The Curious God

The hallways were quiet, except for the soft sound of Shinya’s footsteps and whispered conversations. He walked until he spotted the door and, upon entering the room, knew immediately he was in the right place.

Hana was lying in bed, her eyes fixed on the window. The sound of the monitor softly beeping with each breath filled the room. Her mind seemed distant, likely lost in everything that had happened.

Shinya didn’t say anything right away. He simply walked in, closed the door behind him, and stood in silence for a moment. Hana turned her gaze, and their eyes met. A wave of conflicting emotions rushed through her. Fear, confusion, the urge to understand what had happened, and why.

“Shinya…” she said, her voice quieter than usual. “What happened?”

He took a hesitant step toward the bed, as if the weight of his actions held him back. Finally, he spoke, with a sincerity she couldn’t ignore.

“I... I saved you.”

Hana furrowed her brow, but the anguish in his voice made her pause before asking more.

“You did what? How... how was that even possible?”

“I... I changed your fate,” Shinya said, beginning to pace around the bed, unable to stay still. He looked tormented, searching for the right words. “I had a duty as a god, a mission. But at that moment, I couldn’t follow through. I... I listened to what I felt.”

Hana closed her eyes for a moment, trying to process it all. What he said felt beyond her understanding. But she felt the weight of his words, the intensity behind them. She took a deep breath and finally spoke, her eyes now locked onto his.

“I just remember... seeing you, and then... the car. And after that, I was here.”

Shinya sat beside her on the bed and looked at her. He still wasn’t sure if he’d made the right decision, but seeing her alive made him feel that maybe, just maybe, he had.

“I hesitated... I struggled to understand... to find an answer. I didn’t want to live with regret.”

He clenched his fists in his lap, searching for the strength to express everything, his anxiety, his fear. That’s when he felt something warm. Hana had placed her hand over his. He looked at her and realized he wasn’t the only one hurting. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and for a moment, she seemed to be in even more pain than he was.

“When I saw... when I was just standing there, waiting for whatever was about to happen...” Hana squeezed his hand tightly. “I couldn’t think. It was like, in a split second, my whole life played like a movie in my mind. My days at work, waking up in the morning... and also... when you were by my side.”

Hana lowered her gaze. She wiped away the tears with her arm, her voice now softer, more hesitant.

“I was afraid. Afraid I wouldn’t be able to say everything I feel. Afraid of losing the most precious thing I had. Afraid I’d never get the chance to tell you that... that I love you.”

Her words struck Shinya deeply. He felt the weight of them, their meaning. Especially because he felt the same, even if he didn’t yet know how to say it that way. He understood Hana’s fear because he, too, was afraid of losing her. Afraid of never getting to live what they had built together. A journey that had started with curiosity and led to something he never imagined. Becoming a more sensitive... and complete god.

“I couldn’t lose you...” Shinya said, his voice faltering, barely holding back a cry he hadn’t realized had already begun. “It took me so long to realize... to find you... and to discover that I love you. I couldn’t let you go.”

He leaned forward and embraced her, a hug only overpowered by the strength of hers in return. When they pulled back, he gently wiped away the tears on her face, once again gazing into those bright blue eyes that had made him feel an undeniable love.

Maybe the answer to his turmoil had been there all along, in the smile, in the mutual confession of love.

“I... I don’t know what’s going to happen from now on. But I know what I want. I want to be with you.”

Hana felt his words echo inside her. She knew what it was like to live without knowing what came next, but something in him, in his intensity, made her believe what they had was worth it. She looked at him tenderly.

“I want to be with you too, Shinya. Because with you, I feel things I’ve never felt before. And even if I’m scared, or in pain, none of that matters if I’m with you.”

There was a lightness in the air now, as if a truth had finally filled the space between them. Shinya looked at her with a soft smile, his eyes glowing in a way she’d never seen before.

Hana smiled back, soft and vulnerable. She held his hand tightly, as if it were the anchor keeping him grounded in the present.

“I love you, Shinya.”

“I love you, Hana.”

They stayed quiet for a moment, letting everything they’d said settle. The hospital around them, with its monitors and dim lights, seemed to fade away. Time, which once kept them apart, no longer mattered. What mattered was the here and now.

The promise was simple, but full of meaning, to live. Despite the obstacles. To overcome each one. What mattered was that they had each other.

Time seemed to stop when Shinya gently touched Hana’s forehead with a unique tenderness, as if that touch carried all the love he’d never known how to express. They were there, not as god and mortal, but as two souls who had finally understood what it meant to be together.

He looked into her eyes, drawn in by the invitation they held. And without thinking too much, he touched his lips to hers, feeling the warmth of the emotion that had brought them there.

The future no longer mattered.

Only the present did.

Love.

And them.

Together, on the same path.