She trudged through the snow alone. It was night and the cold winds were whipping at her face. The low temperatures fogged up against her breath on her glasses. It was such a lonely sight. A single woman walking through the streets. It was dark, so different from the bar district she was leaving behind. Where here it was quiet, that place was so bright and rowdy. It was a better place than here. That's where she should have been, chatting up guys, drinking with her friends. It was a mixer after all. Her friends threw it especially for her too. It was thoughtful of them, but ideas of hooking up never seemed to come to her. She was alone, she chose to be alone.
The edges of her eyes began to warm up but she closed them in fear that tears would well up. Yes, she chose to be alone. Ever since that day...
She shook her head and continued to walk forward. Her feet fighting through a 30cm of snow. It was one of the stronger snow storms these past years. She wondered if maybe global warming was really going at full swing now with all this climate changing.
Her distracted thoughts came to a screeching halt when she felt something hit her up front and she fell backwards. Before she could hit the ground, two hands steadied her by the shoulders.
"Hey, are you alright?"
It was here that she would normally say "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." However she didn't. She couldn't, not when the voice was so familiar. It was a voice she knew all too well and haunted her for the past 7 years. But it couldn't possibly be him, could it?
She looked up, hoping, praying, begging to the universe she was wrong.
"Excuse me?", the voice of a man rumbled from his chest.
The woman could feel it in her hand. She belatedly realized it was resting against his left pectoral, somewhere above the heart. But rather than answer, she affixed her eyes on his face and asked, "Ichika?"
The man stiffened at the sound of the name. He leaned down some, his height being a head's worth greater than hers. Peeking down, she could see his face clearly now. His hair was longer, and a fine stubble was developing on his chin. He also seemed bigger now than she last remembered, manlier. She blushed at that last thought.
It was probably a good thing that the temperature out tonight was a good -3 celsius. He was studying her face and she could blame her blush on the cold if he ever noticed. Still, he was silent, and she was afraid her recognition had been mistaken.
"Maya-chan."
A shiver went up the woman's spine. It was him, she knew it was him. From the way he said her name. From the way his voice made her shiver with warmth. It couldn't be anyone else.
"An odd place for a reunion isn't it?", he gently smiled at her.
Maya looked up at him with eyes affixed at his matured face. "Yes, it is." Her hand gripped at his chest and they both noticed from the sensations. Her from getting a fistful of jacket, him from feeling her get nice grab at his toned sternum. The realization was like an electric shock. Maya had tightened her grip at the shock but recoiled when it all sank in. "I'm sorry!", she apologized in embarrassment.
At the same time, Ichika let go of her shoulders too and let her stand upright on her own. "You don't have to apologize. It should actually be me. I should have let go sooner."
"No, no, not at all. I appreciate your concern."
"It was ungentlemanly of me though."
...
...
...
The two turned shy eyes towards each other, wondering what the other was thinking. Then they laughed. Strong and loud against this crazy weather they were having. It was so funny, funny to them both at least. It was funny and yet, it brought an odd warmth to both of them.
"It's just like the first time we met.", Ichika chuckled.
Maya tamed her laughter. "You remember.", she giggled through her words.
"Ofcourse. How could I not? I won my first IS match not an hour later. You really are a klutz you know that?"
The woman huffed up, "I may be a klutz but you don't have to be so mean about it you know? Just because I can into you at the corner while changing into my IS suit..." Maya blushed, remembering exactly what happened afterwards. Lots of awkward stares and panicked apologies. It was just like now.
"You really have matured.", Ichika smiled, "You can so readily call yourself a klutz now. People would think that's weird, but I think that's a sign of growing up. You have to recognize your weaknesses to become a better person."
Maya smiled back, "Hearing that from you. It feels like you did some growing up of your own since the academy."
"You have to when you reach the real world right?", he looked around, "This probably isn't the best place to catch up on lost time. How about you join me for a drink? I'm legal now after all."
Maya's cheeks puffed up red in annoyance, "Geez, don't tease me like that. It's not like I was trying to get you drunk then. I was your teacher, getting a high school student drunk would have landed me in jail."
"Or worse.", Ichika snickered. "So.", he persisted, "care to join me?"
Maya shook her head, "No. I was just going home from a mixer. It would be really awkward if they saw me back there with someone else."
"A mixer? This early?", the man put two and two together, "So you left before it was done?"
Maya nodded, "Yeah. Mixers aren't really my thing."
"Ah, me too.", Ichika nodded with a scratch of his head. "Actually, I was on my way to one. Some friends invited me to join them. Said something about evening up the numbers so it would push through. I only said yes because it was going to be at Nobuo's hot pot."
"Eh?", Maya gasped, "That's where the mixer was held!"
"Mixer?"
"The one I left!", Maya exclaimed.
Then the two of them laughed again.
"Weird.", Ichika chortled.
"It's strange isn't it?", Maya agreed.
Ichika rested his laughter into a smile and took Maya's smaller hands in his. "To think fate would be so cruel.", he raised his eyes up to her, "Or should I say she's kind?"
Maya blushed, "Neither."
The man nodded, releasing her hand at the smallest tug. "I feel much the same way.", he resigned. "Maya.", he spoke her name without the honorifics, "I-"
"No.", she stopped him with a smile. She knew what it meant when he addressed her without the -chan. He was going to say something sweet, something beautiful, something that would make her melt on the spot. Like he always had. She couldn't let him do that, let him sway her emotions before she could get them under control. "We decided to stop that didn't we? It just wouldn't work out."
Ichika shook his head, "We didn't decide anything. You left me."
Maya's smile cracked just a bit, "One of us had to be the adult. What we had between us just wasn't something that should have been. A teacher and a student shouldn't-"
"But we're neither teacher nor student now are we?", Ichika stepped into her personal space. Sticking his face so close to hers she could almost feel their noses brush. "We're just a man and a woman who met on the street,being shuffled around by their friends between mixers."
Maya willed her eyes to look anywhere but his face. "But it's been 7 years. Those kinds of emotions don't last that long."
Ichika stayed silent for a bit. It was only for a moment, but Maya swore it stretched on for eternity. At least until she felt a tug on her hair.
"You grew it out.", he commented, feeling the silky mint strands between his fingers. The length of the sea foam locks making it ridiculously easy to seize. "How long does it reach?"
Maya held her breath, "To just above my knees."
Ichika hummed, "Why'd you grow it out?"
The woman's eyes widened, "I... like it this way."
The man moved his lips closer, and then swerved just ever so slightly till his breath tickled her ears. "Liar. You hate managing long hair. You said the longer it was, the harder it got, the more you hate it."
Maya blushed. He remembered her words. That must mean...
"That means you remembered too didn't you?"
She closed her eyes.
I really want to see you with long hair.
"I did.", she confessed.
"And you held to it for 7 years.", Ichika pulled back to look into her forest green eyes. "I don't think those kinds of suggestions stick that long."
Maya made a face. She was caught in a trap of her own design and it was Ichika who triggered it. "Bully."
"Maybe.", Ichika pulled away. "But that just proves 7 years of emotions don't just go away."
"But I hurt you.", Maya teared up, "I pushed you away and I hurt you. What kind of emotions would be bottled up for 7 years if that were the case? I'm afraid. I don't want to find out."
"Then let me show you."
That was all Maya heard when she looked up just in time to catch Ichika's lips shooting for her own. It was a kiss he was forcing on her and it was well in her power and right to push him away. To kick at him, to scream at him or call for the authorities or something. But... she couldn't, not when he was kissing her like this. Not when she began to realize what he meant.
7 years he waited, 7 years she waited
7 years of frustration. 7 years of emptiness, 7 years of missing their other half. It was a love so cliche, so sweet it would probably rot your teeth out, but it was a love they could not betray. She could feel it in the way he kissed that he had gotten better, that he had practiced with someone who kissed back. He had tried to forget her, but his ardent manner was of someone who finally found fresh water after drinking for months from the sea. She could feel that to him she was the sweetest taste, and to best honest she felt the same way. She dated other men, she kissed with other men, but it was just never the same. They were better in the way that the kisses were not sloppy nor experimental. Their movements were sure, unlike Ichika's who poked and prodded in fear of hurting her. But it just wasn't right. It never felt right, not like now.
The two pulled apart, sucking in air that had been absent in their exchange of bodily fluids.
"I think.", Maya wheezed, "I'll be taking that drink now."
"Then how about my place?", Ichika leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers. The way he was out of breath adding that extra husk in his voice, "7 years is a lot to catch up on."
Maya went scarlet , "But, wouldn't your sister be around?"
"I doubt she'd mind if it were you."
2015-02-02, 19:52
Author
"Focus entirely on me, you ordinary soldier."
Official art: They know what we want.
