I love you

—Oh yeah, here. —I take the present out of my back and give it to Akari-chan —. I hope you like it, I wasn’t sure what to give you but…, well, you’ll see.

—Oh! Thank you, Yukki! Can I open it?

—Sure.

Akari opened the present and inside of it was a white scarf, she took it and wore it right away.

—How does it look?

—You look great, these days that we were hanging out, I saw you without wearing one of these and covering your neck with your jacket.

—Yeah haha, I didn’t want to borrow yours either since you were to get a cold too, thank you, Yukki.

—Anytime.

—I have something for you too.

—Really?

Akari took a small box out of his purse, I took it and looked at her as she smiled and nodded at me. When I opened the box, it was a digital watch, it was black and the LEDs were white.

—Akari?!

—Surprise! —Akari took it out of the box and made me wear it —. Don’t worry about the price, I really wanted to give you something special.

—You didn’t have to…

—Well, it broke terrible at the park.

—Those ducks aren’t at all friendly.

Akari smiled again and she rested her head on my arm, I was smiling when I saw the window, the mood was so good that I could fall asleep easily. After 30 minutes, we got off the train and Akari-chan kept dragging me with her, she was very enthusiastic.

After these months, Akari’s mood became more joyful, she was constantly smiling and telling me about her day, I was feeling like the luckiest man in the world, but if I wanted to make that permanent, I needed to make something about it.

When we exited the train station, we arrived at the location Akari-san wanted, it was the festival of lights, we were holding hands as we were admiring the scene.

—I used to come here every Christmas Eve when I was younger, but I stopped coming after a while —Say Akari-chan as we were walking slowly.

—I haven’t been here since I was a kid either. I focus on other things.

We were looking at the giant’s tree.

—When was the time that you learned Santa wasn’t real?

—I think it was when I was about 8 years old

—Mine was at 6, you were lucky, Yukki, it was hilarious, mom said that I need it to go to sleep and then my dad slipped on the stairs and I saw him wearing a Santa costume.

—Ah, hahaha, mine was something… peculiar.

—Tell me, tell me.

—Well, I asked for a very expensive console… and my dad told me that they couldn’t afford it and then they gave a lecture and explained to me that my dad was Santa all along.

Akari started to laugh as we continued walking.

—Your mom sounds like she was a good woman.

—Yeah, she was, I’m glad I get to know be with her to keep her in my memories after my childhood, the only thing I regret is that she couldn’t teach me all about the housework, but that’s my father’s fault too, it was a pain learning everything since him all the job and didn’t want me to help at all.

—Now I get why people say everything is about perspective…

I look at the house lights and make Akari-chan look at them as well.

—What do you mean?

—My parents and my brothers make me do all types of stuff, like knowing how to cook, how to clean my clothes, although they do everything now, but it was lecture after lecture.

—Seems like your parents are fun, I want to meet them.

—They want to meet you as well, after everything we pass it’s hard not to get your name in the house.

—Haha, I’m guilty.

—Well, everything turns out good, so, I’m glad that you are better, Akari-san.

We were passing down a giant breach of lights above us.

—This is gorgeous.

—It is really crazy how they do this every year.

—You could say it is the Christmas effect, I can’t remember a bad Christmas for me.

—I’m glad to hear that.

—Ah, I didn’t mean to.

—It’s ok, most of my Christmases were happy too, it really is a magical day, everyone gets reunited with the people they care and love, they have dinner together, it’s just a reminder of how special bonds are.

—You should look at my house right now. I bet they are preparing food and having a great time, well, my parents and my sister, my brother went to a party.

—You are a party guy, Yukki?

—Me? Nah, I’m more of a shut-in person, I have been to parties but they are not for me, I prefer chilling in my room with my friends as I enjoy some fresh cooked meals from my mother.

—And you want to do that now?

—Eh?

Akari laughed and grabbed my arm.

—Is really easy to mess with you.

—You have been more of a joker these days… I feel really glad right now.

—Yukki?

—I know you were teasing me, but, right now, I really want to stay by your side, passing time with you is a lot of fun after all.

I smiled at her and she stopped looking at me, she continued walking and we went silent for a few minutes.

—You know, everything went well since the day you visited me, it was like, if you were rescuing me from the dark, I really had my vision blur.

—I only did what another person would do.

—That’s a lie, Yukki, you search for an entire unknown neighbor, you remember everything I say to you, and you keep searching and wait for me in my apartment, nobody would do that.

I didn’t know what to respond, I just kept quiet and kept listening to what Akari-chan wanted to say.

—When I first met you at work, I really didn’t know what to think of you, you kept staring at me and I kind of creeped out, then we visited the same place and I thought you were some stalker or something.

—Yeah, I remember that, haha…

—The way you panic was so hilarious.

—It wasn’t for me tho, haha

—The moment you saw the places you were going, and you went to the arcade as you say, I knew that you weren’t a bad guy, even after losing you didn’t lose your cool, and we kept talking. I think that’s the moment I fell in love with you.

—Eh?

I stopped to look at Akari, turned towards me, the lights made her eyes glow and her smile brighter, my heart started racing and my face was feeling hot as the second passed.

—You think I was going to give a number to anyone? And in that way? You were really fun to tease, I wanted to know more about you, but I think I was feeling something for you already, and at the moment you take care of me, I couldn’t think others think that, I’m glad you find me, even if my mind was struggling, just seeing your face was keeping me for calm, I think that’s why I collapsed when I saw you.

I was stunned by what I was hearing, so I took a few steps towards Akari.

—I really was in love with you, the moment I first saw you, but I didn’t want to develop anything, I wanted to make sure first, and I didn’t want to have bad feelings towards you if you weren’t looking for something like that.

Akari stood in front of me and took one of my cheeks and saw me directly in my eyes.

—You are the light of my life, Yukki, I don’t have friends, I was alone, and at the moment I most need it, you appear, I think I wouldn’t work out if it was someone else, but you, Yukki, I love you.

In the eyes of Akari, tears started to come out of her eyes, and mine as well.

—I love you too, Akari

I held the check of Akari with my hand as she was leaning towards me. When we were a few centimeters apart, we both hesitate, we look directly at our eyes, we're breathing so close that if was like is our breaths were combined

—You always make me blush really badly, Yukki, now it’s my time.

Akari took me with both of her hands and closed her eyes, she kissed me. I closed my eyes as well, I held her by her waist and then we separated. Akari gave me another kiss and then separated from me again. This time I kissed her instead and we separated again. We started laughing, cleaning the tears off each other.

I took her hand and continue to walk seeing the spectacle of lights