"I remembered her tastes, astral conversation, the songs we heard, her lunar body, heavenly refuge and the Ph of her saliva, and I lost myself in the immense stillness"

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"Nao-kun" His father called looking serious. "Can we talk?"

"What's going on?" He was sitting in his father's study, his leg crossed and his hands in his lap.

"Are you comfortable with your career?" He questioned.

"Well, I suppose" He replied reluctantly.

"Aren't you interested in coming and taking a look at Pandai?" He smirked, puffing out his cheeks and fat hands clasped together.

"Not really." He grimaced in disgust, and seeing his father fade away in front of him, he wanted to make up for his bad temper. "But it's not that I don't want to be with you father, it's just that I don't feel like that's what I want to do"

"So do you know what you want to do in the future?" He sounded less cheerful, meaning the question was serious. "I mean, you tell me it is not what you want to do and I would like to know your plans for the future"

Naoki pondered his response, still unsure of revealing his desire to be a doctor; adding that he had already passed the transfer exam and was close to entering the race.

"I'm undecided"

His father put on a puzzled expression.

"How?"

"I mean, I'm not quite sure what to do with my future, but I don't want to be the successor to your company" He said seriously, clenching his knuckles slightly.

"I understand" He said disappointed, shaking hands in relaxation. "So what do you plan to do?" He wanted to know.

"I need a little time to think about my future" He demanded of himself, hiding his goal of becoming a doctor. "As soon as I know, I'll tell you" He assured, bowing.

"What you think, you can come to Pandai to get an impression of what the business is like" He added calmly. "Even if you don't want to be the successor of my company, you can take a walk to see how things work"

Naoki nodded earnestly, blank eyes and a blank mind space.

"I will keep it in mind"

Lying on the side of the bed, he listened to the mix of songs that Kotoko gave him at Christmas.

After a few weeks of that meeting, they had not seen each other at school and that caused a very curious and painful feeling of emptiness because feeling that way was not a pleasant sensation.

He liked the song he was listening to a lot, a mixture of innovation and good sound motivated him to gradually improve his mood (Soda Stereo's "Crema de estrellas"), despite not understanding the Spanish language, it could mean that the handwriting was pretty.

Lying to his father was not the most reliable thing in the world, however he found in that the only alternative of the moment was that once he belonged, the medical department would tell his parents about his vocation as a doctor.

Whether they accepted it or not was the least of it.


He sighed peacefully watching the clouds pass through his window, watching the sunset as a pale reflection that reminded him of being alive and being a human being wanting to wake up to a better reality.

He rubbed his hands, leaning his head against the wall of the room, stretching his legs to the other end of his bed.

I will soon achieve my goals, soon it will be.

He was comforted with the word "soon" who knows how many times it was repeated during the course of the day.

Soon Kotoko, soon I will tell you my feelings.

"Onii-chan, how much are you doing?" His brother Yuuki looked at him interested in what he heard on the walkman. He paused the song.

"What did you say?" He pretended not to understand anything.

"How much are you doing?" He asked again, kneeling on his bed.

"Listening to music" He said simply.

"I see" He yawned a little sleepily. The night came late as the warning that it will soon be spring then summer. "That Baka hasn't given me new cassettes." He winced with a disappointed grimace.

"Do you want me to ask her for one?" He thought aloud, as a reflection of his interior expressing that he needed to see her. "We are going to the same university, I can tell her to come home and leave you one"

"I'd like to" She agreed, shaking her head as if thinking of something. "Onii-chan, don't you miss that Baka?"

"Why should I?" He said drowsily. "If she is scandalous"

"I'm just saying, the house has been so quiet." The disappointed grin didn't fade from his childish face. "I miss her" He muttered under his breath. Despite the fact that his brother said that, he still didn't remove the fact that they sent messages through social networks, and they had that strange secret that he could not reveal although his curiosity didn't go away from that time, but nevertheless he would not pressure both of them to tell him what they were hiding with so much effort. He knew that one day the truth would come to light no matter how ridiculous his secret was.

I miss her too. He thought to himself.

Of course, he would save his feelings to tell the right person. Why should he tell his brother that you liked that Baka? I'd be insane if he told him.

He put the Walkman into play, ending the talk.


The spring days came without much change in his life, other than studying in advance for a medical degree.

His cell phone vibrated on the way home: It was Kotoko.

He answered immediately, flushed from the face.

"Moshi Moshi"

"Naoki-kun" She greeted casually. "How are you?"

"What do you need?" His voice caught in his throat from the same nervousness of hearing her voice from the other line.

"Can you come to Donnys café?" She sounded rushed, so he asked why she needed him there. "Yuuki told me that he wanted a cassette and that you would pick it up at my work"

He put a hand to his forehead, he had completely forgotten about the cassette.

"I'm going there," he warned before hanging up the cell phone.

¡Damn! How could he forget to ask her about the cassette.

That was the least of it, he would have an opportunity to see her in person and he would hurry to talk to her.

He was running with the speed that his steps allowed him. I have to arrive as soon as possible. It was required to get on the truck heading to get faster.

Getting off the bus, he ran another leg before finding the premises on one of the small, narrow streets of the Setagawa district of Tokyo.

A figure approached him, disappearing his previous annoyance, with just a small and bright smile his worries were thrown in the trash.

"Kotoko" He spoke, bringing his fingers together, focusing his maximum attention on her.

"Naoki-kun, I'm glad you came" She mentioned as she took a seat in front of him, her black hair gleaming with the lamp on each table in the cafeteria. She had the waiter uniform.

"I say the same." He gave her a sideways smile.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before she realized the gesture, choosing to shake her hands on the table and remove the cassette from her waiter's dressing gown.

"The cassette." She held it out across the table.

"Yes, thank you." He took it in his grasp, analyzing that it was Metallica's "Metallica" disk, a black disk with a rattlesnake in the lower left corner. "This is a metal record" He commented seriously.

"He said he wanted something a little heavier than I'd shown him in the past." She laughed, raising his eyebrows, as if remembering something. "It doesn't bother me that he ask me that, even if I don't have many metal records, for that I have to go to the music store"

Music store, huh? I can accompany her and thus spend more time with her. I'd love to do that, he smirked to himself. What a good idea, Naoki.

"May I go with you?" He suggested coldly, matching his graceful movements with his manly and dominant voice. She looked at him in surprise, taking in his words.

"Do you want to come with me?" She replied with confusion, pursing her lips.

He nodded confidently.

"Sure, you can come with me" She muttered happily. "Let's go now"

"What?" He tensed with fright.

"Although it's not night and I'm done with my shift" She insisted nonchalantly.

"But" He tried to defend himself, but seeing her so motivated to go out with him completely shook him. There was no escape.

"Wait for me, I'm going to get dressed" She warned before escaping to the employee area.

As she came, she decided to dial home to tell her brother that she had the disc in her possession.

Maybe it's not a date and I say yes. Naoki, don't get your hopes up so much, I can't give myself the luxury of thinking that you feel something for me, I have to secure my place in her heart before someone else does.

He could see Ryo giving him mischievous glances from the other end of the cafeteria, as if he were going to catch him for agreeing so quickly to Kotoko's wild desires; He didn't doubt for a second that this was going through the young basketball player's mind.

Without a doubt, he shouldn't be excited about a trip to the music store.

He shouldn't feel that way, but it was inevitable…

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P.S. (Mention of the song "Crema de estrellas" from Soda Stereo)