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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........
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The wind was so cold that I could literally feel goosebumps forming all over my body. It's to the point that if it hit your face, it felt like your skin was undergoing a diamond peel and being rejuvenated. Of course, that's just my wishful thinking as I personally knew how dry my skin could get in this chilly weather.
It stopped snowing weeks ago from what I heard in the news, but the chill was still there, leaving the remnants of winter behind. The verdant green of the trees was a startling contrast from the barren vegetation just a few months back.
With small rocks crunching beneath my feet, I walked along the wide gravel road whilst tucking my gloved hands inside the pockets of my crimson jacket. Mentally kicking myself, I seriously regret leaving behind my white, fluffy bonnet in my apartment as I felt the beginnings of a headache forming.
I passed by groups of people as they went to and fro the road. This place was probably one of the famous landmarks in Nagoya.
The Nagoya Castle stood firmly with its pristine white walls. The emerald tiles of the arched roofs gave off an intimidating presence. At least, that's what I felt. I always found historic sites to have a sort of otherworldly presence. It made me wonder how the people from the past lived.
My sight roamed as I continued to marvel at its majestic presence. I let out a pleased sigh, subsequently forming a cold mist out of my mouth. Due to some inane reason, I started to purposely blow out puffs of breath as I tried to imitate a dragon, but it probably just made me look like a crazy idiot.
I was interrupted when a familiar burst of laughter broke out behind me.
"Took you long enough." I didn't even try to cover up my ridiculous act as I smiled. I continued gazing up at the castle without checking who it was because that would be just plain useless.
I felt him stand beside me. Most importantly, I felt the heat from the closeness of our proximity, providing me a comfortable sense of warmth. Imperceptibly, I unconsciously shifted near him, our shoulders lightly brushing against each other.
"Sorry, my flight got delayed," he replied, also gazing at the castle with wonder in his eyes.
A few moments passed as we opted to just relax and lay back, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere that fell around us.
"Well, shall we? Castle Buddy?" I looped my arm around him in a playful manner.
"We shall, Castle Buddy." Yuzuru gave me a lopsided grin as he responded by securing my arm and leading the way to start our adventures.
The Wilderness of Nagoya 2.0, so to say.
Like a repeat from five years ago, we toured around Nagoya like the tourists we were. Note the sarcasm in my tone. This time around, we preferred to visit the Nagoya Castle as our first stop, since we missed it the last time.
Yuzuru and I were huge history buffs so we spent several hours just touring the place. The castle was actually just a replica, the real one was destroyed decades ago from air raids during the World War II.
"Can you believe it? There used to be a moat here." I gushed in amazement, as I tried to touch the stone walls that acted as the foundation of the castle. It was a pretty far reach.
"It's a standard for castles to have those." Yuzuru leaned on the barrier separating us from the foundation.
"Oooh!" My eyes lit up as I thought of something. "You think there were crocodiles in them?"
I was rewarded by Yuzuru lightly bumping me on the head.
"What? It's a legitimate question!" I scowled at him as I placed both hands on top of my head lest he decided to bump me again.
"Yeah, it is. For fairy tales."
"You're no fun," I grumbled as I continued taking pictures of our surroundings.
"You know, you've taken plenty of pictures of the place already. When are you going to actually take pictures with you in them? Like, you, in the picture, together with the surroundings, get it?"
"I just want to keep a remembrance of my trip here."
"At least include yourself in it." Yuzuru ruffled my already messy hair, which I promptly dodged.
"I'm not really a fan of taking pictures of myself." I grimaced at him before I blew the stray strands of hair away from my face as I took more pictures.
"You do know that you've taken pictures of the same bush in the past five minutes?"
"Dude, you gotta take the angle and the lighting into account." I deadpanned, focusing again on my task at hand.
Yuzuru sighed loudly and exaggeratedly, then he snatched my phone from my hands.
"Hey!"
"Come here." Yuzuru draped his arm around my waist and brought me snugly onto his side. He deftly switched the camera into selfie mode.
"He-hey, wait! My hair's a mess."
"Say Sushi!"
"Ain't it Cheese?!"
"We're in Japan. What we say goes my way."
*****
After our exasperating yet equally fun time at the Nagoya Castle, we decided to continue our Nagoya Adventures 2.0 and just enjoy the rest of the day. We passed by some thrift stores, visited shrines, walked around the park, before exhausting our money on street foods.
"Ugh, this is just so good." I groaned heavily, as I closed my eyes in happiness.
Yuzuru gulped down his bottle of water before replying.
"You don't have takoyaki in the Philippines?" Yuzuru grinned, before wiping some sauce near my lips with his thumb.
"Thanks, and we do. But this is way off the charts. Besides, it's authentic," I replied, chewing the remaining Takoyaki balls.
"I haven't tasted the street foods in the Philippines," Yuzuru pondered, as he handed my juice over.
"Oh yeah." I took a sip of my juice, before talking again. "You were only there for a few days, huh?"
"Two days," Yuzuru supplied.
"Then you have to come to the Philippines, my treat this time." I winked at him. "I'll let you taste the wonders of kwek-kwek, isaw, and of course, balot," I laughed at him evilly as I listed down the exotic menu.
"I don't even want to know what those are... but fine, as long as there's no competition coming up."
"Next off-season then?" I suggested, a smile playing on my lips.
"Next off-season." Yuzuru nodded resolutely.
It was already late at night, around ten in the evening. We didn't have a proper dinner yet, as we were already full from the street foods alone. So, we decided to ignore dinner entirely. There were street vendors selling various things from electronic knick-knacks to girly accessories. We had fun just by lazing around, chatting along, and casually strolling through the streets.
We spent another hour outside before the cold got to us. We then decided to head to the apartment that I was transiently renting whilst I was in Japan.
"House, Sweet House," I grandly announced the moment we stepped foot through my apartment.
"House?" Yuzuru questioned, amused. He was currently crouching down to take off his shoes. I took mine off as well, before walking around with just my socks on.
"Yep, here." I handed him a pair of guest slippers. I trudged into the living room as I threw my stuff everywhere. The gloves went to the coffee table, my scarf went to the kitchen counter, while my jacket went to the comfy sofa.
"C'mon." I beckoned at him as I went to my bedroom.
Yuzuru sighed as he went and gathered all my discarded stuff, neatly folding them, before placing them on the study table in my bedroom.
"Where are you staying?" I yawned, slumping heavily down the bed and closing my eyes. The fatigue I felt was legit. I just want to sleep the day away.
"At a hotel, hm, maybe thirty to forty minutes away?" I felt him sit beside me as the bed dipped slightly from his weight.
"Woah, that's far." I looked at him as he said that.
"Yeah, all the nearby ones were fully booked already."
"I'm surprised that Yumi-san let you go alone."
"My parents were alright with it. It's just a day after all."
I shot him a skeptical look.
"Alright, alright. I may have taken a few - okay – several weeks to convince them. But, really, I'm jealous that you're able to live on your own, and in your own place," Yuzuru admitted sheepishly. He shifted from his sitting position on the bed.
"Dude, I'm eighteen."
"Back then, you weren't," Yuzuru countered, glancing down at me from where I was sprawled on the bed. I was impressed that he could now finally understand my English. All those random tutorings I did paid off.
"Well... true," I struggled to reply as sleep threatened to take over me. I shrugged as I remembered the times when my parents left me behind in this apartment, for a few days at most, every time they had to do something urgent back in the Philippines.
"Still Sendai to Nagoya," I mused, still a bit surprised that Yumi had agreed to let Yuzuru travel alone.
"And Nagoya to Sendai," Yuzuru replied in English, smirking. He bent down and opened the small black backpack beside his feet.
Still feeling lazy beyond belief, I didn't get what he meant. I sluggishly looked at what he was doing.
An idea suddenly barged itself in my thoughts.
"Just sleep here tonight."
Yuzuru's eyes widened at my words, quite speechless. He halted his movements from where he was rummaging around his backpack.
"The bed's wide."
And it really was. My bed was a queen-sized bed. Even if I was frugal when it came to other expenses, there were three things I had no expense limit for - skating, eating, and sleeping.
"C'mon. No socks on the bed!" I excitedly shifted on the other side of the bed, making some space for him. "Oh! Wait, wait a sec." I held out a hand as I told him to wait.
I got off the bed and rummaged through my closet.
"Here." I smiled as I hurriedly went towards him and shoved a large, black t-shirt and some faded grey sweatpants on his hands. "Good thing I sometimes love wearing over-sized shirts. It's ok, it's unisex. The sweatpants are a bit short, but I think it will fit you. C'mon, try it!" I rambled excitedly, as I pushed him towards the bathroom in my room.
I'm quite thrilled at the prospect of having a sleepover.
My parents were strict when I was growing up. I wasn't allowed to have sleepovers or such things. I was envious of my other friends and classmates because of that. I guess one could call it one of my childhood fantasies.
I sat back down at the bed, then I realized, I didn't change into my sleepwear yet. I went to the closet again and got out a pair of faded white shorts and a sleeveless pale yellow shirt. I turned towards the bathroom when I remembered that Yuzuru was currently occupying it.
I hesitated for a moment. Would Yuzuru come out soon? Did he finish changing already?
The apartment I was staying at was a single bedroom apartment. Normally, the apartment that I always stayed at in the past was a two bedroom apartment, but since I'm the only one visiting Japan at this time, I opted to just rent a smaller apartment.
The main problem with such a small apartment?
There's only one bathroom.
With another pause, I turned my back on the bathroom door, threw away all my caution before I hastily removed all my clothes and changed into my sleepwear. With my heart beating fast, I turned to check if Yuzuru was still in the bathroom.
Fortunately, the door was still closed by the time I was done.
I let out a relieved sigh. I didn't want to flash him. Also, I normally took a nice warm bath every night, but I was just too damn tired.
My eyelids grew heavy again, and a yawn threatened to leave me. I crawled under the sheets of my comfy bed and closed my eyes, just for a bit.
Or, what felt like a bit.
Somehow, I was jolted awake as I felt the bed dip once again under his weight. I didn't know how much time had elapsed, it felt like a while. My lashes fluttered as my blurry sight slowly saw his form.
With his back facing me, Yuzuru sat somewhat stiffly on the edge of the bed.
"Yuzu," my voice was a little raspy as it was marred by sleep. I patted the space beside me. "It's ok. I don't bite. Sleep," I had the gall to joke around, and I huffed at my own half-baked joke.
"Mayb-... Maybe I should just head back," Yuzuru stuttered, if one would listen closely, they would've noticed that his tone trembled a bit, but I was too tired to notice. I also didn't notice the hint of red that crept on the back of his neck, up to the tips of his ears.
His head turned to the side, but I couldn't clearly see his expression from my position. His voice seemed to be a little strained for some reason. "To the hotel," he added, clearing his throat loudly as if there was a clump stuck in it that he was trying to dislodge.
"It's late already. Sleep." I firmly patted the space beside me again. I closed my eyes and shifted into a more comfortable position under the sheets.
"Your mom will kill me if she finds out I let you travel alone this late at night," I mumbled, my tone fading off at the end as Morpheus tried to capture me in its grasp.
Yuzuru didn't reply, and I didn't have the energy to wait for it.
"Close the lights." I yawned softly as I snuggled into my pillow, consciousness slowly eluding me.
A few moments had passed before I heard the click of the lamp. The bed dipped for a moment and the covers slightly moved and shifted.
There was that comfortable warmth as he laid beside me. I unconsciously shifted near to the said warmth as it provided a sense of peace and security.
I knew no more as I finally fell asleep.
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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........
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(Oh my god, I remember the time when my story only had, like, 3 chapters and only 11 or so views... I also remember being so damn excited when it hit 21 views, lol!)
(On another note, here's another Adorkable Yuzuru coming right up!~)
(Whoopsie!~)
(Question: which practice session did this scene happen in?)
(Thanks for reading this novel after all this time!~)
(シ_ _)シ