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The final fight was approaching. Akihiko knew that the moon above his head every night was a constant reminder as he saw it grow fuller and brighter. He recently went through a stage of grief, denial at the possibility of them dying, at the chance of the entire world perishing due to Nyx coming down upon everything.
There Akihiko was, eating udon at the SEES dormitory lobby. It was lonely tonight, everyone preparing in their own ways, with pretty much the only constant lately being Kotone Shiomi, running in and out of the dorm, sometimes with company of other of their teammates, sometimes alone. Their field leader somehow seemed as undefeated as ever. Nothing could keep her down, huh?
He looked at the clock in front of him as he kept eating, taking note of how close it was to the Dark Hour. Just a few hours until then. He hoped nothing bad would happen tonight.
Akihiko hears hurried steps running down the stairs which grabs his attention.
It was Kotone.
“Kotone? Where are you going, it’s almost the Dark Hour. Are you planning on bringing the team together for another Tartarus visit?” He asked, setting down his food.
“Nope!” She answered in her usual cheery tone, going over to hug him from behind his seat. “I’m taking you out, Aki.”
“Taking me out to fight in Tartarus?”
“Of course not, silly. I’m taking you out on a date. I said I owed you one when we went out on New Year’s, right?”
“I’m not opposed to that, and I guess you did say that, but… it’s late, like I said, the Dark Hour is almost starting.” Akihiko was hesitant, but leaning into Kotone’s hold. It was comforting, and hearing her call him by his nickname always felt so sweet to his ears.
“And that’s exactly why I’m taking you out.” She insisted, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “The Dark Hour can be pretty too, and, when we defeat Nyx, we’re never going to see any of this again, remember? So we have to enjoy these sights while they’re still here, Aki.”
She… did have a point. It was still dangerous to go out, but they all decided that they were going to defeat Nyx and bring down Tartarus and the Dark Hour for good, but it seemed that it would take away those good sides of things that Shiomi saw that he didn’t. He couldn’t, truth be told, because the Dark Hour had taken so much from them, and harmed so many others.
But Kotone Shiomi had a certain charm to her that made her so convincing, it was hard not to take her offer… Which is exactly why he took it.
“Alright, but if we see any sign of too much danger, we’re turning right around. Deal?” Akihiko turned to look her in her eyes, wanting his request to be understood considering how seriously he meant it.
“Deal.” Kotone smiled. She tended to do that. Give out a smile despite all the danger, the fears and the sorrows. Somehow, he could always count on her to smile. She had that power, to keep a grin on her face that helped keep him grounded. If there was one constant in this world, it was Kotone and that grin.
“Deal.” Sanada repeated, finishing his food and getting up, putting on his jacket as they headed out.
It was cold outside, the snow of the past few days having piled up a little on the sidewalks, requiring them to use boots or something waterproof to avoid getting their feet wet, as well as avoiding any possible slips that would certainly be unfortunate to happen if they’re out during the Dark Hour. Kotone led the way, holding her boyfriend’s hand as she practically skipped off somewhere, weaving through streets and alleyways, making her own convoluted path to who-knows-where. Were they going somewhere that she actually knew, or was she improvising as they went along? Akihiko truly couldn’t tell, but he tried to keep up with her stamina as best as possible, though she was always a better runner than him, so it got hard to keep up with her occasionally.
She slowed down whenever necessary, stopping once they reached a dark and damp alleyway next to a building with a fire escape staircase on the side, litter all around, despite a large dumpster being right there.
Akihiko breathed in deep as he took a moment to relax from all the running. “What are we doing here?” He asked, eyeing their surroundings with an air of confusion and doubt.
“You worry too much, just follow my lead, Aki.” She said, jumping high so she could grapple onto the ladder, effortlessly climbing it before waiting for Sanada at the top. “Come on, what are you waiting for? You can do it!”
How the hell she jumped that high, Akihiko didn’t know, but he’d try his best to do so as well. He climbed up on the nearby dumpster, feeling it wobble under him from how uneven the ground was, but he coiled his legs and jumped, throwing himself at the ladder at full force. He almost missed his shot, but he managed to hold onto the ladder after his chest hit against it, leaving him with a bit of pain, but he’d manage through it. He climbed up effortlessly after that, his upper body strength helping him in moments like this.
“See? I told you you could do it.” Kotone said, smiling widely again.
“Barely.” Akihiko sighed, huffing out just a little.
“Come on, don’t complain so much, you did it in the end! That’s what matters, and that’s why I believed you could do it.” She said, pulling him close to her by his waist and pressing a kiss to his lips.
She always loved doing that, manhandling him when he wasn’t expecting it. She surely got some enjoyment out of seeing Akihiko’s eyes widening whenever she brought him in for a kiss, or when she playfully pulled him into her arms and dipped him. She had an energy that was unmatched by anyone else. Sanada never met a person quite like Shiomi, and that was precisely what ended up drawing him in, and what inevitably brought them together in the way the two were now, a beautiful couple that would share whatever time together they could. Sure, they both had their responsibilities which left them unable to be by each other’s side as often as they might’ve liked, and Akihiko certainly took his time to truly open up to her and let himself be available for love, considering how immature he still was just a few months back, but once that was done, once he was ready, he knew he didn’t want to miss out on this anymore, and he wouldn’t let go of her. He wanted to be hers, and he hoped she wanted to be his too, forever.
The two make their way up the stairs, finally arriving at the roof of this seemingly random building, and Kotone sits down on the roof, which luckily had a spot with some seating and some roofing on it too, leaving a nice spot free of snow for them to sit on, which she did, before she started beckoning Akihiko closer.
“Sit, sit! Come on!” She spoke in that sweet tone, patting the space next to her, before she wiped off the dust that clung onto the palm of her hand on her skirt.
Akihiko did as she asked, sitting beside her, before he stared up at the moon. It looked almost full, and he knew their final fight was approaching.
“Please, stop thinking about that, Aki.” Akihiko heard her speak, and all of a sudden his hand felt the slightly chilly touch of hers. “Oh wow, how’s your hand so warm?” She commented.
Akihiko couldn’t help but chuckle. Little things like that always got him to stop being so stuck in his own mind and to just focus on the moment, the present. Once again, she smiled and his warm heart became even warmer.
“So, uh… What are we doing here, exactly?” He asks, trying to finally figure out why she chose this place in particular, considering how plain and monotone it looked.
“We’re stalling.”
“Stalling? Stalling for what?”
“You’ll see later, so for now just tell me, what have you been doing lately?” Shiomi changes the topic in breakneck speed.
If it were anyone else, Akihiko might’ve questioned it, gotten suspicious or insisted on an answer, but since this was her , he didn’t feel so bad about letting her keep her surprises. “Uh, nothing much. I’ve been at the club occasionally, but I’m mostly trying to prepare for the next full moon. You know how it’s probably going to be our toughest battle. I don’t want to mess it up.” He sighs. “What about you?”
“If I tell you, you might get jealous and wish you’d done the same.” She answers, giggling a little.
“Hey, come on, you can tell me. I wanna hear.”
“Alright, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” She teased, before humming for a moment. “Well, start of this month I went out shopping for clothes with Yukari. I thought she could use some new clothes for spring since it’s almost coming around, and she’s going to need to look her best once she turns into a third year, right?”
“You went shopping with her?” Akihiko is surprised. “Was she needing more clothes?”
“No, not at all, she probably has enough.” She laughs again. “But she needed company. Didn’t you notice how lonely she was getting?”
“Lonely? No, I… hadn’t noticed.” Akihiko admitted. “I knew she wasn’t doing too well, but I didn’t know what I could do to help, so I mostly left that to Mitsuru.”
She nodded, frowning just a little. “Yeah, she definitely was. She wasn’t doing well, but as soon as we went to the mall she started to perk up, and the more I made her go back to put something new on, the better she felt.”
“Were none of the clothes looking good?”
“Oh no, they looked wonderful, I just wanted to mess with her and make her keep getting new pairs.”
“That sounds just like you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment~” She giggled again, nuzzling against Akihiko’s neck for warmth.
“It definitely is one, don’t worry.” Akihiko smiles, some of his worries truly melting away, finally. “Is that all you did, though? I remember you constantly leaving the dorm, with pretty much everyone.”
“Oh, so you were paying attention to me?” She hummed. “Were you missing me, Akihiko?”
“U-Uh, maybe a little.” He stuttered by her sudden leading question, but it was true, he did notice her absence just a bit more this time around, though he didn’t blame her for any of it. She had her things to do, and he did too, so that was what he focused on for the most part. “But I’m genuinely curious to know what you did.”
“I also went to an arcade with Junpei and destroyed his score on those whack-a-mole things.” She continued recounting her adventures, her hand hooking onto Akihiko’s forearm. “But we played plenty of those games with the guns too, the ones where you play as a duo. That was so fun, even if we kept shouting at each other to not miss any of our shots.”
“I’m guessing you did that because he was down too.”
“Do you even need to ask? I think even you know he’s still feeling pretty beat because of what happened to Chidori…”
“Yeah, no, I can see that plain as day. I feel bad for him… but I’m just glad he has a good partner like you to keep him well.”
“And to keep him in check.” She said, laughing to herself. “I’m never forgetting the way he shouted at me because of the Ryoji thing, so I’ll hold that over his head if he’s ever rude to me again.”
Akihiko laughs along with her. “That’s evil, pulling out a trick like that on him.”
“Only if he couldn’t handle it, but he can.”
Akihiko chortled and shook his head. “Alright, who else?”
“Who else… Hmmm…” She hummed out loud as she thought. “I took Aigis to the bridge last week. I showed her the sunset from it.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” She nodded, softly rubbing the thumb of her free hand onto Akihiko’s. “She just needed to have a better memory of that place than the one she had. A better one with me, that she could look back on, and not the one from when I was young.” She said, her tone getting just a bit more serious.
Akihiko turns to her, finding it a bit strange. He leans in to look at her, and she raises to look into his eyes too.
She leans right in and presses a very soft kiss to his lips.
It was strange. He’d noticed moments like that with her, where she got quieter, a bit less springy and bubbly as she usually was, that usual descriptor of hers, the smile that defined her. Right now, she doesn't have it. Yes, there was a smile, but… it didn’t feel right, like she was forcing it.
He could only imagine how hard it must be to smile despite what she may have gone through in the past. She was stronger than he ever might be.
“What are you staring so much at me for, was the kiss that good?” She says, teasing him, the wavering smile still there.
“Haha, sorry…” Akihiko shakes his head, refocusing on her. “I was just thinking about your smile.”
“My smile? What about it?”
“It’s beautiful.” Sanada caressed her cheek. “Your smile is always so bright, you know that? It always makes me smile too, even when I’m at my worst.” He said, before giving her a bright smile back. “I hope I manage to do the same for you too, Kotone.”
Kotone’s smile came back to the usual shine it held, the one that could light up a night by itself, a sunrise in a dark place.
Akihiko was starting to understand Kotone a bit more. Maybe that smile wasn’t always genuine, and after everything they’ve gone through, and everything she lived through, he certainly can’t blame her for doing that, but he truly hoped that what he said held true. That, even if that smile might not always be true, that there is a part of her that smiled for him, that felt happiness because of him.
It was all he could hope to do for her. She deserves some happiness in that life of hers.
“You do, Aki. You do.” She spoke softly, nuzzling into him again, before she pulled him into a hug. “...But I should keep telling you about my time with the rest of the team, right?”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“Okay, okay, so… Mitsuru.”
“Oh boy, what’d you pull with her?”
“Oh, nothing serious, we just studied together.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it, though we did spar for a bit later too.”
“How’d that go?”
“I can’t tell you, otherwise you’d lose your respect for her if I told you she lost to me.”
Akihiko laughs. “Can’t have that, you’re right. Then I’ll just have to stay guessing.”
“Ahh… Then a bit after that I went out to walk Koromaru with Ken. We both talked a bit about his shows, he told me a lot about the plot of it. It was… weirdly complex. Some of the twists actually caught me by surprise and almost made me consider watching the show.”
“Almost?”
“Almost, I have a reputation to uphold, I can’t start watching shows like that.” She pokes his cheek. “But I enjoyed talking to him. It helped clear his head, and we passed by the cemetery on the way back. He paid his respects to his mom there. I think he appreciated it.”
“What about Koromaru?”
“He was just happy to have gotten to go out for a walk at all. He’s easy to please, and he’s a good boy.”
“A good boy, huh?” Akihiko snorted, before moving on. “I saw you going out with Yamagishi too. What did you two do?”
“I did go try to cook with Fuuka again, though I took the lead for most of the time. The food actually turned out pretty good, then after that we watched something she wanted to show me on some video site or something while we ate. Something about a weird orange.”
“A weird orange?”
“Don’t worry about it.” She quickly moved past it. “She was probably one of the only ones that was doing decently well, even if she’s missing Moriyama a ton. But spending time together took her mind off of that.”
“Yeah, I can see how it must feel lonely for her, not having someone that close to her still around.” Akihiko said, his voice cracking when he finished the phrase, which he hid by clearing his throat.
“I visited Shinjirou too, you know.”
“What?” Her topic change was very well timed. She probably must’ve noticed that he was feeling sad about Shinji still being in that coma, but… “...Did you really?”
“I did. He was my friend too.” She sighs, sounding a bit sad over his absence too. “He didn’t react at all, of course. I didn’t expect him to, but I just visit him sometimes, make sure he’s okay and that his room is taken care of.” She held Akihiko tighter. “He’s getting the best care, I’m sure. Mitsuru seems to be putting plenty of work into that. Maybe she thinks she owes him that much.”
“I think she does, but it’s not her fault. I just wish… wish I visited more, or even talked to him more back then, or—”
“No, it’s not your fault either, Aki, I’m not gonna let you blame yourself.”
“I—”
“Nope, I won’t listen.” She insisted, hugging Akihiko tighter, which almost felt like his eyes might pop out when she did, which made him immediately cease that line of thinking.
“Ugh, yeah, fine…” He groaned out as he winced until she let go, which he sighed in relief. “Hah… You’re strong.”
“Yep, and that’s why I’m the field leader.”
Her smile. Her smile shone as bright as the moon in that moment. No, it shone brighter.
Something about it tonight made it seem… more genuine than usual. He wasn’t sure how that could be true, since her smile always felt genuine, that was how it had always been, and he always loved it, but… this felt special. He wasn’t sure why. She seemed happier. Happier there, with him. That warmed his heart.
Her smile was so bright, it made everything around them seem darker by comparison.
No, in truth, that wasn’t just Akihiko’s imagination. They talked for long enough that the Dark Hour came around, and the sky around them turned that dark green that had become so commonplace for them.
“Quick, quick! Look that way, below the moon!” Kotone quickly sat herself up at attention, pulling on Akihiko.
He did as she asked, and soon, they saw Tartarus rising up in the distance. It was still quite close, and it didn’t make it feel any less larger than life than it was, but… there was a certain beauty to it, from this far away. The green that washed over its walls illuminated the entire tower with the bright moonlight, everything else staying fairly dimly lit, but that tower, there was no missing it in that night sky. It was unlike anything in this world, and they knew it, but now, just for tonight, it felt less like the challenge it always like, like the omen of death that it had become, but, just for tonight , it was a monument of beauty, of the strange bewitching charm that the supernatural had. Maybe there were people out there, people who experienced the Dark Hour but never came into danger, that saw that tower with the wonder he felt right now.
“Beautiful, right?” She asks, laying her head on his shoulder.
“Yeah… yeah, it’s beautiful.”
“I figured I should show you this. I know Tartarus brought us a lot of trouble, but… we should see it in a better light, even if just for one night, since we’ll be losing that chance soon, right? Because we’ll win, and Nyx will be defeated, and then Tartarus won’t exist anymore.” And despite how sure of herself she sounded in her speech, her hand gripped tight on his sweater.
And he put his arm around her, holding her just as tight. “We will. We’re going to beat Strega and finish with the Dark Hour… and we’ll win. I just know it.” He said, partly trying to convince himself, but partly also believing in it. She made him believe it, and so, he’d believe in her. “I believe in us.”
“And you’re right, it’s beautiful.” Akihiko continued, before clearing his throat. “...But you’re more beautiful.”
“That was so corny, was that from one of your magazines?” Kotone giggled to herself.
“Y-You know about that?!” He exclaimed, before sighing. “...Maybe.”
She laughed a bit more. “Oh, Aki… I love you.”
“I love you too, Kotone.” He said, turning to her again and holding her face in his hand. “I’ll always love you. Forever.”
And their lips come together for another long, drawn out kiss. One that was mixed with hope, fear, and love. Both could tell it, but maybe neither would ever express it… But both knew, and that’s what mattered.
Once their lips came apart, they wordlessly turned back to watch Tartarus for the rest of the night, and stare onto the waxing gibbous moon that lay atop of them, basking them in the light.