Bright Night: Chapter 1

Sitting in the diner booth, you felt a sudden wave of relief sweep over you when you saw your friend Meiko approaching. Today you were finally going to make Piko yours, but you needed advice from her on how to best proceed.

As she sat down across from you, she spoke, “So, have you told him how you feel yet?”

“No, that’s why I called you here, I need your advice on how to do this.” You replied.

“Well, the most important thing is that you’ll have to strike first. Especially since you’re deciding to go the Shota route…”

“Meiko! You know he’s way older than her looks!” You said, blushing profusely.

Meiko chuckled before continuing, “I know, I’m just poking fun. Seriously though, Piko is the shy type, so waiting for him to confess to you isn’t going to work. I know it’s hard, but you’ll have to make the first move.”

You were afraid that she’d say something like that. You sighed before asking, “Is there any way to make this any easier.”

“Go out and do something with him, like seeing a movie or going to a festival. Spending a little while with him before you confess is a really good way to break the ice. The two of you are good friends already, so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Thanks so much Meiko! I’m going to get on that right away!” you said, getting up and leaving your payment on the table.

“What that was it? Well good luck I guess. Be sure to tell me about how it went, unless… you’re too busy this.” Meiko said, breaking out of her temporary mentor state and returning to her usual sense of dry wit.

This was going to be hard, but you weren’t about to give up. Thankfully, there was a festival on and you wanted to go anyways, so you’d invite him to go with you. Exiting the diner, you made your way to a phone booth and called Piko. Thankfully he was home, so you didn’t have to leave a message.

“Hello?” Piko said, his cute voice not being dampened by the echo of the phone.

“Hey Piko it’s me, I’m going to the festival tonight, want to come with me?” you replied, managing to hide your nervousness surprisingly well.

“Sure thing! I’d love to!”

“Great! Meet me at the station at seven.”

Piko confirmed and the two of you hung up. You couldn’t believe it, you were really going to be doing this. With plenty of time before your meeting with Piko, you headed home to rest up and prepare. The time flew by and before you knew it, you were at the train station, looking for Piko. You spotted him sitting alone at a bench, the setting sun glimmering in his silver hair and teal eyes.

You sat down beside him and said, “Hey, I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“No, I actually just got here.” He said, smiling at the sight of you.

“I’m glad. Oh it’s here!” you said, spotting the train. The two of you got onboard and sat in a seat facing the door, and watched as the city sped by. By the time you exited the train, it was dark out, though the moon was bright, lighting up the scant few areas not covered in artificial light.

Walking around the grounds, the two of you visited the stands and played the games, the usual festival fare. At multiple points, you thought about confessing to him, but you didn’t want to do it with so many people around. You decided to wait for when the two of you would be on the way back home (Piko’s house was near yours, so you’d be with him for a long stretch of the trip back home). On the way out, the two of you decided to stop and get some ice cream.

The man at the stand handed you the ice cream saying, “here’s your ice cream. And here’s one for your little brother.”

The man didn’t mean any harm, but you could tell that bothered Piko, he was very sensitive about stuff like that. You handed him the ice cream and tried to take his mind off of it, but you could clearly tell it wasn’t working. He was very quiet on the train back, finishing his ice cream in near silence. After a long while, the two of you had reached your front door.

You turned to Piko and finally broke the silence, “Well that was fun! Did you like it?”

“Yeah I guess.” Piko said, clearly still down. After a short silence, he spoke again, “Well I guess I’ll go home now, see you later.”

As he turned to leave, you quickly grabbed his hand and said, “Wait Piko, don’t go. I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?” he said, looking slightly concerned.

After summoning all of your courage, you replied, “Piko I… I love you, and I’d like to start going out with you.”

Piko’s eye’s widened in surprise as he said, “Really? You really mean that? You’d go out with me even though I look like… like a kid?”

“Piko. It’s not about how you look, though I do think you look really cute, it’s all your charm and your friendliness that matters.”

Piko looked like he was on the verge of tears as he said, “Yes, I want to go out to. Honestly, I fell head over heels for you a long time ago, but I was too scared to say anything.”

“Piko.” You said, looking into his eyes which had turned luminescent in the bright moon light.

As the two of you looked into each other’s eyes, you gradually leaned forwards until your lips met. Sinking into a warm embrace, you felt overjoyed that all this really worked. It felt like a century had passed by the time the two of you finally broke. Both blushing bright red, the two of you laughed, still wrapped in each other’s arms. What a great way to end the night.