Author's Note: Due to the fact that the central character of this fic is Shingo, a lot of what I wrote here about him is not completely canon. Unfortunately there wasn't very much about him in the course of the anime (of in the guidebook, for that matter), despite being a relatively important character in the end, so I had to fill in the blanks myself. I did that partially via headcanons which I thought would suit him best, and partially by trying to analyse and interpret what he says to Tokio/Head in episode 24, after he wakes up. Well, this is not the place to discuss Shingo as a character in detail (but we can do that on tumblr if anybody's interested)...
In any case, I really wanted to write this and here it is.

Unlike so many others, I had been born outside of Southern Cross Island. My family had never talked much about this island, the Cybodies or anything else and I was left without any knowledge for most of my life. When my mark surfaced, I was abandoned.
I travelled to Southern Cross at the height of my loneliness, when I had no idea what else to do with my life. Everywhere I went I had felt as if people would look at me and instantly knew I was different from them in every aspect – my face which had never corresponded to my actual age at any stage of my life, my somewhat fragile body, my strange dreams that only weirded friends out when I talked about them, the kind of people (that is, men) I tended to fall in love with. As a result, there was a point at which there was nobody left around me anymore.

I came to the island in hope to find out more about myself, maybe even a cure for the nightmare I felt I was living in. I had managed to get a small job at a strange society that was concerned with research about some underground ruins.
I don't even know how I had managed to get this job, I'm not good at many things. Maybe they somehow realized I carried a mark.

On the day of my arrival, I missed the bus from the port up to the city.
I had to walk up all the way along the only road around the island. The good side to this was that said road runs along the coast, with a beautiful view of the beach and the sea.
That's where I saw it for the first time.
There was a lonely canvas standing around on the beach that seemed to belong to no one. It was kind of strange, so I took a closer look.

I was instantly captivated by the painting presented before my eyes. I didn't understand much about art, but this picture was rich and lively, portraying the setting sun with a beauty and vividness even photographs could never reach.
It almost took my breath away.
I don't know for how long I marveled at it until a voice brought me back to reality.
"Seems you like this one. That's good!"
A young man walked up to me, paintbrush in his hand. His confident smile and deep purple eyes appeared to shine with a certain radiance I couldn't quite explain. It could have been the light of the evening sky, or it could have been just him.
But in any case, I was just as quickly captured by his aura as I was by his artwork.
"I wasn't quite satisfied with this one yet, so I was looking around for new angles right now. But by the look on your face I guess it does have some good points already."

I didn't know how to reply, just continued to watch as he continued to paint. I had never seen anyone paint before. The way he moved his brush over the canvas, every stroke filling the picture with more life. He was careful with his strokes, setting them precisely where they needed to be to bring more color into this little world.
After a few minutes he turned back around to me and eyed me from head to toe. Only now I realized how weird it must have seemed to him, being silently watched by a stranger like this. I was ready to apologize, but he was faster to speak up.
"I don't think I've ever seen you around this island. You've got all these bags… Are you a tourist?"

"Uhm, no, I… I'm going to work in the ruins from tomorrow on, so I just moved here today."
I felt my face heating up for some reason, but also couldn't help but notice how the expression in his face slightly changed as I mentioned this job. He had been really relaxed before, but now he appeared more alert, interested.
Despite it all, his smile stayed.
"I see… I know a few people from there, it seems like an interesting workplace. I'm a little jealous."
He laughed, and I laughed with him, as I had no real idea how else to react. My face still felt hot.
"Are you walking to town? That's quite a long way, you know…"
"Well…" Another nervous laugh from my side. "I missed the last bus, so…"
His purple eyes grew with slight surprise, but still smiling.
"Oh, but there's another bus going up to the city. I think it doesn't stop by the port, but if you walk for a little more there should be a bus stop where you can wait for it."
He showed me the direction in which I should walk, more with his brush than his finger, and I noticed the spots of dry paint on his hand. For how long had he already been working on this picture?

I thanked him, took my belongings and got on my way to the bus stop. I didn't get very far before he called me again.
"Would you tell me your name?"

I turned around to see him bathed in both the rays of the setting sun and the hard shadows such a scenery could produce. The shadows accentuated the sharp features of his face, making it almost look sinister. I couldn't help but wonder how old he was.
I almost forgot to give him an answer.
"Ah, I… my name is Shingo Makiba."

A moment of silence between us, only the waves of the ocean created a sound. I didn't know what kind of answer I expected.
"Sounds nice. I'm Tokio Tsunashi, I hope to see you around here some more. Actually, I think I would like to paint you. You're really pretty."
Again, I felt my face growing hot and I turned around quickly in hope he wouldn't see me blushing. It had been quite a while since someone had complimented my looks. And ever since I had noticed something was wrong with me and the way my body was, I had felt strange about such comments. But his face and how the hard shadows had softened made me feel he was genuine.

I thanked him again and walked off quickly. This was not the most polite way, but I couldn't help it at that moment.
Tokio was right, I found the bus stop and after a bit of waiting a bus arrived that took me to the town where I could finally move into my apartment.

The days after that were mostly filled with work, and myself trying to get accustomed to my new surroundings. Once again, I felt like I was constantly watched, as if people could tell I was different from them. Of course this was true to some extent, as I was essentially an outsider from the mainland.
At this point, I didn't yet know what lay below this island. My workplace was on the surface, doing this and that, running errands. Only specialists were allowed to enter the mine that lead to the actual ruins.

I used my first free day to explore the island some more. I came to like this place as such, it was beautiful and had a gorgeous view at the starlit sky at night. Having grown up in a big city, I had never seen so many stars before.
When I reached one or several higher outlooks scattered around the island I hoped to have an even better look at the nightly sky.
Instead, I found him.

I immediately recognized his frame.
His hair, his size, the way he moved, everything had subconsciously burnt itself into my brain the first moment we had met. I had not seen him since that first day, and I was happy to see him now.

He seemed deeply concentrated on the picture he was painting, so I approached him as silently as I could. I watched as he continued to add stroke after stroke, creating more of this small world with each one.
When I had come close enough to see what he was painting, his movements slowed down, but never stopped.
He did not look away from the night scenario on his canvas once.

"It's been a bit since we saw each other. How have you been doing so far?"
I smiled, even though he couldn't see it. I really liked his voice.
"I mostly worked so far. This island is quite different from where I come from, but I like it."
Tokio put his brush away and stepped back a little from his picture. He looked up into the sky full of stars. Not a single cloud dared to spoil the view.
"A fantastic sky, isn't? You don't get to see this anywhere else in the world."

He finally turned to face me.
"Huh? You just said you like it here, but you don't look very happy to me…"
I swallowed. He was somewhat right, but it was hard to admit.
"Ah, I know, some of the people here aren't too welcoming to outsiders. They tend to prefer to stay within their own company. Well, they do have their reasons mostly, so don't mind it too much. It's hard at first, I know that."
He came towards me, one step closer with every word.
"You mean you're not from here either?"

Tokio came to a halt and smiled.
"No, I'm an outsider too. But there's something I have to do here."
His smile seemed to vanish for a moment, and suddenly it was as if he had trailed off into nowhere. His eyes looked past me, but seemingly into nothing, or maybe it was the darkness of the night.
A moment later, it was as if nothing had happened and he proceeded on his way towards me.
I backed off a little, out of surprise and because I felt how my face grew hot again. I didn't even really know why I was so flustered by his presence.
"Could it be that it's the same for you? Nobody comes to this island without a purpose. And you work in the ruins, don't you? By any chance, do you happen to carry a mark?"

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but before I could react, he had already extended his hand and ran it across my chest.
I don't know how he did it, but I felt a strange warmth crawling through my body, towards my chest and to the outer layers of my skin. I had felt this before, and had come to hate it in hindsight.

There it was.
This glowing representation of the heat I had been feeling. The manifestation of my nightmares.
The first time this thing had shown itself on my body, my mother had cried. The second time it appeared, I had been left behind.
I noticed how I had begun to slightly shake.
"I'm sorry, this… I…"

But Tokio just smiled.
"There's no need to apologize for something this wonderful. You don't seem to know much, but that's okay, there is no reason to be afraid."
His gaze was fixed on my chest. It was almost as if he was trying to grab my mark and pull it out of my body. At that time, I didn't yet understand why.

The glow disappeared, and so did the heat. I was relieved.
Tokio, however, seemed to be a little disappointed. He retracted his hand and placed it back into his pocket. Like during our first meeting, he examined me from head to toe, I felt the intensity of it in every pore of my body. The darkness made it hard to follow the movement of his eyes.
I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly, he turned his back on me and walked back to his canvas. He picked up his brush again, continued to bring life to the scenery on his painting. The colors seemed to glow like the actual stars up in the sky.

"You should consider yourself lucky to have this", he said and I wasn't really sure if he smiled or not, I couldn't really see it. The atmosphere was very strange suddenly.
I wanted to argue with him. After all, what did he know about me and my mark? The endless pain and tears it had brought me, the sleepless nights I had had because of it, he didn't know any of this.
He should be the one to consider himself lucky. He was normal.
In the end, I decided against it, I didn't want to risk losing the only person on this island that didn't seem to treat me like I didn't belong here. I thought about his words a little more. I really didn't understand why I should feel lucky or special or anything other than unfortunate, but he was the first person that didn't think of me as weird or wrong. I didn't want to let go of him.

I excused myself and took my leave.
He turned back to me and this time I could surely see him smiling. "Good night, Shingo."
I smiled back. I felt more warmth inside my body, but this time it felt nice. I liked his smile.
"Good night, Tokio."

[to be continued]