Love Comes in Colors

Wednesday was here. Yamada was nervous for his date, so nervous he could barely brush his teeth. Even though the date was still three hours away, he couldn’t keep calm. He tried at least - watching morning television, feeding his cat, cleaning his room, anything that could ease his mind. But no matter how much he tried to ease it, every time he glanced at the clock, the butterflies in his stomach became restless again.

As he watched the clock slowly grow closer and closer to the agreed time to meet, Yamada started to get dressed and ready. He had a few doubts as for what to wear, but he settled for a blue and green shirt and denim shorts. He felt like it was too casual, but convinced himself by saying:

“That’s what I would wear normally,” even if today was a bit more special. He was planning on confessing after all. But he still went with it.

Yamada went out and looked at his phone – 9:45 AM. Plenty of time to walk to Hiraya’s house. She could be late as well. He decided to go and buy lollipops for himself and her. After that he sat on the pavement across Hiraya’s home and waited.

Twenty minutes had gone by and there was still no sign of Hiraya. Yamada thought about calling her, but he decided not to. She wasn’t the type to bail out at the last minute. But he was getting nervous as he stared at her house. He felt like someone would perceive him as a stalker.

But out Hiraya came at the perfect time. Her blue hair was shorter than when he saw her last at school. She was wearing a pink and blue dress with a small backpack on her back. Her eyes glistened back at his. After Hiraya saw him, she came running at him.

“Yamada, hello!” She waved at him.

“Ah, uh, hello Hiraya…” He got red in the face as he saw her up close. “You have a new haircut…”

“I do! Glad you noticed,” she smiled at him, covering her mouth. “Well, do you like it?”

“I, uh…” Yamada was already sweating bullets and the date hadn’t even begun. “You look… cute.”

Hiraya’s ears started to burn a little bit as well.

“Thank you~!”

The two stood in silence for a few seconds, before getting embarrassed.

“S-so where are we going today?” Hiraya tried to break the ice.

“Ah, well…” Yamada had been trying to prepare something more, but he couldn’t think of much last night. “How about we go and get an ice cream? This sun is killing me!”

“Good idea!” Hiraya said and they went to the nearest shop.

“Allow me to buy you an ice cream…” said Yamada quietly. He felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.

“S-sure…” Hiraya got flustered by this proposal.

He bought her a strawberry and banana ice cream.

“Thank you~!” she said smiling.

“AHHHHHH, one of my favorite flavors!” Hiraya was screaming inside, but she tried to calm herself down. “Stay calm, this just a ‘going-out’ between two friends!”

“Let’s um, go to the park and sit on a bench to eat our ice creams?” Yamada said, unsure of himself.

“Ah!” Hiraya was startled, as he interrupted her train of thought. “Uhm, yeah, let’s go there…”

And so, Yamada and Hiraya walked together to the park, both with their ice creams melting in the sun, both red in the face – was it because of the sun, or the person next to them, they didn’t know. They found a nice bench under the shade of a big tree. They sat down and ate their ice creams and talked about what kind of summer they’d been having.

“If I don’t sound like I do a lot, maybe she/he will think I’m boring!” They both thought. And so, they lied:

“Yeah, I went out a few times with friends!” Yamada said, almost bragging in a way.

“Yeah, same! I even went out for dinner with my parents.” Hiraya also lied.

In fact, they had both been in bed for a few days, waiting for someone to call them to hang out.

“Hey, have you heard of Tetsu?” Yamada turned to Hiraya. “I tried to talk to him about going out, but he said he was going to be busy the next few days.”

“Huh, I didn’t hear about that…” Hiraya said. She then got to think:

“Is he with Yai? Doing something naughty??” Her eyes bulged out of her skull. But she decided to shake off these weird thoughts.

“I guess it’s just us two then…” she said carelessly.

As silence grew, both of them got flustered once again.

“Do you want to go to the hill above town?” Yamada said.

Hiraya nodded.

The hill they were talking about was actually the same old railway station Yai and Tetsudo would go to. It’s just that Hiraya and Yamada wouldn’t go there, because of some rusted rails and broken windows. They didn’t mean the same thing for them as they did for Tetsudo and Yai.

As they climbed up the uphill streets one by one, passing by Tetsudo’s house, they got to the dry bushes and the rusted railway. The wires were warm, but not hot. The station was as empty as ever – no person, no train. It’s like it was totally abandoned.

Hiraya and Yamada got to the big hill next to the station, that overlooked the city, where Yai and Tetsudo also would often sit. Over the city there was a beautiful clear blue sky. The sun was just above them, but luckily there was a tree just above the hill, that gave shade to Hiraya and Yamada.

Hiraya’s eyes sparkled beneath the tree’s shadow. Her hair slowly waved at the birds on the neighboring nests and her dress was now a bit dirty, but she was still smiling when she talked to Yamada. The hill’s grass loved the little laughter she would let out sometimes and would dance to its frequency. She pulled out of her backpack lunch she made. She and Yamada started eating.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

“I do, it’s really good!” Yamada said with a full mouth. Hiraya laughed brightly.

“I’m glad~” she smiled with the world’s joy on her face.

The city beneath looked at them, as if it was smiling at the two teenagers. The mountains above were listening on their conversations and started daydreaming. The cozy birds in the nests started to sleep as Yamada and Hiraya told them fairytales about going on a ‘Ferris wheel’. The wires above the railway line were tugging together, as the two kids on the melancholy hill were softly falling in love.

Maybe this day wouldn’t end with them just sitting there on the hill the whole day. Maybe they would tell each other their feelings and then hug like there was no tomorrow, like all they ever wanted is to be in one’s arms.

They sat there, laughing and smiling at each other for hours. The sun was ready to say goodbye, the blue sky and the trees were ready to go to sleep. And so were Yamada and Hiraya. They went back the way they came from, on the railway wire and down the sloped streets. Every house was quiet like always. Quiet like there were no people; like they were the only two teenagers on earth.

As they were walking slowly, the twilight beside them was waving them goodbye. But their red faces were too burnt and flustered to pay attention. The white streetlamps casted neutral light that buzzed low, almost hypnotically, just like the cicadas around.

Yamada and Hiraya got to her house. He and she said her goodbyes and as she was ready to enter her house, Yamada’s voice broke through the lump in his throat.

“Hiraya!” he yelled.

“Ah, yes?” She turned around.

“Y-you want to go out again,” he stuttered. “Tomorrow, on a… Date?”

Hiraya was shocked for a second, but her shock was replaced by a wholehearted smile.

“I’d love to~”

Yamada smiled, nodded and turned around running. He screamed in his head:

“YES, YES, YES, YES!!!”

He could hear Hiraya’s laughter fading away.