A Love Letter of Life

4.The First Thing in the Morning

4:20 a.m., Nishikata woke up from his sleep. Despite getting up this early in the morning, he wasn't feeling as tired as he had afraid. After putting on a light jacket, he quietly went downstairs to the front door as to not disturb his still resting parents.

Walking down the still rather dark streets, feeling the slightly cold and humid air, Nishikata glanced to the horizon at the distance. The sky was a moody deep blue like the depth of an ocean. With no clouds in the sky, the pale moon could still be clearly seen. The street lamps weren't even off yet, adding their share of lights to the quiet ambient. It felt like a whole other dimension. Surrounding Nishikata were simply the chirps of birds and the whispers of the blowing wind, nothing more. There were no sign of people, yet it felt so lively.

A ping from his pocket pulled his thoughts back. He took out his phone and saw a text from none other than his Takagi-san.

"I might be a bit late." He murmured the message and shrugged. After putting his phone back into the coat pocket, Nishikata realized that he had made it to their meeting point: the old abandoned lot. Even though it had been sometime since they last came here, the lot looked exactly the same. Nothing changed since that summer when he practiced carrying her on the bike. After he had realized his feelings for her, seeing old memories like this would make him realize her subtle display of affection from before that he somehow missed. Nishikata sat himself down on a stack of wood planks and turned his gaze to the horizon once again. The sky was still dark, yet now there were dashes of blues and oranges spreading out from the skyline like strokes of watercolor, as if hinting at the upcoming sunrise.

4:35, Nishikata was blanking out at the ground, trying to come up with more contests in his mind, when his thoughts were interrupted by some footsteps in the distance. Light and delicate, he could recognize it anywhere. The owner of the footsteps turned the corner, and was met the boy sitting on a stack of plank.

"Nishikata, good morning. Sorry for making you wait." She gave him a smile.

"Goo morning, Takagi-san." He greeted back.

Takagi was wearing a plain tortilla shirt, blue jeans, and a white zip up hoodie. Her hair was let down on her shoulders, and on her face was the pair of gold rim glasses.

"I was late because I had to prepare these." She lifted up a black tote bag for Nishikata to see as she made her way beside him and sat down. She then reached into the bag and took out a glass container full of rice balls.

"This is..."

"Our breakfast!" She said cheerfully. "I didn't calculate the time needed to make these would take this long, sorry about that."

"Don't be!" Nishikata shook his head. "I'm the one that should say thank you!"

"I appreciate that." Takagi chuckled a bit. "But that is my fault."

"No no," blushes started to appear on Nishikata's cheeks as he looked away out of embarrassment. "I won't let you think that..."

"How about we have a contest." She suggested, seeing as her indulgent boyfriend won't let her say sorry. "If you lose, you will have to accept my apology."

A contest over this? Seriously? Though it seemed like a random thing to have a game over, Nishikata still wouldn't miss out on a chance at beating(actually losing to) Takagi.

"I'm listening."

Takagi smiled as she took her phone out. She went on YouTube and opened the search tab, typing something into the search box.

"Do you know this?" She asked, showing him what was on the screen.

"Morning exercise dance?" Nishikata read aloud the title of the video. "What the..."