(Closed) To where we don't know.

After the longest ordeal of time ever to test the patience and will of students weary. Izumi walked calmly toward the delightful embrace of the once-missing sun. He and Chiharu were to go somewhere, just "somewhere" as abrupt as it was but it was a very welcome occasion for him. What was more is that they would be in more privacy than was usual as it should be just them. A grand gleam befell his eye as he approached the first rays of much desired sunlight. He stood in this for a minute before recalling what he was there for. He reached for his phone and typed out a text as briskly as he could.

"
-From Izumi
-To Chiharu
-Subject: Our excursion.

We should be setting off for our time alone. I am at my usual spot here in the courtyard. If you are well, I would be very much blessed to set off with you today.

Sent at 13:45:24"

Chiharu wasted no time sending a response after being released from the gym, not even bothering to change out of her gym uniform, only delaying herself to entrust her books as a temporary gift to Ellie and Wade before going straight to the courtyard.

She exited the building taking in the embrace of the summer's breeze for but a second before continuing on toward Izumi. Walking with a swift and determined pace she doesn't usually display, Chiharu approaches with a comfortable smile and says, "Come on, I want to show you something.", as she continues past him while also grabbing his hand in the process.

He wasn't kept waiting long as within just under two minutes Chiharu had arrived at a brisk pace. There was a warmth starting to be felt as she took his hand in hers and Izumi sensed some urgency in the girl. She was the one this time wishing to show him something. Izumi didn't attempt to ponder what this could be,. Instead, he simply went along with it being mindful of any and all possibilities. He managed to reduce his startled state as he spoke.

"Interesting, must be fleeting if we need such pace."

Becoming suddenly self-aware, Chiharu slows down enough that Izumi can begin walking beside her rather than slightly behind, at which point she looks over to him to say with an indecisive tone, "Not necessarily, no more than anything else. I guess I'd just rather be there than here, but we can just walk there if you want, it's not going anywhere."

At this point the two students are nearing the back gate of Yamaku academy which leads towards the adjacent woods.

"I can understand the desire to get away from the school as quick as possible after the drudgery we were subjected to just then. Just found the action abrupt was all." Now at even gait, Izumi matched strides with Chiharu as they went past the gates. "However, yes, I like this pace much more. It allows for more quality time to spend. All the more worth it." He smiled as he faced her baiting acknowledgement, just wanting to look her in the eye again. He wanted every sight he could take of her.

<Is our quality time better spent walking to our destination? Wouldn't it be better spent at our destination? I guess it doesn't matter where we are when we're spending time together>
Chiharu looks towards Izumi for a short and silent moment after he finished his statement before shrugging and giving her response.
"Heh, I suppose you do have a point there. I'll just have to concede to that logic."
She then gets a bit closer and rests her head on to Izumi's shoulder as they continue walking through the woods.

"You adjust quickly. " He states briefly as they pass a very familiar path to him. Students were rarely found going toward the back gate much less beyond it. Once in a while a group of picnickers would venture forth if pressed for time, weather or effort. Otherwise, all ones needs would be met within the setting of the town or the city beyond it. After a while more, being gentle with his tone given the relative lack of sound, the silence was broken.

"So very still these woods are. I've only heard a few peeps. I wonder what it is that's allowing for such calm."

"If I was a romantic, I would theorize that nature is conspiring to give us the silence we deserve."
After waiting a short moment for her words to permeate the air, Chiharu takes a step away as she looks towards the canopy above them.
"However, in reality we are quite insignificant compared to the real cause for the phenomenon. A storm is coming and they know it. Changes in pressure, sub-sonic rumblings carried through the ground and on the wind not even I can feel."
She then turns back to look towards Izumi as she says with an almost, but not quite, cocky smirk as she says, "But what they don't have is a pinpoint weather forecast."

"Not one for the figurative. I am aware of the vast expanse of our minutia. Doesn't much awe me any less so breed uncertainty. As sure as eggs are eggs, I know of this, however I don't spend so much time in the literal as little is found new outside of what we aspire to make. Those critters aren't exactly accurate being devoid of reason."

Izumi turns toward her as if to disregard all detail.

"It was an opening to lighten some pressure off the day, not note more of it." smiling through his statement to just cast away any doubt of what he wants to get across.

"Oh but what you don't know is, the storm is a good thing. It'll be heat lightning! And I intend to watch it tonight."
Her enthusiasm dies down a bit while turns to more of an uncertain demeanor as she continues with, "I was hoping you'd watch it with me"

"I have little reason to decline. I was constantly placed away from storms or under tents so I rarely ever caught sight of the lightning." Izumi said as a few more animals can be heard scurrying in the distance. "I'd be quite pleased to join you." He continued noting he gave no true assurance of whether or not he would. Other than being half the distance from the school already.

After letting out a soft smile and briefly stating, "I'm glad.", she faces the path in front of them. She remains silent for but a short moment before saying, "But that'll be quite a while later. In the meantime, I found something over the summer I think you'd like."

"Didn't think you'd be one to build suspense. You have me wondering what that could be." He was seen evidently becoming gradually more anxious. Quite telling of the fact that whilst a carrier of withheld knowledge, he didn't like being withheld of anything that was to be known to him. The usual person would be more so out of curiosity, and so would he, had he been at his usual. No, there's a button being pressed somewhere that elicits awareness, that being the occasional period in which he begins to become needlessly impatient. It's not made known by any else but his reactions which by being aloof of them would make quite the spectacle. "Quite strangely so."

"Suspense was never apart of my intentions, but I see no harm in it,"
Chiharu lets go of Izumi's hand and takes a couple strides forward before turning back towards him.
"seeing as we are already here."

She stands at an entirely unremarkable point in the path, and there is nothing but trees around her even though the look on her face portrays a decent amount of pride in her discovery of seemingly nothing.

Izumi looked as if he made a fool of himself and decided to take in the scene in front of him. A nondescript plot of forest that seemed much like the rest behind him and what comes further. Izumi tried to make more of it by observation but came short after a while. "Regale me, what are you playing at? I am at a loss." he says as he wobbles about attempting to discern the matter.

She lets out a short giggle before saying, "I found the best tree."

At which point she precedes to begin her ascent up the large maple tree. She starts off with a single jump off the ground to grab on to a branch above her, which she struggles to pull herself up on to for a short moment as her legs flail about slightly in her efforts before they find their place against the tree helping push her up. Upon successfully conquering the hardest part of the climb, Chiharu doesn't hesitate to make her way farther up the tree, confident Izumi will follow.

A sigh emits from the boy as he follows her up the tree with pace. She could take care of herself, that's a matter of the responsibility taken on. That known, Izumi was expected to oblige and was prepared for what could follow. He didn't have gear for climbing on him so he was following the actions of Chiharu above him and was already a few lengths from her within a few seconds. Not speaking to concentrate on the action, he kept a look of intrigue as his only further acknowledgement.

Background music:

Chiharu had soon found a comfortable seat upon a thick branch stretching out perpendicular from the trunk. A soft breeze blew through the branches of the tree, releasing a wave of seeds spiraling down to the ground all around the two Students. After a moment of taking in the scene and a long breath, Chiharu seems to focus on a point in the distance in front of herself as she says, "Come over here, there's a great view through the branches."

As a child, I held a vendetta against the horizon, it kept the sky away from me. You could see the sky, you could even touch and glide about the sky but without undertaking a very specific career path you couldn't breach it. Birds mock the onlooker knowing they will last longer up there than any machine man could build or aspirations they hold.  I know of species that last for days without any intent of perching. Sure, there was Kawakami's airship but that was an act of secrecy and a one-off deal as he stated in no uncertain terms to me once he returned it to the hangar. Here, atop the canopy, I could at least meet with my intangible rival again. Hello, sky, we've come to see you again, I wanted to cry out, but that was no way to take this in. I wasn't alone. I was here with someone who veered me away from thoughts of old. I turned my attention toward the scene further below. Seeds of life that were rustled out of place, ajar and about to burst, lives saved by the fall. A storm was rising and the animals have turned in for the afternoon. The calm was what we were in the midst of, and thereof. I took Chiharu's hand in mine as soon as I reached where she was. A woodpecker was heard not too far from our perch. No doubt trying to burrow its way away from what was to come. It was tardy, it was desperate but its heart was in the right place.

"In all matter of opinion, this may well be the best place to be right now. Feelings I've lost during the transition have returned in all their fire. The earth is a good host for all that is done to it. Simply take a look at the picture framed by the view beyond." I've lost track of myself, and perhaps I have the most naive little smile on my face, and life will take it away when its ready. For now, I shall hold tightly to the fleeting, for it has not yet gone away.

As Izumi took Chiharu's hand, her gaze turned toward him, and she watched for but a moment, just long enough to witness the simple undercurrent of joy sweep across his stature before looking back towards the horizon herself.

"It's moments like these that make you wish for the ability to cease the flow of time.. Don't you agree?"

Halting time would be complacent would it not? A panacea of all ailments would be just to stop it gently in its tracks. Never allowing it to venture any further than what one could bear, more likely not even giving it quarter. Hypotheticals sure are nice aren't they. Izumi held his posture, not allowing his thoughts to venture off into matters best left for later. He decided simply to agree, for naught else but to retain the mood. "It would be nice for a time. Just enough to delight in for a while more." Time was a fixture that made its way through every known facet of civilization. Obvious but foreboding nonetheless, it's a very sentient will to wish to stop this result. Again, Izumi was poised to remain in this state as long as he could, holding true to his feelings over his thought.

The sun has now begun to show the effects of its waning as the sky around them has been set a blaze by its fall. Soon the star's light shall be entirely engulfed by the inevitable overcast, but for now it is between the earth and the storm and it continues to generously shine its flames on to the two students below.

"I guess our only real option is to depend on our minds to hold this memory though"

It is but a short moment before she comes up with a solution to their conundrum and acts upon it. She takes a slow breath, tugs lightly on Izumi's hand, leans over to him, and begins to kiss him.

In an instant, with one act, thoughts ceased to have any hold on Izumi with gentle totality. Youth, a epoch of development, a time of the most freedom some people will ever experience in their entire lives was before that moment being wasted away by the bitter poisons of fear. He allowed it to gnaw at him for years, fighting against himself, against others. Winning, succeeding, besting, accomplishing, all these insignificant victories along the way. As only a child would make themselves believe that they held any meaning, real outstanding meaning. When he lost the raft, he lost himself, when he woke, the timer started, when he arrived, the clock ticked. A year passed with little progress. Theory without practice was all he had to lay upon at night. Until a girl appeared one day, with books in her hand and time to kill to accompany him. The very one across from him now.  

The kiss, a very gentle act of unity broke through every barrier he had built over the years to keep himself away. A healing well of emotion and spontaneity, the latter being the very part of her that stirred such desire in him. The flush of warmth that flowed its way through was but a passing sense as he brought her closer. The sense of relief that it brought upon him was worth more than any victory won. He held her with the grace of his gratitude, every motion and every sense savoring the moment. For it too, was to pass. It was now up to him to hold this memory deep within.

Chiharu struggled to make sense of the flourishing plethora of sensation that she suddenly became subject to through her action of exploration into the realm of emotion. She was soon overwhelmed by the futility of her attempts to control her thoughts and feelings, and she inevitably gave in to the moment. Her body relaxed, as did her mind, allowing her emotions to run rampant in a brief moment of pandemonium, yet she felt safe within Izumi's embrace.

Once the students inevitably separated enough to take a breath, Chiharu said softly, "Now we don't have to worry about time. Life can move on, everything can change, but we will always have this moment."

Chiharu takes a short breath and lets out a smile as she continues with, "Because everyone remembers their first kiss."

Izumi, on any other occasion would have some retort, some analysis to quell a thought. More often than not, it would ruin with no return moments like this one. Yet all that he had to say in return was, "Of all the ways it could have gone, stolen or devoid of meaning and left to wither. I am beyond grateful that it was in this way. With peace as the backdrop and with pure intention. I'd better remember it." Izumi returned the smile in kind and looked back toward the sky. "A shame to ask this now, however, about the passing of time, how much more until the storm?"