Chapter Fifteen – Symphony of Starlight

 A World without Misery (Interitus 1: Book 0)

Chapter Fifteen – Symphony of Starlight

 

“Hatasuko, can you hear me? Hatasuko, are you there?” asked a soft voice.

“Adishina, is that you? I haven’t heard from you in so long! It’s funny, I actually feel a little compelled to ask how you’ve been, but I suppose there isn’t much room for anything to change. You know, since you’re dead and all,” Hatasuko answered with a quiet laugh.

“Ha, yeah… not much has changed. Well at least, nothing has changed for me. The tempest had been loud for so long that I guess you couldn’t hear my little voice in here! It’s a shame. I saw you hurting so much after Lazaro died. I wish I could have helped you, but everyone else was upset too. All the lost souls were screaming louder than I’ve ever heard. It seems that hope truly has a poisonous effect,” said Adishina.

“It seems that it does. My first victory changed the world with the crushing power of hope, but that turned out to be a mistake. Everyone thought that I would end the Interfecti, but that was just a daydream—a daydream devoured by the nightmare. I still have hope, and I still intend to save this world, but no one else needs to know that. No one else needs to have hope; that’s the way it has to be because there’s a very real chance I could fail. Even after my latest victory, I still accept that I might fail.”

“That isn’t going to happen! Didn’t you once say that you won’t give reality the choice to disagree with you? You know that this is your destiny.”

As he listened to the soft voice of the lost soul at the edge of the tempest, Hatasuko realized that in a way, Adishina served as a messenger for the miserable souls in the tempest. Though his recent victory had done nothing to mollify their hopelessness, they still supported him. They still shared his dream.

Hatasuko answered, “You’re right. I wish I was a more consistent person, but it feels like I dance between optimism and realism, and that’s a rather sharp boundary. Every time I realize my own powerlessness, I remember my destiny and the words of my mother. But every time I step too far into the hope that I could actually change anything… well, never mind. Anyway, can I ask you why the tempest is so quiet right now? It seems strange. Not even my last victory seemed to stop the screaming abyss.”

“You really don’t know? Open your eyes, just for a moment.”

            Hatasuko opened his sleepy golden eyes and glanced at the front of the sail-rana. The sail was fully expanded, the boat charged along the smooth desert floor, and the starlight pulsed down upon him. He then realized that he felt a very warm presence on his chest. Though he sat in the backseat of the large sail-rana as usual, Vaida sat beside him with her arms wrapped around his stomach. Her sleeping head rested on his chest. Even in this semiconscious state, his right hand was tangled in her hair. He combed his fingers through her hair, gently enough that she did not wake up, but noticeably enough that she smiled in her sleep. Hatasuko closed his eyes again and returned to the edge of the tempest.

“It looks like you’ve found the one who takes your pain away,” Adishina said.

Hatasuko could sense an undertone of envy in Adishina’s voice as she spoke. Since Adishina had died so young, she never had the chance to experience closeness with another person. He could sense that she was reflecting on the emptiness of existing only as a lost soul.

She asked, “Are you going back home? It looks like you’re headed to the Collobos Mountains. Is this your first time going back since the day you left?”

“Yes. I am finally heading back home. I don’t have any specific business there, though we definitely need to stock up on food. Poor Vaida is on her last sack of fruit; she would go crazy if we ran out! I heard that Collobos seems to specialize in agilus meat and fruit these days after the attack, though most of the region is the same. Only a small portion was actually destroyed by the Interfectus,” Hatasuko explained to his somber friend.

Adishina said, “I want you to meet someone when you go back, but I don’t actually know if they’re still there. I died early in the attack, so I have no idea who survived and who never made it home. When I was still alive, I had one friend. She never seemed to care that I was different from the other kids, and she was wonderfully sweet. Her name is Osheida. She lived with her sister and father near the southwest part of our town. I think that their names were Aridara and Konaji. The children aren’t a big deal, since we were friends but never very close. Just companions. But I want you and Vaida to meet Konaji, her father. He is an inventor as well. It’s just an option, though. You certainly don’t have to.”

             “I’m certain she would love that! Thank you very much, Adishina. You’re always such a delight to talk to. Try to make your little voice louder; I want to hear you from the tempest more often,” Hatasuko said with a warmness in his voice.

She responded with a quiet giggle. The darkness of the tempest began to fade as a sign that he would wake up in seconds. Before the tempest transformed into starlight, Hatasuko heard her say, “You’re welcome, Hatasuko.”

With a quiet sigh, Hatasuko awakened in the sail-rana with Vaida’s arms wrapped around his big body. Despite the bumpiness of the desert floor, Vaida seemed to sleep peacefully with a smile on her face. Even in this state, her slender fingers gently gripped his arm. Since the starlit desert appeared empty in all directions, he looked down at her and smiled. For many minutes of silence, Hatasuko watched her faint smile and slowly combed his fingers through her hair. Every time his fingertips slid across the back of her neck, she gripped him slightly tighter than before.

A sudden flash of frantic worry went across Vaida’s sleeping face; her fingertips sharply clenched his flesh. Though her eyes were closed, her quivering lips were open, and her mouth formed the shape of a powerful grimace. With a voice slurred by her sleeping state, Vaida whispered, “Please run; I’m not worth it.”

Though he did not know the details of her nightmare, Hatasuko shook her enough that he startled her awake. To some extent, he felt disappointed that she could guard him from his nightmares but he could not do the same for her.

“Vaida, are you okay?” Hatasuko asked, inspecting her sweaty face with his big eyes.

“Hold that thought.”

Vaida climbed off his body, rubbed her eyes with her right hand, and then leaned over the front seat of the sail-rana. She leaned so far that her legs and feet flew up in the air; Hatasuko had to move his head just to avoid being kicked. After a moment of fumbling around, Vaida came back and sat beside him with a viridipomus in her teeth. She used no hands on the fruit, only teeth. She held an albapomus in her left hand, but she wordlessly nudged him with it until he accepted her gift. Once he did, she pulled the viridipomus out of her mouth and held what was left of it in her right hand.

“I, um, I’m sorry I fell asleep on you. I got cold,” she said sheepishly.

“Don’t apologize! Feel free to do it whenever you want,” he replied, figuring that she would prefer not to talk about her nightmare.

“I really appreciate it. You deserve every albapomus you could ever want!”

“Wow, that’s quite a compliment coming from you!” Hatasuko said with a little laugh.

Vaida gave a quiet giggle and then took another bite from her viridipomus. The juice splashed around her teeth and nearly fell from her mouth, but she moved quickly and caught the juice with her lips. A small smile arose on her face; she practically made a game of stopping the juice from dripping onto the seat.

“I think I see it up ahead! I’m not good at seeing details from a distance, but it all looks so pretty. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way… but I’m a little surprised,” she shyly said.

            Hatasuko noticed that Vaida stared intently at the northwest horizon. He looked over and saw that the Collobos Mountains had transformed the shape of the desert. Instead of a flatland which faded into starlight, the horizon was now jagged and inconsistent. The distant mountains towered over the land with a humbling size, though even the mountains varied in size. Some were small enough to show the faint outline of larger mountains behind them, but one mountain was so large that it caught his attention immediately. This was not the mountain where he had grown up, though many homes and buildings still stood on the mountainside. Every mountain looked luminous from the glow of the stars in the sky.

“You can’t actually see my hometown from here; I grew up in a place deeper into the range. But you’re still right! My town and the rest of this region recovered well from the Interfectus attack. Maybe a little too well, even,” Hatasuko explained.

As Hatasuko spoke, Vaida noticed that his voice began to turn somber at the end. She wanted to probe, but then Hatasuko climbed over and into the front seat. Vaida could feel the weight of her vehicle shifting, so with a look of alarm, she pressed her back against the backseat to keep it stable. Hatasuko grabbed the steering wheel and turned it slightly so that the sail-rana now aimed toward a dirt road that ran between two mountains.

“What do you mean?” Vaida asked with a timid voice.

As he steadied the sail-rana, Hatasuko answered, “I think the townspeople wanted to erase the memory of the monster. They buried all the evidence and rebuilt the city as quickly as they could. I guess it helps them pretend it never happened. I guess I can’t blame them. I just wish that I could see the ruins of my former life.”

“I think they’re just doing what they can to take the pain away,” Vaida said cheerfully.

Vaida knew that this explanation would satisfy him, since Hatasuko always concerned himself with eliminating sadness. However, their conversation fell quiet as the sail-rana rolled on the winding road between two mountainsides. The color of the mountains gradually transformed from brown at the bottom to white at the top, and the higher slopes of the mountains glistened in the starlight. As they continued their breakfasts of fruit, they gazed at the beautiful mountains around them. Even the road itself became afflicted with a bit of a slope, dramatically slowing down their sail-rana. 

            After a short period of eating and sailing, Hatasuko saw the familiar shape of his old town on a medium-sized mountain up ahead. The town looked exactly like it did in his memory; it showed no visible evidence that an Interfectus had attacked. He wanted to sail closer, but the slope quickly became too much for the sail-rana, so he steered off-road and then jumped out of the boat. He grabbed the vehicle with his arms so that it would not roll backward, and Vaida quickly scrambled to gather their belongings. Once she jumped out, Hatasuko turned the sail-rana on its side and walked over to his friend. She met his gaze with a shy smile, but then she distracted herself by handing out their weapons. Hatasuko hooked his whip on his back, swung his sheathed sword over his shoulder, and clasped his shield onto his back. Vaida wore her X-shaped holster and her shield on her back, though they both agreed to not carry any rocks. Hatasuko did, however, carry a small sack of gold coins.

As they walked together toward the edge of his hometown, Hatasuko noticed that Vaida seemed to zone out and veer slightly off-track. Without a word, he set his hand on her shoulder, and then she quickly moved closer to him. For the rest of the trek, they walked so closely that she occasionally brushed against him.

“This settlement looks a little big to just be a town! The homes go all the way to the top of the mountain,” Vaida said with noticeable anxiety.

“Yeah, it really is pretty big. Honestly, I’m not sure what the difference is anyway. The mountainside is long, so it’s easy to build on it. But hey, Vaida, is there something wrong?” Hatasuko asked.

Vaida looked down and away for a moment. She kept the same closeness as before, but she clenched her scarred fist and held it at her side. She stared at her fist as a way to look away from the town’s edge.

“I don’t really like cities. I, um, don’t like groups of people. They always seem to stare. A lot of people take one glance at me and then throw their eyes in another direction, like to pretend they didn’t notice. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining. I just want to be more open,” she muttered nervously.

“Thank you for telling me. I don’t know if this helps at all, but we won’t actually go far. I want to try to find someone who used to live near the edge of town. And if anyone stares, I’ll flex my arm and scare them off,” Hatasuko teased, flexing his left arm to show off his impressive muscles.

            Vaida let out something in between a giggle and a laugh. She looked up at her friend and smiled, but then she realized how close they were to the edge of the town. Vaida moved slightly so that she walked with her right side hidden by his body, but their approach still managed to capture some townspeople’s attention. Hatasuko quickly realized that the people seemed to stare at him, since he looked like a giant walking toward a quiet mountain city. He shrugged it off.

“Hello! I’m Hatasuko; I grew up in this town! Can you help me find someone? I want to find the home of a man named Konaji,” Hatasuko announced.

The townspeople stared at him for a moment with an impressed gaze of disbelief. Hatasuko could not tell if they had heard the stories of the giant man who fought Interfecti, but they still seemed friendly enough. A young woman approached them both.

“Konaji lives with his daughter just a couple blocks away. I can bring you there if you promise he won’t be upset with me for it,” she said with a warm smile.

“I don’t believe any of my business is upsetting,” Hatasuko answered friendlily.

The woman nodded and then turned around. She walked quickly toward the next block, so Hatasuko followed with Vaida right behind him. Vaida kept her eyes facing down as they walked. When they arrived at the door to the aforementioned house, the woman turned and walked away. Hatasuko thanked her, but she did not say anything. He shrugged and knocked on the wooden door. After a brief sound of rapid footsteps moving around inside, the door opened to reveal an attractive woman in the doorway. Just the movement of the opening door caused her reddish bangs to flutter. She had a smile on her soft face, and her blue eyes shimmered from the nearby candlelight.

“I don’t believe that we’ve met before. Good to meet you! I’m Aridara,” she said.

“Nice to meet you! I’m actually here to try to meet with your father. I heard that he’s an amazing inventor! Personally, I’ve got no mind for it, but I think Vaida here might love to meet him,” Hatasuko explained, spoiling the surprise.

Hatasuko and Aridara watched Vaida flinch slightly, but then a different emotion overtook her face. After the initial shock of fear, a sense of excitement arose in her eyes; a smile appeared on her face.

She asked, “Hatasuko, why didn’t you tell me-”

“Because I wanted it to be a surprise! I know how happy this stuff makes you. I guess I just wanted to see your reaction! Is that so wrong?” he said with an entertained grin.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she raved, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Though she had a giant smile on her face, Aridara stepped out of the doorway and said, “I will let him know we have visitors. Go ahead and wait inside! Make yourselves at home.”

After Aridara let her guests inside, she ran across the room and disappeared up the staircase. Hatasuko closed the door behind him and looked around for somewhere to sit, but none of the furniture looked like it could hold his weight.

            “I haven’t seen or heard anything about Osheida. I wonder if she was lost when the Interfectus attacked this city,” Hatasuko thought to himself.

A scolding voice sounded from the top of the staircase, “Honestly, Aridara, you can’t go inviting everyone into our house! What if someone sent spies? I can’t let my inventions fall into the wrong hands!”

“Daddy, nobody’s trying to steal your work! Besides, it’s so cute! The big one’s surprising his little friend by meeting an inventor. Please, dad?” spoke Aridara’s sweet voice, loudly enough for Hatasuko and Vaida to hear.

Konaji let out an exasperated groan and began walking down the stairs. His footsteps slowly became louder with every step until the bottom of his feet were visible. He slowly entered the room at the bottom of the wooden stairs with his arms folded.

“Aridara, they’re clearly spies. Look at them! One of them is obviously some human giant, and they’re both adorning all these weapons. They even have weird shields! Life’s so cruel. They finally sent their goons to take my research and lock me up. I knew it! I knew it was coming,” whispered Konaji to his daughter, again loudly enough for everyone to hear.

            “No, no, it’s nothing like that, I promise! We don’t work for anyone. Vaida and I fight the Interfecti, so we’re just used to walking everywhere with our swords! But she’s an amazing inventor, and I know she’d love to meet you. Please trust me!” Hatasuko pleaded.

Hatasuko noticed that Konaji and Aridara both flinched just from the mention of the Interfectus. They both exchanged an uneasy glance, and after a brief period of silence, Konaji sighed and closed his eyes.

“The girl may enter my laboratory, but the giant must stay behind and wait. And don’t you dare try anything with my daughter, giant! She is constantly armed with the most powerful home-defense weapon that this world has ever seen. And Vaida! Before you step foot up here, I must have your promise that you will never utter a word of anything you see here to anyone but your companion. I can’t let the spies get ahold of my research!” he instructed with maniacal solemnity.

Hatasuko and Vaida shared an amused glance. Vaida nodded, agreed, and then slowly stepped toward the wooden staircase. As she and Konaji climbed the staircase, she heard Aridara speaking in the room below. Aridara asked, “So what do you mean when you say you fight the Interfecti?”

At the top of the staircase, Konaji opened the door slowly and held it open for her, but he glared at her the whole time she walked in. In a way, it felt nice for her that someone was glaring for a reason other than her scars; she was comforted by the fact that he was clearly a lunatic. When Vaida entered his lab, she saw countless scraps and strange objects resting on the counters. She noticed a half-assembled sail-rana mast on the floor, though it seemed that Konaji had not selected a way to make it foldable. She walked over to the mast and smiled as she inspected it.

             “I assure you that I am worlds away from the ordinary inventors in this land, but even I have been captivated by the sail-rana. I do fiddle with the designs from time to time, of course. It’s hardly worth discussing! Every inventor is trying to make one,” Konaji explained, quickly turning his back on the mast.

“Can I ask what this is? It looks fascinating,” Vaida asked in her quiet voice.

“Ah, yes, the blend-shredder! Or the shred-blender. I hate naming things. As you will see, most of my inventions are meant for household convenience! This one has applications for making fruit drinks. Would you like to see it?” Konaji asked.

As soon as she heard mention of fruit, Vaida’s eyes lit up with excitement. She nodded enthusiastically, so Konaji ran toward the corner of the room where there was a metal tank. He fumbled around with it for many seconds until it released a small cloud of gas. A faint white fog lifted from it, some condensation settled on the metal, and then Konaji dipped a glass cup inside the machine. When he pulled the cup out, it was filled with very cold water, and then he quickly resealed the machine. He excitedly ran across the room, poured the frigid water in the blend-shredder, and then opened a cabinet over the counter. He kept many fruits inside the cabinet.

“Which fruits do you think might mix well?” Konaji asked quickly.

“Umm… ruberpomus… and albapomus?”

“Ha-ha! Tireless hours of research agree. Only another inventor could reach that conclusion so eaisly,” Konaji replied.

With a swift pair of knife slashes, the cores of an albapomus and ruberpomus both fell to the counter. Konaji tossed the fruit into the blend-shredder with the water, and then he sealed the top. He pushed down on the top so far that it compressed the fruit and the water at the bottom, until eventually the top clicked, locking it in place.

“Now observe, my dear! We are moments now from a spectacular new taste.”

Vaida watched with tangible excitement as Konaji grabbed the handles on the outside of the blend-shredder. He began quickly spinning the handles around in a circle with his hands; Vaida could hear the turning of gears from somewhere inside the machine. As Konaji spun the handles, a series of thin blades slashed back and forth inside blend-shredder. The blades quickly and continuously tore the fruit to shreds, bleeding the pulpy nectar into the water. After several more seconds of rapid slashing, Konaji took his hands off the handles and finally opened the top.

He said, “I have had every combination more times than you can dream, so you may have all of this.”

Vaida poured the smoothie from the blend-shredder into the cool glass cup. She stared over it for a moment in awed silence like she had to mentally prepare herself, and then she finally took a sip. Konaji watched her eyes transform from anticipative to alarmed, and then she greedily drank every last drop in the cup. Konaji tried to ask her if she liked the taste, but she grabbed the blend-shredder and jumped away from him. She poured the rest of it into the glass and quickly gulped it down without a word. When she finished, she set both items down on the counter and dropped to her knees with her hands on her face.

“So cold, so cold, so cold, so cold,” she whimpered, moving her face back and forth.

            “Ah yes, that is an inevitable consequence. You certainly can’t drink that too quickly! Is it safe to say you liked it?” Konaji asked.

“This is the greatest invention I have ever seen. You have the power to make new fruit,” she whispered with a stunned sense of awe.

“It’s quite likely my second favorite invention! I have a few investors lined up; they believe that every household in Agrideī will one day have a blend-shredder! Though I hope they can come up with a better name for it. I just have to make sure that these investors aren’t working for my enemies,” he said with a bitter glare.

“What is your favorite invention?” Vaida asked.

Konaji smiled and walked over to the opposite corner of his lab. There was a large item hidden underneath a white blanket beside the window. Vaida followed him, though she took a moment to look out through the window. The pulsing stars illuminated the mountain town, and the view was remarkably beautiful. As she looked over the left side of the window, she saw the homes and buildings ascend the mountain’s slope. In the other direction, it looked like she could gaze on forever down the mountainside.

At once, Konaji pulled off the blanket and revealed a machine that looked like an elevated chair with a footrest. However, instead of an ordinary footrest, it had two pedals with straps. The mad scientist sat down in the seat, fit his feet onto the pedals, and began pushing his feet back and forth. Just like the blend-shredder, the pedals moved around in a circle repeatedly, driven only by his muscles. Due to some hidden gear system, the spinning of these pedals began to turn a much larger wheel underneath the footrest. In just a short while, this wheel came to spin at an impressive speed.

“This invention in its current form is an indoor exercise machine, but the truth is that it can fulfill many uses inside the home. I have a contact in Lumipyla who has a pressure-driven heat chamber that cooks meat. With a clever gear system, I am certain that the spinning wheel can pressurize it! I believe that my pedal-and-gear arrangement can have many applications. I just can’t let the spies discover it first,” Konaji said with his arms crossed.

“Transportation. It can be used for movement,” Vaida whispered.

“What’s that now?” Konaji asked.

“Do you have any extra sketches of your system? I… I have an idea. I want to try something! Um, I don’t have a lot to offer you, but if it works, I’ll give you credit. You’ll be rich for sure,” Vaida said as he finally climbed off his exercise machine.

“I suppose that you may have a copy of my sketches. I shall confess that I do not know the face of my enemy, but I am certain that you are not it. My enemies aren’t clever enough to disguise themselves with scars,” said the inventor in a serious-sounding tone.

Vaida winced at the mere mention of her scars, but she focused on the idea of accessing his invention. Konaji walked over to an open cabinet and sifted around until he located the extra sketches. Once he found them, he grinned, closed the cabinet, and handed them to Vaida. She mumbled her thanks, and then they walked back together toward the staircase.

“It’s not a big deal. He didn’t mean for it sound like that,” Vaida whispered to reassure herself, though she kept her voice quiet so no one would hear.

When Vaida stepped out onto the wooden staircase and started to walk back down, she heard the echoes of Hatasuko and Aridara speaking friendlily to each other in the room below. Aridara raved on about how she thought it was amazing to meet an Interfectus-fighting giant.

“He’s probably uncomfortable. He doesn’t like people making a big deal over him,” Vaida whispered to herself.

But when Vaida reached the bottom of the staircase and looked around the room, she saw that she was wrong. Hatasuko stood in the middle of the room with his sword drawn and a big grin on his face. He didn’t even notice that she was back. He swung his sword over his shoulder and shifted his feet as if he were fighting. He reenacted his last fight for Aridara, and she watched on with an excited gaze. She watched him with her beautiful face. Vaida noticed that her face looked symmetric. Her skin was smooth, soft, and above all, it was untouched by fire.

“I’ll be at the sail-rana,” Vaida muttered with a trembling voice as she quickly exited the house; Hatasuko froze in his stance as she walked by.

            When Vaida stepped out into the street and closed the door behind her, she began jogging back to her vehicle. The sound of her running footsteps attracted the attention of townspeople and outdoor vendors, though Vaida kept her left hand on her face so that they would not stare. When she crossed from the town to the rocky mountainside, she finally removed her hand and jogged at an impressive speed. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she closed them and shook her head to suppress her own sadness. When she reached the sail-rana and quickly slowed to a stop, she realized that she could still hear the patter of running footsteps. She looked over her shoulder and saw Hatasuko running toward her as quickly as he could.

            When Hatasuko finally caught up to her, Vaida covered her face with her hands and said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I ran and-”

            “Vaida, I want to show you something. Is that alright? It’s not a long walk.”

            “Are there going to be people there?” she asked with her quiet voice.

            “No, none at all. I want to show you a place that’s very special to me. It’s a relic of my life before all this; it’s a reflection of the time when the world felt like it was endlessly big. I want to show you everything I used to know! Mountain roads, starlit rivers, the cliff where I caught my first agilus—I want to show it all to you. Will you walk with me?” he asked.

            Hatasuko could see a flash of uncertainty in her big blue eye, but then her face transformed to show a shy smile. Vaida nodded, so Hatasuko reached out with his big right hand. She timidly dropped her left hand into his, and despite the size difference, they walked quietly together down the luminous mountainside.e the size difference, they walked quietly together down the luminous mountainside, hand-in-hand.

             “I know it’s selfish for me to feel the way I do about you. I know that you’ve had a really rough past, so I definitely don’t expect you to let anyone else in. It’s a lot to carry. But I also know that I won’t feel right until you understand how much you mean to me. You may not be able to give yourself the love that you deserve, but you’re still important. Nothing in the world matters to me as much as you,” Hatasuko confessed as they walked together.

            “I… don’t know what to say,” Vaida whispered timidly as they approached a small cliff.

            Despite her words, there was a gentleness in Vaida’s voice. Hatasuko could feel through her hand that her heartbeat seemed normal. He tried to hide it, but he glanced down at her face and saw her smiling. She had a faint redness on her unscarred cheek. She looked like she felt nervous and relaxed at the same time.

            After several more minutes of walking, Hatasuko and Vaida arrived at a large cliff on the mountainside. The cliff overlooked a beautiful valley which basked in the lights and reflections of the pulsing stars. Several small rivers converged in the valley and shimmered with a bright white glow. Near the edge of the river, Vaida saw a beautiful grove of ruberpomus trees; she knew that this was the same grove that Hatasuko and his mother had discovered long ago. Together, they gazed out over the starlit valley with their hands intertwined. They stared in a state of silence. After several seconds, Hatasuko felt a pulse of nervousness in his timid friend. Her fingers began to warm up, and her lips began to quiver. 

            “I fell for you, Hatasuko. I just, um, I couldn’t find a way to tell you, since I was afraid,” she said.

            “Can I ask why you were afraid?” Hatasuko asked with a calm voice.

            “Well… I accepted long ago that I, or that, um, that someone like me, has no right. I have no right to love anyone. It was selfish. Saying something like that, almost like I want love back, when I’m just so, I guess, unlovable. Ugly and broken. Scarred. Burdensome. Unlovable,” she whispered with a shaky voice.

            “Why do you think that? You’re so hard on yourself. You just-”

            “I didn’t want to lose you just because I was feeling something that I have no right to feel. Why would you or anyone else ever-”

            “Because you’re the most wonderful woman in the world, Vaida. Please don’t feel that way about yourself! And please don’t cry,” Hatasuko said, setting his hand on her shoulder.

            Vaida suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around him. She quickly dried her tears on his shirt, though the starlight shimmered on the moisture that stained her eyes. As she held him close on the cliff beside the valley, she whispered, “I never dreamed this could actually happen. I never thought… I never imagined this could be real. I’m just so… happy.”

            Since Hatasuko towered over her, he turned and then crouched so that he held his head only slightly over hers. Without a word, they both closed their eyes and gently pressed their lips together. As the starlight made the world glow white all around them, Hatasuko tasted her lips and felt the touch of her warm skin against his fingers. He held his breath as she slowly pressed herself more closely against him. She reached one hand around his back as the other held the back of his head; he almost felt like she was holding him in place. But even with his eyes closed, even with only the starlit image of her beautiful face pressing on his eyelids, he could tell that she was smiling.

            When they finally separated their lips, Hatasuko looked at her and confirmed his suspicion. She was indeed smiling. She nervously glanced away for a moment, took a short breath, and then kissed him once again.

            “Have you ever felt something so powerful that you know it has to be true?” she asked.

“Even if you can’t see it, even if you can’t describe it, you just know that it’s real. You know that it must be real,” Hatasuko answered.

“I am not giving reality the choice to disagree with me,” said Vaida as she pulled him closer once more.

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