153. A Date….Really! (5)

The warmth from earlier in the day was slowly receding at the same pace at which the sun was setting, and a faint breeze wafted through the air from this high viewpoint.

Yui held out her hand, and it was firmly grasped by Reiji, who stepped closer to her.

The two stood side by side, with no trace of their earlier banter and quibbling remaining, a peaceful silence reigning over the place as Yui rested her head on his shoulder.

The wooden plaques hanging on the trees on either side of them swayed with the wind, making their clacking sound the only noise in the area.

Sunset would last for around 20 minutes, a duration that seemed both short and long.

Seeing that they still had time until the best part, Reiji opened a compartment in the cabinet hanging on the edge of the railing, taking out two more plaques and a pair of markers for each of them and turned to her.

"Here. Write whatever wish you want on this and let's hang it on opposing trees," he said softly.

Yui's smile widened further when she heard that, taking it from him eagerly.

But she took a few minutes to think about what she wanted to write on it, tapping the marker on her chin again and again.

Reiji didn't take as long as her, his hand moving almost immediately.

'I want to make the most of this chance, to live a life without regrets, a life I can be proud of.'

Cliche, vague, but a wish that reflected his truest thoughts and hope for the future.

He walked over to the tree on the right and tied the plaque onto the rope wrapped around it, blending in with all the other ones.

He nodded with approval and waited for Yui to finish hers, his gaze never leaving her contemplating face that was scrunched up in deep thought.

Eventually, she wrote something while covering it with her arm so that he couldn't read it and toddled over to the other trunk to add hers to the collection.

Seeing her back turned to him while she was tying her plaque, Reiji took out his phone to check on something, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth a few seconds later as he got a confirmation.

As soon as he put his phone away, Yui skipped back to him.

"You can't see what I wrote, okay?" she warned, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"....Why not?"

"You just can't!"

"....Fine."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the omamori that the sweet shop proprietress had given him, handing it to Yui.

She studied the red bag in confusion and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's an omamori. Keep it with you always if possible."

Yui bit her lips and closed her palm, her fingers digging into the red fabric.

".....Thank you."

Reiji pulled her into his arms in front of him, and she leaned back into his embrace with a giggle, both of them refocusing on the reddish-orange sun that was halfway swallowed up by the mountains in the distance.

".....This is really nice," Yui murmured, her voice almost inaudible.

He just hummed in response and tightened the hug, enjoying the gorgeous scenery before them.

Maybe he was just caught up in the moment, or maybe the view really had been buffed by the fact that it used to be a game, but Reiji could swear on his life that he had never seen such a vibrant and beautiful sight.

Even the way the darkness of the night started to overpower the last efforts of the sunlight was a memory he knew he'd never forget, an image imprinted in his mind more firmly than a photo ever could.

For the next few minutes, they watched quietly as nighttime finally fell, the only source of light being the moon and the village in the distance.

".....I can't believe it's over."

Yui's tone betrayed her inner disappointment.

"You keep saying it's over without even checking with me. Do you want the day to end that badly?" Reiji chuckled.

"....What do you mean? Didn't you say this was the last stop?"

"It is."

"Then?"

"Watch," he whispered, gripping her chin and guiding her sight back to the view over the railing.

Yui blinked in confusion because nothing was happening except for the darkness completely solidifying, but as she opened her mouth to ask him again, nothing came out except for a gasp of astonishment.

*BANG*

*BANG BANG*

She widened her eyes in a daze, reflecting the dazzling array of colors that were now exploding in the sky in sparks of brilliance.

Fireworks, one after the other, erupted continuously in a ferocity that brightened the surroundings without stopping.

Yui clutched Reiji's shirt, jumping up and down with excitement.

"I-Is, is this for us??" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Well.....It's for you."

She pursed her lips and hugged his arm tightly, staring in awe at the fireworks that didn't look like they would stop anytime soon.

Explosion after explosion, the colors kept coming, and yet they somehow still couldn't match the glow on Yui's face.

Which made it impossible for Reiji to watch the show he'd painstakingly set up, his eyes fixated on the ecstatic redhead instead.

But that was a gift in itself.

Yui turned towards him, noticing his distraction, and her pale cheeks quickly became rosy due to the deep blush revealing her feelings.

She leaned upwards, lifting herself onto her tiptoes, and closed her eyes expectantly.

And Reiji followed suit.

Their lips met in a soft collision, and she wrapped her arms around his neck like it was second nature, as his soft hair was constantly ruffled by her restless hands.

He reciprocated by pulling her waist firmly towards him, and the two were lost in their own world as the fireworks show continued in the background over the hilltop viewpoint.

This was not just a date.

Nor was it just a memory.

There were no words in existence to describe their current emotions.

It was a moment in which neither of them wanted the clock to continue ticking.

Permanently.

***

The headlamps on Reiji's car illuminated the road ahead, the return journey much more subdued in nature than when they had started earlier this morning.

Yui had taken off her shoes and crossed her legs onto her seat, staring out of the window almost despondently.

There was music playing, though it mostly went unheard by the two, who were both focused on their own thoughts.

'Why is it that such a happy day makes me feel terrible now that it's ending....'

Reiji tapped his armrest out of slight exasperation, finding this premise absolutely ridiculous.

Even knowing that this date was merely the start, it still had this bittersweet aftertaste that he simply couldn't get rid of, no matter how much he concentrated on the good memories.

The fireworks themselves had taken a lot of time to research and set up, because the process for making them was a lot more complicated in this world for some reason.

That's why Yui had been so surprised earlier.

He glanced at the unusually quiet girl from the corner of his eye and realized that she was thinking the same thing.

So he reached over and intertwined their fingers once again, an action that he knew would never get old.

Yui adjusted her position and looked at him with a dangerous pout.

But she didn't say anything, and neither did he.

They simply stayed in this ambiguous situation for the rest of the car ride, all the way until he finally pulled up at the same place where he had picked her up.

Though she showed no intention of getting out just yet.

"....It's time to go home," he muttered.

"I know."

"I'll take you out for a date again sometime."

"Okay."

"Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah."

Reiji's brow twitched at her one-word answers and sighed.

He leaned over to her seat, and she instinctively closed her eyes.

A few minutes of kissing later, he pulled away.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your house?" he asked.

Yui's blurry eyes immediately sharpened at that, making her straighten up.

"No. I'll be fine, you go back and rest."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out, closing the door shut reluctantly.

Reiji watched as she waved and ran off, only starting the car again once she turned the corner and disappeared out of view.

If it were any other girl, he would've insisted on dropping them off at their doorstep, especially when it was this late in the night.

But not only did Yui have a good reason to deny that offer, but she didn't need his protection either.

If anyone was stupid enough to have designs on her...

'RIP.'

He pressed the accelerator and drove off, his mind finally managing to move past the day's sweetness and shift to the other pressing topics that were coming up.

Not only did he have to start preparing for Haruna's Scrollz debut, Prez's main event was also going to happen sometime this week.

The problem was, he had no idea of the specific time it would happen, nor the direction it would go.

As a game heavily reliant on the player's choices, his knowledge of different routes was becoming less relevant as time went on, and now that her predicament could happen in several different ways and at different times, all he could do was stay ready and hope it would be one of the easier problems to resolve.

'I wonder.....What's Riku going to do about it? He doesn't seem to have had much interaction with Noa...'

Reiji shook his head.

He could only take it one step at a time.