Eternal Melody

“Oh, you, the married couple! Husband and wife need  fresh food to live healthy. Come on in! There is some good stuff here.”

‘This is indeed a market, and the owners don’t hesitate to say such things. How do they know who is a couple or not? What if they are siblings or related?’ Sumire shook her head. None of that concerns her.

She took a look at the list in her hands. What else do they need?

At that, a bright smile appeared on Yuhi’s face.

“Hey, Sumire! He is talking about us!”

Her eyes widened, alarmed.  “Wh-what?! We are not married!”

But Yuhi ignores this and swiftly turns to the fish keeper.

“Do you have any recommendations, sir?”

“Everything I sell is of the finest quality, but this is the best!” He points to some large pieces of salmon.

“Hey, you like salmon, right?”

“It costs too much.”

“I know you want to save up some money for Huan, but if we have to deny ourselves all the things that make us happy, it’s like putting the cart before the horse.”

“I suppose so.”

Yuhi indeed takes care of most of her daily needs too. She reluctantly nodded.

“Sir, five slices of salmon, please.”

Wait five? They don’t need that many.

“Coming right up.”

Sumire was about to say something when she saw the look on Yuhi’s face.

“I guess there is no choice. Yuhi-san, let’s cook together.”

Even without a proper discussion, it was something that they naturally agreed on. Her daily routine and his consisted of using the main hours of the day to go to work. 

His work is more time-consuming, meaning she often had to wait for him. But that did not matter; when he came back, they ate together, relaxed together either by watching movies or cuddling. Then they would kiss a lot and do other things.

On the weekends, they would spend time together shopping and going out like this.

‘A nice and peaceful life.’ But Sumire understood that even now, dangers lurked in the shadows.

Her thoughts broke off when Yuhi looked at her belly.

  “Hey there.”

Her cheeks burned red at his words. Geez! This guy. “Nobody is home, fool.” Sumire pulled out a mini fan from her bag.

Now that she thought about it, he did this before too.

“Ouch.”

Yuhi rubbed his head to ease the pain of being punched. 

He looked up at the sky. “I used to speak about it a lot with Masaru, about how we wanted happy families. Fun, happy, loving families. How my daily life would consist of waking up with the person I love would be next to me, and when I came home, she would welcome me back.”

Her eyes widened when she heard those words.

“I’m so happy right now. That this isn’t a dream, that this is reality.”

He’s become so open. Really, he doesn’t make this easier on her at all, does he? “Dear.”

She reads out a certain text. A letter that she had memorized from corner to corner.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise. You know I had a lot of fun working with you. When I first joined just to get close to you, I would never have thought that you would end up being my boss. I joined to get close to you, but at the same time, I wanted to go into a line of work where I could protect people.”

  “Um, Sumire?”

“Your stubborn spirit and lack of willingness to say your true feelings have caused me many problems. But that was fine for me because you showed me the real you…”

“Wait a minute!” Yuhi finally recognized what she was saying. “When did you read that? And when did you have the time to memorize it?”

“I found it shortly after you left.” 

She only read it once, but that did not stop her from repeating the words from the letter in her head.

“Are your cheeks red? My, how rare.”

“Of course, I am blushing.” Yuhi admitted. “Damm it! I thought it would have gotten lost or destroyed.”

“Unfortunately for you, it was carefully tucked away, in the back of the drawer.”

Yuhi’s face turned red from, and his normal composure had vanished. 

“You know, when I wrote this, I thought it would be way less embarrassing to write this down rather than say it out loud! That’s not the case at all. I’m freaking out here.”

Indeed, normally writing things down would be easier than conveying it out loud. But only for normal people. For people like Yuhi-san who use 

Sumire laughs softly. Indeed, he looked panicked.

Her gaze softened. “The words that you wrote. Have your feelings changed at all since then?” She asks despite knowing the answer already.

  “Nope, nothing has changed.”

Sumire paused when she saw the serious look in his eyes. Normally he acts like a fool, but occasionally he would look at her like this.

“I see.”

“Speaking of which, I found a random bump on my head when I woke up this morning.”

Her eyes widened, alarmed. She was grateful he changed the topic before she made it awkward. But did he have to equally choose a harder one?

“But when I woke up, I didn’t think I was in any bad sleeping posture. Maon said some nonsense about it the other day. Do you know anything about it?”

“Well…”

She feels really uncomfortable when he asks her things directly like that. 

Yuhi may not have realized that anything happened if everyone behaved normally. 

Stupid Kou. 

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

If she doesn’t say anything, she will look suspicious, isn’t she? “Last night, Kou-San, Ryou-kun, and I saw you were asleep in the dining hall. The two tried to carry you back, but you ended up hitting your head.”

Please fall for this.

He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, and Sumire felt panicked. Is he going to believe her or not? Seconds quickly turned into minutes before Yuhi spoke up/

“I see. Then I suppose I have to thank them.”

Phew, he believes her.

“But that doesn’t explain what Kou was saying.”

Sumire didn’t know what Kou told him but judging from his behavior, and it was to do with her.

  “I–I don’t think you should worry about anything Kou-san says. “

“Well, that’s true, that guys always say weird stuff.”

This time around, Kou being an idiot saved her.

A relieved sigh escaped her lips, but that relief vanished when somebody poured water over her.

It was water, and yet it felt strange. She wrapped her arms around her. ‘It feels like ice; is it just my imagination?’

Sumire looked at the source and noticed it came from one of the shops. However, there was nobody by the window.

‘Odd…’ There is no malice in the air, and yet something seems wrong here.