The water is crystal clear today, the sun leaving glistening streaks of white along its calm surface. I toss a single flower into it before continuing on.
"I'm glad you're not afraid of this bridge anymore," Kenji tells me as we walk along the sidewalk.
"Why's that?" I ask playfully.
He pauses at the end of the guardrail and says, "Please follow me."
"Oh no, I've heard that before," I groan.
Kenji steps down and out of view and my heart skips a beat before his hand pops up, extended out to me. He's standing on a small dirt path that leads down the side of the hill. I take his hand and he helps me down onto the path.
"Because," he says, still holding my hand as he guides me a little further down the path. "It has the best view in all the island."
I glance out over my closer view of the water. "It's nice," I concede.
"Not that way," Kenji says. "This way."
He turns me around to a lush expanse of tropical foliage that has grown down the sharp slope of the hill that extends down below us. It's gorgeous and smells lusciously exotic.
"How did I not know this was here?" I say.
"You need connections," Kenji says with a cool stretch.
"I see," I say, impressed.
He smiles, then looks away before looking back at me. "Amaya," he says. "I haven't thanked you for what you did at the spring."
"Oh," I say tentatively. "Well, don't thank me, thank Miyako. If something hadn't come over her like she said, who knows what would have happened."
"Saa, what Miyako did was smarter," he says. "Demo, what you did was very brave."
"Kenji, I. . ." Would have done anything for you at the time. Instead I go with, "I like you."
He raises his eyebrows and I try to interpret whether that split second look is surprise or victory before it disappears. We lock eyes and our toes shuffle forwards, slowly filling the space between us. My eyelids flutter shut just as I feel his fingertips graze my chin, his lips meeting mine in a warm kiss that covers my skin in goose bumps. For once, the good kind.
We part and join hands again, staring out over the expanse of trees.
I finally feel at home.
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