Tight Embrace

“Hey Ichika, thanks again for doing this.”

“It's no problem at all. I’m the one that made you postpone your plans yesterday so I wanted to make up for it, and besides it's really endearing to watch you two interact.”

“Oh… did you hear that Minori?”

“Yeah yeah yeah. Don’t let it get to your head now.”

A big smile widens across Haru’s face as he tilts his head and looks over at her.

“Too late!”

She playfully rolls eyes at him and looks over at Ichika.

“Don’t you think we got here too early? The sun didn’t even rise yet.”

“Not at all. This is the perfect time of the day to get the ultimate romantic experience out of your hot air balloon ride. It's the blue hour right now.”

“What’s the blue hour?”

“It's the time of day right before the sun rises and after it sets. The sky is illuminated from the indirect sunlight beyond the horizon as light is scattered through the atmosphere which gives us a nice blue sky.”

“You know, I’ve never really paid attention to how blue the sky really is at this time of day.”

“Yeah it's like a blank canvas for the sun to paint our day onto.”

They walk over to the hot air balloon Ichika had prepared. It was adorned with a red and black mosaic like design.

“You guys can get in whenever you’re ready and I’ll follow.”

They each hop into the giant wicker basket that concealed a sturdy metal frame beyond its surface. Above their heads was the huge rip-stop nylon balloon with a massive burner sitting within its mouth.

“Off we go you lovebirds.”

Minori makes a pouty face at her.

“Hey, quit it Ichika.”

“Don’t bother listening to her. Minori always acts bashful like this but I know it doesn’t bother her that much.”

Minori’s face blushed as she glared at him.

“As adorable as you two are, I’m going to give you a bit of privacy. You can act like I’m not even here. I’ll just be here piloting and minding my business.”

Ichika pulls out a large pair of headphones and slips them on as she trunks away from them smiling.

“Wow that’s quite the wingman you got yourself there Haru. What a lucky guy you are.”

“Yeah you got that right. I’m really grateful to her. She’s been a huge help to me with all of these adventures you and I have gone on.”

Ichika cracked a smile as she placed her headphone back across her ear.

“But that’s enough about her, I came up here to share this romantic scenery with you.”

As they rose in altitude the view grew more and more spectacular. Below was a lush sea of green that drifted off toward the distant mountains where it met with the blue of the sky.

“The view from up here truly is breathtaking. I guess it feels different from all of our other views because it's so serene being in this hot air balloon.”

As they gaze off into the distance, the sun rises from the horizon. Golden light bloomed across the sky and poured across the landscape.

“Oh wow.”

They both became mesmerized by the magical view ahead of them as they ascended high into the open sky.

“We’re so high up right now. There isn’t a single cloud in sight. It kind of makes you want to skydive down doesn’t it?”

Haru looked at her with a proud smile.

“Looks like I’ve officially turned you into an adrenaline junkie huh?”

“Yeah I guess you have.”

“And the crazy thing is that I already had planned for us to do that. Look down in the corner of the basket over there.”

On the ground lay a parachute and a tandem passenger harness.

“I guess I’m starting to think a bit like you too.”

“Well what are we waiting for?”

Haru secures the parachute to himself as Minori places her harness on. Just before he could attach their harnesses together she jumps up and sits on the ledge of the hot air balloon’s basket.

“Haru… make sure you catch me ok?”

She throws herself backwards and dives into the sky.

“Minori!”

Haru’s eye nearly bulged out of his head in shock. He wasted no time diving straight after her. She was directly below him with her arms and legs spread out to take in that pure rush of joy as the wind wisped across her body fighting against the gravity pulling her down. Haru, having shot down like a speeding bullet from the balloon spread himself out to slow down before latching on to her. He remained in that tight embrace through their descent even after he attached their harnesses. When the time came he pulled open his parachute and grabbed hold of the stabilizers.

“So were you trying to give me a heart attack before my time is up?”

“I didn’t think you would get that scared by it. I do have magic after all.”

“Magic or not, it's only natural for me to worry about someone I care so deeply for. Please don't ever scare me like that again.”

Her cheeks grow rosy.

“I’m really sorry Haru. I didn't mean to make you worry so much.”

“It’s fine, I’m just glad you’re alright. I’m pretty sure it would’ve been hard to conjure anything at that speed anyway.”

“Yeah I hadn’t thought it through that much since I knew you would catch me.”

They slowly drift through the sky until gracefully landing in an open field.

“You know, even with that heart attack you tried to give me, I still enjoyed myself. Now all that’s left for us is our festival date tomorrow.”

“Yeah… I’m really looking forward to it.”