A young, red-haired man begun his late afternoon shift checking the outdoor equipment just beside the rocket launch site. Routinary work like that was dreaded by most people and especially by the trainee astronauts, but to Taiyou Hoshinari, it held the fascination of a recent graduate finally coming in practical contact with everything theory had handed him.

Absorbed in the tedious disassembly of the energy cables, he hadn't noticed that something was different in that sunny day.

He wasn't, in fact, alone as he was used to be.

Turning round on a whim, he spotted two boys in their school gakuran, eyes big as saucers, staring with something close to reverence at the launch site.

His first impulse wasn't the kindest: He thought the best was to ignore them and continue with work as it was, but the placid afternoon, the nearby rustle of the crickets and the fact that he was the only one in the Center at that time of day, stopped him in his tracks.

Those kids. It wasn't raucuous curiosity that had bought them here. One of them, spikes of black hair pointing up like a defy to gravity, was holding his hands to his mouth, apparently beside himself with excitement. The other, a brown-haired kid, was grinning as if Christmas had suddenly materialized in the late days of June.

They looked just as if they had entered a holy site.

The hungry look in their eyes, staring at the rocket... He knew it.

No mere curiosity. They were completely taken in by the launch site.

He chuckled gently. He knew that stare, for it had been etched in his face when he was a child, too. Moving the equipment on one side, he sideglanced at them as they glued themselves to the fence.

"What's he doin', what's he doin'?"

"I wish I knew! If only we could get closer!"

Loud. The two of them. How could two tiny middle-schoolers have that much booming power in their throats?

"Take out a page, you can draw that, can't you?"

"'Course I can, I'll show you...!"

"No, no, you need a ruler, that's angling there!"

"Okay, come and have a try yourself if you're so good at critique!"

He heard their laughter next. Apparently none of them was good at drawing!

After the cabling and the securing of the bolts, he looked back and to his surprise... there they were still. The silence behind him had convinced Taiyou that both had gone somewhere else.

The sun was starting to set. What was that about?

"Hey, you two? It's late now, y'know?"

The brown-haired kid grinned, while the black-haired boy struggled not to step back at his arrival. They whispered excitedly as he approached.

A smile appeared on his face. The wonder of middle-schoolers staring at a man whose job was to travel towards the stars. He never ceased to marvel at it, or to feel the immense responsibility of being the center of children's fantasies.

Even if he was a trainee himself, come to think of that. Just recently transferred, in fact.

"Hey, you two, I'm talking to you. The rocket ain't going nowhere anytime soon, you can leave now..."

The boy with the jet black hair seemed to find a reply almost instantly.

"Mister, would you leave so soon if you found the place you want to live for the rest of your life?"

The firmness of the statement left the astronaut without any words to reply. But he knew, kids are kids, so he played down his enthusiasm.

"You are... a bit too much young to know that, y'know? To live for... I mean, if you want... y'know, know what it feels like, you can just buy the costume..."

"No, no, not a costume! I want to wear the real deal!"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't wanna put it on for play! I want to be an astronaut for REALS!"

The brown-haired kid chuckled to himself. That last bellow, he saw it coming a mile away! However, the fire in his friend's eyes was something completely, utterly new... even to him.

No pause of silence, for Taiyou found his voice rather quickly.

"I heard your names. You would be Aoi-kun. And you, Housuke-kun, right?"

Sharp nods from either side.

The guy behind the fence laughed. "Well, I'm Taiyou. And I hope you know this is quite the toll, young one!"

"I'm not worried. I know the risks, I know I have to train. That's fine by me!"

A flock of birds perched in a nearby section of the fence flew off alarmed. There was even more fire in his voice, in the loudness of the last statement, in the way he gripped tight the wire of the fence, and how his beetle black eyes stood the man's amused stare.

"I am not joking" he said quietly "You will need a sound body and good grades to be a prospect, and even then, a lot quit halfway. It takes a crib of 250 guys to produce a mere five man crew. That's how hard this is..."

At each obstacle named, the boy nodded sharply, showing he had done his research.

"And of course, your families won't take that too kindly..."

Both boys's gestures subsided - Housuke into reserve, Aoi into sadness. But it took him a mere glance to his friend by his side to bounce back and declare, in a voice that was a yell as well as a cry:

"It's fine! The closer I am to space... the closer to them I'll be!"

Oh. Crikey... so that was why they seemed unconcerned enough not to move from their gazing spot...

Aoi was decidedly defiant now, as was the way he stood the adult's guilty stare. He wouldn't allow the fact of being an orphan to stop him midway through his dream. His breathing was audible now, the only sign of his inner turmoil.

On the other side of the fence, the young man smiled softly.

"How old are you?"

"Eleven"

"I see. You want to be an astronaut, too?" he asked Housuke, whose wiry frame was decidedly less impressive than the slightly stockier body of his friend.

"Nope, that's Aoi-kun. Me, I want to be a lawyer!"

"That sounds impressive all right!" He conceded "I don't know the slightest thing about law, though... I don't know if I can help you..."

"Of course you can! Tell us all about space!"

Housuke left his backpack on the floor and sat down in front of the fence.

"See... I'm not too good at PE. Can't swim for the life of me. And... not good at running! Aoi-kun told me you need that and more to be an astronaut... I want to be a lawyer, so it's fine. But I sure want to hear more!"

Smiling, Aoi followed suit, sitting just beside his friend.

Taiyou found himself grinning, too.

He himself hadn't gone there yet and was still considered the weakest ring on the chain, but somehow, somehow, while looking into those eyes that were as amazed as supportive, he felt he could do anything, no matter how dangerous.

"Well, then... if you promise you will go- uhm, back after I'm done... I can tell you a little something! Not too much because it's secret, but just a tiny bit!"

"Deal, deal!"

"Okay, then! About gravity training...!"

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Half an hour later, as he saw the two kids enthusiastically wave back at him as they left with their backpacks, Hoshinari Taiyou picked up the remaining cables and stepped in. It had been rewarding to see the two kids attentively following his explanation with polite awe.

Little did he know that it would be the first of many.

That the scene would repeat itself for years to come.

That the black eyed boy would become his support and companion, to the point of saving his life.

That the brown-haired boy would pick up where his friend had left and save him from prison, and give him the last push to arrive, once again to the stars.

That both would end up being his motivation to return to his great love, space.

What a nice way to repay those stories in the courtyard of the launch pad site.

But, for now, he was oblivious to what the future had in hold for him.

He had, just now, ignited the stars in two lonely boys' eyes.

And that was fine with him.