Chapter Text
I don’t remember the last time I felt this happy.
After all, I was walking with the prettiest boy who always left me in a trance.
Every time I took a glance at him, I noticed his chestnut hair beaming from the sunlight. Every subtle movement of his pupils was emotionally expressive, matching every single word that he spoke.
And every glance from him had me flushed up to my ears.
Attempting to keep myself occupied from Hirose’s pretty face, I tried to distract myself with my other senses.
I felt the breeze quietly brush my hair as each step carefully landed on the concrete surface below. I dialed into the sounds of my bicycle’s wheel pattering against the ground, while its bell rippled vibrations that lingered softly in the air.
I glanced in the direction we were heading, noticing the bookstore we were rapidly approaching.
Even these foolish attempts couldn’t divert my attention away from the person I was walking beside. Every sound in the environment started to blend in, causing me to feel drowsy… like I was going to melt right here, right now.
What am I doing? I feel like I’m circling my thoughts with no clue where to go…
“Earth to Nakamura.”
My legs froze in place as we stood right in front of the bookstore. I darted my eyes towards Hirose. Although his face seemed relaxed as soon as my attention was directed towards him, I could tell from his eyes that he was concerned, worried about me.
My face slightly blushed as our eyes met. My heart almost felt like it was going to leap out of my chest.
“Is there something on your mind? You haven’t been responding to me for the last couple of minutes.”
My mind was a blank slate. I really had no words left to say to the pretty boy on my right. I quickly exclaimed,
“N-nothing! Sorry, my brain was wandering around.”
Those words felt unpolished; perhaps a better way to describe them would be just… hollow. My hands clenched down on the handlebars as my eyes flickered in panic. What would you even say to a person—who was your crush—that you were thinking about them?
That you were thinking about their big, round eyes that radiate curiosity?
That you were thinking about being a little more than just friends?
Hirose chuckled at the sight of my face.
“Dude, it looks like you've seen a ghost. Are you sure that you’re fine?”
His lips formed a grin that radiated into my chest. My face turned into a faded light pink color when I quickly blurted out,
“Yeah, I’m fine! T-totally fine. I’ve been… just thinking, I guess?”
Hirose’s pupils flickered with confusion. “Just ‘thinking’? Nakamura, you don’t have to lie to me.”
I chuckled back in response.
“...There isn’t really too much behind it.”
Hirose scanned my face. “Alrighty then…”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
My eyes fixated on Hirose once again. His face was written with defeat. I watched as his eyes casually wandered back onto the pathway we were heading towards. He was holding back something, something that I couldn’t describe.
And my mind was terrified.
Not just my mind… but my entire body was terrified.
Ugh! Why am I making Hirose worry about me?
I…
…don’t even know what to think about anymore.
My eyes instinctively jolted towards the pavement below me, with my head leading the way. I felt like I was going to start violently sobbing on the ground for no good reason.
I really didn’t understand why. I felt my fingers twiddling as I continued to think of anything to say in that moment.
My head turned towards the bookstore’s window, noticing the shabby paper that had been left hanging for a couple of weeks by now. As I carefully examined the writing, I spotted something that caught my eye:
⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖
DANGOGAOKA SKYLIGHT LANTERN FESTIVAL
Experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to brighten the skies with your very own lantern!
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
My eyes glistened at the sight of that.
A-a lantern festival in my hometown? No way… right?
Before I could continue lingering on the subject of attending a lantern festival in my hometown—which probably would’ve led to me fantasizing about Hirose and me going together—I noticed that he was standing right next to me, observing the flyer as well.
I flinched a little the moment our shoulders slightly met, causing my ears to turn a shade of red. I heard him gush out a few words, muttering,
“A lantern festival? Here at Dangogaoka?”
I watched as his face lit up with a bright smile, his eyes glowing at the sight of the poster. Hirose continued speaking, bubbling over with excitement.
“I’ve actually never been to a lantern festival before. I heard some cool things about them when I was speaking to Takeuchi the other day, but I never knew this was the reason why.”
His shoulders shifted towards me, his pupils fluctuating with curiosity. My heart started to pound harder and harder. His cute face was a bit too close for comfort.
“Have you ever been to a lantern festival before, Nakamura? I’ve been to a couple of regular festivals with a few friends or with my family, but I haven’t actually experienced a lantern festival before.”
My eyes darted back and forth as I involuntarily started to rub my neck.
“Um… not really. I’ve always heard about how beautiful they are, but I’ve never been social enough to attend one.”
My eyes glanced away from his direction, trying to clear my mind. Before I could register anything, I felt Hirose’s hands grabbing me by my wrists, redirecting my eyes back towards that pretty boy. My face once again blushed with that light red hue as I noticed his gaze fixating on my pupils.
I was a bit startled.
Why do I feel off?
Wait.
Is Hirose… grabbing my wrists!?
“Nakamura, I was wondering, actually… if you wanted to go together? It’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to.”
“I just… wanted to experience something different, and I honestly really wanted to hang out with you more.”
His face paused, trying to figure out his next few words.
“You know, it's really fun hanging out with you.”
…
What? Is this a dream?
I stood there as my eyes widened in alarm, trying to process what I heard. It felt like my mouth was clamped down, unable to communicate a single word to this pretty boy.
Can I use a different adjective other than just “pretty” to describe him?
…
There are too many words that would describe him. Maybe… Maybe I could say—
“Nakamura?”
As my mind started to clear, the bubbly, cute boy who was standing right next to me tilted his head, analyzing every single wrinkle that was shown on my face.
My body went tense. I quickly covered my rose-colored face with my entire arm as I blurted out,
“I-I…”
“I would…”
“I would love to hang out with you, Hirose!”
I practically buried my eyes into my sleeves. I sounded like I was giving a confession straight from my blooming heart.
Perhaps drowning right here wouldn’t be bad after all.
Before I knew it, Hirose’s laughter ripped through the air, a laughter that chimed like broken glass. I started to chuckle a bit too.
“Nak-Nakamura, you’re always so eager!”
I watched him try to compose himself. “Dude, I love the enthusiasm that you bring every time, without fail.”
He continued to giggle his heart out, taking a glimpse at the dark-haired boy in front of him.
My face was painted red, with the corners of my mouth twitching upwards. My eyes were taking their time examining the pretty—or I should say, the cute boy in front of me.
I think today is my new favorite day.
As the laughter finally died down, Hirose took out his cellphone to snap a photo of the poster.
“Once we both get home, I’ll message you the photo of the flyer.”
He tilted his head towards the sky, trying to expand on his thoughts. “I was thinking that we could spend the entire day together before we head over to the lantern festival just to kill time. Would that be cool with you?”
I quickly nodded towards that idea, fangirling over the simple fact that I get to hang out with the cutest boy for the entire day. My face burned at the thought of Hirose.
Hirose wants to hang out with me?
As these thoughts continued to swirl in my head, I resumed our walk towards home. Clasping the handlebars on my bike, I noticed the birds chirping around us, almost like they were singing a melody about us.
Hirose and I eventually continued our conversations, chatting about the little things going on in our lives. I remember vaguely conversing about what we went over in Mr. Otogiri’s class, about my octopus Icchan, and about how eccentric Hirose’s sister is when it comes to his life.
And as we decided to split our paths and walk our separate ways, my heart sprouted a new seed for a new beginning.