It was Hinako and Minato’s first Christmas Eve together, and they went to Chiba Port Tower. Something about the mirrored glass made it feel super sci-fi.
“Ooh!”
They were walking along, hand in hand, when Hinako suddenly took off running.
“Look! Mt. Fuji! You can see Mt. Fuji!”
Across Tokyo Bay, far in the distance, Mt. Fuji’s peak glowed orange in the sunset—awe-inspiringly beautiful. As Hinako snapped some pictures on her smartphone, a jazzy tune suddenly started to play, and when they turned back to look, they found the tower exterior lit up in the shape of a Christmas tree, all the way to the top.
“Wow!”
At over 300 feet tall and 100 feet wide, it was one of the nation’s largest LED Christmas trees. As the night drew on, crowds of families and couples would flock to it. Right as the couple were about to enter the tower, however, a voice rang out over the loudspeaker:
“Here’s a message from Namikoshi Shouta-san to Uchida Mai-san: Merry Christmas! Let’s spend the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me?”
Near the doors, a man knelt before his shocked girlfriend, holding up a bouquet of flowers in her direction.
A public proposal!
The crowd of onlookers broke into applause.
“Awww, that’s so sweet!” Hinako exclaimed.
“I guess,” Minato replied coolly. “Apparently you can arrange in advance to have them read out a message for you. Wanna go to the top?”
The next message was from a woman to her mother. Meanwhile, Hinako and Minato rode the glass elevator all the way to the top floor, 300 feet off the ground.
“It’s so pretty!”
One by one, lights clicked on all over Tokyo Bay—the Ferris wheel at Kasai Rinkai Park, the whimsical factories at the Port of Chiba, the diamond-studded cityscape, the river of traffic lights… The view from the tower observation deck was so far beyond Hinako’s expectations, it took her breath away.
“Think we can see Katamiya from here?” Hinako mused. Then she stopped short. “Oh gosh.”
On the wall was a heart-shaped plaque that read Lovers’ Sanctuary. Dozens of little heart-shaped message cards were pinned around it, each bearing a brief handwritten message—usually “I love you” plus the names of the couple who wrote it. But some were confessions of one-sided feelings, or vows of eternal love, or prayers for good health. This single wall contained countless untold hopes and dreams.
“Wanna write one?” Minato suggested.
“What? No way! I wouldn’t even know what to put!” Hinako protested. Plus, it’s kind of embarrassing…
“Oh, I get it,” Minato teased. “You don’t know how to write my name in kanji.”
“Yes I do!” Hinako shot back, pouting.
“Okay then, let’s see it.” Minato held out a message card from behind his back. When had he grabbed that?!
Reluctantly, Hinako picked up a Sharpie. On the right side, she wrote her name in kanji: Mukaimizu Hinako. And on the left side…
“Well?” Minato pressed.
Rrrgh! Don’t make fun of me!
There was a pause, and then…Hinako gave up and wrote his surname phonetically instead. But at the very least, she remembered the kanji for Minato!
“Your last name is just too complicated!” she complained with a scowl.
“Well, you’d better figure it out before it’s your last name.” And with that, Minato took their message card from Hinako and walked off.
“Huh…? Wha?” What was that supposed to mean?
But Minato didn’t notice Hinako’s confusion. Instead, he whistled their song as he pinned the message card among its siblings.
“Uh, hello?” Hinako pressed.
“Looks like they’re lining up for photos,” he said suddenly, gesturing to the photo op station.
Ugh, he’s ignoring me! You can’t just drop a line like that and walk off! It’s not fair!
“There we are! What a great shot. You two look perfect together,” said the photographer to the couple whose picture he was taking. “Yes, perfect! Let’s get one more… All right, all done. Next!”
On the wall was an illumination in the shape of angel wings. Each couple stood in front of it, making it appear as if they themselves had grown wings. Totally #instaworthy, but the line was ginormous.
“Hinako, over here!” Just then, Minako beckoned her over. “C’mere a sec.”
The angel wing lights were visible in the reflection of the glass windows, and if they positioned themselves just so, they could achieve pretty much the exact same effect…although they would be almost entirely in silhouette, but whatever. With the nightscape in the background, the alternative framing made them look all the more as if they had taken flight.
As Minato snapped a pic, Hinako glanced down and noticed that the hand railings near the windows were covered in heart-shaped padlocks. This was another popular attraction here at the Lovers’ Sanctuary; like the message cards, the padlocks featured couples’ names and short, affectionate messages. But right as she crouched down to admire them…
“Here.”
Minato took a padlock out from behind his back, like some kind of magic trick. It felt like he was always two steps ahead of her. He must’ve said all that stuff on purpose to get her to write the message card too!
They wrote their names on the lock and then snapped it onto the railing. Maybe next time, when they came back to take it off, there’d be a ring on her finger… As Hinako fantasized about the prospect, a glint of white caught her eye through the window.
“It’s snowing!”
No wonder it was so cold! There was no wind tonight, either—maybe it would stick.
“Uggghhh… I wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow. It’s Christmas!” But Hinako’s boss had begged her to come in, just until noon, and she hadn’t had the heart to say no. “They say that a big wave always comes the morning after the snow falls…and if you can catch it, your wish will come true. But I’ve never had the chance to try.”
“Interesting…” murmured Minato.
Hand in hand, they watched as the snow continued to fall.
And so a White Christmas arrived.
Hinako and Minato had the campsite all to themselves; evidently they were the only two nutjobs willing to camp outside in the middle of winter. Once again, Minato showed off his Superman skills by pitching a tent, setting up the camping stove, brewing some coffee (with fresh grounds, of course), and making dinner. This was all done with his personal equipment, and he had everything they could possibly need.