#shurise

Rise smiled, wistful. She knew, though there was one other meaning that made her romantic self long to give them to that boy a year older than her—true love. Maybe he would finally realize her feelings for him.

“Would you like to get them, miss?”

Rise shook her head, rising from her crouch and dusting off her clothes. Turning to the shopkeeper with a bright smile of her own, she said, “I’m looking for something that’ll brighten up a room.”

***

A small bouquet of sunflowers now nestled between her hands as she made her way to the station, their long yellow petals bright under the light of the setting sun. Here, the florist had said. They’ll brighten your day. Had it been that obvious that she was feeling melancholic? She looked down to find the flowers staring back, as though trying to give her an answer. Her lips parted into a smile.

Maybe they really did have magic.

Rise brought the flowers to her face and inhaled the sweet scent. Her grandmother would love these.

“Rise?”

Rise looked up and saw a certain upperclassman with steel gray hair not six steps in front of her. “Y—Yu-senpai?!” Rise couldn’t keep the squeak out of her voice.

Yu smiled at her and she felt more heat creeping up her face.

“Are you here alone?” he asked.

Rise nodded. She waved her sunflower bouquet in front of him. “Bought some flowers for grandma,” she said, and then she looked at him, half-expecting to find the other boys coming up from behind, yelling at him to wait, but there was no one else. Yu was alone.

“What about you, Senpai?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”

A slight pause and a distinct scratch to the back of his neck before he said, “Just some things.” Yu averted his eyes, suddenly finding an interesting spot at a nearby store awning.

Rise blinked, feeling her grin widening at his obvious fluster. “Are you hiding something, Senpai?” she asked. Closing the distance between them, she peered up at his face.

Yu’s dark gray eyes captured her. She noticed the widening of his pupils and realized how close they were. She could almost see her reflections in them, grinning mischievously. And maybe she was being mischievous, probing him with questions she knew would get her farther away from hearing what she wanted. That no, he wasn’t on a date, that she was being ridiculous for even thinking so, that she didn’t have anything to worry about because he had always known how she felt and had always felt the same way. He would never forget about her.

Yu didn’t back away, and neither did she. She could almost feel his breath, smell the scent of pine trees on his clothes. A clearing of his throat brought her back to the present and Rise blinked, leaning back on her heels.

“Are you going home?” he asked. She nodded and he smiled. “Wanna go home together?”

She had thought he would only accompany her throughout the train ride to Inaba, but Yu insisted on walking her all the way to her, even after she told him he didn’t have to. It was a wonder how Rise managed to keep her emotion in check throughout their long walk—her face kept threatening to smile. So she talked about anything and everything to distract herself while he listened. But what started as a light conversation about their days gradually moved closer to the topic of their school, and when they talked about school, it naturally led to talks about their friends, and finally to his transfer.

Rise went quiet. Yu would leave once the semester ended. They only had a couple more weeks.

Just tell him how you feel, Chie had told her.

Easier said than done. How many times had she told him how she felt over the course of the year? How many times had she teased him, hinted that what she felt was real? Yu had never taken them seriously. What difference would it make now?

“Here we are.” His soft voice drew her out of her thoughts and the dark storefront of the Marukyu Tofu Shop stood before her.

“Well,” Yu half-turned, giving her one of those easy smiles, “Bye—”

“Senpai!”

Her voice was too loud, echoing off the pavement in the darkness, surprising even herself. When she looked, Yu was staring at her, eyes wide in surprise.

Be genuine, Yukiko had said.

Rise opened her mouth—

—only for the words to fail her.

Yu tilted his head to the side. “What is it?”

Night had fallen. The dim lights of the streetlamps lit his face in a way that made him seem to glow. The soft bangs falling over his forehead. His strong, high cheekbones. He was too beautiful to her, too precious. She didn’t want him to leave.

Her cheeks strained in what she hoped was her best smile. “Be safe on your way home, Senpai.”

He stared at her, brow creasing for a fraction of a second, but he didn’t pry, and after a while, he said, “It was nice seeing you again, Rise.” Rise blinked. He smiled a wistful smile and she realized this was the first time they had seen each other in a while. A lump formed at the back of her throat.

Yu lingered before he bid her goodbye, just a moment too long, like how her fans wouldn’t leave before she left. But Yu wasn’t like any of her fans, and these little gestures were the things that made her hope for the what-ifs and maybes.

***

Rise watched until Yu’s back was engulfed by the night before she trudged inside her home. Her grandmother came out of the kitchen by the time she had reached the living room, placing her sunflowers in a glass vase and filling it with water. When her grandmother saw it, she beamed. “That’s lovely, Rise.”

Rise smiled, placing the vase on a table at the corner, between the window and TV. “You don’t mind me placing it here?”

“No, not at all.” A shuffle of feet and a moment later, her grandmother joined her by her side. Silence fell as Rise watched her gently caress the soft yellow petals. But then her grandmother asked, “Narukami-kun, was it?” and Rise’s heart, which had begun to find its peace again, jumped at the name. “I heard he’s leaving soon. Is it true?”

She froze.

Thoughts of his transfer had plagued her for weeks. Everyone was sad knowing he would leave, but every time Rise saw Yu walk down the school corridor or waved at her from across the street, she couldn’t stop her heart from constricting in pain and after a while, she found it easier to just avoid him. It had gotten so bad that her usually cheerful self turned pensive every time she joined the others for Yu’s farewell party preparation.

A soft touch to her hand—her grandmother smiled at her, soft and gentle, as if she knew, despite never saying anything.

“It’ll be all right,” her grandmother murmured.

Rise heard the crack before she felt it—a painful gash deep within her heart—and tears sprang to her eyes. She desperately tried to blink them away. She would not cry. She’d told herself not to cry. But her hands began to shake and the effort to keep her emotions repressed seemed insurmountable.

Her grandmother drew her into her arms, strong and warm. A single sob escaped her lips, shaking her to her core, and any resolve Rise had to stay strong fell apart.

There, there, her grandmother whispered. It’ll be all right. She patted her shoulder and whispered soothing words to her ear, while Rise clutched at her back, the tears she had been holding back for weeks streaming down her cheeks one by one.

***

It gave her a catharsis she didn’t realize she needed. Rise didn’t know how long she stayed with her head on her grandmother’s lap, long after her crying ended and she stared into space. It reminded her of the times when she was younger, when her grandmother would hum a lullaby or tell her a story, patting her shoulder to lull her to sleep.

It gave her peace, and courage.

“Don’t dwell, Rise,” her grandmother said. “Even though he’s leaving, that doesn’t mean you can’t see him again, right?”

Rise stared at her grandmother, blinking away the stray tears from her eyes. Her grandmother was right. Why had she never realized that? Of course, her heart was still heavy every time she thought of Yu leaving, but when Chie and Yukiko got everyone together to prepare for the farewell party, Rise found herself smiling more, and laughing more, that Chie even noted that she seemed happier lately.

However, even as Rise slowly found a state of acceptance, when her phone rang early on the next weekend and Yu’s name flashed across the screen, her heart leaped into her throat, caught between excitement and apprehensiveness. She picked it up before the first ring ended.

“Hello?”

“Are you home?” His voice sounded soft and slightly husky to her ear. A smile spread across her face.

“Yeah.”

“Are you free?”

She checked the clock on the wall. It was 8 AM. She promised her grandmother she would tend the store later because her grandmother wanted to visit an ailing neighbor. “I need to tend the store around ten.”

A pause. “Okay,” she heard him say. “Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?”

“What?”

He chuckled. “See you then.”

The call barely began when it ended and Rise watched as her phone screen went dark. See you then? She let the short conversation sink in.

Did he just ask her out on a date?

Rise laughed at herself, even as she pushed herself to her feet and went to her room with a little spring in her step

It wasn’t a date, she thought, opening her drawer and grabbing a change of clothes: a pair of jeans and a warm fluffy white turtleneck.

The others would probably meet them somewhere, she told herself as she pulled her hair back into its twin tails and clipped them into place.

Rise was putting on her jacket when she heard the unmistakable sound of a motor engine approaching her house. Her grandmother was calling for her by the time she reached the front door. Yu was standing there, his breath clouding over from the chill in the air, smiling at her approach.

“Are you going somewhere?” her grandmother asked as Rise kissed her on the cheeks in goodbye.

“I’ll be back before ten,” was all she said before waving her hand and following Yu out the door. She thought they were only going to someplace near, but Yu’s scooter waited outside and Rise had to think otherwise.

“Where are we going exactly?” she asked, catching the spare helmet Yu tossed to her.

Yu’s reply was only a grin. “You’ll see.”

***

Wind whipped at her as Yu sped his scooter up the path to the mountains. Past the hilltop overlooking the town and farther still, until the smooth asphalt turned to gravel and dirt, and the trees turned to pine. Inaba was a small quiet town, where everyone knew everyone else, and you rarely heard any cars zooming past. But there was an underlying bustle different from the city that Rise only realized as Yu brought her deeper into the mountain. This was a sort of quiet she hadn’t experienced before, not when her life in Tokyo had consisted of her, her agency, and her fans.

Rise had her arms wrapped around his waist since he told her to hang tight when he started the engine, and being like this, this close, in a world where there was only him and her and the soaring trees and distant birds, Rise didn’t want this to end. She lay her head against his warm back and breathed his scent. Pine trees and winter. Rise surreptitiously tightened her arms around him. She wished he wouldn’t leave.

They reached their destination a little after they entered the mountains. At a split on the road, Yu took the path that veered off the main, leading them to a narrow and unstable one between trees and he had to slow down. The trees slowly gave away, until finally she finally saw a break up ahead.

“Where are we?” Rise asked, getting off his scooter and taking her helmet off.

Yu answered with a smile and an offering of his hand. It was such an offhanded gesture, so natural he didn’t seem to have put much thought behind it. Yet her heart still soared, even as she told herself not to think too much of it. She took his hand, hiding a smile threatening to break free, and let him lead her past the break in the trees.

Sunlight blinded her for the first couple moments, her hand reaching up to cover her eyes. The wind felt stronger here, the air chillier. A shiver ran down her spine. Rise regretted she hadn’t brought a scarf or worn a warmer jacket.

Yu let out a quiet breath. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She adjusted her eyes to the light as she slowly brought her hand down. The sun hung low from a clear, cloudless sky. She could feel its heat slowly seeping into her bones. There were no trees or buildings anywhere in sight, just the open sky and a vast rolling hill, stretching as far as her eyes could see.

Rise blinked in astonishment. Small flowers, ones she had seen in the pots at the florist ready to take home, dotted the pale green field in clusters of azure blue. She let out a quiet gasp.

“The jeweler told me about this,” Yu went on. “A flower field in the Inaba mountains, where the flowers would often bloom a little early.” He chuckled under his breath. “He’s right.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said. She felt a gentle squeeze on her hand and she looked down, only realizing that their hands were still linked. Rise giggled to herself. “This feels like a date.”

“This is a date,” Yu replied with a chuckle.

Rise went still. She looked up from their hands and found Yu’s gray eyes already gazing at her with that softness that made her heart skip a beat.

“Here.” He rummaged in his jacket pocket and withdrew a small blue box. “I bought this for you.”

Rise blinked in surprise. She accepted the gift with trembling hands, her heart throbbing in her chest. Part of her waited for the gag, for Yosuke or Teddie or anyone to appear from behind the trees and shout surprise! But no one came, and it was just her and him and the field of blue flowers.

“Open it.”

She did. Inside was a necklace—a small blue flower linked to a silver chain. Tears burned at the back of her eyes and she tried so hard to stop it. She wanted him to see her smile, because she was happy and her heart was full and he gave her a gift she had never expected to receive.

The first tear rolled down her cheek, and Yu’s hand was already there to wipe it away.

“I wanted to buy you a bouquet.” Her voice came out as a whisper and she struggled to keep it steady. “That day I bought flowers for my grandma, I wanted to buy you a forget-me-not bouquet. I wanted to tell you I love you, and ask you not to forget me even after you leave.”

Yu slowly took her hand in his and squeezed. “That day we met in Okina City? I was coming back from the jeweler when you suddenly appeared in front of me,” he said with a soft chuckle under his breath. “I was out of my mind with worry. I wanted to surprise you.” Rise choked back on a sob, caught between a laugh and a cry. She met his gaze and saw a fondness in his smile she would not forget. “Sorry it took me so long to give you a proper reply.”

Rise blinked away the tears blurring her eyes and laughed like she had never laughed before. She threw her arms around him on instinct and smiled to his chest. “Do you know what the flowers mean, Senpai?”

His arms went around her, drawing her close, enveloping her in a warmth that drove away the coldness of the morning air. “Of course,” he murmured with a soft touch of his lips against her hair that only made her smile grow. “I love you, Rise.”