One step forward, two steps back

Part 16 Around and around

Nishikata and Takagi had gone on a few rides since they left Mano and Nakai, and had gotten their picture taken a few more times, and were now sitting on a bench, resting for a bit before deciding their next activity. 'This is going well.' Nishikata thought to himself. 'Almost too well, is Takagi waiting for me to enact my plan, so she can tease me? No, if that were the case, then we wouldn't have almost kissed in the mirror maze.'

"Man, todays been great so far." Takagi said catching Nishikata's attention. "Thanks again for inviting me."

"No problem." Nishikata began softly. "Thank you for agreeing to come with me."

"Well, I was happy to spend time with you." She said as she took his hand. "Speaking of time, there's not much left."

"Huh?"

"Look." She said as she looked towards the sky. "It's already dark, so we don't have much time left here."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed."

"We might need to head home soon, seeing as tomorrow is Christmas and all."

"Well, there's ... still something I wanted to do first." He said as he turned away.

"Oh yeah, those plans you mentioned."

Nishikata blushed as he tried to think of a cover. 'I can't just tell her that I want to go on the Ferris wheel, that'll be too obvious, I need to somehow convince her to go on it without actually saying it.' "Well ... we still have some time so ... should we do something else first?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well ... how about ... you decide?" He said sounding more like a question than a request.

"Hm? Well we could always go back on one of the roller coasters."

"How about ... something a little ... calmer?" 'That would leave the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and observation tower, and maybe a few others, I just need to think of an excuse for when she-'

"Well," She began as she smiled flirtatiously. "We could always try the Ferris wheel, it's nice and quiet." She placed a finger on her chin and looked up. "Oh, but I know how embarrassed you get when you and I are isolated, and you can't get more secluded than that."

"What are you talking about?" Nishikata began nervously. "I don't get embarrassed when it's just us. I've been alone with you plenty of times and not been embarrassed."

"Oh? Then let's go." She grabbed his hand and the two of them began making their way over to the Ferris wheel as Nishikata's heart went into overdrive.

'This is it.' He thought to himself. 'This is where I finally confess.'

The walk to the Ferris wheel felt like an eternity, all the while Nishikata had to stop himself from staring at the girl walking beside him. 'You can do this Nishikata, you can totally do this, she probably already likes you, and knows that you like her, this is just making things official ... right?'

"Nishikata?" Takagi said, snapping him back to reality. "We're here."

Nishikata gazed up at the giant attraction in front of him as he became more and more nervous. "S-so we are." The two of them walked up to the line, which was actually very short, yet the wait felt like an eternity. 'Man, my heart's beating so fast, I think I'm going to have a heart attack.' As the line reached its end, Nishikata took a moment to ready himself one final time. 'Okay, so this thing moves quick, I'm going to have to start as soon as we get on, and I should be able to kiss her at the top by the second rotation.'

His nerves were in shambles as their turn to enter the car finally came. The door slowly opened, as if beckoning them forward as it moved slowly across the platform.

"Ready?" Takagi said as she nudged him forward.

They entered the car and sat next to each other, and as soon as the door closed, Nishikata felt his heart skip a beat. 'Here I go ... I said here I go! ... Why am I not doing anything!?'

"Wow, your face is so red right now Nishikata." Takagi said, catching him off guard.

"Huh? Oh, that, well ... I ..." He reached into his pocket and took a deep breath. 'That was just what I needed.' He pulled out the box and handed it to Takagi. "Merry Christmas." Takagi's face turned a slight shade of pink as she stared at the small box.

"I ..." She smiled and took the box from him. "Thank you." She slowly opened it, and as soon as she saw the heart shaped locket that was inside, she blushed. "You ... remembered ... wait, hold on, I thought they were sold out."

Nishikata nodded. "They were, I got this before that happened."

"Before you knew I wanted this one specifically?" He nodded again. "Then ..." She smiled and took it out of its box. "Would you do the honors then?"

He took the necklace and slowly slid it over her head. "You look amazing by the way."

"Thanks." A sly smile formed on her face. "You know, a present like this is normally something someone would get for their girlfriend."

Nishikata nodded. "I know."

Takagi's face became even redder. "I ... you ..." She smiled again. "You know, they say that if you and someone you like-"

"Kiss at the top of this Ferris wheel then you'll be together forever?"

Takagi's face went even redder, to a shade that Nishikata hadn't seen before. 'Here it goes, maybe I can get it in time for the first rotation!' "Takagi, we've known each other for a very long time ... and I've only recently realized how much you mean to me." He took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye. "What I'm trying to say is ... I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU TAKAGI! WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?"

Everything seemed to go quiet as both Takagi's and Nishikata's face went bright red, the tension only being broken by a flash of light from something nearby. "Huh?" they both said as they looked around until they found a camera mounted to the top corner of the car.

"Wait." He looked out over the park and saw that they had passed the apex of the wheel. 'How did I not know that there was a camera on this?'

Nishikata turned back to Takagi as she quickly broke out into a fit of laughter. "Wha? Takagi?"

"Did you plan this?" Takagi asked while still somewhat laughing.

"I ... yeah."

"To get me to blush and get a picture of it as proof?" She said as her expression turned slightly accusatory.

"What?! NO! I mean, yes, I mean, kinda. I wanted to get you to blush, but what I really wanted ..." He looked down and sighed. "I wanted to tell you ... all that you mean to me. Sure, you tease me all the time, sure, you also manage to turn every one of my plans around on me and embarrass me, but ... I would never trade any of that, I like being with you and ... I want to be with you more."

"Even if that means being with me forever?"

"Huh?"

She pointed up revealing that they were almost at the apex again. "If we go through with this, I'm only going to be teasing you more, you're aware of that, right?"

He nodded. "And I'm not going to stop trying to get back at you."

"You're still never going to win."

"I don't know, I think I did rather well today."

She smiled as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Hmm, I guess you have a point there." She pressed her lips against his for a brief moment, just as another flash of light took their picture again. "But to answer your question, I would love to." She swung her legs around, so she was now sitting on his lap as he wrapped his arms around her back to support her. "This was definitely worth the wait."