notes ...hides under blanket
(not) falling apart;
Rhyme doesn't remember much about the UG when it's all over. So she doesn't remember exactly why it is that Beat holds her hand tighter as they cross the streets, why it is that Beat goes out of his way to take her with him when he goes out these days. Her memory restores in installments, piecing more of itself back together, and even though it was something she had been wanting to remember, she realizes too late that she doesn't.
Her days become monotonous and meaningless. She talks to people and looks directly into their eyes, watching the sparkle there glow with radiance and wondering if, before the UG, she had been like that, once, too.
"He lied for you," Neku reminds her one day, when they run into each other at Hachiko. "That time when he told you he had a dream to become the best skater in the world? He lied to you that time."
"I know," Rhyme mumbles, tugging at a piece of loose string hanging from her sweater. "I just... there's nothing, now."
Neku frowns. "He wouldn't want to hear you say that."
Rhyme looks at him curiously. "You've changed," she notes suddenly, and smiles a little as Neku looks away, embarrassed. "Was it Shiki?"
"It was all of you," he says. "All of you gave me reason to change." He lowers his voice. "Even him."
Rhyme reaches over to pat his arm. Neku looks at her fondly and lifts his hand, hesitating only for a fraction of a second before proceeding to ruffle her hair through her beanie.
"All I know is," Neku says, looking at her meaningfully, "that he cares a lot. He always has. If you have no dreams to live for, just for a little while, why don't you live for him?"
Just as he finishes that sentence, Beat whirls around the corner on his skateboard, waving enthusiastically at them with his free arm; he's got a plastic bag in the other, and a few chicken nuggets sticking out of his mouth. His voice comes out muffled, and he struggles to swallow, forcing the food down his throat. Shiki is running right behind them, exhausted and yelling after Beat.
Rhyme giggles at the sight. Neku rolls his eyes. She turns to him once more.
"They'll... they'll come back, right?"
Rhyme's voice is small and quiet, but steady and sure. Neku's chest swells with pride.
"They will," he assures her. "In due time."
Rhyme beams at him, before running to meet her brother, legs churning quickly as she brushes past crowds. It's exhilarating; for a moment, she is reminded of the UG, with streets crowded with people and the rush ringing in her ears. Beat catches her, muffled voice yelping with surprise as her tiny body slams into his own.
She buries her head in his stomach and laughs as he flails. Finally, his hands settle on her shoulders awkwardly, grabbing her beanie and grinning back at her.
Shiki is still yelling at Beat in the background. Beat's face is red with embarrassment. And Neku looks at them—all of them, everything that makes them them—and smiles, because finally, everything is right.
2012.07.03
~drabble no. 3
