Chapter Text
He thought that the late autumn season breeze is definitely chilly as winter is supposed to come in an instant. The wind suddenly blew, enough for it to shake the huge maple tree in front of him, and for a moment there, he caught a fallen dry leaf on his hand, and remembered a cliche quotation that someone had told him from years ago.
“If you catch a cherry blossom petal three times, your wish will be granted.”
A small smile slowly etched on his face as he wondered in silence why that particular memory from the past resurfaces when it’s not even the same thing, the tree is completely different, and it’s not even in the same season. Maybe because subconsciously, or even intentionally, whenever he misses him, anything can be turned into something valuable that keeps on reminding him of that precious person.
His first love.
…
When he was in middle school, his family decided to leave Ishikawa and permanently reside in Saitama. It happened so fast that Sakuya wasn’t even able to bid goodbye to his peers, and it quite took a toll on him as he really found socializing as a hard thing to do, and by that, he spent his first year being alone.
During their winter vacation, he planned to tour around the area where their current house was located, but needless to say, it was boring and the cold weather just made him even more annoyed. On his way home, he unknowingly barged inside a small library with a large sign of ‘book sale’ in front of the main door, seems unlikely for him to do as he’s not really fond of reading, but the thought of having nothing to do as he was literally new to a completely unfamiliar town with no friends to talk to or someone to visit, these were enough reasons that made him search for anything just to appease his boredom.
Well, books were definitely not the key, as he considered, but there was just something in that place that somehow, at the back of his mind, maybe he could find something interesting there, where old books were piling up and some were covered with dust and dirt as no one has ever borrowed or bought them.
Sakuya was welcomed by an old man reading a newspaper on the counter, he let out a small awkward smile and bowed before he proceeded to look around. As he expected, there’s not a single thing that fits to his liking, maybe he’s just being a fool since he’s clearly aware of the fact that he has an allergy in which dust could easily irritate his skin upon contact. He let out a sigh, slightly scratching his arm, before he decided to go outside when something caught his attention.
The Space and Everything in Between
It was a worn out science book about spacecraft and topics about the galaxy, based on the information inside as he scanned it, it was owned by someone whose initials were written as H.R. and a pager number was attached to it, which was odd since who’s still using that on 2017 instead of cellular phone, and it also came with a small note that it was donated. Sakuya wasn’t really the type of person who’s interested in outer space or anything, he thought that it’s quite baffling to be curious in the universe if not everything on the surface of the Earth has ever been discovered, but still, he bought the book and went home as if it was the most natural thing to do.
Upon arriving at his house, Sakuya shouted ‘tadaima’ indicating that he’s already home as he hung his coat, and ran to their attic. His mother’s curious gaze followed him, but she just shrugged the thought and focused on cooking their dinner.
The attic was full of their old furniture and stuff from their former house, without minding the itchiness on his arm, he rummaged for the old pager he once saw when he was a child on his father’s belongings. As he found it, he smiled widely while clutching it tightly in his hands as he quickly went to his room. But his excitement immediately subdued when he thought that the happenings were escalating way too fast and he’s becoming too eager as if he was getting crazy.
He stared at the pager laying on his blanket along with the science book and the note with the owner’s details. He's reevaluating his actions, because it’s too insane to actually message a stranger using a weird device in their era. What if the person who donated the book was actually an old man? It might bother him, and the pager may not work as well. Also, he wasn’t aware of the codes that were commonly used to communicate using this thing in front of him. Everything might be a bad idea, so he just sighed until he heard his mom calling for him to eat dinner.
“How do you use a pager?”
Eating food while he’s being eaten by his curiosity was too hard for him so he blurted out this question out of nowhere. His father looked at him in confusion while his mother was just ignoring them, continuing without even batting an eye as if telling her husband to entertain their son.
“You’re using a pager? For what?”
“Not really, I’m just curious.” He really tried to act nonchalantly but he’s silently wishing for his father to stop asking more questions because it was too embarrassing to reveal his intention.
“You gotta use codes, of course.”
“For example?”
His father looked at him suspiciously for a while until he cleared his throat to answer.
“07734, that’s the code for hello.”
Sakuya raised an eyebrow, his father slightly laughed at his reaction so he explained furtherly after drinking some water, “When these numbers are turned upside down, they’ll create the word hello.”
“Really? Nice.”
It wasn’t his intention to give such a dry response that made his father stare at him with visible shock, it’s just that it was the only reaction that Sakuya could give since he was too bewildered, and now his mother was the one who laughed at him or more on at his husband that’s still currently processing what just happened.
“Just send them your contact, you kid. The limit was up to 16 numbers so it’s completely fine. Are you trying to court someone using that? So old school.” His mother said teasingly followed by his father’s remarks that he’s now entering puberty.
“Thank you for the food, I’ll be in my room,” He pouted and stood up after he finished eating, “And also, I’m not using a pager. I’m just curious!”
That was he said but he’s now typing the code his father just told him on the pager on his hand as he went inside his room. Excitedly, he thought that maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to try, he just really wanted to do something unique on this vacation and talking to a stranger from miles away might be a memorable experience. He pressed the button to send it and waited patiently. But 30 minutes passed and there was no response, he sighed defeatedly and gave up until he felt vibration from the device.
14 9 13 8 18
“What?” He squinted his eyes on the numbers shown on the small screen of the pager. He tried to turn it upside down but beside 14 that looked like a hi, the other numbers didn't make sense. He ruffled his hair from frustration while trying to decipher the other codes.
“This device might not be suited for dumb people…” He muttered under his breath since another 30 minutes had passed and he was still stuck from where he was before, staring at the screen while being confused. He sat up and tore a piece of paper from his notebook to write the numbers, which was actually useless since he would just stare at them as well, but then an idea popped up in his mind.
14 9 13 8 18
Hi I M H R
His eyes widened from shock, not because of the code, but because he was so stupid that he actually didn’t think about doing that from the get-go. It was clearly easier to communicate through this way than to memorize those codes, so he tried to imitate what he just learned and typed on the pager.
9 13 6 19
I M F S
Since using a pager was too limited, though in each word that they exchanged through it, Sakuya felt too much excitement upon learning that they’re actually the same age and the same gender. He eventually asked for his contact number but they promised that they couldn’t reveal their real names so they were still using their code names as HR and FS in their daily conversations.
As it went on, they became friends even without knowing their real identities, it’s just that the presence of one another whenever they’re having their midnight chats, despite the distance and being unknown, everything was enough to form such a strong bond between them.
…
The two years of middle school passed so quickly that they didn't even realize that they’re actually about to enter their High School days. The spring season had just begun, and he's now wearing a gakuran that’s much shorter than his built since his parents never considered that during the summer vacation, he will swiftly undergo a growth spurt, so the size doesn’t match up that well.
He was yawning from time to time while the freshmen orientation was still going on, and unexpectedly, he felt a vibration in his pocket as he received a message.
“FS, I wasn’t able to tell you about this but we’re actually going to be schoolmates. Do you want to meet up after the orientation?”
As he read that passage, he suddenly stood up from his seat, gaining side eyes from the other students, so he felt embarrassed and quickly went down. His heart was beating too loud, he’s actually afraid that it might win over the echoes of the sound system in the gymnasium. With his shaking hands, he read the message again, and as if possessed, he just timidly replied “Sure” even though he knew that he’s too nervous that he might back out.
They agreed to meet up on the large cherry blossom three behind the school buildings. Sakuya swallowed the lump inside his throat as he looked around the area. Truthfully, he knew the reason why he’s nervous, and this was all due to the imagery of the person he created inside his head, which was HR that he knew for 2 years, that might crumble as soon as he laid his eyes on the real him.
Upon considering, it’s a boy in his age who’s too fond of the things that were sure a hobby of a nerd, and basing with what he knew, Sakuya actually once imagined that HR might be the same like them. Kind of stereotyping and he actually felt bad about it, but still, he made it so that his expectation won’t be too much and even if HR was someone who doesn’t shower for weeks and a person who just always sticks to his books and computer, he would still befriend him as he already knew his real personality that he became close with. He told himself that no matter how HR looked in person, he’s willing to be his only friend. But as he reached his destination, all his worries faded out, and somehow, he was faced with someone who’s the complete opposite of the person in his head.
He was greeted by the morning sunlight in the midst of spring.
He's staring at the young boy under the cherry blossom tree trying to catch the petals that are falling with a smile on his beautiful face. Unlike Sakuya, the gakuran was too big for the boy in front of him, his hair was being swayed by the wind, and the whole spectacle just made Sakuya stuck to the place he’s standing.
When the boy successfully caught at least three petals, he turned his head and noticed the stiff figure of Sakuya. For a while, there’s a visible confusion in his eyes but as soon as he realized it, the boy slowly walked towards his direction with a big smile.
“You’re worried that I might be a weirdo, aren't you?” The boy teasingly said with soft giggles.
“N-no, that’s not—”
“Don’t worry, I thought the same thing. But meeting you right now, I never expected that FS-san would be a very handsome man.”
As soon as Sakuya heard that sudden compliment, his eyes widened from shock and embarrassment, and the tips of his ears were getting red. The boy chuckled so sweetly, and he even went closer to him.
“Do you know that if you catch a cherry blossom petal three times, your wish will be granted,” the boy said while offering his palms with the petals on it, his eyes traveled and landed on the nameplate on Sakuya’s chest, “Fujinaga-san?”
Sakuya was too speechless, he just continued to stare at him, while the soft voice that muttered his name was currently replaying inside his chaotic mind. The boy tilted his head while observing him with big round, warm and kind eyes, and the words that Sakuya wanted to say as a greeting were even more stuck inside his throat. But just like the person in front of him did earlier, he searched for his nameplate, and there he saw…
“Hirose Ryo…”
He hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand as he didn’t mean to read the name he just learned out loud in a casual way. The boy in front of him was puzzled by his actions whilst fascinated by it.
“That’s right, I’m Hirose Ryo. No need to be awkward, you can also call me by my first name if you want because I’ll call you Sakuya from now on as well.” Ryo showed a cute smile, and that's when Sakuya remembered his initial plan of wanting to befriend him no matter what, so he cleared his throat and formally offered his hand as he gently smiled at him.
“I’m Fujinaga Sakuya. Nice to meet you, Ryo.”
Maybe it was unmistakably the cause of his imaginative mind, that while he’s still admiring the shining profile of the boy he just met under the cherry blossom tree, a certain memory resurfaced in order to form a reason to what he just felt right now. Sakuya’s mother was a literature professor. During his childhood, she often read him stories that were beyond the understanding of a young kid since the plot was too complicated to process, and as his father once told with deep sighs repeatedly, it’s not actually appropriate to read it to their son at that age which will only gain a series of laughs from his mother. One of those was the story of Eros and Psyche, and Sakuya never once believed nor was interested in it since for him, it was blatantly nonsense as he learned how to read on his own.
How can you fall in love at first sight? Even though it was a person you knew for quite a while, still, it was your first time meeting them, right?
On the spur of the moment, he proved that it was real, it’s possible, and the mythology was never a falsehood.
Because as he continued to watch the boy being showered with petals beside him, it dawned on him that he’s looking at the epitome of spring itself.
It was love at first sight.
...