They've been circling the same orbit, the same feelings, the same “almost” for so long. How long can two people circle the same place over and over again until they can finally arrive?
dahan-dahan (da·han-da·han)
adverb
English: slowly; carefully; little by little
To move slowly.
To act with care, patience, or tenderness.
To allow something to happen naturally instead of forcing it.
Dahan-dahan umiimik
Ibinubunyag ang sarili
(Slowly opening up
Revealing oneself)
The first time you met, there were no theatrics. No fireworks, no sparks. Just two people who happened to cross paths. Both unaware that they were about to be a part of each other’s lives.
It happens on the first day of college.
You are wandering around campus, headphones over your ears as you listen to RADWIMPS’ Sparkle while you look for your department’s building.
You knew absolutely no one in the university you ended up going to. Everyone, your friends, your high school classmates, ended up going somewhere else. Everywhere you look, all you see is just a sea of heads and unfamiliar faces.
About 16 minutes later, after you realize that you have walked by the same tree for what feels like the seventh time, you finally admit to yourself that you have no idea where you are.
You are totally fucking lost.
You pull out your phone and stare at your schedule again, then at your room number. Hoping that a door to your room would magically appear out of thin air if you stare at it hard enough.
It doesn’t. Of course it doesn’t.
You take a deep breath as you slip your headphones down to your neck. You lower your phone as you start looking around to find someone you can ask for help.
That’s when you see her.
You spot a girl in pigtails, wearing an oversized pastel pink cardigan whose sleeves nearly swallow her hands, layered over a plain white blouse. A puffy, cream-colored skirt falling just below her knees, white sneakers on her feet, while a handful of colorful and sparkly charms adorn her bag.
You are about to approach her but then you notice the look on her face. You can’t see your face right now, but you’re pretty sure you both have the same confused look on your faces right now, each holding a piece of paper in one hand and a phone in the other.
Ah fuck, she looks like she’s lost too. So much for asking her for help. Just as you are about to keep walking and find someone else to ask, you hear a voice calling out to you.
“Uhm, excuse me…”
You look up from your phone.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where this building is, would you?” she asks, pointing at something on the paper she is holding.
“I… wanted to ask you the same thing, but you looked like you’re lost too, so I didn’t want to bother.” You chuckle.
She stares for a bit, then laughs too.
“Great. I guess at this rate, we’re both going to be late on the first day.”
“To be fair, by the looks of it, the whole campus is going to be late,” you say, glancing around.
“Yeah, it definitely looks like it.” She stuffs the paper she is holding in her bag.
“Anyways. Hi! I’m Naoi Rei, Psychology,” she says with a lively tone, as if she’s not lost. “How about you?”
“Oh. I’m Kaito, Arima Kaito, Mechanical Engineering. Nice to meet you.” You shake her hand.
“Engineering, nice!” she says, still maintaining her lively nature. “So, how long have you been lost?”
“Longer than I would like to admit,” you say honestly.
“Same. It feels like I’ve been walking around in circles for longer than 20 minutes.”
“So, do you think we’re just dumb, or is there a severe lack of signage around here? Especially since it’s the first day of school.”
“I’d like to think it’s the latter, but who knows? What if this is all just a big social experiment?”
You look at her with amusement. “A social experiment?”
“Yep. Think about it, throw a bunch of freshmen together in a massive campus, give them little to no directions where their classes are going to be, then wait and see how long and what it would take for them to finally start talking to and following complete strangers.”
You raise an eyebrow. “Classes haven’t even started and you're already making stuff up.”
“That’s what good students do,” she crosses her arms. “Besides, I already have a working hypothesis."
“And that is?”
“That when faced with adversity, freshies would cling onto the first person they see and imprint themselves on that person.”
You blink a couple of times. “Wait, so let me get this straight. Your running theory is that when experiencing hardship, us freshmen would start acting like freshly hatched ducks?”
“Exactly. Look around, everyone is walking around either in pairs or in groups.”
You glance around the campus, she’s not wrong. Not like you’d admit it outright.
“Hm.”
She nods slowly, as if she already knew that was going to be your response.
“Hold on. By your own theory, we have already imprinted on each other, right? So why don’t we make the most of it and help each other find our buildings? I already have a plan.”
She raises a brow. “We have a plan now?”
“Yup,” you turn towards her. “We find your building first, then we find mine. Or the other way around. Doesn’t matter.”
She looks at the schedule on her phone, then back at you. “That’s one hell of a plan.”
“I know. So, should I lead the way or do you want to?”
“By all means,” she gestures for you to go ahead.
The two of you start walking side by side. A brief silence settles between the two of you, comfortable but unfamiliar, before she breaks it.
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