𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 [𝙢𝙞𝙮𝙖 𝙤𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙪 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧]

✦ 𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞

The stars glistened brightly, casting a beautiful light amidst the humid midsummer night. With your phone in your hand, you took a picture of the beautiful view of the sky. You smiled, remembering that Samu would love to see them too. He loved getting lost at the sight of the stars.

At the corner of the street, you saw another light beaming. It was Onigiri Miya. It must be closed right now, but Samu would always stay behind to tend with some things, enjoying the quietness and solitude. He might be overworking himself again. Like you would always do, you'd surprise him with a hug from behind while he was too busy with his ingredients. 

From across the street, he was very visible from the window of his shop. The way he was so focused chopping and slicing. He must be exhausted now. 

Quietly, you snuck into the kitchen without him noticing. You were about to tackle him when you noticed a little tear forming at the edge of his eyes. You couldn't help but reach for his face. Your curled fingers wiped the tear on his cheek. His head snapped to face you and his gaze met yours. His tired eyes had that melancholic touch like he was reminiscing, longing and searching. It wasn't long until tears pooled and overflowed. 

"The onions." He said, turning his head away as he wiped his tears with the back of his arm. 

You knew it was more than that. You always knew. 

You cupped his face as worry clouded your expression. He sank in your touch and kissed the inside of your palm as he nestled in your grasp.  As much as you wanted to share the burden he was harboring deep inside, you settled on giving him comfort this way, thinking that this was the least you could do. 

In your nine months together, you didn't bother asking why. Even if, deep inside, you wished for him to show just a little bit of the depth he'd been masking all this time. You were patient, not forcing yourself into that part of him he couldn't just share with you yet. 

"I guess I was just tired." He said.

You gave out a smile and excitedly replied, "Oh! I passed by the convenience store today and got you a pudding. You like it, right?" 

His attention was just lost in the sight of you as you mumbled, finally relaxing.  "Y/N..." He uttered, tucking strands of your hair behind your ear. "Are 'ya happy?" 

You gave him a quizzical look, a little surprised to his sudden question. Before you could even answer, Samu pulled your body close to him as he tightly wrapped his arms around your frame. 

Somehow, a part of you was scared to ask him the same. 

He pulled back and looked you in the eyes. "I love you." He said and you saw his emotions reverberating through his quivering gaze. For whatever reason, you found yourself lost in questions. What was he thinking? Was he just fine? What's hidden behind that sad gaze that never left your eyes? 

But you just smiled, thinking it was fine. Everything was...fine.

"I love you too." You reassured back, not knowing why your voice came in quieter than usual. 

You both stayed at the shop a little longer. As per usual, he fed you with the new recipe he concocted and you told him about your day. 

"Tomorrow, alright?" He said as he pulled down the steel accordion door of his shop. 

"Yes, sir. I'll be there with you." 

 Samu put a hand on your waist and dipped his head down to place a kiss on your forehead.

You firmly closed your eyes. Your breath got caught in your chest as you were trying to stop time as much as possible, wishing you'd remain still in his arms like this. The way you felt his warmth coming through, his soft scent and the familiarity of his presence. It's in moments like this, that you felt loved by him and found yourself realizing that you really loved him. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You put on your best clothes, excited that Samu would introduce you to another side of him that you still never got to know of. Immediately, you ran toward him and he took hold of your hand as you walked going to Inarizaki High. 

"I wonder how things would turn out if we ended up as schoolmates back then?" You asked Samu. It was just around more than year ago when your family moved to Kyoto from Tokyo. 

"How I wish you were the one I met a little earlier." He replied with a mellow expression and it brought you more questions than an answer, but like always, you shook the uneasy feeling away. 

You entered the hall, preparing yourself to encounter the people he basically grew up with, when you felt Samu froze up. Instinctively, he released your hand and it fell harshly on your side. You glanced up at him. You felt waves crashing down inside you, seeing the look in his eyes and uncovering where he was looking at. Even among the crowd, you knew she was the one. The only one Samu had his eyes on. His ache, longing and...happiness behind his gaze. It was all for her. All because of her.

At that very moment, it felt like you weren't even there, as if all this time, you'd never even existed.