Not knowing how much time had passed, Utaha and Miyahito, feeling slightly breathless, reluctantly parted their lips.
"Haa... haa..."
"Haa... haa..."
Listening to each other's breathing—his and hers—Miyahito and Utaha, whose eyes held only each other's faces, shared the exact same thought.
We... we kissed. My "first kiss" belongs to Utaha / Miyahito.
Looking into each other's eyes, still lingering with a dazed afterglow, the next second, both of them suddenly burst into laughter.
"You're cheating!" Suddenly, Utaha's face flushed red. She coquettishly pinched Miyahito's smiling cheeks, skillfully pulling them to the sides as she spoke with a mix of shyness and playful anger. "Did you do it on purpose? Deliberately hiding it from me!"
"Ow-pu-shi-na... I wawnt, Utawa..." Miyahito's voice sounded comically muffled as his cheeks were stretched by his embarrassed girlfriend. "I didn't know you didn't know I wawsh.... (I didn't know you didn't know I was....)"
"I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening." Utaha's face was completely red. She gritted her teeth slightly, acting stubbornly. "You totally did it on purpose! You just wanted me to... to... to... lose control and k-kiss..."
Realizing she couldn't finish the sentence, Utaha lowered her head, slightly parting her lips, and simply bit down on her boyfriend's collarbone.
"Ouch..." Feeling a slight sting on his collarbone, Miyahito looked down with a helpless expression at Utaha, who had buried her face in his chest.
Sigh... whatever.
Raising his hand, he gently stroked his girlfriend's soft, silky hair, silently asking himself: I wonder if the hoodie will cover it enough... I still have to go to Shinobu Publishing with Utaha tomorrow.
....
After a good while.
Having regained her composure, Utaha sat obediently on her boyfriend's lap, legs curled to the side, just as she had at the beginning.
Miyahito, in turn, rested his cheek against her forehead as she leaned back into his embrace, his arms naturally wrapped around her waist, their interlaced fingers resting lightly on her soft, slightly yielding side.
Watching Mechanical Crown play on the TV screen, Utaha blinked her rich, wine-red eyes. She subtly glanced backward at her boyfriend... specifically at the fresh bite mark on his collarbone.
Mhm... personally "bitten" by me, Kasumigaoka Utaha... Absolutely guaranteed authentic.
Slowly pulling her gaze away from the mark, she nervously fiddled with her fingers in front of her. Slightly turning her cheek away, Utaha suddenly cleared her throat.
"Ahem."
Not daring to look back at him, she continued. "Miyahito, why did you become a singer?"
"Hmm, that question." Having noticed her little act from the start, Miyahito's lips couldn't help but curl up. He deliberately said, "Well, because... take a guess."
"...."
"Alright, alright, I'll say it." Staring at his girlfriend's completely deadpan eyes, Miyahito quickly dropped the teasing and straightened up, speaking seriously. "Because I love music."
The hands wrapped around her waist tightened slightly, pulling her closer to his beating heart. Listening to the epic, sword-drawing-style soundtrack swelling from the anime, Miyahito's gaze on the changing screen gradually grew distant.
"Utaha, I always felt like, for a while, music was my entire world."
No torment of illness, no footsteps of death approaching.
"Notes that felt so real, lyrics that seemed to materialize right before my eyes... how beautiful it was."
He couldn't say why.
But Utaha sensed that Miyahito's mood had shifted.
Despair? Sadness? No, neither.
It felt like being buried in a darkness with no light in sight.
Sensing something was wrong, Utaha turned slightly. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she held him a little tighter, her voice soft as she whispered in his ear.
"Miyahito."
"Yeah." Snapping back from the fading memories, Miyahito looked down and immediately saw Utaha hugging him back, her slightly tilted face showing a trace of worry.
"I'm fine."
Shaking his head, he hugged her tighter. Inhaling the fresh scent of shampoo, he spoke calmly but with a smile. "Hey, Utaha. Music isn't Miyani's whole world anymore, nor is it Aragaki Miyahito's."
"It's you. Only you, Kasumi Utako... Kasumigaoka Utaha."
Feeling his breath against her collarbone, Utaha couldn't help but lower her head slightly, murmuring softly. "It tickles, Miyahito."
"Mhm."
Looking up again, her eyes filled with a love reserved only for him, Utaha, unable to suppress the flutter in her heart, slowly buried herself back in his embrace.
Pressing her ear tightly against his chest, she listened to his steady heartbeat.
Slowly closing her wine-red eyes, she spoke softly, her words drifting into his heart like feathers dancing in the wind.
"When I was in middle school, I never imagined I'd ever fall in love."
Back then, I didn't want to get close to anyone, and I didn't want anyone to get close to me.
"But after I reached my second year of middle school, a song suddenly, without any warning, crashed into my life."
After that, I finally understood. Words could create a whole world.
"Even though I don't understand, and can't learn, how to paint a world with notes."
"From that day on, I decided to become a writer. Because I could use words to deliver a world into the hearts of everyone who yearns for beauty."
The moment her words fell, Utaha slowly sat up straight.
Resting her hands lightly on his chest, her eyes seeming to smile as she looked into his, she whispered.
"I have a secret for you, Miyahito."
"Actually, it was because of Miyani's songs that I chose to become a writer. And it was because of his songs that I kept going all this time."
"So, Kasumi Utako was born because of you, and persists for you."
The instant Utaha said those words, Miyahito suddenly felt that becoming a singer back then was truly the best decision he ever made.
"Is that so? So that's how it is." A smile he couldn't suppress spread across his face. Feeling a slight sting in his eyes, his voice grew slightly muffled. "Looks like us being together was destiny, then."
Aragaki Miyahito: Because I love you, I came into this world.
Kasumigaoka Utaha: All my beauty exists because of you, so, I fell in love with you.
"So, you have to love me forever and ever."
Her smiling eyes curved downward as Utaha spoke seriously.
Miyahito didn't speak, but his earnest gaze and slight nod told Utaha everything.
In this silent, smiling exchange of looks,
Aragaki Miyahito and Kasumigaoka Utaha
both felt the distance between their hearts grow even closer.
..... At the very end of the night.
"Hey Miyahito, do you think Machida knows both our identities?"
"Probably."
"So, do you get the feeling she's just been watching a show this whole time?"
"Yeah, very likely."