Chapter 516: Better than the Night
Chapter 516: Better than the Night
Mashiro had originally planned to go outside for sketches, but halfway there, she ran into Himekoji. She secretly followed him all the way here, which led to what just happened.
“Can I take a look?”
After receiving Mashiro’s permission, Himekoji opened her sketchbook. The last page showed a half-finished riverside view.
He felt a sudden rush of emotion.
His last date with Mashiro had been there, but he had messed it up.
Even now, he still blamed and regretted himself. They say, get back up where you fell. So he handed the sketchbook back to Mashiro and asked,
“How about going there together?”
Mashiro didn’t agree immediately. She seemed to recall that unpleasant day, her eyes flickering slightly. After hesitating for a few moments, she finally nodded.
“Okay. Then let’s go right now—”
No, wait! Shouldn’t they prepare first?
The thought suddenly struck Himekoji. He swallowed his words and changed what he was going to say midway:
“I’ll go back to get things ready. Let’s head over tonight instead?”
Mashiro had no objections. Rita had told her that for a date, you should always dress up properly.
Himekoji dropped Mashiro off at home, then went upstairs and rummaged through his closet for a fresh outfit. Without slowing down, he hurried out and drove toward North Avenue in the Female Teacher’s car.
He found the glass accessory shop he’d visited with Mashiro last time and asked the owner to handle certain arrangements. Then he popped into a nearby barbershop for a sharper haircut. Once everything was sorted, he drove home, just as night began to fall.
As lanterns began to light the streets.
Inside the steadily moving car.
Himekoji loosened his collar, feeling tense from the whole “official date” vibe he had created.
Luckily, Mashiro seemed just as nervous. Tucking her sketchbook against her chest and pressing her legs together, she sat stiffly in the passenger seat, unable to relax.
While waiting at a red light, he felt he should say something.
Himekoji racked his brains for topics.
“M-Mashiro.”
“Yeah.”
“You look very pretty today.”
“I wasn’t pretty yesterday.”
“N-No, you were pretty yesterday too.”
“Then I wasn’t pretty the day before yesterday.”
“You were pretty the day before yesterday too.”
“Then—”
Just as the pointless loop was starting, the green light saved Himekoji. He started the car, trying hard to look focused on driving. Mashiro also fell quiet, hugging her sketchbook tighter while sneaking glances at Himekoji Akito’s nervous, flustered face beside her.
She never tired of seeing Akito like this. She adored it.
……
After getting out of the car, Mashiro intentionally slowed her steps and trailed behind. This time, Himekoji did not make the same mistake again.
Having learned a little, Himekoji paused until Mashiro walked alongside him. Then he suddenly scanned the surroundings like a thief. Seeing no one around, he rushed to grab Mashiro’s hand.
“Ahem. Want me to carry that?”
Trying to make the handholding less awkward, Himekoji started a new topic—offering to take the sketchbook from her.
Hand in hand, they walked by the riverside. As the wind swept over the water, shimmering ripples rolled through the moonlight. The shadows beneath the trees trailed steadily behind them.
While strolling, Himekoji checked the time and location. At the perfect moment, he pulled Mashiro to a stop.
“How about right here?”
Himekoji asked.
“Huh?”
Mashiro tilted her head, slightly puzzled.
“For sketches.”
Himekoji released her hand and pointed to the sketchbook.
Mashiro glanced at a faraway streetlamp, its light dim. After some careful thought, she slowly shook her head.
“Bad light. Need light.”
“Need light?”
“Yeah. Need light.”
“Okay.”
He gave the sketchbook back to Mashiro. While she blinked in confusion, Himekoji lifted his hands cupped around his mouth and shouted toward the far end of the river:
“Mashiro says—let there be light!”
His sudden voice echoed far into the night breeze, making several people turn to look.
Just as their eyes gathered, a burst of light flashed in the darkness. Then came two beams, three… countless beams…
One by one, glass lanterns that had been hung in the trees earlier lit up—each a different color, glowing like blooming flowers on every towering branch.
The grassy slope where Himekoji and Mashiro stood burst into brilliance, like a carpet woven with lights, stretching endlessly before them. Thousands of lights gathered together, glowing as bright as day.
“Mashiro says, let there be light.”
Himekoji repeated it. Over a hundred little glass boats drifted toward them from the river’s end, each carrying pink petals like cherry blossoms.
They grouped into two linked hearts… then a small flotilla of colored boats shaped like arrows rowed upstream toward them, piercing through the middle.
An arrow through two hearts.
“Mashiro says—”
Before Himekoji could go on, Mashiro interrupted him.
Copying Himekoji, the girl lifted one small hand to her mouth while holding the sketchbook in the other.
Mashiro took a deep breath.
“I need Akito—”
That mattered more than needing light.
Mashiro stood on the tips of her toes and leaned forward, her voice as loud as she could make it. To Himekoji, it was deafening in a whole other way.
Himekoji pressed his lips together. It made his already thin lips seem even finer. But it also made him look more determined. Settling his racing heart, he pulled out a little glass cat from his coat. It didn’t really look like a cat, and the crafting was rough. There was no doubt he’d made it himself—and the feelings behind it were utterly real.
Fragile like a beloved pet, lovely like a kitten… it was his girl.
He’d made it with Mashiro at the glass accessory shop on North Avenue that day. It was a gift he should have given her right then, but one thing or another had delayed it until now.
“For you.”
The words were out just as a breeze swept petals cascading down softly. They twisted through the beams of colored light, like a blessing wrapping around them.
One petal landed on Mashiro’s hair. Himekoji reached out.
“Look. At this.”
He plucked the petal on his fingertips and showed Mashiro with a grin.
“You have one too, Akito.”
“Huh?”
“Let me get it.”
As she spoke, Mashiro stood on her toes again. She stretched upward but couldn’t quite reach.
“Down lower.”
Himekoji obediently bent down.
In that instant, a soft feeling wrapped around his lips.
A surprise attack!
Frozen and wide-eyed, Himekoji dropped the gift in his hand—the glass cat—clattering against the grassy slope.
Plop.
Mashiro’s sketchbook fell to the ground right after. Now with both hands free, she grabbed the front of Himekoji’s coat tightly.
“Woo-hoo~~~”
Cheers seemed to float from nearby, but Himekoji’s hearing had blurred.
All the noise from around them seemed far away now… like a dream.
In this moment, moonlight became too flawless to be real. Starlight poured through like nothingness. The imprint on his lips lingered tenderly… sweeter… better than the night.
……
……