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After months of short phone calls and scattered text messages, Gou was more than ready for Makoto to finally get a job a bit closer to home. She never said that she’d pry him out of Tokyo if they didn’t let him go soon, but from her sighing and sad emoticons Makoto knew that she wasn’t going to graciously accept the large distance between them for much longer. That was why he had started assuring her that he would come home for Christmas Eve all the way back in November.
But if that plan had still been intact, Gou would not be on a train sending Makoto very abrupt text messages assuring him that it was fine if he went to the Christmas Eve party. He had to make a good impression on his co-workers and bosses, and thank them for letting him start his teaching career in such a prominent school in the city. They could always see each other on Christmas; it was only a three hour train ride after all, and the 25th was not as popular a date night as the 24th so they could go where they wanted.
"Are you sure you won’t be too lonely? I’m sure they’d understand if I told them I’d like to be with you. They know we’re engaged."
"I’m sure."
"I would like to see you, though. There’s still time for me to say something."
"This party is important, I told you that."
"I can make a good impression on another day."
"Make a good impression today, and you might have a job in Iwatobi tomorrow. That would be better in the long run."
"You’re upset."
"We’re both upset, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices."
She sniffed and thought of the three hours of Christmas Eve she was sacrificing on the train, and that wasn’t even counting the time it took to get to a train that was on the right line. She had even spent a long, painful hour curling her hair, and the carefully placed waves were already starting to loosen and hang limply across her shoulders. Not that Makoto would notice something like that. He thought her hair looked beautiful no matter what. She wouldn’t care much either, once she was standing outside the door to his apartment.
Wary, Makoto had decided it was best to end the conversation with an I Love You Very Much and a promise to talk later, and she settled back into her seat with a sigh. Her fingers gently rubbed the band of her ring, and once she was smiling, she replied: "I love you too. We’ll see each other soon, don’t worry."
The train was fairly quiet, despite the number of passengers that were unfortunate enough to be travelling such a long distance on Christmas Eve. Many of them were napping, and after a bit of adjusting in her seat, Gou happily joined them—anything to get back that hour of sleep she had sacrificed for her curls—letting the hum of the train lull her to sleep.
Every so often she would sigh and peek at the aisle, or glance out the window, but she dozed off again just as quickly as her eyes opened. It wasn’t until the train pulled into a long stop that she sat up and tried to very subtly yawn and stretch. Her phone dropped into her lap, and her legs jerked and sent it skittering onto the floor and under the seat in front of her.
She groaned and her head hit the window with a gentle thud. At least no one was sitting next to her to see her carefully toe around the floor and drag her phone back with the ridged sole of her winter boots, and sliding further down her seat with every attempt. “Come on, come on—no—come—finally.”
The phone finally slid back into her reach, and her brow furrowed when the lit screen revealed that she had missed quite a few messages, and two phone calls, from her mother. The train still hadn’t left the stop, and when a few glances confirmed that no one was going to be sitting near her, she sat back with a sigh to call her back.
Her mother answered the call almost immediately. “Gou, how far are you?”
"Huh? Oh, I don’t know. I fell asleep. I think I’m an hour out already."
"Oh," her mother sighed. "I was cleaning up in the living room and you left Makoto’s present here."
"Eh! No! I thought—it was in my purse—"
"Well it can’t be, because I’m holding it right now." Despite Gou’s distressed noises from her frantic search of her purse, her mother continued on. "I know that you wanted to surprise him with it, but why not just give it to him when he comes home tomorrow?"
For the second time she sunk into her seat with a groan. “Mom, I can’t.”
"What do you mean you can’t? What’s so special about it that it can’t wait a day?"
"Well—" she frowned and looked out the window.
"It’s not as if Makoto will have a present in his hands when you show up."
"Well, no, but he probably has one sitting in his apartment somewhere. And we can’t very well exchange gifts if I don’t have one."
Her mother hummed and sighed, and Gou knew she was probably shrugging and resting her chin on her hand. “Consider this early advice for your marriage: keep things interesting and always wear a nice pair of panties, and your husband will be happy.”
Though no one could overhear the conversation, Gou still covered her reddening face with her hand. “Mom, please, that is so embarrassing. And this is a serious problem! Makoto still wears that watch he had in high school.”
"The orange one?"
"Yes!"
"Oh dear. You don’t think he’ll wear it tonight, do you?"
"He still wears his old glasses," she hunched over and put a hand near her mouth to try and muffle the sudden jump in pitch in her voice, "I really wouldn’t put it past him."
"I’ll make sure you get it, sweet heart. Don’t worry."
She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Thanks.”
If she had the will power she might have been able to fall asleep again, but the prospect of all her careful plans unraveling was enough to make her want to run up and down the aisle, or at the very least grab Makoto’s arm and desperately wring her hands until he was ready to burst into flame. Besides, her phone was suddenly lighting up with Nagisa’s wild laughter and gleeful emoticons, a list of shops in Tokyo from Rei, and Rin’s quiet outrage that her fiancée would still have such bad fashion sense.
She rolled her eyes and pondered the state of her support system while studying one of the many maps Rei had sent her. In theory, she could easily surprise her future Father-in-Law with the expensive watch she had originally bought for Makoto, if she could get a nice cheap one. But that would cause a whole cascade effect of gifts that she was not financially prepared for.
Still, if she got him his favorite chocolate she could distract him long enough to accidentally drop his old watch out the window.
"I’m about to take a three hour train ride instead of doing something worthwhile for Christmas Eve. You might have the best brother in the world."
"Did Mom pay for your train ticket?"
"No she did not. This is all me."
"Is Haruka sleeping?"
"Yes. It’s only been half an hour, it’s really boring. He doesn’t care about all the new scenery or the train or anything. But what else is new? He’s always been pretty absent minded."
"It’s not as if he’s never been on a train before… anyway, I’m getting off early."
"What? Why? What if you get lost?"
"Oh, Rei sent me a ton of maps. I can get off at the next stop, get some chocolate, and then take another train to where this party is supposed to be to surprise him. Also I’m getting hungry."
"Can’t you just stay in one place? I got on this train so I could drop this watch off for you, and now you’re running all over Japan."
"Put it in his mailbox and go eat somewhere with Haruka."
”It’s Christmas Eve! You can’t even order KFC on Christmas Eve! You think I’m just gonna go to a convenience store or something? Steal a reservation at a restaurant?”
"Just cook him something at the apartment, Haruka has a key anyway. He only knows how to make mackerel fried rice so he definitely has stuff for that in the fridge."
"You two are going to starve if you don’t live close to home."
"I can cook!"
"You really can’t."
She shoved her phone into the bottom of her purse, tossing her falling curls over her shoulder as she stepped off the train. It certainly wasn’t her job to entertain her brother for three hours. Besides, she had a shop around the corner to get to and it was no easy task to politely push through a city crowd; as far as she was concerned, the only perk of the Tokyo area was the fact that it was usually warmer there, and it didn’t snow that much. Well, the lights were pretty, too, but when Makoto tried to tempt her into the city with that excuse she would just sigh and raise her eyebrows.
She would not live in a cramped apartment just because of a few light bulbs. Or really nice chocolate, which the store seemed to be full of. While carefully turning boxes of chocolate over in her hands, she thought of all the things that might tempt her into living in the city. She pressed gloved fingertips to her mouth, staring very hard at the back of a chocolate box. It did not stop the blush that was creeping up her neck while she thought of things that would probably be very tempting.
Like, Always-Shirtless-Fiancée tempting.
Or, Fiancée-Waiting-At-The-Door-In-Only-An-Apron tempting.
She could practically smell the soap and chlorine, and she smacked the box against her face and rushed to the register. Quite a few people probably thought she was insane when she looked, wide eyed, into the crowd as if expecting something, but before she could look any crazier her phone chimed.
"Are you eating dinner with the others tonight?"
"I’m at the store right now, actually! I had a sudden craving for chocolate."
"That seems ominous."
"It’s a completely normal craving with nothing else attached to it."
"I got a little scared, sorry. Rin would be pretty angry if, well, we had some kind of happy accident before we were married."
"I think you think about babies more than I do, Makoto. Most people wouldn’t jump to that conclusion, you know."
"Sorry, sorry. I’m at the store too, actually. I feel like I should bring something to that party…"
"Beer or something seems safe, doesn’t it?"
"Do you think principals really drink that kind of stuff?"
Her brow furrowed as she set the box of chocolate on the counter and stared at her phone. "Makoto, really?"
"Well I really don’t know. I don’t go to his house or anything."
"If it’s expensive he can probably serve it to guests and look good, even if he hates it." She paused as she handed over her money to the cashier, giving the display of her total a withering glance. "But not too expensive."
"The store I’m at isn’t that high end, but I understand. The city can be pricey."
"Is it somewhere near the party?" Bag in one hand and phone in the other, she caught another whiff of soap and chlorine that made her look up in confusion as she left the store.
"Kind of. I couldn’t walk there from here."
She sniffled and tugged at her coat, falling into the crowd headed to the train station. The wind was sharp and brisk against her face, and when her hair whipped into her face she longed for a hat. "That’s for the best I’m sure it’s chilly even in the city."
"Luckily the city has a lot of stations. It’s a little more crowded than I expected, actually, I hope the trains aren’t too cramped."
"Just another reason to do your best tonight, huh? Less crowded trains in Iwatobi~"
Despite the light hearted tone of the text, she was looking at the crowd headed to the train station with a scowl. And still she kept catching the scent of chlorine. She looked around the crowd in confusion even though she couldn’t see much, and once they were packed into the train there was nothing but shoulders and hair.
There was no comfortable way for her to check her phone, or even to stand. Hoping to avoid any awkward eye contact, she looked up at the map above the doors, and resolved to get off at the very next stop. She was better off walking, or paying the absurd amount for a taxi.
"Yeah, this train is kind of unbearable… though for some reason, I can smell your perfume so it makes me want to stay."
"Eh? Really? You must really miss me. Actually, I kept thinking you were in the store."
"So that means you smelled chlorine."
"Yes! And your soap, of course. I can still smell it. Maybe you shouldn’t go to that party after all."
Her phone chimed but she didn’t see the reply; the train was slowing to a stop and she had to push her way to the doors, sighing when she finally broke free and stumbled onto the platform.
"A change of heart huh?
Gou… did you curl your hair?”
She turned back to the train so quickly she was sure she had given herself whiplash. But there was Makoto, clutching a bag and looking utterly dumbfounded. It wasn’t until she absently waved that he thought to push through the passengers boarding the train, giving stuttered apologies as he went.
His hands moved as if they had a mind of their own, passing the bag back and forth and hovering nervously in front of her, trying to decide if they should touch her hair, or face, or shoulders. “What are you—I thought—weren’t you shopping?”
With a nod she held up her own bag. “Chocolate. For you.”
When she looked back at him the first signs of a grin were on his face, and she knew that excited laughter wasn’t too far behind. When the giggles started he scooped her up into his arms, lifting her clear off the ground.
"W-wait a second!" She flushed and tried to duck her head, aware that they were drawing a lot of attention. He only took the opportunity to bury his face in her hair.
"I missed you," he sighed. "So much. Were you planning this the whole time?"
"Well I didn’t think we’d end up on the same train," she grumbled and wiped at her eyes. "You’re going to make my mascara run, put me down."
He giggled and kissed her cheek. “It looks fine. You look beautiful. The best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.”
She wiped at her eyes and laughed. “Don’t say embarrassing things.”