Author's Notes
- Hey everyone! Welcome to my story, Forever in Our Stars, a story about Azusa and her struggles with cancer. Throughout the story, an airheaded girl befriends Azusa and soon becomes her best friend. This story involves the righteousness of music and the spirit of adventure. Enjoy the first chapter!
- I do not own K-On! in any way possible. If I did, I probably would have killed the series with the blasphemy of the stories I write.
Forever in Our Stars
Chapter 1 – Prologue, My Life
"I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?" – Bill Watterson
My name is Azusa Nakano and I've been diagnosed with Stage I Hodgkin Lymphoma. Cancer sucks, especially when you're young. You get to see other kids your age running around and enjoying their life while you're strapped to an IV line. My new home is the Sakuragaoka Medical Center, where I live in my very own room. I remembered my life before I came here. My life was pretty peaceful, really. I had friends, good grades, and a kick-ass position as the Rhythm Guitarist in my own band, the Wakaba Girls.
"Wake up, Azusa-chan! It's time for your breakfast!" my nurse, Ayana Taketatsu, said to me. She was a pretty cheerful woman, but she had a lot to learn though, because she was often a complete klutz.
"Morning already?" I asked as she moved the curtains to the side, letting the bright sunlight flood into my room, "Well if that didn't blind me, I don't know what will. Do you mind closing the curtains? I like the dark," I said as I covered my eyes from the light.
"Oh don't be such a downer, Azusa-chan," Ayana scolded me. Even though she was a klutz, she knew a lot about happiness and the joys of life.
I sighed at her, "I'm only a downer because there are no ups in my life."
"Don't you dare say that, Azusa-chan!" Ayana tried to sound stern, but with such a soft and polite voice, it would be almost impossible for her to do that.
"I think I'm going to skip on breakfast today, Ayana," I said to her as I removed my blanket and sat on the edge of my bed, "I'm not really feeling hungry," I brought myself off my bed and slipped into my pink slippers that were next to my bed.
"O-okay, Azusa-chan!" Ayana called after me, "Be sure to take your medication!"
"Yeah, yeah…" I said as I waved her off, "I'll be fine."
I exited my room and walked through the hallways of the large structure. Already there were doctors and nurses running around, with a few fellow patients going for their morning walk, just like me.
Usually I would just walk around Sakuragaoka, staring out the windows, reading the occasional book, or maybe finding a little joy in the rare visits I get from my mother, who works as a successful lawyer in Tokyo. 246.33 miles between each other and she still finds the once a month visit to be enough to show me how much she really loves me. Yep, this was my schedule everyday ever since I got here. But this was all before she arrived. This was all before Yui Hirasawa entered my life.
"Good morning, Azunyan!" I heard a childish voice say from behind. Before I could turn around, I felt something heavy jump on my back. Already I knew it was her… Yui Hirasawa…
I felt her warm hands caress my hair as if it was fur on a cat. I wouldn't really say I'm a cat, since I'm not really into them. I'm not really into pets at all. Every time I would go over to a friends' house, particularly Jun Suzuki, her cat would be all over me.
"Uh… good morning, Hirasawa-san…" I said, slowly breaking free of her grip on me. I turned around and saw Yui in a gown that every patient had to wear, including me. It was white gown that had blue dots all over, and it was tied up in the back.
"So, what are you doing today, Azunyan?" she asked me with polite. Her brown hair had two yellow pins on the right side of her hair. Her brown eyes stared deep into my own as if she was staring into my soul.
"Doing what I do every day. Nothing," I said, "And stop calling me that."
"But it's so cute, Azunyan!" Yui squealed, "A cute name fits a cute girl, y'know."
I felt my face heat up, "I-I'm not cute…"
"Adorable?"
"No."
"Beautiful?"
"No."
"Flat?"
"No–hey!" I glared at the brunette in-front of me and she giggled.
"I'm just kidding… Azunyan," she smiled. I sighed at her and she continued to giggle. I turned around and left Yui behind as she giggled away. A few seconds and I was down the hallway, I heard footsteps approaching and found Yui at my side. We walked together for a few more steps before I cleared my throat.
"Shouldn't you be doing something, Hirasawa-san?" I asked her. She stared off into space for a moment and put her hand on her chin, lightly tapping it.
"Nope. Not today," she replied.
"No visitors today like usual?" I asked. She nodded and I looked away.
"Mio-chan, Ricchan, and Mugi-chan are all busy today," she said.
"I… I don't know them, Hirasawa-san," I told her. She oohed at my comment and continued walking with me.
"So, first there's Ricchan. She's the drummer of our band," she began. I raised an eyebrow at her as she continued, "Ricchan is just a nickname, and her real name is Ritsu Tainaka. She's really nice! Oh, and she's funny. She's the spirit of our band."
"Hirasawa-san…" I said, she stopped and looked at me, "My head hurts, please… maybe you can tell me some other time?"
"Oh… oh… I'm sorry, Azunyan… I thought…" she looked way. I felt bad and sighed.
"Okay… fine. Tell me some more about your friends, Hirasawa-san," I told her. I saw the light in her eyes sparkle as she smiled.
"Next is Mio Akiyama, also known as Mio-chan! She is super mature! She's plays bass and is completely amazing at it! Mio-chan and Ricchan have been best friends ever since they were little kids. Mio-chan can, at times, be a little kid in heart, especially when we talk about something sensitive," Yui said, "Mio-chan is very easily to scare and sometimes Ricchan goes too far with it. I remember, one time Ricchan scared Mio-chan to a point where they stopped talking for a week."
"Akiyama-san sounds like a good person," I said to Yui. She nodded and hummed.
"The last member of Houkago Tea Time is Tsumugi Kotobuki, but we like to call her Mugi-chan! She's very nice and quite beautiful. She is the keyboardist of HTT and also serves us tea during practice! Trust me, Azunyan, when you get a taste of Mugi-chan's tea and cake, you can finally die happy," she said. I raised an eyebrow at her and cleared my throat. Did she forget that I have cancer?
"Eh? Hirasawa-san…"
"Oh! I'm so sorry! You'll make it through! I didn't mean to offend you in any way at all!" she quickly bowed. I sighed and shook my head as Yui continued bowing.
"It's fine…" I said to her. She looked up and a worried expression was plastered all over her face.
"Anyways, Mugi-chan is one of the nicest people you can ever meet! She's rich and lives in this big mansion and always has the warmest smile on her face. She's a really good friend…"
"A mansion, huh?" I asked. Yui nodded at my question. We continued walking down the hallway to whoever knows where. To be honest, I just like to walk around. It's some kind of peace that I can actually tolerate besides just sitting alone in my hospital room.
"Oh, good morning, Toyosaki-san!" Yui called out and waved. I looked to where she was waving and saw her waving to Aki Toyosaki, one of the nurses that took care of me, along with Yui. She was a really nice girl and was usually very easy to talk to. She looked at Yui and waved back, sporting a small smile on her face as she went back to her work.
"I see you've gotten to know the nurses, eh?" I asked.
"Mhm!" Yui nodded, "Even though this is only my second week here, I'm already close with Toyosaki-san and Taketatsu-san. Speaking of how long I've been here, how long have you been here at the hospital, Azunyan?"
"About 5 months…" I said. I felt a little anger as it has already been 5 months since I was last in the outside world, where I had school to worry about rather than the cancer in my body. Luckily for me, the hospital is near where I lived, so friends like Jun, Ui, Sumire, and Nao can easily visit me whenever they want.
"Wow! That's a long time!" Yui said. I slowly shook my head in agreement as I thought about my friends in the Wakaba Girls. The last time they ever visited me was about a week ago, when Jun told me that Sumire and Nao are thinking about finding a rhythm guitarist to temporarily replace me. I still remember the piercing words she used…
Forever In Our Stars
"You guys want to replace me?" I asked, stunned as I lay on my bed in my hospital room. I looked at my bushy-haired friend, Jun Suzuki, for an answer. She looked at me and nervously grinned.
"We still have to call a vote, Azusa," she told me, "Ui's probably going to reject the idea and I need your vote, since you're still apart of the Light Music Club."
"I just want to know why you guys are thinking about this, Jun," I said, "Whose idea was it?"
Jun heavily sighed and looked into my eyes. Her red eyes were staring deep into my orange eyes as she began, "It was Nao and Sumire that brought up the idea. It's not like we don't want you in the band, but we just need somebody to fill in for you while you… recover."
"You guys seriously need to do this?" I scoffed, "You three probably have no faith that I'll get better…"
Jun looked at me again as she sniffled, "No. We don't have any faith, Azusa… not at this time. I know that we've been friends for a long time, but when you brought me into the Light Music Club, that took over my life. It changed how I live and how I think. The Light Music Club molded me from a loser to one of the coolest kids at school. And I like it."
"You're throwing our friendship out the window?" I felt my eyes tear up, "You're going to replace me and kick me out of my own band just for fame at school? Just so you can stay as one of the popular kids?"
"… Yes. I'm sorry, Azusa…" Jun said, "But I still need your vote."
"I… I… I vote yes on picking someone to replace me…" I said. Jun looked at me with a stunned look on her face.
"Well… that was easier than expected…" she sighed with relief as she wiped away the sweat from her forehead.
"Are we still going to be friends?" I asked her. She looked at me and nodded.
"It's just a band, Azusa," she said, "And with you in it, we're a useless band."
"What?" I asked.
"Get better, Azusa," Jun said as she walked to my door. She turned the handle and walked outside, only to peek back in, "Everyone sends their best."
And with that, the door closed. I waited for a few seconds before tears began streaming down my face and all I could feel in my heart was pain and utter uselessness. It was a new-found pain that I've never suffered from before. It was the pain of a broken heart.
Forever In Our Stars
"Hirasawa-san?" I asked. Yui looked at me with a questionable face, "Since you're in a band and you're going to be here for a while. Do you ever think that your band would just kick you out since you can't play with them?"
"Eh? Why would they do that? They're my friends, Azunyan," Yui replied, "Friends don't do that to each other because… well, that's why they're your friends."
"I see…" I said as I thought about Jun and her words that shattered my heart, "Hey, Hirasawa-san…" I said to her, "Since you know that I have Stage I Hodgkin Lymphoma… what's going on with you? Like, your cancer…"
"Oh, I'm dying…" she bluntly said. My eyes widened and Yui nodded her head, "Just kidding, but I have Stage I Colon Cancer. It's treatable, so my stay here won't be long."
"Yui-senpai! It's not nice to joke about something so serious! Especially in the cancer ward!" I scolded her. She frowned before a smile sparked to her face.
"You just called me… 'Yui-senpai'…" she giggled. I felt my face flush with heat before looking away.
"It was just a reaction! Don't get any ideas!" I yelled at her, my face still warm.
"Hehe… you got it… Azunyan," she giggled. I groaned and continued walking down the hallway, with Yui by my side.
I'm going to miss my normal days at Sakuragaoka Medical Center, but I'm going to miss my normal life even more. My days at Sakuragaoka won't be normal at all anymore with Yui Hirasawa by my side now. Then again, I can always get used to being called Azunyan and having the presence of Yui Hirasawa around me? Nah…
Maybe I could give it a whirl. Time will tell.
Forever In Our Stars
Author's Notes
- If you thought that this story is based off of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, you're correct! Good job! Don't worry, Azusa won't fall in love with some muscular guy named Augustus Waters, but instead… well, this is a YuiAzu fanfic after all.
- Yes, I know that Ui Hirasawa is a part of the Wakaba Girls and since Yui is Ui's sister, Yui would've met Azusa already. Don't worry, I have a plan for that.
- Azusa's mother is a successful lawyer and her father is a traveling jazz musician. Her mother was a musician as well and the two of them formed a dynamic jazz duo.
- Jun depicted as a mean girl?! What?! Eh, we'll see where Jun's rash behavior leads her.
- Stay tuned for chapter 2! It'll be released with chapter 6 of Touched by an Angel! and chapter 4 of Amber Skies. Don't forget to leave a review! Later!