Lucky Number Seven
Chapter 09
Distant Worlds
"In you and I… there's a new land…" Vanitas quietly sang as he played on his new piano. His fingers pressed the ivory and ebony keys softly in hopes of not waking up his house mates. It was currently two in the morning, and for some reason, the black-haired boy just felt the need to play a song. All bad memories that were linked to his piano playing slowly disappeared and were replaced by good ones. Playing his favorite song always helped him feel better; he was surprised he still remembered the notes. "Angels in flight… My sanctuary…"
"That's a beautiful song."
Vanitas stopped playing the moment he heard that voice. He turned around with little embarrassment.
"Oh, it's just you, Kaito," he said in a monotone, then resumed to playing the piano. "Did I wake you up?"
"No, don't worry," she waved her hands. "I just came down to get a glass of water, but then I heard you singing, and I decided to stay for a while. That's a great song you're playing."
"Thanks."
Both stayed quiet as Vanitas continued to play the song. Kairi was amazed by his little performance; he looked so calm and serene and played with so much passion. When he hit the final notes on the piece, he received a series of claps from his one spectator.
"That was amazing!" she exclaimed with pure happiness in her voice. "What's the name of the song?"
"Sanctuary in English, Passion in Japanese," he replied.
The redhead slapped her forehead, "Wait, no obviously. It's the theme of Kingdom Hearts II." She laughed.
During her laughter, Vanitas eyed her suspiciously.
"Kaito."
Kairi stopped laughing and looked at him with a big smile on her face, "Yeah?"
"You're a girl… aren't you?"
Silence.
"What?" she asked, feigning innocence. She started sweating nervously. "I'm really offended right now. Just how many of you think that I'm female?"
His face remained serious. His golden eyes just stared right through her soul, and this frightened her immensely. She tried to keep a calm composure, but that stare he gave her just sent shivers down her spine.
"I heard you a few nights ago talking to Namine."
"Yeah, so? I just wanted to tell my cousin about everything that's happening and-"
"Cousin?" he snickered. "That's not what I heard. 'Your little sister here' and 'Good night, Namine' was what you told her over the phone, no?"
She slapped her forehead.
"So, let me repeat myself: You're a girl, aren't you?"
"All right, fine! Yes, I am!" she yelled. She quickly shut her mouth the moment she realized how loud she was.
Yeah, good job, Kairi, she thought. First Axel, now Vanitas.
She suddenly realized something.
"Vanitas… mind telling me why you were eaves-dropping on my conversation?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Honestly. What the hell."
"Hey, calm down," he said, raising his hands up defensively. "I just wanted to ask you if there were any way I could contact Namine and I just happened to reach the door the moment you said 'your little sister here'. Then I listened until the end, and… well shit, you are Kairi."
"I didn't expect you to be surprised at all. I thought you'd be really unaffected by all this. How out of character."
"Truthfully, the thing that surprised me wasn't finding out you were a girl, but finding out you were Namine's sister."
She raised an eyebrow, "What's so surprising about tha-"
"Sora Hikari and you living under the same roof after he revealed his past."
"Ah."
"Make sure he doesn't find out about this. He's gonna flip his shit."
"Yeah, I know," she bit her lip.
"Oh-kay, well, I'm gonna go to bed," he stood up from the piano bench and stretched. He walked up the stairs at an awfully slow pace and mumbled to his therapist, "Good night."
"Yeah… good night," Kairi said. She cursed herself for not being able to keep a secret.
Already two people knew. Hopefully, it would stay that way.
Kairi woke up late the next day, and to the sound of music playing downstairs. It was a soft piano piece that was being played with a lot of passion and improvisations every now and then. After she got out of bed, did her business in the washroom and dressed up, she skipped down the stairs to the first floor. There, playing on the piano, was Vanitas (no surprise there, she thought). Everyone else was sitting on the couches with their breakfast on their laps, listening to the black-haired boy play.
"Oi, Kaito, have you heard this dimwit play?" Hayner cried, meaning no offense when he referred to Vanitas as a dimwit. "He's amazing!"
"He pwayed thwee shongs sho faw, and none of them wewe a dishappointment!" Sora exclaimed, his mouth full of food. Everyone either laughed at him or grimaced at his impoliteness. Kairi laughed at this, but hid it by coughing and instead decided to comment on how childish he was.
"That's disgusting, Sora. Don't speak with your mouth full. You sound like Donald Duck," she said, punding him over the head.
Sora swallowed his food, then grinned, "Sorry."
When Vanitas played the last notes of his song, he received claps from his house mates and even a standing ovation from Axel, who forgot that his plate was on his lap, and cried as his breakfast fell on the floor.
"That was awesome! Who knew you could play this well?" Axel complimented, tears running down his face as he picked up his fallen food to throw away.
"Thanks," was all Vanitas said as he rolled up his sleeves more to play another song.
"Wait, before we forget," Roxas and Ventus said, digging their hands in their back pockets. At the same time, they both pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with printed writing on them. "There's a music competition down at the Destiny Islands Concert Hall tomorrow!"
Kairi snatched the paper out of Ventus' hand and read the information written on it.
Distant Worlds
music from around the worlds
Distant Worlds is a famous music competition for all ages. Anyone is welcomed to participate or cheer for the musicians.
Date: Saturday, July 19th
Place: Destiny Islands' Concert Hall
Time: 5PM-10PM
All participants must bring their own instrument(s).
Drums and piano players are exceptions.
"Vanitas, you should play here!" the tomboy exclaimed, shoving the paper in the charcoal-haired boy's face.
He took it out of her hands and allowed his eyes to scan it. He made a quick decision, "No." He then proceeded in crumpling up the paper and throwing it over his shoulder.
Kairi picked it up and un-crumpled it with an annoyed look on her face, "You didn't need to do all that. Just that 'no' would've sufficed," she scowled. "And why not?"
"I get nervous, believe it or not, when I play in front of a large number of people. I also haven't played in so long, so I'm nothing compared to the others who have probably practiced for months for this competition."
"Well, if that's how you really feel, we'll help you out," Kairi said. "I really want you to do this. It could be a new start for you. What do you say?"
He looked up at her smiling face, "I don't know…"
"We'll be cheering for you in the crowd!" Sora exclaimed, and everyone else joined it by giving him their own words of encouragement.
"All right, fine," the black-haired boy said. "But you guys promised to help me out, don't forget." He rolled up his sleeves even more and hovered his hands over the piano's keys. "Uh… what song should I play for the competition?"
"You're playing Sanctuary, too bad," Kairi said, crossing her arms.
"You guys already heard me play it," Vanitas said.
"They did?"
She turned to the boys, who all nodded. "You were still asleep," the twins replied.
"Axel was singing it, horribly may I add, at the dining table and Vanitas said that he was able to play it on the piano," Roxas began.
Ventus finished, "So we all carried him over to the piano and forced him to play. He played about three more songs when he finished Sanctuary, then you came downstairs and here we are now."
"I see," the female redhead made a thinking pose. "Look, Vanitas, your piano version of the song is great and all, but if you wanna win first place, you have to learn a harder, better one."
"But I don't really care about win-"
"YEAH BUT I DO," she screeched. She then took her phone out of her pocket and touched the YouTube application. She typed in, kingdom hearts passion kyle landry and touched the first video that appeared.
It began to play, and the blood slowly drained from Vanitas' face.
"You're gonna play Kyle Landry's version."
"I don't think you even understand how extremely difficult that is," he managed to say. "Please take note that I haven't played the piano in over five years-"
Kairi balled her fists and rested them on her hips. "I really don't care. You have to win. Be it first, second or third place, I don't care."
"You just want the prize."
"Yeah, pretty much."
Vanitas rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I'm actually agreeing to do this."
"Oh, Sora," Riku suddenly said, turning to the brunet. "You're not singing this year?"
Kairi perked up, "What do you mean this year?"
Sora scratched the back of his head, "I participate every year," he smiled. "I sing and play the guitar." Hearing that made the redhead's stomach drop.
"Good, you can do that in my place," Vanitas said as he began to walk away. "You have a better chance of win-"
The red-haired girl suddenly grabbed hold of his collar, "Oh no you don't, you're not getting out of this," she smiled somewhat evilly and pulled him inches away from her face. "Now we have twice the chance of winning."
"I think your obsession with winning rubbed off on her," Sora whispered in Hayner's ear while Kairi cackled loudly in the background.
"Sora," the group's therapist said all of a sudden, startling the poor boy.
He jumped, "Yes?"
"What song will you be singing?"
He smiled sheepishly, "I actually wasn't planning on participating this year, sorry."
"And why the hell not?"
The brunet shrugged, "The idea of performing in front of you guys makes me a bit nervous."
Kairi called bullshit in her head. Back in high school, Sora loved performing in drama plays and talent shows. He always auditioned for the main character in school plays, and would get the role most of the time. He always gave it his best to give the whole school the best performance. His singing voice was a gift, and he took up guitar lessons after some encouragement from Kairi herself and a handful of friends. After months of lessons, he was able to play very well and from then on, he joined every talent show down from middle school to high school. He loved being in the spotlight.
But she couldn't say anything because Kairi knew that, and not Kaito.
"Oh, fine," she said. "Vanitas, you better win a prize then."
The raven-haired boy turned to Sora with a hopeful gleam in his eyes, "Please."
The chocolate-haired boy gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry."
"I found the Synthesia tutorial, just make sure you memorize it by tomorrow," Kairi said, putting her phone on the piano's music rack. She touched the triangular Play button.
Vanitas blanched, "How do you expect me to play this by tomorrow."
"You can do it, just believe in yourself."
"Yeah, I'm not doing this shit," he stood but was suddenly pushed back into his seat by his therapist.
"You're doing this or I will shove your whole upper body up your ass and make you screw yourself from the inside out." Axel burst out laughing, earning a glare from Vanitas. Seconds later, he ended up on the floor after the sadist punched him in the throat.
"That's disgusting, Kaito." And not very lady-like, he mentally added. "I'm still not doing it.
"I'm telling Namine."
"What the hell."
She took her phone from the stand and touched Big Sis in her contacts list.
"Don't just simply tell her he doesn't wanna join the contest; tell her something else like…" Hayner made a thinking pose. "Tell her he trashed the house and she has to pay over 500 000 munny for the repairs!"
"Damn, that's good," Kairi said as her thumb hovered slightly over the Call button.
"Guys, come on, if he doesn't wanna-" Sora began in his good nature, but was quickly interrupted.
"Tell her he hasn't communicated with any of us since he arrived and convince her to kick him out of this place cause he's just a waste of munny!" the twins exclaimed.
"That's so mean though," Kairi said. "But if it'll get Vanitas to surrender and play, why not?"
"Tell her he burned down a house!" Axel exclaimed. He quickly shut his mouth the moment those words escaped his mouth. Everyone turned their heads fearfully in Vanitas' direction. Some of his black hair covered his golden eyes.
Insert awkward silence here.
"You know," the black-haired boy said quietly. Everyone shivered. "Maybe playing in this competition can help me finally get over my past. I'll do it."
"WOAH, that was not expected," Axel said.
"Shut your mouth, he could change his mind any second now," Hayner whispered into his ear.
"Perfect," Kairi held her hand out. "Now, don't go back on your word; shake on it."
Vanitas held out his hand, and shook hers.
"For the last time, it's A not B."
"You try learning this song, it's freaking hard."
It was already seven in the afternoon and Kairi refused to let him go upstairs to rest, as well as the rest of the group. They all had to stay in the living room to cheer for Vanitas.
"At least we have wifi," Axel said as he scrolled through his phone. Ten seconds later, he turned it off and shoved it into his front pocket. "I can't find anymore fanfictions of my OTP. This is the worst day of my life."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I watched like half the videos on YouTube by now," Hayner said.
"My phone was eighty-seven percent this morning, and now it's twenty-two," Sora said.
Roxas yanked an earphone out, "I watched seven Disney movies."
"I'm halfway through my game," Ventus said as his fingers continued to mash the buttons on his Nintendo 3DS.
"I just beat my game," Riku said, closing his Nintendo DS Lite.
"Can we go upstairs now-" Sora whined, but was cut short.
"Shut up, I think I got it," Vanitas said, lifting his hands off the keys. He turned to his housemates, "Are you ready?"
"Make one mistake and I will shove your entire being in a cardboard box and ship you to Agrabah," Hayner threatened.
"Well damn, someone's on their period," the pyromaniac snickered.
"I'm so tired, I wanna sleep," the blonde with camo pants yawned.
"You literally just sat on that couch watching videos all day," Kairi said.
"Watching videos drains a lot of energy," he said, and the redhead rolled her eyes at his response.
"Guys, are you gonna let me play or not?" Vanitas asked, irritated.
"Oh yeah, go ahead."
By the end of the song, everyone just stood frozen in place, mouths wide open in awe and eyes sparkling with admiration. Their housemate played it so beautifully and so passionately; they couldn't believe what they were hearing. Vanitas poured his heart and soul into that one small performance, he was glad they all enjoyed it (even though his facial expression showed otherwise).
After a few more seconds of silence, Kairi managed to get a few words out, "We are so gonna win first prize."
"Your name please?"
"Vanitas Irino."
"Instrument?"
"Piano."
"Perfect. Please make your way backstage. Next!"
Vanitas and the rest of the crew walked past the large doors and into Destiny Islands' grand concert hall. The stage was huge with red curtains neatly tied on either side, and the walls were painted the color of copper. An expensive-looking black piano and a set of drums rested at the very back, waiting to be played by the participants. Bright studio lights hung above the stage, and a large screen hung on the wall with Distant Worlds written in large, bold letters. Comfortable, red velvet seats were on the floor level as well as on the balcony, and the whole room in all seemed like it would be able to fit six hundred people or maybe even more. The first, second and third rows were already filled up, much to Vanitas' horror.
"What was the largest number of people you've ever performed in front of?" Kairi asked.
The golden-eyed boy counted his fingers, "…Three."
"Oh." She looked at all the people rushing through the doors to get a good seat. The fourth row was filled up in seconds. She turned to him, "Well, good luck. Don't get too nervous. Do your best, and win something."
"Guys, I think we should go get some seats before the good ones are all taken," Axel pointed at the benches. "See you in a bit, Bunny-tas!"
"Don't call me that."
The group of seven rushed to the red seats, each one of them giving one last reassuring smile at the black-haired boy. They all managed to get seats on the fifth row, luckily, having fought their way through the crowds of people who kept pushing and shoving.
Now, all they had to do was decide who was sitting next to whom.
"I'm sitting next to Roxy!" Axel hollered.
"Hell no," Roxas grimaced, taking a step back.
Axel responded by taking a step forward, winking, "Don't fight the love."
Taking the role of the over-protective big brother, Ventus ran in between the two in order to protect his younger sibling.
"Don't touch him," the blond growled, glaring daggers at the redhead.
Axel lifted his hands up in defense, "All right fine, you win this time." He then whispered, "Brocon."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?! THAT'S DISGUSTING," Ven gagged. In the background, Roxas quietly tip-toed away and sat comfortably in one of the seats.
"I ship it," Hayner said, grabbing the attention of the two. He smiled, sitting comfortably in his seat, ready for the explosion.
"Excuse me?" the older twin snarled. "Do not ship us together, you sick freak."
"Yeah, if you were to ship any of us together, at least ship me and Rox-"
Slap!
"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND MY BROTHER?"
"You know what, fine. I'm just gonna sit right here, next to my best friend, Sora," Axel crossed his arms and sat right down. "Hm, these seats aren't as comfortable as they look."
"…Th-that's because…" a dying voice stuttered, unable to finish his sentence.
"AXEL GET OFF, YOU'RE SITTING ON RIKU," Kairi pushed the redhead off with amazing strength. "Riku, are you all right?!" she asked, glaring at the pyromaniac, who gave her an apologetic, puppy dog look.
"I didn't see you there, I'm sorry!" Axel cried.
"I-it's all right," the ashen-haired boy said sadly, and somewhat offended.
The pyromaniac turned to Riku, "It's just… You're so quiet, try to speak up or something next ti-"
Kairi smacked the back of his head, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for him to even do so?"
"Uh… I'd be lying if I said yes."
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I just- Axel, just sit next to me."
"But-"
"I'll break your lighter."
"Fine." He crossed his arms childishly and plopped onto the seat next to the other redhead of the group. "Oh my gosh, I'm still next to Sora, I'm good with this."
The brunet gulped, but decided to keep a smile on his face in fear of appearing rude, "And why is that?"
"You're a cutie, too," he grinned.
"Th-thank you, Axel."
"See? This is what I like about Spikes," Axel straightened his posture, then snaked an arm around the chocolate-haired boy's shoulders. "He's kind and knows how to make the fangirls happy. Keep it up, and one day…" The redhead whispered the rest of the sentence in Sora's ear, "We might just become canon."
Sora suddenly stood up, "NOPE. I CAN'T DO THIS."
"Was it something I said?" the pyro asked innocently. The rest of the group just stared at both of them in confusion.
"YOU ARE A NASTY PERVERT," the brunet shouted, pointing a finger at Axel..
"Oh, stop being such a tsundere, I know you like it."
"I'M NOT BEING A TSUNDERE," Sora shouted, tearful and flushed in the face as a gust of wind suddenly blew into the room, making his hair sway to the beat of his pure pure kokoro.
"That was really cute," Axel stared, eyes sparkling, no hint of insincerity present in his eyes.
Sora decided to sit three seats away from him. He shivered, "I feel so violated."
From left to right (the very end of the fifth row to the seventh chair), it was Kairi, Axel, Hayner, Riku, Sora, Ventus and Roxas. As time flew by, more and more people entered through the doors to experience this once-a-year event. They all came from around the worlds: Twilight Town, Traverse Town, Radiant Garden, the Badlands, the five islands around Destiny Islands, and many more.
The moment the clock stroke five o' clock, a loud voice boomed from the speakers, and the mayor of the island walked onstage, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's Distant Worlds concert!" Everyone cheered and whistled, and Axel shrieked girlishly. "Here are your musicians for this evening!"
The words Distant Worlds faded from the screen and were replaced by a long list of names.
"Do you see his name?" Kairi asked, squinting her eyes.
"Yeah! There he is!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "He's number sixty-nine," Axel giggled like a schoolgirl upon hearing that, "Out of seventy-five. Huh, not a lot of sign-ups this year."
"Can we leave and then come back for him?" Hayner asked.
"No, because not only is that rude as hell, but for this competition, it's arrive at the start and leave at the end," Kairi explained.
The blond groaned, "Fine."
"Please give a round of applause for our first contestant!" the mayor stated the girl's name and instrument, then exited the stage. The musician pulled her harp all the way to the center of the stage, sat on a little stool, gave the title of the piece, and began to play.
"Please welcome our sixty-ninth ("Axel, stop giggling!") contestant, Vanitas Irino, on the piano!"
Much to Kairi's embarrassment, her six patients all stood up, clapping and cheering as loud as they could.
"YES, THAT'S MY BOY!"
"RIKU, CHEER LOUDER, HE CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"Go Vanitas…!"
"Weak."
"I LOVE YOU, VANITAS!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!"
"I BELIEVE IN YOU, VANITASSHOLE!"
The black-haired boy twitched upon hearing them. He massaged his temples, "I cannot believe those idiots…"
He walked onstage and over to the piano, trying his best to ignore his housemates' screams.
"WHY AREN'T YOU LOOKING AT US, BUNNY-TAS?"
He suddenly wasn't so nervous anymore; all he could think about was killing them all. But before he could do that, he had to play the instrument in front of him because damn it, he spent eight hours of his life that he could never get back learning this song.
He spoke into the microphone, "The song I will be playing today is Passion by Utada Hikaru." The audience clapped, and all of his housemates (including Kairi this time) wolf whistled at the same time.
The moment his slender fingers touched the piano's keys, the frightened scream of his mother from the night of the fire rung in his ears. His breathing intensified, and his hands began to shake. He turned to the crowd horror-struck, searching for a certain blonde to help him calm down.
And then he remembered that she wasn't here.
"Namine…" he whispered. Although he knew she wouldn't be there, he kept searching, until he found a familiar redhead in the fifth row.
"You can do it," she mouthed, smiling at him.
For a split second, he thought he saw Namine.
He played the first notes of the song with newly found confidence and fearlessness, surprising the audience after they witnessed his little tragic-past-flashback moment. His fingers gracefully ran across the pearly white and pure black keys, not making a single mistake. His little improvisations earned his extra points from the judges as well as the mysterious aura he carried.
In the end, he received much praise from the crowd and the judges.
"I'd like to thank everyone here for coming, and the musicians for their wonderful performances," the mayor said. All seventy five contestants stood behind him in order, in a row. "But unfortunately, there can only be one in first place, one in second, and one in third."
The mayor's lovely wife walked onstage with a trolley carrying three trophies.
"The first place winner will receive the gold trophy and 30 000 munny, the second place winner will receive the silver trophy and 20 000 munny, and lastly, the third place winner will receive the bronze trophy and 10 000 munny," he said. "Even if you do not receive one of these trophies, remember that you are still a winner!"
"I thought we'd get like, tickets to a pancake house or something," Kairi frowned. "He's gonna keep all the munny to himself if he wins any of those places."
"For third place, we have… contestant number sixteen, Yuna!"
A beautiful, brown-haired girl jumped up in excitement and walked up to him with a huge smile on her face. She accepted her bronze trophy and cheque humbly.
"She's really pretty," Kairi said absent-mindedly.
"Yeah, she's more of a looker than you are," Axel commented, narrowly dodging her slap. "Why do you guys keep slapping me? This is abuse!"
"You're a jerk," she rolled her eyes. "Hey… Vanitas not getting third must mean he either got first or second!"
"We'll see about that."
The mayor continued, "Second place goes to… contestant number forty-two, Squall- oh my, excuse me- Leon!"
"He's first, guys. I called it," Hayner said. They all agreed, waiting impatiently in their seats to hear his name called out for first place.
"He should treat us somewhere tonight for cheering him on!" Sora exclaimed. "I say we get some seafood. I'm craving it like a pregnant woman."
"No, let's go to a steakhouse!" the twins exclaimed.
"Kaito said pancake house earlier and that made me want pancakes," Axel said.
"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for…" the mayor began dramatically.
An idea popped up in Hayner's head, "Oh! How about that new fancy restau-"
Axel clamped the blond's mouth shut, "SHUT UP, HE'S GONNA SAY VANITAS ANY SECOND NOW."
"This year's Distant Worlds first place winner is…" Drumroll. "Contestant number sixty-" The group's faces lit up, and they were all preparing to jump up with joy, when… "-three, Vaan!"
The whole room cheered for the ashen-haired boy, except for seven people, who just exchanged each other looks of disbelief.
"WHERE IS THAT 'ITAS'? WHERE ARE THE TWO OTHER SYLLABLES?" Axel screamed.
"THIS IS BULLSHIT," the twins yelled out in frustration.
Although very upset by the judges' decisions, Kairi stood up on her seat to see how Vanitas was doing after the sudden disappointing revelation.
She wasn't expecting to find him smiling, however.
"Thanks, Kairi," he mouthed, giving her a rare, breath-taking smile.
The moment was cut short when she heard Axel shout nonsense next to her.
"THE JUDGES OF THIS COMPETITION POISONED OUR WATER SUPPLY, BURNED OUR CROPS, AND DELIVERED A PLAGUE UNTO OUR HOUSES!"
"They did?" the rest of the group asked, giving him confused looks.
"…NO, BUT ARE WE JUST GONNA WAIT AROUND UNTIL THEY DO?"
"Axel, we are not burning their hair off," Sora said, massaging his temples.
"FINE, IF YOU GUYS AREN'T GONNA COME ALONG WITH ME, I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF. I'M DOING THIS FOR VANITAS, LOOK HOW SAD HE LOOKS," he pointed over at Vanitas, who was still smiling at Kairi. "I- holy crap, he's smiling. Okay, nevermind then."
"Aren't you upset he didn't win anything though, Kaito?" the brunet asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty upset cause I'm craving some pancakes too, but… he seems a lot happier and more confident after this, and that's all I really wanted," she smiled.
"That's really nice of you to say, Kaito," Riku said, giving her a little smile.
"Oh, Sora Hikari, is that you?" the mayor's loud voice boomed through the speakers once again. The chocolate-haired boy jumped up at this, and the whole room got quiet. Only the mayor stood on the stage, the contestants presumably went backstage. "Oh my, it is you! Come up here for a second, boy!"
Sora shook his head, "Ahah, it's all righ- What the?! AXEL, PUT ME DOWN!"
He was picked up bridal style by the redhead, who was walking towards the stage. Sora hid his face from embarrassment, and tried not to cry when the crowd laughed. Axel then proceeded in throwing him on stage instead of setting him down like a true gentleman.
"Ow!" Sora stood up, rubbing his arm. "That hurt, you know!" The pyro gave him a thumbs up before running back to his seat.
The mayor rested a hand on his shoulder, "Hello Sora, it's nice to see you!"
"Uh, yeah, you too," he said, still a bit embarrassed.
"I've got to say, I was quite surprised when I didn't see your name on the list of participants this year. It's weird to see you in the crowd rather than onstage!"
"What does he mean by that?" Kairi asked her boys.
"He performs every year," Riku replied.
Sora scratched the back of his head, "Ahah, yeah. My friend wanted to join this year, and I didn't wanna go against him."
"I see. Well, the contest is over now, how about you perform for us? Be the last act of the night!" he exclaimed as the room erupted in cheers.
He laughed, "No thanks, but I'll sign up for next year-"
"Come on, boy! Just one song!" The whole crowd by now was chanting his name over and over, and he just couldn't let them down.
"Hm… sure, why not?" he grinned. "Oh, I don't have my guitar though…"
"Don't worry," the mayor's wife walked over to them with an acoustic guitar and a stool in hand. "We got you."
He chuckled, "Thanks."
"Everyone, give it up for our final act of the night, Sora Hikari!" he screamed into his microphone as everyone jumped up and down in their seats excitedly.
Sora sat on the stool and began tuning his guitar. When he was done, he strummed the intro of the song he chose to play and sing.
"This sounds… really familiar…" Kairi whispered to herself.
"This is called Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru."
Her blue eyes widened.
"When you walk away, you don't hear me say…"
"Your favorite song is Simple and Clean?"
"It's always been. Didn't you know?"
"Please, oh baby, don't go…"
"Kai, I have a surprise for you!"
"Really? What is it?"
"Meet me at the play island at seven, you'll see!"
"Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight…"
"Nothing's like before…"
"Sora… you learned how to play it?"
"It's your favorite song, why wouldn't I? I'll play it and sing it anytime you want me to. It'll be our song."
"I love you, Sora."
"I love you, too, Kairi."
"It's hard to let it go…"
"I hate you!"
"But, Kairi-"
"Get away from me, Sora! I hate you! I never want to see you ever again!"
Kairi got up from her seat and dashed out the door with tears in her eyes. She hadn't listened to that song in so long because of the painful memories that were linked to it. Hearing him sing it and play it just like he used to… it just killed her.
Outside, she walked all the way to the end of the hall, sat against the wall, curled up into a ball, and wept.
"Why would you sing that, you idiot…" she cried. "I hate you, Sora."
Not too far away, a boy with blond hair suddenly came running into the place. His hair and his clothes were a mess; it was pretty obvious he rushed to get there.
"Shit! I missed it?!" she shrieked. "Yuna's gonna be so upset, I hope she doesn't…" He paused. "Cry?"
The blond turned around to find Kairi silently crying. He decided to approach her, "Hey… uh, person? You all right?"
Hearing the familiar voice, the redhead stopped her weeping and looked up.
His blue eyes widened. Kairi? Wait, no… it's a boy. "You look really familiar… do I know you?" She remained silent. He sat down next to her, "Sorry, that's not what a stranger should say to another stranger who's crying."
She looked down, "Yeah…"
"So," he paused. "You wanna talk about it?"
She burst into tears, and he was left trying to comfort her awkwardly.
"Where is he?" the third place winner, Yuna, asked herself. She tippy-toed her way out the door of the room, and into the main hall.
She heard sobbing.
She followed the sound and found her boyfriend sitting next to a stranger. He was trying to comfort them by patting them on the head and saying a bunch of nice words.
Yuna frowned, "That must be Kaito."
"Namine's cousin is in town."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, you know, he's here to try to get Tidus and Kairi together. Apparently he still harbors some feelings for her."
"Don't be ridiculous. He's my boyfriend, I-"
"Oh, come now. You know what they say…"
First love never dies.
A/N: You can practically feel the laziness. I'm sorry. ;A;
Okay so, it wasn't until writing a good 8k when I realized how useless and how many spoilers there would be if I uploaded a chapter describing each person's past. That explains the super late update. I don't want the chapter to go to waste, however, so it'll be an extra chapter. It'll be posted once the story is all finished.
Vanitas is the one who found out! Good job to all those who guessed right! I actually wanted it to be Riku at first, but this whole chapter came to life, and there was definitely no room for some Riku character development. So, here's a bit of Vanitas character development instead!
The story will be complete in about eleven chapters (okay, twelve because of the extra), so I'll be making a shout-out to all my reviewers next chapter since we're already halfway done! Thanks for taking the time to review! You guys are so sweet, I feel like crying. ;w;
By the way... do any of you think my chapters are too long? Would you like me to lower the number of words in the future chapters or are you fine with this length? Please let me know!
Please leave another review, and see you next time! :)
