Disclaimer(s): K-On! rightfully belongs to Kakifly © Alternate Universe.
Part 4: The Stars
One, two, three – I lied awake on my bed for hours and hours, as if I could forget everything at hand in doing so. God, it should've been me. I thought from time to time while I kept staring the plain ceiling down – the canvas I slowly painted us on. I imagined him and me, once upon a time, fought to stand beside Mio in every picture we took. She took the middle every time.
I smiled sadly as I then imagined me out of the picture and I knew nothing much would have changed – he was the centre in everything, all the more for her. It was not a bad thing at all. I could at least tag along to enjoy how her eyes lit up brightly, her real smile, and although it was all for him – I am satisfied. She needed him more than anybody else and it was real obvious.
All the more reason why it should've been me in his place – it was all that turned up in my mind ever since last night and I went back to square one, yet again. I mused – everybody was familiar with the love story about the sun and the moon. How it died each night to let it breathe and so on. Mio really loved the story. She even had the moon tattooed at her lower neck.
I could still feel the anxiety I felt then as we went to get it done at a cheap tattoo parlour afterschool – we were teenagers once. She wanted for me the sun but I decided on the stars – like them, I'm invisible. They existed and died, spending a lifetime, by the moon's side though the world would often relate it to the sun it never met once. Still, she did find hers – in him.
To go so fast, so soon – it should've been me. I repeated as time passed, even now. I did not know anymore if this was simply a thought or a regret as I assumed that it could even be a prayer – the vindictive one the Gods above ignored to fulfil, to my dismay. The moment I began to fall asleep, I heard the faded echoes my doorbell did, followed by several heavy thuds.
"How could you leave me alone with them, you idiot? They were horrible!" Satoshi exclaimed furiously once he pushed open the door to my room. I rubbed my temple simultaneously – this baby brother of mine always left me with headaches. "I'm sorry, I just got back. I love my ears too much to let them bleed over their heavy rants," I told as I shrugged at the same time.
I rolled to the far right side of the bed afterwards, avoiding his intense eyes altogether. "You're still an idiot. Here!" his whiny voice alone annoyed me to death and I simply looked daggers at his dead beat face while he disposed piles of pictures on my body. "What?" He snubbed my frustrated scream as he always did while he quietly flipped some of them – all the upturned ones.
"Okay, you idiot. I'm not leaving until you choose your bride. Now, choose," he stressed happily and I swore that horrific smirk grew wider right then. I was only in my mid-twenties, but our parents kept pressuring me to marry as soon as possible. "Here, now, go." He blinked a few times once I chose one blindly and I quickly tossed it on his lap. Satoshi sighed over my ploy.
"You're really something," he stared at me as he started to get rid of the mess reluctantly, gathering them one by one. I on the other hand nosedived back on the bed while I drew the pillow and put it over my head, trying to wipe out that unwelcoming voice of his. "How's he?" I was somehow aware that that he did soften it up a bit whereas my mind fell back to cursing myself and everything.
"You might be an idiot and all, Ritsu, but it's really good to have you back," he confessed with a silly grin before his hand patted my back once and I felt really guilty upon his confession. "Tell them they suck," I claimed as I rolled on my back to finally face him properly, for the first time in years – the last time I saw his silly face was during my graduation I guess. "I will."
To Be Continued
Author's Notes: Thanks for reading.