Colours [MASHIKYU]

6 - Yellow

Yellow is magical. Junkyu has taken me somewhere that looks like it came straight out of a children's book.

Sunflowers. Everywhere. But not like the normal sized roses in red, the sunflowers are enormous. So enormous that Junkyu and I can stand on them. As I peek over the edge at the long way down, my legs turn to jelly and I have to sit down after he points at a few different sections of the flower head and its petals, showing me marigold, canary, lemon.

"Scared?" Junkyu asks softly, and lowers himself down next to me.

"A little. I really like the colour, though," I say.

"Yellow's one of my favourites too, it's the colour of joy."

Suddenly the sunflower we're sitting on bends to one side. I let out a scream, but then Junkyu throws his arms around me and pulls me so close to him that my face is pressed against his orange jumper, and I feel safe. Nestled in Junkyu's body, I hear laughter.

"Jihoon! That was terrifying!"

Junkyu pulls away from me and stands up. I squint up and can make out another person in the blinding sunlight.

"Hey! Mashiho, right?" He extends a hand, which is yellow, and pulls me to stand even though my legs are still wobbly.

"Hello."

"Jihoon. Just came over to say hi, I'll go now. I know Junkyu just wants you two to be alone," he draws out the 'o' on alone much longer than necessary and pokes Junkyu repeatedly in the shoulder. Junkyu's cheeks go pink.

"Okay, bye bye then Jihoon." Junkyu gives him a pointed look, and Jihoon winks and bounds away, jumping from flower to flower. "Sorry about him."

I don't quite see what he's sorry about, but don't ask. I stare at Jihoon as he effortlessly glides through the air, barely even stepping on the flowers. "How does he do that? What if he falls?"

I look up at Junkyu and see he's staring at Jihoon too, a smile on his face. "But he's not falling, is he? He's flying." Then he turns to face me, his smile growing wider and his eyes getting that twinkle in them again, and butterflies swarm my stomach. "Wanna try?"

I laugh nervously. "I can't do that!"

"Nonsense. You can do anything, Mashi." He jumps across to the flower in front of us. "See? If I can, you can!"

I shake my head, barely even feeling my legs anymore. I'll fall. "I don't think so," I call over to him.

Junkyu's eyes lock on mine with such intensity that I couldn't look away even if I tried, a soft smile still on his face. "I haven't known you for long, but if there's one thing I know about you— it's that you can make this jump."

His words sink into me, into my skin, into my blood. They echo around in my head over and over until I just... do it. My legs move on their own to catapult me towards him, and I land on the other flower— wonkily, and he has to steady me so I don't fall over, but I do land. Adrenaline courses through my body and in this moment, I can do anything.

"I want to do that again," I say breathlessly. I look down at my legs, small, weak... how did they just do that?

"Let's go then," Junkyu says before leaping to the next flower. I follow him.

We do this for what could be hours, bounding and leaping and flying from flower to flower, our squeals and laughter filling the air. Just as the grey fit my uncertainty only a few days ago, the yellow is now a perfect match for my joy.

Our speed gradually slows and our puffing and sweating increases until eventually Junkyu says he's too tired to keep going. I nod, because I'm panting too hard to speak. He collapses (voluntarily, not in the way Yoshinori does) back onto the flower.

"That was fun," he says.

I look from him, basking in the sunshine and grinning to himself, to the smooth, huge petals on the flower, to the ground so far below, to the glowing sun so far above, and confusion washes over me. How did I get here?

"Junkyu?"

"Mm?"

"Is... is this real? Or are you and I both in a dream?"

He doesn't answer straight away, and I start to shake because suddenly I'm afraid that I'm right and that everything is about to disappear and I'll be back in my room with the white and no colours and no Junkyu, but then he props himself up on his elbows and looks at me, and the ease that his gaze carries puts me at ease too.

"Why even question it? Who cares? Are you happy?"

He asked me this in orange too, if I'm happy. Of course I am. That's why I'm so scared he, and this, will vanish. Happiness is rare.

"Yes."

He stands up and steps close to me. I can feel his warm breath on my forehead and he tenderly strokes my sweaty fringe out of my eyes. My heart races.

"Then just keep being happy."

"You've been so much happier these last few days," Diana says to me when she picks me up from dinner that night. "Do you want to talk about why?"

No, I don't want to tell her about Junkyu. When I told my friends they weren't happy at all, which made the whole thing seem less happy. I don't want to come down from the high I feel after yellow today, so I don't want to risk telling her and her having a not-happy reaction.

"I don't know why," I tell her.

She bites her lip, and when we reach my room, she lingers outside it before opening the door. "Mashiho, look at me."

I look at her. I still don't recognise the colour of her eyes... maybe a really, really dark orange?

"If there's something happening, you need to tell me. No secrets. And whatever you tell me stays between us," she says softly. "So, has anything been happening?"

I keep looking at her for a few moments, still trying to decipher her eye colour, before answering.

"No," I lie.

"Are you sure?"

I make a cross with my hands. She purses her lips, but stops.