In 2018 in the sleepy mountain town of Gunnison, Colorado, Emma was listening to a guitarist and ukelalist riff back and forth under a cottonwood tree on her university campus. The streetlights had just flickered on, and there was a stillness in the high, dry air. The guitarist texted his friend, telling him that they had an audience. Every once and again, the guitarist and ukelalist would ask for chords or notes to play. Emma threw out "E" and "B" haphazardly. Moments later, Hiroto strolled outside after having got caught up chatting with his dorm neighbors. They sat together, under the cottonwood tree, and listened as music danced about the campus yard. Later, that tree would be dubbed "EB Tree" for the notes Emma requested, and the coordinates under the tree would be inscribed on Hiroto's engagement band. .... Technically, they had an encounter pervious to this one. However, it was not nearly as romantic. It involved a freshman orientation class heading to Blue Mesa Reservoir to do some group kayaking. Emma left the group and opted to head to deeper waters where the crests were higher and excitement was guaranteed. Hiroto followed her to the deeper water, noting that the waves did look funner. Emma took this as a challenge, and unbeknownst to Hiroto, a race ensued.

In 2022, Emma and Hiroto moved to Minnesota after having completed their degrees at Black Hills State University in the picturesque town of Spearfish, South Dakota. Going between the rural, spacious hills of western South Dakota to the suburbs of the Twin Cities had them longing for unexplored spaces with no shortage of woods and rocks and hills and rivers and... maybe an ocean? But not too many people.... This ruled out many states to take a vacation at, but there was a state that had held their curiosity for years: Maine. In August, they boarded a plane bound for Portland. The trip was filled with Brunswick pubs, small-town bookstores, and a healthy amount of time by those trees and rivers and ocean. On one such outing, Hiroto mentioned that he heard of a quiet spot where the setting sun casts a glow on a small island on the coast. Emma agreed, and giggled all the way down to the shore, hyped up on lattes and hours of reading. Once they went got down to the sandy beach, Emma turned left and Hiroto pulled her right. But... there were seashells to the left. Lots of them. But Hiroto told her that the sun was setting, and they needed to see the gold island. Emma agreed, so long as they went back to find her treasured shells after. When she saw a camera man snapping pictures, she remarked that he was probably getting some nice photos. Hiroto said he was probably here for the sunset, too. When he started snapping photos in their direction, Hiroto asked if Emma would want her hat on or off in photos. You know... in case he was taking photos of them. Emma took her hat off, Hiroto knelt, Emma cried, Hiroto asked, Emma said yes.