“There’s something enchanted about the night. All those heavenly bodies, shooting stars, the crescent moon, celestial phenomenon.”

— Luanne Rice
. . .
(September 29th)
When Lunamor suddenly asks Mr. Bartolini to park the car off to the side of the road and have it turned off.
“Is here alright, ma’am?” the driver asked as he and Hiro watched Lunamor lean on the window (that was no longer cracked since they are using a new car) to look at something outside, as if searching for something.
“Yes, it’s perfect.”
…and Hiro’s mind can’t help but somehow think that this looks like a scene from cheap, horror-slasher film.
Huh, okay, so maybe Lunamor seriously does have a point about him watching too many movies for his own good but sue him–they are literally out here, in the middle of nowhere with no people around them.
The lights of the car are off, casting them into darkness with only the city lights gleaming brightly somewhere within the distance and a starry night sky.
Despite the surreal view, Hiro can’t help but somehow think that this seems like the kind of place and time where anyone could do anything sinister without fear of getting caught by the authorities or something...
But then, Lunamor opens the car door and gets out of the car without waiting for the driver to do it for her.
…Wait.
What?
And it was so sudden, so anticlimactic that it caught Hiro off guard that he ended up staring blankly at her previously occupied seat for a moment that might have been too long because he somehow caught the amused look on Mr. Bartolini’s face (who was not-so-subtly gesturing for Hiro to just follow her already), forcing him to step out of the car to figure out what’s going on.
Lunamor was already a few steps ahead away from the car, her gloved hands buried deep within her coat pockets as she waits for him on her side of the car, her head tilted slightly up to look at the stars.
Hiro sighs as soon as he stands next to her, arms crossing in a bid to keep himself warm, “…Alright, Lunamor. I’ll take the bait. What on earth are we doing out here?”
“The stars,” she says, “So here we are.”
“Yeah, but where is here?” Hiro says rather dryly, “…and what are we supposed to be doing here, anyway?”
“You told me once that you were an uranophile…” Lunamor retorted, her eyes never straying from the night sky, “Figured this place is as good as any.”
Hiro blinks, “That’s… w-well, yeah, I did.”
To be honest, Hiro almost forgot about that particular conversation… it feels like a long time ago since Lunamor first brought him over to her office in Luna Enterprises (only to force him on a helicopter before he knows it–) when really, it was only just a few weeks ago but so much has happened since then that it almost seemed so significant in the grand scheme of things.
Hiro’s actually quite surprised she even bothers to remember that conversation considering she seemed quite preoccupied with other things back then–even until now actually… although her explanation somehow answers nothing and everything at the same time.
He looks up to the sky with her as well.
And for a moment, they were both quiet, lost within their own thoughts as they stared at what seemed to be a sea of stars, shining so brightly above them.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Doesn’t answer why we’re here,” Hiro finally remarks.
“…I heard from Professor Steven that there would be a meteor shower tonight,” Lunamor says after a moment as she gestures up to the night sky as if that could somehow explain everything.
Well… come to think of it, she’s right.
Hiro does remember Steven yapping nonstop earlier, something about the meteor shower occurring this evening.
It had been something Steven had spotted while scrolling aimlessly through his cell phone in Mugbook before shoving it in Hiro’s face during lunch since Steven knows just how much interested Hiro is regarding astronomy.
Lunamor was leaving the table by then, although Hiro recalled her making a passing remark about never seeing a ‘shooting star’ yet.
…hm, maybe that should change.
“Lunamor, here.”
Before she could react, Hiro grabs her by the wrist and briskly guides her over near to a lone bench just a few paces ahead on the other side of the road.
While Hiro wouldn’t have mind seeing the usual meteor shower from his apartment’s window (or Lunamor’s office), still, he wouldn’t deny that Lunamor has chosen a great spot and it would be a shame to let her effort go to waste. Besides, the two of them are already way high up, and even from here, he can see the city lights in the distance.
This area seems like a rest stop of some sort, and not the kind of place one would expect Lunamor, of all people, to know about.
“The moon looks so pretty tonight, don’t you think?”
And just like that, Hiro felt his entire face heating up but before he could look over to Lunamor, his mouth automatically opening to… to rebuke her, say something! –but a sudden movement from the corner of his eye catches his attention, and when he looks up at the sky, he saw a glimpse of a shooting star.
For a moment, they both stared up at the sky, with Hiro feeling like he was holding his breath and trying not to think of Lunamor’s earlier remark.
Because those words…
‘The moon looks so pretty tonight, isn’t it?’ if translated to 月が綺麗ですね (tsuki ga kirei desu ne) in his mother tongue… the phrase is said to be a more poetic way of saying I love you.
No.
No way.
Hiro’s just overthinking it. Hiro’s just assuming things. Because that’s…! That can’t be right. It’s just a cultural difference. For all Hiro knows, Lunamor has no idea about that and literally just made a pretty–AHEM! –…straightforward comment about the moon.
It’s cool.
No big deal–
“Just now…”
Hiro bodily tensed, “Y-yes…?”
Bullshit.
This is not working.
“You looked like you have something to say to me just now.” Lunamor stated nonchalantly, her eyes not straying from the stars in the sky, most likely waiting for another falling star to come around, “...What is it?”
Fuck.
Lunamor may not be aware but how on earth was Hiro supposed to explain to her that the phrase ‘the moon is beautiful?’ is regarded as a romantic, but subtle and poetic way of confessing one’s feelings to another in Japan?
It was when Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki’s teaching years during the Meijin Era. From how the story goes, he was teaching English when he supposedly overheard a student translating “I love you” into its literal and direct translation: “Ware Kimi wo Aisu,” and while… the student was not really wrong, however, Soseki believed—as a product of his time and culture—that this direct translation wasn’t the right way to do it since it goes against how they should convey their feelings, since how they communicate calls for subtlety and sensibility.
But then again, this is neither here nor there. This isn’t the Meijin Era and Lunamor’s not even Japanese… there’s no way she’ll blurt something like that if she even knows what that means. And more often than not, Hiro couldn’t be too sure with Lunamor.
“I think you should make a wish is all…” Hiro finally forced himself to answer when the silence between them went far too long.
“You were the one who saw it first, Akihiro,” this time, Lunamor finally glances away from the sky to look at him, her eyes silver bright underneath the darkness of the night sky, “…so I think you should be the one to do it.”
Another shooting star sailed across the sky.
Lunamor’s head suddenly snaps to follow it, her mouth dropping a bit in awe as she grabs his hand, the other raising to point at it, “Wait–! T…There was another–?!”
But Hiro couldn’t bring himself to look, eyes never straying from the face of this young woman who had his hand clasped with her’s. Lunamor’s eyes were wide, a childish sort of wonder gleaming within such a bright silver-gray that reminded him of the twinkling, distant stars, cheeks flushed because of the cold as she eagerly looks out for the next shooting star.
“Do you know any constellations?” Hiro suddenly blurts out. His voice comes out loud, so much so, that it echoes quite a bit and successfully makes Lunamor jump a bit on her spot in surprise.
Hiro wasn’t sure who was more startled.
Him or her?
Still, Lunamor seemed so startled by the question that she doesn’t reply at first, just blinking down at the ground as she raises a hand to her chest for a moment, still blinking rather owlishly.
“…Akihiro?”
“Y-Yeah?”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Well, I was just asking–”
“No, I mean…” Lunamor releases a shaky breath for a moment, lowering her hand, “Don’t raise your voice so suddenly at me.”
…Huh.
So Lunamor is sensitive to loud sounds.
“Oh.” Hiro gulps, “Sorry…”
“You didn’t know. It’s fine,” she shrugs, before looking over at the sky again. “Hm, now that you mentioned it… my father used to point some of the constellations to me… although I couldn’t see or understand most of what he was talking about at that time.”
“Oh?”
Hiro tried not to smile at the mental picture of a too-small Lunamor trying to make sense of the cluster of stars her old man was rambling about.
“Do you recognize some of them now?” he asks.
Lunamor squints at the night sky, her hand raising again to draw some sort of line while Hiro tries bite back a grin as he silently watches her furrow her brows, lips pursing into a light pout as she continues to trace the stars.
He knows that look.
It’s the same look she has on her face whenever she is beginning to make sense of the hard mathematical equations he used to give her (and the rest of his students) in class.
“Orion...?” Lunamor mutters.
He hums, “Yes?”
“There,” she points, and this time, Hiro doesn’t bother to hide his smile when she slowly traces said constellation for him to follow (although there was no need since Hiro can already see it).
“…And what about it?”
“It’s one of the brightest and best-known constellations in the night sky since ancient time… maybe because it’s easily recognizable and very visible,” Lunamor answers, “Named after a character from Greek mythology and also known as the Hunter.”
Hiro hadn’t been her professor since Megan took his class, so he was rather pleased that Lunamor still gets what he wanted to know without further prompting.
“That’s right,” he beams and Lunamor huffs lightly, a puff of air escaping her lips as she did so, “The easiest way to locate it though, is using the Orion’s belt since those can be seen even without using a telescope. Look, Lunamor, do you see that?” he points to the three equally bright stars in a row, and when Lunamor nodded, he continued, “The three medium-bright stars in a straight row represent Orion's Belt. Then, there’s this curved line of stars extending from the Belt which represents Orion's Sword while the Orion Nebula lies about midway down in the Sword of Orion and… and…”
Her face was so close.
And Lunamor wasn’t looking at the stars now.
She was looking at him.
Her gaze was soft, almost fond, lips curled in a half-smile and Hiro… Hiro can feel all that he was trying to say was slowly turning to mush inside his brain at such a gentle look on her face.
“And…?” Lunamor prompts.
“I’msorryi’mrambling–”
Now, Lunamor looked more amused than confused by the sudden word-vomit despite the fact that Hiro suddenly feels like wanting to run back to the car and never show his face to her again.
Fortunately, she simply looks back up to the sky again (probably to spare him the embarrassment), “That was very informative, so I don’t mind… we should do this sometime real soon again though. This is nice.”
…Oh.
Oh.
And before he can say anything more stupid, Hiro wisely keeps his mouth shut. Then he slowly looks back up at the sky, just in time to see two more shooting stars.
Although he couldn’t quite stop himself from stealing glances at Lunamor every few seconds. Right now… she looked so (well, not really happy but…) content, warm, that made her appear almost approachable. And after all this time, she still hasn’t let go of his hand.
As if sensing his stare, Lunamor suddenly turns a bit to look back at him over her shoulder. Hiro couldn’t be too sure since her scarf was in the way but… but she seemed to be smiling at him.
“Well?” she asks, “What did you wish for?”
Hiro blinks.
He had been so distracted about Lu–Orion, the constellations and… and other stuff that he had really forgotten all about that.
Right, the wish.
…What was his wish again?
He really hasn’t made a wish yet, and Hiro immediately tries to mull over his options. He saw a lot of shooting stars tonight, does this mean he’s supposed to wish for a lot of things?
Well, whatever.
It’s not like whatever he wishes will come true, anyway.
“…Iubekide wa arimasen,” Hiro finally says.
…I’m not supposed to tell you.
“…I see.”
. . .
However, as they began to head back to the car, Hiro found his eyes briefly wandering down to their hands…
He knows he should wish for a lot of things.
For Akira to wake up. For him to still have a job until then. For this farce of a relationship that they have to work out till they needed it…
Hiro briefly closes his eyes and makes a wish.
…またあなたと一緒に星を見たいです。