Starlight Wishes and Moonlight Kisses
An Hoshi wa Utau Story
By: Kettobase
* * *
Starlight
Star bright
First star
I see tonight
Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this wish
I wish
Tonight
* * *
Introduction--Tango no Sekku [Boys' Day]
The stars winked and twinkled demurely while a young, blonde girl stared skyward and walked in the dark, moonlit night, seemingly ignoring the vibrant voice that buzzed forth from the impossibly pink, adorably childish cell phone in her manicured hand.
"Yes, Arato-kun, I will be back with dinner..."
"No, Arato-kun, I won't stay out all night again,"
"...Yes I will remember to bring home something to eat."
Yes, kaa-san, She muttered sarcastically, irritated.
"N-no, not at all, Arato-kun, I didn't say you sounded like my mother!"
"I promise I won't forget!"
Yare yare! The girl thought in slight exasperation, sighing as she terminated the call from her over-bearing, overly parental, perpetually irritating roommate and university classmate Arato Kyon. Her automatic assuring responses rarely worked against his persistent mindset, and she expected another call from him within the next twenty minutes.
Her name was Tonda Akari. She was a second year university student who sporadically attended the nearby school, and preferred to instead do things that meant a little more to her than sitting in a stuffy lecture room for half the day. That was where her roommate came in handy: he could always be persuaded to tell her the days lesson plans since they were in the same classes. And also because he had a weakness for her homemade ichigo daifuku...
In Akari's hands was a small, plastic planter that held a very leafy, little white star-shaped flower.
It was a particular gift for one of her friends, whose birthday happened to be coming up. The only thing was, she couldn't quite remember where her friend lived, which unfortunately happened to be a recurring kind of thing.
Why does that house have to be in such a strange place? Akari groaned to ease her frustration, despite the fact that the houses location wasn't strange at all. She spent a few more minutes among the scarcely lit neighborhood before she came upon a familiar-looking abode. Yatta! she also noticed the small, adorable koi-shaped flag decorating the walkway. It seemed to have been broken, though. Boys' day? Was that today? She wondered idly, I could have sworn it was last week...
Shrugging, she skipped up to the door and rang the doorbell. "Konbanwa, Kanade-kun! I've come to give Shiina-chan a gift!" She called out cheerfully. She waited a moment, and couldn't hear anything on the other side. "Kanade-kun?" She shifted her weight to the other leg. "Shiina...?" It would be much like the former to ignore her and pretend not to be home, but the latter would never even think to do such a thing...perhaps they were asleep? "No way, its only seven PM...nobody should be asleep now. Maybe they're not home." With a sigh, the young blonde spun on her heel and walked away unsurely. "Well, I guess I can wait to give her this--we take the same route in the afternoon sometimes, don't we? That will work out fi--uwaa!" While looking down at the plant contemplatively, she'd completely forgotten to watch where she was going.
"K-Kami-sama--gomen ne!" Akari cried from where she'd fallen down--plant on her head and potting soil tumbling down all around her.
"T-Tonda-san?!" A worried female voice wondered. "Are you alright?" Next thing she knew, she was being hauled gently off the ground by a brunette girl similar in build and height. This was Shiina Sakuya, one of the two people Akari had come to visit.
Akari looked timidly at the high school girl, and rubbed the back of her head, which happened to still be covered in plant and dirt. "K-konbanwa, Shiina-chan! Ive come to bring you a gift for your birthday!" With speed the gods couldn't rival, the blonde scooped the flower off of her head and carefully put it back in the half-empty pot, then held it out. "Happy birthday!"
Sakuya hesitantly accepted the shaken-looking flower that was virtually being shoved into her face by the older girl. "A-ah, arigatou gozaimasu, Tonda-san..."
"Hey..." Came the slightly irritated voice of the boy who was accompanying the brunette.
Regaining her composure, the blonde pointed out the flower. "See, see, Shiina-chan, see how it looks like a star? Its called a starflower--one of my friends overseas sent some seeds and I've been raising the flowers in my garden! I know how you like stars and stuff like that, and thought, 'hey, thats a perfect gift for Shiina-chan!'"
"It is beautiful, Tonda-san! " Sakuya agreed a bit too overenthusiastically, laughing nervously.
"Hey..."
"W-why dont you come in for a while? Were not busy or anything!" Sakuya invited cordially.
"Oh? No birthday celebration or something? What about your part-time job? Is Kanade-kun's dependency causing you to work double time?"
"I'm right here, you know."
The male went unnoticed by the blonde as she followed Sakuya to the front door, chatting and gossiping mindlessly. "Wow, its been such a long time since I've been here--oh, and what's with the koi flag? Isn't boys' day over?"
"No, boys day was today--"
"Ohh, did you put that flag up for Kanade-san, Shiina? Thats so thoughtful! I tried to decorate the entire veranda with decorations once, for Arato-kun, but he swore to kick me out of our apartment if I kept those things out for the public to see! I don't think he really minds--he just gets embarrassed easily."
"Haha, it was the same with Kana-chan." Sakuya replied easily.
"Why isn't the place decorated for your birthday? Didn't you have a big celebration earlier with Yuuri-kun and Honjou-san?"
"Why would she? Her birthday was--"
"Ah! Kanade-kun, when did you get here?" Akari asked brightly as she turned towards the taller university student.
Kanade sent the blonde a dead-pan, 'are you stupid or something'? expression without replying to her seemingly rhetorical question. "Would you like some tea, Tonda-san? It's the least I could do for keeping you waiting." Sakuya piped up, sensing there was a strange atmosphere between the two high school graduates.
Akari waved a hand nonchalantly, smiling brightly. "Iie, iie, I wasnt here that long. But some tea would be nice."
"'Kay. Ill bring you something to clean up with, too."
Akari smiled brightly as the young brunette made her way to the kitchen, leaving them alone in the main room. "I haven't really seen you much since high school...didja miss me?" She grinned cheekily.
"Not particularly...you're too scatter brained to really enjoy being around." Kanade responded lackadaisically, propping his chin up on a hand and staring off at another corner of the room boredly. After a moment, when he was sure the girl wasn't going to interrupt him with something irrelevant, he turned his eyes sharply towards her cheerfully sitting (still dirty) form. "Sakuya's birthday was last week. You got the date wrong again."
His words hung heavily in the air between them before Akari was able to register them.
"Last? Wh-wh-what?! Then what's today? I know there's something special about this day, Kanade-kun!" Akari pressed her hands against the table and leaned forwards desperately, wondering what she'd forgotten. She quite nearly reached across the table to shake his shoulders when he wouldn't answer her, but faintly recalled he didn't want her touching him unnecessarily.
"Today is Boys' Day."
"T-today?! No way! Arato-kun didn't even remind me...I would have bought him some chimaki or something--and you of course, Kanade-kun." Akari reassured distractedly. "I wonder if any places are open right now. Plus, I'd need a koi banner as well--he probably thinks I hate him or something!"
Or hes happy that you forgot Kanade frowned mentally. "Why do you celebrate it? Its not like you two are family..."
Akari silently got to her feet. "I know, I know...but since Arato-kun didn't really grow up with his family, they never got together for special days so, I take it upon myself to make Arato-kun feel accepted into some kind of family, even if its just made up of a Uni roommate!"
Curiously, he fully turned his head towards her. "...You like him, don't you, Tonda?"
"Eh? 'Like'?" She repeated dumbly, holding a finger to her lips in thought. "Of course I like Arato-kun; if I didn't, I wouldn't trust him enough to live under the same roof," Akari paused, before grinning naively. "But, I like you too, Kanade-kun!"
Kanade shifted his eyes away from the blonde's dopey smile, indifferent as always. "Good to know."
"What? Whats with that attitude, aren't we friends?" Akari asked, smile dissolving.
"Not on your--"
"Here's the tea! We only had black, I hope thats okay?" Upon returning and seeing the two university students looking up at her blankly, the star-lover fell quiet.
The other girl was the first to recover. "Oh, black tea is fine!" Silently, she took her drink and held it to her lips, softly inhaling the scent.
"So, how's school, Shiina-chan?"
Kanade watched the two girls chat with an uninterested expression, feeling slightly irritated. Wasn't she just worrying about making it back to celebrate Boys Day? What a tiny attention span...
"Oh its great!" Sakuya replied brightly. "And how is it living with Arato-san? Did you celebrate Boys' Day?"
Expectantly, Kanade watched the blonde's face. Sure enough, her expression melted from cheerful to panicked. "K-Kami, it slipped my mind! I need to go find a place that's open this late so I can get a koi flag and chimaki!" She downed her black tea in one gulp, wincing a bit from the mild scalding it gave her throat.
"Like there's any place like that around here." Kanade murmured.
"Wh-what? B-but--I cant go home empty-handed! Can you imagine how it would feel if Shiina-chan forgot about you?" ...Not that she ever would...
Sakuya clapped her hands together suddenly, face brightening. "I think we have some extra chimaki, Tonda-san! Ill get it for you." She returned to the kitchen quickly.
"Are you sure? You're the greatest, Shiina-chan!" Akari gasped, eyes sparkling. "But a koi banner...I can't imagine where I could get one..." Her words were muttered quietly to herself, yet didn't go unheard.
"Why not borrow ours?", "You can take that one." Both residents of the house replied in harmony.
Akari smiled slightly. "Oh, really? Wow, thank you! You're so kind to me, especially since I got your birthday mixed up with Boys' Day..." Her voice trailed off softly. "You'll make a man very happy one day, Shiina-chan!"
Sakuya blushed lightly as she handed the chimaki to her blonde friend. "Eh heh, you think so?"
A head of blonde hair bobbed enthusiastically. "Of course. Thank you for the tea, Shiina-chan, and I'll be seeing you around, Kanade-kun. Sayonara!" Akari quickly got to her feet and made her way to the door. She carefully pried the taped koi banner from its place on the wall and gave a wave to the two who were still inside, before racing down the stairs.
* * *
Akari ran the whole way to her apartment complex, barely even stopping for traffic as she crossed the streets. The chilled chimaki and koi banner were clutched securely between her arms the entire time, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that shed forgotten something...
Barely stopping, she adeptly unlocked their front door, pranced in, and slipped her shoes off in front of the entrance all in one fluid movement. She took a brief respite in the hallway, breathing shallowly. "Ta--Tadaima!"
"Okaeri nasai, Akari..." Called a congested voice from the front room.
After catching her breath, the blonde hurried towards her roommates voice. "A-ah, Arato-kun, its Boys' Day!" She huffed, holding the food and banner out with a small smile.
The black-haired male moved his half-lidded eyes away from the television screen. "You mean you actually remembered the right day this year?" He raised a slim eyebrow when he saw the state of his friend. She was still dirty from her fiasco with a potted plant earlier, soil smudged across her face and on her nose, as well as her dress. Disregarding that, he observed what she held in her hands. "And you brought chimaki? That hardly constitutes as a meal for dinner..." He deadpanned, slapping a hand to his forehead.
"Dinner...? K-kami-sama, I forgot!"
Thank you so much for reading the intro to Starlight Wishes and Moonlight Kisses! Hope it was good ^_^
