At practice, Hoshitani was having a hard time. Even before that, they all noticed how quiet Hoshitani was. He's never been this quiet before. Nayuki asks, "Hoshitani-kun, are you OK?" Hoshitani just nods and forces a smile, which gets them anxious. Even so, Hoshitani continues to dance, if with minimal mistakes. After a while, Otori calls for a break. Tsukigami and Tengenji bicker about how to handle a quiet Hoshitani while Nayuki and Kuga go off into a corner to observe and think about how to fix this. As for Otori...he knows just how to cheer him up.
"Hoshitani, c'mere," Otori calls, Hoshitani cautiously walks over to him. Then, Otori takes his hand in his own, "Dance with me." Hoshitani blinks in surprise, "Eh?" Smiling, Otori pulls him, then spins him around and around. "Wha-what are you-" Hoshitani panics a bit. "Just go with it," Otori laughs as they continue to dance. Hoshitani stumbles a bit, but Otori catches him, hand holding on tight.
Suddenly, Otori lets go, Hoshitani stumbling a bit at the sudden release. He looks to his senpai, Otori's hand stretched out, then Hoshitani grabs it in his, smiling. Continuing the dance, at times brushing against each other, and almost crashing at times too, they laugh.
Sometimes, when they sync their movements, Hoshitani looks at Otori. Seeing him, his eyes as he's in mid-twirl, looking like he's having the time of his life. Flying on familiar black wings.
Then again, Hoshitani was also flying, if more clumsily, on wings of his own. Pure white wings letting him soar to anywhere he wished. Following Otori, they soared in the sky without a care for what's happening on the ground.
It was an incredible sight and he loved it.
That was when he realized who he'd been looking for, who he'd been inspired by, and who he'd saw that rainy day this whole time.
Snapping back to reality, he showed no fear as he flew, straight past his own unremarkable past, beyond his useless self, trying to catch up to Otori. He wanted to catch up to him, to be his equal, to just dance with him again. But...he ended up flying beyond even him.
Their dancing slowed down, and eventually stopped. Otori smiled at him, "Did you have fun?" Hoshitani smiled back, if a bit weary, "Yeah."
After that, practice ended, leaving Hoshitani with a lot to think about.
He loved the feeling of flying in the sky with his own wings. Felt like he was born to do just that. But...he didn't want to leave Otori behind.
He knows that they're both similar but different, that Otori's the one he's been looking for this whole time. He wonders if Otori already knew though. Hoshitani sighs. 'Whether he knows or not, I owe him. For everything.' He thinks about a way to repay Otori, then gets an idea.
Hoshitani, in his room, gets out his origami paper and scissors, and makes an origami masterpiece. He leaves it for Otori on the piano in the practice hall before class.
When Otori sees it, he's surprised. A beautiful red origami phoenix with yellow tipped feathers, wings spread, and a lone star on its breast. Then, he sees a note attached to it. It reads:
'Thank you. For everything. Let's dance together again soon.'
There was no signature, but Otori just knew who wrote it and made the phoenix. Smiling, Otori puts the note away in his pocket, then places the origami phoenix in a safe place.
At practice, Hoshitani arrived early and was smiling like usual again, then he looked to Otori, who smiled his real, small smile. Hoshitani smiled fondly at him back, brighter then ever, both silently agreeing to never mention this to anyone else. Team Otori would be none the wiser...except Kuga. He just knew somehow.