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5 year old Kagiura Akira's eyes widened with sparkles as he watched his cartoon on the old family TV.
“Mommy, what are they doing?” He pointed at the screen while awaiting the answer to this new mystery.
His mom chuckled at how adorable her curious son was being, “they're getting married sweetie.”
The little boy turned his head back as he watched with utter fascination. He was completely focused in on the scene laid out in front of him: the beautifully arranged flowers, the large crowd of friends and family cheering the newly wedded couple on with their congratulations and blessings, the gentle white and pastel color palette of the ceremony, and most importantly, the undeniably palpable love that spilled from the screen directly into the young boy's heart. Kagiura had never seen anything like these in his mere five years on this planet, but he knew right away that he wanted to experience a scene just like the one in his cartoon someday in his own life.
“How do you get married? Can I get married? Is this an adult thing? I wanna get married!” His mouth ran at a million miles a second as more and more questions and thoughts came rushing to mind.
With a tender smile on her face, Kagiura's mom sat behind her son on the floor as she pulled him in close for the type of hug only a mother could give. He had always been the type to ask many questions about this mysterious world, wanting to know everything about everything, but this newfound love for weddings and for marriage was unlike anything that had crossed his path before.
“Akira,” she spoke warm and gently, “someday, you'll find someone special to you who you'll wanna spend every day of your wonderful life with. Once you decide to do so, you'll give them a diamond ring to symbolize the love that only you two have for each other.”
Kagiura looked down at his mom's hands as she spoke, and as she said that last part, he noticed the ring on her left hand sparkle in the light. “A ring like this?”
“Yep, exactly! You catch on fast,” she held up her hand so her son could get a better look at it, “your father gave this ring to me when we got married!” She could still remember that day crystal clear even many years later.
“Did you have a wedding?” He asked.
“We did!” She smiled.
“Why didn't you invite me?” Kagiura pouted with a whine when he realized that he was left out of such an important moment.
“You weren't born yet,” the woman chuckled at the innocence only a child could have.
“Awww… were my brother and sister there?” He followed up his question.
“Nope, none of you were born, but we would've loved to have you all there!”
—
After that day, Kagiura still couldn't get the idea of a wedding out of his mind. It seemed like such a glorious celebration of love and life that he definitely wanted to experience, but it was so out of grasp for a five year old. In every picture, video, cartoon, you name it, of a wedding he could get his hands on, it was always the adults getting married. He couldn't find anything with kids his age getting married. At best they were the flower girl, the ring barrier, or just guests at the ceremony and reception. He had even asked his parents if there were any upcoming weddings he could attend, but they didn't know anyone planning on getting married at the moment.
From how it was presented to him, weddings were for adults who had met that special person in their life who they wanted to spend eternity with.
However, his little kid mind had figured out how to bypass all of that.
There was already someone in mind who he wanted to marry.
Hirano Taiga was a local kid in his neighborhood that he had known long before he could even remember. He was one year older than him at 6 years old, he had striking black hair, and equally as piercing blue eyes that looked just like the sky. For nearly every day of his life that he could remember thus far, Hirano and Kagiura had spent it playing together. Whether it was in one of their backyards, at one of their houses, at the playground a few blocks away, or somewhere else fun their parents brought them, the two little boys were practically inseparable. It was even getting to the point where the two moms were planning on a joint family vacation together just cause they knew their sons would have way more fun on it being together.
Hirano was family to Kagiura.
And getting married was just the thing to make it official.
Kagiura waited at the usual swing set the two always met at. He had a whole plan laid out in his mind of how he wanted this all to go.
“Akira!” A certain voice called out as a certain boy came running towards him.
“Taiga!” Kagiura wore a huge smile as he jumped off of the swing and ran up to his friend.
Hirano dug around in his pocket and pulled out a certain piece of paper, “what was this about?” Earlier that day, Kagiura had slipped a handwritten note into his friend's mailbox. The black haired boy's mom had found the slip of paper and sent her son on a mission here to figure out what his friend wanted.
Meat me at the park for a surprise! was written in crayon with pale blue flowers drawn (more like scribbled) around it.
“You spelt meet wrong y'know," Hirano pointed out the younger boy's spelling mistake. Kagiura was flustered that he made such a mistake on such an important day. He probably should've asked his mom to check his spelling before heading out, but he was just too excited that it completely skipped his mind.
“D-Don't worry about that part, it's fine! You clearly knew what I meant since you're here!” He wasn't gonna let that deter him.
“What's going on then?” Hirano didn't want to be left hanging for much longer. He knew just how overly excited Kagiura could get with his little plans, so this definitely had to be something big considering he left a fancy note instead of just calling his house like usual.
“Right! I needed to ask you something! And it's important!” Kagiura stood firm and confident in front of his older friend.
“Hirano Taiga, will you marry me?”
“Wha–?” The black haired boy was confused at the question. Where did this come from all of a sudden?
Kagiura felt his confidence shake a little at the confused response he was given, “do- do you not know what marriage is?”
“I know what it is,” he wasn't dumb, “I just thought that was an adult thing. We're only 5 and 6, so can we even get married?”
“Well… Um… My mom said I have to give a diamond ring to the person I wanna marry, but those cost like, a bajillion yen!” Surely no five year old on the planet had the allowance to cover the cost of something like that! “But, I still wanna marry you, Taiga, so, I found something else that's close enough!”
“What'd you find?” Hirano was definitely curious now.
Kagiura dug around in the pocket of his shorts for a round little capsule. He pulled the ball out and cracked it open to reveal a silver plastic ring with a fake blue gemstone on it that reflected the sunlight coming from above quite nicely. “I went to the candy shop to buy a ring pop for you at first, but then I saw toy rings in the gacha machine outside. I thought about it, and this lasts longer than candy, and I managed to get one that matches your eyes, so– oh wait, I'm doing this wrong.”
Correcting himself in the moment, Kagiura kneeled down on both of his knees (incorrect form, but it still got the message across), “will you marry me? I wanna be with you and keep on playing with you for my entire life!” Kagiura wore a huge smile on his face as he looked up at his dear friend.
That smile was just so damn contagious that Hirano couldn't help but match his grin. He may not know why all this marriage talk was suddenly at the forefront of Kagiura's mind, but he couldn't lie, he really did feel the same. Hirano loved spending every day with the younger boy. Since he had no siblings (despite asking his parents for a little brother to no avail), all he had to play with were his friends. Of course, he had other friends he did enjoy the company of, but by far, Kagiura was his bestest friend by a landslide. He hoped that the two of them could stay the same happy kids together for the rest of their life.
Hirano took the plastic ring from his friend's hand and slipped it onto his finger. It didn't fit perfectly, but that was fine.
“Sure, I'll marry you!”