Chapter six, 2017, Christmas carols, segment eight

Asakusa was just as busy as it had been when she passed through on her way to the water taxi earlier this autumn or that fantastic day she spent with Kuri-chan here a year and a half ago.

But it wasn’t the same.

Her happiness with Yukio came at a price for the others, Kyoko thought, but then she changed her mind. That her friends paid a hefty price was correct, but so had she and Yukio as well. In the end Kyoko decided the difference was that the two of them dared to grasp happiness no matter how bleak things were.

With that thought she clung closer to Yukio as they passed below the huge lantern that served as the area trademark. Getting crushed by the crowd in the tourist trap was part of the experience coming here, and together with Yukio she enjoyed it without any feelings of discomfort.

In ways it was like visiting a perpetual festival, well minus the yukatas, greasy food and fireworks.

Two long rows of stalls flanked the pedestrian road all the way to the temple, and after they had been properly mashed, crushed and squeezed she followed Yukio’s tug to the right, and they ended up in a small park a little to the side of the temple entrance.

A line of vending machines offered their services, and on their way out Yukio fed them with a few coins and got some cans in return.

Kyoko reached out with her hands and received one. It was warm against her palm, and when she opened it the dull click was followed by a cloud of heat before she took a first sip of hot and sweet coffee.

Love you. She took another gulp and enjoyed how the hot drink warmed her up from the inside. The way you’re always considerate. I love you.

Where the park ended low rise Tokyo took over, and ahead of them the whiteness of Cloudspear stabbed into the skies.

She wouldn’t, Kyoko promised herself, force Yukio up there. The view, she was told, was fantastic, but if he cared for her so much then it was only right she care for him as well. In her world he was the bravest of the brave, and a little fear of heights didn’t detract from that the slightest.

“How far?” she asked a block or two into the city proper.

Yukio shook his head. “I don’t know, but if it’s called Cloudspear market I guess twenty minutes or so.”

And that was another reason to love him. He didn’t just answer her question; he answered the question she really had meant to ask.

“I’ll find us another can of coffee on the way,” he added.

Yes, definitely answering the questions I really wanted to ask. Would she be cold before they arrived, or tired, or suffer from hurting feet?

He matched her steps as they walked, hand in hand, through narrow streets with little traffic. From time to time they had to cross livelier streets, and whenever they did he made sure to avoid any puddles passing cars could have splashed over them.

“Another date day after tomorrow?” Yukio asked just as Kyoko saw a gathering of stalls a bit further away.

“If we keep it cheap, what about a date tomorrow as well?” she answered.

The smile she got in return lit up her heart. Winter break, we’ve deserved this. And they had. She knew that. While none of them made the list both still managed to get into the top one hundred with Kyoko taking the lead by some ten positions.

Just as her feet protested Yukio stopped by a vending machine, fed it two hundred yen coins followed by a few copper ones. In exchange the dull sound of cans hitting the bottom told Kyoko the promised coffee was on it’s way.

She looked at him bending down, how, for a second, he sat hunched down when he fished out the cans and how his back turned as he prepared to give her her share of the bounty.

Accompanied by a sweet smile his hands stretched out and she received her can of coffee.

Kyoko closed her fingers over his hand, coffee can still halfway inside it, and pulled him close. Yukio was taller than her, but not by much.

“I love you. I love you so much it sometimes hurts,” she mumbled into his ear after she had secured him in an embrace. She could feel how stunned he felt in her arms.

“I love you as well, but why now all of a sudden?”

Kyoko giggled and hugged Yukio closer to her. “It was a very special can of coffee,” she said.

“Huh?”

She dug her nose into his jacket and laughed silently. The best. I got the best of them all!

“Kyoko?”

She just grinned and turned her face up to meet his eyes. Doing so she saw how someone stared at them over his shoulder. She glared back. I’m not doing proper any longer.

“What about that market?” she asked when the offending stranger had turned away.

“Just ahead of us,” Yukio said, and Kyoko heard in his voice how he pretended they hadn’t both seen the stalls some time earlier. “I just thought you wanted to rest for a while first.”

Her grin reverted back into a smile and Kyoko let go of her hug. With a little regret she let go of his hand as well and opened her can.

Sweet and a little bitter, but most importantly warm. She never had her coffee black, and Yukio usually didn’t neither. Sometimes, almost always in the company of Urufu, he did. It was cute, and a little stupid, but Kyoko forgave him the lingering hero worship.

A little later they discarded their empty cans and continued on their way to the market. People started crowding around them as they came closer, and soon they were caught up in a festive chaos with couples and families laughing, talking and giggling whenever something caught their fancies.