A year passed.
A year of healing.
A year of reconciliation.
A year of acceptance.
A year of peace.
It was autumn now. Beautiful, mild tempered autumn. With trees of warm coloured leaves. Of browns and of yellows and of reds.
Touma was happiest at this time of year. During autumn. It was undoubtedly his favourite season. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold and it was not so sweet and colourful in that way spring was.
Hayate seemed to share his sentiments when it came to autumn.
The two of them were walking home from campus. They were in the second semester of the year. It was the end of September. Their fingers were interlaced. They walked close together, but Touma felt they weren't close enough.
Life had become easier. There was nothing left to threaten them. Nothing left to hurt them. They were together.
Every day Touma lived with the fear that Hayate would realise everything the Akano family had done to him was on him. On Yuuki. On Touma. He was terrified that Hayate would abandon him.
Nevertheless, he feared for nothing. Every day Hayate was by his side, loving him as if nothing would ever change. As if everything that had transpired would never be of consequence.
After the fact, they had reconciled. They had healed. Everything dark about him had been revealed, and yet it never changed how Hayate felt about him. Hayate never changed.
Hayate halted. They were in a street lined with trees, bowing low to form an autumn-coloured canopy.
Touma turned to him. Their hands were still interlaced. Hayate pulled Touma to him.
He took hold of Touma's jaw, and he softly placed his lips against Touma's. When he pulled away, he met Touma's eyes. "I love you, Touma." Touma did not look impressed. After two lifetimes, he had heard it enough. Hayate continued, "In every life I'll find you again." And he meant every word. He would find Touma again and again. In every life, because much like the myth said, they were connected by a red thread, binding them together. For they had been fated since the beginning.
Underneath the red trees where they had met the first time. Where they had loved. And it was underneath the red trees where the red string of fate connected their souls forever. And where they now walked, never to be parted again.
YOU ARE READING
Underneath the Red Trees
RomanceHayate Igarashi is a Tokyo rich kid who finds life extraordinarily boring, that is until his attention is gripped by the angel-faced Touma Kirigaya who ebbs him every time he looks at him. Why can's he forget about Touma? Not only that, but one nig...
