Chapter Text
“Would you mind if I stopped at the Meiji Shrine?” Mai asked, turning her head to look at Naru in the passenger seat. She snapped her eyes back to the road before he could reprimand her.
Out of the corner of her eye, he shrugged. They were on their way back to the office, so there were no time constraints. The new interns – both age seventeen – at the Japanese branch of the SPR had been talking about the Meiji Shrine a few weeks ago, reminding Mai that she hadn’t visited it in years. She wasn’t supposed to feel old at twenty-five.
She combed the crowded streets until she found a spot recently vacated, pulling in quickly before another car cut her off.
“Have you been to the Meiji Shrine’s outer garden?” she asked as she rolled up her window. The early autumn day was just beautiful – with the exception of the heavy clouds.
“No,” Naru said.
“It has a power spot,” she said, “You know, one of those places believed to have strong spiritual energy? You should come see it.” When he just looked at her, she added, “For scientific observations, of course.”
“You can report back to me later.”
“There will be a long line. You’ll be sitting here for a while.”
She was pretty sure he rolled his eyes when he got out of the car.
There was no line to the large Torii gates of the shrine, and his glance at her expected that she had conned him.
“Further in,” she said, “Second gate to the left.”
They paid the entrance fee to the garden and Naru started reading the sign posts, which were in both Japanese and English. “Where exactly are we going?”
“To the Kiyomasa Ido – the wishing well.”
“…The wishing well?”
“You don’t need to sound so disdainful. The celebrity palm reader Shuhei Shimada said it brought him good luck.”
“Did he buy a stake in the profits?” Naru asked, recalling the entrance fee.
“I doubt it – his books and TV show do just fine on their own. Even better than Masako,” she added. “Maybe Masako should have written a few books.”
The line of people waiting was long, and filled with all ages. She had considered visiting the well alone during a lunch break – it was barely a ten-minute drive from the office – but she had heard the stories of the long lines and was glad she had heeded them.
The line advanced very slowly, and soon Mai couldn’t think of any conversation without sounding awkward. Naru didn’t help, as usual.
“I’ve heard there are wishing wells in England, but they look different,” she said. “Why do people throw coins in a well before making a wish?”
“To bribe the pagan god residing within to listen to the wish.”
She had hoped to trip him up, but his answer was so smooth she was tempted to believe him.
He looked at her, and she saw his lips twitch at the conflict on her face. “It’s true in the folklore,” he said. “I don’t have any experience in it myself.”
The line shuffled forward while they were talking, allowing them to move up a few paces.
“I think I see the well,” she said, peering around the people in front of her. She looked over her shoulder when she heard giggles. Two high-school girls hushed immediately, but their flirty smiles stayed in place in case Naru turned around. They didn’t pay Mai any notice – clearly she wasn’t any threat, with the distance she stood from him. They should have been more concerned with the fact that he was too old for them.
Mai took a step closer to Naru, and their smiles slipped a little.
“What are you doing?” he asked quietly.
“The girls behind you think you’re probably here to make a wish for your love life. I thought I would show them that you aren’t that desperate.”
She smiled at him, and in reply he turned and flashed the girls a brilliant smile. They tried to smother their explosive giggles with little luck.
“You’re such a jerk,” Mai muttered.
“I believe you started it.”
The giggles behind them turned to gasps. Before Mai could wonder why, a fat raindrop hit her nose. The drops started coming quickly, until it was an even drizzle.
“I’ve changed my mind. Let’s go,” she said, turning in the direction the girls had hurried.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Naru caught her shoulder and moved her back in line. “You’re more than halfway to the well.”
She glared at him and tugged her thin leather jacket tighter around her. It was her pride and joy, but the best part was that Masako had believed her when Mai had said she had bought it new. Since it was from the thrift store, Mai wasn’t too worried about getting it wet. However, she doubted that Naru’s dark gray pullover –which likely cost more than Mai’s jacket would have new – was going to fare well.
“You should have brought an umbrella,” she said.
“The only umbrella in my apartment is the one Luella left on her last visit,” he replied. “It’s pink. I don’t tend to carry it around.”
The line began moving forward as people started taking shelter. She should have thought about coming in poor weather in the first place. Plus, the rain wasn’t too cold, though the time she had taken for her hair that morning was now a waste. At least they were finished visiting clients.
A few people were now between them and the well. “Are you going to make a wish?” she asked.
“No, I’m here to make scientific observations.”
Feeling slightly panicked, she said, “I actually don’t know what to wish for.”
“I had assumed you were here to make a wish for your love life,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
He was only making a snide remark after what she had said about the girls earlier, but she found herself staring at him for a moment – with his hair slicked down and mist clinging to his eyelashes – and suddenly the atmosphere was heavy and she couldn’t filter out enough oxygen to respond.
“It’s much too late for that,” she said finally.
After a moment he said, “It’s waiting for you.”
She almost didn’t understand what he had said, then she turned and moved toward the well methodically. The well was a low stone circle, barely rising above the small stream that it rested in. She carefully stepped onto a smooth rock that was next to it and kneeled down, not bothering if her already damp jeans got into the water. She dipped her fingers into the well like you were supposed to do, to make a connection to the energy of the well.
The fragments of a dream suddenly teased at the corners of her mind, of a European-style wishing well in the middle of a forest, and Naru kissing her…
She had forgotten about that dream. She had it way back when she didn’t know who Eugene was, yet she still knew there had been a difference. In that dream it had really been Naru…Oliver.
She hesitated, hovering over the well. She kept trying to form a wish in her head, but nothing would solidify.
“Mai,” he said.
She jerked and stood up too quickly, surprising herself when she didn’t slip.
Naru studied her expression warily. “Have you made your wish?”
“But I have almost everything,” she blurted out.
He raised his eyes to the overcast sky, which had lightened the rain to a soft mist. “You could have realized that earlier, you know.”
She stood still with her eyes lowered and fists clenched. When she didn’t step away from the well, he narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want to know what you mean by almost.”
The very short line of people behind Naru – who had started becoming restless from the delay – silenced immediately, almost leaning forward to listen to a conversation that normally only happened in mangas.
“That’s because you know it’s you!” she said, meeting his eyes and feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. “How many times do I have to confess before you give me a straight answer?”
She couldn’t believe that he had the nerve to look surprised.
Actually, she could believe it. He was Naru, and any changes he had made over the years he hid well.
“Then how do you want me to answer?” he asked.
“Yes…or no. Absolutely no maybes.”
Their audience was riveted, but only she could see amusement playing in his eyes, which meant trouble for her.
“So,” he said, “What was the question again?”
“Why you –” she didn’t know whether to scream, pull at her hair, or splash water at him. In that split-second she decided against the first two for her own dignity, and the third only out of respect for the well.
Instead of stepping over, she walked right through the stream – uncaring that her sneakers now sloshed – and stopped next to him, right in his personal space. He probably would have stepped back if it had not meant bumping into the people behind him.
“The question was,” she said, “when are you going to marry me?”
A female voice gasped in the crowd, and Naru narrowed his eyes. “That’s not a yes or no question.”
“Oh gee,” she said, moving back and crossing her arms. “It’s not. So fix it, then.”
He closed the distance to her, and his eyes held hers. She could see the trace of humor was gone, and he looked solemn. She let her arms fall to her sides, certain that she was completely wrong about him, about them, maybe about everything.
Naru’s arms surrounded her, and she instinctively brought her arms around him. With their damp clothes and the crowd behind them, there was nothing remotely romantic about the moment, yet it was everything Mai could have wished for.
His warm breath tickled her ear as he said softly, “What would your answer be if I asked you to marry me?”
A guy said in the crowd, “Just kiss her already.”
She smiled. They didn’t understand who Naru was, and how this was more than enough.
“I guess I would say yes,” she said, holding him tighter.
…
…
Fin.