( Stop, you can't just stab everyone that's embarrassing.
...but actually
he slows to a stop, catching himself on the rink's wall as he reaches the edge. How is there more... How isn't there more? Natsume wets his lips and forces his shoulders to relax, though his grip is tight on the rink's wall. There's something he has to do first, and he raises his hand up.
God, but he is drained from the magic he's been using all month—he lets himself use the wall as a support as he conjures a night sky above them, darkness blotting out the mall's lights, the sunlight, just a little galaxy that encapsulates the skating rink. They're awash in a pale blue glow, just like they had been that night in the virtual world, but there are no shooting stars this time. Just the lights that go in and out above them in a mimicry of stars, too dim at some points and too bright at others and at all times seeming as if they're above to implode.
Natsume breathes out slowly, ignoring his limits, and speaks softly to keep his voice from shaking. )
Maya Arisu. ( The way he speaks her name is gentle, as if it's something important—as if she is. And she is, to him. He's said as much before, to someone else, as embarrassing as it had been to admit. ) I've been fascinated by you from the moment we MET. An equation I couldn't SOLVE... A predictable puzZLE, with the most absurdly shaped pieCES. Every time I think I have something figured OUT, you throw me for a LOOP.
Though, ( he laughs a little, breathless, ) admittedLY, I feel like I've experienced that less and less over the MONTHS.
( Breathe in. Breathe out. The stars droop just a little, but they don't fall, and he puts his free hand over his heart. )
...You're a hardworking, unromantic, extremely practical, and boring GIRL. You like green tea without anything added to IT, you need silence when you work or you can't concenTRATE, you prefer to undress the cutest of lunches down to their basic compoNENTS... You don't waste your time with "what ifs" or anything like THAT, and if you want someTHING, you simply work towards IT. Even the impossible doesn't seem to far out of your reach like THAT. ( ... ) You're not that bad of a magician yourSELF.
( Magicians make miracles occur, after all. )
But that hardworking, unromantic, extremely practical, boring attitude of yours is what I LIKE. It makes the look you wear all the sweeter when I manage to coax it OUT. ( Her blush. The way she won't look at him, how much easier to breathe it gets when she doesn't. ) I'm sure being loved is a burden for YOU, but you once told me only to apologize for the things I reGRET.
( Okay— okay— just a little longer. )
I don't regret the way I feel about YOU. Against my better judgMENT, I doN'T.
( ...
He should, though. He knows that. He should regret that, and telling her, and becoming comfortable with being here like he'd scorned other people for being. Comfortable enough to acknowledge how he feels and to act on it, to confide in people here and there about it, to write a stupid wish.
A few stars on the other side of the rink flicker out like rickety streetlamps on a deserted street. Natsume watches her, a little pale—or maybe that's just the lighting. )
...Even if we met in another TIME, another LIFE, another WORLD, ( he continues, careful not to let his voice waver, ) I think I'd still fall for YOU.
( ...
He closes his eyes, okay, better. The room had started to get a little dizzying, and he doesn't want to actually fall because of her. That'd be... very uncool. )
no subject
...but actually
he slows to a stop, catching himself on the rink's wall as he reaches the edge. How is there more... How isn't there more? Natsume wets his lips and forces his shoulders to relax, though his grip is tight on the rink's wall. There's something he has to do first, and he raises his hand up.
God, but he is drained from the magic he's been using all month—he lets himself use the wall as a support as he conjures a night sky above them, darkness blotting out the mall's lights, the sunlight, just a little galaxy that encapsulates the skating rink. They're awash in a pale blue glow, just like they had been that night in the virtual world, but there are no shooting stars this time. Just the lights that go in and out above them in a mimicry of stars, too dim at some points and too bright at others and at all times seeming as if they're above to implode.
Natsume breathes out slowly, ignoring his limits, and speaks softly to keep his voice from shaking. )
Maya Arisu. ( The way he speaks her name is gentle, as if it's something important—as if she is. And she is, to him. He's said as much before, to someone else, as embarrassing as it had been to admit. ) I've been fascinated by you from the moment we MET. An equation I couldn't SOLVE... A predictable puzZLE, with the most absurdly shaped pieCES. Every time I think I have something figured OUT, you throw me for a LOOP.
Though, ( he laughs a little, breathless, ) admittedLY, I feel like I've experienced that less and less over the MONTHS.
( Breathe in. Breathe out. The stars droop just a little, but they don't fall, and he puts his free hand over his heart. )
...You're a hardworking, unromantic, extremely practical, and boring GIRL. You like green tea without anything added to IT, you need silence when you work or you can't concenTRATE, you prefer to undress the cutest of lunches down to their basic compoNENTS... You don't waste your time with "what ifs" or anything like THAT, and if you want someTHING, you simply work towards IT. Even the impossible doesn't seem to far out of your reach like THAT. ( ... ) You're not that bad of a magician yourSELF.
( Magicians make miracles occur, after all. )
But that hardworking, unromantic, extremely practical, boring attitude of yours is what I LIKE. It makes the look you wear all the sweeter when I manage to coax it OUT. ( Her blush. The way she won't look at him, how much easier to breathe it gets when she doesn't. ) I'm sure being loved is a burden for YOU, but you once told me only to apologize for the things I reGRET.
( Okay— okay— just a little longer. )
I don't regret the way I feel about YOU. Against my better judgMENT, I doN'T.
( ...
He should, though. He knows that. He should regret that, and telling her, and becoming comfortable with being here like he'd scorned other people for being. Comfortable enough to acknowledge how he feels and to act on it, to confide in people here and there about it, to write a stupid wish.
A few stars on the other side of the rink flicker out like rickety streetlamps on a deserted street. Natsume watches her, a little pale—or maybe that's just the lighting. )
...Even if we met in another TIME, another LIFE, another WORLD, ( he continues, careful not to let his voice waver, ) I think I'd still fall for YOU.
( ...
He closes his eyes, okay, better. The room had started to get a little dizzying, and he doesn't want to actually fall because of her. That'd be... very uncool. )
That's ALL.
( confession done. )