Dotonbori. The popular and never ending busy district in Osaka. The bright and vibrant colorful lights greeted both Kai and Krystal’s eyes once they landed their feet there.

“Woaa…” Kai gasped in awe. “It’s even better than Myeongdong!”

Krystal nodded and opened her guide book. “Here we could have some food and buy some snacks.”

Kai still looked around in daze. “I could see… there’s a lot of food stalls here.”

“When in Osaka, takoyaki is the best.” Krystal said while looking up from her guide book. “But there’s quite a lot of takoyaki stall here. Which stall should we queue after? All the stalls are crowded.”

Kai glanced to his surroundings and pursed his lips. “…I also don’t know. Is there any recommendation?”

“It said, everything is worth the queue.” Krystal read out loud then looked at Kai. “Everything.”

Kai looked around and discovered some takoyaki stalls surrounded them. “…so, which one do you want?”

“I don’t know. What about you? Everything smells great and they all have long queue.”

Kai hummed for a while before let out a mischievous smile. “Let’s close our eyes, and in the count from one to three, point at the shop we feel like to.”

Krystal rose both of her eyebrows, blinked before chuckled. “Oah, what kind of idea is that?”

“If we choose the same shop, we going there. If we choose different shops, we both separate.” Kai said. “How?”

Krystal laughed again. “I like it. Okay, let’s close our eyes.”

Both Krystal and Kai ended up closing their eyes, and slowly counted to three.

“One… two… three…”

They both pointed to the direction they wanted, then opened their eyes in unison.

“Woah!” Krystal was the first one who broke into loud laughter when they turned out to point at the same direction. “We are really connected!”

Kai also laughed, finding the situation funny. “Yes! We are like… a soulmate! Hahaha.”

“Let us see now, then. What kind of takoyaki stall we have chosen.” Krystal said between her laugh and pulled Kai’s hand to enter the queue.

As they queued, the faint jingle of the takoyaki shop which originated from the Hallelujah gospel song was played all time long.

Krystal laughed. “I can’t believe they sing Takoyaki instead of Hallelujah. But it makes the song ear-catching, though.”

Kai nodded. “The jingle is so cute, and I have no idea how could those boys making the takoyakiin such a speed.”

They watched in amazement at the hands of the boys probably even younger than them, making takoyakis expertly.

“If you were the one making it, I bet you gotta dance along the process as well.” Krystal said, making Kai broke into a laughter.

“What? I couldn’t possibly done that.” The dancer laughed and shook his head. “I gotta spill the oil all over the guests’ faces.”

“No, you are an expert. I bet you would dance and like professionally even throw the stick upward while doing a twirling like Michael Jackson.” Krystal said while showing some lame dance move that made Kai laughed even harder.

“I would never possibly done that! Ah, but if it was you, I think it’s possible! Like… you gotta sing along with the jingle like… ta~koyaki~ ♪” Kai started to sing in such an out of tune voice, cracked Krystal up.

“Hey, I don’t sing like that!” She laughed out loud while playfully hitting Kai repeatedly.

The two kept on throwing jokes until their order was made, then they resided to the side for eating the takoyaki.

“It looks so good, hmmm...how could it like… twinkling under the light?” Krystal tsked in awe as she twirled the box of takoyaki on her hand, then hurriedly took out her polaroid camera. “Take my photo, take my photo!”

Kai just chuckled and extended his hand to take the camera. He prepared the lens and aimed for the other’s photo. “Okay, one… two…”

Krystal opened as big as possible, as if she wanted to swallow all 6 big balls of takoyaki in one gulp.

Kai laughed as he pressed the shutter. “Aigo, why should you make that kind of face?”

Krystal lowered her takoyaki down and took the camera back. “That’s what I am feeling like now, eating them all.”

Kai shook his head without dropping his grin down, then extended his hand to take one of the takoball.

Krystal was too busy looking at how the photo turned out to notice that Kai had popped the takoball into his mouth. When she looked, the other had screamed out due to the hotness of the takoyaki ball.

“Aagghjswhooot! (Ahhh so hot!)”

Krystal panicked around once she heard thatat first, but then she broke into laughter because Kai’s face was just so ridiculous.

“Huahaa! Gihheehahaa! (Water! GIve me water!)”

Krystal still laughed so hard as she crouched down to the ground laughing, while Kai had almost shed his tears because of the unbearable hotness. But then, she quickly took out the cold ocha she bought from the vending machine before and handed it to Kai. The dark-haired man grabbed it and immediately drank it to reduce the hotness of the Japanese snack.

“Ahahahaha-, it just your face-,” Krystal tried to speak between her laugh but then broke into another loud laughter.

Kai finally got to gulp down all of his food and then looked at Krystal with a huff.

“I burnt my tongue and you are there laughing at me. You are a very, very, nice friend.”

Krystal’s laugh slowly died. Only chuckles left and she wiped her tears. “Ahahaha, and why did you just eat like that anyway… it’s so hot, after all…”

Kai stuck his tongue out, fanned it with his hand.

“What should I do… I wouldn’t be able to taste another delicious food anymore after this.”

Krystal let out his leftover choked laugh before stood up, being careful enough so that the takoyaki she was holding wouldn’t fall, then leaned against the wall to support her legs.

“Ah, that was funny.”

Krystal said. She stabbed one of the takoyaki. While looking at Kai, she made sure to blow the takoyaki until it was cold enough before take a bite. She chewed on it happily, savoring the taste then hummed in delight. “It’s really good!”

Kai scoffed as he folded his arms. “Do you even need to explain in that way?”

“Who told you to eat it right away like that?” Krystal laughed and then putting all the takoyaki into . Her thin cheeks puffed up immediately.

Kai smiled when he saw that. “You looked like rabbit that just swallowed a tennis ball.”

Krystal just rose her left eyebrow without even bother replying. was busy chewing on the takoyaki.

“After this I wanna try that one.” Kai said while pointing at the ice cream shop located not far from them. “My tongue is numb.”

Krystal chuckled and nodded. “You sure you don’t wanna take another bite?”

Kai shook his head and threw his glance somewhere else. “No, I will wait until it’s fully cooled down before I-,”

His words were cut off when his eyes caught a very familiar figure on a shop next to the takoyaki shop.

The girl with a long hair, wearing a pink bandana and casual white dress.

…Irene?

Kai looked at the figure with wide eyes. His heartbeat increased so much in just seconds, and something inside him squirmed so hard to explode.

Krystal who noticed the change in Kai’s expression became confused. She approached the boy then shook his shoulder.

“Kai-ah? What’s wrong?”

Kai couldn’t even reply. His eyes kept on looking at the girl figure, until she turned around and Kai realized she is not Irene. Just someone with a similar body and hairstyle.

“Ah…” He sighed as he ran his hand throughout his hair. His body had turned cold, probably he was so shocked that the blood didn’t flow right to the tips of his fingers. He crouched down and closed his eyes, both hands on his head.

Krystal followed his movement, pulling him up in panic. “Hei, hei. Don’t sit down here, we are blocking people’s way.”

The girl then guided Kai toward the big Dotonboribashi bridge that was built on top of Dotonbori canal. They leaned against the bridge, a little secluded from some teenagers who were busily taking pictures.

Krystal turned to look at Kai in concern. “What happened to you? Are you feeling ill?”

Kai shook his head and closed his eyes.

Ah… it’s frustrating.

It’s been weeks and he still couldn’t move on from Irene. The memory of her was still remained strong in his mind. There were so many things they’d done in just a year.

It’s not easy to forget them.

Krystal put the takoyaki on the hand-resting place in the bridge, looked at Kai. “You… have you been thinking about something… or someone?”

Kai turned to look at Krystal, debating whether he should answer her or not.

“Well, you looked really troubled.” Krystal shrugged. “Sharing it does help to reduce the stress a lot, but at the end I’m not gonna force you if it was a big secret.”

Kai sighed softly and ran his hand throughout his hair.

Krystal’s right. He couldn’t keep this alone and walking the streets in Japan with shadows of Irene that keeps on popping out here and there.

The dancer took a deep breathe, looking at his feet, before opened his mouth.

“…so the reason why I came to Japan is…”

And the next 10 minutes, Kai told all the stories about what had happened. How him and Irene being all goody goody in love at first, how the other betrayed him and how he ended up heartbroken in the middle of nowhere.

He told Krystal all.

All of them.

Krystal listened to every words Kai had said, then nodded. “Now I understand.”

Kai sighed heavily, a little relieved when a weight on his heart lifted a little. Maybe at the end of the day, he just needed a friend to listen. Someone he could share his problem with.

“She’s an idiot, isn’t she?”

Krystal commented with a flat expression, making Kai turned around to look at her.

“…well I’m just stating my opinion.” Krystal shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of person you truly are, but being with you for a few days are enough to make me know that you are not a bad person.”

The corner of Kai’s lips curved upward a little when he heard Krystal’s words.

“But well, thank God you guys have ended.” The blonde said while looking at the water underneath them which sparkled, biasing the neon lights from Dotonbori.  “Now you know that she isn’t a good person to spend your precious time with.”

Kai nodded, with a sad smile on his face. Yes, thank God it’s revealed now. Kai couldn’t imagine what would happen if Irene decided to cheat on his after they got married. Glad that the wolf had stripped down its sheep-in-disguise fur at the right time.

Although Kai actually wished she had done it sooner so that their memories together wouldn’t be too much to handle.

“Well now talking about the memories, of course one year isn’t a short period. Especially now that you mentioned it, you guys are like… going out a lot.” Krystal said then hummed. “Well but, it could goes away. Just remind yourself that every time a good memory comes back to you, it’s the moment that you longing for. Not the person.”

Kai looked at Krystal in confusion. “Huh?”

“Have you ever tried to ask yourself, is it really the person that you like? Or is it the feeling that you have when you are around them?” Krystal asked again, eyes bored onto Kai’s. “Have you?”

Kai tore his gaze away from Krystal, brain replayed all the memories he passed with Irene.

He loved how they held hands with each other as they crossed the busy night market on Seoul. He loved how warm Irene’s smile when they sat side by side, talking for hours and shyly teased each other.

But now that he thought about it.

He was never really happy with Irene herself.

He liked how Irene looked, he loved how Irene treated him. He yearned for those sweet moments, beautiful places they visited, delicious food they ate together, the songs they listened to...

…but not Irene.

He could’ve possibly done that with other people, and the feeling would still be the same.

Krystal’s right.

He fell in love with the moments.

“…well she is my first girlfriend after all.” Kai whispered at the end, scratched his cheek shyly.

Krystal turned to look at the blushing boy, then laughed. “Omo? With that look of yours, you only had one girlfriend?”

Kai frowned when he heard that. “What? Are you saying that I looked like a womanizer who had been dating ten girls in a row?”

Krystal laughed and slapped the other’s arm. “I mean you are handsome, silly.”

Kai widened his eyes when he heard that unexpected compliment from Krystal. More blood ran through his cheeks and he had to look away from the laughing girl.

“…but I also only had one boyfriend so far.” Krystal said while smiling.

“Only one?” Kai asked then paused. “…ex?”

“Ex,” Krystal repeated. “We broke up like… three years ago.”

Kai nodded, debated whether he should ask the reason or not.

“Because he still needs time to have fun.” Krystal stated the reason all of sudden. “Because he still wanted to enjoy all his hobbies, he felt as if a relationship tied him down.”

Kai looked at Krystal for a while, before blinked. “…does that mean, he will eventually comes back to you once he’s ready?”

“Of course not,” Krystal smiled bitterly. “He has found the one that he could never parted away from last year. They became a thing.”

Kai straightened his body and frowned. “What?”

“That girl has the same hobbies with him. They both are models, they both love photographs.” Krystal said again. “Their personalities match each other perfectly, while me and him are like oil and water.”

The blonde shook her head and smiled.

“We are not meant to be.”

Kai stared at Krystal, before sighed and smiled. He looked down to both of his feet, then shrugged.

“We both ran into the wrong persons.”

Krystal nodded. “…Let’s not regret it. It all comes and goes, but nothing in the world happened without a reason.”

The girl straightened her legs.

“So let’s just be grateful for what had happened, and move on to envelop what gonna comes.”

Kai’s eyes followed Krystal who took a step forward and grinned.

“The atmosphere is getting gloomy, huh? I think we gottaneed to move. Fun things are waiting out there. No time to mourn!”

She pulled Kai’s hand and placed the takoyakion it.

“Eat. It’s not as hot as before.”

Kai broke into a chuckle when he saw the takoyaki. Ah, round flourish thing that had burnt his tongue mercilessly before.

He stabbed one of them with toothpick before putting it into his mouth.

“How? Worth the queue?”

Krystal asked while seeing how Kai chewed.

The boy hummed with a smile, then nodded. “Not bad. My taste buds are still functioning, I guess.”

Krystal laughed and folded her arms. “I guess. Let’s get an ice cream to heal that hotness away.”

Kai nodded excitedly and let Krystal pulled his free hand toward the nearest ice cream stall.

The guy looked at the hand that was pulling him, then to the blonde hair that swayed to right and left as Krystal walked.

Now remembering the past days when they spent their time together, it’s not the moment that really stuck on Kai’s mind.

It’s Krystal’s randomness, her mysterious aura, and enchanting freedom.

He loves how spontaneously fun is that bubblegum girl, how she could be both childish and mature at the same time.

And when she talks, her wise words flow out and filling an invisible gap inside Kai’s heart, making him fuller than before.

Yes.

For the first time in his life he feel completed.

A/n

I'd love to give you guys some minutes to enjoy the song that inspired Krystal's words in the chapter!

Have you ever thought about this before?

Have a look at the lyrics as well

It might've awakened you up from something ^^

*kisses from Indonesia, onerusticpen*