Mikomi’s face lit up! He quickly scribbled his address down and took off down the hall. 327-B was on the third floor of the building while his locker was on the first floor. He raced up two flights of stairs and began to look at the numbers on the lockers. He followed them down a hall and came to an intersection. He turned left and guessed correctly as the numbers continued to ascend into the 320s. He found 327 and B was the one in the second row. He looked around and noticed that the hall was pretty empty. He slipped the paper into one of the vent slits in the front of the locker and walked away letting out a huge sigh of relief.
The day ended and Mikomi didn’t see Ryan or Serah anywhere. Ryan was, most likely, avoiding him due to the altercation they had while Serah was avoiding him for obvious reasons. Mikomi walked home alone that day knowing full well that Serah had the note and his address in her possession. He could only wonder when she would stop by and what her answer would be. That day; however, was not today as the sun had set without so much as a word from her.
The next day came and his mother bid him farewell as she went out to do the major grocery shopping for the week. She preferred Saturday mornings because it was the last day of the week for sales so that meant the stores were pretty void of customers. She could get her shopping done quickly and easily this way. Mikomi felt today might be the day Serah would stop by but the entire day came and went without her showing up. Mikomi began to question if Serah had even seen the note. Maybe it had gotten lost in her belongings, maybe it even got stuck somewhere in her locker and she never received it at all. These kinds of thoughts raced through his mind and left him on edge.
Sunday came and Mikomi tried to convince himself that Serah was going to wait until tomorrow to give him his answer. His suspicion of her taking the entire weekend to think about it seemed more and more plausible. Mikomi was sitting on his couch playing Blox on his Gamepal when there was a knock at the door. He was so wrapped up in his game that he didn’t consider the possibility of it being Serah on the other side. Letting out a sigh, he paused his game and walked over to the door. When he opened it his eyes widened as Serah stood there holding a letter in her hand. Thoughts of “she came” raced through his head as she reached out and handed him the letter which he happily accepted.
“Your answer is in there.”
Serah turned and walked away. Mikomi wanted to call out to her but decided to let her go. Perhaps she was too embarrassed to wait around to see Mikomi’s expression or… she didn’t want to be there to see the pain on his face when he realized he had been rejected. Whatever the case may be, Mikomi became nervous about opening the letter but at the same time, he was anxious because he wanted to know what was inside. He carefully opened the envelope and unfolded the paper that was contained within. Mikomi’s eyes followed the words as he read them out loud.
“I thought about it and I have decided that if you can answer one simple question, I will say yes. I will ask you the question in person outside of your house tomorrow morning before school.”
Hope had been restored in Mikomi’s eyes. He felt as if he was so close to his goal to where he could touch it with his fingertips. The day passed slowly as he wanted it to be over as quickly as possible. Mikomi barely got any sleep that night but when the sun came up, he rushed out the door. As promised, Serah was standing there waiting for him.
“I hope you didn’t have to wait long,” said Mikomi.
“I just got here.”
“I read your letter. It said you wanted to ask me something?”
Serah stepped in close and looked Mikomi in the eyes.
“Do you promise to never abandon me no matter what?”
Mikomi thought “What kind of question is that?” as he looked at Serah. Mikomi was a bit hesitant to answer. The longer he took, the more the look on Serah’s face changed to one of disappointment. Mikomi knew he had to answer her fast and there was only one answer that came to mind.
“I promise.”
He thought Serah would have looked happy. Instead, she looked as if she didn’t believe him. She took a step back and folded her arms as she prepared to ask him a follow-up question.
“Are you an idiot?” asked Serah.
Mikomi was taken aback by that. He instantly thought that he had been tricked. Mikomi believed that this was Serah’s way of rejecting people and he had to accept his defeat. He began to panic a bit as he saw his chance slipping away but in the end, there was only one way Mikomi could answer.
“Yeah… I guess I am an idiot.”
Serah shot Mikomi a smile after hearing that.
“Well... I guess that means you’re my idiot, then.”
Mikomi was confused. He looked at her and that’s when she embraced Mikomi in a hug and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. At that point, Mikomi’s vision began to blur. Everything Mikomi saw from this point forward were just quick scenes as if he were skipping through time. Mikomi’s life as Serah’s boyfriend wasn’t an easy one. Just as Ryan had told him, the kids at school quickly found out and began to hound Mikomi about dating her. Mikomi ended up in a lot of fights and it pained Serah to see him get hurt time after time for her sake but Mikomi never gave up defending his love.
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Even though there were many rough patches, there were good ones as well. Mikomi recalled the times he went to the mall with Serah when they would go to the Rivoli Theater and watch movies together… just like normal couples would. Over time, all of the hostility towards them had subsided. Whether or not they had their fill or if it was the fact that Mikomi became known to never back down from a fight whenever someone tried to start one, the only thing that mattered was that it wasn’t long before they were able to enjoy a normal life as a couple.
The one-year anniversary of their relationship was fast approaching and even though they had been dating this entire time, Mikomi never asked Serah the meaning behind her question to him that day.
They decided to go to Szot Park that night to gaze up at the stars to celebrate their anniversary. The weather was quite cool so they dressed in jeans and a thin jacket. Mikomi’s was black and silver while Serah’s was light gray with navy blue trim. As they laid there under the stars holding hands, Mikomi asked Serah the one question that was on his mind for such a long time.
“Why did you ask me if I would ever abandon you?”
Mikomi waited for a reply but his question was met with silence. Perhaps he went a bit too far in asking but he wanted to know. Her silence; however, suggested that maybe he shouldn’t know the reason.
“I guess you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”
It seemed like an eternity of silence after that. It was just them, the sound of a gentle night breeze rustling through the grass beneath them with the stillness of an ocean of glitter in the night sky above. Mikomi closed his eyes as he began to lose himself in the surrounding nature; however, that was quickly broken when Serah finally spoke up and asked him a question.
“Do you know what it’s like to be alone?”
Mikomi didn’t know how to answer that question. He knew that he couldn’t just meet it with silence, though. Mikomi laid there and glanced over at Serah who continued to gaze upward into the star-filled sky.
“I don’t know what you mean by that but I’ve never really felt alone before so I guess I can’t say that I know what it feels like.”
Serah glanced over at him for a moment and then turned her head back up to the skies.
“Then you wouldn’t know what it’s like to feel abandoned. You’ve never experienced the pain of being left behind by people who you thought were your friends. You don’t understand the feeling of knowing that everyone keeps looking at you with malice… like you’re not meant for this world. You’ve never been the centerpiece of gossip and rumors. You could never truly understand because you’ve never experienced any of it.”
He understood what she was saying. Those words painted a bigger picture than what was said on the surface. It became quite apparent that Serah had gone through a lot in her short life so far. It was no wonder she asked Mikomi that question a year ago.
“I’ve enjoyed this past year. The times you stuck up for me were painful to watch. I kept thinking that you suffered so much because of me. Despite the pain of seeing you get hurt, it filled me with a sense of comfort knowing that there was someone there who cared enough about me to put themselves through that. But that comfort was only fleeting. I kept thinking that if I had never said yes, you wouldn’t have gone through so much pain. You even lost your best friend because of me. You still haven’t spoken to Ryan have you?”
Mikomi shook his head no. Serah didn’t even have to look over to know what the answer was.
“And through it all, I kept wondering just how long this was going to last. Even now, I keep wondering when you’re going to abandon me, too.”
Mikomi turned over and grabbed Serah by the shoulders, looking into her eyes.
“Don’t you ever say that! I would never abandon you, you hear me!? I love you Serah… more than you could ever know. If I wanted to abandon you, I would have done it by now. The fact that I’m here with you, right now, is proof that I’m not going anywhere! If I had to redo my life over, I’d choose this same path every single time. That is how important you are to me so please… don’t ever think such things!”
Serah’s eyes began to fill with tears. Mikomi noticed it almost immediately and got a bit choked up himself.
“As long as I am alive, you will never be alone. I promise.”
With that, Mikomi leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and the two shared a special moment. Mikomi’s vision became clouded once more and when it refocused, Mikomi was a bit older. He was eighteen and dressed in a ceremonial graduation robe standing side-by-side with Serah who was dressed the same. The two of them looked happy together as if nothing in the world could ruin this moment but something did.
As the two were posing for a graduation photo, a man walked up to Serah and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and turned to Mikomi.
“Someone is calling me to the main office. They say I have an important phone call.”
“I’ll go with you,” he replied.
They made their way to the front office but when they got there, Mikomi was ordered to stay outside. Serah thought that was a bit strange but went into the office alone anyway. She picked up the phone and began talking. After a few moments, Serah turned to Mikomi with tears in her eyes. She mouthed Mikomi’s name and when he read her lips on the other side of the office window, he charged in bypassing anyone who tried to stop him. Serah dropped the phone on the floor and threw herself into Mikomi’s arms.
“Serah!? What’s wrong? What happened!?”
She couldn’t speak. She was in too much pain to form any words. All she could do was hold Mikomi tightly and cry into his shoulder. The school’s principal walked over and placed his hand on Mikomi’s shoulder.
“Serah’s parents were flying back from a business trip and there was an incident with the plane. I’m sorry to say that no survivors were found.”