_________________
And I can't
Help but
Stare,
Cause
I see truth
Somewhere
In your eyes.
Justin Timberlake
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"Good morning Yashiro!" I waved to the small girl from exiting my shop. Yashiro didn't live too far away from me. So I would see her every morning on our way to school.

"Oh! Good morning (L/n)." She waved. I ran over to her side of the street and we began to walk next to each other on our way to school. "So I had the craziest dream last night!" She yelled out.

"Oh? What was it about? Another Prince Charming?" I asked, bumping her shoulder. She glared but only for a few seconds.

"I mean- yeah. But it was different this time!" Yashiro cried. Her hands flew up to her face. She was daydreaming. "This time, I was the one to save the prince. As soon as he was in my arms it was meant to be." Yashiro sighed out in ecstasy. Her hands clasped together in front of her in a wishful stance.

I laughed out as a reminder that this is indeed the real world. "I'm sure you will have Prince Charming soon. All good men come to those who wait." Yashiro pouted at my quote and crossed her hands.

"Speaking of which." She said, pointing to the other side of the street. My eyes follow only to see the twins on their way to school.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"What about him? You like him right?" Yashiro said a little too loudly. I lunge towards her and place my hands to her mouth.

"Please be quiet Yashiro! They might hear you." I cried. She snickered underneath my palms and gently guided them away.

The twins looked over my way with confusion at my sudden action. My face flushed and I waved slightly before putting my hands to my face in embarrassment.

"Do you think they heard you?" I asked her behind my hands.

Yashiro laughed a bit. "No way. They're like 60 yards away."

"Yashiro!" One of the boys called. We turned to see Tsukasa approaching both of us. "Do you think I can talk to you for a second?" He smiled. Amane was holding onto the sleeve of his brother's uniform in an attempt to stop him from something. But he let go when he knew he had failed.

Yashiro looked between the boys in slight confusion until she agreed to talk to Tsukasa. Tsukasa pulled Yashiro away from Amane and me so that we couldn't hear.

"What's that about?" I asked him. We resumed walking so that we wouldn't be late for school.

"Who knows. I'm sure Tsukasa has something up his sleeve. Amane laughed nervously. "Oh! Did you hear? The astronomy club is going to meet up tonight on the school rooftop to study some stars. They say Halle's comet is gonna pass through."

"Really? That sounds super cool. Comets are my personal favorite thing to study." I smiled. When Amane started talking about astronomy, it was hard to get him to stop. So I took the liberty of learning a lot about the subject myself. I wanted to be able to relate to him

"Yeah?" Amane started to tighten his hold on his bag. His knuckles started to turn white. "Then do you wanna come? The school agreed to turn off all light in the area so that there's no light pollution." He breathed out. In all honesty, he looked calm and composed in front of me. The truth was, his heart was beating with violence against his chest.

My own heart stopped for a few seconds. Then it began to run at a million miles per hour. "Like a date?" I asked. My cheeks began to grow warm.

"Yeah. I mean, if you want it to be." He said.

If nobody was there right now, I would be jumping up and down in excitement. I didn't know how much my tiny heart could take. And I had eaten a lot of sweets. But this was just too sweet for me.

"Yes. I would love that." I smiled at him. There was no reason to play cool at this point.

Amane looked up at me with a blush clear on his face. His hand reached to the back of his neck. "R-really?" He said excitedly. He smiled at me in almost disbelief.

"Of course!" I laughed out. I was happy. Really happy. Even though it could've been a 'friend date', I still wanted to believe it was something more than that.

"Alright then."

We continued to walk until we got to our classroom. Tsukasa took his seat next to me and the others sat down in their designated areas.

"What did you and Yashiro talk about?" I asked Tsukasa. My smiles started to burn my cheeks.

"Oh, you know. This and that. What made you so happy? You're looking a little rosie over there." Tsukasa snickered.

My hands flew up onto my cheeks. Was I still blushing? "A-Ah. I'm just excited about the comet viewing tonight!"

"Oh, so Amane invited you. If I remember correctly, Yashiro said something about you having a crush on hi-" my hands flew up to Tsukasa's mouth to keep him from talking

"Shuuussshhhh! How did you find that out?" I cried. Tsukasa guided my hands down.

"I asked?" He shrugged.

"Alright, class. As you all may know, the school festival is coming up. I want you to take an hour to discuss our classes' events. Class president, please come to the board." Our teacher said.

"A maid cafe!" Most of the males yelled. Even Tsukasa.

"A play?"

"No that's too normal. And too hard."

"Let's do an exhibit!"

"What about a food stall?"

Chatter filled up in the classroom. Our class president wrote down all of our choices on the board. Soon, the room fell quiet. They were running out of ideas.

"What about a karaoke bar?" Yashiro recommended. "It's new. Something that other classes wouldn't think of."

"I like it!" Other students yell. I smiled at the girl.

"What do you think (L/n)" Aoi asked me. I nodded at the suggestion.

The rest of the day went by like a breeze. I spent my lunchtime in my piano room once again. Every so often I would catch people looking through the door window. But they were always too shy to come in and say hi. At the end of the school day, I sighed and leaned back on my piano bench. Sure, this day had gone fast. But would tonight's event go by slowly? I sure hoped it did.

I couldn't help but smile at remembering this morning. He had asked me out on a date! A date... with Amane! My face flushed and I skipped around my piano room happily.

Would we hold hands? What kind of things would he say? Maybe I should confess...No way! I was too shy to do that.

My fingers danced across the piano's keys once more. Playing such a happy little tune. Pachelbel's canon. Little did I know, a certain boy sat at the foot of the door, waiting for me to finish. However, I didn't.

I was too flustered to continue the piece. My head rested against the propped up sheet music and my hands found their home resting on my warm cheeks.

What if he kisses me? I shook my head vigorously. Get it out. Get that thought out.

"(L/n)?" A voice called out to me. My head whipped around to find the source.

"Huh? Amane? How long have you been here?" I asked the boy.

He laughed at me before sitting next to me on the bench. Those twins really don't know what personal space is. "Ever since you started playing your piece. It was pretty. What's it called?" He asked me.

I shyly looked away from him. "Pachelbel's canon."

"Ahh, so it's a classic? That's where I've heard it from." Amane smiled while pressing some random keys on the piano.

"You listen to piano music?" My eyes widened. I was no longer shy about how close he was. I was eager to learn more. More about how similar we were.

"Yes, I think it's soothing." Amane diverted his attention from the piano to me. His cheeks grew the slightest pink. He saw how happy I was to know that he listened to my kind of music.

"It's not only soothing, but it also displays what the pianist is feeling! Through what they play. It's beautiful." I smiled softly While looking down at the keys. Skimming my fingers over them lovingly.

"Show me," Amane said. He grabbed my hand from the piano keys and held it tightly. "Show me what you meant by that. Play me something!" I looked between him and our enclasped hands. How could I say no to someone like him?

"Alright," I said. Amane let go of my hand. I missed the warmth. With the first chord I played, the world suddenly became just the two of us. Sure it sounded cheesy. But it was true. "Tiny light," I said, once my fingers started to play the rest of the song. With every second into the song, my eyes glowed. The sun setting could be seen in the window. The room was illuminated in a beautiful mixture of red and orange because of it.

Amane couldn't keep his eyes off of the beautiful girl sitting next to him. We hadn't noticed the crowd gathering behind the closed door. Why? Because it was just the two of us. And that's all we needed.

He noticed the shimmering tear roll down my cheek as I was playing. The whole reason for him knowing any classical music at all is because he knew his favorite girl in the whole world was absolutely enthralled by it. Amane knew I had researched into astronomy because of him. His heart fluttered just at the thought of it. So he was yearning to know more about what I liked. How I felt.

Multiple pictures were taken of this moment by none other than Tsukasa and Yashiro. From outside the room of course. My fingers lightly tapped on the keys. It was so light. Meaningful. The song finished. It was quiet. We didn't know what to say. What to do.

The tear dropped onto my hand and I quickly wiped at my eyes."Ah, sorry. I got carried away" I laughed. Amane took my arms and pulled them away from my face. He stared into my eyes before wiping away my tears himself.

"Don't be sorry. That was beautiful." he breathed out with a smile.

My heart practically jumped out of my chest.

Applause could be heard from outside of the room. My face burned bright from all of the sudden attention. Other people were here? How come I hadn't notice? Some students whistled. The teachers were there too.

"Captain, It's time to head to the roof." one of the astronomy club students had spoken from the door. "Are you coming?"

Amane looked at the boy calling for him and took hold of my hand once more.

"Yes, I'm on my way."
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Original release date: May 7 2020