Archive of Our Own

Even if I have to repeat everything a thousand times, I would still choose you.

Kagami opened her eyes as her alarm beeped; the sunlight was not that visible yet from the curtains of her hotel room, it was five and a half in the morning. She stayed in bed for a few more minutes before deciding to get up and prepare her own morning coffee, since it’s gonna be a long day, every day is a long day for Kagami.

Spending three days in London sure is something to her, new pile of sketches for her painting idea. With a baguette and another cup of coffee in the morning to keep her company while working on her sketchbook, the cold morning air made her flinch a bit. She stopped her hand from moving and closed her eyes, just for a few seconds, before opening her eyes once again and looking down at the architecture sketch that was half done. Maybe she should’ve brought her painting essentials here with her, so that she doesn’t have to wait to be back in Paris to paint them.

Nathaniel

You’ll be back tomorrow?

Sent at 15.48

Kagami stares at her phone screen with her head tilted towards the side window of the train.

Nathaniel

I’m already on the train. |

| K.

| You free tonight? Or did Adrien already fill your schedule?

No, that’s tomorrow. |

How at your place? I’ll call you later for the time. |

I’ll bring coffee. |

| Kagami, how many of those did you have today?

The usual. |

| What, three?

Around that, yeah. |

| Okay, I won’t judge.

| See you later then.

| Safe trip.

Thanks, Nath. |

“You aren’t really free tonight, are you?”

Kagami raised an eyebrow, her eyes now on Nathaniel, who’s sitting in front of her, with many comic concepts scattered on the table. They’re at Nathaniel’s art room.

“Why’s that?” Kagami asked him, and Nathaniel’s eyes were pointing at the tablet on the table.

“You have been ignoring your painting next to you just for that.” And it’s a long list of appointments that she and Adrien have to attend, while her painting is less than halfway done. Kagami scoffed at Nathaniel’s comment.

“I really don’t get why Adrien couldn’t just… I don’t know, stepped up to his father or something.” She protested before sipping her coffee.

“When was the last time you both had your happy moments?” 

“Ouch?”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes before speaking, “you get what I mean.”

Kagami sighs, “I could count them.”

Nathaniel slowly nods before focusing back on his comic concepts.

“You already got an idea of Marinette and—”

Nathaniel didn’t get to finish his words as he heard Kagami hiss while both of her hands went to her head, looking down and silent for a while.

“How about you?”

“I would’ve told you already if I already got something.”

Kagami sighs, “right, I need more coffee.”

Nathaniel stood up at her statement, which made Kagami look at him as he spoke, “what you need now is a rest, no more coffee, just rest, we’ll… think of it tomorrow.”

Kagami stares up at him, “oh really? That’s your plan?” 

“I got to meet Marc in the morning to match up the concepts that I got with his ideas.”

Kagami let out a little chuckle, “okay, same here, I got… stuff.”

“Good luck to you, too, then.”

Kagami has been woken up by the sound of her alarm beeping at 8 in the morning, she quickly turned that off and kept lying down on the bed until she wanted to get up and head to her own art room. As she arrived in her art room, she stared at the painting that was supposed to be at least halfway done last night, if the universe had been kind enough.

With slow and careful steps, she walked down the stairs to prepare herself a glass of bitter morning coffee. When she reaches the kitchen and the dining table, she immediately stopped in her tracks, her eyes that were still heavy earlier going wide as she spotted someone sitting casually on the dining table, sipping tea like he owns this place, also staring at her.

“Who are you?” Kagami questioned the unknown person who just happened to be inside her house right now.

“Morning.”

His tone was casual, bordering on cocky. He continued sipping his tea, taking his time to respond.

“I’m Felix, your partner from the future.”

Kagami just stood in her place after hearing what that man just said. She looked at him with a shocked expression before walking away from the dining room.

“Nathaniel Kurtzberg, I swear to God.”

Kagami spoke on the phone as she walked out to the backyard of her house. She was now one second away from strangling Nathaniel in his sleep.

“You think you’re a comedian or something after doing this?”

“Hey, slow down, what are you talking about?” Nathaniel finally spoke up from the other side of the phone.

“Obviously, I’m talking about this joke of yours,” Kagami stopped talking for a second before continuing, “if you wanted to irritate me in this early morning, then congratulations, you did a very good job, wow, I’m sooo proud.” 

“First of all, I’m with Marc now. Second of all, what kind of joke are you talking about here?”

Kagami scoffed before shaking her head. Nathaniel is unbelievable.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you paid a guy to get into my house?” 

“Kag—

She looked at the window in the kitchen that was now being opened, and there he was, looking at her along with his smirk that seemed uncanny to her.

“Not to mention that he looks like Adrien? Where do you even find this guy?”

“Kagami.”

“How much did you pay him for this?”

“Kagami, I did not pay up some guy to show up at your house. That’s not on me.”

Kagami let Nathaniel’s words sink in on her mind.

The guy whose name was Felix just kept his eyes still on Kagami, even when she hung up her phone and rushed back inside her house to meet him again. Felix noticed that she was now observing him before interrupting the silence between them.

“How much did Nathaniel pay you? I’ll double it.” In Kagami’s mind, she will do anything just to make him go away from her.

He chuckles, “Nathaniel got nothing to do with this.”

Kagami just stood there in front of him. As she opened her mouth to say something, she heard her phone ring on the table next to the flower vase from ikebana.

“Judging from what time it is, which is eight past thirty, I think you might want to start getting ready.”

Kagami’s head is spinning just from catching his words, remembering she has to meet Adrien at nine. She took a glance at Felix before stating,

“Get out. I don’t want to see your face by the time I come back here.”

Felix just kept smiling, which irritated Kagami at some point, before deciding to let out an “okay” and walking towards the door. Good, at least she got one problem out.

It was 9 in the morning, and Adrien was probably waiting for her already while she was still taking one last look at herself in the mirror just to check her appearance one last time. 

“Forgetting something? Maybe your phone?”

Her heart almost dropped when Felix was right outside her house when she opened the door. She took a moment of silence before gripping her purse tightly and starting to look for her phone. Turns out what Felix said was right.

“Next to your flower vase.”

Kagami took a seat, letting out a sigh as soon as she arrived at a restaurant where Adrien is already waiting for her. Kagami swore she saw Felix following her like a child earlier, but she was glad she didn’t have to see him anymore now; she couldn't care less where he could have gone.

“Sorry for being late, Nathaniel pulled something funny this morning.” 

She still thought it was all Nathaniel’s doing.

“Nathaniel? What did he do?” Adrien asked.

“He thought it was funny to let a guy inside my house.”

He was now looking at her, questioning her words, “why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh… at least it’s all over, right? You’re here and… my father just called me and asked if you already arrived to discuss some things.”

Yeah, right, as expected, Gabriel would try to confirm everything.

“Well… I’m here now.” Kagami can’t even lean back to her seat; the situation from this morning until now is making her frustrated, lowkey.

“My father changed our modeling schedule in Romania to this year, one month from now.”

Kagami stares at him in disbelief, obviously, that was such a sudden change of information.

“Didn’t you say we would be there for six months?”

“Yes.”

Kagami took a deep breath and exhaled it. Adrien sensed that his girlfriend was not exactly hiding her displeasure.

“You don’t like it, do you?” He asked.

Kagami takes a glance at him and throws her gaze anywhere but him. Why is he asking such an obvious question?

“You’re still working on the wedding decorations concept?” 

She turned her gaze back at him before answering, “of course? You know me and Nathaniel are still working on it until now.”

Adrien scratches the back of his head, “I’ll try to talk to Nathaniel about it.”

“Excuse me?” 

The seat next to Kagami is being pulled by someone, Felix, casually taking a seat next to her and picking up the menu book on the table. This day just keeps getting better for Kagami.

“Hi, Adrien.”

Adrien’s eyes shift towards Felix at the greeting, “cousin?”

“Cousin?” Kagami is more surprised than Adrien now.

Felix chuckles and still keeps his eyes on the book menu as he flips through the pages, “he hadn’t told you anything about me? I wonder what else he is keeping away from you.” He turned his head and presented a smile to Kagami before focusing on the book menu again.

“Just drop it, Adrien, Kagami and I are married.” He dropped those words as if telling what’s for lunch today.

Adrien scoffs, “married?”

“Don’t trust him,” Kagami assures him, and turns her head towards Felix.

“What are you doing here?” She asked with annoyance.

Felix chuckles, “what is it look like I’m doing? I’m hungry.”

“Find somewhere else to eat.”

“But I want to eat here.”

Kagami feels like her frustration has been flared up to the highest point, “you could find another table.”

“Am I not allowed to eat here with you?” Felix smiles.

“Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of a conversation here?”

“Felix.” Adrien called for him, and Felix took a glance at him before turning his focus to Kagami.

“So you don’t know I am Adrien’s cousin, after all this time? Jeez, I wonder what else he didn’t tell you. He’s quite secretive, isn’t he?” 

Felix’s words made the couple dumbfounded. He raises the open menu book just to cover up his face.

“You’ll break up with him soon anyway.” Felix’s words hit something in Kagami.

“You don’t want it, right? To have your life being controlled by Gabriel, stuck with Adrien, who has zero idea how to talk back and make his own decisions.”

Kagami looked at Felix in disbelief, it’s like he’s been there in her mind and just casually blurted everything out like he was talking about the weather. Felix lowered the menu book back to the table.

“She told me everything.” Despite talking to Adrien, he keeps his eyes on the book menu, flipping through the pages.

“You should, I don’t know, find a partner for your modeling in Romania? I hate the thought of Kagami and you showing off in public spaces like you two are a couple.”

“We are.” Adrien retorted. 

Felix sighs shaking his head and speaks, “you two really like to waste both of your times, huh?”

Kagami is now looking at Adrien and starts talking to Adrien.

“She will tell you not to listen to me.” Felix speaks up as she says the first sentence.

“She will tell you that this is just a prank from Nathaniel.” He says it even before she finishes the second sentence.

How did he even get to say the exact words she was about to say? It’s what Kagami had in mind now.

“Just leave Adrien, don’t waste her time.” 

Adrien looks at Felix before standing up and speaking up, “I lost my appetite.” Before he walked away from the table.

“Don’t bother.” Felix commented when Kagami rose from her seat and was about to chase after Adrien.

“You forgot your purse here.”

Kagami looked back to see Felix holding out her purse. What did she even do to deserve a day like this?

It’s seven in the morning, and Kagami is already standing in front of her coffee maker in the kitchen. Her head feels heavy. She tilts her head to look out at the kitchen window. Felix is still there, sitting on her backyard bench while having both of his arms wrapped around himself; he is probably suffering from the cold wind in the morning. His head was about to fall a few times with heavy eyes, signaling he was trying his best not to fall asleep.

Yesterday, he followed her anywhere she went, creepy, though she is glad that he agreed not to enter her house. But now she feels like she is the bad guy, leaving a stranger who said that he is her partner from the future or something.

“What is it that you really want?” 

Felix tries his best to open his heavy eyes and look up at her when she speaks. Kagami can see that his smile is looking a bit more tired than before. There was only silence between them until both of them heard grumbling coming from Felix’s stomach.

That’s not surprising.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a restaurant nearby and ordered what they wanted to eat. Kagami went to sit first, followed by Felix. It didn’t take that long for their meal to arrive. It was weird that instead of a coffee, Kagami’s drink was replaced with a glass of water. She’s too tired to protest, so she lets it slide before turning her attention to Felix.

“Please, tell Nathaniel to stop this.”

“You still think Nathaniel did this?” Felix let out a tiny ridicule short laugh before he continued, “He has nothing to do with this. Ask me anything.”

“What?”

“As I said, I came from the future. Don’t you want to ask me anything about you? Just so you trust me.”

Kagami thinks of something to ask while Felix is busy swirling his pasta on the plate.

“What’s my grandmother’s name?”

“Nozomi Tsurugi.” Felix answered without hesitation, shoving just the right amount of the spaghetti into his mouth using a fork.

“Shinobu is her partner’s name.” He speaks after he swallows his food.

Kagami’s breath becomes uneven a little; she drinks down some water while thinking about her next question.

“What’s my brother’s name?”

Felix smiles, “you don’t have one.”

Her gaze is still locked on Felix while her hand is busy swirling the glass of water. 

“What’s next? Your first love?”

Felix asked before drinking down his own glass of water while waiting for her answer.

“You’re telling the truth, right?”

“To be honest, it would be funny. But this? I didn’t know anything, just like he said.” Nathaniel responded.

Kagami exhaled the smoke downwards, creating a cloud-like shape in the air, then gently tapped the cigarette on the ashtray. Felix knows every little detail about her life.

“You sure he really knows about those things because of from-the-future thing?“ Nathaniel asks.

“I doubt that at first, but…”

Kagami opened the folded of an oversized paper and placed it on the table, almost knocking her coffee and Nathaniel’s hot chocolate off the table. Nathaniel’s eyes were looking at the wedding theme concept, observing every detail that had been drawn on the paper. The colors are on soft hues with pink roses and sweet peas for the main picks. Nathaniel can also see the vision where most of the crystal chandelier lights would be gold to keep the atmosphere warm, but still luxurious.

“I almost forgot we have to meet Marinette tomorrow. Also, this? It’s so refreshing, how come I never saw this concept from you?”

“That’s the point.”

“I want to make your life better.” Said Felix, he kept walking somewhere inside Kagami’s house like he owned the place.

She scoffs, “better? My life is completely fine.”

He stopped his steps right in front of Kagami’s art room, glancing back at her for a bit before turning his head forward and offhandedly opening the door before he walked in. It gets even worse for Kagami; he starts to rummage through one of the shelves there.

“You have to meet Marinette tomorrow, right? So—

“What do you think you’re doing?” She quickly stops his hand from moving around, looking for something on the shelf.

Felix looked down at her, “you got about five oversized papers with different wedding concepts on here, right?”

Kagami let his word clicked on her mind. Felix took out exactly five oversized papers that had been folded into a smaller size.

“The one with hashtag twenty one, I would say twenty two is still considered work in progress.”

Felix hands her the pile of folded papers to her, and he tilts his head, seeing her dumbfounded expression.

“No one knows about these papers. Not even Nathaniel.”

He let out a sly smile before answering, “I know.”

“See? I’m trying to make your life better.” Felix leans back in the seat on the backyard tea table.

Kagami remembers the feeling of how earlier on that day Marinette was looking at the concept that Kagami and Nathaniel gave her, observing it as her expression turns more joyous each moment. Under the table, Kagami and Nathaniel were holding each other’s hands tightly, hoping to reduce their anxious feelings about it.

Their hand holding was soon loosened as Marinette showed an approving grin at the concept. She sounds so happy with the results.

“You said you need me to promise something if it works.”

He smirked. “From now on, you’re gonna listen to what I got, okay?”

Kagami looked up at him as he stood from the chair before responding with a simple, “okay.”

“Promise?” He lends his hand to her.

Kagami didn’t really have a choice, did she?

“Promise.”

How Kagami regretted her choice an hour later, when she sees Felix throwing away her newly bought pack of cigarettes after their promise. Felix is getting strict with her daily dose of coffee and encourages her to drink more water, which she rarely did before. Gosh, he even forbids her to stay up too late at night.

Weeks have passed after their little promise, and Kagami is growing more comfortable than before around Felix. Sometimes he is a bit, let’s say, overprotective of her old routine. Felix toned down her daily dose of caffeine and her smoking habits. 

“I was wondering, where are you now?” Kagami breaks the silence between them, her eyes still glued to her watercolor book.

Felix raised an eyebrow and replied, “what do you mean? I’m here.”

Kagami rolled her eyes.

“I mean, if you aren’t in a… time travel scenario, where are you at?”

“Oh…” he leans back to his chair, looking up at the sky to remember.

“These past years, I’ve been traveling to many places. I’m probably somewhere in Southeast Asia now, Vietnam, I think.”

Kagami nods before asking him another question, “have you been to Japan?”

“Not yet.” He admits. 

“Speaking of Japan, three years from now we are supposed to meet there.” 

He sure knows a lot. Kagami gives him a smile before her focus is back to adding the final touch to her painting.

“Hey.” She called him, her hand stopped moving above the rough paper.

Felix’s attention is now all on Kagami.

“What do you think?” She flipped her painting book, showing the final results. Where the warmth from the color gold met the cold, not too deep purple painted for the sky, along with a crisp circle of sun. Felix smiles warmly when seeing himself in the middle of the picture.

“I wanted to draw it on a big canvas.”

Felix keeps staring at the painting.

“If it makes you happy, then you should.”

Kagami sighs. “But apparently, I still have many paintings to do for my clients. My head really wants to explode at this point.”

Felix’s attention changed to Kagami instead of the painting, placing his hand on her head.

“Take it easy, I’ll be right with you.”

She smiles at his words, but from deep inside her, she needs more than just some affectionate words to keep her going.

Two thirty in the morning. Kagami took the last drag of her cigarette, the smoke she exhaled drifting lazily in the room, filling the room with the aroma of sandalwood. She crushed down her cigarette to the ashtray. Felix might throw a fit if he had seen even a single stick of cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean he would go rummaging through the deepest place on Kagami’s shelf in her art room just to find a pack of cigarettes like he is witch hunting.

She took a few gulps of americano, settled it down on the floor next to her after taking just the right amount for now. Kagami can feel her breath is getting heavier, most likely from the cigarette. But she wants to, no, she needs it.

“How do you feel after finishing three cigarettes in one night?”

Felix’s voice didn’t fail startling her, her fingers on her forehead froze before turning her body to see him.

“I really need this, Felix. Just for today.” She hoped Felix would get it because she really didn’t want to argue at this hour.

“That’s what you said the last time.” Felix letting out a deep sigh, took his time to continue, “you really won’t be quitting, are you?”

Kagami scoffs, mocking him.

“You know quitting things like this will surely take some time, right? I just can’t obey whatever you say, and poof, zero caffeine intake and smoking habits.”

Felix stood still, her words got the same point as last time he caught her like this.

“You hate me that much, huh?”

Kagami frowns, “stop twisting my words, that was not what I meant.”

“Must be easy for you, leaving me alone once heart failure took you away. Five years from now.”

Hearing his confession, she really didn’t know how to feel, shock, guilt, confusion, worry, and anger all in one bowl. Kagami noticed his face was getting paler, and his lips were now a faint pink-purple color. 

“I’m getting used to this.”

Felix cackles despite his vision getting all blurry. He can already taste the metallic coppery taste when the nosebleed ran over his lip down to his chin. Just like before, all he saw and felt for the last time was Kagami shaking up his body when he collapsed to the floor.

How long has it been, hundreds? Or thousands? Felix lost count already. Walking in time where he woke up from the position his head was on the dining table, seeing Kagami’s shocked expression, her with Adrien, and even those times where he caught the “just for today” thing. He really doesn’t want to give up, but Felix is really getting nowhere. 

He needs someone’s help.

Nathaniel relaxed his position on the park bench, swirling his cup of espresso in a lazy circular motion.

“I think it’s funny. Looking at how Adrien is close enough to force her to meet her mother.” Sipping his coffee as Nathaniel finished his sentence. “While he himself doesn’t dare to talk back to his father.”

Felix takes a moment to process what Nathaniel said, looking at what’s in front of him, which is no other than some sunny day from morning to noon.

“Kagami has been through so much, and as her future husband, I think you already know that.” 

“Yeah, I know.”

“And you also know how her relationship with her mother went, right?”

“Yeah.”

Nathaniel put down his cup of espresso next to the empty spot on the bench before he talked, “Instead of forcing her to do what it’s best according to him, I think Adrien should really just… be there for her instead of trying to magically change things. If he really loves her.”

“Gosh, can’t believe I could be… dumb.”

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, “what do you mean? What did you do?”

“Something dumb that I realized just now.”

“Wow, what a helpful response.” Nathaniel let out a sarcastic comment.

Felix laughs, patting at Nathaniel’s back awkwardly as he looks at him. All this time, he was just playing Adrien’s role, trying so hard to fix her. 

“Sun-heart and Rain-piercer really touched me.” 

Felix stood up from his seat, letting out a sly smile when seeing Nathaniel’s dumbfounded face. That comic of his will most likely be published two years from now.

“Hey, let me borrow that machine time of yours.”

Felix chuckles. “There’s no time machine.”

Kagami looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment when she got caught smoking in the backyard, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw Felix awake at this early hour. 

“Don’t bother.” Felix sat down on a backyard bench and patting the empty spots next to him, signaling Kagami to take a seat beside him.

Kagami slowly took her steps towards the bench and sat down, adjusting herself comfortably.

“I broke the promise.”

Felix turned his head towards her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“How do you feel? After that.” He raised his chin as a gesture to point at her cigarette.

“…Relieving.”

Felix smiles.

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I?”

Felix pulled Kagami closer towards him, carefully resting his head on hers. Letting out a sigh.

“I’m truly sorry for forcing you to do things, forcing you to change,” Felix paused his sentence for a beat.

“I can’t make your life better, at least I’m not the one who’s supposed to start.”

Kagami is now forgetting the cigarette in her fingers. She observes Felix’s face; she can see guilt written on it.

“You know, there’s this one time where you slapped me hard across the face.

Felix can see the expression of disbelief that’s on Kagami’s face, like she didn’t believe she could do that.

“Why?” She questions him.

“Because I forced you to meet your mother, so that we could go back to Japan early.”

The night wind brushed her black raven hair. She wanted to let out words, but it’s like her trembling lips forbade her from doing so. Her chest tightens, and she lets a tear drop as she sobs when Felix hugs her.

“I just wanted to show her that I can live without her.”

“I know.” His hand movements were circling on her back gently.

There was a moment of silence between them; only Kagami’s whimper filled the quiet night.

“When do you think I… I should go to her?”

Felix smiles, tightening the hug.

“Whenever you’re ready, I will always be there beside you.”

Her cries subside slowly after each passing moment. Kagami pulled away slightly just to see his face clearly.

“Let’s go back to Japan soon.”

Felix’s breath becomes heavy out of nowhere, and the metallic coppery taste hits his lip already. 

“Felix.”

No… what happened? He hadn’t said anything about the event of her death. Why does this happen? When he was so close. Felix tightened his grip on Kagami as his eyesight started to fade.

It can’t be.

Guess he should’ve seen it coming that time wants him gone already. Every loop he has been through feels quick, like they are rushing to get him. 

“Weird, it’s night already.”

Felix turned his head, seeing Kagami, who just gotten back from her meeting with Marinette for her wedding. His eyes get watery, but he’s going to hold it all down.

“Kagami.” He called her name, and she tilted her head as a quiet response.

“I think I’ll be gone.”

Kagami stares up at him. “To where?”

“Nothing to worry about.”

Felix is running out of time; he can’t be here longer, no matter how much he wants it.

“Can I… have a hug?” 

Felix asked her permission, and Kagami nodded before Felix slowly wrapped her arms around her. Feeling her warmth while hoping that this won’t be the last time. Kagami followed him later to wrap her arms around his broad body.

“Live, Kagami.”

Kagami stayed silent, felt the warmth of his body starting to fade.

“We’ll meet again.”

“Nath.”

Nathaniel looked up to see her face. 

“Yes?”

“I visited my mother’s place this morning.”

Nathaniel raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. As a close friend of hers, he noticed that Kagami changed, in a good way. Last week, just the day after she got back from her trip to London, she broke up with Adrien.

“And? How did it go?”

“Living under your roof for seventeen years was surely suffocating for me. Despite everything, I couldn’t bring myself to hate you, mother. I can’t forget or forgive you. Let’s keep living on our own paths.”

“I don’t know much about her response. I only left a voice message on my burner phone and left it on her house mailbox.” She took a second before continuing, “but I feel free now.”

Nathaniel smiled. He was happy seeing his friend getting so much better than before.

“I also feel… longing for something, probably because I’ve finished my work here, I want to go home.”

“Does longing have something to do with you stop consuming three gallons of coffee per day?”

Kagami chuckled at her friend’s words. They are now laughing along.

“Come to Japan.” She said with a smile.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes, staring at his friend’s face for a while before scoffing.

“I hate you so much.”

He leaned closer and gave her a tight hug, burying his head on the crook of her neck. Kagami let out a soft, quiet laugh and returned his hug.

Two years later.

Nathaniel

| Good luck for today.

Yeah, thanks. |

| You miss me, don’t you?

God. |

I swear I will gamble you away once we meet again. |

| Well then, guess I’m waiting to see that day come. 

A warm feeling laced with satisfaction envelops Kagami. Her first art exhibition here in Japan succeed on stealing people’s hearts, warmhearted words here and there in the room, oh, she is getting emotional. This event wouldn’t be the way it is now if it weren’t for the help of her grandmother in finding a decent place for her. To Nathaniel, who heard her ranting day and night about it through phone and video calls before today came true.

She slowed down her steps when she caught someone looking at her sunset painting. He is standing right in the middle of the warm gold mixed with faint deep purple sky. She can’t help but walk towards him.

Kagami stops her steps when she is standing right next to him, looking at her painting just like he is.

“Don’t you think this one painting feels lonely?”

She tilts her head a little more upwards to see his face. Emerald green eyes are currently locked on the painting.

“How so?” She asked him back.

He hummed before answering, “I just… wondered why would someone put up a painting of a pretty sunset amongst paintings of architecture in London, doesn’t it seem out of place?”

Kagami smiles at his observant comment.

“Sunsets hold a bittersweet meaning.” She took a pause for her sentence.

“Sunsets tell us that the day is almost over, signifying changes and renewal. Even after closing the chapters, there’s also a promise of a new beginning after finishing a journey.”

The guy seems startled at Kagami’s explanation, turning his head fully at her.

“You’re the painter, aren’t you?”

Kagami gave him a small smile, which made him chuckle to himself.

“That was so dumb… I’m sorry if I offended you in any way.”

“It’s fine, really.” Her smile widens.

“Are you busy, or could you show me around and explain one or two more of your paintings?”

Kagami raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is it because you feel lonely?”

The guy let out a small laugh at her response, “you’re gonna bring that up until the end of time, huh?”

“Well, looks like I have plenty of time then.”

Both of them just stare at each other with their warm, welcoming smiles.

“I’m Felix, by the way.”

“Kagami.”

Felix then raised his hand awkwardly, a sign that he offered her to shake hands. Kagami looked down at his hand before going back up to him and smiling, reaching out her hand to his. 

Their hands touched.

A memory was conjured up in their minds. A memory that was there before. 

The horror Felix felt when hearing a loud noise coming from the art room in their shared home, to Felix attending Kagami’s funeral. It was hell, his life shattered from that. Felix traveled back to London, to his apartment, bringing Kagami’s artwork along with him because that’s all he got from her. One night, he cries while still sitting on the dining table alone, having seen all the pages from her sketchbooks. 

He wanted to see her again. That was the last thought on his mind before he fell asleep with his head on the table.

And what he wished came true.

Hugging Kagami immediately even when Felix woke up in a strange unfamiliar house after he woke up, telling her how much he misses her after the funeral. Questioning how his vision was blurry after that, while his nose was bleeding before collapsing to the floor. And from that, he learned what the rule was.

They are now standing there looking at each other, with the new version of themselves. Felix leaned closer first and gave her a tight, comforting hug. Kagami responds to his gesture by wrapping her arms around his body, one hand tangling in his hair, caressing him softly.

“You’re here.” Kagami’s voice broke a little.

Felix smiled while letting a tear drop from his eye.

“I’m here.”