Fortunately, they wrapped up the incident without any further problems. Nanaka immediately played along with Kai’s story, which went that the social game club had made plans to go together all along. Kai was worried that he might have caused some undue strain on their relationship, but Nanaka managed to settle it without any major complications.
Kai and Nanaka couldn’t get back into the spirit of writing a proposal after the girls left, so they finally called it a day. Kai resumed his brainstorming as soon as he returned home, but he was still a little too shaken up to focus. He hadn’t made any progress by dinnertime, so he stepped out to a nearby supermarket to buy a pre-made meal.
Just when he started worrying whether he had done the right thing or not, his phone began to vibrate. There was a LIME notification from Nanaka. He opened it right away to see a stamp of a seal peeking out from behind a wall.
Nanaka: Whoa, you opened my message so fast!
Kai: Yeah.
Nanaka: Thanks for everything you did today... You really helped me out.
Kai: ...I’m glad to hear that.
Kai’s mind drifted as he typed his reply. Come to think of it, he realized, he had almost never messaged Nanaka privately like this. This was mainly due to the fact that they used the group chat, which had all of the club members in it. Naturally, this also meant he had never texted anyone in real time like this before.
‘Read’: these four letters instantly latched onto every message he sent.
It wasn’t as if there was someone on the other side of his phone screen, but mysteriously, he could feel her presence beside him. He could hear her breathing.
Nanaka: Hey, do you actually wanna go to the fireworks festival with everyone?
Kai: That sounds good. I’ve never been to one before, so this will be my first time.
Nanaka: Whaaat?!
Nanaka: A stamp of a seal rolling around in shock
Nanaka: But Tokyo has the famous Sumidagawa fireworks show!
Kai: I just... wasn’t interested.
Nanaka: That means it’s your inaugural fireworks festival!
Kai: Is that what this means?
Nanaka: That’s what it means! I’m looking forward to it!
There was a pause before Nanaka’s next message. Perhaps she herself couldn’t decide whether or not to send it.
Nanaka: ...Hey, Kai-kun? ...You were really cool today. Thank you. I mean it.
How was he meant to reply? he wondered, but couldn’t think of anything to say. Kai’s fingers hovered above the touchscreen without moving a muscle. For whatever reason—maybe because they were talking about fireworks—he looked out his window to see a full moon floating amidst the night sky like a giant, white jellyfish. Its beauty was captivating; a perfect circle had been carved out of the dark heavens.
It was a coincidence that he looked outside, so the next message he received shocked him.
Nanaka: Wow!
Attached to her one-word message was a photo of the same enchanting lunar body on the other side of the window.
Kai’s hands acted faster than his mind, and he, too, captured a picture of the moon beyond the glass. The word ‘Read’ immediately popped up when he sent her the image. He could hear Nanaka say, “We’re seeing the same thing,” on the other side of those four letters. He saw her gazing toward the same moon, in the same way, from her own room.