Showbizz
"Riiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiing!" a much dreaded sound rung throughout Subaru's bedroom. A normal morning at the Hoshikawas, for Subaru at least.
Subaru grimaced in his forced half-conscious state, it felt as though he had just tugged himself into bed just to be woken like this. Another dreamless night.
The lights turned themselves on in all their blazing glory adding more discomfort to this rude awakening amidst the klaxons of the continued ringing. This sophisticated state of the art alarm clock bore the name of War-rock, having taken the title of Wake-Up Master out of the goodness of his heart, to ensure proper education for his unthankful friend. Even the ringing was just War-rock yelling "ring", though it still had the same effect.
"Shut up, War-rock, it's too early, lemme sleep," Subaru groaned, slapping a hand out in the air, unknowingly phasing through the EM mutts nose, silencing the wails for all but a second. "I dun wanna go to school today... wanna stay home".
If one understood the reasons behind his reluctance to face life, as War-rock did, one might feel some sort of sympathy for the kid.
Unfortunately, sympathy wasn't really War-rock's strong side. As he, himself, had deduced, that since he was already learning about friendship, humans and fun, then why not cut himself some slack on other subjects, such as manners and so on. The list of such subjects had, of course, grown rather lengthy over time. In conclusion, War-rock didn't relent in the slightest.
In the following battle of wills lasting several minutes, involving both blinking lights and the threat of Misora Hibiki's music loud enough for his mother to hear, which was a most ingenious threat, Subaru would admit, he finally crumbled at the sound of his mother's worried calls downstairs.
Not long after he found himself walking towards the usual meeting spot before school. Today only Kizamaro stood waiting.
"Morning Subaru, I can't help noticing you're missing your shades" he mentioned casually.
'Of course, you notice it now, the day after Misora told it on national television,' Subaru thought dryly.
"Good morning to you, Kizamaro, yeah, I lost them at the Misora Hibiki concert," he said blandly.
"So, you heard her interview yesterday?" Kizamaro sounded very guarded, almost the way he would speak to Prez on a bad day.
"I dug around a bit and I found out that those visualizers actually belonged to your father, must mean a lot to you..." he trailed off.
At Subaru's silence he continued, suddenly quite hesitant. Kizamaro seemed to find the sidewalk very interesting to look at.
"I didn't intend to look into your personal information like that, I just fell upon it! I'm sorry, Subaru! And more than that, I would also like to apologize for... you know, when we first met... about your father. It was rather insensitive of me."
Kizamaro then made eye contact, looking a lot like a criminal waiting for his verdict.
Subaru heaved a sigh before he smiled. "Apology accepted, it's okay, Kizamaro. And about the visualizer, you were only trying to help."
Kizamaro lit up with barely repressed enthusiasm.
"And now you can get them back! Misora's got your visualizer!" Kizamaro smiled in turn, glasses lighting up with their usual sparkle.
"Yeah, I know, I saw the interview. Thanks, though," Subaru answered, grateful that had been dealt with and feeling much less moody.
"What are you two smiling about. Hopefully not a joke about me again, Kizamaro." The voice was accusatory with just a hint of danger. It could only be one person.
"Morning Prez" they chorused, the normality of everyday life kicking in by Luna's arrival.
She stopped right next to them, before giving them her trademark smirk of confidence.
"So it's called a visualizer? Don't worry, Subaru, as class president it is my duty to help you get it back."
"You don't need to, Prez. I can take care of it myself" Subaru weakly resisted. Though inwardly, he had hoped, almost expected, that it would be like this. After all, they were all die-hard Misora fans. If they came along, then he had both moral support and the nigh-unstoppable force known as Luna on his side.
"Nonsense, Subaru. After all we are your friends and friends help each other," she waved him off. "Now where is Gonta, we need to leave soon."
Gonta was yet again, late. And worse, they couldn't even call him through their transers, as if something was blocking their calls. Or he had turned off his transer, which was weird. In the end, they had to leave for school to avoid being late themselves with Luna silently fuming all the way.
"Maybe he's sick?" Kizamaro said, most of all trying to calm Luna.
"No excuses, he could have called us to mention that! He overslept again!" she said in a no nonsense tone. She had made up her mind and the only thing that could change it was Gonta having a feasible excuse once he did manage to show up, a feat that Subaru would consider an astronomical event. Till then Luna's ire at the situation would simply grow.
And Gonta didn't show up for half the day. By the time he finally showed up, school was almost over. Breathing heavily and red faced, it was easy to see that he had been running the whole way to school. After excusing himself to the teacher he had hurriedly sat down at his desk.
At the end of the day, as the rest of the students filed out of the classroom Luna made a bee line towards Gonta's seat. Subaru and Kizamaro had remained in the corner, silently watching the exchange. Gonta shrank back in his seat as Luna stood at his table, arms crossed, looking quite annoyed.
"Why were you late, Gonta? I hope for your sake that you have an excuse!" she huffed.
"I didn't mean to! I overslept, I'm sorry, Prez!"
"That's just a bad excuse! You have barely been awake for school lately! We've all seen it clearly and warned you, yet you've continued whatever you do that makes you so tired! You're irresponsible and unreliable!"
Subaru had heard enough, he would let them quarrel for themselves. He nudged Kizamaro, who seemed to get his intent. Together they slinked towards the exit, while Luna scolded Gonta
They had almost reached the door when Luna whirled on the spot and made to leave, throwing a comment over her shoulder "now WE will leave to go see Misora Hibiki's event and get back Subaru's visualizers. Meanwhile you can rethink your decision to stay up late. See you around, Gonta." With that, she was out the door, leaving a slack jawed Gonta behind. Giving some apologetic glances to Gonta, they slowly followed Luna.
Subaru regarded Luna's back with a thoughtful frown. He couldn't understand what had just happened. Luna usually weren't like this, even when mad. And not for such annoying yet mundane stuff as oversleeping. This was just cruel.
Luna had seemed so strange lately. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Hurry up, you two! You'll want to get there before everyone else in town." Said person under scrutiny was apparently getting impatient, though she had a point, he reflected. Where Misora went, people followed. In droves.
A group he had just joined if recent events were anything to judge by. A rather uncomfortable silence had descended among them as they made their way towards the bus station. Luna and Kizamaro were rather adamant about using ground based transportation instead of anything above ground since their near fatal ride in the skytrain, though they stubbornly claimed they had fully recovered their wits from that episode.
The bus ride felt longer than it took.
Meanwhile at their destination, Misora was having the time of her life. People were showing up in hordes just to see her and for a few, getting their lost belongings back. She didn't really have much to do, after all she only had the mysterious shades through which she could see EM waves. Everything else was left to on-site staff who would set up booths with items that had been lost. So while waiting for whomever Harp suspected to be Rockman, Misora decided she might as well have some fun sitting on a chair surrounded by her fans, guitar in hand.
After all, she loved the attention. And it wasn't that often she actually met her fans close up like this. The difference was shocking and gratifying. On stage they all felt like a simple roiling mass of faceless people, while here among them, they had a surprising depth to them.
"Misora, would you please accept my gift to you?" a girl close to her own age said. As Misora looked she reddened and held forth her gift while bowing slightly. The gift was a colorful homemade bag.
"For me? Thank you so much, I love it! I promise to treasure this." She accepted the bag from the girl, who figuratively beamed.
Next, a young boy with a guitar stepped forward, just as nervous. "I.. I wrote a song for you, would like to um hear it? maaybe...". He suddenly whirled on the spot and was just about to leave. Quickly reaching out, she pulled on his guitar strap, effectively stopping the nervous boy in his tracks.
"I would love to hear it," she said with a wide smile, earning a shy small smile from the boy.
This was why she was a musician, to move people and inspire people. The road was at times hard and lonely but she wouldn't give up this feeling for anything. Music was such an integrated part of her life, that her private life and her music identity seemed inseparable. And this was the best part. Right now it seemed as if her private life was when she was out in town as Harp Note, a life she was about to expand upon if she found Rockman's true identity.
In Misora's mind, today was turning out to be a great day.
As Luna and her retainers exited the bus, the rather heavy mood evaporated at the prospect of meeting Misora, except of course for Subaru, who got ever more glum and disheartened. People were crowding everywhere and they weren't even at the building yet! They made the short distance to the building housing the event, only to find a queue of people waiting to get it.
However they had hardly started moving before War-rock made himself discreetly known, through his transer. Opening it, Subaru found War-rock's usual spot vacant except for a brief text message he had left behind.
'I sense Ox in the area. It's faint, but I will find out what he's doing. I'll be fine, if not then I'll get you first thing. Good luck with that Misora thing. Later, Subaru.'
Subaru shook his head. So much for moral support, now all he had were two Misora-fanatics, sans any frothing. For now at least. He got that same tingly feeling he got last time he entered a Misora event. The feeling that something would go awry. He tried his best to ignore it, as bad premonitions were self-fulfilling if you let them be. It was too late to back out now; they were almost at the entrance.
Not known to Subaru, someone had been watching him extremely intently since War-rock took off a few seconds ago. Inside Luna's transer, Ophiuchus almost purred in delight.
She had found him! War-rock's host had been here all along! Such luck! Though there was still a slight problem. Her attempt to off-balance Ox's potential host had worked better than expected, but that meant they had left him at the school, while Ox had been waiting for him to show up here. She sensed him nearby, likely stalking for the telltale brainwaves of his host.
Ox obviously hadn't wavechanged yet, so she would have to stop War-rock before he would fight and defeat Ox. She didn't know who would win in a straight out fight, but War-rock had access to a host, which they didn't. She still couldn't wavechange with her host, while the blonde was conscious and walking about. Luckily, War-rock had decided to go by himself. Ox would be too slow to hold War-rock, but she could handle him until Ox could wavechange. And now she had the perfect target for him.
She left Luna's transer and flew in a direct line towards where she sensed Ox and War-rock. She guessed that the two meatheads had probably already entered battle with one another. She was not disappointed.
"You dumb cow, I am faster!"
"Foolish mutt, I am stronger!"
For all their differences, all the males she'd met were frighteningly alike. They stopped their brawl as soon as they sensed her approach. She wasted no time before adressing Ox.
"Ox, go to their school. You will find your host there, ready for you. And when you do find him, come back here and kill the new boy, it is of vital importance!"
"Subaru!" War-rock looked rightly afraid.
Ox immediately zoomed out of sight.
"I won't let you run off that easily!" War-rock immediately sped off to intercept him, only to be blocked by Ophiuchus.
"You're my opponent now! Don't even think of trying to run! It won't work!" she laughed darkly.
War-rock considered her for a moment. "So I must go through you then, little snake?"
Ophiuchus laughed again. "Poor War-rock, don't you see the dangerous position you're in? While you're fighting me, Ox will return as Ox Fire and kill your host and there's nothing you can do about it."
War-rock shrugged "I don't think so. You have made quite the gamble yourself, Ophiuchus. All I need to do is to defeat you and get to Subaru and then wait here for Ox Fire. He cannot defeat us by himself and you obviously cannot wavechange or you wouldn't have bothered with Ox. If you cannot hold me, then you will lose."
"That is true, War-rock, however there is one little flaw in that plan of yours. A tiny detail you seem to have forgotten about. A detail I will gladly remind you of." Her smile turned deadly. "I am better than you".
With a roar, War-rock charged at her and battle was joined.
Meanwhile Subaru, Luna, and Kizamaro had entered the building. People were moving to and fro from between some booths who stood lined up at the walls, though a large blob of people easily gave away the location of the pop idol. They slowly inched closer. Subaru gulped. So many people! Should he just barge in there and ask for his glasses?
He caught a glimpse of Misora through the mass of people, looking at a display on her guitar. Then she looked up for a moment before directing her gaze directly at him, the green tinted visualizers sitting on her forehead, much like Subaru did himself when he wasn't using them. He immediately looked away, before slowly glancing back. She was still staring at him, though now with a small smile on her lips, probably at him making an ass of himself, he thought. He had stopped moving by now, much to the confusion of his friends.
Luna was never one to stop so close to the goal, a virtue she never failed to impress upon her minions. A bit of nervousness now wouldn't keep her from meeting her idol.
"What are you stopping for Subaru? We're almost there." and with that she slapped him on the back, urging him forward. This seemed to attract the pop idols attention and she began looking at Luna, who was as of yet oblivious of that.
They moved forwards once again only to meet Misora as she emerged from the throng of people, as if welcoming them.
"Hi," she said simply, almost as if she greeted old friends.
Kizamaro froze, Luna was struck speechless and stood there merely opening and closing her mouth. Subaru gulped, as he bore the brunt of Misora's curious stare.
She knew it was him, somehow. Since she first laid her eyes on him, he could feel that she knew something, but he couldn't understand how she knew or how much.
"I suppose these glasses are yours," she said as she put them on and smiled cheekily.
"Err, yeah," Subaru said, her gaze never leaving him for more than a few moments. It was kind of unsettling.
"Alrighty, then please come with me to the back," She lightly grasped his hand and softly dragged him through a back door, much to the disappointment of his friends and the obvious despair of Subaru.
"I'm just going to loan your friend here real fast." Misora gave Luna and Kizamaro a quick wink.
Kizamaro watched the back of the retreating pair and sighed.
"Prez, why is it that the only one in this whole town who is downright scared of being alone with Misora Hibiki is the one who is fated to meet her? Where is the fairness of it all?"
Luna bore a blank expression with just a hint of disappointment. "I wish, I knew, Kizamaro. I wish, I knew."
Back at the school they had left not long ago, Ox had finally found his object of interest, a boy named Gonta still sitting in an empty classroom. And as Ophiuchus had promised, he was ripe for the taking. All it would take would be a little nudging and pushing a few buttons were an easy feat once you've been in the head of someone. Even if the conceptual buttons didn't mean something now, it would be surprisingly easy to make them seem that way.
He hovered in front of his host, "Why are you sitting here alone, little boy?"
Gonta looked up and around trying to find who had spoken. Ox simply continued.
"It is because they left you behind, isn't it? SHE left you behind, right? The one you seek to impress! Yet she seeks to replace you. Replace you with that boy in red."
"No! Luna would never do that and Subaru is my friend!" Gonta said defiantly. Yet, the quick desperation spoke volumes about his distressed mind.
"Is that how they really are? Truly? Search your feelings, you know I speak the truth, you'll end up alone again and Subaru will take your place! You must have seen the signs! If he really was your friend then why isn't he here with you then?"
With no counter responsive Ox merely pressed on.
"But I can help you! I can make it all better. And destroy that which causes you pain!"
"I don't wanna be alone," the boy mumbled, mostly to himself. It would be enough for Ox, so he wasted no time.
"You'll be mine again, human!" and with a short frightened scream the boy named Gonta once again became Ox Fire.
Flexing the arms of his improved form, he felt the old power returning. And with the power flowed the hate. The hate that a small boy had bested him with War-rock's help. This time however he would smash War-rock's host and then destroy War-rock. There was no room for anything but that feeling. With that in mind, he left the now completely empty classroom.
Misora let go of the boy's hand, as they reached her temporary room. It was a small room with a bed, a few guitars, a desk and some other indistinct props. Misora had hardly used it aside from sleeping or storing her few personal effects, but for this it would work nicely.
Harp had alerted her to this boy the moment she saw him and she had been certain that it was him. Misora hoped so. It would be embarrassing otherwise. But first things first, she didn't even know his name! She plumbed down on her bed. "Sit sit, now you probably already know me, but hi, my name is Misora Hibiki, nice to meet you."
The boy sat down in the chair opposite her. He was obviously somewhat nervous. Perhaps he had hoped to simply walk in and get the glasses and get out? Not if she had anything to say about that.
"Erm, I'm Subaru Hoshikawa, nice to meet you."
"With that out of the way, I have a question I have been dying to ask you!" The boy immediately got tense. He was obviously hiding something and not really comfortable about revealing it. Could it be because he was Rockman?
"How did those glasses end up at the girls' lavatory? It's a strange place for a boy to be, I must admit." she grinned at him. Subaru seemed to relax at what should be an embarrassing story. Which meant that he was hiding something more incriminating. She couldn't wait to find out.
"I was looking for Luna, a friend, who had gone to the lavatory. But instead of her I ran into that meta-virus, who knocked me out. After I came to, I got out, but I didn't realize that I'd forgotten my visualizers. They are kind of important to me."
That gave her more questions than answers.
"Okay, so who's Luna? Was she that girl with you? And were directly attacked? Are you alright? I am sorry that my concert caused you such problems."
The boy shrugged, he seemed much more comfortable now. "It's okay. Luna is a friend from school."
'Or perhaps more,' Misora wondered. The girl did seem kind of familiar. Had she been sneaking around when she'd been with Rockman?
"And it was actually for her sake we, erm me, two other friends and her, came to the concert. She had been kinda cranky and this was the best method of calming her down."
Misora nodded sagely. "Music does wonders for the temperament." For everything else, there's yelling and the art of throwing coconuts.
"But why was she mad in the first place?" she wondered aloud. At this he squirmed a bit.
"Something about Harp Note stealing away her Rockman. She's kind of into him."
At first, she was surprised. Then She couldn't help giggling at that. Her time with Rockman had inadvertently created their chance meeting.
"I'm sorry, it's just too funny. You have some interesting friends, Subaru," Misora half-apologized, giving her best smile. "I must say, I'm jealous of Harp Note too, running around with a hero all the time."
As she expected, the boy averted his gaze and even got red faced. That was another strike in favor of the Rockman theory. However seeing him grow so uncomfortable, she decided to steer the conversation towards a more friendly topic.
"Erm, so what about these glasses... you said they were important to you, do you mind if I ask why?"
"It's okay, they're actually called visualizers and they allow you to see EM waves, such as the waveroad and even viruses. You might have noticed that already, but that's not why they're special. They were made by my dad."
"Wow! So what does your father do? Is he an inventor? He must be super cool to able to make such things!" In her excitement Misora didn't see Subaru's rather distant look before she had spoken.
Then Subaru merely shook his head.
"He's an astronaut and an astrophysicist. A humble scientist, he would always say. He was onboard the Peace, when it... exploded..." He glanced at the visualizers. "Those visualizers were all they found."
Now it was Misora's turn to uncomfortably look away. "Ohh I'm sorry, I had no idea. I..."
Subaru cut her off. "Don't be, as you said, you couldn't have known. It's fine, really."
It obviously wasn't fine. Such things never were, but she wasn't about to comment on that.
An uncomfortable silence descended upon them as Misora fiddled around for a new topic.
"You live with your mother then?" She finally asked. He gave a small nod.
"Before I was an idol, I used to sing for my mother."
She laughed, as if she remembered something funny.
"But you probably already know that, right? I don't want to sound arrogant, but most people know everything about Misora Hibiki, the idol." She let herself drop fully on her back on her bed, staring towards the ceiling.
At this the boy looked thoughtful for a moment before answering carefully. "Not to disappoint you, but I really don't. I am even hardly what you could call a fan. That was actually my first concert."
Misora's ears perked up at this. It wasn't often she caught a first-timer.
"So do you like it?" she shot up to a straight position, an excited expression on her face. A small part of her mind noted that his nervousness came back in full force when she put her full focus on him.
"Well, I haven't heard a lot so far. But what I've heard is quite interesting. You're obviously a really great singer and it sounds good, but I don't know about the songs. Most sound really bland. I don't know," he trailed off. It was no doubt awkward to critique her songs in front of her.
Misora did not let the frown show on her face. She wouldn't let Subaru think he'd said anything wrong. She knew what felt off. It was likely some of her newer songs he'd heard. Her new songs were like all the other mainstream songs, but they simply weren't like her first songs. The ones she'd written herself. After her mother died, she'd stopped writing songs. She couldn't see the point and that in itself felt terrible.
When Kaneda had found out, he'd just offered her pre-written songs. She'd accepted, too numbed by loss to care and not able to conceive of anything to write.
Since then, she'd sung whatever had been written for her. That wasn't bad in itself, but Kaneda was in control of it all through his connections and deals, so he ended up deciding everything for her. It was all supposedly for her own good and for her career. But in reality he just became greedy and soon all she did was singing whatever might draw in a few more costumers. She had great autonomy on most things, but in the end if she wanted to sing then it was on his terms and for him, rather than the audience. That part felt terrible and sometimes it felt as if she had betrayed her fans.
It was really her most terrible secret for Kaneda had wanted to be sneaky about it. It was a weakness she thought. A secret she feared would become known to her fans, causing them to turn against her. Somehow she couldn't find the inspiration to write her own songs anymore. And even when she had tried, it had not gotten anywhere. Things had gotten better since she met Harp and later, Rockman. But she still struggled. She knew that one didn't have to write their own songs, but she also knew she deeply wanted to, yet she couldn't. That he had so easily seen through the songs for what they were. Perhaps she was also quite transparent.
Or perhaps he wasn't much for mainstream pop. Who knew?
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! You're really great! It's just a tiny detail! Most wouldn't notice and it's only some of the songs!" Subaru had grown rather desperate in the few seconds when she suddenly went from excited to visibly thoughful and kind of melancholic.
Misora waved him off, giving a bright smile. "No, it's not you, dummy. Just a bad memory."
"You sure?" Subaru asked.
"Of course, I am sure, gadget-boy," she answered brazenly. "It just means I have more to learn. And really, no music will ever fit everyone's taste."
She handed him the visualizers which he gratefully slipped on. "Now here are your visualizers. I'm glad I managed to find you. And I'm sorry about your father. You must have loved him."
Subaru had gotten rather silent. She wondered if he always did that whenever his father was mentioned.
"It's actually one thing we have in common." She smiled wistfully.
Subaru perked up, confused. "Why is that?"
Misora licked her dry lips. She was suddenly slightly nervous about moving the talk in this direction.
"Well, we've both lost a parent," she said and immediately regretted it. In a split second, something changed within the boy before her.
"No, he's not dead." Subaru said forcefully.
Misora blinked in surprise. She had been sure he'd said he'd died aboard the Peace, which was tragic enough in itself.
"What do you mean, Subaru?" she asked carefully. "Wasn't he on the station?"
"He's not dead. He's just lost up there and waiting for everyone to find him, but everyone just wants to move on and forget about him! They don't even care anymore!"
That worried Misora. If Subaru thought that his father had somehow survived that then he must be in denial. She felt a pang in her heart over this.
For Misora, this was heartbreaking to watch.
"Subaru, please listen to me. I understand how you feel. And I'm sure everyone just want you to be happy." Misora felt kind of desperate right now.
"It doesn't matter what people think." He would have none of it. "I can't let this go. Not while there's still hope of him being out there."
Misora got off her bed and crossed the short distance between them. Carefully, she put her hands on his shoulders.
"I know you shouldn't give up, but there's nothing you can do for him. The Peace disappeared. It wasn't your fault, so let yourself go." She felt him tense up even more at every word. Was she just making it worse?
How could she make him listen and understand?
He looked her directly in the eyes and now she could almost not meet his stare. She forced herself to keep their eyes locked. His eyes were full of fierce determination and resistance, but to Misora, it felt more like that of a cornered animal.
"No, you don't understand. If it were me, then my father would never give up. He'd search the entire universe for me. So how can I not do the same for him?"
"Subaru, I'm sorry. I know it hurts, but you can't keep bottling it up like this," she said worriedly. "When I lost my mother, I..."
Subaru gave her a look that told her just where she could put her sympathy, which looked so out of place on the sweet boy from a moment ago. She stopped midsentence.
"No, you just want me to give up like everyone else! I can't! Not on him! I'll find him and nothing will stop me!" He stood up with a pained expression. They were just about the same height, although he was just a bit taller. They were mere centimeters apart, but the atmosphere was turbulent and volatile.
Now he couldn't meet her eyes. Taking a step back out of reach, Misora's arms fell to her side.
"Subaru.." Misora didn't know what to say. But he had already gone out the door, momentarily leaving behind a stunned Misora.
Misora took off after him after only a moment, while mentally kicking herself.
'What a great job you did there, Misora. Scared off your first potential friend and left him a wreck by trying to comfort him,' she thought bitingly.
As she rocketed out the door to the main hall she ran into Luna and Kizamaro, who still stood where they had been left behind. Seeing Subaru already out the exit she gave up that endeavor. It would not be the last he saw of Misora Hibiki, but right now, she needed some information. She turned to his two friends.
"Oh, he ran away from you too? First meetings are so alike," the girl, Luna, commented casually, while watching Subaru's retreating form.
"Brings back memories," the short one nodded.
On the waveroad above everything, overlooking the entrance to the Misora event, stood Ox Fire. He was looking for a certain brunette among the throng of people, but he'd had little luck so far. He considered burning the entire area down to draw out his target, however that would only make his target run and hide like the pathetic human he was. His burning rage felt unstoppable, yet discipline and logic kept it in check, for now.
Sudden movement caught his attention, a tiny speck of brown and red running out of the building. He'd found his prey.
A/N: Something about Subaru denying his father's death seemed mentally unhealthy to me. He really did want to go out looking for his father. The naivete of that belief is never brought up in the anime, so I thought to explore it a bit and take it perhaps a bit too far. Given that everyone is against him on this, he had to snap at some point. It will be a bit angsty but bear with me. It ended on a cliffhanger, I'm a bit sorry about that.
Also, I haven't ever tried writing music and I don't think any less of musicians who don't write their own songs. I just find the thought of a character wishing to write her own music, whom is unable to, interesting, as it is somewhat how Misora is in the anime, in search for a cure to her writer's block.
Feel free to review about anything you can think of. I hope I can provide with some good reading.
