11 Answer Me, Please...

The three shadows lurking underneath the night sky reached their destination. "Shuichi-kun, Akamatsu-kun, this will be your cabin for the coming weeks, I hope that both of you feel it like a second home for the time being." With a smile, Rantaro pulled from his pocket two sets of keys, and hand over one to each of them. "Now please enjoy your night and please be at the restaurant tomorrow at 9 AM to breakfast. Now if you'll excuse me." In a very polite manner, Rantaro walked away from the couple. "Shuichi, Kaede, you both deserve this moment," Rantaro said to himself as he walked to his cabin.

Shuichi and Kaede stood at the entrance of the cabin for a couple of seconds without saying a single word or even doing the slightest of sounds. Both of them were blushing and clearly embarrassed, as they just stared into the ground.

"Umm… Shall we enter…? It's kind of cold and…. I don't want you to catch a cold or something" Shuichi broke the silence between them.

"Yeah...! Let's go… inside!" Some uneasiness could be heard in Kaede's voice as she accepted the young man's proposal.

Shuichi went ahead and unlocked the door of their cabin, as they opened it, they were amazed by the way the cabin was made, everything was made out of polished fine wood, as they enter the also notice two beds, one on each side of the cabin and the door to the bathroom, the cabin was also equipped with some closets and a small fridge to keep cold drinks in the room. "So, which one do you want….?" Asked Shuichi.

"Shuichi" Kaede's face and tone changed a little from before, she seemed more determined and was fighting back against all the embarrassment she was holding. "Please… would you answer me…?"

Shuichi's face reddened and his eyes were trying to evade her firm yet bashful gaze. "Umm, I chose you because we… did not get to spend time together… as much as the others…" Shuichi tried to hide his feelings, by throwing out what he would think to be reasonable answers. "Shuichi… please be honest with yourself…?", "Huh?" Shuichi was confused by Kaede's response. "If there is anything else… I prefer you to tell me now…" Kaede's voice shrunk as she finished talking.

"Kaede…" Shuichi's eyes were now looking directly down at Kaede, without any hesitation, because he realized that at that moment it was just the two of them, how much had he wished for this moment back in the simulator, knowing that she was far gone, but now he had a second chance. He thought over and over what words will he use to make her understand what he felt deep inside, but in the end, he realized that complex words or large confessions could be narrowed down to just a few words. Shuichi's heart was beating at a pace he could've never imagined it was possible, his mouth suddenly went dry and his legs were losing strength. But then he took a deep breath, looked at Kaede.

"I love you"

Kaede slowly walked towards Shuichi, each step felt rougher than the previous, each breath she took felt heavier than the one from mere seconds ago. "Kaede…?" Shuichi asked as the girl in front of him was now just a mere meter from him.

"Shuichi…" Kaede approached Shuichi and buried her face in Shuichi's chest.

"I… I…!" Kaede's voice was breaking as he started to shed some tears.

Shuichi looked down at Kaede and tenderly surrounded her with his arms. As Shuichi did this Kaede hug Shuichi's sides with great strength. Shuichi was at a loss for words he didn't know what to do next, but he didn't care for that. At last, he could finally say the words he always wanted to tell her, he had a second chance and he was not going to waste it.

"I…. love you…too…" Kaede slowly looked up at Shuichi's face, tears were rolling down her eyes as she looked at Shuichi. As both of them looked at each other, they realized that finally after all that despair, they felt a few days ago, now they finally could reach out to each other.

Shuichi and Kaede sat on the wooden floor without letting go of each other, they stayed like this for a couple of minutes, just as both of their muscles finally started to cramp for keeping the same position.

"I want the one you want…"

"Huh?"

Kaede suddenly said this to Shuichi while still on the floor.

"I want the bed… that you will be in… Let's sleep together..."

Kaede smiled and slightly blushed as she said this. Seeing her like this Shuichi said one last thing before heading to sleep, with a little tear rolling down his eye.

"I really love you"