Wading through a crowded party on the fourth floor of the Ōkinatatemono, the tallest skyscraper in the city, Rossweisse pulled a perplexed Kirs through a sea of finely dressed people. They weaved in-between numerous couples dancing to a two-step waltz, barely avoiding the elbows and hands that kept swinging out towards them.

She led him towards a door in the corner of the massive room and opened it to reveal a long hallway that led to a staircase. As they opened the door, they also noticed two men from the building’s security detail beginning to move swiftly in their direction.

Once they were about halfway through the corridor, they broke into a run, Rossweisse still firmly holding Kirs’ hand. He turned his head to look back at the guards who were clearly moving to intercept them. 

Racing up the many flights of stairs, the couple fled the security guards, and with each step Kirs could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears as if someone was beating a drum next to them. All he could think about was the sound of shoes squeaking on reinforced concrete and his own heavy breathing. The girl let go of his hand and, despite her dress, effortlessly leaped up the steps in twos, and it took everything he had to keep his pace with her while in a suit.

She kept up the pace for about thirty seconds, but she suddenly stopped at what must have been about 8 stories above the ground floor. After Kirs caught up to her and crouched down to regulate his breathing, she wagged her finger in front of his face and made a shushing sound, as if she were trying to listen for something — the guards’ footsteps? 

He held his breath and listened along with her, only to hear nothing. After another moment of silence, he began to speak. 

“Why’d we have to-” 

She shook her finger in front of him again and grabbed his hand once more. 

“Don’t say anything.”

They walked up the rest of the stairs in silence. 

Arriving at the room that topped the stairwell, Rossweisse shoved open the door that was labeled “helipad." The two walked out of the dark box onto the sunbaked platform, sitting down at the end of the surface. Kirs let his feet dangle off the edge, and they took a second to breathe properly before he remarked, 

“Your parents throw really nice parties.” 

He leaned back on the metal pad and put his arms behind him, staring out into the vast city before them. She crossed her legs in her dress and scooted a bit closer to the edge. 

“I would agree, but they usually have me entertain all those creepy sixty-year-olds. They don’t force me to join the dances, but it’s still weird to try and hold a conversation with a guy who keeps leering at you.” 

Kirs looked at her with concern. 

“Have you told your parents?” 

She shrugged and responded,

“I would, but I have a feeling they wouldn’t care much. Those old dudes are creepy but they all own some kind of major corporation. They can’t afford to get on their bad side. Plus, it’s not like they’ve ever touched me or anything, and if they did I’d judo the crap out of them.” 

She joked, but her expression failed to match her tone. 

Kirs’ expression didn’t change. Rossweisse turned to avoid his gaze. She pursed her lips as she realized the meaning of her words in the ears of someone else. 

“What I mean is, I can protect myself in case something happens.” 

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Kirs turned back to face the cityscape and pondered whether she was really capable of it or not. He knew that she also somewhat regularly attended the dojang he and his friend Lawrence would go to to spar, but he had never actually seen her fight. 

Regardless of his concerns, he knew that continuing this conversation would only exacerbate the discomfort between the two of them. If there was anything he didn’t want, it was that. But would it be appropriate to switch the topic?

“When we hit college, what do you want to major in?” 

Kirs bit his tongue, cringing as he realized how random his question was. Shifting gears so drastically was an amateur mistake an expert conversationalist like him should never be caught doing. Rossweisse eased up slightly and turned to watch a distant plane fly into the clouds. 

“I’d probably major in business since my parents really want me to pick up where they leave off. They don’t really like the people directly under them. If I had it my way though, I’d probably major in astronomy. I like stargazing.” 

She extended her arms behind her to imitate him and asked,

“What about you?” 

“I don’t really know. I haven’t thought too much about my own future, since I’ve always had my parents’ support. I’ve only thought about what I have now and what I have to do, not about what will come later in life. I wanted to be a doctor at first, you know, to help people, but I’ve also kind of enjoyed things with less stress.” 

Rossweisse leaned back to lay down on the tarmac before replying,

“I think you could do well as a doctor. You’ve got a lot of patience.” 

Kirs noticed the sly smile on her face and groaned. 

“Your jokes still suck.” 

She broke out into a laugh as he fought back a smile and joined her in lying down.

As her laughter died down, Kirs gazed up at the blazing red sky. His face grew serious as he continued, 

“The only thing I really want is for whatever I do to make enough money for me to be able to build a family and raise kids comfortably. I want to provide for my kids like my parents did for me.”

She quietly turned to stare at a raven that had landed on the far side of the helipad, her cheeks flushed red. Neither of them said a word, just basked in the setting sun. The waves of heat splashing over their skin combined with the cool air to calm their mood, and Rossweisse’s blushing face was hidden away by the light from the sky. Kirs himself had his nose pointed skyward, and his face had relaxed into a smile. 

Still facing away from him, she mumbled quietly, 

“Do you think about having kids a lot?” 

He smirked and replied, 

“The act, or the result?” 

Rossweisse turned and slapped his arm, pouting. She sat up and hugged her knees, to which Kirs also got up and apologized, his smile unwavering. 

“Sometimes. I like to think about how I’d raise them, and about what kind of lessons my parents taught me that I can teach them also. It’s kind of nice, thinking about what kind of names I want to give them, what school I’d like to send them to, what kind of routines to set. I want to see a little me, I guess.” 

Kirs turned towards the incredibly flustered girl sitting next to him and asked, 

“You?” 

She faced him once more, but still couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes, and instead glanced to the side. 

“It’s not that I think about the kids themselves, it’s more that I think about the man I want to marry.” 

As she said it, her face grew even redder. The sun had finally sunk passed the horizon, and the pale blue lights of the city drowned out the colors of the atmosphere. 

As the gleam of the sun lost its place to the glow of electronic lights, Kirs could finally understand the expression on her face. His mind flashed to everything they had talked about, and he realized why she was put on edge. Even still, he wanted to be sure he wasn’t reading into things too much. His heart stopped in his chest before asking her, 

“What kind of person do you want to marry?” 

Rossweisse froze and looked down at the surface they were sitting on. The freshly cold air began to bite her skin, and she shivered a little bit. She fluffed her dress a little bit before standing up, turning to face him. 

Kirs followed suit and copied her as the moon unveiled itself from the clouds, their eyes meeting for the first time since leaving the party downstairs. Rossweisse’s beautiful eyes looked like lavender in the moonlight, and Kirs had never been so entranced by any other color in his life. He expected her to say a name, but she shocked him by responding with something completely out of his scope of mind. Standing up straight, Rossweisse looked up into his oculus and asked him, 

“Will you be my lover?”