NOVEL NEXT [Extra 2] Akihito’s best day
I can’t say it was out of my expectation. Because it wasn’t, not really.
It was funny because Akihito looked like it was out of his expectations, and that said a lot, considering he was the one in front of the altar.
He had a slightly dreamy and dazed look, completely missing the question. He was lucky it was an informal wedding, so it just earned a lot of chuckles and then a poke from Yuji who was acting out the role of the priest marrying them.
Akihito twitched, then looked at Yuji, then looked at Uruya in front of him.
She was insanely beautiful, dressed up like that. It was a long, white dress with lots of lace and her hair was put up in a complicated style. Not overly fancy, but still like a princess.
She was grinning, obviously amused.
Akihito stared at her for a moment, then began to smile widely.
They were a super cute couple, although it was hard to say when exactly they had started going out. Uruya had laid out her net slowly and before Akihito knew it, he was too used to her presence to live without her.
Hmm, too bad that homosexual marriage still isn’t legalized…
[You’re like a married couple, anyway], the system’s loving message popped up.
Things had turned very different with how it behaved around me. It was around and talked to me via text, sometimes gave me choices to tease me, but I didn’t need it as much anymore. My menu had changed as well, now just a single-tab area with the guide to dating spots.
I found that important - dragging Mizuki to dates.
“I didn’t expect them to marry so early”, Tarou muttered on my other side. I turned to him.
“It’s cause Uruya wants children. I guess she didn’t want to wait overly long”, I chuckled and Tarou shrugged his shoulders with a smile.
[They’re a good pair, too], the system commented and I hummed lowly to myself.
Mizuki was leaning on my shoulder, watching the overjoyed Uruya jump into her now-husband’s arms and kissing him with passion.
Everyone clapped.
I didn’t know a lot of these people - it was a private, unofficial ceremony and he had only invited his closest friends. That were my group, their families of course, and some of his new colleagues who had thrown some weird glances at me coming in with Mizuki but not commenting.
The official thing - where they’d sign the papers - had been yesterday, actually, but Akihito had said he wanted something like this, with Uruya wearing a dress and all that stuff.
Yuji really suited the role of the ‘priest’, by the way. He was amazing at making it a good show.
“Are you regretting you’re never going to get that?”, Mizuki asked in a voice so quiet only we could hear. I leaned over.
“Did you forget I’m gay? I never expected to have a marriage ceremony with a bride in a pure white dress. It’s still nice to look at, but I should be the one directing the question at you.”
He blinked lazily, then lightly rubbed his head against my shoulder.
“I think I don’t suit having a wife. I’ve never really looked forward to it, either, so it’s fine.”
...Had we been alone, I’d have probably pulled him into a tight hug and wailed about how much I loved him.
With the semi-official part being over, everyone stood up to go get food and congratulate the new pair.
Uruya - wrong, it should be Kana, she has a new last name now - was beaming prettily and being hugged by her girlfriends, while Akihito was already being dragged everywhere for toasts.
We slowly walked over to congratulate him as well.
“Who would have thought this day would come”, he laughed quietly.
“Me”, Yuji interjected, sipping at a cocktail with a calm expression.
“Me”, I added, smiling awkwardly. Kana had been having a hard time trying to come to terms with herself falling for Akihito, she had told me once. But she never regretted it.
“Me”, Tarou continued on the line, and then,
“Me”, Kaoru finished.
Mizuki sighed. “Even I could tell at some point.”
Fun fact - Akihito is the type who can immediately tell when others are in love, but he manages to completely cut out the possibility of certain others liking him in turn. A bit like me, it seems.
It had been a fight for poor Kana to get him to understand that, no, she wasn’t talking about being friends and, no, she wasn’t drunk, wasn’t tired, wasn’t misinterpreting things, it wasn’t a bet either, she was very serious about this-
Anyway. It was fun. We had been there. Stuck to the door, pushing each other away and trying to hear every word.
God, the look that people had given us...
Akihito pulled a face, awkwardly looking away from us. It had really only been him who hadn’t thought of the possibility.
“She suits you”, Yuji quietly commented, looking at her from far away. He still had that motherly behaviour that I somehow felt he would never lose.
Akihito flushed slightly, happy.
“Thanks. And thanks for coming, you all.”
I patted his shoulder.
“Of course we’re gonna come if you marry! Wouldn’t you do the same?”
Yuji tilted his head in thought, then looked over at me.
Akihito blinked, then looked at me.
Kaoru laughed, elbowed Tarou, then they looked at me.
Mizuki sipped on his cocktail.
[...]
“Oh shut up.”
“We didn’t even say anything.”
“It’s not legal.”
Akihito exasperatedly raised both of his arms, stretching them as if presenting the fake altar a bit away.
I cleared my throat.
“Anyway, I mean, this, it’s not…”
[Give it up.]
“You’re next”, Yuji whispered in a low voice, his creepy chuckle at the end kind of like a warning.
