July 6, 1991
9:21 PM

“I said I love you. That’s forever. And this I promise from the heart, mmm. I couldn’t love you any better. I love you just the way you are!”

Ranko swayed in a dreamlike state, looking up at Akane’s father as they danced. My father, she reminded herself. How did this all happen? My brain just… I can’t. I was an orphan a week ago. And now I’ve got my mother back, I’ve got a dad, I’ve got a family history. I’ve got a name that’s all my own. I’ve still got Mom and my sisters, and my friends, and my music. Akane’s my wife. And somehow, some way, the curse is broken. Maybe forever.

Soun was, to Ranko’s great surprise, an excellent dancer; she’d been able to dig a little deeper into the repertoire of moves Ms. Kanzawa had taught her than she had with Akane. Her movements were still somewhat constrained by the kilograms of wedding gown she wore, however. Plus, she was exhausted and still sore from the fight and the scalding water. Tonight, none of that mattered, though.

Of course she was dressed like a princess, she mused to herself. She felt like the queen of the world.

“I don’t want clever conversation. I never want to work that hard, mmm. I just want someone that I can talk to. I want you just the way you are…”

Ranko had danced with Akane to You’re My Song before they had gone upstairs, and after the pair had returned to the party, Akane had danced with Soun to Isn’t She Lovely. Now, as Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are trailed off, Ranko released her father, giving him a slight bow, which he returned with a smile and a flourish to the applause of the twenty or so remaining guests. In addition to Ken and Ryo, a few of the cheerleaders and most of Akane’s college friends had headed home as the evening had progressed.

Soun turned and stepped off the stage, dapper in his white tuxedo as he was. Ranko lifted her eyes to her family and friends, holding the stage all alone in her bouffant wedding gown. She felt like an opera singer about to break out an aria, and expected she looked a little like it, too.

The best day of Ranko’s young life was almost over. But before it could end, Ranko had a promise to fulfill. There would be one more song.

Crash jogged up the stairs to join Ranko, bringing her a chair from one of the tables below, and held her hand while she lowered herself carefully into it. Needing help doing simple stuff on account of her clothes or some other aspect of femininity never failed to make her blush, but tonight, she couldn’t deny that she needed it. Wearing the heavy dress was more physically taxing than she could have imagined, and she had earned more than a newfound respect for the women in olden times who used to dress that way every day. Adrenaline and joy were the only things keeping her awake. That, and the promise of time alone with Akane, which she desperately craved.

Crash carried Ranko’s firebird guitar to her, carefully helping her strap it over her shoulder without disrupting her hair. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t prefer to take it down, in the hopes of alleviating the slight headache that was building in the back of her skull courtesy of exhaustion, her hairdo and a couple of hard knocks from her father, but Ranko wanted to be beautiful for her for just a little while longer. Her guitarist and best friend dragged a microphone stand over to her, lowering the clip until it stood at a height between her mouth and the guitar and sliding a dynamic mic into it.

“Thanks, Crash.” Ranko smiled warmly up at him as he exited the stage via the stairs on stage left. Meanwhile, Yui and Kasumi had set up a single chair on the barroom floor where the VIP table would normally have been, helping Akane into it. Everyone else in the bar was on their feet, standing back behind Akane’s chair. The one exception was Ariel, who was manning his usual post at the audio board for just a moment longer. As he flicked a few switches, the lights in the bar dropped to total darkness, and a pair of white spotlights crackled awake. One was pointed directly at Ranko’s chair, the other at Akane’s. Kumiko stood off to stage right with her father’s video camera, trying to capture both Ranko’s singing and Akane’s reactions in the same frame.

“So,” Ranko said nervously, leaning forward a bit into the mic. “I kind of had to put this together at the last minute. I’m sorry; I think it’ll make sense in a sec.” She turned to Akane, her eyes so overflowing with adoration that they were already starting to spill liquid onto her cheeks. Izumi had performed emergency triage on her makeup twice already tonight; with how wildly her life had changed for the better that day, tears had not been in short supply for the young bride.

“So, I think I told everybody at one point or another over the last few months, but if I missed anybody: I promised my breathtakingly beautiful wife that I would write her a song for tonight. It sounded simple enough. All I had to do was look her in the eyes and just say how I feel about her. And… I couldn’t do it. I’m sorry, Akane. I tried every day for weeks, and I just couldn’t. This morning, I think I finally figured out why it was so hard.”

Ranko began plucking at her guitar with the little pink plastic pick she’d pulled from the leather pocket on its back side. One, four, six, five, she remembered, humming along with the guitar as she found her rhythm.

“Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh… Whoa-oh-oh-oh-OH…” She began with a series of high runs, partially to warm up her voice. Each tickled the bottom end of the fifth octave.

She turned her eyes to Akane. Most nights when she sang on stage, she couldn’t allow herself to let her eyes linger too long on the object of her boundless affection. It would draw too much attention. Prompt too many questions. Too many people could notice. But tonight? Forget the Phoenix; Akane Tendo was the only other human being on the planet in Ranko’s eyes as the lyrics she’d finally managed to write were sung for the very first time.

“There’s a long white dress hangin’ over there. My sister’s coming in five hours so she can help me do my hair. Don’t think I’ve ever felt this afraid befo-oo-ore… It’s 5:17 AM, and I’m still pacing ‘round the floor…”

Yui and Sakura swayed together in the back corner by the main bar, holding hands. Hana stood partially obscured by the curtain Kaito had hung around the service bar. She hated it when people saw her cry.

“I don’t have doubts. Didn’t get cold feet. I just have no clue what I’m gonna say on that stage when our eyes meet. I’m out of time. It’s happening todaaaay…”

Akane’s eyes were transfixed as Ranko told the true story of her morning, prior to the fight with her father. In truth, Ranko could have been singing about horned frogs and Akane would have been enraptured regardless, but something about the way Ranko held herself on stage tonight was special in a way Akane couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“How am I supposed to concentrate when you’re sleeping three steps away?”

Ranko took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly and repeating the chord progression again on the guitar to buy herself a moment of respite. She was already fighting happy tears again, and quickly losing the battle. The time had come to explain to Akane why things had been so difficult. Why she’d failed at the promise she made and yet, somehow succeeded in spite of it.

“There are no words. Nothing I can say. I’ve been staring at this notebook and this pencil here for days. I never thought it would be this tough. I’ve thrown at least a hundred drafts away, ‘cause nothing’s quite enough. I’ve never been this sure of anything, and yet somehow, it’s still surreal...”

Ranko bit her lip, willing her gently exultant crying, the culmination of the overload of emotions she’d been building up all day, not to disrupt her singing voice. She shook her head side to side slowly as she delivered the last line of the chorus.

“There just are no words big enough for how I feel.”

Ukyo leaned into Crash’s chest in her black cocktail dress, swaying softly with her boyfriend to the sound of the woman they’d both once loved professing her immeasurable love for another. Neither of them could have been happier.

“I tried old poems. Looked at Shakespeare, too, and I guess no one in history’s ever loved like I love you. Listened to every song. Learned all the famous quotes. Even read the dictionary, but not a single thing came close.”

Akane wiped her eyes with shaking hands, smiling giddily at the sight of her silver wedding band. My gods, Ranko. I love you. I will never love anyone like this ever again in my life. You are my everything. My beginning and my end. My beautiful, brave, impossible, glorious silly girl. My wife.

“How could I describe, in a couple lines, the way time itself flows different when I realize you’re mine? The lights go down. My heart goes fast. I could swear that I hear music, and it hasn’t stopped since you asked…”

Ranko strummed at the guitar more forcefully, the robustness of the few chords with which she was supporting her voice building into the second refrain. She willed her emotions to come out through the force of her hands rather than disrupt her voice. I gotta get through this. Can not break. Not yet. I promised. I’ll always keep my promises, Akane, somehow. You’ll always be able to count on me. I will be the best wife a girl has ever been for you, I swear it.

“There are no words. Nothing I can say that could remotely start to capture how it feels when you look my way. I guess I let you down. Baby, I got it wrong, when I promised you that I could get it all out in a song. I’ve never been this sure of anything, and yet somehow, it’s still surreal; there just are no words big enough for how I feel.”

Akane clasped her hands over her heart. Ranko’s eyes sparkled with happy tears as she beamed down at her more brightly than the white spotlight overhead did. The songstress was so jealous of her wife. Akane didn’t have to wait to cry.

“Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh! Whoa-oh-oh-oh-OOOOoh…” Ranko carried the pair of runs well into the fifth octave, each time starting and ending a few notes higher on the scale.

Here we go, Akane, Ranko thought to herself with a nervous smile in the space between heartbeats. The first time I’ve ever tried this on stage. The best I can do. You’ll always get the best of me, my love.

“Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oooooooooooooh!” The final note of the run was an almost angelic sustained C6. She’d practiced for months trying to expand her vocal range into the sixth octave, and only a few days ago had she finally managed it for the first time without her voice cracking. See, Akane? When it’s for you, I can do anything.

“Whoa! Did you hear that?!” Crash spun around to stare incredulously at Shinji, his mouth agape as he grabbed his bandmate by the shoulders. “Where the hell has that been?!”

Ranko’s excitement at hitting the highest note of her career took a few bars of guitar solo to pass before she could continue with the third verse, but she eventually did.

“I realized, a long time ago, that I will always need you more than I can ever let you know. Wish you could feel everything I do. Too much gets lost in translation when I just say I love you. No one could ever hear it. No one could ever see. You fill all five of my senses, and it’s still too much for me! Sometimes it hurts, fitting it all inside. Haven’t found a way to tell you yet, but I promise that I tried…”

Ranko looked around the room, taking in the state of the bar that, despite not living in it anymore, would always be her home. The night was almost over, and tomorrow would be a new day. The decorations would be put away. The tables would be put back where they belonged, and the curtain around the bar would come down. Life would carry on. But, while there would never be another day like this, she knew things would never be the same as they were before, either. Ranko felt as if her whole life were brand-new, cherry-picked from the best parts of her distant past, the best parts of her present, and the choicest selections from every happy dream she’d ever had, all mixed together into perfection in the brown eyes of the crying bride sitting three meters to her left, just especially for her.

“There are no words. Nothing I can say, knowing this was the last morning I would call you fiancé. I’ll barely have the time to add a couple chords, ‘cause I’ve gotta get downstairs and let the whole world know I’m yours. I’ve never been this sure of anything, and yet, I swear, it’s still surreal. Baby, there are no words big enough for how I feel!”

Ranko grinned to herself, deciding to go for broke. She’d thought up a few extra lines during dinner, and figured they would make for a really cool little coda. But, a coda needed to sound different, so for just a moment, she switched to a different key. Down on the bar floor, Akane swayed in her chair, watching Ranko as if she were the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

Because she was.

“I probably should have known back when this all begun - it was like counting to infinity, because it simply can’t be done. And even if I could somehow reach the end, by then, I’d love you more than I did before, and I’d have to start agaaaaaaain…”

Her guitar returned to the previous key. Almost done, silly girl. Almost. Akane, meanwhile, would have been fine if the serenade had never ended. She was entranced with the woman that somehow, against all odds and reason, was hers forever.

“There are no words. Nothing I can say. But, I’ll always do my best to try and tell you anyway. You deserve to know how much you’ve changed my life… how impos… sible and magi… cal it feels… to be your wife…”

The room was silent of all sound but Ranko’s voice and her guitar, their guests stunned to a one by the raw outpouring of love and bliss and happiness beyond description or restraint that poured out of their friend. Their sister. Their daughter.

The shattered girl who had crawled on her belly through fire and darkness for two years was gone. In her place still sat a woman named Ranko Tendo, but this one was joy incarnate.

Ranko sniffled back her elated tears, hoping the microphone didn’t pick it up too badly. Still, even after taking a bar to steady her breathing, one or two of the last few notes had come out a little flat as her voice caught on a lump in her throat. Singing the word wife, and knowing it was ever so much more true than it had been seventeen hours ago when she wrote it, had simply been too much. There would be no regaining control of the torrent from her eyes – or the one from her heart.

“I’ve never been this sure of an… y… thing, and yet somehow, it’s still surreal. Baby, there are no words big en… enough for how I feel.”

Ranko bent over her phoenix-styled acoustic guitar as much as the unyielding corset of her wedding dress would permit, openly weeping over her silent instrument. She forced herself to look up into her wife’s eyes, blinking through tears to do so. She could take no more. She was entirely saturated with happiness; the excess joy had to go somewhere. The song’s final line was sung a cappella in halting, almost whimpered notes made unintentionally staccato by the lump in her throat that refused to subside.

“It’s like living in… a dayd… dream, and I… can’t bel…lieve it’s real. There never w… will… be words… big enough for how I f…feel…”

There was no applause. The room was stunned into silence at the haunting beauty of it all. Akane leapt from her chair, scurrying up the ramp as fast as she could in her poofy wedding dress. The hot microphone in front of Ranko picked up a thud as Akane’s body collided with hers, threatening to squeeze the very breath out of her wife.

“Ranko, I love you so much,” Akane whispered, not realizing that the speakers were broadcasting the couple’s embrace over the still-active microphone. “That was so beautiful, princess. You are so beautiful. You are my whole soul, forever.”

Ranko sniffled loudly, Akane’s embrace giving her another outlet for her emotion and allowing her to start trying to regain control of her tear ducts. “Akane, I just… I’m done. I’m full. There’s no more room in me for any more happiness. This is the best day any girl’s ever had in the history of time. No one has ever been as happy as I am right now. Never.”

Akane broke the hug, instead kissing her wife without regard for anyone still watching. Ranko’s whimper echoed through the speakers as her head moved in tandem with every advance of Akane’s tongue. When she finally resigned to come up for air, Akane offered her hand down to her seated bride.

“What say we get out of here, you and me?”

Ranko nodded and used her hand for support as she stood, and Akane helped her disentangle herself from her guitar. The two held hands and walked abreast as they began their descent from the stage, but Ranko stopped in the middle of the ramp to address the gathering one last time, wiping her eyes as she spoke.

“Everybody, my wife and I would like to thank you all for being here. For making our day, and our lives, just so, so special. We love every single one of you.”

Mitsuru smiled and made a hug gesture with her arms once Nanami had translated Ranko’s words.

“And now,” Akane said with a blush and a giggle. “If you will excuse us, I think it’s just about time for me to get this one out of all that dress.”

A sultry ooooooo rose from the remaining guests, and Ranko buried her face in Akane’s puffy sleeve to hide her flushed cheeks. “Akane! I can’t believe you said that!”

Akane laughed, putting her arm around Ranko’s back. “I mean, it’s not like they don’t know it’s gonna happen, babe.”

When the couple reached the end of the ramp, Kage was waiting for them. “Okay, girls. Whenever you’re ready to head out to the hotel, just let me know. All your stuff’s in the car already; Aya’s gonna take the train home, and I’ll run you out there.”

Akane gave him a nod and a smirk, but the way she looked at Ranko did more to convey her feelings than her words did. “Give us just a minute to say our goodbyes, and we’ll be all set. And Kage, do me a favor? Drive fast.”

Akane’s eldest brother-in-not-quite-law laughed merrily. “You got it, madam.”

After one final round of hugs and goodbyes, Ranko and Akane had almost emerged from the hallway into the area behind the bar to depart when Akane felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned, and found Yui and Sakura lurking conspiratorially in the dim entrance to Hana’s office, motioning for them to enter. The couple did as they were asked, and Sakura put her arm around Akane’s shoulders. She produced a box shaped like a square pillar, about twenty-five centimeters tall and just nine wide and deep, wrapped in iridescent white wrapping paper. It was pocked with little foil triangles that gave it an almost holographic glint. “Here. For you.”

Ranko chuckled softly to herself. Awww. The lead bartender and her girlfriend got us a bottle of something for the hotel. Original much? That’s about the only thing that could come in a box that shape, after all. I’m still working off the hangover from yesterday and I’m pretty sure there’s one coming from today, but it was really sweet of them nonetheless.

Akane gasped. “You guys, we already did presents! You’ve all done so much for us already; we didn’t need anything else!” She hooked her finger into one of the seams in the wrapping paper on the top of the box, but before she could rip it, Sakura’s hand landed atop hers to prevent her from continuing.

“Yeah, um, Akane? Maybe… wait to open that until you two are alone, ‘kay?”

Yui put her arm around a very mystified Ranko, a positively wicked expression in her eyes but a wide smile on her lips. “Have a great night, little sister.”