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A Room with a View
“The emotion was there, but it wasn’t spelled out in neon.”
-Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
“Oh geez, Shuichi! What took you so long?” Kaede Akamatsu asked, as she saw Shuichi approaching from the stairs.
They decided to meet up at six pm sharp, but Shuichi was fashionably late by at least 10 minutes. Usually Kaede wouldn’t have waited for anyone, but Shuichi wasn’t quite ‘anyone’. And today wasn’t quite any day either. Although she waited and anticipated Shuichi asking her out, she wasn’t really sure if he’d ever build up the courage to do so. He was so painfully shy, but even that was an attribute that she liked about him.
Shuichi gave her an apologetic look as he said, “S-Sorry, Kaede, I had final preparations to take care of.” He held up the basket he was carrying. Shuichi opened the door to Kaede’s ultimate lab and led her into the room.
Kaede gasped, the room had been transformed into something that had very little to do with her ultimate lab. The floor was cleaned, the endless sheets of music notes were gone and neatly piled up in a corner of the room. Everything besides the piano that stood in the middle of the room had been put aside, flowers and plants had been placed all throughout the room. A table with two chairs was placed right near to one of the large windows, holding wine glasses and white porcelain plates with fancy napkins on them.
“Wow, Shuichi! It’s unrecognizable, how did you do all this?” Kaede was ecstatic, the lab looked beautiful and it was obvious how much effort he put into this date.
She was still fawning over the room, when Shuichi motioned for her to sit.
He sat down on the opposite seat to hers and placed the contents of the basket on the table. Food containers wrapped in aluminum foil, a bottle of wine and a candle, which he lit with a match.
“To be honest, I had a lot of help. I could have never done all of this alone.” He said and opened the bottle, pouring each of them a fair amount in their wine glasses.
“It’s basically a joint venture. Almost everyone helped contribute to this evening in some way.”
Kaede smiled to herself. Shuichi really must have went out of his way to ask the others for help. “Kirumi prepared the food, didn’t she? Smells so good.” She sniffed the air, the smell of food made her mouth water.
Shuichi nodded as he unwrapped the plates and containers and made sure to give each of them a large portion.
“Kirumi also helped cleaning up the room. She and Angie put up the decorations and prepared the room to look r-romantic.” He blushed a deep shade of crimson.
“Well, they certainly succeeded, I’d say.” Kaede said and held her glass up in the air. “I want to toast to a great evening. Thank you, Shuichi for all this.” Clinking their glasses, they took a moment to look at each other. Shuichi seemed nervous, but his eyes radiated warmth, and a small speck of longing.
The enjoyed their meal, Italian lemon pasta, but mostly they enjoyed their company the most.
It was easy for Kaede to be around Shuichi. He wasn’t just a good person with his heart in the right place. He was smart, but never made you feel stupid; he was kind but not a fool. He was a great friend to everyone, but Kaede wished, he’d be a little bit more than that.
As the sun was setting Shuichi lit the candles that were set up all around the room. The flickering light made shadows dance on the walls. He walked up to the CD player and pressed play. Kaede grinned as the music played and she recognized the piece immediately, it was Claire de Lune by Debussy.
“Is it too much? Is this too corny for you?” Shuichi asked, fiddling with his right sleeve, not looking at Kaede.
Kaede lightly touched his arm. “No, it’s perfect.” She smiled reassuringly at him & he returned the smile. Kaede felt her knees turn all wobbly and soft, his smile tugged at her heartstrings.
Shuichi grabbed a jar from the basket and placed it in front of them on the table. At first it looked like nothing was inside, but then Kaede saw movement in the jar and a faint glow. “Fireflies? Where did you get them?” Kaede asked, clearly excited about the tiny insects inside the jar. Shuichi shrugged. “Gonta brought them earlier, they’re the reason I was late.”
Kaede picked up the jar to take a better look at it. The glow was gentle and faint, but the humming of the fireflies sounded like a tiny symphony.
Shuichi didn’t take his eyes off of Kaede as she looked at the jar. “Y-Your eyes look like orbs of rose quartz in this light.”
Kaede stilled for a moment, surprised by his compliment. He blushed again, this time Kaede joined him.
The music shifted to a less sad melody and Kaede grabbed Shuichi’s hand and motioned for him to get up.
“Let’s dance, the music is so beckoning us.”
For a moment Shuichi looked terrified, dancing wasn’t really part of the equation tonight. Or ever. Kaede noticed his hesitation. “Don’t look so scared, geez,Shuichi. You can’t do anything wrong.” Shuichi stepped closer to Kaede and wrapped his arms around her waist. She placed her hands on his shoulders and intertwined like that, they swayed from one side to another, occasionally stealing glances at one another.
“I really didn’t think anyone would ever do something like that for me. No one ever has done that before…I’m just a simple girl who plays the piano, I’m not incredibly smart like you or have talents that could get us out of here.” Kaede said quietly.
Shuichi’s feet stopped abruptly. He lifted her chin up with his hand, his facial expression serious. Don’t say something like that. Your spirit is what keeps us all together and moving, it’s your personality that draws people to you, not just your talent or what you can do for others.”
Kaede felt her eyes begin to water.
“There’s no one like you and that’s why I asked you to meet me tonight. You always build me up, you’re there when I need you. I-I know that you might not necessarily feel y-you know…the s-same…”
Kaede cut him off mid-sentence, by pressing her lips against his. He went still and Kaede was afraid she’d moved too soon, but just a second later, he returned the kiss. It was chaste and innocent at first, a little awkward, as first kisses are. But neither was satisfied with just small pecks. As time grew, so did the need for more exploration. They embarked on a journey to each other’s tongues, shy meetings turning into a fierce battle for dominance.
“Rise and shine, ursine!” The Monocubs introduced themselves loudly, surprising Shuichi and Kaede.
“You’re not going to be naughty, are you?” Monophanie asked. “We don’t want any teen pregnancies happen at the academy.”
Kaede and Shuichi took a step apart from each other, blushing burning red.
“Geez! No! We didn’t ..do anything!” Kaede exclaimed. Shuichi stammered, not getting any word out as his embarrassment is threatening to burn him alive.
“Anyway, don’t do anything you might regret.” Monotaro said cheerfully.
“I regret your existence.” Shuichi muttered under his breath, shooting the Monocubs a dirty look. Kaede barely contained a laugh. “We we’re about to head back to the dorms anyway, weren’t we, Shuichi?”
He simply nodded and went to collect the jar of fireflies.
“Come on, let’s go.” He called, reaching out his hand. Kaede took it gingerly and they headed for the door.
“Saved another girl from an appearance on MTV’s Teen Mom.” Monophanie exclaimed proudly, folding her tiny arms.
When they arrived at the dormitory, neither of them knew what to say. They both stared awkwardly at each other.
They stood in front of Kaede’s room, when she closed her arms around him for a hug. They remained like that for a few moments.
“Thank you for this amazing night, Shuichi.” She whispered against his cheek. The color reappeared on his cheeks. “Thank you for coming.” He said, moving his cheeks closer to hers.
“Thank you for inviting me.” She kissed him one last time. “Good night, Shuichi.”
Kaede closed the doo behind herself.
“Good night, Kaede.” He said to himself, smiling.