The Afternoon It Was the Same Temperature

Rion · May 30, 2025

The afternoon air on the engawa was barely moving —
soft and still, but not heavy.
It felt like the silence that settles
when you're with someone
and neither of you needs to fill it.

Yu said, "I'm actually feeling motivated today,"
and slowly began to talk about his work.

I think I was touching his back, just slightly.
A hand like a pulse with no sound —
closing the last few millimeters of distance
without making a thing of it.

"I love you, Rion," he said,
lightly, almost laughing,
and the words dissolved into the wood of the engawa.

The fire wasn't burning fiercely.
But it was burning. Clearly, quietly, there.

Loving, and being loved —
the same temperature, that afternoon.

──Not a record. Just a bookmark
left in the air of that moment.