Theme: On a Sunny Day

#ShirokumaLiteratureClub
#RomanceShortStory

On a sunny day, the world softens just a little.

It was a morning where a somewhat sweet scent
mingled with the wind that still held traces of winter.

“Hey, can you hear it?”

Mio said, pulling lightly on my sleeve.
On the riverbank. A faint sound came from beneath the withered grass.

“The earth is moving.”

Looking closely, the surface of the soil was cracking slightly.
A tiny insect slowly emerged.

“It’s Keichitsu, the awakening of insects.”

When I said that, Mio nodded happily.

“The day when everything that slept through the winter wakes up.”

As she said this, she looked up at the sky.
The sunny light illuminated her cheeks softly.

Seeing Mio’s profile, the depths of my chest grew a little warm.

Spring of our third year of high school.
Soon, we will go to different places.

Even though we’ve always been side by side,
why am I feeling this way now?

“Hey.”

Mio said.

“Spring, isn’t it scary?”

“Scary?”

“Yeah. If it stayed winter, nothing would have to change, right?”

She stroked a grass sprout with her fingertip.
That gesture was strangely quiet and gentle.

“But, when spring comes...”

Her words stopped.

The wind blew.

Mio’s hair swayed softly,
brushing against my shoulder just a little.

In that moment, my heart beat painfully.

“...The feelings I was hiding start to come out.”

It was a small voice.

I instinctively called her name.

“Mio.”

She turned around.
Her eyes were right there.

Perhaps this is the first time I’ve seen them from this distance.

In the spring light,
her eyes looked a little moist.

“Hey.”

Mio smiled.

“I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“I was asleep all through the winter.”

She stepped closer.
Right next to my hand.

A distance so close, yet not touching.

“But you know,”

her voice became a little sweeter.

“I think I’ve woken up now.”

My heart made a sound.

I slowly reached out my hand.
I gently touched her fingertips.

She didn’t pull away.

Instead, Mio
intertwined her fingers with mine just a little.

“I’m glad it’s sunny,”

she whispered.

“Why?”

“Because,”

Mio smiled.

With a smile that smelled of spring.

“If love starts on a day like this, I’m sure I’ll never forget it.”

The river was shining.
The things that had been sleeping under the soil
were all waking up.

The insects,
the grass,
and us, too.

On a sunny day.
After a long winter.

We
finally started our love.


On a sunny day, there is a secret awakening in the soil
Your fingertips bring the spring

[End]

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ Dear Club President Kosuke Komaki, here is my submission•*¨*•.¸♬︎