ajisai | s. shinichiro

三十五 x 9k reads special

A few months later - January 1, 1999,

In the middle of the night, fifteen minutes to three in the morning, wearing a black turtleneck paired with a red pleated skirt, Airi quietly unlocks the door, slipping herself out before quietly closing it again, locking it as quietly as possible before taking three steps back slowly then jogging up to where Shinichiro is.

The said male, dressed in a plain white shirt, light faded blue jeans and leather jacket switched held his hand out for her to take, helping her hoist herself to mount the back of his bike. Wrapping her arms around his waist from behind as he drives off to the city.

"Izana's been asking me to teach him how to ride a bike." Shinichiro begins to say, "But our mom won't let him. So he's asking me to teach him where mom won't find out." He adds, chuckling.

"Sooner or later, Mikey's going to be asking you the same thing." She replies, resting the side of her head against his back. "And maybe, when your younger brothers' are a little older, they'll ask you if they can work at your dream bike shop."

"You know" Shinichiro responded, "That actually doesn't sound so bad." He says. "Working with the two of them in my shop sounds like a good dream too."

"They obviously look up to you." Airi replies. Feeling the cold breeze of December air kissing the skin of her cheeks, her lilac hair swaying back. "By the way, how did you learn how to ride a bike?"

"Me and Takeomi are self taught!" Shinichiro replies, grinning to himself before taking a quick glance at her from the rear view mirror. "We'd just ride around our neighborhood at first until we could in the city and before you know it, were going far distances now."

"With practice, you can ride for hours without getting off. It's embarrassing to fall off, you know?" He snickers. "Having good legs, especially thighs, helps a lot."

Hearing his response, Airi lightly slaps his stomach. "I've never heard someone put ride, fall off and thighs into a sentence and sound so innocent."

"Oi, don't think of anything dirty!" He tells her, laughing. "Maybe I should teach you so you'd know how to ride for hours, with getting off of course!"

"Huh? Did you say something, Shin? Reception here is really bad."

Underneath the Rainbow Bridge, the two teenagers rented a boat to see the first sunrise of 1999, together.

"Don't you think this is so romantic?" Shinichiro asks, taking a hold of the ends of the rowing sticks.

"It is but it also isn't?" Airi responded, more like questioning. "There's a lot of people here with us and it feels like all the people of Tokyo are here." She snickers under her breath.

"Rowing a boat is supposed to be easy but isn't." Shinichiro says, laughing at himself and his first attempts at rowing. "Seriously, people make it look easy when it's not."

"This is why we could have rented the swan boats instead. We'd do nothing but just paddle." She stresses.

"But a swan boat isn't as romantic as this!"

"Well...you just have to coordinate both rowing sticks."

"Sounds easy than said."

"...I think I brought a wrong person here." Airi commented, laughing out loud as Shinichiro makes a face at her. "I'm joking! I'm joking!"

"You try rowing then" Shinichiro spoke, handing to her the ends of rowing sticks.

Taking a hold of them, Airi begins to row at a coordinated pace and movement, their boat going forward and far off from the deck, joining the others in the middle of the river.

"I think I'm doing a good job" She says, simultaneously looking from her left to right. 

"Make sure not to hit another boat behind you, babe!"

"Just tell me if I'm about to!"

"Airi chan, can we go under the bridge?"

"You row for us then"

"If I do, will you feel my arm muscles?"

"No"

. . . . . . . . . . ♡

As the skies begin to caste a lavender hue, they stopped rowing in the middle of the water, waiting for the sun to light up for the very first time in the new year. Time check, fifteen minutes to seven in the morning.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes, they anticipated for the golden rays of the sun igniting slowly up in the sky - the water glistening, birds already chirping and flying and before anything else, the sun dawned bright, clear and crisp to them.

Truthfully speaking, it was only Airi who was looking at the sun shining up in the sky, as Shinichiro was only looking at her.

According to the legend, the deity of the new year appears during the first sunrise of the year. As the people are watching the sun rise up, they wish for good health and good luck throughout the year. But all Shinichiro could wish for is to spend the remaining years of his life with Airi.

He wasn't going to ask for anything else. He'll just accept where would the things fall into place as he's already satisfied to be able to be a part of her life and so on.

And so leaning in, Shinichiro closes his eyes before pressing his lips on soft, supple lips. His lips warm with the taste of sweet minty tasting. Deepening the kiss as he takes a hold on her nape, the taste of her tasted like home.

In that moment, the two of them blurred out their surroundings, only focusing the taste of each other's lips, as in that moment they found warmth in each other's hold.

When their lips parted, the two of them stared into each other's eyes as they are both utterly content in enjoying the moment in each other's arms. However, the sweet moment was interrupted as Shinichiro's phone began to vibrate inside the pocket of his pants.

Taking it out and answering the call, the male presses his phone against his ear. "Hello?

"Grandpa said since you forgot to lock the gate, all the neighborhood stray cats entered inside our house. And I think one of the cats peed in your bed." Emma spoke to him on the phone. 

"What's wrong?" Airi asks

Shinichiro could only make an exhausted expression as he ends the call. Not only did he get to see and witness the first sunrise of the year, but he too also received the first chore of the year for him.