Time Traveling Hero

After a couple more rounds of single songs, we left the karaoke bar and continued on our supposed "Date" as Prez calls it.

"Ah man, that was incredible! We should bring the others along next time!"

"I must admit, I did have a bunch of fun today," I responded, chuckling.

It was now evening in our city, and Prez and I were walking around, with Prez wrapped around my arm as we chatted happily about our day together. I stopped worrying about Prez's advances and just rolled with it, seemingly at peace with myself.

"So, what do you wanna do next?" I asked.

"A movie! And of course-!"

"I'm paying. I know, I know. It would be ungentlemanly of me to refuse milady's wishes, no?" I said cheekily, winking at her.

"You get some points for that one! As a reward, you get to choose what movie we watch!"

I honestly didn't know how we were keeping track of the points, but I was having fun with it nonetheless. Although, I didn't really know what movies were out right now.

"Ah well. I'll decide when I get there," I thought aloud, and we made our way to the movie theater.

Prez was humming happily as she clung onto my arm, a look of bliss on her cute face. I suddenly got the urge to pet her head, but I managed to control myself before smiling and looking forward. We arrived at the movie theater soon after, and I started to browse the selection they had.

"Hmm, what do I wanna see..." I didn't go to the movies too often, since that would mean that Luna would be left alone for longer than I wanted, so I usually just rented out movies I wanted to see, and Luna and I would watch them together. But now...

My eyes laid onto one of the movie posters, and I decided to give it a shot. Prez looked at the poster, then at me, then back at the poster again.

"You like Rom-Coms?" she asked incredulously.

"Anime ones, yeah. I don't watch real life ones that often, so I decided to give it a chance."

She continued to stare at me, dumbfounded at this information. "You just seem like the guy to like nothing but action, fantasy, that sort of stuff."

I couldn't help but act a little c.o.c.ky. "Well, I enjoy those too, but nothing beats a nice romantic comedy. Believe it or not, I do like cute things, like my adorable Luna!"

"Okay, let's get the tickets and get in," she said, dragging me to the booth to buy our tickets. I was also coerced into buying drinks and popcorn for the both us (we ended up sharing a large popcorn together), and we walked into our theater and took our seats next to each. Prez took the opportunity to lean against me, and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her in closer.

"You're really getting into this now," she commented, as she decided to snuggle up a little closer.

"You have only one person to blame for that."

"Yep, it's you."

And we watched our movie together. It was a sweet romance about a boy who got stuck into the past, and met a girl who tried to help him, despite knowing that once he leaves, she would never see him again. The reveal at the end when she finally realized who the mysterious boy she had saved in the past was, and met him 10 years later to hear his answer to her heartfelt confession tug at my heart strings so much that I almost started to cry. So beautiful, yet tragic at the same time. Honestly, for a real-life Rom-Com, it surprised me in more ways in one.

"You know, it was actually really good," Prez said, still stunned by the ending.

"There were quite a bit of plot twists, but I have to wonder though..."

Me and Prez were back outside, sitting in a local park, where we were discussing the movie we watched.

"Wonder what?"

"His answer. Even though they were ten years apart, I wonder if he said yes? It was hard to gauge if he reciprocated the feelings for her, especially since it was in the girl's perspective." I began to swing slightly on the swing set I was on.

"Well, I like to think he said yes. What I'm more surprised about was how her feelings for him never changed, even after all those years. I wonder how much you have to love another person to do that?" She said thoughtfully, sitting atop a nearby slide.

"Well, it was her first love, and they say you never forget your first or your last love. Who knows, maybe she did try to move on, but couldn't. Maybe he had that much of an impact on her life. I mean, he did help her out quite a bit throughout the movie."

"Yeah, but even so," She frowned as she slid down to the bottom of the slide. "If you were the guy in that situation, and I was the girl, what would you say in that situation?"

I stopped swinging to think. If I was the guy in that situation? "Hmm, well, to the guy, it happened just yesterday, so if I did have feelings for the girl, I would say yes. But, I could understand why he would say no as well."

She rested her head on her arms and sighed. "Such a interesting predicament. If my feelings were that strong for the guy I love..." She trailed off as she looked at me, and her face flushed into a light pink. "Oh, it's so embarrassing just to think about!"

"So many different scenarios in which this situation could be taken, and we haven't even talked about the elephant in the room."

"What's that?"

"They're ten years apart now, right? Even if both of their feelings of love were the same, they couldn't exactly hook up together, you know?"

She rolled her eyes. "Love prevails all, and age is just a number!"

"Except when it's on the clock. Then it's-!"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

I couldn't help but laugh as I begun to swing again, slowly getting higher and higher. Prez just watched me, clearly lost in thought as the wind blew her ponytail to the side.

"Hey Hiro?"

"Yes milady, what is it that you d.e.s.i.r.e?"

She sighed, and looked up at the waning moon, its silver glow reflecting in her hazel eyes. She undid her hair once more, and her golden-brown hair started to flow in the wind.

"I think it's time to end out 'Date' now."

I was shocked. So shocked in fact, that I ended up flying off the seat at the apex of my swing, flying high into the air as I heard her next words.

I landed hard, groaning as I slowly pulled myself up to look Prez in the eye, almost not believing what she said to me. She got up and brushed off her skirt before staring at me with her watery smile.

"You dummy. You just had to make me say it, didn't you? You win the contest, but I'm going to head on home now."

Wait. Just wait a damn minute! I tried pulling myself up, but a flash of pain echoed through my body, and I was forced to watch Prez walk away in the distance, but not before she stopped and turned to look back at my shocked face.

"And now you know." And then she ran off, leaving me on my knees, unable to follow after her.

After a short while of just sitting there, I made my way back to the swing, sitting down before finally collecting my thoughts.

Ah yes, what a cruel way to end our "Date" indeed...

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The boy doesn't know how long he's sat on that swing, contemplating on his answer to Prez's sudden outburst of emotion, but he finally resolves himself to think, unable to avoid it any longer.

Right, let's get the first thing out of the way. This place I'm in, it's the Trial of the Present. I don't know how this place even exists, or if it's even real. I gazed up at the silver moon and took a deep breath of the fresh air around me.

Well, if it wasn't real, it was a damn good imitation, that was for sure. I turned my gaze back towards the park around me. The objective of the Trial, Tame the Wily Present, I've already figured out how to pass the Trial, with a 0% chance of failure. I gripped the chains holding me up, and gritted my teeth.

Yeah right, as if I could do something so stupid.

I got up and started to walk, making my way towards my ultimate destination, towards the girl who could proclaim those words to me with all her heart.

"Honestly, as if I could possibly not go after you after making such a face." I stuff the nervous feeling down, and ran my hardest towards Prez, towards where I knew she would be.

I pushed my way through people, running through oncoming traffic, all trying to reach her as soon as possible. I wasn't going to choose the answer with a 100% chance of success. Maybe I could've about 3 weeks ago, from before I met Anna, but now?

"Damn it, move outta my f.u.c.k.i.n.g way!" I roared out, starting to get pissed at how slow people could go. I was about to start punching my way through, when my feet suddenly stopped.

Gasping, I looked up to see Prez's apartment complex in front of me. Even I didn't know how I got there so fast. Whether I got there using my own abilities, or the Trial's own eagerness to see the finale, I could care less about all that. All that mattered was giving her my answer.

I ran inside and pressed the elevator button, before I noticed a small, yellow slip of paper on the ground. I picked it up, and it said in some of nicest handwriting I've seen, "Roof." It was also stained with tears.

I looked over at the stairs and got my body prepared for the long flight of stairs awaiting me.

"I can't believe this. What are the odds of me chasing after a girl again?" I don't know why that thought came through my head, but with that as my boost, I began my ascent up the winding stairs, going up two, sometimes three at a time, passing the numbers of each floor as I ascended.

Until finally, I had run out stairs, reaching the roof. The door was cropped open, and I pushed it open to find myself staring at the beautiful night sky, it's stars glimmering even brighter than normal.

And standing near the edge of the roof, overlooking the city, was a familiar figure, one with a billowing yellow skirt, along with her short hair blowing in the wind.

I managed to catch my breath, and began to walk over to Prez, having finally chosen my answer.