The moment after the kiss felt unreal.

  Not dramatic.

  Not explosive.

  Just… still.

  Eri hadn’t run this time.

  Which was honestly more surprising than the kiss itself.

  She stood frozen beneath the ntern-lit path, eyes wide, ears completely upright now like they had forgotten how to move. Alex was still close enough that she could feel the warmth of him, and that alone was enough to make her brain refuse to cooperate.

  Her tails were the first thing to react.

  They puffed slightly.

  Then swished.

  Then wrapped halfway around her legs like they were trying to hide.

  Alex noticed immediately.

  “You’re doing the tail thing again,” he said softly.

  Eri blinked.

  “…What tail thing.”

  “The ‘I have no idea what to do with my emotions’ tail thing.”

  “I do not have an emotion tail.”

  “You absolutely have an emotion tail.”

  She looked down.

  Unfortunately, the evidence was right there.

  Her ears fttened slightly in embarrassment.

  “…Traitor.”

  Alex ughed quietly.

  Not teasing.

  Just warm.

  For a moment neither of them moved. The path around them was quieter than the rest of the gardens, and the ntern light made everything feel softer, slower.

  Eri finally found her voice again.

  “…That one was your fault.”

  Alex blinked.

  “My fault?”

  “Yes.”

  “You kissed me.”

  “Because you kissed me first.”

  “That was after you kissed me.”

  “You chased me.”

  “Because you ran.”

  “You startled me.”

  “You startled yourself!”

  Eri opened her mouth to argue again.

  Then stopped.

  Because she realized something very important.

  She was still standing close to him.

  Very close.

  Close enough that if she leaned forward again—

  Her ears immediately went pink.

  Alex noticed that too.

  “You’re thinking about it,” he said.

  “I am not.”

  “You are.”

  “I am thinking about the animal exhibits.”

  “There are no animal exhibits here.”

  “…Then I’m thinking about hypothetical animal exhibits.”

  Alex smiled.

  “You’re terrible at lying.”

  She crossed her arms defensively.

  “You are very distracting.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  Eri tried to gre at him.

  Unfortunately, it came out more flustered than intimidating.

  A breeze drifted through the garden path then, rustling the wisteria petals still scattered along the stones behind them. Somewhere nearby a couple ughed softly, and the faint violin music from earlier carried through the air again.

  The whole pce felt like it had been designed specifically for this kind of moment.

  Which made Eri more aware of it.

  Which made her more flustered.

  She groaned softly and covered her face with one hand.

  “This is awful.”

  “This is great,” Alex corrected.

  “You’re enjoying this too much.”

  “A little.”

  She peeked at him through her fingers.

  “You’re supposed to be flustered too.”

  “I was.”

  “Was?”

  “You ran.”

  “That does seem to be my default response.”

  Alex chuckled again.

  Then, a little more seriously, he stepped closer.

  Not much.

  Just enough that she noticed.

  Her ears twitched.

  “You know,” he said quietly, “I’ve been thinking about something.”

  Eri instantly tensed.

  “That is always a dangerous sentence.”

  “Probably.”

  “…What.”

  He gestured lightly toward the path behind them.

  “The first time I saw you here.”

  Her tails stilled.

  “Back when you were… still figuring things out.”

  She nodded slightly.

  Back when she’d still been Ethan.

  Back when the confusion had been overwhelming.

  “You looked so lost that night.”

  Her ears dipped slightly.

  “Yeah.”

  “I almost didn’t do anything.”

  “You did though.”

  “Yeah.”

  He looked back at her.

  “And now you’re the one kissing me under a tree.”

  Her face reignited instantly.

  “I regret everything.”

  “No you don’t.”

  “…I regret the running part.”

  “That was pretty funny.”

  She shoved his shoulder lightly.

  “You are impossible.”

  He caught her wrist gently before she could pull away.

  Not tightly.

  Just enough to stop the movement.

  Her breath caught slightly.

  Neither of them spoke for a second.

  Eri looked down at his hand on her wrist.

  Then slowly back up at his face.

  Her tails swayed again, slower this time.

  “…Alex.”

  “Yeah?”

  “…Are you going to keep doing that.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Being calm.”

  He tilted his head slightly.

  “You want me to panic instead?”

  “…A little.”

  He smiled.

  “Sorry.”

  She sighed dramatically.

  “You’re ruining my ability to function.”

  “I’m okay with that.”

  She made another small distressed noise.

  Then gently slipped her wrist free from his hand.

  But instead of stepping away—

  She stepped closer.

  Close enough that her shoulder brushed his.

  Her tails slowly spread behind her again, rexed now.

  They stood like that for a moment, watching the nterns sway slightly in the breeze.

  Then Eri pointed down the path.

  “…There’s a ntern bridge further in.”

  “You want to see it?”

  She nodded.

  “Yes.”

  They started walking again.

  Slower this time.

  More aware of each other.

  The deeper parts of the garden were quieter now as the night got ter. The ntern bridge stretched over a narrow stream, its wooden railings lined with small glowing lights.

  When they stepped onto it, the reflections shimmered in the water below.

  Eri leaned slightly over the railing.

  “Oh.”

  Alex followed her gaze.

  Dozens of small floating nterns drifted along the stream.

  People must have released them upstream earlier in the evening.

  “They look like stars,” she said softly.

  “Yeah.”

  For a moment they just watched them drift.

  Then Alex noticed something.

  Her tails had shifted again.

  One of them had slowly curled toward him, brushing lightly against his arm.

  She didn’t seem to notice.

  Or maybe she did and was pretending not to.

  Either way, he didn’t move away.

  Eventually she looked back up at him.

  “…Tonight was nice.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m gd we came.”

  “Me too.”

  She hesitated slightly.

  Then added quietly,

  “…I’m gd you stayed.”

  He knew what she meant.

  Not just tonight.

  Everything.

  He smiled softly.

  “I told you I would.”

  Her ears lifted slightly again.

  Then she gnced down the bridge.

  “…There’s one more thing.”

  “What?”

  “At the end of the bridge.”

  They walked together to the far side.

  A small stand sat there with paper tags and ribbons tied to the railing.

  A sign read:

  “Write a wish for the year.”

  Eri tilted her head.

  “Huh.”

  Alex picked up one of the bnk tags.

  “You want to try?”

  She thought about it.

  Then nodded.

  “…Okay.”

  They both wrote quietly for a minute.

  Eri tied her ribbon to the railing first.

  Alex tied his beside it.

  Neither of them asked what the other had written.

  But as they stepped back—

  A breeze lifted the tags slightly.

  And for just a second—

  Eri caught a glimpse of Alex’s.

  It said:

  Stay with her.

  Her ears warmed.

  She didn’t tell him that hers said something very simir.

  Instead, she nudged his shoulder lightly.

  “…We should probably head back before the garden closes.”

  “Probably.”

  They started back down the path together.

  But this time—

  Without really thinking about it—

  Eri reached out.

  And took his hand.

  Her ears turned pink again almost immediately.

  But she didn’t let go.

  And Alex didn’t either.

  AnnouncementNo chapy today but since I have 3 and 1/2 days till spring break I should be able to release all days and the time depends on my schedule