Chapter 66: Wanting a Sincere Confession
*Those absolute bastards. They really picked the perfect time to force a last-minute rehearsal right on Christmas Eve,* Hikaru cursed silently to himself as he drove. *Work, work, work... I literally transmigrated into another world, yet I'm still stuck working normal jobs? Didn't I transmigrate for nothing then?*
*I guess my cheat abilities still aren't broken enough,* he sighed, pulling his car into a paid surface parking lot near his apartment complex before heading home on foot.
Hikaru lit up his phone screen. It was still open to his chat logs with Ai. The very last message was his own, reading: "Rehearsal's finally over." Ai hadn't replied in over an hour.
The very top of his phone screen clearly displayed 23:40—it was about to be tomorrow. Shoving his phone back into his pocket, Hikaru looked up at the endless sky. The invisible clouds blocked his view, leaving only a scattering of stray stars exposed to the elements; the night sky looked exactly like a massive black curtain. Fortunately, the streetlamps in this neighborhood were bright enough that he didn't have to worry about missing his footing.
But the snow had already begun to fall. Thin, dense snowflakes drifted down through the air, melting the exact instant they touched Hikaru's outstretched palm, sending a trace of crisp chill straight to his heart.
"It's snowing," he murmured. "If only I could've gone out on a normal date with Ai tonight, how great would that have been?"
Hikaru let out a small sigh.
*Ai should be fast asleep by now, right? I'll just hurry back and crash, then contact her first thing tomorrow morning.*
*Even if we missed Christmas Eve, we still have Christmas Day, right?* he thought optimistically. Quickening his pace, he rounded a familiar street corner, and his apartment building came into view. The entrance was even decorated with a small Christmas tree, a string of colorful fairy lights draped loosely around it.
Hikaru walked over quickly, only to spot a strange figure sitting on a bench right beneath the building.
She was just sitting there, wearing a hood, her lower half clad in thick black thermal leggings—clearly a girl.
Hikaru frowned. This was a luxury apartment building in the Chiyoda Ward, and the people coming and going were invariably wealthy or influential, so she definitely wasn't a vagrant. But she probably wasn't a tenant either; otherwise, who would sleep on a bench outside for no good reason?
*Is she waiting for her boyfriend? But it's already so late, their date should've ended by now. Or did someone dump her out here?*
Hikaru couldn't make up his mind.
Maybe he shouldn't meddle in other people's business. But if a girl froze down here all night, she would absolutely catch a miserable fever, and if he looked back on this in the future, his conscience would kill him. Hikaru liked to believe he possessed a conscience—even if it was just a tiny shred of one.
As he walked closer, he noticed a bouquet of flowers resting right beside the girl. White roses. Hikaru recognized them instantly because a long time ago, he had given a identical bouquet to Ai.
Getting nearer, he found a small pile of exquisitely wrapped boxes tucked beneath the bench, looking incredibly expensive. There wasn't much snow accumulated on the girl's hood—it was just slightly damp, meaning she hadn't been sitting out here in the storm for very long.
Then, Hikaru caught sight of a stray lock of purple hair peeking out from beneath the hood. The shade was intensely familiar; the depth of the color perfectly matched a specific person in his memory.
"Ai!" His eyes went wide. He reached down and pulled the hood straight off her head, revealing Ai's face underneath.
Over in the nearby bushes, Aqua let out a massive sigh of relief. "He's finally back. Good thing we hid fast enough."
Ruby parted the leaves, exposing a single eye. "Aqua, did you bring your phone? Should we record this?"
"No," Aqua shook his head. "It's too easy to get caught. We'll mess things up."
"Ai, wake up," Hikaru said, gently shaking her.
Ai let out a little yawn. As she woke up, she rubbed the corners of her eyes before finally noticing Hikaru standing right in front of her.
"Hikaru, you're back?" She looked visibly thrilled, though a hint of lingering grievance bled through a second later. "You're finally back."
"I am so, so sorry," Hikaru gave a wry smile. "Have you really been waiting out here for me this whole time, Ai? Why didn't you text me?"
"Because..." Ai choked up. *Because it was supposed to be a surprise,* she finished the sentence in her head.
"I'm really sorry I flaked on our date," Hikaru said, filled with guilt. "I'll find a way to make it up to you. We can do whatever you want later, but for now, let's head upstairs and get some rest."
"No!" Ai's voice suddenly spiked, startling Hikaru. "I mean... Hikaru didn't flake!"
She unlocked her phone, revealing the current time on the screen: 23:59.
"Our date was set for tonight, right?" Seeing the time, Ai let out a sigh of relief, looking incredibly happy. "Then didn't you make it in time? It's just right."
"But..." Hikaru laughed weakly. "It's already way too late, isn't it?"
"It's not late at all!" Ai stretched her stiff muscles and stood up from the bench, fixing her clothes and hair along the way.
"I'm right here, and you're right here, Hikaru. How does this not count as a date?"
"Then what are we supposed to do now?" Hikaru smiled.
"Nothing special," Ai said. "Just listen to me talk. The truth is, I had so many plans made for tonight."
"Yeah, I know," Hikaru apologized again. "I'm really sorry I let all your hard work go to waste."
"I bought tickets to the amusement park, and I even got your Christmas gifts ready."
"Thank you," Hikaru chimed in. "I'm really happy."
Ai gave a little huff and continued, "I even prepared a ton of balloons. I was planning to release them when we were riding the Ferris wheel."
"That romantic?" Hikaru said in surprise. "Ai, you really went all out."
He began to sense that something was a bit off; these preparations were way too grand for a regular hangout.
One by one, Ai began handing the gifts over to Hikaru. "I wasn't really sure what you actually like, Hikaru, so I just bought a bunch of everything."
"Here are headphones and a microphone."
Hikaru didn't have the heart to tell her that Kadomori had already given him the exact same thing.
"This is... a graphics card? People online said guys always love stuff like this," Ai said, tilting her head.
Hikaru, for his part, fully intended to treasure it like an absolute prize.
"And this." Ai finally handed over a thick book.
Hikaru took it and burst out laughing. It was actually a massive comprehensive Chinese cookbook.
"This is incredibly useful," he said seriously. "Thank you, Ai."
Then Hikaru felt a sudden wave of awkwardness, because unlike her, he hadn't prepared any Christmas gifts.
"I'm really sorry," his gaze began to wander. "I don't have anything good to give you in return."
"Maybe a copy of my new album?"
"What are you talking about? That's an amazing gift!" Ai twisted her fingers, her eyes going wide. "So does that mean I get to record another song?"
The two locked eyes for a moment before bursting into a synchronized laugh.
"I was planning to give you all these gifts right when we reached the highest point of the Ferris wheel, and then release the balloons," Ai said softly. "We would've watched them fly all across the sky."
"Wouldn't that litter the environment?" Hikaru interrupted.
Ai rolled her eyes at him. "The President said he would go and clean them up! Anyway, I was planning to use that exact moment..."
"To confess to you," Ai said.
Hikaru felt his heart skip a couple of beats. What did he just hear? Did Ai just use the word "confess"?
Who was confessing to whom?
*Ai wants to confess to me!* Hikaru's mind went completely hazy.
Ai picked up the white roses from the bench. The petals were dusted with tiny flakes of snow, making them look completely pure and flawless. Standing right beside the tiny Christmas tree at the base of his building, Ai offered up a bouquet named after herself.
"But... I'm not the Kamiki from before. I'm someone else who showed up after the memory loss," Hikaru said, suddenly getting a bit self-conscious.
Ai forcefully shoved the flowers straight into his hands.
"Of course I know you're weird, Hikaru," she said, pouting. "I'm not a kid. How could I not notice how strange you are?"
The girl kept talking, entirely on her own track. "You keep saying you have amnesia, but you seem to know so many random things. You don't remember anything that happened between us in the past, yet you act like you're completely familiar with the future."
Hikaru scrambled to explain, "That's because—"
Ai cut him off instantly. "But I don't care about any of that."
She looked straight into Hikaru's eyes, repeating herself, "I don't care about any of that."
An incredible burst of conviction radiated from her, making Hikaru feel that she was absolutely dazzling at this exact moment.
He could only nod. "Ai doesn't care about any of that."
Ai immediately smiled, her expression looking just as radiant as the flowers in Hikaru's hands.
"You once told me that love is something meant to be experienced."
"Yeah," Hikaru nodded again.
"Then the way I feel right now is the ultimate proof of that," Ai said, gently placing a hand over her chest. "The heart doesn't lie."
Inside her chest, her heart was leaping up and down, thumping wildly.
Feeling the rush of her emotions, Ai delivered her final declaration: "The person I love is the you sitting right here, right now!"
"The you who has been by my side this entire time."
Ai took a step forward, actively grabbing Hikaru's other hand. Before he could even process it, their fingers had completely intertwined.
"The you who is holding my hand right now," Ai said brightly. "I don't care who you are—whether you're the amnesiac Hikaru, or some completely different personality..."
The girl stepped even closer until their faces were inches apart, her warm breath brushing against Hikaru's face.
Even though a light snow was falling around them, he felt his forehead burning up completely.
*I must be running a massive fever,* Hikaru thought.
He watched the breathtakingly beautiful girl in front of him open her mouth once more.
"I want to tell you..."
The falling snow dusted Ai's shoulders, making the deep flush on her cheeks stand out even more. She found Hikaru's reaction hilarious; she rarely ever got to see him look this flustered.
*Is Hikaru blushing?* Ai asked in her head.
Yet she didn't even realize that her own face was currently so red it looked ready to burst.
Ai gathered up every last ounce of her courage in one single breath.
"I love you, Hikaru."
A massive wave of pure joy erupted from the soles of Hikaru's feet and rushed straight to his head; he felt as though he had been launched directly into the clouds.
What did Ai just say? She said she loved him?
Hikaru's mind went even fuzzier, his brain turning into total mush to the point where he could barely control his own body.
"What?" he asked instinctively.
"Oh, stop it," Ai said, looking thoroughly exasperated. "Don't tell me you want me to say it all over again?"
"But since it's you, Hikaru, I guess I can," she calmed down just as quickly, her eyes rippling with endless emotion. "It doesn't matter how many times I have to say it."
"I love you, Hikaru," Ai said, with complete sincerity.
Before Hikaru could even open his mouth to answer, the face in front of him rapidly zoomed in.
Two cool, soft lips pressed firmly against his own.
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