I could feel her breathing. Her body felt different from when we were at the hotel. It was soft and warm, but also so small, dainty, and fragile. That was all I could feel on this midsummer evening. When I finally took my lips off of hers, I could see her wide eyes and red face.
“I’m sorry for making you wait so long,” I continued while looking into her eyes. “I fell for you once, then I hated you, and then I fell for you all over again. Please go out with me again.”
Akatsuki opened her mouth a little and her lips quivered before she shut them. Tears welled up in her eyes and she lay her face against my chest as if to hide them.
“I’m...crazy. You know that, right? Dating me is like navigating a minefield.”
“I know.”
“I might go too crazy again...”
“I’ll warn you.”
“I might never listen to you...”
“Then I’ll run away. I know you’re the kind of person that just needs time.”
“I... I... What I did to you...”
“Any mistake you made can be fixed. I make mistakes too. Back in middle school, I couldn’t say no to you. There’s nobody out there who’s perfect, but it’s not right to never fix your mistakes.”
That’s why last year when you lost your mind with the Irido siblings, I just watched. But if I had any regrets, if I had anything that I wanted to change, then...
“I accept you, and all your mistakes. I’ll stick with you until you fix all of them. I’ve been there from the beginning because we’re childhood friends, and I’ll stay with you to the end.”
Akatsuki silently tugged at my shirt and cried into it. I held her small back until the last of the fire in the distance died out.