Once upon a Memorial Day weekend in 2018, in the far away land of Big Bear, California, there was a young and beautiful girl named Fiona, volunteering as a chaperone at the Rowland Unified School District's annual Orchestra Camp. She had signed-up to volunteer without knowing what she had gotten herself into -- a broken promise of wifi availability, no hot water to shower, and no bedding on her vinyl-covered mattress. She was all alone without the 21st-century comforts she knew and loved. Then, out of nowhere, a wild Shota appeared from the woods in a van filled only with instruments and none of the things that Fiona needed (what do you think he is, some kind of knight in shining armor? You clearly don't know Shota...). Even though Shota was completely useless in helping Fiona that weekend, a spark ignited between the two of them over some kindling, and they've been tending to that warm and cozy campfire ever since.

Fast forward several months, and Fiona and Shota were starting to get serious. It was time for their -- wait for dramatic effect -- first date. After much deliberation and countless hours of neither of them taking the lead, they finally settled on what they were going to do. They were going to meet up at 6pm and go to Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles to go to a small jazz club called the Blue Whale (RIP, 2020). After anxiously getting ready hours in advance, Fiona checked the time on her phone. It was already 6:10pm. "Where the heck is that little son of a..." (for those of you who don't know, punctuality is one of Fiona's biggest peeves). The clock ticked on, and on until finally at 6:30pm, Shota rang the doorbell. "WHERE WERE YOU?! YOU'RE 30 MINUTES LATE!" exclaimed Fiona. "I'm sorry, but I wanted to make you a little something, and it took a bit longer than I anticipated..." Shota produced a little ramekin with an impeccably glazed crème brûlée from underneath a napkin. Fiona disapprovingly accepted the dish and said, "Just this once, Horikawa. You're off the hook." To this day, Shota has never been late to anything for Fiona since*. *facts may have been altered for romantic effect for the purposes of this website.

You've made it to the proposal! You're still reading? Anyways... The year was 2021. The world was in full lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Shota was on a mission, a mission to get engaged. Shota knew that it had to be somewhere meaningful, but somewhere that they could go and comeback without staying overnight to avoid the gasps of horrific judgement that people would make if they were to find out that they had stayed overnight somewhere at the height of the pandemic. The choice was clear. It would happen where it all began, in the alpine winter wonderland of Narnia, (also known as Big Bear). Shota knew that he wanted it to happen somewhere by the lake, but somewhere without the prying eyes of curious onlookers. He chose 4 suitable locations on the lake ranked in order of instagramablility and on that morning of Sunday, February 28th, they took off for the mountains. After a short, nauseating drive up the winding mountain roads, they arrived at location number one, but there were too many people. In an effort to not be too obvious, Shota had Fiona get out of the car and walk around and take some pictures together. After a short stroll, they moved on to their second location, but found that the location was nowhere near as picturesque as the pictures online showed them to be. Shota decided to keep driving without even stopping onto the third location, feigning that he had made a wrong turn. Location number three had the problem of the first two locations combined, so again he drove on. He was starting to get nervous that all his research was in vain and that none of the locations he found would work. But, alas, when they arrived at their final location, it was everything that he was looking for. A perfect view of the lake and no pesky onlookers. The time had finally come. They walked out to the edge of the dock, set up the camera, and then, BAM. Shota dropped down to one knee and asked Fiona to marry him.