blackbox | kirishima eijirou

34 | sunny nights & fields

Birthdays weren't really special.

The 10-year-old Yuki Sakura would look forward to those vivid days where rainbow feathers fall and sprinkle the strands of ocean blue hair with a dazzling, lovely smile on her lips as she blew the flickering candles, the trail of misty smoke subtly entrancing her nostrils. Mummy and daddy would draw her face with soft kisses and enclose her with warm, loving arms as they whisper the words that would soon be forgotten and insignificant. And still, young Yuki Sakura was still smiling, unaware of it. The world revolves around her on her birthday, she thought. She thought she could and would be the happiest person alive but that proved wrong when she stepped into the 14th year of her life.

The 14-year-old Yuki Sakura would just bluntly thank her classmates as wishes left their grins that were numb to her spirit—that was starting to tense when she realized that the world isn't as vivid as she thought it would be. She was starting to see the black and white in her life—so does her birthday—and she knew she was just at the beginning of this affliction. She didn't know when it started—the misery, the anguish, the shadows, the cries, the screams, the battles and everything that caused her to wither when she realized she had lost herself. She herself didn't know how to explain it, and she preferred to keep it that way. That way, she wouldn't have to face her demons even though she knew she had to one day.

So yeah. Birthdays aren't really special if you're that naïve.

Maybe it was her fault to think that way because of how optimistic she used to be, and now, here she was in the present, disappointing her past selves like always.

Because before today, she decided to pretend as if this day would never exist.

That is, until, the people she thought would mean more than anything else in her life changed that decision.

And it was a good feeling, a good thought. Because since then, Sakura finally gets to know what it was like to be on this very day—to be treated like a friend, as a family and as someone that didn't know made an impact, even the smallest, on someone else too.

It also made her question again, does she deserve this? And why?

That was what she had been asking herself ever since Kirishima Eijirou unfolded the blindfold hindering her curiosity, unveiling her gaze to the world of grassy fields and red Lycoris.

But when she saw small little butterflies fluttering by the Lycoris—her heart did too.

"Welcome to my domain."

She blinked out of the small trance she was in, still awed at the landscape before her.

The cerulean firmament was a little deep, just on the brink of stepping into the twilight soon to be conquered by stardust. The orbicular moon was already in the sky, illuminating its moonlight onto the perfectly structured face of his with a bunch of Lycoris scattered around the swaying field.

"I found this place not too long ago. It's just located behind those boulders near the cliff and um, I thought you'd be interested in coming here so I thought—"

"I love it," she interrupted him with a genuine smile hanging off her lips, hoping that it wouldn't outshine the moonlight kissing his skin.

"Oh, okay then," he chuckled, placing a hand behind his neck—stop doing that. "And um, this isn't the only surprise."

The smile on her lips broadened a little.

And then, he motioned her to follow him further out, silently guiding her on the uncharted path as her heart hammered against her ribcage. He stopped in his tracks, glancing at her a little before he nodded at what was in front of him, encouraging her to discover what he had been working on.