Crystalline Constellations

S2 E5: Drifting Blossoms [Part 2/2]

England's throat felt like a miniature desert because of how dry it was at this moment, made even hotter by the lights in the room. And over half a dozen sets of eyes were concentrated on him right now, so it was as though he was becoming mute, being silenced by the intense atmosphere hanging in the air like a cumulonimbus. 

Just do what Jenny recommended and focus on the task at hand, forget about everything else in the world for now, he said to himself mentally, remembering the rehearsals he'd had of this the previous day. He took another breath to gain his voice back and, deciding there was no turning back now, began to speak.

"I... it's... well, um... I know this is going to sound silly, especially because you're a woman from the human world and I'm a country who's several hundred years old, so it'd probably never work, but... I'm just going to say it because I want to put it out there: I'm in love with you, Sandra." 

Many pairs of eyes widened, but the one he was addressing looked the most surprised. Her orbs were what captivated him the most, being green and blue stunningly swirled together into a mixed tone, and he focused on them to calm himself as if they were a lifeline, reaching down to him in order to pull him out of the abyss of his nervous emotions. 

"I've been having a crush on you since January. I don't think there's any particular reason for how these feelings were triggered, I just realised it out of the blue." Britain continued, becoming more confident with each sentence that came out of his mouth. "And I also realise it's only been 2 months ish since we first met each other, meaning it's too early to be talking about love, even so it's an emotion I have no control over, and I couldn't keep it to myself for any longer. So it's like I said, I love you..." 

The entire room remained silent for another few seconds as everyone took in what had just been said, especially Sandra, who took a moment or 2 to register the fact that her most favourite anime character, also her own crush, had just confessed his love to her. It was like a dream come true. However, she didn't just have a fangirl's infatuation for him in the series because, in the last 2 months since they met and escaped from Dr. Peugot thanks to the help from their friends, she had started to grow more and more fond of him over time because of how much of a nice person he proved himself to be, and she genuinely enjoyed his company because of that. 

She walked over towards him, feeling the other sets of eyes around her turn in her direction, and put her hands on both of his shoulders as soon as she was close enough. 

"Arthur." She said. This made him raise his head up, diverting his gaze away from his feet and instead looking once again at her face, which was displaying an expression of the friendliness he liked so much about her, along with one of what he presumed to be affection, the current slight pink tint to the colour of her cheeks serving as evidence of this latter type of emotion. "Even if there are differences in lifespans between us and we're from 2 different dimensions, I know we can still make it work. Because I've also been developing feelings for you over the past month or so like you have with me." It was at this moment when her face turned the brightest shade of pink, but she didn't mind it at all and continued to smile to show the sentiment of the fluttering sensation in her heart right now. 

"What...?" The sentence she'd just said took him by surprise, and as a result he cocked his head a few degrees to his left but without turning it away from her. "You mean... then basically you mean..." 

"Yes, I do." Nodded Sandra. Her words were catching in her own throat, too, due to her excitement, and she thought it was most likely this factor which was additionally making her quiver on her feet somewhat. "I gladly accept your confession, because I love you too, England." 

He couldn't believe it. He'd spent all of the last 48 hours worrying and dwelling in his own anticipation of what might happen, fearing the prospect of failure, and he'd just been proven very wrong. There was nothing he could do to stop himself from placing both of his hands onto his mouth from happiness, and just for a millisecond, he thought he could feel his vision going blurry from his eyes welling up with the same emotion.