest, he didn’t realize until Kouki had brought it up. They already texted each other regularly and it never felt as though they hadn’t seen each other. Even if Sora didn’t see Kouki face-to-face, his presence was already cemented into Sora’s life.
“Well, it’s okay!” Sora piped up. “We’re here together now, so that kind of makes up for it, right?”
“It does,” Kouki said softly.
Sora stole a glance at Kouki. Sora couldn’t help but think that even Kouki’s profile looked good. Kouki was looking ahead, his gaze not focusing on anything in particular. Somehow, Sora had the sudden courage to just confess his feelings right here and then, while the atmosphere felt right. He had been worried over the process of getting his feelings across, but now that he felt he was about to cross the bridge, he might as well take a dive while he was at it.
“Kou-kun—”
“Sora—”
Expressions of surprise mirrored on their faces as their voices overlapped. Sora rubbed the back of his head shyly.
“Um, Kou-kun, you can go first!” Sora spluttered.
“No, it’s okay,” Kouki held out his palm. “You go first.”
Kou-kun, you should have just gone first, Sora lamented quietly, though it was too late to back down now. He sucked in an audible deep breath, mustering what little courage he had. No, more importantly, he had to think about what he had to say. Sora found himself slowly gaining a newfound respect for the protagonists in those cheesy romance dramas he had heard about.
“Kou-kun!” Sora spoke up. “I, I… I like you very much!”
“I like you too, Sora.”
“No, no!” Sora shook his head. “I… I like you in the way… in the same way that Jack loves Rose from Titanic!”
Sora knew analogies weren’t his strong suit and he hoped that he was able to clarify his feelings, but Kouki looked more confused. Not just confused, worried even.
“Ah, no, wait!” Sora hastily corrected himself. “I-I mean… maybe Titanic’s a bad example. I just… I just want to hold your hand! And hug you! And eat with you! And keep playing music with you! And, and…”
“Sora—”
“Kou-kun, I want to be by your side!”
The last part slipped out of Sora’s mouth before he could even gather his thoughts. Not like he had thought through what he was saying in the first place anyway. The feelings he had spilled forth just like that; upfront without any sort of flowery filter. Sora looked at Kouki, hoping to catch some sort of readable reaction.
If anything, Kouki looked…surprised? He definitely looked like he didn’t see Sora’s outburst coming, but it didn’t look like it was placed in a negative light. So far, anyway.
“Um…” Sora murmured, tilting his head at Kouki. He waved his hand. “Kou-kun, are… are you spacing out?”
Kouki didn’t answer Sora. Instead, he leaned forward and pulled Sora into a hug.
Sora was no short of taken aback by Kouki’s gesture, to the point where his only response was some incoherent noises leaving his lips as Kouki wrapped his arms firmly around his waist, while his own hands were flailing in a state of flustered confusion.
“Sora,” Kouki’s voice was soft and right next to Sora’s ear. Sora felt a light squeeze around his middle. “I…I want to be by your side too.”
Sora felt his cheeks burn. “R-Really?”
“Mm,” Kouki slowly pulled away from the hug, and looked right into Sora’s eyes as he took his hands in his. Kouki’s hands were tender to the touch against Sora’s. “I like you too, Sora.”
Sora stared at Kouki, slightly open-mouthed and quiet as Kouki held onto his hands. Kouki looked on patiently, waiting for some kind of reaction from Sora.
“I, uh…” Sora gulped. His cheeks were dusted a bright red and his voice came out stuttering and funny. “D-Does that mean we’re d-dating now?”
Kouki leaned forward slightly. “Do you not want to?”
“N-No! I mean, I want to,” Sora spluttered. He lowered his head in a quick bow. “Please look after me from now on as well!”
“Please look after me as well,” Kouki laughed. Seeing Kouki this happy made Sora feel embarrassed about the stress he went through just to confess. It seemed silly, on hindsight, but Kouki’s smile made it worth it.
“Sora,” Kouki squeezed Sora’s hand lightly. “Do you want to come over to my place to eat?”
“Yeah,” Sora nodded, returning the squeeze to Kouki’s hands. He grinned. “I’d love to.”
Kouki rarely got excited about classes ending early, but when the lecturer finished up their lesson ten minutes early that afternoon, Kouki couldn’t feel happier to be able to leave earlier.
“Kou,” Kensuke called over to Kouki. “We’re done with class early today, so do you want to go hang out?”
“Sorry, Ken,” Kouki apologised. “I’ve already got plans today.”
“Ooh,” Kensuke was grinning as he gave Kouki a knowing look. “I see, I see. I gotcha.”
“We can always go out some other time. Maybe with Ryou and Mamoru,” Kouki said, hoisting his bag on his shoulder.
“Yeah, let’s do that!” Kensuke took out his phone and began tapping out something. “Since you’re busy, I’ll just hang around in school for a while.”
“Alright,” Kouki nodded. “Do you want to walk with me to the entrance?”
“Sure.”
Kouki and Kensuke left the lecture theatre and walked down the stairs. They left the school building, feeling the warm sunlight coming down on them. Kouki took in the familiar sight of students roaming the school grounds; a sea of unfamiliar faces under the canopy of the row of trees that led up to the school entrance. Among the messy layers of noise, Kouki could hear something that stood out among the loud voices of strangers. It was a sound that could easily be drowned out, but that sound was unmistakeably familiar and pleasant to Kouki.
“Isn’t that Sora?” Kensuke pointed to someone sitting under a tree, with an acoustic guitar perched on their lap.
“It is,” Kouki said.
“That’s my cue to leave then,” Kensuke patted Kouki on the shoulder. He winked. “Have fun on that date!”
Before Kouki could respond, Kensuke had already run off. Not that Kouki was particularly bothered by Kensuke’s comment. He and Sora had dated for a while now, and it was no secret that they were an item.
Kouki walked towards Sora, feeling naturally drawn in by the sound of Sora’s acoustic guitar. His shoes crinkled against the grass as he approached Sora. The chords of the guitar grew louder, and Kouki heard a melody he had never heard Sora play before.
“Oh, hey!” Sora stopped playing to wave at Kouki. He jumped to his feet, but his legs wobbled funnily as he tried to steady himself, almost tripping over.
“My leg fell asleep…” Sora muttered, rubbing his thigh.
“Sitting down like that for long isn’t really good for you,” Kouki chuckled. “What song were you playing just now?”
“It doesn’t have a name yet,” Sora admitted. He was holding his guitar by the neck, where Kouki could see the cartoon dog sticker still stuck on the side, between a newer rainbow cloud sticker and a flower sticker. “When I’m done writing it, I’ll let you listen!”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Kouki said. “Shall we make a move first?”
“Yeah, just give me a second to pack my stuff,” Sora turned around and picked up his guitar bag.
“You know, Kou-kun,” Sora spoke up as he kept his guitar. “This is kind of like when we first met, but more outdoorsy. I’ve even got my guitar.”
“Now that you mentioned it,” Kouki had realized it. Despite knowing Sora for almost a year now, he always associated him with music. “I walked in on you playing a song that time as well.”
“You did,” Sora laughed. “It kind of works like a trick, right? I play a song and Kou-kun will magically appear.”
“It sounds convenient,” Kouki smiled. “Then I’ll be able to be by your side when you need me.”
A look of surprise crossed Sora’s face, before a prominent shade of pink rose to his cheeks.
“Kou-kun, there’s a limit to how cool people can be, you know!” Sora lightly punched Kouki on the forearm, his face still red.
“Sorry,” Kouki took Sora’s hand, letting their fingers interlace. “But you’re cooler than me, since you write beautiful songs.”
“Kou-kun, now you’re just doing it on purpose, aren’t you!” Sora pouted as he grabbed Kouki’s sleeve.
“But it’s true,” Kouki turned to look at Sora properly. “You write lovely music. But you’re kind, too. Sora, you’re a wonderful person.”
The moment Kouki finished his sentence, Sora closed the little distance between them, placing his arms around Kouki’s waist and standing on his tiptoes to kiss Kouki on the lips.
It was a chaste kiss, and Sora quickly pulled away, though he kept his arms around Kouki. He gave Kouki an adorably steely look.
“I think Kou-kun’s a wonderful person too,” Sora murmured. “But can we please go before my embarrassment kills me?”
Kouki laughed. “Okay.”
Kouki let Sora drag him away, out into the warm spring sunshine. The wind blew past them, carrying with it a lush, sweet scent. Kouki recalled the day when he first met Sora. Today was much like that day as well, but this time, if he was going to become one with the wind, he was sure Sora would chase after him like a gale, and they would reunite somewhere, on a hill in full bloom, and fall in love all over again.