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The past three months had been some of the hardest of Yukari’s life by far. She had gone from fighting against a god of death in January, to having slight amnesia in February, to then having to watch her boyfriend almost die in March due to side effects of the aforementioned fight.
The week of Gekkoukan’s graduation ceremony was utter hell. Yukari regained her memories of the prior year when most of her other friends did, leading them to charge up to the roof of the school in the middle of the ceremony. Everyone had been all smiles on the way up the stairs, set for a grand reunion with their missing teammates. What they got instead was a tragedy.
Nobody could figure out why Makoto had gone unresponsive, causing a panic amongst them that persisted in the days to come. Each one of them filtered in and out of the hospital alongside other people in Makoto’s life. Without any definitive findings from the doctors to go off of, everyone was holding their breath for the inevitable heartbreak.
But for once in their incredibly long journey, the former heroes received a miracle. Makoto finally woke after what felt like an eternity of sleeping. Yukari, who hadn’t left his side for more than a moment, was the first to greet him. The greeting was more her collapsing onto him and sobbing for ten minutes straight, but she still counted it.
They still didn’t know how or why he woke up when he did. When they asked, Makoto could only explain that he used some special power to seal away Nyx. It should have been fatal, but things hadn’t turned out that way. He intended to investigate later, but no one would let him even think about that stuff for at least the rest of the month. He had plenty of quality time to spend with people.
So yeah, like Yukari had mused before, it had been a hell of a month. Yet for some reason, finally being here at Destinyland with Makoto made life seem not so bad after all.
An hour into the couple’s visit, it truly was living up to the hype. The castle at the back was a beacon for them as they walked through meandering candy-colored streets. Buildings and attractions blended together, making their vision a bit dizzy trying to take it all in. Everywhere they went, there was yet another way to have fun. The people running the park were truly aware of what put smiles on people’s faces.
After crossing over into another section of the massive theme park, Yukari pulled out the small map they had been given upon entry to glance over it.
“Okay, so we’ve done the train ride, the teacups, the bumper cars, and the carousel. If we keep going this way, we’ll end up pretty close to—” The sight of her boyfriend hanging his head in her peripheral caused her to nudge him with her hip. “Hey, are you listening? You didn’t fall asleep on your feet, did you?”
“No, I’m in mourning from eating my last pork bun,” he replied, leaning into Yukari’s side a bit. “I want another one so badly.”
“Seriously? You just ate, like…four in a row.” Yukari shook her head. “Where does it all go with you?”
“Couldn’t tell you. But I didn’t hear a ‘no,’ so…”
At the first sign of him trying to shift away, Yukari yanked Makoto back to her side. “Not so fast! You promised we’d go see the concert with all the mascots next. We’ll swing by for another bun on the way out, greedy.”
“Fine, fine. Lead the way.”
As Yukari pulled her boyfriend along, she started to feel the muscles in her face cramp from smiling so much. Honestly, she didn’t think she had stopped smiling since arriving. Her past self could never have imagined such a mundane problem actually applying to her.
The smile persisted throughout the concert. The actors in each of the mascot suits were incredibly skilled at being as cute as their characters demanded. It honestly seemed like the characters themselves had come to life. Makoto himself even got into the performance, citing the music as particularly catchy to listen to.
They both left with dumb little grins and matching headbands based on the mascots. They got cat ears for Yukari and bear ears for Makoto, who acted offended when Yukari told him it was because he slept just as much as one.
As a peace offering for her so-called ‘rude joke,’ they made a stop for more pork buns on their way to finally ride some roller coasters. Makoto swore it wouldn’t affect him going on any of them, and though Yukari had her doubts initially, it only took two rides for her to be fully convinced. Nothing seemed to upset his stomach, not the high loops, not the corkscrews, not even the super steep drops on the last coaster they boarded. That one, admittedly, had made Yukari’s stomach feel a little queasy. She was pretty sure she spent eighty percent of the ride shrieking like a banshee.
To help alleviate that, they switched to some slower paced things from there. The castle tour was simply enchanting, transporting the couple to a fantasy world of crystal chandeliers and large furniture backed with gold-laced wood. The princesses passing them by with cheery waves made Yukari feel like a little girl all over again. She only considered picking up a tiara from the connecting gift shop for a second, regardless of what Makoto said about her ‘eyeing it too heavily.’
From there, they went to the arcade. That was much more up Makoto’s alley, so Yukari let him take the lead. He took them from game to game, taking the time to teach Yukari how to play the ones she wasn’t familiar with before utterly stomping her anyway. He claimed that not holding back was a show of respect, but she couldn’t help but feel that he was enjoying besting her again and again.
Well, whatever. She was winning too, in a way. Getting to see her boyfriend truly lose himself in fun for a change was a greater reward than she could have ever hoped for.
He grinned when the final score for air hockey popped up, declaring him the winner of the match by just one point. He laughed fully when Yukari tried her hand at a strength test machine and psyched herself out so badly that she missed the machine entirely. He even made silly faces unprompted when they stopped by a photo booth at the back of the arcade.
As if the pictures they took there weren’t enough preservation, Yukari didn’t think she would ever forget the sight of Makoto squishing his face against hers and poking her cheek with a goofy grin. Printing extra copies of their photos was totally worth the price.
When they came across the haunted house attraction, it was decidedly ignored. Yukari had been prepared to brave it if Makoto really wanted to see what was inside, but he hadn’t even acknowledged it when it came into view. As nice as it would have been to cling to him the whole way through, Yukari could admit it was probably better to just opt out entirely. She was much more inclined to take the peaceful ride on the riverboat around the outside of the park.
They ended the night watching the parade from atop a viewing platform deeper into the park. Most people likely preferred getting an up close view of it, but Yukari was more than content where she was. The lights adorning each float were dazzling from way back, and she wouldn’t give up her spot wrapped around Makoto’s arm for anything.
He let out a long yawn. “Feels like we’ve been here way longer than a day with everything we did. This place really does have it all.”
“I guess it’s not called ‘The Land of Dreams’ for nothing,” Yukari said. “Did you have fun?”
“Definitely. You?”
“Are you kidding? Today’s been like a dream. I haven’t had this much fun in…years, probably.” She lowered her head a bit as she added, “Thanks for being here with me.”
“Of course. I said I would.”
“Well, yeah, but…I meant thanks for staying here and not…not leaving.”
“Leaving? Where would I— Oh…”
The hurt in Makoto’s voice only made Yukari feel worse about bringing up the events of early March. For all that she and the others had suffered, Makoto had been put through the wringer as well.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.”
“You didn’t,” Makoto said. “I know that week was rough for you. I really am sorry I couldn’t warn you ahead of time.”
She pushed her head deeper into the crook of his neck. “Not your fault. I should be past it since I have you back, but… It’s not always easy to convince myself I’m not actually dreaming all this.”
“I know what you mean. Having my soul be apart from my body for so long was…unpleasant. It doesn’t help that we still don’t have all the answers to what my recovery means for what I tried to do with the Great Seal.”
“You said Elizabeth was looking into that, right? Have you heard anything?”
“Nope. But I trust her. If Liz says she’ll figure it out for us, then we just have to wait until she comes crashing in with news.”
“That’s an…odd way of phrasing that.”
“Not for her it’s not.”
The lack of elaboration left Yukari with a looming sense of dread. She really didn’t know much about Elizabeth to begin with, other than that the otherworldly woman genuinely cared for Makoto. And while she’d like to trust her boyfriend on this, his nonchalance to things that would overwhelm most others was not to be ignored.
He pushed on past any of this, of course, saying, “Anyway, if there’s nothing we can do to speed up the process, then we can at least do ourselves the favor of not worrying about it, right? We didn’t come to a theme park to mope.”
While she didn’t love how trivial he made the situation seem, Yukari could admit Makoto had a point. The circumstances of his return were a point of concern for all of S.E.E.S., but unlike the issue with Tartarus last year, they couldn’t just load up on weapons and fight their way to answers.
As she had been forced to learn during that period of time, relying on others was not a sign of weakness. She wasn’t debasing herself by leaving certain things to people better suited for them. As long as she helped out where she was able, that was enough. Taking on too much on her own went against everything she had learned being a part of S.E.E.S.
“You’re right. The last thing I want is to end such a perfect day on a low note.” Yukari turned herself to hug Makoto around his torso. She let out a breath in sync with his, sinking into the comfort of his embrace. “I hope we can have more days like this. I think we deserve it after all we’ve been through.”
“We will. We just have to find more adventures to go on. Plenty of memories for us to make.”
“Mmhm!” Yukari broke away from the hug to start heading towards the stairs leading down to the ground. “But on that note, we should probably get going. Do you remember what train we have to get on to get home?”
“Why would we go home?”
She stopped in her path, turning back to look at him. “Huh?”
“We’re getting a room here together, right? So we don’t have to worry about heading out early?”
Yukari felt a jolt run up her spine. Her mouth locked in place, hung open like one of those tiki statues in the jungle attraction on the other side of the park.
Getting a room here? Tonight? Together?!
Was that a genuine suggestion? Makoto didn’t look like he was about to grin and take back his words. But if that was true, how did he expect her to take this without short-circuiting?
Seeing her stunned face, Makoto walked closer and added, “You were the one who mentioned staying the night when we planned this. Or were you just joking?”
“You remember that?!”
Yukari had basically been talking to herself at that point in the conversation. Her words had come out so offhandedly that she was sure Makoto wouldn’t pay it any mind, and yet…
“W–Well…” She fiddled with a loose strand of hair around her ear. “I wasn’t totally kidding about it, but…”
“But you don’t want to now?”
“No, it’s just—” One glance at Makoto showed his face still hadn’t changed at all in this whole exchange. “How are you so calm about stuff like this?”
“One of us has to be,” he replied. “Would you rather the both of us be messes? I can stutter a little bit if that helps.”
Yukari reached over to smack his bicep. “You’re not funny.”
“So I’ve heard.” Makoto stepped even closer and reached down to hold both her hands. His thumbs brushed over her skin so gently, like she was something precious. “We obviously don’t have to if you’re not feeling it. I’m fine heading back tonight. Like I said, it’s been fun. I’m content either way.”
Of course he was being considerate of her. He always was.
Yukari definitely wished the whole ‘blushing up a storm’ thing worked both ways, but she would always appreciate how he held himself together for her sake.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it wasn’t necessary. Really, what was she so worried about here? They had come here to have fun, and now she had the opportunity to continue the fun at their own discretion.
There were no classmates to steal Makoto away for the afternoon, no dormmates to pop out of thin air and interrupt them. Even Aigis had agreed to leave them be for the day, provided they text her updates every hour on the hour.
So really, when she thought about it, the only thing standing in the way of her enjoying herself some more tonight was her own sense of awkwardness. While normally a hard wall to overcome, it was nothing compared to what she felt thinking about having Makoto all to herself on her own terms right now.
She must have had a fierce look in her eyes when she met Makoto’s gaze again, because his own eyes widened as he took a half step back.
“Yukari?”
“I want to stay. Let’s get a room.”
“You sure?” he asked. “You’re not feeling embarrassed anymore?”
“Of course I’m feeling embarrassed. It’s not like I’ve ever done anything remotely close to this, you know. But…it’s okay to be embarrassed, right? Feeling like that just means that I care about how you see me. That I don’t want what we have to go away. It’s just more proof of how much I…l–love you.” She chose to lean forward until her blushing face was buried in his open jacket. “Ugh, even saying it is still a lot…”
Makoto placed a hand on her back. “You’re fine; I get what you mean. Let’s go for it. If you’re sure…”
“I am. Besides…” She pulled back just a bit to throw a conniving grin his way and tap him on the nose. “I can’t pass up an opportunity to possibly make you as flustered as you normally make me.”
To Yukari’s absolute delight, Makoto did not take that comment and gesture as gracefully as he took most other things. That stoic face of his was finally starting to resemble hers with the color it gained. It might have taken all of her willpower to pull off a move like that, but the results justified the way her internal voice was currently screaming.
Makoto cleared his throat. “I…don’t see that happening.”
Yukari just chuckled as she took him by the hand and led him down the stairs. “Guess we’ll see, huh? The night’s still plenty young.”
Seeing her boyfriend with such a lovely shade of pink in his features had given her a surprising boost in enthusiasm. Definitely not something to waste, in her opinion.
Embarrassment be damned, she was going to make sure tonight was one to remember.