I Want to Hear Your Voice - Chapter 24

Chapter 24 – SS “Spring Night”

Satori was resting on the living room sofa after he had dinner when Sousuke, who was preparing something in the kitchen, asked, “Satori, want to go out somewhere for a bit?”

“Go out?”

Satori was surprised. Since Sousuke had to work early the next day, he usually got ready for bed around 9 pm. He rarely went out at night.

At the unusual situation, the white fluffy spirits jumped around Sousuke’s feet as if asking what was going on.

“You guys have to stay at home.”

“Where are we going?”

As Satori was confused, Sousuke put a knitted hat on his head while saying that it would be a little chilly at night.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

At the sight of Sousuke who seemed somewhat excited just like a kid planning mischief, Satori’s heart also fluttered along with it.

The sweet fragrance of flowers drifted softly.

Satori looked around his surroundings.

Where is it?

He could clearly feel its presence, but he couldn’t identify its origin, which blended into the darkness of the night.

It’s a nice smell.

When he took a deep breath, he felt like the sweet fragrance of flowers filled his whole body. Satori chuckled. The spring night was gentle, and the night walk with Sousuke made him feel like he was dreaming.

As he was walking with a light-hearted feeling, he accidentally got his foot caught in a small step. When he almost fell down, Sousuke caught him.

“What’s wrong, Satori?”

(Are you okay?)

“Yup. You see, there’s something that smells really nice right now.”

“Smells nice?”

At Satori’s words, Sousuke sniffed the smell. Then, as if he had a guess what the smell was, he put his face close to Satori’s nape.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

(It’s the smell of Satori’s shampoo. It smells tasty.)

Satori turned bright red.

“It-it’s not that! It’s not me, but there’s a sweet smell of flowers…!”

Even when Satori tried his hardest to deny it, Sousuke just laughed and wouldn’t listen to him. As Satori took the hand that was extended to him, Sousuke squeezed his hand back. While still holding hands with Sousuke, he walked through a quiet residential area with few people passing by. On the way, they passed under the overhead railway tracks and came out on the opposite side of the train station. A round moon was rising in the sky. In the moonlight, the shadows of Satori and Sousuke stretched long from their feet. Somewhere in the dark, he thought he heard the sound of a cat meowing; then, it suddenly ran past in front of them.

Hehe.

Satori was excited. It didn’t matter where he was going as long as Sousuke was together with him, but the unfamiliar scenery made him feel like he was on a small adventure.

“We’re going up this slope.”

“Okay.”

The next thing he knew, a long flight of stairs stretched out in front of him. Sousuke climbed up the stairs without hesitation. Satori, who usually didn’t exercise much, was breathing heavily on his shoulders when he reached the middle of the stairs.

“Are you okay?”

When the worried Sousuke asked him, Satori quickly replied “I-I’m okay!” in a panic. He thought that he wouldn’t be able to protect Sousuke like this if something were to happen to him. As Satori secretly vowed to himself that he would have to work out more starting from tomorrow, he heard Sousuke chuckle.

(You can stay the way you are, Satori.)

“We’re almost there, hang in there!”

Satori’s heart fluttered as he was encouraged by Sousuke, as if he could see into his heart.

Every step he climbed up the stairs, the view 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.