I Want to Hear Your Voice

w of the city below became smaller.
The lights in the windows of each house shone brightly, it was as if he was looking at a starry sky below.
It was a happy piece of stars.

“Look, it’s the last step.”

Encouraged by Sousuke’s words, Satori unconsciously gulped as he climbed the last step.

Wow…

It was a cherry blossom in full bloom.
Illuminated by the park’s electric lights, the light pink cherry blossom tree stood out in the darkness.
The petals fluttered every time the wind blew.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

From right behind Satori who was frozen still, Sousuke’s voice that sounded somewhat proud could be heard.
Satori looked back to Sousuke and nodded his head.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

As Satori’s heart was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t speak.
Sousuke looked at him with satisfaction.
His eyes were so gentle that Satori felt like he would slowly melt, like butter on a pancake.
Sousuke then invited Satori to a bench.

Aside from Satori and Sousuke, there were also other cherry blossom viewers in the park.
Everyone was enjoying the cherry blossom viewing with their own drinks and food.

“I’m relieved.
I was afraid the rain over the weekend would ruin it.”

(I wanted to show this view to Satori no matter what.)

“I wanted to see this view together with you, Satori.”

Sousuke smiled a little shyly.
His eyes told Satori that he was happy to be with him now, and that he was happy to be able to share this beautiful scenery with him.
It was filled with pure love for Satori, as much as, or perhaps even more than, Satori’s feelings for Sousuke, and those feelings came straight to Satori.

Tears spilled down from Satori’s eyes.

Huh…?

Satori blinked.
Sousuke’s eyes that were staring at Satori also widened in surprise.

“…Satori?”

(Wha-what’s wrong? Satori?! What happened?!)

“No.
You see, I, I…”

At the sound of Sousuke’s confused voice, Satori shook his head to the side.
He thought that he shouldn’t make Sousuke worry and rubbed his eyelids to stop himself from crying, but the tears won’t stop.
Even though he wasn’t feeling sad and he was actually very happy, his heart felt painful deep inside.

Wha-what should I do…! You’ve got it wrong, I didn’t cry because I was sad…!

At that moment, Sousuke hugged him on the head.

“It’s okay.
I know it already, you don’t have to panic.”

Sousuke’s hand patted Satori’s back softly as if to comfort him.

A long time ago, in the village where Satori lived, there was a magnificent cherry blossom tree that was over a thousand years old.
Satori was always alone, watching from a distance as the other spirits were happily enjoying the cherry blossoms from under the tree, which was so big it seemed to reach the heavens.

–How nice… 

Now, Satori could tell that he was lonely at that time.
He wanted someone to tell him that it was okay for him to be there.
He could tell that he wanted to be a part of the group because he envied the fact that they recognized each other’s existence.
It was something that Satori had given up from the beginning, thinking that it would never happen to him.

“Look, Satori.
The cherry blossoms are so beautiful.
When you stop crying, let’s watch them together.
We still have a lot of time ahead of us.
Let’s go to many more places from now on.”

(I want to show Satori a lot of beautiful things.)

Sousuke’s words soaked into Satori’s heart just like a gentle rain.
Satori was happy.
He was so, so, happy that he felt like he was going to lose his mind.

The cherry blossom petals fluttered down soundlessly.

When Satori finally stopped crying, Sousuke secretly prepared a sweet sake with cherry blossoms, which had a sweet, gentle, and happy taste to it.