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When Ryuji told her that he was going out for dinner with Haru, Mayumi briefly wondered if he knew it was a date. Her son could be called a wide variety of things, but emotionally in tune wasn’t the best way to describe him. Ryuji always meant well, but he could be a little dense sometimes.
Especially when it came to pretty girls, as she was telling Sojiro.
“When Ryuji was little, he didn’t know he could just be friends with girls, so he thought he had to have a crush on Ann.” Mayumi laughed louder than she did when Ryuji was around. “Imagine how embarrassed he was when he asked her out and was swiftly rejected when Ann told him that she was a lesbian.”
“Is that why he’s so anxious around her?” Sojiro asked, standing up to change the vinyl as it came to the end of the song. While Mayumi had teased him for his ‘old man’ hobby of collecting vinyls, he knew she genuinely enjoyed listening to them with him. They had long since made a habit of it. Every Friday night, unless Mayumi was working late, they would sit in the living room and listen to some old music together and reminisce about their younger days.
“There’s a lot of other stuff going on with that, but it’s not my place to talk about,” continued Mayumi with a shrug. “Ryuji used to be a pretty anxious kid. Still is in some ways. I think he got that from me…”
Sojiro picked out another vinyl from the stack and put it into the player. “Yeah?”
“Takeshi didn’t exactly make it easy to relax around him,” mumbled Mayumi. “Living with him was like… Like walking on eggshells, constantly. He was always one wrong word away from blowing up in your face.”
Sojiro sat back down, glancing at Mayumi with a sympathetic look in his eyes. “Are you doing okay?” he asked.
Mayumi took a deep breath and nodded. “I feel fine. It isn’t always easy to talk about him, but I think I’m getting better at it.”
Sojiro hummed absent mindedly, unsure of what to say next.
“Thanks to you.” Mayumi whispered, leaning onto Sojiro, causing him to blush.
“Well I’m uh… I’m happy to have helped in that department. You’ve grown a lot since we met.”
Sojiro put an arm around Mayumi as she continued. “I was just as anxious when I was Ryuji’s age. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an Akira to help me understand what was wrong about it all. I thought that was just how things were.”
“You never deserved any of that,” assured Sojiro.
“I know. It’s just… Takeshi took a lot of things from me,” said Mayumi with a small sigh. “I’m only realizing now how much I’ve missed out on. Like, I never got to go to prom because he wouldn’t let me. Didn’t want other boys giving me attention and he wasn’t allowed to go because he was a few years older. I can’t believe I missed out on prom because of him…”
Sojiro frowned. “To be honest, you didn’t miss much. I went with Wakaba as friends, and it was a bit of a disaster. Someone spiked the punch, a bunch of people got alcohol poisoning and there was a fist fight on the dancefloor. At least the music was good.”
Mayumi smiled big, holding in another chuckle as she imagined how that meant. “That actually sounds like a lot of fun…” She calmed down quickly, too quickly as her smile disappeared, now thinking about what she missed out on. “I still wish I went to that dance. Is that childish of me?”
“No at all,” said Sojiro. “In fact…”
It was like a scene from a romance movie. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Sojiro held out his hand to Mayumi, and said in the smoothest voice he could muster, “May I have this dance?” She could practically imagine the sparkles and flowers that would have adorned the panel had this been a page in the Shoujo manga she devoured as a girl.
Who would have guessed that one day she’d be living out her very own romantic fairytale?
Mayumi barely managed to stifle her giggling, and took his hand. “You may.”
Now, Mayumi would be the first to admit she usually wasn’t much of a dancer, but Sojiro seemed to know what he was doing, so she was content to let him lead their gentle slow dance. There was something strangely easy about it, letting herself go a little, safe and comforted in his arms. Too easy.
When she looked up, staring deep into Sojiro’s eyes, the rest of the room became a blur to her. Sojiro’s skin was becoming much smoother than she remembered. As she went to caress his cheek, she noticed that the wrinkles on her hand were beginning to fade as well. Sojiro looked younger, even the graying hair that bothered him so much was darkening, growing longer.
His smile was soft, and his voice was even softer as he mumbled, “You look even more beautiful than usual.”
Mayumi couldn’t stop the blush that crept up her cheeks, so she buried her face in his chest to hide it. “You’re such a player sometimes,” she grumbled.
“Part of my charm,” laughed Sojiro. They were still moving together in time with the music, and Mayumi found herself wishing the moment would last forever. When she looked up at Sojiro one final time, she found herself reminded of something Ryuji had told her. According to him, the metaverse could have a physical effect on people, causing them to change.
Was this what he had meant when he explained the funny way desires were granted in this world, or just her daydreaming about what could’ve been in the middle of their dance? Mayumi didn’t know, but it seemed like she was about to find out, one way or the other.
“I love you, Jiji,” she said.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Sojiro replied, “I love you too, Yumi.”
The room was getting darker, but Sojiro’s face was brighter, and Mayumi felt something long and flowy sliding against her legs. She didn’t want to look down, but her natural curiosity got the better of her, just as it always used to.
A dress…
It was beautiful - navy blue with stars embroidered with golden thread - and after a moment, she recognised it as the prom dress she had wanted so desperately when she was a teenager, but never got to buy. She looked at Sojiro, and realized he was wearing a suit with a navy tie to match her dress.
She felt so small under his chin. Shortness that her son definitely inherited. The ground beneath her was closer, and the floor pattern… it wasn’t the carpet they had been dancing on prior. Rather, the wooden patterns she hadn’t seen in a long, long time. It couldn’t have been…
And yet, it was. They were dancing on the polished wooden floors of her highschool’s gymnasium.
For the rest of that song, she and Sojiro were their younger selves again, dancing together in the prom she never got to attend.
Mayumi had no idea what compelled her to do it. Perhaps it was his goofy smile, or the way his eyes softened when he looked at her, or even the way he held onto her so tightly. Maybe it was all of those things combined. Regardless, something compelled her to grab a hold of his tie to pull him down and kiss him.
If Sojiro was startled by this, he didn’t show it. Instead, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her back. Sojiro always smelt of coffee and curry, something that Mayumi couldn’t help but find endearing. In fact, it was quickly becoming her favorite smell…
Mayumi’s attention was taken away from their kiss when the door to the living room swung open, revealing Ryuji, who promptly turned bright red at the sight. She hadn’t thought he’d be home from his date with Haru yet.