The Confession (From 20 Feet Away)

Haruto was late to his own confession. 

Not by much, so I'll give him a pass. Yui was already on the bridge, staring at the river with the focused intensity of someone who had arrived specifically to look at water and was having a wonderful time doing that. 

I'd been watching from between a yakitori stand and a goldfish stall for the past half-hour, and my legs were starting to hurt.
"You think he'll do it?" someone abruptly said right next to me. My heart skipped a beat while my face remained stoic. 

I cannot show weakness. 

Glancing over, Ren was standing there holding two ramune, already drinking one, offering me the other. In the distance I heard the fireworks get announced. I took the drink without saying a word, focusing my attention back on the bridge.  My gaze immediately snapped to a distinctly familiar hairstyle moving fast through the bustling crowd, heading straight towards Yui.

The head this hair was attached to looked a bit paler than usual, but that's to be expected. Yui must have sensed something, because she started searching the crowd, before zeroing in on the fast-approaching Haruto. They gave each other slightly flustered smiles, before Haruto got close enough to start speaking.

Ren chose that moment to start loudly crunching on his yakisoba.  My mouth twitched slightly. 
"When did you even get that?" I said while glancing over, to which Ren only smirked in response, nodding towards the conversing couple. They seemed to have moved on from idle small talk to discussing more important things. Maybe the weather or something.

As I reverted my attention back to the lovebirds, my heart panged slightly when I realized I had definitely missed the inevitable "oh, I just got here 5 minutes ago, I wasn't waiting long" line said by Yui. Unfortunate. I couldn't read lips well anyway, though.

At this point, I was impatient. My entire leg fell asleep, and Ren only had one more knuckle left to crack, and Haruto still hadn't said anything remotely romantic, given the lack of cheering, clapping, and fireworks. But finally, after a whole 3 minutes of nonsense, it seemed he actually was going for it. Yui's eyes had begun to widen, and Haruto's face was set and determined.

And then the fireworks started.
Simultaneously, the now red-faced Haruto started to confess his love. The timing was disgustingly perfect, and it was honestly a bit too cliche for my liking. But that's just how love is, I guess. Make it a 12 episode series with no season 2 planned, and voilà, you have a classic Rom-Com. 

I felt my phone vibrate. I checked it. it was an ecstatic Haruto, my sole source of vicarious joy. 
Dude, she said yes!1!!11
And before I could respond:
How did you know she felt the same way?
My fingers paused on the keypad.
I typed: I just did. 
Then deleted it. It sounded kind of cocky.
There was a real answer. Something about the careful way Yui always chose her words around him, like she knew each one mattered. But that wasn't something you put in a text.
Just a feeling - I finally typed out and sent.

I sighed, slipping my phone back into my pocket. The bright glow was going to give me a headache in the dim light. Ren, who had finally finished his obnoxious yakisoba, was glancing at me, smirking like he knew something.

"What?" I said. Ren put his arm around me, his expression serious.
"I know you'll find someone eventually. You'll see."
I stared at him for half a second, before shrugging his arm off me.
"Oh, shove off, will you?"
It would have been a bit more meaningful if I couldn't see his smirk coming back.
I turned back to the bridge. It didn't take long.

***

Haruto and Yui were now fast approaching. Haruto broke into a jog for the last 50 feet. He made it just about halfway before the realization hit him... he left Yui behind.

He stumbled, turned around, and waited slightly sheepishly for Yui. She caught up at a normal walking pace, and the smile on her face proved this was not the first time that this had happened.

Scatter brain, I thought.

I gave him what I hoped was a genuine smile, but it came across as someone in mild pain.
"Hey guys," Haruto said, slightly out of breath. He looked past us before asking "Is Fumiya here?"
"Nope," I said plainly. "he didn't want to 'third wheel.'"
Ren grinned widely, enveloping Haruto in a bear hug. Or was it the Heimlich maneuver? I'm not too sure.
"We knew you could do it, buddy."
"Thanks," Haruto replied weakly.

Yui stood to the side, a bit uncertain.
"So, how was the confession?" I asked Yui, while Ren patted Haruto aggressively on the back like a proud father.
She smiled, a little shy about it. "It was very... Haruto." 
Ren and I nodded knowingly.
Haruto spluttered. "And what is that supposed to mean?!" 
We all exchanged glances, and after half a second of silence, all broke into laughter amidst Haruto's indignant face.



"Just a feeling"

I was in my bed by the time I pulled my phone out again.
I stared at my own message for a second. It was true. It was a gut feeling. Just one that had taken about eight months of paying attention to develop.

I laughed a little to myself and turned over in bed.

It seemed to me that the world was now too quiet. No fireworks, confessions, or laughter. Just the quiet, consistent hum of crickets in the night.