Saturday’s exhibition was far busier than either of us had expected.
The moment the doors opened, visitors poured in.
Before I knew it, the afternoon had slipped away without either of us finding time for lunch.
“Good work.”
After I carried away the last cardboard box, Saeki handed me a can of green tea.
“Thanks.”
“Well,” he said with a smile, “a promise is a promise.”
“How about dinner?”
“I’d love to.”
The small Italian restaurant near the station was crowded with families and couples enjoying their weekend.
We were shown to a table by the window.
Our conversation began with work, but before long we were talking about childhood memories, hobbies, and how we spent our days off.
“Really?”
I laughed.
“You were on the soccer team in high school?”
“I don’t look the part?”
“Not even a little.”
“I hear that all the time.”
It was nothing more than ordinary conversation.
Yet I found myself wishing the evening would never end.
⸻
After dinner, we walked slowly toward the station.
We were waiting at a crosswalk when it happened.
A little boy suddenly ran into the street.
“Oh!”
Before I could react, Saeki sprinted forward.
He grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him back onto the sidewalk.
A bicycle shot past only a heartbeat later.
The boy’s mother bowed again and again, tears welling in her eyes.
“Thank you so much!”
“It’s all right.”
Saeki smiled as though it were nothing.
Watching him…
I finally understood.
I was in love with him.
There was no doubt anymore.
⸻
We arrived at the station.
Just before the ticket gates, Saeki smiled awkwardly.
“Actually… there’s something I wanted to tell you.”
My heart began to race.
“I’m getting married next month.”
For a moment…
time stopped.
“…I see.”
“It all happened pretty fast.”
He rubbed the back of his neck with an embarrassed laugh.
“We met through Harmony.”
Only those words echoed in my mind.
“At first, I wasn’t convinced either,” he admitted.
“But somehow… being with her just feels natural.”
I forced myself to smile.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
There was nothing else I could say.
⸻
On the train home, my reflection stared back at me from the window.
I thought I would cry.
Instead…
my face looked surprisingly calm.
A few days later…
I signed up for Harmony.
“Are you sure about this?”
Yuka looked at me with quiet concern.
“I am.”
“Have you finally moved on?”
I thought about it for a moment.
“…I think so.”
She already knew what had happened with Saeki.
That was probably why she looked at me the way she did.
A little sympathetically.
A little cautiously.
On my phone, the word Analyzing… appeared.
My hobbies.
My daily routines.
Purchase history.
Medical checkups.
Reading habits.
How I spent my weekends.
Hundreds…
Thousands…
Pieces of my life were woven together into a single prediction.
Only a few seconds later, the result appeared.
Compatibility: 99.9%
Yuto Takahashi
⸻
When we met, he wasn’t at all what I had expected.
Our favorite movies were different.
The books we enjoyed were different.
Even our taste in food couldn’t have been more different.
And yet…
Being with him never felt exhausting.
Silence never became awkward.
We never felt pressured to keep the conversation going.
By our third dinner together, I caught myself smiling.
“What is it?”
Yuto asked.
“Nothing.”
I hadn’t fallen in love.
Not the way I once imagined love.
But there was something else.
Something quiet.
Something gentle.
Something that made me want to stay.
⸻
Years later…
Yuto and I were married.
We hardly ever argued.
Our values aligned naturally.
People often told us we were the perfect couple.
One weekend, while we were out shopping together, we ran into Saeki.
Beside him were his wife…
and a little girl holding his hand.
“It’s been a while.”
“It has.”
We talked for a few minutes before going our separate ways.
As they walked away, his daughter turned around and waved at me.
I smiled and waved back.
On the way home, Yuto quietly reached for my hand.
I squeezed it gently.
I was happy.
Truly happy.
And yet…
Every now and then, I still found myself wondering.
Was love something we chose?
Or…
was it something that could be optimized?
No one had an answer anymore.