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merry-kuroo · 9 hours ago

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Hi, hope you have a Nice day! can I request a narumiya mei x fem reader, like the shy and short reader who is Narumiya's childhood friend, and how they went from friends to lovers, like the recent oneshot about Karasu.

all the stars are closer

ao3: all the stars are closer pairing: narumiya mei x f! reader genre: romance wc: 11.6k status: one shot art by: ppiace1 on twt/x

He could've planted a garden—uprooted an entire forest, even built a meadow in her backyard... and he would've. Because when he looked at her like that, she knew he would do it, not only if he could or if the world would allow... but he would, regardless of what the heavens permitted.

Mei, who ran back to her like she was the only one who existed. Mei, who smiled at her like there was no surer thing in the world other than the feelings he harbored in his heart.

Mei, who had the world at the tips of his fingers. Mei, who was kinder than the sun. Mei... who was closer than all the stars.

Narumiya Mei was never one to play anything aside from baseball. And he was sure of it. He lived and breathed and ingrained the sport into his system. If it could, baseball would be the color of his blood, be the center of his world.

For his life of six—going seven long years, it was.

Until he saw her that one summer day at the start of first grade.

Domed by the eternal azure sky, when the glaring warmth of the sun blanketed his skin like snowfall, and all the flowers saturated his vision like a painter’s palette. Blades of the freshly trimmed grass swayed to the season’s melody, waltzing past the leaves of the trees bordering the fields.

The sound of children’s chatter and laughter weaved through the once resounding silence, accompanied by the faint pitter-patter of people’s shoes scraping against the cobblestone walkways.

And then out of nowhere, a shrill, frustrated shout cut through the summer haze.

“Narumiya! Stop throwing it so far away!”

A young boy angrily threw his catching glove to the ground and glared accusingly at his playmate.

“I’m not! If you only caught it properly it wouldn’t go so far.” Narumiya mirrored his anger, going as far as crossing his arms over his chest in defiance. He turned his nose away from the boy who could not catch the ball he threw, unimpressed and most certainly unbothered.

“Someone go get the ball,” another kid mumbled, clearly fed up with the argument that had probably already happened even before this day.

Under the shade of the tree, Mei’s father breathes a sigh. He had fallen witness to his son’s relentless streak of clashing with the other kids—putting and prodding at their patience.

Even Mei’s father and mother were not spared from his stubbornness, it was as though the boy came pre-made with it—that along with his uncanny love for baseball.

Luckily his older sisters weren’t so sympathetic.

The youngest children really were something else.

“Mei, go get the ball,” his father instructed.

Mei wanted to protest, to parry that aggravating authority just because he did not want to admit defeat. But one look at his father’s expression, he conceded. His shoes dragged against the dirt as he trudged away from his playmates. His sister will be hearing about this!

On the other side of the playground, a ball landed right by the feet of a girl sitting by the swing set.

She stared at it for a few moments, almost as if she’s waiting for someone else to get it before her mind convicts her to pick it up.

When nothing changed after a few arbitrary seconds, she tilted her head to the side, silently questioning why it had to land here, where she was conveniently trying to be alone.

She got off the swing and picked it up; looking around wondering where it could have possibly come from.

Before she could cement her idea of taking it home with her, the bushes rustled, and out there emerged a boy with hair the color of sunlight, eyes bluer than the canvas above.

He took her by surprise, as if the world had ceased its spin and the ball landed once more on the grass-covered earth with a faint thump.

At the sight of her, Mei had frozen over where he stood, clearly not expecting someone to be there.

What do I do? Say hello? Hi?

For someone who always had something to say, it felt strange for Mei to lose all the words he knew.

It wasn’t just because he hadn't seen her before, or that she had this scared face plastered all over her… well, her face. But because for a place echoing the chatters of everyday life in all possible corners, everything faded to quietness with her.

And for the first time ever... he had no idea what to do.

The girl could only stare painfully at the strange boy who came from the bushes.

Why is he looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face? Oh no, he probably thinks I’m a loser!

She slowly averts her eye from his burning stare, finding everything interesting so long as it wasn’t those irises that mirrored the color of the sky. In a sorry attempt to do anything but talk to him, she went to pick the ball up again.

The small gesture seemed to thaw him from the frozen wasteland of his thoughts.

“Oh, that’s mine,” he breathes, pointing at the ball.

For a moment, the girl had lost all the colors from her face; unsure of how to act.

She held the ball out for him to take, and she hoped to all the stars out there that he couldn’t see the way her hands were trembling or notice the way her ears were the color of cherries.

From the distance, Narumiya could hear the other kids calling for him—telling him to hurry up.

He scowled at that, and all too quickly he was once again reminded that it was their fault that he got demoted to ball boy.

Mei didn’t want to play with them anymore, and with half a mind he considered to just give this shy, quiet girl the ball and go home so he could tattle to his sisters.

Then he heard them shouting his name again. Like the sun, so overwhelmingly present and overbearing.

Mei turned his focus to the girl, finding that she was once again looking at anything that wasn’t him. She would sneakily glance at him before she would quickly look away when she catches him looking.

For some reason, he didn’t like that. It made him feel like he was a ghost or an imaginary friend, worse—a passing thought.

Mei stared at her for a beat longer than necessary, trying to gather the right words to say but his mouth ran faster than his brain. “Are you playing here by yourself?”

A beat of silence, then two… until the weight of his words crashed against him like a tidal wave.

Mei saw the way her face flared in embarrassment. Her fingers curled against the ball, tightening ever so subtly like she wanted to throw it at his face and run away.

“I—I didn’t mean it like that. Honest!” Mei stammers, raising his hands in surrender as he laughs, praying that she wouldn’t actually throw it at his face.

Usually, he delighted in having the last laugh—the last say in everything. But how was he supposed to triumph in that when the girl in front of him hadn’t even said a single thing to him!

He never cared about what others thought, which is partly why he had the gall to be smug and cheeky when he took the last chocolate bread from the shelf just as a kid who wore glasses bigger than his face was about to reach for it.

But right now… he did care about what others thought of him.

He cared greatly about what she thought of him.

Mei sighs, feeling his defeat crush him from the inside out.

“Do you wanna play with me?” he asks, smiling at her hopefully as he scratches the back of his head just so she wouldn’t have to see his hands tremble from the nerves.

The girl mumbled something under her breath, a whisper so soft that only the wind had been able to hear it.

“What?” He steps closer to her.

“I don’t know how to play baseball.” She admits, closing her eyes as if she had just confessed a sin so great that the heavens would call upon the gods to strike her with lightning.

Her voice was soft, barely even a whisper. Mei was sure his grandma could speak louder than her. But her words reached the horizons of his ears like daylight blankets the earth—effortlessly, always meant to be.

The words she spoke didn’t register at first—fragments of it left to drift into the skies as he tried to piece them together.

He blinked, rendered absolutely speechless that all he could do was stare at her and the ball she was still offering to him.

Almost like clockwork, it clicks. And Mei was scrambling to retrieve the ball back from her grasp.

This time, she was sure that she had successfully scared him off for good—even if she didn’t mean to. She was about to turn and leave him be when his voice had once again split the walls of her doubt.

“That’s okay!” His words came out far too enthusiastic, too excited—Mei was sure he could taste the happiness from them.

“We can play something else,” he assures, grinning at her with every bit of joy the heavens had to give.

The shouts of his playmates no longer reach his ears, drowned completely in the oceans of his newfound friend. Serves them right for making him the ball boy. “Whatever you want!”

The girl was taken aback by his forwardness. She looked uncertain, hesitant in the kindest words; afraid in the worst. It was painfully obvious that she wasn’t used to being asked to play—more so when the decision was entirely up to her.

Her eyes scanned the playground, and for a second Mei had thought she was doing that thing again—the one where she looks at anything and everything just so she wouldn’t have to pay him any mind. But when he traced her vision as it flickers to the other side of the playground, his sight was met with a bunch of older kids huddled around by the slide, busy playing or at least trying to think of a game.

“Wanna go there?” Mei asks from beside her, eyeing her reaction carefully.

And for the first time, she looks at him properly. Not because there was nothing else to look at, or because he was speaking to her and looking was the polite thing to do—no. This time, when she looked at him… it suddenly felt like all the stars were closer—she was looking at him because she wanted to.

A small smile painted on the contours of her face—a little shy, perhaps even scared… yet all the same it was pretty. And it was all it took for him to grab her hand and go by the slides, the game he had once been playing completely forgotten.

Before this summer sky had looked upon him, Narumiya Mei thought baseball was the only thing he could ever love.

But he was six years old, and his heart still had so much room for all the things that were to come—for the people he had yet to meet, for the feelings he still hadn’t felt or completely understood.

It was as endless as the azure heavens, bigger than the oceans, and even closer than all the stars.

The moment they reached the slide, a chorus of smiles and cheerful voices greeted them. The kids—mostly girls older by a year or two—circled around them in excitement, already grinning as if they had been part of the game from the very beginning.

“Do you wanna join?” one of them asks.

Mei, ever so spontaneous, did not even hesitate—not even sensing the familiar gut feeling he usually got when his sisters were about to drag him into some girlish activity that involved putting ribbons in his hair.

“Yeah!” he grinned, not even bothering to ask what the game was.

The older children collectively giggled and just like that, the shy girl from the swing set felt a delicate weight settle atop her head—a flower crown, probably plucked from the nearby flower patch.

A few of them hovered around her to adjust the crown, making sure it sat perfectly above the strands of her [h/c] hair.

On the other end, Mei found himself holding a bunch of flowers tied together with a yellow ribbon. The stems felt soft against his soft hands, their colors beautifully vibrant, a striking difference from the usual white ball threaded with red he held every passing sun.

Another girl stepped forward and cleared her throat. She squared her shoulders and looked at the two younger kids like she was about to bestow some great wisdom.

“Do you…” she began, but stopped when she realized something.

She leaned closer to Narumiya, and with a not-so-subtle whisper asked him. “Hey, what’s your name?”

Mei, still unbothered by what he got himself into, answered proudly. “Mei!”

The pretend priestess nods in understanding, humming to herself before she turns and asks the girl the same thing. “And you? What's your name?”

She looks at the older girl briefly, her eyes never lingering longer than two seconds before her vision zeroes in on the boy named Mei. “[Name]...” she murmured softly.

The older girl’s brows furrowed for a moment like she was trying to piece together the fragments of the faintly whispered name. Then, with a triumphant nod, she smiled at [Name] and once again stood tall in front of her and Mei. “Got it.”

“Alright!” Her grin stretched wide, smiling so wickedly that [Name] wondered if this was the same person who had asked her name. Her voice resonated in the open area of the playground, carrying the same dramatic flair as someone who was about to make the announcement of a lifetime.

“Do you, Mei, take [Name] as your slidefully wedded wife until the end of the day?”

Mei didn’t know what that meant.

But he had already joined the game, and it was Mei who dragged [Name] here. So, despite his initial confusion, he smiled and said, “Sure!”

The girls surrounding them erupted into giggles, he swore he heard a few of them squeal in joy. What’s so funny? he wanted to ask, but the girl who was saying the weird things had already turned to ask [Name] the question, her eyes glinting with the same mischievous color he swore he had seen before.

“Now, [Name], do you take Mei as your slidefully wedded husband until the end of the day?”

[Name] was a thousand shades of red now, and she wholeheartedly believed she would pass out anytime soon. Her eyes looked at anything and everything, utterly flustered, trying to look for an escape that didn’t exist.

“Say yes,” she heard another girl whisper, one with a tone so intermingled with joy and excitement that [Name] had half a mind to ask just what it was that was so amusing about this. This is embarrassing.

[Name] swallows, and with a voice quieter than the stars said the word, “Yes…?”

“GREAT!” she grins at the two, clapping her hands together as if the gesture would seal a promise that would last until forever. “Mei-san, you may now give those flowers to [Name]-chan!”

Mei did as he was told, not the least bit hesitant to do so—even if he didn’t understand the rules—and held the flowers for her to take.

It must have been a trick of the light, or the summer heat was getting to him… or even dehydration—yes, all of those for sure! Why else would he be seeing every single color he knew in the pools of her eyes?

They were [e/c] just a second ago, he was sure of it! But when the light of the sun shone upon them at just the right angle, at just the right time… they reflected all the colors of the heavens.

The way her hands brushed his own, gentle and warm, blanketed in all the kindness of the heavens, when they reached out to accept them, as if that moment had been the very first time she had been given something so delicate. It made his heart feel light, like he was floating in the air—never to come down. And in that small rift in space and time, Mei felt as if all the stars were closer.

Maybe it was the way the flowers looked in her hands, or the dehydration kicking in. Maybe it was the way the older kids cheered and clapped like they had just witnessed the ceremony of a lifetime, or it was the summer haze. Maybe—maybe it was just her, [Name] who smiled at him with all the sincerity and kindness in the universe.

Mei didn’t understand it. And he knows he won’t—not right now at least, but he knew… this he knew, that he liked it. He liked it when she was happy.

So before he could think too hard about it, he held out the baseball he had been carrying, the same one he had once been too upset to retrieve. “You can have this too.”

[Name]’s eyes widened. She wanted to refuse, even if she did want to take it home earlier. “But that’s yours.” She shakes her head, waving her hand in front of her to deny his offer.

“I know,” Mei grabbed her hand and set the ball on her palm. “I want you to have it.”

It was just a ball, just like the flowers he handed her were just flowers.

But for [Name], it felt more than that. It was as if for the first time ever, the universe had been kind enough to bless her with something that would last her a lifetime.

And Mei thought the same.

---

The following day, [Name] was woken up by her mother telling her that someone was looking for her downstairs.

[Name] blinked against the early morning sun and got up mindlessly, dragging her bare feet down the stairs in her pajamas. Her mind and body still hanging onto the threads of slumber and dreams.

She poked her head out from the corner of the stairs, just before the platform where she’d be met with the living room. She tried to look for anyone who could be wanting her company so early in the morning but all she saw were two adults talking happily with her parents.

Aren’t they the neighbors next door?

[Name] frowned, thinking that her mother might have tricked her into getting up early under the guise of someone searching for her.

Then she heard that familiar voice, shaded with the color of the stars—shadowed by the happiness of the early morning sun.

“[Name]!” Mei called the second he saw her, rushing past his parents to meet her by the foot of the stairs. His excitement tasted like yellow, so warm and bright—thawing the frozen wasteland of her solitude.

Still dazed, [Name] could only smile at his energy, liking the way his happiness seemed to overflow from him to blanket her world.

“Wanna play? Wanna play? Wanna play?” he asks, his grin stretched so wide it could almost split his face.

[Name] chuckled at his eagerness, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. His image took all the space in her sight, as if the sun melted to form the soul standing before her.

“Hello there, Mei…” she greeted, smiling at him with all the happiness she could pull to the surface.

“Hello [Name]!” Mei smiles, “So? Do you wanna play?” he asks again, buzzing from anticipation.

[Name]’s lips curl into a sleepy smile. “Sure,” she nodded, “but let me change first, okay?”

“Okay!”

From the living room, their parents watched the scene unfold with quiet amusement.

Mei’s mother let out a small laugh and shook her head fondly. “I’m glad they’re getting along,” she said, smiling warmly at the two kids laughing.

“I know,” [Name]’s mother nodded, watching as her daughter skipped down the steps already in her outdoor clothes. “I thought for sure our family trips were gonna get awkward because they wouldn’t talk to each other before.”

Especially because [Name] was a shy, timid child. Her closed-off nature made it challenging for her to make friends. On the contrary, Mei was a kid overflowing with all the energy in the world… who would’ve thought they’d make an unlikely pair?

They all exchanged knowing smiles, the kind parents share amongst each other when watching their children unknowingly pave paths of their own and forge friendships that would last a lifetime.

Mei wasted no time. The second she reached the last step, his hand grabbed hers and practically dragged her out the door, his excitement bubbling over the world like a shaken soda.

And on the second day of summer before the beginning of first grade, Mei and [Name], [Name] and Mei… the clocks of their life had thrummed to life.

Every morning for the rest of summer vacation, Mei would come over to knock on her door, filled with the same excitement and the same question.

Every morning [Name] would answer, sometimes with half a mind clouded with sleep, others fully awake yet she always mirrored the smile he gave her for free.

And every morning, they would run off together—with the wind under their feet and the sun against their skin… daylight blanketing them as all the stars draw closer.

---

Spring crossed to summer, and summer turned to fall, it was Mei and [Name], [Name] and Mei. Fall frosted to winter, and yuletide thawed to spring once more, and ever so constant it was the two of them against the world.

Mei had always been loud, always at the center of it all like the sun with the solar system, pulling everything together, shining as brightly as the heavens itself. [Name] on the other hand was the opposite—soft-spoken, reserved, composed; only ever shining when sunlight slips past the figure of the earth.

But for them who had seen the phases of their revolution and rotation, it was a familiar place to be.

Mei had plenty of friends, he could even run for mayor and win. There was no counting how many times the two of them had to stop walking because someone who knew Mei had seen him, or because Mei saw someone he knew. Still, despite all the people that orbited around his boundaries, there was never really one that he could gravitate toward to like [Name].

[Name] on the other hand, who—to this day—was still too shy and fearful to make friends, never felt the need for them, because she already had Mei.

It was Mei and [Name], [Name] and Mei.

Until the end of their elementary days, even at the beginning of middle school.

“Are you going to come to my game tomorrow?” Mei asked one day, his baseball bag hanging lazily over his shoulder as he snuck glances at [Name] who was walking beside him.

[Name] kept her eyes on the road, counting the street lamps they passed by on their way home. “When have I not gone?” She counters softly.

Ever since he invited her all those seasons ago, going to his games felt customary—or more on the side that it felt like a little secret shared between them even if it was no secret at all. It was difficult to put into words. More so to think of the reason why the small habit did not break off to this day.

Mei grinned, gently nudging her with his elbow. “Yeah, but I want to hear you say it! So, you’re coming right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she nudges him back.

[Name] kept her promise.

Every game, every match, every victory—Mei would look to the stands, in the midst of a hundred people his eyes would find her.

Maybe she didn’t cheer loudly like the others, and that was fine. Maybe she didn’t wave banners or scream his name like the rest of the audience would… it was alright. Maybe she didn’t buzz in physical excitement as the rest of the fans would… it never bothered him.

Because she was always there, eyes following his figure, tracing the lines of his shadows, with her hands resting on her lap as she watched him quietly with support that felt louder than all the cheering of the nation combined.

And that was more than enough.

Beyond this—past the borders of the diamond, those cheers would fade to an echo, banners tucked away under the cabinets, energy dying like the embers of a flame… but she would remain.

[Name] would exist beside him, here and beyond, in all the corners of his life she would breathe, whether that would be in stillness or colored in all the hues of laughter.

She would remain.

And that was more than enough.

Under the blue sky littered with a thousand clouds, when the game ended in favor of the golden boy, [Name] and Mei would stop by the convenience store on the corner of their street and get ice cream.

“Really? Chocolate Crispy again?” Mei asked, opening the wrapper for his rum raisin ice cream as they walked under the light of the setting sun.

[Name] nodded, taking a small bite out of the cold dessert. “Also known as the best flavor ever,” she tells him.

Mei gasped in offense, leaning in slightly like he was about to endorse the deal of a lifetime. “Well, you say that because you haven’t tried mine!”

[Name] glances at him from the corner of her eyes, unimpressed. “You always get the same thing.”

“And?”

“And that means I already know how it tastes.”

Mei gave her an exaggerated look of betrayal. “How dare you shame my classic choice!”

“Hey! I never said anything,” [Name] protests, fighting off the smile that wanted to carve its way onto her face. “Here, try mine,” she offers Mei the cone, smugly looking at him as if she had already proved her point and won.

Mei seemed to freeze for a moment, and whether the sudden redness of his ears came from the setting sun or something else, [Name] was not sure nor did she have time to ponder over it for long when the blond boy leaned in to take a bite.

The sweetness of the seven-layered chocolate melted on his tongue, and under the light of the street lamp, they just stood there pretending to be a couple of food connoisseurs judging which ice cream flavor was the best.

“Okay, okay,” he hums, pretending to rub his fake beard. “Not bad.”

[Name] burst out laughing, a joyous hymn Mei had been lucky enough to hear. She rarely laughed like that, often choosing to show happiness through smiles and giggles but on the rare days that she did… gods did it feel like heaven.

As if everything would be saturated in a thousand different colors, planets would spin faster, time would fracture and reform only for a chance to capture the moment in forever, and all the stars would move closer… for the slightest bit of chance to be right here, next to her.

Narumiya smiled at [Name]’s laughing figure.

And for once, he was willing to admit that maybe—just maybe… chocolate crispy is the best ice cream flavor.

---

One day, under the skies of the autumn sun, the world caved in on all the one thing he held in the highest regard.

Mei had never even considered the possibility of losing.

He didn’t know how that felt like because he was someone who had never even known it until this day.

The scoreboard glared back at him mockingly as he sat on the dugout, gripping the edge of the bench that the mountains of his knuckles had frosted over.

He pondered then what he did wrong, or perhaps what else he could have done to make it right.

But Narumiya knew it wouldn’t change a thing.

Not even if he wished upon all the stars to turn back time. Take him back to the mound where he would pitch to that tiny kid who had the gall to smile wickedly at him with those glasses that were too big for his face.

His teammates gave him pats on the back, telling him that he pitched great, or that it was a good game. None of them mattered.

Narumiya wished—even for just the slightest of moments—that they could have the heart to blame him for their loss. He was the one who pitched—the one who threw the ball that was hit to the other side of the fence. He was the one… who lost them this game.

Mindlessly, he walked to the field’s exit… finding [Name] there, already waiting.

He’s seen her like this a thousand times, and he believes he would do so for a thousand more.

But this was the one time he didn’t want her to be waiting for him. Not when he was so ashamed of himself. Not when he felt like the biggest failure on the planet. Not when—not when she was… not when [Name] was looking at him like he was the farthest thing from what he thought of himself at the moment.

Mei didn’t want to see her right now.

Because he didn’t know what to do.

“Ice cream?” [Name] asks softly.

“You’re not gonna say anything?”

Mei wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to burn every bit of unpleasant emotion wreaking havoc in his head.

But he didn’t want [Name] to see that.

“Well… what do you want me to say?”

[Name] stayed rooted to where she was, at the far end of the tunnel where sunlight drapes over her figure like molten gold—patiently waiting for him.

“That I suck,” he suggested. “Or I’m a horrible player and I should quit already and do everyone a favor.”

Mei’s voice shatters at the bitterness of his words. He never realized just how heavy they weighed when spoken into reality. Only now did he come to know the intensity of them when he believed that he was the only one worthy to be at the receiving end of them.

“Why would I say that?” She asks.

“Because it’s the truth.” Mei insisted.

[Name] could only stare as her friend furiously wiped away the tears that flowed from the borders of his eyes like a waterfall. For a moment she wanted to ask if he really wanted to hear those words from her. Or if he really thought of himself like that.

Perhaps it was the shadows that hung around him from the darkening hallway, or the heaviness that came after a drastic loss knowing that you gave it your all and it still fell short. Maybe it’s the guilt because no one would blame him and he was looking for someone to stab it straight through his chest.

How could she ever bring herself to do that?

To Mei…

Mei who could smile and magically everyone around him was his friend.

Mei who could have anyone on the planet to stick by his side and they would… yet here he was.

This was Mei… who reached his hand out to her that one summer day, and all the days after that and never left.

Narumiya Mei; who compelled all the stars to draw closer just so he could show how they dimmed in comparison when they stand next to him.

“No, it’s not…” she whispers, stepping into the darkness to bridge the distance that kept them apart. “Anything—all the things that make you sad, you will never be any of those.”

Her words felt heavy against the currents trying to sweep him away, like they bordered the oceans just to give him some place to find his footing, cornered the zephyrs of the gods so that he may never be carried away, lit a path in the darkest corners of the galaxies so he could find his way home.

How does she keep doing that? Why do you keep doing that? Do you even realize what you—who you’ve… do you even know what you do to me?

Mei wanted to ask her—that among a hundred thousand more things. And there it was again… the fire burning under the covers of his heart, his blood replaced by the lava that set every organ in him into this raging inferno of who knows what.

The colors behind her melted into oblivion, every hue fading to a dull echo because next to her, their existence meant nothing at all.

Under the sapphire heavens that blanketed the earth, surrounded by the shadows that lingered behind daylight, Narumiya wondered just how lucky he must have been to have existed right here—in this time, where [Name] just happened to be.

And how fortunate was he… that he got the chance to give his heart out bare for her to see—even in the uncertainty that she would cower away if she saw what he truly was… but she didn’t. [Name] held his heart in the palm of her hands, free from hesitance, covered it in warmth only she had the magic to give.

When she looked at him like that… reached into the darkness to drag him back to the light, what was he supposed to say?

How was he supposed to make anything out of this? How was he supposed to convince himself that this wasn’t going where he think it was going? Right now, how was he supposed to deny it?

That he liked her.

Narumiya Mei was completely—plummeting straight through the atmosphere like a comet catching fire—incandescently in love with her.

---

When the last year of middle school rolled around, [Name] realized just how worlds away she and Mei really were.

It was fine when they were children, when it was just the two of them, running around with the sun at their feet and the wind in their clothes. When they would want to eat nothing but ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or when they would chase each other by the field trying to catch the ball his sister threw.

Unnoticeable so it seems… an illusion so it feels.

Mei was this bright, amazing person who could make friends with all the people he wanted to. He was charming and dazzling and cool every which way she looked. Mei was someone people looked up to and respected and loved. He laughed easily and smiled with all his heart and he deserves all the best in the world.

While [Name] was just… [Name].

She wasn’t like him. Never had been. Her friendship with him felt nothing short of a miracle—like a kind of blessing the universe would grant someone who was unfortunate in all the aspects of her life. It wasn’t fair on Mei that [Name] thought of him that way… but it also didn’t feel fair for [Name] when she had already begun to believe that she was keeping him from all his potential.

Mei had a world outside of her. An entire galaxy full of stars that shone brighter than her; a little twinkling dot on the far end of the universe. He had the chance to scavenge the galaxy for something greater—someone who could give him more.

Because it was hard to see him turn his back to face her. It was difficult to watch him walk away to run back to her. And it hurt to see him smile at her when she felt like she didn’t deserve to see it.

[Name] had spent so long thinking it was alright—spent so long believing she was okay with just him—now, she was starting to think that maybe… just maybe, it would be better… if she let him go.

It would hurt. Like a star burning out to oblivion without a single spark to help it burn to life again, or perhaps its light failing to reach anyone’s eyes before it collapses to its death.

But she tried.

More so for Mei’s sake than her own.

[Name] tried to walk ahead of him, leave school earlier, spend more time studying in the library, avoid walking past their usual meeting spots, close the curtains to her room at night so she wouldn’t have to see him looking over at her with those unnerving blue eyes of his. She made up excuses to not hang out, telling him that exam season was coming up and she had to study even if midterms were still weeks away. [Name] left her house earlier, took another bus route home, and visited a different convenience store.

In all of those she tells herself that it was better this way. It was better because he would have more time for himself and all the things he loved because she didn’t take up so much space in his heart anymore.

She chanted those words in her head, repeated them like a prayer, whispered them like wishes.

More so for her own sake than Mei’s.

Because she didn’t expect that it would hurt this much to be away from him. That she would have to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from crying when she saw that hurt expression carve its way onto his face. Mei who always smiled so easily and laughed fully and… god, he was everything.

She had no one to blame but herself.

No one to pin the fault but on her own.

The crown would be hers and no one else’s.

For a while Mei let it happen.

He let her walk ahead of him, let her leave school without waiting for him, let her slip out of his sight when she thought he wasn’t paying her any mind.

He let her do it.

He never said anything about the closed curtains, the longer route home, the convenience store change… not even when she stopped waiting for him by the porch of her house.

He lets her sit away from him in class, lets her leave him waiting for a reply… he lets her push him out of the spaces they used to share.

Maybe she needed space. Maybe she was tired of him. Maybe… maybe she just didn’t need him anymore.

Maybe, maybe, maybe… a never-ending storm of uncertainty. And Narumiya was sick of it.

Because he didn’t want this to happen.

He didn’t want to break free from his orbit around her.

Mei didn’t want to be kept from the light that follows [Name].

Narumiya was a lot of things. Sure, he was a bit of an idiot but he wasn’t completely stupid. He could see what she was doing. If she needed time away from him he would give it to her. If she needed space away from him he would go to the other side of the planet just to give her some peace.

But when he caught her leaving in haste the day before his first tournament of the year, he knew then… that it wasn’t just about space.

[Name] was… avoiding him.

“[Name]!” He called, jogging up to her as she tried to leave school without him—again.

“Mei?” [Name], clearly caught off guard, took a step back, looking at anything and everything that wasn’t him.

“Yeah, me.” Mei breathed in to calm his nerves, he had never yelled at [Name]—and he sure as hell was not going to start now. “Why do you keep running off without me?”

“I’m not—”

“You are,” he pressed, matching the pace she had set for herself. It felt so long ago that he was face to face with her like this even if in reality, it was less than a few days at best. “I wait for you after class but your classmates say you already went home. I go to your house and you don’t answer the door. You don’t even respond to my messages anymore.” Mei’s voice was increasing by the second, until he caught himself before he could blow up on her face. “Did—did I do something wrong?”

[Name] closed her eyes, hands hanging onto the straps of her bag for dear life. “No, Mei.”

“Then why?” he asks, his voice coming apart at the seams.

Because we’re different. Because I’m nothing like you. Because you have a hundred thousand worlds of people around you and I don’t fit in there. Because I—I just… I don’t know where I stand with you anymore.

But [Name] didn’t say any of that. Instead, she just smiled at him and laughed. “You don’t have to tag with me all the time, you know?”

Mei felt the stars collapse at the weight of her words. Even if [Name] tried to play it off as a laughing matter, it didn’t feel funny to Mei. Why would she say such things? When they’ve been together for their whole lives already…

He didn’t even realize he stopped walking altogether, left to stare as [Name]’s figure got further and further away from him… until she once again felt so unreachable.

[Name] cast her gaze over her shoulder when she couldn’t hear an echo in her steps. She turned and found him standing there, with the sunlight catching his hair and melting underneath the sapphires of his irises—casting the illusion that they were shaded lighter than they actually were. His brows met in confusion, telling all the words he wanted to say without even uttering a single thing.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

[Name]’s breath hitches at the sound of his voice, like he was holding it together. Pulling at every thread, pressing on every shattered piece of his heart so he wouldn’t come undone in front of her—unravel all that he was when she was near, not when they were not okay.

“It means…” she hesitated, a small falter in her will to say what she had always wanted to say to him.

“I don’t know. I… I just—I feel like I’m holding you back.”

The weeks' worth of uncertainty occupied the space between them. Blocking her from running to him, to hold his hand and just drag him on towards home. [Name] felt hesitant—once more unsure of where she stands with him.

“Holding me back?” he echoes, like he couldn’t believe those were the words that sunk into the horizons of his sky.

Mei stared at [Name], desperately searching her face for any trace of laughter, hints of insincerity—anything to prove that she didn’t mean what she had just said.

But there were none.

And that was the part that hurt the most.

“Yeah,” she mutters. “I mean look at you! You—you have so many people around you now. You’re… growing, Mei. And you… you don’t need me anymore.”

Before she could shatter the orbit of his world to her, Mei had already crossed the distance that separated [Name] from him. He reached out and flicked her forehead.

“Ow—that hurt!” she hissed, rubbing the spot he just hit.

“That’s for saying dumb things!” he scolds, prying her hand away from her forehead to instead cover her head with his hand. “I would never not need you, idiot.”

[Name] wanted to argue—say that he was making a mistake, but the words got stuck in the tunnels of her throat, pinned and hammered down by the tears that threatened to escape the borders of her eyes.

She clutches the sleeves of his uniform, and with a voice barely above a whisper she tells him, “Whenever we’re not together, I keep thinking that you think of my face and just sigh.”

Mei tried to search her face but [Name] kept her head down, looked at anything that wasn’t him. “What?”

“I don’t know…” she confesses. “I just feel like whenever I’m not around you’d be happier, you would have so much more space in your life for things that matter—”

“That’s not true!” Mei frowns.

[Name] looked up to argue or at least try to justify what she had been saying… but the look on his face told her to cease whatever her plans were.

Mei wasn’t joking, he wasn’t even smiling.

He looked… hurt.

“That’s a little mean, [Name],” he whispers, his voice a stark contrast to his usual boisterous nature. “I wish you wouldn’t think of me like that…”

[Name]’s breath got knocked out of her lungs.

She had never really thought about how Mei would feel about all this, did she? She just went and assumed that he would be happier without her when in reality, she never knew what he wanted at all. She got so caught up thinking that she didn’t belong next to him that she never did stop to consider what she really meant to him.

But here he was—Mei… still looking at her like she mattered. As if no star out there could ever deter his orbit from her. Even in this little secluded place on the edges of the universe, he would stay.

Still reaching out, even when she tried to push him away.

Perhaps this was the greatest tragedy anyone could face in their lives… realizing you will always be loved. No matter how undeserving you think you might be, someone out there would always pull you back to the shore, light the path to guide you home, wait by the window just to catch a glimpse of your shadow.

Underneath the street light, [Name] had stopped running.

Under the street lights, covered by the twilight… once again, all the stars were closer.

---

One summer afternoon before the start of high school it rained.

The forecast never said anything about rain. But the heavens cried anyway. The smell of the earthen ground fractured into the air as sunlight reflected off the tears of the skies. People ran for shelter amidst the sudden downpour—and [Name] had half a mind to do the same, but Mei remained steady in the pacing of his steps like the clear water that fell from the canvas overhead had always meant to graze the plains of his skin

[Name] stared at Mei half in judgement, and the other in judgement. Here she was trying to use the palms of her hands to ward off the rain and he was walking like he prayed to the gods for this to happen.

Mei simply stared at the sky like some romance protagonist, completely unbothered. [Name] already knew they wouldn’t make it to the bus stop unscathed, but walking like they were in a dramatic montage wasn’t going to be any better.

“We should run for it,” she tugged at his sleeve, urging him forward, eyes glancing briefly at the bus stop’s awning which was quickly getting filled with more and more people looking for shelter.

Mei snorts, and if it was possible—he walks even slower. “Yeah, no.”

[Name] gaped at him in disbelief. “What? Do you have some sort of dramatic item on your bucket list that you need to get checked out?” She teased, moving the hair that managed to stick to his face from the rain.

“No,” he breathes, feeling the warmth seep through the fissures that littered the meadows of his forehead. “But you suck at running.”

And Mei grinned down at her with all the smugness he had in stock.

Before she could argue—tell him off that she did not, in fact, suck at running as he had so crassly put it, Narumiya grabs her wrist and breaks off into a run… his touch firm and familiar. One that dawned even back in the summer days of so many years ago, with the sun kissing the tapestry of their skins and the wind underneath their feet.

The rain continued to fall like silver moonlight, the world around them mirrored by the puddles that cluttered the pavement. Muffled sounds of footfalls and cars passing by wove with the droplets scattered across the air.

Under the awning, the world seemed to blur into streaks of water and fractured sunlight. Many others took refuge in the usually empty stop, shaking out umbrellas and patting dry the clothes that got damp from the unexpected downpour.

Mei and [Name] stood a little ways on the border where shadows met the rain with Mei shaking out his wet hair, droplets strewing everywhere like he was some kind of dog.

“Hey!” [Name] protests, holding her hands out to try and shield her face from his assault.

Mei just laughs, his smile never leaving the canvas of his face. “What? The rain already got you.”

[Name] huffs, pulling her arms closer trying to keep what little warmth she still held for herself.

She gazes past the covers of the awning into the world draped with heaven’s tears, and with quiet curiosity, she reaches out towards the rain, permitting the drops to gather at her fingertips.

The cold sinks into the horizons of her skin, a stark contrast to the warmth she was enveloped in only a few moments ago.

There was something spellbinding with the rain, how the slightest rays of golden sunlight would cause them to refract the colors of the universe. The way they would fall almost infinitely—like it would be the last they’ll ever live so they have to make the most of it. How they just… fall, knowing that something will catch them—whether it was the warmth of someone’s touch or the cold, hard earth.

There was beauty in falling so [Name] believes.

And Narumiya believed there was beauty in her.

In [Name] and all that she was, even when the cold threatened to cover her in eternal frost. How the warmth of her happiness seemed to ward the storm that came unannounced. The light of her smile pierced through the clouds that loomed when things weren’t going as planned. When the pull of her gravity felt a little too strong for him who wanted to stay in orbit.

Without much thought, Mei shrugged off his jacket and unceremoniously tossed it over her head.

[Name] was too stunned to speak.

Her hand had fallen to her side as the other lifted the article of clothing over her eyes so she could get a clearer view of him.

“So you won’t catch a cold…” he mumbles, looking at anything that wasn’t her—finding anything worthy of his attention just so he wouldn't have to witness the way her eyes would lighten in color, or perhaps even feel that all the stars would draw closer under the softness of her gaze.

His jacket was warm and blanketed her figure like the first rays of sunlight. It carried his scent, the same one that lingers in the phantoms of summer, in the ghosts of spring; a fragrance that crossed borders to reach the vermillion of autumn, and the frost of winter.

It was heavy on her small frame, like ablack holee swallowing her whole.

She tried to scowl at him, to at least pretend that this wasn’t causing a wildfire in the meadows of her soul. But a smile tore its way onto the surface of her face—it was the only thing Mei needed to see to know that his gesture was welcomed, cherished even.

Mei doesn’t say anything else. He just leaned against the metal post and watched as [Name] slots her arms inside the sleeves; practically melting in the warmth that enveloped her.

She stole a glance at him from the corner of her eyes, ignoring the way everything in her seemed to burn—the way the colors looked so vibrant as if the world had been left to saturate for too long, the way everything seemed to gravitate towards her… in this little space on the edge of the universe that she took for herself.

Mei pretends not to notice… but he too, felt that—even just for a moment—all the stars were closer.

---

High school came and changed things.

If Mei was preoccupied all year round back in middle school, [Name] practically needed to book her appointments just so she could see him.

Mei had his team, his training, his responsibilities.

Often, she would hear students call him ‘Prince of the Capital’ or even ‘King’ most of all she knew that his name alone carried weight. Narumiya Mei. Before, that was the name of the neighborhood brat who threw baseballs on the roofs of people’s houses along with his friend, neighborhood shy brat; now, it was the name of Tokyo’s number one left-handed pitcher.

Too bad he still struggled to use scissors.

The air felt a little empty without him around. When you spend so much time with someone and one day they’re just… gone, it leaves this unexplainable feeling making home in your heart.

But [Name] was happy that people were recognizing the hard work he put into the sport he loved with his whole heart and soul.

It never changed the heartache that it was still a tad bit lonely.

They didn’t walk home together anymore. Didn’t wait by the bus top side by side. Or visit the convenience store in their neighborhood to get ice cream. Their conversations became shorter, their interactions fleeting.

She supposed that sometimes we ought to cherish the things we have before we lose them to time.

So later that afternoon, when missing him felt far too much like trying to weave the fates of two souls divided by space and time, she waited until their practice would conclude.

[Name] wanted to ask him if he could spare a few of his kingly minutes with her so they could get ice cream… just like how they used to.

That was the plan—until she saw someone confessing to him.

[Name] didn’t mean to intrude, it wasn’t in her nature to eavesdrop. But her feet felt heavy against the outdoor shoes, her bag weighing a hundred times more than what she was used to, nailing her to where she stood.

She watched as the girl stood in front of him, hands clenched to her sides as she looked up at Mei with all the bravery in the world despite her face colored in all the hues of scarlet.

[Name] wanted to leave—to close her heart out so she would not be hurt if he had accepted. She wanted to run—run as far away as she could despite promising Mei that she was never gonna do it again. Her instinct screamed at her to get away, to break free—not to listen.

But she didn’t move.

She didn’t even blink.

[Name] couldn’t make out the words the girl was trying to say—just a soft, mumbled, hopeful voice, and then—

“I’m sorry.” His voice thawed her out of the iceberg she had been unknowingly imprisoned in.

She couldn’t fully hear his reason why, only fragments of it like ��already’ and ‘someone’ and that faint echo of the word ‘like’.

[Name] had never been one for confrontation, never someone up for conversation in general. But for the first time in her life, she felt something unfamiliar blossom in the gardens of her chest. Stabbing at her organ like it wanted to rip her skin open and run—run to only heaven knows where!

In the light of the afternoon sun, between the seconds where the skies would shift from ocean blue to the colors of twilight… [Name]’s heart bled with the sound of relief. Her plans long forgotten; buried under the ruins of what remained of her hopes—the one she had fought to keep for so long. Hope that she wouldn’t picture him this way. Hope that his image won’t distort. Hope… that she wouldn’t ask him to be more than just her friend.

She already took up so much space in his heart—so much already… and it would be selfish of her to ask him to give her more.

And [Name] felt like the absolute embodiment of greed because she wanted to do it. Ask him. Ask Mei to make room—more room in his heart to house her affection. Feelings that blurred the line between friendship and something different… something far more indescribable than friendship.

How do people take this? How do they get up every day and know that there’s this little festering flame in the hearth of their souls? How would she breathe when there’s this boundless joy that takes up everything inside her ribcage? That when she looks at him it feels like she’s looking at the sun—far too bright to stare at without her eyes watering.

She never told Mei about that encounter. And she reckons she never will.

But one thing remained in the midst of all this confusion. Shining like a single star across the darkened canvas of the heavens, one that would linger even in the long, painful months of trying to figure it all out. There would be this little hum her soul would make in realization, in familiarity, a sort of like—oh, there you are. Realization that comes when she peers inside her heart and stares straight into the shining light of her feelings just to see how painfully present they are. Stare straight into the image of him she kept in the cradles of her soul and feel how agonizingly close he is.

See the world fade into nothingness, how it frosts over when the sight of him speaking to an admirer greets her vision and know—feel for herself the ivy that grows in the tunnels of her throat; just how icky it makes her feel.

And above all else—see just when exactly had Mei drifted too far into her orbit that he became so entwined with her revolution… that made it impossible to picture a life that didn’t have him in it—a life where [Name] did not love Mei.

---

The heavens felt different during Valentine’s Day.

When the world just magically falls into a series of soft giggles and the air is littered with the smell of flowers, chocolates, and fervent, longing affection with lingering hopes that their feelings would be returned.

Hushed confessions echoed in the crowded hallways, jittery hands find their way to tangle through ribbons to ease the nerves, and desks, lockers, and bags were cluttered with letters and chocolates—carrying the thought of someone special.

For [Name] it was just a regular day.

She evades the rush of excitement, turned her gaze away from the sight of couples and their embarrassingly sweet declarations of love and affection. It’s not as if she hated the event—Valentine’s had always just felt… distant.

A kind of event that existed for everyone, but somehow always managed to evade her.

It wasn’t something she thought about on a daily basis, never something that took priority on her list of things. Still, there was an inkling part of her that longed to feel just what it was that made other people consider this day special.

Somehow she never really got the chance.

When she walks through the doors of her classroom, everyone had something for themselves or at the very least… something for someone.

And there he was…

Mei.

Once again at the center of it all.

Pulling all the worlds closer like he existed at the very core of the galaxy and the universe. His golden hair putting the daylight to shame, the happiness in his eyes made the sky look pale in comparison.

Mei’s desk was a palette of colors—bright pink boxes, envelopes of all shapes and affection, chocolates, and even a small stuffed animal with the face of a bear. The girls from her class buzz around him like bees, and from the corner of her eyes—just where the hallway would meet with the entrance to the room—she could see a few more students from the other classes gather around for a chance to meet with Mei. Some lingered long enough to somehow get a chance to meet his gaze, others opted to stare at the floor—far too shy to face him head-on.

Mei, for someone so approachable and confident, reveled in the attention he was bestowed—despite the growing tiredness that came from speaking with so many people at the same time.

[Name] watches from her seat, chin resting on the palm of her hand, not the least bit surprised that it was once again like this.

What made it so different was the little buzz her heart would make at the sight of his smile. One she had already seen like a million times already, from different angles… for entirely different reasons. Somehow it still manages to steal the gales in her lungs… even the ones she had so carefully packed to last her the day.

It wasn’t anything new… really, it was always like this.

But the look of happiness on his face made her wish that she had gotten him something, too… even if she knew he already had so much.

It was the thought that counted, wasn’t it?

Like clockwork, Mei craned his head to meet her burning stare… and his face just split into this bright, irrevocably happy grin.

His smile made [Name] mirror his expression, although not as wide… most certainly not as colorful, but it was one Mei had grown to love and cherish through the years.

Across the day, Mei kept looking at [Name]. Not in the usual way he would stare at her and when she would look he’d pull the silliest faces—no.

His stare felt almost searching, half expectant; the other half hopeful. His eyebrows would raise whenever their eyes would meet.

[Name] wanted to ask just what was it that he wanted. If there was something on her face, or if there was a secret he wanted to tell her.

But she never got the chance to voice out her thoughts.

And by some work of the gods or a miracle that fell from the heavens… practice got cancelled.

For what felt like forever, it was once again Mei and [Name], [Name] and Mei. Cradled underneath the azure sky, colored by the rays of golden light from the setting sun that painted long shadows across the concrete pavements.

The streets were quieter now, no longer buzzing from the excitement… settling into this rare quietness that came after feelings were scattered into the heavens.

[Name] kicks a pebble, watching as it skitters down the road and past the flower patches the gardening club tended to every single day. Mei walked beside her, falling naturally into the rhythm of their once-daily habit as though he had never left at all.

As they pass by the school gates, they spot a teacher across the field, holding a bouquet of red roses that was bigger than her head.

[Name] unknowingly slows her steps, her eyes lingering on the scarlet petals the woman held so dearly… as if there was a life in the cradles of her arms—perhaps the heart of the person who loved her so.

A small smile grazes [Name]’s lips. It’s soft—barely there, but unmistakable.

Mei knew that curve all too well.

He’s seen it only once before. Under the light of the summer sky, right by the slides… nearly ten years ago.

Mei didn’t say anything, just watched as the sun painted her golden, witnessing how the galaxies melted to form the color that lingers in the pools of her irises. Something warm blankets the usual quiet expression that covers her face.

She loves flowers.

A gentle gale ruffled the trees, swaying the wades of grass to their melody… waltzing in between the threads of [h/c] that fluttered freely into the wind.

And there, [Name] realized just how much she loved and looked forward to this day… despite the many things the universe tells her that she shouldn’t.

Even after years of feeling that Valentine’s wasn’t for people like her. For years on end, rendered to be someone who peered from the sidelines, like she was stuck behind a glass wall, always watching but never feeling like she truly belonged. Watching couples exchange quiet laughter under the shade of cherry blossom trees… or be handed a bouquet of flowers—she had never once thought to have wanted it for herself.

I never really realized how much I liked flowers…

It wasn't something she thought about on a daily basis—not since that day in the park all those summers ago.

…until I see them in someone’s hand.

[Name] never went out of her way to buy them for herself—because as it was, there were things taking priority on her list.

But, whenever she sees them on the streets, when she sees people receiving them, or even talking about flowers as she passes them by... a part of her wonders, when will it be my turn to experience that?

It makes me sad and happy at the same time, half sad that I can only dream about them, all the same—happy because I know that it can come true.

A part of her always thought, maybe someday. One day. This year for sure.

Only she didn’t expect that it would dawn so soon.

Because before she could grab a hold of him, Mei… Mei had already ran.

Mei, who had been walking so casually beside her.

Mei… whose presence became as easy to know as it was to breathe, something—someone so comfortingly familiar, as natural as seeing the sky, like the moon pulls the waves… as all the stars drift closer.

His footsteps echoed in the desolateness that littered the streets, his figure cutting through the borders of dimensions, like he wanted to jump through time.

Something small and delicate danced in the space in front of him, dancing in the melody of the season’s zephyrs.

A flower.

A tiny, fragile blossom that had broken free from the gardening club’s flower beds, caught in the magic that came with the late afternoon’s breath.

He ran.

Mei ran before it could reach the ground—before it could wilt… before it disappears into the heavens, before anything else could take it away.

And when he turned to face her... there he was, smiling brighter than the sun like he held the gardens of Eden in the palm of his hand. He could've kept it, really... he could've.

Who was she when compared to him anyway? Who was the girl before him when he had dreams higher than the heavens?

Who was I, his neighbor since before ever after—the girl next door, the one whose parents just coincidentally happened to be friends with his—who was I... other than someone who just happened to be there at that very moment.

But he thought otherwise.

Mei, who had the world at the tips of his fingers.

Mei, who was kinder than the sun.

Mei... who was closer than all the stars.

Mei, who ran back to her like she was the only one who existed. Mei, who smiled at her like there was no surer thing in the world other than the feelings he harbored in his heart.

Mei... who I loved even before I knew I loved him.

Something changed, a shift in the power of the seasons, a strange hum of peace in the air, domed by all the adoration that could fit under the skies of the earth.

And suddenly they weren't just flowers anymore.

Because he was Mei.

And now, whenever she sees flowers, they're no longer just petals and stems brought to life so they could make anything and everything prettier.

I see the kindness that comes along with it.

I see all the fires of the stars draw nearer for the smallest of hopes that they’d be closer to me as he was.

…And I see him.

I remember what it felt like to receive them, knowing that someone—even for just a moment—wanted to make me happy…

Because there was no denying it.

“I like you.”

She whispers it, tells it to the wind hoping it would carry it to the heart of Mei… Mei who shone brighter than the sun. Hoping that the words would magically sink into the horizons of his soul… that he would just wake up and realize that the girl who’s been right there, next to him since forever had loved him desperately.

[Name] wanted to be greedy. She wanted to take up more room in his heart. She wanted to rework the fabrics of destiny so she could weave in a fate that could compel Mei to give her more—more than neighbors… more than childhood friends. More than friends.

“I like you, Mei.”

So she tells him just that.

And as if walking in parallel to the moments buried under the ever-growing seconds of the clock, Mei handed her the flowers.

Mei finally understood. And he knows he did—right now, at this very moment… he knew that he liked it. He liked it when she was happy.

Even more so when the feelings he had harbored for so long, kept under the pillows he sleeps on every night, whispered to the stars, to every passing comet, to all the dandelions in the fields… had finally been returned.

“I like you, [Name].”

And in that small rift in space and time, cradled in the faint glow of the nearing twilight… it felt as if all the stars were closer.

A/N: this took longer than I expected I am so sorry ( ˶o´ ̫ `o˶) my uni was killing me >< thank you so much for requesting (and for waiting) ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡ it's my first time writing for Mei and it was sorta difficult since I kinda held a grudge against him I kept getting distracted with Miyuki (*ﾟｰﾟ)ゞ I got a little carried away with it lol but I hope you like it as much as I loved making it ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა I really had to ask my friend who had a childhood friend for some ideas but he told me he wrestled with his friend (who was a girl) and he lost. My other friend threw rocks at his neighbor's roof with his friend and got scolded for it they would also skip classes to go eat (๑﹏๑//) I had to sit through their anecdotes like a therapist looking like (,,•᷄‎ࡇ•᷅ ,,)?

#narumiya mei x reader #diamond no ace #daiya no ace #narumiya mei #daiya no ace x reader #diamond no ace x reader

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