Chapter 115: Beautiful

MARIUS

The rest of the day went by excruciatingly slowly. I had experienced before, during sparring sessions where I could achieve peak concentration, that sometimes time seemed to slow down and I could see every movement of the opponent clearly, enabling me to make quick decisions and perfectly timed counters. However, what I experienced today after the play was anything but total concentration—quite the opposite, in fact. It was as if I had been taken over by a fever, some sort of sickness, where my mind could not function and what I was looking at and hearing did not register in my head. The only thing that kept repeating in my mind was ’Ten minutes before the fireworks. Below the Clock Tower,’ as if I were bewitched by a spell.

The Second Consort was pleasant throughout, courteous and caring. She showed genuine interest in all the clubs’ activities and did her best to visit as many stalls as possible, even buying some handcrafted items, eating more snacks—much to the delight of the cooking club, as she made repeat visits—and taking her time to chat with students.

Once the whole proceeding was over and the Second Consort was recommended by the Dean to take some rest, there was a short debriefing session among the student council members, in which the president praised all of us for the ’successful day.’ And only after that was I finally free.

It was around eight-forty, considering that I had heard the clock strike the bell for the half-hour mark about ten minutes before.

I rushed toward the Clock Tower where Skylark and I had promised to meet. On the way, I saw the students gathering around the field as the firework preparations were almost complete. There was a sense of excitement in the crowd. The opening day of the festival was a total success indeed. It lifted everyone’s spirits, our ’special guest’ was suitably pleased, and the fireworks were to mark the end of the day with a grand display that I had been told by the seniors would certainly not disappoint, even for someone—like me—who had lived in the capital for his entire life and had seen many fireworks before during the Imperial Day celebrations.

Those fireworks, though, I always watched from the balcony at the mansion. The first fireworks I remembered watching were together with Mother and Father, holding Mother’s hand while Father explained how fireworks were made. The second time I watched them, Father wasn’t around. He had to be at the Imperial Day festival site, accompanying ’very important people,’ as I was told. Now I had a better understanding of who those ’very important people’ were and how much that meant. By the third or fourth time, Mother no longer held my hand. And by the fifth, I watched the fireworks alone from the window of my room. At some point, I watched them only because I had forgotten that there were fireworks taking place at all and was in the middle of my outdoor training.

Fireworks—they were a fantastic sight. But they seemed to get less and less exciting each year.

So what was I getting all restless for today?

Nevertheless, I arrived at the Clock Tower right on time. Ten minutes before nine o’clock. The place was mostly empty, just as I had told Skylark, and it should have been easy to spot him.

But I couldn’t find him.

He wasn’t there.

I looked around, searching for him. I did a full circle around the tower to see if he was, by any chance, waiting on the ’wrong side’ of the tower for some silly reason I couldn’t fathom.

He still wasn’t there.

The clock hand was ruthlessly marching toward nine o’clock. The first firework was to be fired exactly as the Clock Tower struck its bell.

I didn’t want to miss watching that with Skylark.

I didn’t want to watch another firework alone.

Silly me—it was no big deal, was it?

Why was I dreading the thought of watching it alone?

But the truth was, if Skylark did not turn up, I did not want to watch the fireworks at all.

I did one more round circling the Clock Tower. Still no sign of him. I expanded my search radius a little more to see if he was waiting for me somewhere else. Still couldn’t find him. I searched through the bushes behind the tower to see if he was hiding from me as some sort of prank.

He wasn’t there.

I came back to the front of the Clock Tower again. By this time, I was almost certain that Skylark had forgotten—that he, in his infinite capacity to be distracted, and with so many things to be distracted by at the festival, was somewhere else, looking at something else, with someone else.

My heart ached.

Violently.

And it sank.

As the first bell of the Clock Tower rang behind me, its loud ring resonated inside my hollow chest.

I heard the whistling sound of the first firework being shot up into the air.

And then, just as it exploded massively and illuminated the night sky, I saw a silhouette emerge with the blinding light as its backdrop. I couldn’t see its face. The only thing I could see was that the shadowy figure was running toward me.

But by the way it ran, its clumsy yet springy steps,

By the way it waved its hand, its slim arms moving frantically,

And by the sound of its voice calling out my name,

My heart, torn and dead already when the bell first rang, came back to life, beating harder and faster than ever before in my life.

"Mario! I’m sorry!"

I ran.

I ran toward the figure—the silly boy.

I ran toward the boy—the one who had just broken me.

And as the second firework exploded in the air and the glitter embroidered the dark fabric of the night sky, we met midway.

My arms stretched forward. Seeking.

He jumped toward me. Rushing.

And he fell into my arms.

I embraced him. Tight.

His head banged against my chin. Hard.

The pain.

Made us laugh.

Skylark fell to the ground, holding his head, groaning and laughing.

I knelt next to him, rubbing my chin, laughing like an idiot too.

After a moment of manic silliness, we decided, together, without a word, not to get up.

We looked up at the night sky, lying on our backs on the grass field in front of the Clock Tower.

The fireworks.

They were beautiful.

More beautiful than I’d ever seen.

Red and gold, violet and green.

Like flowers, like flames, like fantastical beasts from legends.

Skylark lay next to me, his mouth wide open in awe, his eyes fixed on the spectacle.

I saw the glitter reflected in his eyes, eyes that shone brighter than the fireworks.

Then, perhaps sensing that I was looking at him, he turned to face me and said,

"Mario, you are missing the fireworks!"

"I really don’t mind."

Skylark didn’t understand.

I didn’t either.

I reached my hand out to him.

He took it, grasping it with his small, tender hand.

Only then could I look at the fireworks in the sky again.

Explosions.

Beautiful explosions.

Skylark’s hand squeezed mine every time.

I could feel the heat and pulse of his hand.

Time didn’t feel slow anymore.

It was moving too fast.

I didn’t want it to end.

But inevitably, it had to. When the bell rang once to signal the quarter-hour mark and the last firework was fired into the air, I squeezed Skylark’s hand tight too.

Then the firework exploded to an incredible size.

Impossibly large.

It was at least ten times bigger than the second-biggest firework until now. It was bigger than any firework I had ever seen in my entire life. The crowd exploded into a roar.

The great explosion of glittering lights lingered in the air for a very long time, almost as if they were suspended in the sky by some sort of magic more powerful than any mage could conjure. It was fantastical, dream-like, incomprehensible. It was as if another world that was hiding behind the veil of the night had decided to break through and give us a glimpse of its hidden beauty that no human mind could have conceived.

"Skylark—"

"Mario." He turned, looked at me, smiled, and asked, "Do you like it?"

"It’s beautiful."

He giggled once. Then the glitter in the sky started to slowly descend.

He rolled over and rested his head on my shoulder.

"I’m glad we got to see it together, Mario," he said.

I had a thousand thoughts in my mind, but none of them could be suitably expressed. Every single word I could think of just wasn’t enough.

So I said the only thing that felt right.

The only thing that felt true to the moment. Something I felt more than I ever had in my life.

I tightened my hold on Skylark’s hand and said,

"Thank you."