The words hung in the air, heavy and unreal.
"Sora, will you please go on a date with me?"
Time seemed to pause. Sora froze completely, her fingers tightening slightly against his clothes as her breath caught.
"W-What?" it came out as a bare whisper.
Null wasn't joking. He didn't smirk or try to deflect. His voice dropped lower, carrying a rare, raw honesty. "I'll be miserable if I'm not around you from the day after tomorrow until you return. That's why I want to spend as much time with you as possible tomorrow."
Sora's heart beat loudly against her ribs.
"Moreover," Null hesitated faintly, his gaze unwavering, "I want to explore this connection between us and see where it leads. Don't you want to?"
The question landed gently, yet it carried an immense weight. Sora couldn't answer immediately; her misbaving emotions were too tangled. Her lips parted, and before she could stop herself, she gave a small, unconscious nod.
"Ah," Null blinked, a faint smile breaking through his serious expression. "I'll take that as a yes."
Sora froze again as full realization hit her.
"Wait!" her face flushed instantly. "I—I didn't—that is, I haven't properly agreed yet!"
Null tilted his head. "Didn't you just not?"
"That was not intentional!"
"It looked intentional."
"It was n-ot!"
"Half-intentional?"
Sora turned her face away, her blush deepening. "That is not the point!" She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to steady her racing pulse.
A date... The word lingered stubbornly in the air between them.
Null looked at her, his expression softening further. "Sora. When I first met you, I felt True Emotion—"
"Emotions I don't have to imitate… just to blend into normal existence."
Sora stilled. "What?"
"You see, Sora. I was born with an incurable condition: Unemotionality," Null explained, his voice detached and factual, free of self-pity. "It makes me absolutely apathetic to anyone but myself. I can't sympathize with anyone nor can i feel for anyone. No matter how I try, i am always devoid of Emotion."
Sora's gaze locked onto him. The gravity of his confession wrapping around her heart like a vise. She suddenly felt inexplicable sorrow wash over her. Accompanied by a strange, subconscious pain that tore through the depths of her soul, when he mentioned his condition.
"However," Null continued, his fingers tightening slightly against the stone floor, "it's not completely hopeless. There are rare moments where I actually feel something real. But those moments only happen when I'm close to people who are extremely special to me."
His dark red eyes met hers with an unknown intensity.
"When I first met you, I experienced something different. It was intense, real, and overwhelming—something I couldn't name or articulate. It filled my heart and illuminated my soul like rays of hope. For the first time in my unfeeling existence, i experienced what it felt to be a normal person in your presence. I was truly alive."
Sora's breath hitched.
Null let out a soft, slightly embarrassed chuckle. "To be honest, in that moment i met you, only one word repeated in my mind: beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. That is the first time i am born with that 'emotion'."
Sora felt a warm, fragile ache tightening inside her chest. This frustrating, teasing, impossibly attractive otherworlder carried a burden she had never anticipated.
Alongside that sorrow, something treacherously soft bloomed within her.
Her heart raced near its limit, and she could feel Null's erratic pulse beating in perfect sync with hers. She didn't want it to stop. She had felt that exact same mysterious connection and strange familiarity from the very beginning.
Null's voice broke her thoughts, carrying a quiet, urgent desperation. "So, Sora... please give me a chance to connect with you. I feel like if I don't ask now, I won't get another opportunity for a very long time. Go on a date with me. Let's figure out these strange feelings together."
Sora's world narrowed entirely to him. The desperate distance she maintained towards him till now crumbled.
"Alright," the word escaped her lips, soft, shy, and absolute. She lowered her eyes, a deep crimson spreading across her cheeks. "Let's spend tomorrow together."
She hadn't even thought of refusing. In Null's presence, her cold persona simply fell apart, and strangely, she didn't mind at all.
A peaceful, shimmering silence followed
...
"We should get up," Sora murmured quietly.
Null exhaled. "Agreed."
Carefully, she helped him to his feet, supporting his arm while stabilizing his back as his weight leaned slightly into her.
Together, they walked out of the training hall and into the corridor, bathed in the silver glow of the high moon.
-
Neither spoke, letting the quiet carry the weight of everything they couldn't articulate. Occasionally, their hands brushed by accident, causing both to pull back quickly into a flurry of stolen glances and averted eyes. The air between them felt lighter, warmer, and dangerously alive.
By the time they reached the residential wing, the world had gone completely still. But between them, something undeniably real had just begun.