Hold your soul open for my welcoming.

Let the quiet of your spirit bathe me
With its clear and rippled coolness,
That, loose-limbed and weary, I find rest,
Outstretched upon your peace, as on a bed of ivory.
Let the flickering flame of your soul play all about me,
That into my limbs may come the keenness of fire,
The life and joy of tongues of flame,
And, going out from you, tightly strung and in tune,
I may rouse the blear-eyed world,
And pour into it the beauty which you have begotten.

-Amy Lowell

Crow and Jack had disappeared in the crowd again, and Yusei was getting tired of chasing after them. He groaned, pressing himself against the corner of a booth, arms folded over his chest. His stomach grumbled, but he didn't have any change left in his pockets...Martha didn't have a lot to give them an allowance for the festival, and he had already used his up to buy takoyaki for some of the younger ones, who had wanted to use theirs to play the goldfish game. It was fine, he'd eat something when he got home...if only Crow and Jack would get back here already.

He tugged at the sleeves of his yukata, trying to pull them down around his wrists. It had fit when he was eight, but now he was twelve and he had shot up. It was short around his ankles, too, and he felt kind of silly. He should have just come to the festival in his normal clothes—not that the grimy sweatshirt with oil stains and rips in the elbows would have looked much nicer among the ocean of flower printed yukatas that moved up and down the aisles of booths.

It was getting dark, he thought, glancing up into the sky. He could see the stars now, and traced the constellations with his eyes. In his peripherals, the row of booths was starting to light their paper lanterns, the golden glow bathing the dirt pathway. Voices clattered around him, a little too loud, and he crushed back against the corner of the booth again, hoping that the shadows would hide him. He was so hungry...he just wanted to go back home and hide in the garage with the old motorbike that Martha had let him drag back from the junkyard. He resisted the urge to cover his ears with his hands. That kind of thing tended to bring adults over to see what was wrong, and he didn't think he could handle the stress a bunch of adults surrounding him, talking at him, trying to make him get out of his corner to "find his parents." He felt sick just imagining it.

His stomach growled even louder, and he hugged himself around the waist. Maybe he would just leave without Crow and Jack. They should have been back ages ago—they were probably stuck in some ridiculous contest between themselves again, like who could find the most fallen yen coins, or who could sneak behind the most booths before they got caught.

"Hi," said a small voice near him.

Yusei jumped, his heart slamming up through his throat. He dropped his arms to his side and whipped his head around.

There was a small boy next to him, probably a year or two younger, and at least four inches shorter. His messy brown hair was adorned with a randomly shoved hair comb in the back, as though he had put it there as a joke. His maroon yukata was too big for him, the hem dragging in the dirt around his feet, and the sleeves bunched up around his fists where he held a pair of dango skewers in front of him.

He cocked his head at Yusei for a minute. Then he held out his second dango stick.

"Are you hungry?" he said. "I'm only gonna eat one."

Yusei blinked at him. His stomach rolled again and he felt his cheeks flush. He ducked his head.

"I can't take that," he mumbled. "I'm okay."

"Why not?"

The other boy blinked, looking legitimately confused.

"I said I'm only gonna eat one," he said, holding it out closer to Yusei. "You can have it if you want."

Yusei blinked at him under his bangs, not really sure what to make of the kid. The boy stared back. Then he smiled.

"I'm Judai," he said. "What's your name?"

Yusei ducked his head.

"I'm...Yusei."

Judai smiled widely at him, and Yusei thought he could almost see the stars in his eyes.

"Cool! We know each other's names now. That means we're friends!"

Yusei looked up, blinking. Judai was still smiling. He pushed the dango stick towards him again.

"And that means we can share stuff. Come on! Please take it."

Yusei's stomach clenched up a little bit, and he eyed the dango stick. He really did want it...and Judai was being so nice...

He blushed as he accepted the stick, his fingers brushing Judai's as he did so. Judai beamed at him, his smile even wider than before. He bit down happily into the first dango on his stick, closing his eyes to enjoy the taste.

"It's really good, right?" he said.

Yusei nibbled the top of his dango—it was good.

"Thank you," he said.

"That's what friends are for, right?" Judai said.

Yusei laughed quietly. This boy was pretty forceful, wasn't he? Did you really make friends this quickly? He glanced up into the sky again, where the stars shone over their heads. Judai followed his gaze.

"It's really pretty here, right?" he said. "You can see all the stars!"

"Yeah, it really is," Yusei said. "You can see Draco tonight."

Judai craned his head back, almost falling backwards to squint at the sky.

"Huh? Really? Which one?"

"That one," Yusei said, pointing. "See? All those stars in like a snake-line."

Judai squinted. He turned himself around to stand next to Yusei, backing up against the booth with him.

"Oh that one!" he said, twisting his head so he could look right down Yusei's pointed arm. "It doesn't look much like a dragon..."

Yusei laughed.

"They don't really look like anything," he said. "But someone thought they did once."

Judai's eyes sparkled, the stars shining at the backs of his brown eyes.

"What other ones do you know? I don't know any of them."

"Ummm," Yusei said, trying to remember from the book he had read. "That one's Hercules, I think...and that one's the Little Fox. That's the Wolf, and that's Libra..."

Judai hung on every word, leaning over to follow Yusei's hand every time and counting the stars himself. The night was growing cooler around them, and a breeze ruffled the leaves in the trees surrounding the festival grounds. A few clouds blew over the stars, but never enough to hide them away. Yusei paused to catch his breath, leaning back against the booth with Judai beside him. Judai stared quietly into the sky.

"I can't see the stars back home," he said. "There's too many lights in the city..."

Yusei looked back down at Judai, tilting his head.

"You're not from around here?" he said. "Where are you from?"

"Tokyo," Judai said, sighing. "It's much nicer here. I wish my parents would let me stay...but we're only here for the week."

Yusei actually felt a little bit of his heart sink at those words. He had only just met Judai, and he wasn't even going to be here that long? But Judai brightened up, smiling at Yusei.

"But I'm having fun while I'm here! And I already made a new friend, so that's great, right!"

Yusei had to smile, the other boy's cheer was infectious.

"It really is," he said. "You're a very nice person, Judai-kun."

"And you're super cool, you know all the stars!" Judai said. "Thanks for telling me about them, it's really cool to see them all!"

A voice echoed over the festival—it sounded like Judai's name. Judai's shoulders immediately slumped.

"Mom," he mumbled. "I think I have to go, Yusei-kun...I'm sorry."

Yusei's ears perked up at the sound of his own name, too, from a pair of bellowing voices in the other direction shouting in unison. Crow and Jack.

"Me too, I think," he said, pushing off the back of the booth, the finished dango stick dangling from his fingers.

For a moment, they both just stood there and looked at each other. Yusei found his eyes meeting Judai's with perfect ease, as though he had looked at him like this before. Could he see something else in those eyes, something familiar?

"YUSEIIIII!"

"Judai-kun, it's time to go home, where are you?"

They both sighed, almost in unison. Then Judai smiled.

"It was really nice to meet you, Yusei-kun," he said. "I hope I see you again before I go!"

"Me too," Yusei said.

Judai smiled one last time. Then he nodded, and trotted off around the booth, disappearing among the crowd of yukata. Yusei stared at the place where he had been, a maroon afterimage hanging in the air.

Then he let his head drop back, so that he could look up into the sky.

Draco stared down at him, sparkling as brightly as ever.

"I hope we meet again too," Yusei whispered up into the space between the stars.

Sometimes that's all we get. One meeting, one hello, and one goodbye. It doesn't seem like enough.

But sometimes, it's worse.

Sometimes, we lose each other.

A single meeting might be just enough, as long as you're safe afterward. Watching you disappear is something I never want to do again.