Our Duet Begins!

I was literally on the verge of exploding. Somehow, some magical way, Meda and I polished off that humongous hamburger before heading back to school.

“Goodbye, my clean bill of health…” I lamented this lot in life.

Meda was in the same sorry state of inner stomach pain. I couldn’t say for sure how we packed all that meal away, but I don’t think we left much room for anything else.

“Hey, wanna’ get…” I tried to smile through the agony long enough for a tease as playful revenge. “...dessert?”

“Yuck!” she grimaced.

“That’s what I was thinking…” I summoned all my fortitude to try and keep from throwing up. That joke felt like a threat to me too the longer I stewed in this suffering. “...ugh…”

What a mistake this was. We both started laughing for the heck of it. Dinner with her was nice, and I had a feeling she was thinking the same thing.

Hey, the rain let up a little too.

And right as I thought that, the storm picked up like the gates of the heavens had been ironically opened.

I sprung up my umbrella to shield myself from the torrential downpour, but poor Meda seemed to have forgotten hers at the restaurant. I let her scooch in close to share mine.

She blushed and stiffened up as our arms brushed. I’d done this a few times before, so I totally expected myself to show her how co-operating under an umbrella worked…

But I got all nervous too, like her high strung aura was shared with me. We were actually touching. And unless I wanted to get soaked, there was no other choice.

It sure was cold, because I was shivering. So was she.

That was the cold, right?

My walk was clumsy as I avoided tripping over her foot. We both kept our heads down, watching and learning how to best respond to the other's steps.

Along a stretch down the main street of town she seemed to be getting the hang of a tandem toddle. She started leading the march, but forced herself to keep pace with me so she could stay under the umbrella.

She looked back over her shoulder, not judgmentally, but with those wide blue eyes that set her apart from everyone else, as if wanting to ensure I was still there.

Her confidence inspired me. Even if she was a millimeter ahead that was too far away. I picked up the pace, forced myself to stay steady beside her. My strides were longer, but seeing her wet shoulder made me slow to a more comfortable pace to hover the umbrella over the two of us.

Just as we hit the edge of town it felt like we were in sync. We both shared a smile.

I heard a car coming. It was far enough away from the sidewalk that neither of us had to worry, but the curb was basically one big river.

Quickly I swapped positions with Meda and shielded her from the splash as the car passed. I got soaked, but she was good.

“Ugh…” I grumbled, my coat sopping wet with dirty water. I should have walked between her and the street. That’s what a gentleman would have done. “You okay, Meda-chan?” I signed an OK symbol with my right hand as best I could with the umbrella there, while my left was holding her shoulder.

She nodded and gave an OK back.

“Good,” I gave a healthy grin.

It dawned on me at that moment that I had to hug her to protect her from the water, and I was still gripping her shoulder, maybe a bit too tight. I didn’t seem to be bothered by our touch now, and neither did she.

Normally I would have thought the two of us would have just broken eye contact and gone on our merry way. But looking at her, just staring, it felt warm and got my heart beating in a naturally heavy way.

She had such innocent blue eyes. They seemed all the more brighter on a rainy day like this, as if a piece of the clear sky lived within her gaze.

Her cheeks were such a rosy red, so perfectly tinted to emphasize her young, healthy features.

And her lips, slightly parted to let air in while we both stood in the same stupor.

She leaned in, silent permission for me to do the same, as if instincts were taking hold of us both.

My throat became tender and dry.

My heart raced all the more.

Our eyes shut.

The rain fell silent.

We were so close that our heavy breaths mixed.

Our dry lips touched together, but quickly pulled apart.

I quickly stiffened up, my heart rate skyrocketing. A grunt left my mouth as I simmered over what we just did.

“That was-” I started with disbelief in my tone. “Don’t tell anyone, but that was my first kiss.”

I wasn’t facing her, so she couldn’t read my lips. It was something I never mentioned to anyone, despite pretending like I’d mastered the art of it to impress girls. How stupid was I to lie like that before?

For a moment I didn’t want to look at Meda and see the purity I’d just forever tainted. But I didn’t need to see her to know she was there. Her shoulder was still pressed to mine, giving me comfort that this was a real moment and not a dream.

When I did finally look at her though, I saw raindrops dripping down her face, framing her smile… No… Those were tears. Tears of joy, maybe? Or what if that was shame?

Oh no, did I offend her? Maybe she didn’t want to kiss and I forced it on her?

I poked her shoulder and did my best to sign an apology. It was hard to remember the motions, let alone while flustered.

She softly laughed.

“W-what’s so funny?” I asked.

She shook her head, still half happy, half sad.

“T-that was my first-”

“-Kiss?” I finished her sentence.

“Yeah.” She nodded, suddenly unable to keep eye contact.

So we both tread new ground with that moment. As quick as it was, it sent ripples through my soul, like a meteor crashing down within me.

“What do we-” I started, but didn’t know what to say after. It didn’t matter because she looked at me only after I stopped. “What should we do…next?”

She shrugged with a silly face of slight confusion.

“Do you want to…?”

“Want to what?” I asked, desperation seeping through.

Suddenly it felt like there was a barrier between us. What was that? It left me speechless and I couldn’t understand why.

“I-I don’t know. You’ve done this before, right? What do people do after they kiss?”

There it was. My past lies were catching up to me.

“Meda…” I sighed. “I… I’m a…”

Her eyes widened as she watched my lips closely.

“I’m just a…” I clenched my teeth and breathed through the microscopic gaps. “I’m just a big idiot. A big player who never sees the game through. You think any of the girls I’ve been with mattered? I can’t even remember any of their names…”

She remained quiet and still.

“I don’t know what people do after they kiss. I’ve never gotten that far. I mean, I guess we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, right?”

Once again, I was in uncharted territory.

But I knew I was totally fine with putting the old Hade away if it meant I could just be around Meda. So much had changed since I met her, and I wanted to keep those changes going if they made me feel this good.

That feeling also came with a ton of shame too. I’d gone from girl to girl, using them to maybe find a hint of happiness to match the fake me, who was so afraid of being forgotten. Put myself in so many heads and leave a legacy that no human going forward could ignore until the end of time, and maybe after.

That was my plan for eternal life.

How silly, right? Everything was destined to be forgotten. Even the stars would burn out one day, and the names of the gods would be lost to time.

But still, I wanted to give it a go, and a partner along the journey would've been nice. Someone who could sing by my side and support me when I needed her on this trek to immortalization, and maybe I could do the same for her.

I had no right to brag about Meda’s comet discovery. It was all hers and hers alone. But I stood with her and made sure all the while she had that telescope every night until then. I didn’t want credit, and I didn’t care about being eternally remembered anymore. I just wanted to be around her, and see that face light up when she made even bigger discoveries in the future.

“I’d like that too,” her tears dried up, “Hade-kun.”

Those words echoed in my head and I blanked out. We both were on the same page of the duet, and it was coming time to move to the next verse.