Five Minutes

We were met with a shaken Fuyumi. As if seeing us was equivalent to rescue, her knees gave out only for Hyuuga to catch her in time.

“What happened?” Hyuuga gently asked, stroking his girlfriend's hair to calm her down.

“I nev…never meant… sniffle…” It's no use. Fuyumi was too upset for conversation.

Meanwhile, I'm looking all over but Senna was nowhere to be found. She couldn't have slipped past Fuyumi's watchful eye. She wasn't picking up when we tried calling my phone.

The sky wasn't helping either. The rumbling from the dark, overcast clouds signaled heavy rain. The amusement park thankfully didn't deem it worthy of closing but had advised that some attractions would be temporarily unavailable. Sure enough, it put a damper to the mood and most had called it a day.

“Akito!” Hyuuga threw his phone at me. He must've sensed what I was up to. “I'll handle Fuyumi here. You know my password.”

With a nod, I darted off.

***

After running around for some time, Hyuuga called relaying the story. Apparently, the last she's with Senna was at the Ferris wheel.

“She had a really dark expression during the ride. Fuyumi of course noticed it but the second she turned away, Senna was gone,” Hyuuga explained. “Akito, that walking stick wasn't for show, right? How on earth did she manage to vanish before my girl like that?”

“Nah, Fuyumi must've let her guard down,” I said. “She—Senna's not Yuugure or a god or whatever.”

She's…

Plip. Plip. Plip. Plip. Soon enough, rain crashed down over the whole city. The sky was completely gray without of hint of letting up. This kind of rain was the most annoying, especially when you're finding someone.

It didn't take a minute for it to soak me to the bone. My vision was filled with the white from the rain and the fog of my breath. My body burned. My heart was beating like crazy.

I must've looked like an idiot to other people, running around and asking them if they saw a grown woman somewhere. Some even scrunched or raised their eyebrows.

‘A grown girl getting lost? Quit playing with me son.’

‘She's in a cane? How come you didn't see her inching away from you?’

‘What? Tell the staff for that, not me! Creep.’

Nobody believed. Nobody cared. I knew that already yet… I wanna beat them up for saying irresponsible things. Maybe it would've been great if I'd find Senna just by dirtying my hands for a bit—no, even if it took as many people as there were raindrops, I'd gladly rough them all up. Unfortunately, such convenient scenario never existed.

When all was said and done, I still couldn't find her. There's even an announcement regarding it, Hyuuga's doing most probably, and he even thought of adding the girl was in need of her medication to gather attention, but with almost, if not all of the crowd gone, it's no use.

“..!”

I just heard something akin to a sob. Even with all the rain dulling every other noise, I could still distinguish it. Clearly. It must be nearby.

Soon enough, I found the source.

A girl with gray hair was hugging her knees in a corner crying her eyes out. She must've believed the heavy rain would drown out her wailing.

I stopped just before her and called, “Senna…”

“…sorry…” She repeated over and over.

I knelt and wordlessly wrapped her in my arms, trying to share with her what little body heat I had left as rain mercilessly poured over us. Whatever her reason was, it could wait.

When I came to, the rain had already let up. I also felt really warm and fuzzy when I realized I got changed into dry clothes. Then, the rest of the moment was spent with Senna crying some more.

Giving our thanks to the staff who lent us their first aid station, I began piecing together the story based on (mostly) Fuyumi's reactions.

Apparently, Senna felt guilty from lightly pushing off Fuyumi after the girl said something. It wasn't a dangerous action—more like a response to the topic which wasn't divulged. I might get the whole story from Hyuuga later but all in all, the two had made up.

“You know, it's strange,” Fuyumi said. “I feel so comfortable with someone I used to revere to the point even if she really did something bad, or worse, I'd never come to fully hate her.”

“Maybe you two got great chemistry,” I said.

“Hmm~” Fuyumi had this annoying look as if she confirmed something. Senna also seemed a little restless. Did anything else happen?

She grabbed Hyuuga's arm. “Sorry but I'll be dragging Hyuuga with me and head home first. I made plans in the evening and I'm running a little behind schedule. See ya!”

“I owe you two big time. Thanks for the time. It's fun.”

“Oi,” Hyuuga spoke. “Don't word it like it's a one-off thing. Right?”

I smiled.

***

“Even at their best form, people remained liars.”

Instead of admiring the night view from the Ferris wheel cabin, Senna broke the silence with an ominous remark. She then fished something from her pocket and handed over my smartphone, thankfully still functional even after getting soaked, but without the keychain.

“I think I understand now,” I took the item. “I may still be wrong, but you two have been twisting the story. It's mainly because of the keychain, right?”

“…”

“You've been very interested to it so it wouldn't be weird for you to panic once it got lost. Also, Fuyumi might've really said something you don't like, further giving you reason to run off.”

She looked outside. We're far from the peak. “That keychain… or something that looked like it, belonged to her…”

“By ‘her’, you mean…”

“…Memories of my mother were so few and far in between but the thing I remembered was that whoever has that item was a good person.”

She had a pained smile as she spoke of her past… the fragments of a treasured person. She might've noticed, but she wasn't the calm Senna I was so used to seeing. This was the ugly version. The uncut, unpolished persona.

“Funny, when I could remember her demeanor, her tendencies, how she chose her clothes, her words, the reminders she taught me, the basics of etiquette, how should I handle myself, defend myself from everyone… yet… yet her face… anything but her resemblance.”

Slowly, cracks formed.

“I even made it a habit to walk slowly and analyze how I'd affect the future. I remember her teaching me the art of our lineage but her face… no matter how hard I tried, nothing.”

Then, the mask was whole again.

“I went on rambling about unnecessary topics. Did I spoil the mood?”

“No. It made it even better.”

“…”

“Actually, I also had a little confession to make. I… actually have no reason to pursue romance.”

Given the stuff I've written in my journal, she must've seen it coming. However, her silence depicted an openness—a refuge for me to relieve some of the burdens in my heart.

“You and Kiyoko have been teaching me a lot, and I've been disrespectful. I'm hesitant to confirm if what I've been doing was the right thing, or that I'm better off ignoring these feelings. People coexist for personal gain, right? I… I can't display such ugliness, more so because…”

I'm afraid to show how empty I am.

“It's cruel, isn't it?” she said. We're pretty high up now. “To know that nothing, even love, was beautiful. But even so, like a moth to the flame, we are attracted—we seek the light.”

She then spread her arms. “You'd never feel alive until you burn yourself. You'd never know beauty until you learn to curse the gods. A merciless god or a gentle flame, I can be both.”

“—!!”

Surely, it's because we're at the peak of the ride that I lost sight of myself and did something inexplicable.

I leaned forward and caressed her face. Her hot cheeks burned my cold hands. I could feel her soft skin tremble. Her hair tickled the back of my hand.

She overlapped her hand with mine. Our gazes met.

Tonight. Just for tonight, I wholeheartedly believed magic was real.

She didn't object and only stared straight at me, her blue eyes taking in my everything… her long eyelashes damp with anticipation.

Engulfed by that irresistible sight, I pressed forward a little more and—

A finger stopped my lips right at the very brink.

Everything returned to normal. I felt the blood finally flow back into my veins. The erratic thumping of my heart was gone. The spell was broken.

With a soft smile, she said:

“Your five minutes is up.”