Chapter Text
The gentle breeze of the autumn wind ruffled the magical girl's hair playfully, and although she was considerably shorter than he was so that it could affect him, he soon caught the soft scent of roses that she gave off.
He had always liked to sense that kind of detail in the girl, it made him feel a kind of private connection that existed only between the two of them.
Today, he liked it twice as much as usual.
“I'm sorry, Lieutenant” Byakuya murmured softly, embarrassed, trying to adjust the fine silver strands under her scarf, “it was the current.”
“It doesn't bother me at all,” answered Mira in a calm voice as they walked side by side, “although there is something we should discuss.”
The girl looked up at him, evidently confused. The man added nothing more until they reached their destination. It was the usual bench in their usual park, there was something soothing about that part of town that drew them back again and again. Maybe because it was “their place”.
“Don't you think…” he began to say, once they sat down facing each other, “don't you think we should drop the formality?”
The girl, who was taking some bento boxes out of a basket, stopped.
“Drop the formality?” she repeated in confusion.
“Well, we've spent enough time together with each other to still be too... formal, don't you think?”
Byakuya thought about it for a moment, and after a minute or two blushed.
“And what would you prefer me to call you?”
This time it was the lieutenant's turn to blush.
“You can... you can call me by my name... if that's okay to you.”
Byakuya nodded completely blushing as she held out the bento box to him. They ate their lunch calmly and quietly, as the world around them happened unhurriedly.
In the distance, the noisy construction of a new building was going on. A few meters away, the laughter of children playing in the park livened up the atmosphere along with the lazy cacophony of city traffic.
It was a day like any other in early autumn, with nothing on the calendar to distinguish it from the rest of the month, or even the year.
But for Lieutenant Mira, that day was the beginning of something different…
“Byakuya-san” he forced himself to murmur the girl's name, even though the words would attack his throat out of embarrassment “talking about spending time together up to this point, how do you feel about it?”
The girl put the teacup aside and looked at him intently. The depth of her big blue eyes disarmed him and took his breath away in a way that was even embarrassing.
And at the same time, they provided him with enough purpose and motivation to surrender to her eternal care. He would do anything to care for that sweet, innocent look for the rest of his life.
“I like being with the lieutenant,” replied the girl at last, “the lieutenant is always good and attentive to me, he brings me sweets and makes sure I am well. He scolds me for working so much, but I know he only does it because he cares about my well being” and blushing even more she finished “I like being with the lieutenant.”
Mira couldn't contain his own blush, but he forced himself to contain all his composure and finally said:
“Byakuya-san... I asked you to call me by my name... because I don't want to be just the evil lieutenant to you anymore.”
Byakuya's cheeks flared even more of a bright shade of crimson, if that was still possible, and a soft veil of tears blurred her gaze. Mira feared for a moment for her reaction, had he offended her?
“I... I also want to” the girl began to speak softly and shyly in the midst of her emotion. Mira allowed her to find the words and enough courage to speak without rushing her “I also want... to be more than the magical girl... Mi...Mira-san.”
For a moment he froze in his stupor. Had she accepted it? Mira had prepared for over a week what he would say to her and how he would confess the feelings of his heart so that the magical girl would have no doubt that, under any odds, he was confessing his love to her.
However, although the words had come out differently than he had expected, Byakuya seemed to have understood.
Had his distracted magical girl really understood him?
In the midst of his internal soliloquy, Byakuya gently took his hands over the top of the small table, bringing Mira back to the present. She gave him a small, shy smile, and he was able to exhale all the air in his lungs and return the gesture with a wider smile.
Well, there would be a chance to put as many words in the air as necessary.
There in their seat, that cool October afternoon, Mira allowed himself to enjoy the first day of comfortable silences shared together with his girlfriend, the magical girl.