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i. last year of high school
“Wait, what? You’re leaving?”
“Yes and no,” Itto replies, which makes Thoma even more confused. “Obviously, we won’t go home yet. It’s only been two hours since we got here and I still have a few more games and rides to try!”
“Then what’s一”
“Hep! Let me finish first, will ya?” Itto presses his lips into a thin line at that, waiting for what Itto was going to say next. “Good. As I was saying, we’re splitting up: Ayato and I will be leaving you and Yoimiya to look around the park by yourselves.”
“What? Why?” The blond asks, eyebrows knitted together, feeling the tips of his ears burn at the mention of being alone with Yoimiya. He thinks it’s another one of Ayato and Itto’s plans to set them up together.
Thoma and Yoimiya have known each other ever since their first day in fourth grade. Others might even say they stuck to each other like glue because they were rarely seen without each other during break time or even after school hours. Then high school happened. New friends were made, their schedules and workloads were entirely different than they were before, their free time was also almost restricted to only weekends and holidays which means the opportunities to hang out didn’t come as often as they did before.
Itto groans, and was about to “knock some sense into him” when Ayato suddenly appears out of nowhere, holding corn dogs for them. “Well, for one, you’ve had a crush on her for the longest time.”
Thoma sighs, and he wonders if he should’ve just kept denying he has a crush on her until they stopped bugging him about it.
Well, it’s not like they even have to ask him to know if he did like her. Thoma was the perfect example of the proverb “actions speak louder than words'' and people would think that he doesn’t need to confess because of how obvious he was around Yoimiya, but two years later and she still has yet to have a clue about his little crush on her.
“If you’re thinking about confessing, this is probably the best time to do it,” Ayato supplies. “It’s our last year in high school.”
“We’re graduating in like,” Itto stops mid-sentence to count with his fingers, “Three months, dude! It’s about time you con一”
Just as Itto was about to finish his sentence, Yoimiya’s figure came into Thoma’s peripheral vision, and he wastes no time sticking a corn dog inside the white-haired boy’s mouth.
“Sorry for taking so long!” Yoimiya exclaims when she approaches the group, confusion crossing her features as she looked at Thoma, who still had his hand on the stick of the corn dog that was shoved inside Itto’s mouth, who had his hand on Thoma’s face to push him away.
“...What are you two doing?”
A little later after that, they told Yoimiya about the plan and went on their separate ways to which she agreed to, albeit confused as to why they had to split up. Either way, she didn’t mind. After all, it’s been a while since she got the chance to hang out with just Thoma.
“Where do you want to go?” He asks, and she turns to look at him upon hearing the question.
Yoimiya puts a finger on her lips as she looked around, deciding which ride they should go to next. To her surprise, the space shuttle ride barely had any people falling in line in front of it so she made up her mind, smiling widely as she took hold of Thoma’s hand to pull him towards the ride. “Let’s go! While there’s still no line!”
Thoma’s eyes grew wide at the sudden action, but still ran to keep up with her. Feeling warmth against his hand, he looks down at their intertwined hands and blushes, his heart pounding violently inside his chest.
He only peels his eyes away from their hands when they arrive at the entrance to look at Yoimiya as she talked to the staff; her hair was messy after hours of not retouching it, sweat trickling down her forehead to the side of her face, and most of the light make up she put on before they went to the park has faded already.
Even so, Thoma thinks she looks beautiful.
“Thoma? Hey, Earth to Thoma?”
The sound of Yoimiya’s voice snaps him out of his reverie. “Huh? Sorry, were you saying something?”
“The staff said we have to wait for a few more people before we can ride the shuttle,” she explains, looking up at him with her eyebrows knitted together. “Your face is red! Are you okay? Do you want to rest—”
“No, no, no!” Thoma interrupts her immediately, making Yoimiya jump a little. “I–I’m fine! I just spaced out a bit but I’m okay!”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely!”
Lucky for him, though Yoimiya looked like she was still unsatisfied with his answer, she decided not to push any further and brought up a different topic to kill time until they were allowed inside the ride.
The rest of their afternoon went by quickly after that—running around the park and trying all sorts of games and rides until the sun was starting to set. The two of them agreed to take turns in choosing where they were going next and it just so happens that it was Thoma who had to decide which ride will be their last before they leave the park.
After putting much thought into it, he realized there’s only one ride left that they haven’t gone to yet. The ferris wheel.
The first few moments were quiet. Neither of them talked and only sat across each other, admiring the view from their cart’s altitude. Thoma stole glances at Yoimiya every now and then, admiring her from where he sat, pink dusting his cheeks.
“If you’re thinking about confessing, this is probably the best time to do it,” he recalls what Ayato said earlier, and it made his heart beat faster. Thoma takes in a breath, lips pursed tight.
“Yoi?”
“Hm?”
“I have something I want to say.” His palms start to sweat intensely as he feels Yoimiya’s curious eyes on him, his own heartbeat ringing in his ears because of how loud it was. “The thing is…”
Thoma has seen countless confessions happen before his eyes. Some of them ended with the other person reciprocating the feelings while others… not so much. He also remembers how a few of those confessions turned friends into strangers.
Surely it won’t affect theirs, right? It’s just a crush, anyway. Nothing too serious.
“Thoma, is something wrong?” Concern laces Yoimiya’s voice, tilting her head to meet Thoma’s eyes.
“...I forgot to claim a prize from one of the staff. Can we pass by the office before we go home?”
“Oh… Sure!” Yoimiya smiles, exhaling a laugh. “For a second there I thought you were going to confess your undying love for me! Like the one in the movies!”
Thoma knows it was a joke, but maybe next time, is what he thinks, and decides to bury the thought of confessing his not-so-little crush into the back of his mind for now.
ii. two months later, first year of college
The next time, however, happens to be during the foundation week of the local college they eventually went to after graduating high school.
Did Thoma not confess for the past months on purpose? Perhaps. For the entirety of their summer vacation, every time his friends get wind that he hung out with Yoimiya, they would always expect an answer to their question, “Did you confess yet?” and his answer would always be the same:
“It didn’t feel like it was the right time! And it’s not a big deal. It’s just a small crush, anyway.”
It’s been a while since he last talked to Yoimiya and as much as the thought bothers him, he’s always known that it would happen once they got into college. Aside from the fact that they weren’t in the same class anymore, their respective buildings were located at the opposite sides of the campus, making it difficult for them to see each other even during breaks.
Yoimiya has also gotten busier after getting a position in the university’s student council body, making herself known around the campus as the officer with the refreshing and fun personality, one that the students always look forward to when it’s her turn to host the university’s events. Everyone loves her.
As for Thoma, not much has changed for him ever since they graduated. He was still adored by the elderly in his neighborhood as the sweet and hardworking child, still studies just as hard as he did during high school except now, he works for the Kamisato family as a part-time job to help his parents.
“Oi! This is the third time you spaced out just for this afternoon!” Itto’s loud voice drags him out of his thoughts. “What are you even thinking about?”
“Sorry,” he says as he sheepishly smiles at him and ignores the question. “Is Ayato here yet? Didn’t he say he was going to look for Gorou?”
The taller man shakes his head, taking a bite of the burger in his hand. “He said they’ll be here in five, though.”
“Please don’t talk while you’re eating.”
“You asked me a question first!”
Just as Itto said, Ayato soon arrives with Gorou—a new addition to their friend group and one of the members of the student council. They were carrying one cardboard box each, both filled with materials they needed for decorations.
“Sorry for taking so long! We got swamped by students trying to get a photo with Ayato,” Gorou says apologetically and scratches the back of his neck, painfully obvious that he was still shy around the group.
“It’s fine, we’re used to it,” Thoma assures him with a smile, patting his shoulder and taking the box from Gorou’s hands so they could start working already.
“Yeah, and you’d probably be just like him if you still didn’t have that crush on Yoi.”
Gorou perks up at the mention of a name he’s familiar with, eyes wide in curiosity as he glances at the three. “Yoi? Naganohara Yoimiya? From the student council?”
“Yes, that Yoimiya! They’ve been friends since they were kids and he’s had this big fat crush on her for years now!” Itto answers without hesitation and his eyes widen in surprise when he catches Thoma’s eyes piercing right through him. “What? I’m even surprised Gorou hasn’t realized it until now!”
“That is true,” Ayato butts in. His answer makes the corner of Itto’s lips curl into a smug smile, as though it’s such a big achievement to have his friend agree with him.
Thoma looks at them in disbelief.
“Have you tried confessing to her?” Gorou asks and though they knew that it was purely out of curiosity and possibly concern, Ayato shakes his head while Itto snickers at the question.
Confusion crosses the brunet’s expression, not sure whether he should be worried or not because of the differences in their reactions. Fortunately, Thoma reassures him again with another pat on the shoulder.
“I did try to confess, actually,” he tells Gorou as he goes back to what he was doing earlier. “But I decided not to go through with it anymore because I didn’t want to bother over something so small.”
“You didn’t want to bother or you were scared of getting rejected?” Itto asks as he chews on his burger, and it earns a light smack on the head from Ayato this time. “Ow!”
“I’m not scared of getting rejected.” Thoma sternly says, and it really was the truth. What he was actually scared of is that if he confessed, even the option of staying as friends would be off the table, too. “I want to get it off my chest for a long time now, really, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.”
A beat of awkward silence passes as they exchanged glances, not knowing what to say. Then, Gorou’s face lights up, as if he just thought of the solution to all of Thoma’s problems.
“Why not use the foundation week’s confession booth?”
“The confession booth?”
“Yeah! That way, you get to confess, avoid getting rejected, and finally get it off your chest! All at once!”
That’s how Thoma ends up in front of the said booth two days later, staring at the paper where the instructions for the confessions were printed on and his brain can’t process a single word of what he was reading.
He still can’t believe he let his friends convince him to do this.
From what Gorou had told him the other day, the confessions given to the booth would be announced through the university speakers by whoever was going to man the booth, meaning the entire campus would hear it. On the bright side, the designated student council member would be the only person to know who the confession is from.
That should be okay, right? Though Yoimiya will never know that it was from him, the confession thing will be finally over, his friends will finally stop teasing him about it, and Thoma gets to keep being her friend—it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
He runs his fingers through his hair as he walks towards the makeshift front of the booth, and he’s piecing the confession together in his mind when he spots a familiar figure near the table. He was already in front of her by the time he realizes who it was, and he freezes in place the moment their eyes meet.
“Thoma!” Yoimiya grins as she stands up from her seat to pull him for a tight hug despite the piece of plywood between the two of them. “It’s been a while! How’s the life of an engineering student?”
“Hell,” was the only answer he could come up with the infinite amount of things that are running through his mind right now, and the laughter that bubbles from her throat stops him from thinking altogether. “How—How about you?”
“Well, joining the student council made me busier, obviously, but I’m having fun, too,” she smiles as she placed both of her hands on her hips, beaming at Thoma. “So who’s the lucky person?”
“What?”
“Aren’t you here to submit a confession?”
Thoma blinks. Oh. Right.
“Isn’t Ayaka the assigned person for this booth?” He questions back, avoiding the question so he could buy himself time to make up an excuse.
“Yeah, but she was needed somewhere else so I’m replacing her for a while,” Yoimiya says as she looks over his shoulder to check if there were people in line. Luckily, there weren’t, so they still had time to talk for a little longer.
Thoma purses his lips into a thin line and nods, unsure of what to do next. He can’t possibly go through with his original plan now. “Actually,” he starts after a moment of thinking, raising a hand to scratch the back of his neck. “I’m, uh, here for volunteer work. Yes. Volunteer work.”
“Volunteer work?” Yoimiya raises an eyebrow.
“...Gorou said the student council needs a few extra hands so I was looking for booths where I could help out.” His palms start to sweat now, and if he could, he would’ve smacked himself on the head right then and there because of how lame his excuse was.
“Wow, you haven’t changed a bit,” she giggles, the corner of her eyes crinkling in the process. “Come here, then! I’ll show you what we’re going to do.”
It was only when there were barely any students left inside the campus did they decide to call it a day, chatting as they cleaned up the space assigned for their booth.
“I’m bored,” Yoimiya says mindlessly, dangling her legs as she sat on the railings. Thoma looks up from the chair he just returned to its original place. “Hey, Thoma, do you have anything else to do after this?”
He hums in thought for a moment, then shakes his head. “No, why?”
“Let’s grab some ice cream!”
“Wait—don’t you have things to do after this?” Thoma raises a brow, suddenly reminded that his best friend was a part of the student council.
Yoimiya shakes her head, hopping off the railings, dusting the back of her pants. “I have free time.”
He squints his eyes at her, as if trying to see whether she was lying or not. Yoimiya scoffs in faux offense, playfully hitting his arm.
“Thoma! I’m not lying!”
Thoma laughs, walking away from her to avoid another hit. “I didn’t say you were!”
“Well, you were thinking about it!”
Oh, well. There goes his second chance of confession.
iii. three weeks later, itto’s house party
“No,” comes Thoma’s stern reply before Itto can even finish his sentence, turning his back on his friend to continue folding his clothes. He already knew what he was going to say, anyway, and he didn’t have any plans of going to whatever it was.
“You didn’t even let me finish!” Itto argues, plopping down on his bed with a frown on his face.
“I didn’t need to,” Thoma says without sparing him a glance. “And my answer is no. You know I don’t go to house parties.”
“Just this one time! I invited her, too, you know.”
He freezes for a few seconds, aware of who Itto was referring to, and Itto turns just in time to see his cheeks flush red. “Dude, you’re so down bad. I didn’t even mention her name.”
“Shut up,” Thoma frowns and throws a pillow right at his face but Itto parries it, throwing the pillow right back at him.
“Oh, whatever!” His roommate says. “Whether you like it or not, you’re going to the party!”
The day of the party arrives and Thoma thinks he should’ve believed his instincts and hid from his friends, because he should’ve known that even Ayato wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to mess with him, especially when it comes to setting him up with Yoimiya.
His friends went to his house two hours before the party started, which means they had plenty of time to force Thoma to change into anything that wasn’t his pajamas and drag him out of the house. They succeeded, of course, if not for the deal they made with him that he can leave after an hour.
So here he was now, in the middle of Itto’s house, surrounded by people he doesn’t recognize. Well, not all一there were a few faces that he’s seen around the campus a few times already. He grumbles under his breath as he makes his way through the crowd, reminded of when Itto had told him that it was only going to be a small party when there were more than twenty people inside his house.
Thoma wonders for a moment, considering the option of trying to mingle with the people around him, but decides against it when he catches them chatting and laughing with one another. He grabs a bag of chips and a bottle of soju, making his way up the stairs.
The cold air bites his skin the moment he opens the door to the rooftop, shivering even as he sits on the floor. He takes a gulp from his soju and frowns as he feels his throat burn from the drink. “Gross,” he says. He takes another sip.
“Thoma? What are you doing here?”
He lifts his head when he hears a familiar voice, looking around to search for the owner. He freezes. “Yoimiya.”
“Hey,” she greets Thoma as she jumps down from the edge of the rooftop to walk towards him, sitting beside him. “We met yesterday! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?”
“Yeah, well, I could say the same about you,” he raises his eyebrows at her, a teasing smile on his lips. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“Itto only told me earlier today!” Yoimiya exclaims, much to his surprise. That’s not what Itto told him a few days ago. “What about you? What’s your excuse?”
Thoma turns to face her and takes a swig of his drink, sighing. “I really didn’t plan on coming. They just dragged me all the way here. I was about to sleep when mom told me the guys were over and I was really confused because we didn’t have anything planned since you know,” he gestures to the place, “Itto’s hosting this party.”
“Then they barged into my room, dragged me out of my bed, and told me to get out of my pajamas.” He shakes his head as he continues, the corner of his lips curling upward when he sees Yoimiya smiling. “They promised me that if I went with them, I could leave after staying for an hour. So I agreed.”
“Uh-huh, and It’s been two hours,” Yoimiya has both her eyebrows raised as she purses her lips tight, obvious that she was suppressing her laughter. Thoma thinks it was only a statement, that she was only pointing out the obvious, but it felt more like a question, almost as if she’s asking him why he was still at the party.
Well, that or he’s just overthinking. He tends to do that a lot around Yoimiya, doesn’t he?
The next few moments are shared by the both of them silently munching on the chips while they were stargazing, naming the visible constellations with names they were sure were not close to the actual ones. Even so, it was fun. He eventually finishes his drink and he feels himself getting lightheaded by the second, frowning as he turns to look at Yoimiya.
His voice is a little quiet when her name leaves his lips, squinting as if to focus his vision on the blonde beside him. Yoimiya tilts her head as she leans closer to study his features under the moonlight, and though the proximity catches Thoma off guard, he makes no move to distance himself from her.
“Are you drunk?”
“I’m not.”
“You sure?” Yoimiya giggles, finding the pout on his lips adorable.
The first time she had seen Thoma was during their second year in high school, when Itto had brought a bottle of beer at their hangout. His face was red all over, head leaning against Yoimiya’s shoulder as he complained about how loud his friends were.
She finds it funny yet endearing that it still hasn’t changed even after years have passed.
“Who are you?”
“What?” Yoimiya blinks.
“You… Why are you here with me?” Thoma leans back and narrows his hazy, green eyes at her. “I don’t know you.”
Yoimiya blinks again, this time with her eyebrows raised, and purses her lips together to stop herself from laughing. Just how low was Thoma’s tolerance for him to suddenly forget his friend after drinking one bottle of soju?
Just as she was about to answer, an idea pops up in her mind, lips stretching into a devilish grin.
“Your girlfriend,” she jokes, and the reaction she gets was the opposite of what she was expecting. Yoimiya had expected him to turn shy and embarrassed and look away but一
“You’re lying,” Thoma says. It sounded more like he was stating a fact rather than accusing her of telling a lie. He shakes his head and it makes him more lightheaded than he already was, a pout forming on his lips.
“I can’t… I don’t have a girlfriend, that’s impossible.” He starts to trip on his words and he’s shaking his head again and Yoimiya blinks, a little guilty that she was trying to make fun of his drunk state.
She leans closer again, looking at him with curious eyes. “Why is that?”
“Because— Because I already have… someone that I already like,” Thoma confesses, body swaying, and he’s not lucid enough to recognize who he’s talking to.
“Oh? And who would that be?”
“She’s kind and friendly. She always puts others first before herself… I like that about her very much, but I wish she takes care of herself, too, you know? And she’s very pretty, too. I’ve liked her for a long time now.” Thoma smiles to himself. It was obvious how much he likes the girl.
He leans closer until his lips were almost touching the shell of Yoimiya’s ear, breath fanning over the side of her face. “You won’t tell anyone, okay? Her name is…”
Yoimiya holds her breath and it was her turn to feel awkward by their sudden closeness. She wants to lean back, tell him that her friends are calling for her downstairs, but she’s also curious, though she’s not sure if she really wants to know who he was talking about.
She was about to gently push him away and call Ayato to take him home when she feels Thoma’s head gently drop on her shoulder. “Thoma? Are you alright?” Yoimiya asks, and the response she gets is a soft sigh, followed by quiet snores.
He’s… sleeping?
iv. one week later, the fireworks festival
A week later, Thoma is still thinking about the night of Itto’s party, where he was dragged to by his friends, drank a bottle of booze when he said he wasn’t going to drink, then proceeded to get drunk in front of the girl he likes for the past five years, almost confessing his feelings for her if he didn’t fall asleep.
To make things worse, it was the first week of preparations for the fireworks festival in Inazuma that only happens every two years and since he and Yoimiya were two of the volunteers for the said celebration, Thoma was bound to see her one way or another. Even though he knew that Yoimiya wouldn’t push the topic if he didn’t want to talk about it, Thoma thinks he doesn’t have a face to show after what happened at the party.
The first few days of the preparation have been going well for Thoma, mostly because he’s taken every single volunteer work that didn’t require him to be in the city, in the streets, where the chances of meeting Yoimiya were high. He also made sure that he was too busy to even think about Yoimiya or every single failed attempt of his in confessing his feelings to her.
“Thoma? You’re here as well?”
He snaps out of his thoughts when he hears a familiar voice call out his name, looking up from the piece of wood he was painting. “Oh, Kazuha! Hey,” he smiles at him. “I, uh, heard they needed more people to work on these so I volunteered.”
Kazuha’s eyebrows rise at the failed attempt of an excuse, because they already had four people, including Thoma, working on the booth when they only needed two. “Are you sure it’s not because you’re avoiding someone?”
The blonde stiffens at the accusation, blinking rapidly at Kazuha as his mouth slightly falls open in a desperate attempt to make an excuse. Nothing comes out and he sighs, shoulders slumping.
“How did you know?”
“I didn’t,” Kazuha smiles politely as he sits in front of him, resting his arms on top of the lumber he was holding. “You often like to be around people so I was surprised to see you here, away from the bustling crowd. And you keep looking around you. I can’t think of any other reason why you would be here.”
“I see.” Thoma chuckles dryly at the observation. He sets down his paintbrush, facing Kazuha. “Well, you’re not wrong. I just didn’t think it would be too obvious.”
“If I’m allowed to speak honestly, it’s obvious, Thoma,” Kazuha smiles, scratching the back of his head. “Ah, but I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.”
“It’s fine, Kazuha, don’t worry,” he smiles in return.
“May I ask what happened?”
“Long story short, I got drunk and almost told Yoimiya that I like her. I’m not sure what else I told her that night, but I’m sure I fell asleep before I could even confess. The last time I saw her was the day after that, when she checked up on me. That was a week ago.”
“I started avoiding her after that—well, not really avoid avoid since I rarely see her because of the festival and she’s one of the main organizers without me trying to avoid her, you know? But I turn the other way around the moment I see Yoimiya. I just can’t face her after that!”
He continues to talk for what seems to be another two minutes, and it was only when Kazuha smiles at him did he realize it. His cheeks flush red in embarrassment. “Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to ramble!”
Kazuha’s smile turns into a reassuring one, shaking his head at Thoma. “It’s alright, I don’t mind. Besides, it made you feel better, did it not?” Thoma stares at Kazuha for a moment, then nods.
“I have a question, Thoma, if that’s alright.” He glances at the blond as he picks up a paintbrush, smiling when Thoma nods. “If someone were to confess to Yoimiya and they end up getting together, how would you feel?”
Thoma immediately regrets that he agreed. The corners of his lips curl into a frown, looking away from his friend. He knows Kazuha means no harm, but he still couldn’t help but feel conflicted by the question. He stays silent for a few more moments until he decides to speak. “I’ll be happy for her, of course.”
“I can sense a ‘but’ coming after that,” Kazuha looks down at the ply of wood in front of him and starts to paint, strokes slow as he waits for a reply.
“But,” the blond sighs, shaking his head. “It’ll probably hurt, too. I’ll regret that I didn’t tell her how I feel and I’m going to do that for a very long time.”
“But that hasn’t happened yet, has it?” Thoma looks up at his friend and he’s met with a soft smile. “Which means it’s not yet too late for you to confess. I suppose it’s easier said than done but don’t you think she deserves to know? You’ll never know what she feels either if you only keep waiting for her to notice how you feel about her.”
Thoma stares for a moment as he let Kazuha’s words sink in. He was right. His other friends were right, too. Although the last few attempts of a confession failed because of… unexpected circumstances, he wouldn’t be in this predicament now if only he had confessed to her when they were alone at the ferris wheel cart during their trip to the amusement park a few months ago.
“Ah, but I hope you don’t feel pressured to do it ri—”
“Kazuha,” he cuts him off, grabbing his shoulders. “Thank you. I know what to do now.”
Kazuha blinks once, then twice, eyebrows raised at Thoma. “...What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to confess. For real this time.”
“You are?”
“I am,” Thoma nods, determination evident in his features. “Later tonight. During the fireworks display.”
“Oh,” was the only thing that left Kazuha’s lips, surprised that he wants to do it tonight, though he thinks he can’t really say anything about it since he was the one who told him to confess just now. So he smiles. “That’s quite romantic.”
Thoma blushes furiously at the comment, letting go of Kazuha’s shoulders when he realized he was still holding onto them. “I’m not sure what to say, though. Kazuha, can I leave this painting job to you? I’m going to write a script or something!”
And before the latter could even say that he didn’t need one, he was already sprinting away.
-
A few hours and eight papers filled with crossed out paragraphs later, Thoma is finally satisfied with his script. He didn’t write a lot, but he thinks everything he wrote on the piece of paper was enough to convey everything he wants to tell her.
He takes a quick shower and changes into his yukata, tucking the neatly folded piece of paper inside it. He goes out to meet his friends to let them know that he wouldn’t be able to spend the night with them, then runs away from them before he could hear Itto throw a fit about it.
Thoma goes around the festival with the intention to look for Yoimiya but thirty minutes later, she's still nowhere to be seen. He has a few ideas on where he could find her and a few people he could ask for her whereabouts.
His stomach growls and it snaps him out of his thoughts, realizing it’s been hours since his last meal. He looks for a nearby food stall, beaming when he sees one selling dango. Thoma quickly makes his way there and as if the kami heard him earlier, Yoimiya appeared next to him while he ordered.
“Yoi!” He blinks thrice to make sure that the blonde figure in front of him wasn’t just a figment of his imagination. He confirms that it wasn’t when she gasps loudly and hits his arm playfully.
“Thoma! There you are!” She smiles, hands on her hips. “I’ve been looking for you!”
He takes the dango sticks from the vendor and hands her one, starting to walk away from the stall.
“You were?”
“Oh—thanks! And yeah! I couldn’t use my phone to message you since I forgot to charge it so I decided to look around for you instead,” Yoimiya says as she chewed on the dango, one of her cheeks puffing.
“Ah, sorry. I was busy helping Kazuha with one of the stalls,” he scratches the back of his head, embarrassed. He can’t just say “Sorry, I was busy avoiding you after almost telling you I like you,” can he?
“It’s fine!” She waves it off, laughing. “I just wanted to ask if you want to watch the fireworks display together. You know, like last year?”
Thoma stares at her with wide eyes for a moment, then laughter bubbles from his throat, eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Well, I was actually looking for you for the same reason,” he smiles at Yoimiya. “You wanna watch from the top of our old treehouse?”
“Of course!” She starts to walk towards the direction where it was located, and he follows her. “That’s like, the best place to watch the fireworks from.”
They reach the treehouse in a few minutes, chatting as they waited for the display, and Thoma couldn’t help but smile softly as she continues to talk and talk and talk, as if she’s never going to run out of stories to tell. He’s missed this, missed the way she’s talking about anything and everything, missed her.
“I like you,” he blurts out, and as if right on cue, fireworks light up the sky in colors of bright red and fire orange, the hissing and popping sounds loud in their ears. It takes a few seconds before Thoma realizes what he just said and when he finally does his eyes widen, slapping a hand over his mouth.
“You—what?” The words almost left Yoimiya’s lips like a whisper, and he wanted nothing more than to jump off the tree and dive in the nearest river, hoping sea nymphs would just pull him down with them.
“Thoma,” her voice was a little louder this time and it shakes him off his frozen state. “What did you say?”
“I…” Thoma purses his lips tight, contemplating, but he realizes there was no point in hiding it anymore. “I like you, Yoimiya. For quite some time now. Ahhh, I’m sorry! I didn’t plan to tell you like this! I’ve always wanted to tell you but I got scared and things kept happening and I wrote a script earlier on how to tell you this and I even brought it with me because I know I wouldn’t know what to say when I’m finally in front of you and I didn’t want to mess—”
He’s cut off with warm, soft lips pressed against his and he freezes in place once again, eyes still wide.
She’s kissing him. Oh my god. Yoimiya is kissing him.
Thoma doesn’t move even after the kiss ends but his heart explodes inside his chest when Yoimiya smiles, all gummy and bright and if it were possible, he would’ve melted right then and there.
“I like you, too, Thoma,” she says, the smile still on her face, and his heartbeat rings much louder in his ears than the fireworks crackling in the night sky. “And before you wonder if you misheard me, no. I like you. For quite some time now, too.”
The first round of fireworks come to an end and he finds himself reaching for Yoimiya’s hand, slotting his fingers in between hers. “Can… Can I kiss you again, Yoi?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the one who kissed you first,” she says and a giggle escapes her when she sees the deep shade of red dusting his cheeks. She squeezes his hand gently. “But yes, Thoma, you can kiss me.”
Thoma finally, finally smiles and it’s warm and soft and it’s the one of the things about him that Yoimiya liked the most. She closes her eyes when he leans in for the kiss, letting go of his hand to cup his face.
The kiss lasts for a few seconds, maybe more, because fireworks shoot up past the clouds and paint the night sky with bright colors once again, but neither of them pull away, as if it’s an unspoken promise between them to make up for all the years they missed out on.