Me and Ai

Chapter 67: Kumagai Live Concert

The audience shouts "Yes!" even louder.

"It can be hard and stressful to tell one's feelings but you just can't beat the drive to tell the person, to understand their actions, and learn more about the person you love. After all the trouble to tell them what you feel, your efforts are rewarded by something you can't measure; no words could explain it. This feeling is similar. It's similar to having your feelings returned by the person you love most."

The audience starts shouting in excitement since they knew what song was going to be next.

Ai then looks back to me and holds out his hand.

"It's feels great to love someone and be loved by that person. Isn't that right, Kaori?"

The audience screams happily. I approach Ai and I take his hand which he held gently. The intro of the song "Returned Feelings" starts to play.

I started saying my lines as dictated by Naoto-san. "In this life we have, there is only one you; no one can take the place you've caught in my heart."

"From the beginning."

"Until the end."

Ai and I put our foreheads against each other and together we said, "I will love you whole heartedly."

The audience gets noisy as the intro of the song ends and Ai and I start to sing this humble love song.

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"Magniiiiiiiiiiificent! I can feel the stream of love pouring into my soul and waltzing in my veins! The angel, Mr. Mikaze and the little spark, Ms. Yamashita, make a good pairrr! The way they convey the feeling of love feels so real that you could mistake them as lovers!"

A thought then entered Saotome's mind. He stops dancing and starts to carefully observe Ai and Kaori's performance.

"This feeling...this pulse...could I be mistaking this as the real thing or could this be the real thing?"

He observes Ai's eyes each time he looks at Kaori.

"Those eyes...the way they shine with joy each time he looks at her...It seems that there is a possibility that this could be the real thing after all."

Saotome then enjoys the song until the end. After Ai and Kaori thanks the audience and heads back to the backstage, he gets up from his seat and goes towards the backstage area.

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Naoto-san approaches me and Ai as we entered the backstage.

"You two were brilliant! Your performance was amazing! I'm so proud of the both of you!"

"Thank you, Naoto-san! We did our best!"

"It was very enjoyable to perform with Kaori."

"Haha, I could say the same to you Ai. You had me a little surprised though! You said and did some things that weren't on the script! You had me worried; I wasn't sure what to do!"

"I couldn't help it; sorry about that."

"Liar, you're smiling! You're not sorry at all!"

"Maybe just a little."

I started hitting Ai's back a little.

"Aww! You two just make me want to write more duet songs! You're both just too cute to handle! But seriously, you two were amazing! You guys totally brought the audience into a dream!"