Giggles and laughter were all that filled his bitter mind. Splashes of the shimmering black river as they plunged in, one diving in like a penguin, the other more like a chicken. But in the end, they were drenched and their hearts were flying high above the chains of land and pain.
Worries had evaporated and they were nothing but themselves. They splashed each other with all the lightness of fae, grinning impishly, and no one could come between them and their time. No more was there the dark, silent, traumatized pianist nor the bright, burning, desperate violinist. They were just Kousei and Kaori.
She gasped and peered at something. She stared with wide eyes as a glistening fin glided through the water, a comet in their dark river. How could she be so beautiful? He smiled but then yelped as he fell backward and again enticed peals of laughter. How could he be so oblivious? The stars lurched and then spun around them drunkenly, spinning faster and faster, dizzyingly, until he tumbled out of the dream.
He tiredly rubbed his bleary eyes. They were sore and red-rimmed and burned. He shook his disheveled hair and stared dumbly at his formal black suit. I must've fallen asleep right after going… to… He couldn't finish his sentence, the gulp weakly concealed with a ragged cough.
He sat up at his desk. It was still dark out, but the blackbird night was giving away to the doves of dawn. I should check to see what time it is… Practice's going to start early today.
He absentmindedly flipped open his phone.
Wrong move.
Brilliant blue-gray eyes smiled up at him, warmly glowing with life, youth flushing in her cheeks. They mischievously sparkled with all the stars of the sky, as though they were sharing some secret joke. Or perhaps a lie. Watari choked, and she slipped through his fingers. He sank to his knees and put his head back in his arms, despair tar sliding down his throat.
Will I never escape you?