It was a moonlit night.
A golden moon hung in the sky, reigning over the stars like their king, and lit the earth with light so strong one almost forgot what time it was.
The park was situated a few minutes' walk past the Green Light Amusement Park.
By the time the viridian yellow fence of the park came into view, my breath was so wild and faint that I expected to really faint any moment.
I checked the time on my watch. It was just past ten, which was reasonable because I had returned home once, taken a shower and put on a change of clothes.
When we were sitting on the bench, my manager called me to fill in her place, it was an emergency so I had no choice but to immediately go there and leave Naruki. She said 'it's fine and let's just go on a date after your work.'
Well, I had wanted to go to the park right after finishing work, but Naruki had stopped me.
She insisted on a neat appearance for our first date.
Leaving aside the essential fact about finding Natsumi, She asked me to a date, I had accepted her suggestion. And it had been the right thing to do.
I had needed to compensate her for doing what I asked her to do and that is to go on a date with her in return.
I reached the entrance of the park. It was nothing special; just a small space with some, blocks, flowers, trees and playground equipment sparsely scattered around. The only object that stood out was a man bronze statue near the cliff.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Fresh air filled my lungs. I slowly exhaled, checked my left surroundings for the last time, and entered the park.
"—Satoro-kun, I'm here!"
I squinted my eyes in the direction of the voice.
"Sigh, I'm glad you came early, I thought I was going to wait here for at least two hours but you came here early on time, hehehe.."
When I grasped her figure with my eyes, I couldn't help but hold my breath. A snow white Naruki was sitting on the top of the red jungle-gym.
"Wearing all black truly suits you, Satoro-kun."
Except for the white shirt I wore under my jacket, I was indeed clad all in black.
Naruki giggled, "But that is exactly what I expected, so I matched my clothes to yours and dressed myself all in white."
She wore a white dress and white pumps. She had also draped a semi-transparent white shawl around her shoulders and adorned her hair with a white ornament.
From my perspective, snow white Naruki was holding the moon on her shoulders.
"Shall we start our date, then?"
Naruki Minami crossed her legs and leaned on her elbow, her head slightly tilted. A lock of her beautiful pink hair curled down to her mouth.
It was a dreamlike scene, only I can see in the anime is right before my eyes. I quickly shook my head to rid of the impression.
"…the day after you asked me to go out with you, you said that you're going to make me fall in love, right?"
"Yes," she nodded.
"You also said that it was fine for me to make a decision after we had to know each other better and then you vanished after that day, right?"
"Yes," she squinted an eye.
"Unfortunately, I still don't understand you very well. I don't know why you're doing this, I also don't know why you like me and
I think we're still quite far from a date."
I have so many questions, but should I really ask her? I am really confused, making myself think about it won't do anything so...I guess I'll just ask the necessary things.
"What exactly do you want to know from me then?"
—"Everything," I almost answered. But judging by her confident smile, there was only one thing to say.
"You disappeared after a year, what exactly happened to you? You never contacted me after the last text you sent to me."
The next moment, she leaped from the top of the jungle-gym into the dark blue sky.
Her shawl spread out to both her sides like the wings of a swan, then she landed softly like a feather that fell from those wings.
"Well... It's a bit simple. After the day I confess to you, I came to my mother and ask her to stop treating me like a guy," She lowered hed head and looked down on the ground.
"She can't accept it and so I cut ties with my family, they decided that they'll only accept me if I managed to live on my own without their help, and that's why I came back here after a year, I studied in an all girls school, become independent, changed myself and decided to become someone who can be your dream girl, Satoro-kun."
Something is bothering me almost from the beginning," I began, "I don't know how it feels to be in control of your parents but for what I've heard, it feels like you'd been disowned and you're as calm as if you were talking about complete strangers."
Naruki put on a slightly doubtful expression.
"Do you think so? I'm eighteen and not of the age to be dependent on my parents anymore, am I not? Isn't the distance between parents and teenager quite similar in other households?"
I immediately objected strongly even though I shouldn't be doing so, "No, it isn't."
Naruki sealed her mouth and scowled at me.
"Oh come on, there's clearly something strange. I mean, your mother forced you to live on your own just because you want to change, If you're a family, shouldn't they let you and still accept you?"
Naruki widened her eyes for an instant.
Do you know why my first question was about your actions after your confession? It's because I hoped you would say that you just get tired of me and leave, like what everyone else is doing to me. But it turns out the other way around...
"Are you fine with it? Don't you resent them?" I asked. I absolutely don't know what to said so I just went and asked it.
"I didn't hate my parents, you know? Honestly. It is just that the Naruki family was built around the idea of individualism. It was an unwritten rule that we stayed
out of each others' business. In fact, it was only because of that rule that we were able to remain a harmonious family."
As if reminiscing, Naruki narrowed her eyes slightly.
"I was already able to do anything on my own when I was still young. My mother, too, would have had no problems living without my father. As for him, he merely sustained the budget to fulfill his role as the man of the house, but he didn't interfere in the household itself. Whether you believe it or not, when I was young I thought of him only as a kind hearted uncle who gave us money."
Her smile bent in self-deprecation.
"Just as you noted, I did not think about stopping my mother."
With a powerless smile, she cast her eyes down.
"I was able to accept before that I am a guy but...
She clenched her fist, her white fingers digging into her palm.
"If I had been raised in a different kind of family, I might have acted differently."
Naruki raised her face.
"But you know," she said with a vacant voice, "That's the way I have been brought up since the moment I was born."
Her eyes were breathtakingly clear. There was not a particle of regret in her honest and majestic appearance. In my opinion, Naruki Minami was strong.
But at the same time she was just as lonely.
During that moment of sublimity, she was beautiful and ephemeral like a mirage, setting butterflies in my stomach aflutter.
"Weren't you lonely?"
She promptly answered my question with a shake of her head. "Not at all," she smiled.
Relying on no one seemed like a lonely life to me. She herself, however, claimed she had not been. Well, I guess, I'm the lonely one here.
"Even now?" I posed my denied question once more. "Are you still not lonely even now that your parents have disowned you and apparently, they died in a plane crash?" Yeah, it was reported before on the news, I thought Naruki was with them but I found out that her name was not included on the victim.
I found that to be an awfully desolate way of life. Maybe I was just seeing things, but Naruki seemed lonely to me as she sat there wordlessly.
The next moment she put on a slightly awkward smile and looked up at the night sky. The moon reflected in her eyes gave them a bright shine.
When she returned her gaze to me, she declared, "I am not lonely—"
The teasing attitude she usually had toward me was absent.
"—because you are here for me now, Satoro-kun."
I saw that neither in her eyes nor on her lips was a smile. She was entirely serious.
This was the memorable moment in which finally succeeded in freezing her smile.
The time was about to strike eleven.
She had no strong motive to lie to me and messed me. At least, I could find none.
Furthermore, my view that Naruki Minami was not a girl and would never do something like that bitch because she's way too different from her had already become an unshakable fact for me.
And yet her parents were no more....
I whispered, "…I don't know how to describe this feeling."
Which words would be appropriate?
I stood up from the railing because I couldn't sit still anymore and strolled into the park on my own, leaving her behind.
While ordering my thoughts, I walked slowly and deliberately felt the ground under my feet with each step. My legs led me subconsciously towards the cliff with a good view over the town.
At last I reached the boundary between park and cliff.
The boundary was marked by a rusty, viridian yellow fence a little higher than my waist. I bent over it and looked down. I figured that it wouldn't take much to fall over it and down the steep slope.
I rested my crossed arms and my chin on the fence, which caused the entire fence bordering the park to bend towards one side a little. I looked down at the town.
The town filled my field of vision with all its shining lights. It was far from the stunning skyline of a city at night, but I was still deeply moved when considering my hometown.
Despite its small size, there was always something going on. That night, too, there must have been a black sports-car driven by that man somewhere down there. Was the cherry-addict still up? That little girl who resembled a pygmy marmoset(Toka) was definitely already a resident of dreamland.
The faces of various people I knew crossed my mind like a slideshow.
Isn't it captivating? This is what I meant to show you, Satoro-kun."
The person who flashed up last and by far most vividly was in sync with the person who was beholding the town right by my side.
A chilly gust ruffled her hair. She hugged herself because of the coldness.
That scene reminded me of that rainy day when she had been in her cold, wet uniform. But it's definitely not the same, she was a pretty guy back then after all.
There was no way I could forget how in that night I had asked her why people do things when it's not really necessary. Of course, I hadn't forgotten her answer, either.
The instant I recalled that answer, my body spontaneously started to tremble, followed by a chuckle of mine.
"…This view is not that bad." I whispered.
She only commented calmly, "I see."
"At last, I finallly found the answer what made you asked me to go on a date with you, though it become like this, hahaha.."