lost in japan | haruto ✔

iv | 2:58 am

"SO WILL YOU tell me what your tattoos mean now?" Haruto asked the second the cold air hit us as we stepped outside the parlor. I turned to him in disbelief and shock when connecting the dots.

"Is that why you got your tattoo?" I gasped, "To know why mine meant?"

"I'll answer that question if you answer mine first." He spoke stubbornly, refusing to make eye contact with me. He obviously knew that I would be upset if I was the reason why he got his first tattoo, especially since he had wanted the same design I had gotten. Glaring at him, I stopped walking so he would respond to my question, "I'm waiting, Everly. I have all night. You, however, don't."

Sighing, I caved in, "Three dots, months ago, stick and poke with friends. There's no deep meaning, I volunteered to be the one to test the needle out."

"Uh uh, you're not done." Pointing to the one he had just gotten, he once again waited for me to explain. "What does this one mean?"

I stared down at the inside of my ring finger on my left hand. The skin was still red from the ink, but I was more than happy to see that the black circle on it this time around.

"Full moon tonight, I got it out of impulse at first, but today's kind of been the worst and best day of my life all at the same time. Memorable, nonetheless, but mostly because of impulse." I hesitated at the end, but only because I was unsure of what I saying.

"Now, tell me why you got yours."

"Impulse." He faced me with a massive grin on his face, "I guess we're not so different after all."

Shaking my head in astonishment at his remark, I almost considered punching him on the arm, because I wanted nothing more than to wipe that stupid smile on his face. But the second my eyes met his, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"You're insane, Haruto." I mumbled to myself more than anything.

"Only the best people are, babe."

. . .

"Woah," I stared in awe as the pedals from the Japanese cherry blossom tree fell all around me. If I had known sooner that they were in full bloom, I would've asked Haruto if we could walk here first. But now with our continuous playful banter filling up the air around us, I had a feeling it would've been awkward if we arrived here earlier. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Haruto said, and I was going to point out that he wasn't even looking at the flowers. But from my peripheral vision, I could see he was looking straight at me, so I ended up deciding against it. "Absolutely beautiful."

"Is this your first time seeing them, too?" My eyes finally wandered over to him and waited for him to answer. Moments after, he instantly began to blush when realizing that I had asked him something.

"Yes. Well, no, I mean, I use to see them all the time in my hometown." His gaze fell down to his feet before he would continue, "But I haven't been back to Japan for the longest time, so, I guess it kind of feels like the first time."

I gave a small smile and diverted my focus to the blossoms once again.

"Can I tell you a secret?" He said after a short duration of silence, and when he saw that I nodded, he went on, "My life is exactly the way I envision when I look at it. Everything was perfect, and then. . . it wasn't. I was somewhere stuck between my dreams and true happiness. So, I came to Tokyo trying to find something I was missing in my life. I mean, I didn't know what it was, but I needed to try. And if I wasn't one of the lucky ones to find it, maybe I'd find myself alone the way."

"And did you?"

Haruto hesitated and stopped walking. His eyes fell to the ground, but slowly made their way up to me. His gaze was so intense that my heart skipped a beat.

Stumbling to find the right words, he then smiled when they came to him, "Yeah."

"What is it?" I blurted, "I— sorry, I don't know what came over me, so just—"

"It's you, Everly."

A / N

how do you think everly will react?

ok i can explain for why i haven't updated in days: exams are next week and i'm currently at model un right now, in my committee lmao.

anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and vote on it if you did :)