I watched as the star fell from it's place in the heavens, wondering why people would always tell children to make a wish on them. Does something that can't even hold it's place in the sky above really have the strength to grant a wish? Yet, as foolish as it always seemed to me, I still found myself making the same wish as I did every time I saw a star shooting across the night sky.
"Please, just let me find someone who can love me for who I am. Someone who won't break my heart. Just this once, let me find someone who will treasure me as much as I would treasure them." As I softly whispered each word, I could feel the wind rushing past me, making my (h/c) hair move about as it carried the wish away into the dark night around me, soon to be lost forever like every other wish I'd ever made.
It was only when I turned around, shoulders slumping a little as I thought about how silly I must look still making wishes at my age, that I noticed the chestnut-haired young man standing nearby with his eyes closed and lips moving in a soundless whisper. The moment his brown eyes opened and he saw me standing there looking at him, he blushed dark enough I could notice it even in the dark of night.
"So... You saw that, did you? What am I saying... Of course you saw that... Why wouldn't someone as cute as you see me making a fool of myself?" His voice got softer with each word until he was muttering quietly to himself as he rubbed the back of his head, looking to the side with a gentle sigh.
"You think I'm cute?" I mumbled softly, (e/c) eyes wide as I stared at him in shock.
Nobody had ever called me cute before, not even the boy I had dated a couple years back when I entered high school. He'd always said he liked me for my brains and that looks didn't matter, which to me was just another way of saying I wasn't attractive to him. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, I brought my hands up, trying to cover my cheeks so he wouldn't see me blushing.
"Huh? Why wouldn't I think something like that? Surely you get called cute a lot, I mean... Just look at you! I bet you hear stuff like that... all the... time? Nobody's called you cute before, have they... Really? Are the people around you all blind? I mean, I know I'm just some stranger to you, but even I can see how cute you are! I mean.. Umm.. Yeah... You probably think I'm creepy or wierd saying stuff like that... I'll just go now." Shoulders slumped and eyes turned to the ground, he started to turn to leave, hands slipping into his coat pockets.
"Wait!" I quickly said, grabbing his arm before I pulled my hand back in embarrassment at my actions.
Coughing softly into one hand, I turned my head to the side a bit and asked him something I didn't think I'd ever have the courage to ask a stranger I'd just met. For some reason, I just couldn't stop myself.
"Want to have dinner with me tonight? If you haven't eaten, that is. I know it's late and I can understand if you say-" The words pouring out of my mouth stopped when I suddenly felt his soft, warm lips press against my own, shock freezing me before I melted into the kiss that somehow just felt so right.
It felt like forever before he pulled away, but at the same time it wasn't nearly long enough. My fingers danced across my tingling lips as I looked into his warm brown eyes, specks of gold seeming to shine in the light from the moon. I could easily find myself lost within them if not for him blinking, causing me to come back to myself as I heard him laugh happily before answering me.
"I'd love to have dinner with you! Tonight and every other night you'd let me! It might sound silly, but this feels like meeting you was fate. My name's Ogiwara Shigehiro! What's yours?" The smile on his face as he said this was almost blindingly bright.
"I'm (full name), but you can call me (y/n)."
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It wasn't until years later that I learned what Shige had been wishing for. To meet someone he could treasure, someone who would see him and love him for who he was. Someone who would help give him reasons to look forward to the future instead of just focus on the past.
I guess sometimes wishes really do come true, because both of ours were answered that night. Maybe the stars aren't strong enough by themselves, but maybe if two people make the same wish enough times, the stars can build up the strength to grant that wish for them.
Tomorrow, we'll be celebrating our fifth anniversary together, under the same stars that had brought us together. I think if we see another shooting star, we will be wishing the very same thing we've been wishing each time we see a star fall from the sky. For another year to love each other. And another and another.