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"See ya next semester!" Suzume called as she left the building, having just completed her final exams for the school year. It was a massive sigh of relief, and she was grateful it was over. Now, she was planning on getting some groceries and heading home to prepare dinner for her and Souta.
They'd been living together for a few months now, in a small apartment not too far from the university, so she could have a shorter commute — which she was so appreciative of. They'd agreed to move in together once Souta had found full-time employment as a teacher and was able to support them while she was still in school finishing up her nursing program. She would , on occasion, offer to work a part-time job to help contribute to bills and the rent, but Souta wouldn't have it. He wanted to her to be able to focus on her studies without distraction, and knew that a job wouldn't help that endeavor.
His current position gave them enough for both of them to live off of, and even though the apartment was small, Suzume didn't care, so long as they were together.
She pulled out her phone to check for any missed messages while she was in the exam, and noticed two missed calls and a text, all from Souta. Without a second thought, she opened the text and read it.
Souta: I hope your exam is going well. I'll see you when you get home.
She smiled at the sweet and thoughtful message, and checked to see if there were any voicemails from when he called. There was one…
She held the phone to her ear as she walked down the street to head to the store.
"H-hey… Suzume…" His voice was shaky, almost nervous sounding, "I just… wanted to hear your voice… Forget it, I'm being dumb…"
There was a brief pause, and Suzume was sure she thought she heard him sniffle.
"I'll see you when you get home. Love you."
It gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was odd.
She opted to head straight home, her pacing growing faster. She wanted to check on him and make sure everything was alright before deciding to figure out dinner.
"Souta! I'm back!" Suzume called out as she made her way into the small apartment.
"Souta?" she called again after not hearing him greet her like he normally did when she got home after a long day.
Once her shoes were off, she wandered into the apartment. Peering around the corner, she found Souta on the couch, fast asleep. There was a sigh of relief, seeing him safe and sound.
'Must've had a rough day,' she thought to herself as she tiptoed into the living room and pulled the blanket on the edge of the couch over him. He didn't even bat an eye. Souta was normally a light sleeper — a stark contrast to how Suzume first met him when he was cursed by Daijin.
Ever since they'd moved in together though. Souta was always the early riser in their relationship, and would often wake up if she came home late from studying for school. She could never sneak into bed with him, which was always nice because he would unapologetically cuddle with her every time as they drifted to sleep.
It was rare she got to see him like this. She knelt down beside him and lightly brushed some of his longer hair out of his face, admiring the once in a lifetime view of this wonderful man she'd been blessed with.
'I'll cook him something special tonight,' she decided, standing up and deciding to head back to the store.
When she returned, she had all the ingredients she needed to make his favorite meal; okonomiyaki.
She started preparing the batter while the pan was heating up, and chopping some of the vegetables she was using.
'He works so hard… for the both of us,' she thought.
Souta was now working full-time as a teacher at a middle school in the neighborhood, teaching history and geography. It made sense. He'd traveled all around Japan for most of his life, and knew the deep history of the traditions and culture. He and Serizawa were even teaching at the same school, though Serizawa taught English and Japanese, because he'd studied abroad in America for a year before returning to get his teaching licence. His focus had always generally been on languages.
Suzume was genuinely impressed by both men, and thought it took a lot of patience to teach. Serizawa definitely got flustered from time to time, but whenever Souta was in teaching mode, he never let it show just how much work it was.
It didn't help that he was balancing it with being the only Closer left in Japan.
His grandfather had died a few months ago, and since then, Souta had been even more determined to regularly travel across the country; finding new doors and gateways to the Ever After to make sure they stayed sealed.
All in all, it was a heavy burden.
Sure, Suzume could do it for him on occasion if she really pushed him to let her do it, but he generally took it on himself to be responsible for them. He still kept detailed journals about door locations, so that any future Closers would have the information they needed to protect Japan like they did.
Suzume couldn't blame him. He'd grown up without his parents like she did. They were both stubborn and independent people. It was hard sometimes to ask for help when it was needed. She was sure she'd probably be the same way when she started working as a nurse.
But eventually, they both started getting into a rhythm that just came to them naturally.
Even with Suzume's intense schooling — which she was so close to finishing and could start going on rotations at the hospital soon — the two of them managed to still find time for those little moments together.
They were both insanely driven people, and that drive was part of what Suzume loved about him. She always knew that Souta was the kind of guy who was going to do the right thing, and she admired that.
As she poured the batter into the pan, there was an intense sizzling and popping sound that erupted in the room, and because she was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that the fan wasn't even on. As a result, the smoke alarm started to go off, and she panicked as she tried to reach it to switch it off.
She was too short to reach it, and just as she resigned to getting a chair to stand on, she felt the warm presence of Souta come up from behind her, pushing the button on the device with ease before joking, "You sure know how to make an entrance."
He wrapped his arms around her from behind. It wasn't that unusual from him, but given the way he sounded on the phone earlier, Suzume got a feeling there was more meaning behind it than usual. She leaned into the embrace, her hands coming up to his arms to offer a comforting touch. She turned her head and kissed his cheek before playfully joking, "Well I'm sorry for making you dinner then. Your favorite meal too."
Souta's eyes lit up at that, "Oh, you didn't…"
"I sure did. Now, if you don't mind," she said coyly, trying to excuse herself to check on the savory dish.
Souta pulled her right back against him, hugging her from behind as he quietly asked in her ear, "What'd I do to deserve you?"
Suzume smiled as she leaned her head back to look up at him, "Do you want them burned, or can I go save them?"
Souta gave a sweet peck on her head before letting her go so she could continue preparing their dinner.
Within a few minutes, the okonomiyaki was dressed and plated with all of Souta's favorite condiments and toppings. Suzume set the plate down in front of him on their small kotatsu table as she went back to prepare her own plate.
"Thanks for the meal!" Souta announced gratefully so as to be sure Suzume could hear him.
As she came back to sit with him, settling into her own meal, Souta reached out for her hand, which grabbed her attention, and her cheeks tinted a rosy shade. Even after all this time, he still had a way of making her weak in the knees.
"I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes, Suzume," he said it so softly she almost wondered if she heard it at all.
"You're just being sweet 'cause you know I control the food supply," she joked.
When his hand didn't let go of hers, she asked the question she'd been wondering since she heard his voice on that message, "Is… everything okay?"
She could feel his hand shake a little before he let it go, "It's nothing."
She gave him a pointed look, "Come on. I know you better than that, Souta. Tell me. Please?"
He tried to lift a small smile to his lips as he explained, "I didn't want to worry you…"
"Too late for that."
He took his chopsticks and started to pull a piece of food to take a bite as he spoke, "There was an incident earlier today."
"Where abouts?" she asked, falling into their usual routine. It was common for Souta to tell her about times he needed to check on a gateway. It didn't happen too often, and they normally could wait until he travelled to a specific region to check all its gates.
But Tokyo's gate was the only one they knew about in the area, and they knew it was still sealed, so she knew it must've been that another gate was created that they were unaware of.
"In Toshima."
"That's pretty close. Was it a new gate?"
He nodded, "It was in an abandoned warehouse district. Problem was… I almost didn't recognize it in time."
Suzume asked before taking a bite of her own food, "What to do you mean?"
Souta lowered his chopsticks, letting a pause fill the air ominously before saying, "I was almost too late…"
Suzume paused as well, the weight of his words finally hitting her, "You mean…?"
Again, he nodded, his face now somber, "I saw it… looming over the city…"
Suzume asked, "Why didn't you call me? Maybe I could've gone ahead and closed it?"
"You had your final semester exam. I wasn't going to let you jeopardize that."
"Stopping the city from being destroyed is kinda more important in those instances, don't you think?"
"Well yes, but…" he hesitated, and Suzume's brow knitted in concern.
"I've never seen you like this before," she said, reaching her hand to his cheek, hoping it would comfort him a bit to open up to her.
When his piercing blue eyes fell on her hazel ones, she saw the fear in his face, "It almost fell… over the university…."
The sudden realization that Suzume had nearly become a victim of a disaster caused by the Worm sent a shockwave through her, and clearly, it was a lot for Souta as well.
"I… I almost didn't…" Souta stuttered as his body seemed to go into a fight or flight mode as he started to hyperventilate.
"Hey! It's okay. We're here now. We're all safe," Suzume immediately fell back on her nursing training, and moved to grab the blanket from the couch, wrapping it around him, and holding him close, "It's okay. Everything's alright."
She could feel his body shudder, but his arms quickly found themselves around her waist, seeking the much-needed comfort that she was still there with him. That he hadn't lost yet another person he cared about because of this.
Suzume just rocked him slowly as he let out his fears, "I thought I was…. I you were gonna…!"
"Shhhh, it's okay," she quieted him, trying to stop him from winding himself up more, "Just take some deep breaths for me, and tell me where we are right now."
She felt him take a few deeper breaths, though his arms never loosened from her waist, "We're… We're in our apartment… I-in Tokyo…"
Suzume ran her hand through his hair, soothing him immensely and she could start to feel him calming. She whispered again, "It's okay… I'm okay… We're both okay."
After just a few more minutes of them holding one another, Souta's grip relented and he slowly pulled back, looking up at her with faintly red eyes and flushed cheeks. His voice cracked a little as he tried to regain his composure, "I'm sorry, Suzume."
She shook her head, wiping the remnants of his tears away, "There's no need for that."
He smiled up at her, "Still…"
"No. You have nothing to apologize for," she reiterated before leaning down and kissing him sweetly.
She felt him relax into the kiss, feeling him kiss her back, reaching his hand to the side of her head. As they slowly made more languid kisses, Suzume leaned her forehead against his as he just continued to breathe, feeling her touch and warmth beside him.
"Thank you…" he whispered, letting his hands stay wrapped around her for just a moment longer and savor this feeling.
Suzume leaned back, smiling lovingly at him before saying, "Now, eat up, before your dinner gets cold."
A faint smile grew on his lips, and with a small nod, he relinquished his hold of her and they settled back into their dinner.
"So, tell me how you even knew?" she asked, hoping she could find out about how the new gate was formed, and maybe she could find a way to be more proactive with new ones in the future.
In between bites, he answered, "I was lucky. I happened to have the earthquake monitor up on my laptop during lunch break, and it caught the signal of a low-level quake."
"Wow, that was lucky!" she replied.
He continued, "It wasn't strong enough to warrant an alert, so the phones never went off. I think it was because the Keystones must've been doing a good job of holding it back. But perhaps it broke free and managed to find that new gate."
"How often does that happen? New gates being created, I mean?"
With a small shake of his, he said, "Not often. To form a new gate, it relies so much on the emotions and memories of places that are now lonely and abandoned, and it takes time for spaces to get to that state. But… with more and more of Japan becoming ghost towns, and people leaving for major cities, I'm afraid this'll happen and more and more as time goes on."
Suzume looked solemnly at her plate, letting that thought sit with her, and letting the conversation move on from this subject. She knew she would eventually want to talk to him about letting her become a Closer as well, but for now…
For now, they had their routines, and Souta appreciated her support while he would occasionally disappear to roam the countryside and seal open gates. She would always be there for him, waiting for him to return.
As they got ready for bed, Suzume walked into their bedroom and found Souta sitting on a chair, leaning his arms on his knees and his head hanging over and his hair falling around him. She could see his shoulders moving, like he was trying to regulate his breathing.
"Souta…?" she asked quietly.
He quickly looked up at the realization that she was there and she could see the slight telltale shine in his eyes.
Suzume came up to him and held him against her. He accepted her act of comfort wordlessly, his arms wrapping around her tightly.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.
"I just… I know that you want to help with closing the gates, Suzume," he said, as if reading her mind from earlier, "I know because it's who you are. But… there's a part of me that doesn't want that to happen because… I'm terrified of losing you."
"Souta…" she whispered, her hand gently holding his head and lacing through his hair.
"You're all I have left," he confessed almost desperately, "My parents, my grandfather… everyone I've cared about is gone. If I didn't have you, I don't know what I'd do…"
"Souta, listen to me," she said, hoping to grab his attention, which thankfully it did, "I'm not going anywhere. But you can't carry this all on your own. I want to help you, however I can, and if that means sometimes, I have to go seal a gate instead of you, so be it."
Souta knew this was the most rational road for them go down together, but it still scared him that he could lose the one person he had left in his life.
"You're right… I know you're right," he said, his voice sounding exhausted, "But… that doesn't mean it still doesn't scare me."
She offered him a warm smile, "Then that makes two of us. I'm still scared that every time you leave, it may be the last time I ever see you. Like the day my mom left and never came home…"
A sudden realization hit Souta, and he looked up at Suzume, and she was just barely holding her own tears back, "I can't bear the thought of living in world without you in it, but at the same time, I know that what you do is important. You've probably saved thousands of lives because of what you do, and yet there's no glory; no thanks; nothing that rewards you for the danger you put yourself in just to protect others. But that's not why we do what we do. We do it… because we know it's what we have to do. Because it's the right thing to do."
"Suzume…" he breathed out.
"We help people, so let's start by helping each other…" she finished, pressing her lips to his and letting every ounce of her love and adoration for this man flow through it. He reciprocated and she could feel his love for her as they angled their lips against one another in comfort.
As she pulled away, though her arms still around him, her eyes had a look of affection he couldn't deny, and she said, "We'll talk about this more tomorrow. For now, can we just… be together?"
With understanding in her voice, he nodded, knowing that they would come up with something for this problem. After all, they worked best at problem solving together. But for now, it had been an emotional day, and they both deserved to take comfort knowing they were there for each other.
As they crawled into bed, Suzume felt Souta hold her securely from behind, his lips finding their way to her shoulder and neck. She giggled at his affectionate behavior, looking back over her shoulder and whispering, "I love you."
He kissed her languidly before repeating, "Love you too."