Her. (Chishiya Shuntaro)

13

"You knew I was here?" Chishiya hummed in response, holding her in his arms as they laid on their apartment's bed. "I've been looking everywhere for you ever since I found your bracelet."

"My bracelet? I did lose it but a friend found it for me...see?" She said, holding her hand out. A frown formed on Chishiya's face, for wrapped on her slender wrist was indeed a bracelet identical to what he got her during their third anniversary. If he didn't know any better, he would have been fooled as well.

"Looks like that friend of yours lied to you." He muttered, taking out the bracelet he had kept in his pocket. "See, the one I bought you secretly had our initials at the back of the semicolon."

"Eh?"

When Chishiya had bought the bracelet back then, he knew similar designs will be bought all over Tokyo, and to him, it would make the one he got less special. That's why he had their initials engraved at the back of the symbol. He would never be too vocal about it, but that's how much he cared to give her what she deserved.

"I guess he lied and searched for something similar from deserted stores." She muttered. Chishiya frowned once again.

"He?"

Quickly, he took of the bracelet around her wrist and replaced it with the original one. "That's better. You belong to me after all." He whispered, kissing the back of her hand.

Aika chuckled, contrary to his apathetic front he's always portraying to others, she had almost forgotten he was the jealous type. And she discovered it during med school when they were still new to dating.

"Nanami-chan, somebody from the volleyball team told me to give you this." A girl from Aika's class told her as she annotated her textbook in the library, giving her a neatly folded letter and a carton of her favorite brand of strawberry milk.

"Excuse me?" Chishiya who was seating beside her exclaimed with a frown on his face.

Aika only smiled at his reaction, shoving the milk on his side of the desk. "You can have it if you want, Shun. I know you like this flavor too."

Chishiya quietly took the milk and drank all of it on a whim. As for the letter, it had magically disappeared even before she could touch it.

And then when she had gone home, a delivery of a box of all her favorite snacks and beverages came in. Upon opening it, she also witnessed a letter on a scented paper.

'Please continue liking me. -Your ONE and ONLY.' It wrote. And Aika bursted out in gentle laughter for she knows exactly who sent it to her.

The next day, the first thing she did upon seeing her boyfriend was give him a meaningful smile. "You're so adorable." She said, giggling at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He cunningly denied, walking past her. She laughed at his reaction.

"Don't worry Shun, you're the only one I see." She assured, trailing her fingers on his cheeks.

Chishiya loved it when she did that. He loved feeling her incredible warmth.

He gazed deeply into her eyes, taking in her fascinating form and processing that everything was real, that she was indeed by his side, laid with him inside their apartment.

"I feel like I don't say this enough, but you are fascinatingly and breathtakingly beautiful, Ai." He declared in a soft whisper as he continued to gaze at her and just appreciate her presence.

"You are breathtakingly beautiful too, Shun. You are the most beautiful person in my eyes. And will always be."

"I lived my life convinced that nothing scared me. But when I woke up in this world, and could't find you, I was really scared. I was so afraid of having to live in a world without you." Chishiya confessed. Without seating up, he reaches out to his pocket to take out the red velvet box he had been safely keeping.

"When I bought this a year ago, I didn't imagine doing it inside a crazy world, laid beside you. I have been preparing for the right moment as well, but now I feel like I cannot delay it any longer."

Her eyes slowly widened. Slowly, he opened the box, revealing a very simple ring adorned with a tiny diamond as its center piece. For a moment, she had forgotten how to breathe.

To Chishiya, the ring he chose represented their relationship. It might have been boring to some, and theirs may have lacked thrill. But it was genuine, and wholesome, and certain.

"Considering we'll get out of this world immediately, we'll be finishing our residency soon. When that happens, will you stay by my side forever as my wife?"

A silent tear escaped Aika's eyes.

"Shun, ever since I came into this world, I have changed. I have killed other people to stay alive, and the nightmares haunting me had already become part of me. In a way, I'm broken. Will you be alright with someone like me?"

A smile formed on his lips, reassuring her. Gently, he kissed her tears away. And when he pulled away, his assuring smile remained.

"You're perfect." He whispered.

More tears fell from the corner of her eyes. And more, and more until it had blurred her vision.

"Then, I would love to be your wife, Shun!"

He hugged her, ever so tightly to make her feel that being a little broken was okay. Because he too had always been flawed to begin with. He was certain he had sacrificed more lives than she did, and he would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

"Let's get out of this world and get married, Ai."