Seasons of Chances and Love 2: Perfect Love In Summer

Fateful Movie Night

Avoiding Fuji seemed to have been erased from Miyako's list-of-things-to-do this year after their conversation that time. It was weird but somehow, she couldn't find it in her to completely avoid him after what he did to save her life and take good care of her. Even though she insisted that she didn't need to be watched over or at least required to be taken care of, Fuji took no heed of it at all. It made her extremely frustrated but in the end, she gave up being so insistent on what she liked or wanted him to do for her.

He kept on doing things that would make her blush, make her heart flutter and an unexplainable warmth would always overwhelm her. Their schedules weren't actually the same at all but somehow, he kept on finding a way to walk her home or at least just a short time to talk to her. Long before she even realized it, she looked forward to those wonderful, heart-warming moments—no matter how short they usually were—with Fuji. It was like her day wouldn't be complete without that creepy tensai (though she just referred him like that as a joke) to give a beautiful meaning to it.

Despite how deep her wound was, Miyako still managed to participate in the Ranking Tournaments of the Girls' Tennis Club. Luckily, she didn't exert too much when having those matches. But to their coach and to the tennis captain, Miyako's tennis skills were something to be reckoned with. Same goes to Kana, Hanako, Aika, and Kazumi. And it didn't come as a surprise to them that the five of them landed a spot on the regulars. Out of 8 available positions, Miyako and her friends landed on the first 5 spots. Two second years landed on the 6th and 7th spots and just one third year ended on the last spot.

A lot of the competitors complained with the results. But then, they just got a pretty good lecture and scolding from Coach Nakayama about not taking tennis as a sport seriously and underestimating the skills of the first years. None of the members were able to voice out complains and whining after that. Coach Nakayama's reprimands were something that was not to be taken lightly, after all.

Right after the results were out, Fuji was the first person who knew that Miyako had finally landed on one of the available regulars' spot. Of course, Fuji was happy to know that and all. But he was even happier when she agreed to have a date with him one Sunday. He used the reason of celebrating the fact that she was already a regular even though she was only in first year.

And that date was later followed by another one. But Fuji didn't state it as a date, of course. Miyako would kill him if he stated it as that. Not only that, he knew it was impossible for something special to actually happen with their current situation. The truth about Miyako's past was still deeply seared in his brain. Even the pain he felt upon knowing all that was still engraved in his heart.

At that moment, he had never felt so hopeless. He really knew he had lost long before the battle was decided. At first, he didn't know that, of course. But those two weeks made him feel all that. He wanted to do his best to be with Miyako. But it was always her silver eyes that kept on telling him one thing. His efforts were worthless, so what else was left there for him to continue and fight? Yes, he could've given up after learning a certain part of Miyako's past from Mamoru. But the golden-haired man gave him an ultimatum.

It was an ultimatum that would hopefully change everything about Miyako once and for all. It was that ultimatum that gave him reason why he was still doing his best despite his incredibly low chances to win. He was striving hard because he knew it was the right thing to do. In a way, he wanted to achieve something.

But could he really achieve that something at the end of all his efforts?

-x-x-

Well, Fuji wasn't sure about that at all. He wanted badly to know the answer but it felt like he wasn't the time for that yet. Somehow, he could feel that he still has time. One day, he would find the answer.

In the meantime, it was that time again.

Fuji entered the classroom and as usual, greeted almost everyone with his ever-present smile. Eiji was especially excited that one particular morning for some reason. It wasn't someone's birthday, he was sure of that. Though before he could even ask Eiji about it, he heard the girls' idle conversations since the class hadn't started yet.

"Have you bought Aino Nadeshiko-sama's new novel?"

"Really? She has another one released?"

"The novel came out yesterday. From how I see it, I think it's going to be another hit."

"I wonder where she got her inspirations to write such beautiful stories. The way she describes the scenes suggested that she had experienced all of them first hand."

"Or maybe she was there when it all happened."

"I think she's even studying at our school."

"What made you say that? There are only a few people here in our school who could write such a beautiful story."

"Because of the note on the author's page."

Fuji smiled as he heard that. Come to think of it, it had been a little over two months since Aino Nadeshiko's last novel release. And even though the publishing company had already released 8 of her novels (make it 9 if you include this newly-released novel that the girls were talking about), she had yet to make an appearance to the public. For over two years, no one knew who Aino Nadeshiko really was.

And even though he already had a few guesses on who might that be, he couldn't even pay attention to anything that could confirm his guesses. His attention was fixated on Miyako and his self-proclaimed duty to protect her, after all.

"The note on the author's page?"

"Yes. Didn't you see it?"

"I read it. I was surprised that the note was actually dedicated to Fuji-san."

Fuji frowned. Dedicated to him? Were those girls even joking or at least playing on him?

Maybe I'll buy that novel later after practice... he thought before he changed his focus from listening to the conversation of those girls to knowing what made Eiji especially excited. Well, that had really got him into thinking.

Oh, wait! Now that he remembered it, he was supposed to take Miyako on a movie date by tomorrow night. They agreed to watch a certain movie to lighten her mood, as she stated it. Though he had no idea what it actually meant, he just let it be.

Maybe he would know the answer soon.

But little did he know, that "soon" came a bit fast than what he had expected. Worst, it was during their movie night.

It was that night, finally. The usual, his sister asked about it rather excitedly that all Fuji could do was to smile at it. Yumiko hadn't met Miyako yet but the elder Fuji had seen the latter in all the photos of the lemon-haired girl that he took. And since Yumiko was someone who was quite obsessed with beauties, it didn't come as a surprise that she kept on bugging him about it. Not to mention, his sister was especially concerned about his progress.

If only Yumiko knew, there wasn't a chance for him to have a progress at all. No matter how much he loved the challenge, if Miyako chose to shield her heart and isolate it eternally because of what happened to her in the past, then it would all be worthless. Or maybe impossible would have described it perfectly.

He went to their meeting place—which was at the entrance of the mall where their chosen cinema was located—30 minutes before the decided time. He wanted to be early in order to make sure. Weird, but the thought of having a movie date with Miyako made him excited—albeit he did so inwardly.

Fifteen minutes later, Miyako arrived to their meeting place panting. It appeared that she had been running pretty hard, it seemed.

Miyako bent over and rested her hands on her knees while trying to even out her breath. She had no idea why she decided to run from the park to reach the mall. But then she thought it was for the best. Running did help her in some way, especially with clearing her thoughts and letting her reach a certain decision. She did so after learning a certain truth from her brother Mamoru, just before she left her house...

Flashback...

"You told him? All about Kaito? Onii-chan, have you gone insane?" Miyako exclaimed distraughtly. All of a sudden, she felt so weak as if her strength had been drained from her at a fast rate.

Mamoru could only sigh. He expected that reaction from his sister. But he knew he just did the right thing. Not only for Miyako's sake but also for Fuji's, as well. That boy, as far as Mamoru could tell, deserved to know the truth. From what he could interpret about the way Miyako treated Fuji, he knew one thing. Miyako was trying to protect Fuji—at the expense of her own emotions, her true feelings for the said boy. Mamoru wasn't Miyako's older brother for nothing if he couldn't tell something as obvious as that—at least to him.

"Mi-chan, you can't hide the truth from him forever. If you really wanted to protect him, then don't forsake your happiness for this. One way or another, something else will act as a trigger for him to know what he deserved to know," Mamoru stated coolly despite knowing that his sister would not be able to rest well because of this.

"But not this soon. I don't care if I'm forsaking everything which could make me happy by doing this, by treating him like this. I just need to protect him... I don't want him to end up like Kaito in the end."

"Do you really think you're doing the best way to protect Fuji-kun? Do you think that by treating him like this, by treating him like he doesn't even exist or that you hated him, you could prevent the past from repeating itself?"

Miyako faced her brother rashly with that piercing gaze of hers. But Mamoru didn't even flinch. "Oh, you think so? So you're saying that I should let things happen? You're telling me that all my effort to prevent Fuji-san from suffering the same fate as Kaito will be for nothing at the end of all this? Then for what reason am I forsaking everything like this? What reason am I preventing myself to be happy? I just... I just don't want to lose him that way, Onii-chan..." she said with each sentence she uttered starting to come out soft.

Before she could even help it, her tears started to fall. Feeling too weak after knowing all of that, she collapsed to her knees on the carpeted floor of the living room.

"You love him... don't you?" was Mamoru's question, though it was more of a statement in her opinion.

She chose not to say anything. There was no use, anyway. Her brother truly knew her. He could read her like an open book, which was okay with her. Mamoru wasn't a worrywart, unlike her parents. That was why she could only mention most of her happy moments and very few of her problems to them. It was her brother who did his best to absorb or at least destroy her resentment—all of which had something to do with the time she lost Kaito and how she suffered because of it. But Mamoru shouldn't have decided something as crucial as telling Fuji about her past with Kaito. Now she felt that everything would start to get hard for her.

There might be some inevitable events that she couldn't be able to prevent after all this. But she could never leave things be. For heaven's sake, she had been doing her best to not let Fuji get involve with her at all. And yet, it failed in the end.

Mamoru knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on the top of her head. That action made her look up to face him.

"Onii-chan...?"

"You don't have to fight it anymore if you feel you're tired, Mi-chan," he said with a gentle and reassuring smile. "One of the few things you can never control is your heart—your emotions. More than a year of suffering is enough. I want you to be happy. And from what I can see, Fuji-kun could give you your happiness. Don't deprive yourself of something that can make you go back to your true self. I don't want to see those sad eyes anymore."

How she wanted to scoff and disagree with some of her brother's words. "How sure are you that Fuji-san can give me my happiness? Besides, can he really give me something I chose to neglect such as that?"

"Why don't you try to do something for you to know the answer to that?"

She frowned; tears had stopped falling as she eyed Mamoru in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Release it... in front of him. He already knew the truth but he's not saying anything about it to you, right?"

She nodded once.

"That's because Fuji-kun want to know everything from you. Or at least, he wanted to hear your side of the story. If you do that, I'm sure you'll be alright. Forget about your tears. Take this risk if it means finding your true happiness with the one you love. Don't hold it inside for a long time or you might lose this chance forever. Be happy... At least, I want you to do that."

But could she really do that? Take a risk? Does she even have the strength to do that... just for her to be happy at long last?

"I'll try..." she replied rather weakly. But it was probably enough to reassure Mamoru that there would still be a chance.

His smile seemed to have mirrored that thought.

End of flashback...

...and try she would do.

But to be honest, it wasn't that easy. Right now, she was standing in front of Fuji. Though he was just wearing casual clothing, it felt like he was emitting an aura far different from what she had felt before. Somehow, that weird aura slowly dissipated the tension she felt from preparing herself to tell the truth. It had to come from her, after all.

"You're early," she started before she showed a small smile.

But that smile, however, caught Fuji off-guard for a bit. There was something different in her smile, she was sure of that. Only he couldn't point a finger on it. For once, he couldn't predict what was about to happen that one particular night.

"So are you," he replied with that usual smile of his, only this time, with hints of gentleness in it. "You look... beautiful in your outfit, by the way."

Miyako shyly averted his gaze and blushed at those words. Her layered lemon-colored hair was put up in a ponytail using a thick light blue ribbon. She was wearing a lavender dress with purple midriff jacket. To her opinion, her outfit was just a simple one despite being able to afford much more elegant— and technically expensive— clothes. But wasting her parents' and her brother's money over something that wasn't really necessary for her had never crossed her mind. She could only ask for more money when she really needed to have it.

"You don't look bad yourself. But are you sure you're okay?" she asked with hints of concern in her voice.

That again was also new to Fuji. Miyako had never shown such concern to him before. Or if she ever did, maybe she just couldn't show it. Something was holding her back to show it to him.

He smiled at her. "I'm okay." And then he looked at his watch. "We still have 10 more minutes. Do you want to get in now?"

"Sure, but right after we buy some snacks. You see, I haven't had dinner yet," she replied with a sweet yet sheepish smile.

"Would you... um..." Fuji looked away for a bit and scratched the back of his head. Weird... At that point, he couldn't really find the proper word to utter in front of her. He felt that everything seemed a little... different. And it was turning him into someone that wasn't even like him. But he had to ask her. Heaving a sigh inwardly, he faced her again. "After the movie, would you like to have dinner with me?"

Despite asking the question with his smiling face, Miyako could somewhat feel that Fuji was... hopeful. But in a way, she liked it. Things were a little different as soon as she decided to release herself from the chains of pain from her past and for once, try herself to be happy. This was just the start.

"I'm glad you asked me that."

"Huh?" Did Fuji hear it right?

"I know... I'm not exactly acting the way you're used to see from me. Everything I'm doing right now is really surprising."

"I have to agree with that," Fuji said with a chuckle. "But I have to admit, I like you even more this way."

"Eh? Y-you like me this way?"

Fuji had the urge to laugh hard at Miyako's reaction to what he said. But he fought it down in order not to ruin the nice atmosphere they had right now—no matter how slightly tensed it had been a while back. "We better get some snacks so we could go inside. The movie's about to start."

-x-x-

Watching a romantic movie with Fuji was something that had never ever crossed Miyako's mind even when she first met him. From the start, she restricted her mind from conjuring such thoughts. But it appeared that she couldn't control everything. It was fate's fault... or at least that's how it always goes whenever something unexpected happens.

But she couldn't blame it all to fate. After all, she felt that there was a reason for all of this to happen. It was fate that led her to meet someone like Fuji Syuusuke.

Miyako looked up and faced the cinema screen where the movie was still going on. A few moments later, she glanced to her left side. There, she saw Fuji. He was also facing the screen. But his eyes were closed. Aren't they always? A small smile crept on her face. She wasn't sure if Fuji was really enjoying the much as much as she did or not. But knowing he accompanied her to that place was enough for her to be happy.

The film she was currently watching, in her opinion, had some resemblances to what she had experienced in life.

The leading lady in the movie portrayed the role of a woman who once lost the love of her life, the person who happened to have held her world and where it practically revolved around. That lost was too much, giving an open wound to her heart that she felt would never heal at all. Not even time could heal it—or at least she felt it that way. By the stroke of fate, or maybe some other forces beyond her control, a love letter that was left in one of the pews of the church she went to one time led her to meet a man who seemed to have suffered the same way she did. But unlike the woman, that man faced his life positively after finally coming in terms with his love's loss. Their chance meeting allowed a new path to open for the two of them to take.

Despite the struggles and the oppositions they went through upon admitting their love to each other, the two held on to the love they had for each other—as tight as they could. It was what made them strong to face everything heads on. What had been destined from the start will always remain destined—it was that thought that made them able to face their lives bravely with their strong love and trust to each other. They also used it as a weapon to survive such harsh world.

The love letter that had made the couple's paths cross was then buried between the graves of the couple's previous lovers who happened to be former lovers that had been separated by some twist of fate. Not only the man and the woman, but also their respective deceased previous lovers were able to find happiness with each other.

One couple found that happiness in heaven and the other found it on earth.

During the movie, Miyako couldn't help thinking, wondering where in the world would she be able to find happiness. But it would have been better if she found something which actually possessed happiness from both heaven and earth. Maybe a lot like—

"A heavenly love in a hell-like world..." Just like a line from the movie she was just watching.

"You don't find a love like that easily."

As soon as it was spoken, she turned to her side. Fuji was still facing the screen. His face was serious and for a while, it made them a bit tense. But she chose to shrug off the feeling soon after. In fact, she thought that maybe she could go with the flow.

"So you're saying that a love like that is impossible to happen?" she asked softly without looking at him.

"I only said it's not easy. It's hard, yes. But definitely... not impossible..." Fuji answered in a tone so different from what she was used to hear from him. "It's a kind of love that almost everyone would want to feel. And somebody deserves to feel such love at least for one lifetime. One of them is you, Yumemiya-san..."

As soon as he said those words, he faced her once again, only to make her feel she wanted to walk a few steps backwards. But then she couldn't. In other words, she was taken aback. Why? Those blue eyes—shining like a pair of sapphires (or turquoise would have been more accurate than sapphire) –stared back at her, making her feel as if everything around her turned still... motionless... The only ones existed were she and Fuji. How could his gaze whenever he opened his eyes have such effect on her? It was the same question that she kept on asking to herself since the very first time Fuji looked at her and smiled at her.

"Whatever happened to you in the past... Everything that had made you surrounds your heart in ice... I know they happened for a reason."

"How sure are you, Fuji-san? How sure are you that I still have a chance to love someone after all the pain and sadness I've been through? Are you sure I still deserve to have such love after I cursed almost everything because I'm still alive? That... I should've been the one who died that night instead of him?" she asked in a slightly cracked voice—an indication that she was just resisting the urge to cry.

Fuji didn't say anything. He just continued to look at her.

The screen turned black and the movie credits rolled in soon after. The movie ended, most of the audience (majority of them were girls) were either sniffling of had tears staining their cheeks. But Fuji and Miyako remained seated, still staring at each other. When there were only a few people left inside the cinema, that was when he stood up and offered his hand to her. All she did the whole time was to look at him.

"You can tell me everything when you're ready. But before that, it's for the best if we have dinner first. I'm sure that... this night is going to be a long one," Fuji said with a gentle smile on his face. "We need to have the energy to face it."

She took his hand and they went out of the cinema while holding each other's hands... with her fingers entwined to his.

That long night began there and then.

-x-x-

It didn't occur to Miyako that having a dinner date with Fuji would be fun minus the instances where he was doing something to tease her. She was able to talk things to him freely. But she wouldn't deny the fact that she wasn't still used to his concerns to her—most of which were expressed in unannounced gestures. He was opening the door for her, assisting her as she sat to her seat first before he began taking his own seat, among others. Sometimes, his eyes would open for some moments and stared at her before closing them again. She always felt taken aback by it. But she chose to indulge herself to it, even though things really felt different.

After the dinner, Miyako suddenly decided to just walk around for a while. But Fuji knew better. And yes, maybe walking could help them in some way.

They walked together, side by side, despite the slow pace. They did it in silence, as if both of them were contemplating deeply. But it only lasted for more or less 15 minutes.

"Onii-chan... had told you, hadn't he?" she started softly, causing Fuji to stop to his tracks. Miyako followed suit after two steps or so. But she didn't dare turn around to look or face Fuji. "About... Kaito...?"

The tensai chose not to say anything. But it only lasted for a few seconds, though, especially since it came to a point that he couldn't bear the silence between them any longer. "That's right..." was how he started it in a soft voice. "I know you'll hate me for knowing something as crucial as that. It's a secret that you deliberately kept even to your friends. I guess... I can understand why you tried hard to keep away from almost everybody. Even to me..."

Especially to you, Fuji-san... After all, I have to protect you the most, being the only person who can destroy the barrier that I had surrounded to myself a long time ago... Miyako wanted to say those words to him but decided not to do so—at least not yet. Instead, she said something different. "Only Kana knew about Kaito since our families had been friends for a long time. It's not a secret that I can easily keep from her. She is my best friend, after all."

"So it's a mutual agreement between you and Miyuzaki-san not to mention this to anyone else." It was a statement and Miyako nodded as an answer. It was easy to tell.

They resumed their walk until they reached the nearby park. They managed to find a bench near the fountain where the water somewhat sparkled and glistened like flowing crystals. It was because of the lights surrounding the edge of the fountain. And it was night time, as well. The night sky filled with shimmering stars with no clouds in sight, the cold yet calming night breeze, the rustling of the fountain's water as it flowed back and forth... Everything around them was perfect for a date.

Except... this night wasn't just a simple movie date or dinner date with Fuji for Miyako. As soon as she learned from her brother that Fuji already knew the reason for her isolation, she already knew that that particular night would never be a simple one. That one particular night would surely change everything between her and Fuji. She was sure of it.

"Are you... I... What I want to ask is... umm..." Fuji started but couldn't form a complete sentence coherently. Since when did asking a question become so hard for him? But he had to ask it or else they would never get anywhere. He might as well break the tense silence before it choked them both. However—

"I don't hate you, if you're going to ask me that." Miyako beat him to it. "You know, it's really weird that I feel this way. You already know one of my deepest secrets but I couldn't feel something similar or anything close to hate. Until I came to realize, I could never hate you even in a worst case scenario. It's the same way you never hated me despite how I treated you before."

Fuji managed to show a smile after his mind recovered from mild shock. Somehow, the fact that Miyako doesn't hate him and probably would never be was enough to put his mind in frenzy and his heart was pounding in his chest wildly. So it was just like what Kana said to him before.

Miyako doesn't hate him. For now, it was more than enough.

"By the way, I'm sorry about that. I mean, about how I treated you... I can't help feeling bad about that, now that I think of it."

"It's okay."

Long silence passed by them... again. This silence was tensed but in some weird reason, it also felt... comfortable. Or at least that was how it was to Fuji. He waited for her to say something—anything that would help her calm down, one that would help her finally let the pain go.

"Yoshimi Kaito was actually my childhood friend while I was still living in Kanagawa. But more than that, he was also my fiancé. I learned the fact that I was engaged to him when I reached fifth grade. Our parents had already planned this even before I was born. At first, I hated it. But as time passed, I came to accept the arrangement since it didn't actually take me long enough to realize that I love him more than a friend. He was always there for me, ready to listen to me, willing to give me more of his time just to make sure that I was happy. He did a lot for me. Everything he did was all enough for me to fall for him even more. He was the one willing to protect me to many extents. But I realized that letting him protect me would be my biggest mistake..."

Miyako slowly closed her eyes to prevent her tears from her eyes. But it was a futile attempt in the end. A lump formed in her throat, that's why it was hard for her to swallow. Nevertheless, she still tried. It would be hard but she knew it was worth it. Mamoru could already tell that Fuji had already occupied a big part of her life after she left her life back in Kanagawa—her friends, her dreams, and her love. Well, the last two were long dead, anyway.

Her eyes snapped open when she felt someone's hand held hers tightly. Of course, it was no surprise that her heart beat increased its tempo upon feeling warmth she considered lovely from that hand. When she raised her head a bit and looked, her tears incessantly fell when she saw the look on Fuji's face. It was somewhere between understanding and comforting to the best of his abilities, even though she doesn't know that the tensai was actually struggling on the comforting department.

After all, it took him a great deal of effort and time to finally realize the root of Miyako's predicament. All he could do for her right now was to be with her and let her know that whatever had happened in the past was never her fault.

The lemon-haired girl took a deep breath to calm her, but it didn't stop her tears from falling. And then she spoke again. "It wasn't actually a surprise for me to know that my clan was constantly receiving threats from various sources. It all ranges from business-related to property and personal ones. But we constantly managed to escape or at least resolve them once we put our minds to it. However, there were instances as well that escaping such threats were doomed to fail from the start. One of those instances caused Kaito his life... in favor of mine..."

"What exactly happened that night you lost Kaito?" Fuji took all effort in him to ask such question, clearly knowing that doing so would only hurt him. Competing with someone who was long gone was something that he considered foolish and at the same time, hard.

Really hard... especially if he knew that he couldn't easily replace that person in her heart. At this point, there was no way he could do that.

With tears incessantly falling and heart pounding wildly despite the clenching feeling in it, Miyako tried to speak as coherent as she could. That one night, she told Fuji the truth; along with it was her mind beginning to see several images that kept on appearing in her dreams...

Flashback...

Back in Kanagawa, more than a year ago (or to be more specific, 16 months ago)...

"Ne, Miyako, have you ever thought about how your wedding day will be like?"

Miyako averted her gaze to the red-orange setting sun and faced the blue-haired boy standing beside her. His amber eyes weren't looking at her; he was facing the ocean now hued with the setting sun's red-orange color. It was a sad color to look at, in her perception. But sadness like that was something she wasn't actually feeling at that moment.

Being with Kaito like that, it always brought her indescribable peace for many reasons. Not only because he was her best friend but also because she was his fiancée, the one that her heart had chosen even before she found out they had been betrothed from the start.

A gentle and happy smile appeared on her face as she looked at the horizon once more. Along with that, she held his hand tight with caused Kaito to look at her.

"To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all, even after I found out that we're already engaged. But we could start thinking about it now, if you want. At least, we're doing it together," she said and then giggled.

Though she earned a really amused laugh from Kaito after saying that which made her pout like a child, it didn't matter to her. The happiness welling up inside her was much more than what she had ever thought she would feel her whole life. And this was one moment that she would cherish forever.

As the sun continued to set on the far horizon, Miyako and Kaito continued to talk about their dream wedding entourage. From the setting, to the guests to be invited, to the foods to be served, the songs to be played, the dress and the motif of the entire wedding entourage. It was all laid down perfectly. Both of them were enthusiastic about it, discussing every detail that would go with it. They had fun doing so.

However, unbeknownst to them, that enthusiasm and fun were something which would cost her a lot.

They were set to go home after that long talk they had. But as soon as both of them stood up, a surprised gasp escaped her mouth upon hearing a gunshot... followed by another. But that wasn't the only thing that surprised her—or to be more accurate, shocked her. Those two gunshots hit something. But she never felt like she was struck with something much worse than gunshots as soon as she saw what the gunshots had actually hit.

A sound of someone dropping to the ground startled her and woke her up from being frozen stiff to her spot. Her eyes widened as she shook her head in denial. And before she realized it, she rushed towards Kaito and cradled him to her lap. He was bleeding... BAD! She didn't know what to do. Her mind shut down the moment she saw the blood gushing out from Kaito's body. She couldn't think clearly. All she ever did was to sob because of helplessness.

"Kaito... Kaito, please wake up..." was all she could ask of him as she tried to wake him up. But no response came. Not one response... which made it even more hopeless for her.

Though before she could even try to wake him up again, a click of a gun reloading reached her ears that made her turn around. But she was greeted by a gun pointing at her head. She gulped once but that was it. Her face remained expressionless as she looked at the person who shot Kaito.

"What do you want? Why do you have to do this?" she managed to ask the perpetrator as coldly as she could.

An evil smirk—which was something extremely familiar to her and one she loathed so much—made her open her eyes wide. Disbelief and shock further fueled her rage to the culprit. How did this happen?

Yes, the one responsible for taking down Kaito was someone familiar to her. To both her and Kaito...

"Do I have to give the answer to that when you already know the real reason?" the culprit asked back instead of answering her question.

"How could you?! Was it really hard for you to accept that I can never love you or be with you in any way? Was it really hard to understand for you to resort to this? How dare you?"

"He doesn't deserve you, okay? He was never the one deserving for you. I am!" he exclaimed.

She scoffed. It was a surprise she could still do that despite the tension rising. "Really? And you actually believed that! So now you have to do this to your own brother?"

"Don't make me shoot you, too, Miyako."

"Well, to tell you something, it's better if you had just shot me along with Kaito," she said with resolve, without thinking of the consequences. Well, at that point, she couldn't think of anything else other than to get out of that situation as soon as possible so she could call the ambulance and take Kaito to the hospital.

She could tell Kaito was still fighting. But who knows how long would that last. She could only hope that he continue to hold on until this ordeal was over.

"How is it that you couldn't love me? How is it that Kaito's the one you chose and not me? Forget that damn engagement!" the man shouted in pure exasperation.

But she chose not to answer it. After all, there was no way the person who was pointing a gun at her claiming that he was the one deserving for her would simply understand. He would never understand at all no matter how many times she explained it.

However, her silence seemed to have infuriated the man even more. And that infuriation fueled his rage for Kaito and aimed his gun at the lifelessly lying blue-haired boy whose head was on Miyako's lap. The blood that continuously coming out from Kaito's body had stained Miyako's clothes. But the girl could care less.

On impulse, she stood up fast and attempted to take the gun from the man. But he was fast... and was startled bad, too. So it wasn't a surprise that before she could even take the gun from the culprit, a gunshot was heard and had pierced the silence of that night.

Everything came fast... and she was too late to even stop it. The pain was too much, but maybe it was for the best. At least, she also felt the pain that Kaito was going through now. She won't fight it... She would just let things be.

As soon as she thought of that, he vision turned black. The last ounce of her will to fight down the pain and continue to live disappeared. She just hoped that Kaito would understand. Before she completely lost consciousness, the thought of not being able to do the planned wedding made her cry—literally and emotionally. Her heart was crying along with a clenching feeling that let her know the pain of not letting that dream wedding come true.

Still, she knew that the feeling would fade away sooner.

If only she truly knew, she was dead wrong....

End of flashback...

"...all the while, I thought that dying with him was one of the stupidest yet the most romantic event that I could ever experience in my life. When I woke up three days later, that thought suddenly died... along with Kaito. I didn't want to accept it. I kept on calling his name over and over... But he didn't say anything. He never said that even though he was gone, everything would still be okay. He never assured me of that. And that man's words, the gunshots, the blood, and the dream that Kaito and I had woven in our hearts that day... All of it kept on playing inside my mind over and over. Those dreams I had were just memories of how I lost the man I love. And all I could say was sorry... over and over... I couldn't stop myself from saying that because I really want to say that to him. Losing him all of a sudden was just too much. I never even got to say I love you to him before it all happened..."

Pain of remembering, regrets resurfacing, guilt incessantly flowing... It was all too much for Miyako to feel all at the same time as she recounted the tragic night that started everything. She didn't leave any details. And she knew she finally managed to destroy it the moment she started telling Fuji the truth.

She destroyed the barrier that she cast around her—most especially around her heart.

Despite feeling so much emotions that surged her, she eventually realized that telling Fuji the truth provided her with a sense of... relief... and also release, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her heart. It's been a long time... And indeed, it had been.

Of course, it made her cry even more.

Fuji just let her do so. He couldn't tell if it was out of impulse of if it was really what he wanted to do, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled Miyako close to his body. That gesture only made the girl sob a bit loud. Her shoulders were shaking in the process. But none of it mattered to him. Before he knew it, his other arm pulled her even close to him and embraced her tight.

Right now, that was the only thing he could do to comfort her. He could only provide that much... at least for now.

But for Miyako, it gave her a lot more than what she had ever asked or wanted at that particular moment in time.

Let it go...

Release it...

Don't hold it in anymore...

Enough already...

Those were the words continuously echoing inside her mind as she continued to cry as she felt Fuji's warm embrace. Relishing such lovely warmth made her promise something to herself.

This would be the last time that Fuji would see her breakdown like this. And never would she allow the past to destroy her again. More than a year of suffering in regret and guilt was enough. Losing her first love might have provided her a lot of guilt feelings, pain and regret enough to let her decide on destroying her life each and every time she'd find a chance.

But now she realized it didn't end with that.

That tragedy only provided her a path to rediscover herself—her old self... with the help of someone who captured her heart that was originally broken to pieces...

... and now that person glued back the pieces of her heart together before she knew it, even without his knowledge. Her songs as the "Siren of the Silver Wind" and her stories as "Aino Nadeshiko" were just some of the witnesses of that. To be honest, she was thankful. Really thankful.

As Miyako continued to sob with her face buried to Fuji's chest, his embrace to her tightened as he ignored the clenching feeling in his chest. After all, this was all he could do to her for now. He'd let her know she wasn't alone anymore. He'd let her know he'd never leave her side no matter how many times she pushed him away from her life. He'd never let her go... now that he knew the truth.

Now that he realized what he really felt for her.

He was in love with Miyako... perhaps he had been a long time ago...

...back to the time he first heard her sing—the time she loosened her barrier that surrounded her.

And he would never allow anyone to see that barrier loosen nor crumble down anymore. For he would be her barrier; he would provide the shield she needed.

He would protect her... whatever it takes... without staking his life in the process.

That was his promise—his pledge... the one that he made underneath that early summer's starry night sky...