The very first time, the room was cold and old and smelled of blood and rotten fish.
Shintaro found it disgusting, horrendous, but there was a girl. She had short green hair and was six and was afraid of fire. Her name was Tsubomi, but everyone called her Kido.
Kido lit the candles one by one, flinching every time the lighter clicked.
Click. Click.
There were eight candles on the cake, all reflecting off of Kido's bright, red eyes. The way her hair dropped over her eyes was cute, but Shintaro found the need to brush it away. She coward away at his touch, as if she were afraid.
"Shh, it's okay." He cupped her cheek, gentle "I won't hurt you."
"M-make a wish, then."
Shintaro realized that the candles were making her progressively more and more uncomfortable. He looked over to the front of the room, where a little girl with orange hair, soon to be his little sister, stared at him excitedly, bouncing up and down. His gaze flicked to Kido, the only one here who was able to earn his respect. Kousuke couldn't even speak yet, Shuuya was a demon when he did.
The boy knew far too well that his hours, maybe even minutes, to stay with her were numbered.
'I wish to see you again.'
"BIG BROTHER! C'MON!"
Shintaro sighed. He looked over at Kido, her head was in her hands! her shoulders were shaking. He bent down and patted her head. Pointing to the cake, he whispered "Don't let Shuuya have any!" She giggled an adorable giggle, wrapping her arms around him.
"Come back to visit, real soon, okay!"
He smiled. "Of course."
:~~~:
The very second time the room was bright and bustling with happy faces. Shintaro found it disgusting, tacky, but there was a girl. Or rather, there would be a girl when she got there with her younger sister she so desperately wanted to bring.
"Where's Ayano?" That was Haruka, one of his 'friends'
"Why do you care, she isn't bringing food!" Takane... Not really.
"S-Sorry I'm late, everyone!" Ayano. Shintaro wondered about her, sometimes.
"I really don't want to be here..." Kido, the girl from the orphanage, the one he promised to see again.
Wait... Kido?!
"Happy birthday you- Shintaro?" They stood there, eyes locked on each other.
It had been seven years.
"Kido... I..."
"So you two know each other! Hooray!" Ayano stepped between them, bouncing up and down. Shintaro hated when people did that. Kido walked around them both and grabbed the lighter and went to the cake.
Click.
Click.
Shintaro had listened to that sound once a year for the past seven, but it had never been the same.
Click
Click.
Thud.
Haruka's body hit the ground suddenly, Kido's sleeve nearly caught on fire. There was screaming and the dialing of a phone...
It was all a blur.
Shintaro never made a wish that year.
:~~~:
The very last time was spent in a hospital. That was all Shintaro, in his state, knew.
Around his sixteenth birthday, Shintaro contracted Haruka's disease when he was covered in the other boy's blood as he threw it up when he died.
It wasn't until now that they knew. That any of them knew- That his fiancé who sat beside him now knew.
He and Kido had begun a relationship, it had started as a way to cope with losing Ayano. It blossomed into so much more. They were going to marry in two years... Were. Had been.
Not actually going to happen now.
Shintaro's thoughts were disturbed by
Click
Click.
She brought out the cake. There were eight candles on it.
"That's all they had."
Suddenly he was back in the orphanage on his eighth birthday. They were sitting in old clothes that were either six sizes too big or two sizes too small and there was no Momo coming to take him away from her and
Click
Click
resounded through his head. Shintaro reached up and brushed the hair from her face
and the tear from her cheek. Except that was real. So was his wish.
'I wish- No, I will see you again.'
"You promise you'll visit?" He obviously wasn't the only one who thought, who wanted, them to be eight and six or five or seven again.
"Of course."
((I wish I were sorry but I'm not.))