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5. ~Love's Ferris-wheel~

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Thus, by the end of the day they had tried nearly every ride in the park, except the Ferris Wheel. They stood in line, and wondered if they'd get a seat, especially when the attendant announced that this was the last go-round of the day.

"You know the balloon would have come in handy right now." Kaznori said wistfully.

"You don't have to keep reminding me" Rumiko said a little crabbily."

"I wasn't, merely making an observation. I felt bad about using it as much as we did," Kazunori defended himself.

"Me too. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm a little tired, that's all. It was fun, but a long day. And even if we don't get on the Ferris Wheel, I count today as successful." Rumiko apologized.

"I agree." he said, wondering what was so 'successful' about the day. None of his attempts to confess his feelings toward Rumiko had even gotten off the ground. Was he doomed to always have her as a classmate, and nothing else? He counted the number of people ahead of them, and divided by the possible combinations that could fit into a capsule, and sighed inwardly. They probably would be turned away at the last minute, or be sharing the ride with another couple: he saw just that happen to a pair about 6 places ahead of them. He braced himself for disappointment, not really paying attention to the people. Finally they were next in line, and a white capsule stopped and 4 people stepped out. The attendant ushered them in, making sure they were seated properly.

"Sorry folks, last riders for the evening," the attendant said behind them, turning everyone else away, as she closed the door and signaled for the operator to move the Wheel. The capsule jiggled as it began to move. At first it moved in a line with the platform, but gradually, it began to rise, topping the fence that encased its base, disclosing the whole panorama of the park at dusk, from the lighted roofs of buildings, to the shores of the lake where even now a laser light show played; even the lighted Great Berry with its own light show shrank before them.

They sat facing each other, and largely ignored the view as they reviewed their day. "Did you enjoy your day, Nori-kun?" Rumi asked. "Oh so very much. At first I didn't expect to, with the way it started, being left behind by the others," -'and because of my nervousness of being alone with you, Rumi-chan' he added mentally- "but then, you came along, and then we met Kumahime-chan; and making friends with Nanako-chan, made it simply an amazing adventure. Thank you."

"I'm glad" she breathed.

"Huh?"

"Iiya, nothing" she said, the lapsed into thoughtful silence. The capsule continued to rise and go backwards.

"So, did you enjoy your day?" He asked as the capsule seemed to change direction in mid-stream. "Oh yes, it was a perfect day together." She said absentmindedly. 'Even the haunted house?" he couldn't resist the little jab "But of course, especially the haunted house." Then realizing what she had just said, stuck out her tongue. "You would bring that up again."

"Sorry, it just seemed that you were somewhere else, so I thought I'd tease you a little." They both laughed at that. They sat together in companionable silence for a few more moments. Then, right at the top, everything came to a halt, and the car rocked. A voice came over the loudspeaker:

"Please do not be alarmed. This ride has stopped to allow you our honored guests to enjoy the firework display."

This was it, the end of the dream time he had with Rumi-chan, and still he had not confessed; the last of the precious time allotted to him, and hadn't he squandered it by failing to confess? But then, he had enjoyed an entire day in Rumi-chan's company, wasn't that worth not confessing? He was able to see her in a variety of moods. They had done so many things together today. The only experience lacking was the kokuhaku, and now he doubted its necessity. Was it worth possibly ruining their friendship to make a kokuhaku at this point? To be rejected would throw him back upon his own loneliness. It would be a heavy loneliness without Rumi-chan in his life, but bearable, and wouldn't having her as a friend be almost as good? She would still be always near, after all. He could even fend off Ozawa-kun and the others' grousing about not confessing after all they had done to get him to this point. But what could he do? He didn't want a rejection, and a partial relationship was better than no relationship, no matter what They said.

He kept turning these thoughts around and around in his mind. An expectant silence descended and lay heavily in the air, almost oppressive in its heaviness -even the ever present sound of the crowds below faded into nothingness. How could such a silence be borne, yet alone broken?

"Oh, it looks like we'll have a good view of the fireworks." Even to his own ear that sounded extremely lame, a searching after something to say, for something to fill an unnatural gap. Natural communication having broken down, producing in its wake a seeking after artificial conversation starters.

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'Of course we have a good view of the fireworks, we're at the very height of the Ferris Wheel, Dummy'. Mentally he kicked himself, hard. They looked out, awkwardly. He just wanted to hear her voice, not a disappointed, sad voice, but a happy, understanding, carefree voice, like what he had heard most of the day. Oh how he wished the sky would come and fall down on him, or that his seat would open up and swallow him, anything to remove him from this situation.

Finally, as the sky began to light up with blues and reds and greens, accompanied by the distant pops of the canon, Kazunori broke the silence a second time, desperate to say something, anything. He would willingly make a fool of himself for Rumi-chan's sake, if only... "Oh, look, there, the Fireworks are starting!" Kazu stood up to point out a particularly beautiful mulch-colored flower-burst, before realizing he'd just repeated himself.

"Ne, Nori-kun?" Rumi said from her seat, in a small voice, pulling on his sleeve. He sat back down heavily, causing the capsule to rock gently. He heard her breathe heavily, as if afraid of hurting him with a pronouncement. There was nothing to loose now, and he would regret it if he didn't make a proper confession, even if he was to be rejected. He hoped the words would come.

"A..ano neh, Rumi-chan, you see..." But before the words came out, another breath was explosively expelled.

"I have to do this quickly before I loose my nerve. Kazunori... Watashi....I like Nori-kun, and have for a long, long time now. Its ok if you can't reciprocate these feelings, its enough for me to tell you. I just wanted my feelings to get through. Its taken me all day to get here." Everything was coming out in one jangled rush, and his ears never got past "I like you Kazunori."

What? Rumiko looked into his eyes, searching for something, and afraid of finding it. 'You're not mad at me? For springing this on you?" She asked, quietly. "but of course you are. Suddenly hearing something like that from me.."

"How could I be mad at you? I like you. I'm the one who should apologize to you for the way I've treated you today."

"Nonsense, it shows your sensitive side," She said. "Besides, today there were a lot of distractions, And you see, I didn't think I'd get the opportunity to confess properly, not really. So I didn't, until now. There just never seemed to be the right moment, and there wasn't a single place that I thought appropriate for it, well, except for the swan-lake, and even then, the silence was too beautiful to spoil with something as mundane as a confession. And then, and then the Ferris Wheel presented itself to me. And so I grabbed it. Please don't be mad. To be honest, this whole day was Yumi-chan's and Yoshi-kun's idea. Why, he even told me to come late, and still..."

Comprehension brought an electric shock coursing through Kazunori -a great white firework burrowing from his head to his chest and back again. "But.. I...but that's my line, Rumi-chan" he protested. "Ozawa-san and I set this up so I..could..confess to you," he trailed off. Oh, what was he doing. Everything was wrong, and now she would think he only said what she wanted to hear, parroting her own words back at her. Why was the world such a cruel place? Why couldn't he just disappear through the bottom of the capsule? "and I worked so hard and now, and now.."

He trailed off into silence. His hand which had been scrunched up fist-like, fell limply to his side, a feeling of wetness that wasn't nervousness spreading over it. He felt another drop of wetness. Was he crying now, as well? A perfect way to end this day, he thought, through his imagined tears, bawling like a baby for Rumi-chan to see. Well, if he was to be condemned in her eye, he would look her in that eye, he retained that much dignity at least. Yet, as he looked up, expecting to hear rejection finally. ...

"You felt the same way Nori-kun?" she gasped, clasping his hand in hers. "But that's wonderful!"

"No its not. I'm a coward, I couldn't even bring myself to say it once." he said morosely, withdrawing his hand. "The berries, the wind at the pond, even the animals from the petting zoo all were cheering me on in their own way, and I let them down."

"Their feelings reached you, though, didn't they? They kept you going, right? Their strength let you accept my feelings did they not, and for that I'm happy." She folded her hands in her lap as she took a breath.

"Anyway, I'm happy to know that's how you feel you know, and that's all that matters" she said, taking his hand again and bringing it up to her cheek. "I was right to like you."

"Rumiko.." Kazunori said, and the simple repetition of her name was enough, for both of them.

"Anyway, I'm happy to know that's how you feel, and that's all that matters" she said, taking his hand again and bringing it up to her cheek. "I was right to like you."

"Rumiko.." Kazunori said, and the simple repetition of her name was still enough, for both of them. Fireworks began to come thick and heavy now, starbursts overtaking cannon shots overtaking bursts, exploding all around the capsule silhouetting the couple now sitting side by side, who barely took notice of the outside conflagrations.

#

From a distance, those same fireworks glinted off the oval end of fairly large pair of military grade light gathering binoculars. "Well finally," the boy puffed as he set them down. I swear, I thought those two would never take the plunge. And after all we did for them. Still, looks like our job here is done. 'kay. Dinner's on me. Let's go everyone." He got up and and reached for the door.

"Hold on. Let me see, let me see," The girl beside him insisted, exasperatedly grabbing them and up and looked through them to see the couple's clasped hands, "you're always hogging the equipment."

A moment passed. "Yep, mission accomplished. Ganbatte," she agreed. "I still can't believe your uncle went along with your plan, though." she said as they headed for the door.

"Well, he's always had a soft spot when it comes to young love." The girl just rolled her eyes. "Ecchi old man."

"Is not!" her companion protested, defending the honor of his uncle.

"Is to, and that's a fact. Anyway, how much did this day cost?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," he said, evasively.

"Well, its a good thing my grandfather was willing to do it at cost, then," she said, displaying an "I own you" look. His only response was a scowl. Sje only smiled more.

"I hope the pictures come out ok." she said as a vocal aside, startling the boy. "Well, I'm going on ahead." she said as she exited.

"Oi, Yumi!" the boy cried, hurrying after the departing girl.

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