"Did you feel something… when you kissed him?"
"Of course. I wouldn't be such a great actress if I hadn't." Your voice was steady and composed as always.
Megumi frowned despite being aware you were just prodding him with your usual teases.
"But, did you like it?" he questioned again, this time with an ounce more conviction.
"Yes, I did like it. I have to be fully immersed when playing a role, you know, so much so that I must shed my identity as y/n and become that very character. Acting is the art of masking and unmasking, a beautiful deception."
The two of you were walking out of the theater premiere of the new movie you starred in, packed with steamy drama and bedroom eyes.
Megumi loathed your answer, and you found amusement in that.
"I think you would be ten times better at kissing than my co-star, Megumi," you stated calmly. Your friend kept silent as a soft and genuine smile pampered his face, and you observed him from the corner of your eye. "You're not very good at hiding your emotions, Fushigurou."
Megumi is always surprised by your keen eye for detail, no matter how many times he witnesses you put it to use. "I know you're not the jealous type. Tell me what it is that's on your mind," you continued.
So, you had figured him out.
Megumi figured you figured.
Fushigurou Megumi, always so gentle and understanding, forever firm and righteous, looked at you for the first time since you left the theater.
You were least expecting that.
And you didn't realize how much you needed to hear it until after you returned to the academy. The walk back to your dorm with him by your side was filled with silent knowing and auspicious clairvoyance.
"Megumi, if you like me, why haven't you asked me out?" you inquired, and it sounded so genuine it threw him off guard. His eyes locked with the stars in the sky, the flaming freckles that smelled of pinewood and pollution.
"We're young, y/n. We have time to wait. And when we're done waiting, I will have become a better person for you. I'll be more mature, more grown, more knowledgeable. I'll be someone you truly deserve," he responded. Each word tasted sweet in his mouth as if a flower had blossomed in his throat.
"Is that so," you said, a glint igniting in your irises as you focused on your friend, cloaked in the night and embraced by the moonlight, "In that case, I'll wait for you, Megumi."
As time completed its trials and months grew longer than past decades, the fateful promise exchanged between two souls on that starry night was never fulfilled, forever waltzing in a state of limbo in the sky.
Perhaps, waiting was foolish.
Before your eyelids slid shut for the final time, you smiled and left the world still waiting, with Megumi still as your friend.
To Fushigurou, you had always been more than that.
the universe had made fools out of both of you.
