A Love Beyond Simple Attraction

I could see a running figure with sharp spiky black hair fast approaching from the opposite direction. When the distance between us had closed enough, I recognized Ryuuji pantomiming with his hands, unable to speak because of his shortness of breath.

“Ryuuji, take a moment to breathe, man,” I said.

“Kenta, you’ll never guess who I saw,” Ryuuji said, still panting.

“It wouldn’t happen to be a certain White Ravager would it?”

“Wait, did you already see Hiro around here?”

“Yeah, actually. Not too long ago…”

I looked over my shoulder and noticed that Hiro was already long outside of my periphery.

“Well, anyways, I made sure to give him a good cross for both of us,” he said, with uproarious laughter.

I suddenly felt a little remorse in my original desire to join in Ryuuji’s act of violence. I suppose one punch was enough to get the point across. But for now, my priority was Fumiko.

I looked at the distant apartment to my left and then I shifted my eyes back to Ryuuji.

“Hey, Ryuuji, it was nice bumping into you, but there’s something I need to take care of.”

“You’re finally gonna tell her, right?”

“I feel like it’s about time. I’ve dragged my feet enough on this.”

“You’re going to do great, bro. As the one-dater that took the title of “Red”, I believe you’ll finally be the one that succeeds,” he said, posing outside of his ranger uniform.

“I understand why Hiro didn’t succeed, but why didn’t you and Fumiko work out?”

“Okay, well without any clever layered analogies to Super Sentai Ravagers, it’s simply because of past priorities. I couldn’t be the one to spend time helping her heal from past wounds. As you can see, the feeling of being depended on can be quite addicting. But over time, I eventually learned that you can’t help everyone at once without disappointing at least one person. The only loves that I allowed myself were to my remaining family that needed my financial support, and to those I entertain at The Escapist Cafe.”

“As one of Red’s biggest allies, I won’t let you down,” I said, hammering my bicep with my opposite hand.

We punched each other’s fists in perfect coordination, with just enough force to feel each other’s goodwill towards one another, smirking at one another.

I waved goodbye to him and began charging toward the apartment

***

I rapped against the door several times, met with an eager Fumiko that bounced up and down several times before jerking me away to the living room.

“Kenta, our talk with each other worked. I just finished the final chapter,” she said, her voice squeaking a bit as she giggled.

“Oh, that’s great news. What did you come up with?”

She handed me a small collection of papers that she took from the output tray from the printer that rested underneath her desk.

“It’s better that you read it for yourself. Don’t worry, you don’t need the beginning chapters to understand it,” she said.

I noticed some of the make-up beneath her lower eyelid was running. I initially nervously rolled my tongue inside my cheeks, but I set aside my initial worry as she grinned ear-to-ear, her eyelids fluttering as she noticed me read the first couple of lines of the last chapter.

The gist of the plot that I got from the first few volumes of the series that I picked up and read in private was that the main protagonist was a girl by the name of Mika Valentina, who was teleported to the same world as her lover. Through a tragic twist of fate, Mika and her partner are separated and pitted against each other because of an ancient all-powerful spirit that used their love for each other as a weapon for its own means of restoring its old race to its former glory. Mika is not only motivated to save her love, whose mind is taken hostage by the ancient spirit, but to save the world that lives in fear of the ancient spirit.

Before I knew it, my eyes reached the last couple of pages of the story.

Mika stood paralyzed as her party members wrestled to maintain consciousness as they writhed on the floor, but despite lacking the energy to stand up, they were still more alert than she was. She bemoaned the fact that despite Keita not landing a single blow on her, she struggled to stay focused. He didn’t take a single step forward, rather, he relaxed the arm carrying the large broadsword with the large golden guard in the shape of a cross. The tip of the long sword scratched and formed a small knick in the earth around his feet.

The dirty blonde-haired boy with round blue eyes that she once recognized as Keita smiled ruefully as he jabbed his sword into the ground and rested his hands on the jutting bars of the golden cross-shaped guard.

“It looks like your mission ends here, Mika. Why don’t you take this moment to turn around and live? I know a village that hasn’t yet fallen victim to the Philia Fae’s influence, you could potentially spend your days there, until I eventually regain my freedom from its clutches.”

“You clearly have the power to resist. Why don’t you just fight the Fae’s control?”

“I don’t think you understand, Mika. You only live right now, because it has a use for my love for you. It sees the deeper-seated feelings below the ones I’m comfortable showing you.”

Mika drew out her light cavalry saber from the black scabbard tied to her waist. As she tried to steady her resolve, the blue diamond jewel under the saber’s grip began to pulse.

“Very presumptuous of you, that I’d just wilt before you without a fight,” Mika said, steadying her breath.

“If you’re going to fight me, then do it with hatred in your heart. If you don’t, you’ll end up being manipulated just like I am.”

A dagger tied to a chain struck over the sky above us, the knife wrapping around Keita’s broadsword until it was rendered immobile in his hands. A slender boy with a mop of black hair and sharp amber brown eyes descended from the same sky the dagger pierced through. Nicholas successfully returned from his mission from the small town of Chocolat.

“If you want to truly let go of your love for Mika, then you’re more than welcome to do it,” Nicholas said, unsheathing a short-sword with his open right arm.

There was a brief silence, Keita exhaling through his nose. The scowl he gave Nicholas was entirely divorced from the torn anger he flashed at Mika.

“Were you not expecting that answer? You’d save yourselves both a lot of suffering.”

“I’m still wondering why you decided to involve yourself with Mika, Nicholas,” Keita said, trying to wrench control of his sword away from him.

Impressively enough, Keita’s inhuman strength gifted to him by the Fey only managed to slide Nicholas’s feet a meter.

“Why would someone incapable of love try to interfere with our love,” Keita said, through gritted teeth, snapping the binding chains with a stubborn flick of the broadsword.

“You assume just because I’m not lovesick like yourself that I’m not capable of love? Everything I’ve done was a result of caring about another person’s wellbeing. I don’t wish for a romance with Mika, but I love her all the same.”

Mika realized that everything Nicholas said was true. If he wasn’t there to guide her in this strange world, her days here would’ve been short.

“Ha. You don’t understand how deep my love is. You wouldn’t understand our struggles.”

“I understand that a love like yours is easily manipulated. The Philia Fae wouldn’t have chosen you if your love was pure, Keita. If you and Mika loved each other like you should, then you wouldn’t have been pulled into this accursed place. Now do the honorable thing, Keita, and just let Mika go.”

“You’re asking for the impossible!”

Keita’s blade changed from silver in color to a molten red, a noticeable sizzling could be heard as he steadily walked forward, with Nicholas preparing another dagger in his left hand, with his short-sword already in tow in his right hand. He used his quick foot speed to close the gap between himself and Mika.

“Mika, you said that you and Keita were once great friends, correct? I want you to dig deep for those memories of him and use them to try and fight him,” Nicholas whispered in Mika’s ear.

Mika was confused for a brief instant, but then the realization snapped into place. She and Keita weren’t always lovers, but once friends. As Keita jumped to rush Nicholas, she tried to forget the partner she forged a lot of romantic feelings with.

There was only one ancient spell she knew that’d be of any use to her right now.

“I’m sorry, Keita,” she said, peering resolutely at Keita as she mimicked the gesture that Nicholas taught her less than a month ago to perform the spell.

Keita appeared nonplussed as he geared his volcanic red blade towards Nicholas. Nicholas suddenly aimed his dagger at Keita’s feet, causing him to veer to his left a few steps. Nicholas imitated the half-heart shaped gesture that Mika performed and pressed their fingers toward the destructive blade that was poised to strike them.

The tips of their fingers ignited with a bright light that fused together to counter the cutting impact that could be felt in the air around them.

“Platonic Redemption!”

The subtle red aura that pushed back and forth against the combined white light eventually relented, sending him crashing against a tree in the rows of forest in the backdrop. The force of the impact was just strong enough to jet him past the tree that collapsed in front of him.

Mika hesitated to approach him at first.

“Nicholas, can you take care of my party please?”

“Of course, Mika,” Nicholas said, nodding.

She walked toward Keita, his subtle breathing traceable in the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

Once he woke up, the spell would start taking effect, but of course, it depended on one crucial factor that was out of her control.

He slowly cracked his eyes open. Keita smiled a bitter smile, rejecting the reset offered to him by the amnesiac spell. Mika would normally be delighted that he retained his memories, but not at the expense of his diminishing will.

“So you decided to abandon the love we built for ourselves back on our world. I would be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Keita said.

“Does this mean you hate me now?”

“No, as much as I should, I just can’t. I’m angry, but only enough to retain control. I haven’t given up on freeing the both of us from this world.”

“And I haven’t given up on the innocent people in this world. I’ve met too many people here to just leave it like this.”

“I guess that’s where we disagree.”

“I really hope we can be friends again, Keita.”

Keita scoffed before losing consciousness. Mika took this brief respite to rejoin Nicholas and her healing party. The four of them were gathered around a recently built camp site. Her feet still sore from the harrowing experience, she still chose to embrace Nicholas. It felt good to have a comforting hug like this that wasn’t charged with such intense high and low emotions.

“Thank you, Nicholas,” she said, nearly falling asleep in the comfort of his arms.

He simply smiled, gently patting her back, they’re heartbeats synchronized.

Of course, Mika hadn’t given up on the possibility of saving Keita either.

***

“Oh wow. This is amazing! I swore that the series was close to ending, but you left the story open to a lot of exciting possibilities, and it’s still somehow optimistic.”

“Aww, thanks so much, Kenta,” hugging him in an inescapable vice grip.

Suddenly she loosened her grip and our arms formed a ring when our hands interlocked.

“Wait, so you’ve read the first three volumes? They weren’t too amateurish, were they?”

“Yeah, of course! And absolutely not. I’m sure such an optimistic love story would make the Ravagers proud.”

I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance in some of the characters' descriptions to a couple people she knew in real life.

“Fumiko, are you alright now?”

“What do you mean, Kenta?”

“Have you moved on from Hiro’s disappearance? Because if not, I just want to tell you that he’s alright. He’s proud of what you’ve done, just like I am.”

“Oh, is that so? Tell him I said thank you, then,” she said, pushing her head into my chest.

“I’m not joking, you know. I literally saw him before coming over here.”

“I know, Kenta. I know you wouldn’t lie to me. I’m just over it now. I’ve finally found the answer to what the meaning of universal love is.”

I looked down at her, her eyes peering up from the depths of my chest.

“And what is the meaning of universal love, Violet,” I asked her, smiling.

“I was always the most comfortable with you when I treated you as a more intimate friend. For me, the meaning of love for me is just spending time with you as I always have, without the conceit of the dating process. And I guess for your sake, the occasional kiss. That is, if you want that part of romantic relationships.”

“As a normal guy, yes, I’d love that. But you don’t have to feel pressured to always do that for me. Do it whenever it feels right for you, Fumiko.”

“Then how about now, then?”

Without a chance to lean in, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against mine. Noticing that she was struggling to keep her balance, I propped her up with my arms, and then I returned her assertive kiss with a kiss of my own.

“I’ll be happy to receive those every so often, for as long as we continue loving each other.”