Everlasting 2: Final Verse
When he sings my song, Shuuichi's even better. Color has seemed to spring form his very core, and it shows in both his exterior and his voice. His smile's much more genuine than I've ever seen it, and he's even more laid back than I am.
Mentally, I apologize to him again.
Tachi's arm twitches.
My microphone's steadily released from my grip on it.
Slowly, Tachi's arm extends toward the stage. Not just the stage. Shuuichi. Dark grey metal glints in the concert's colored lights.
I turn and throw myself at Shuichi, my barely larger build meeting his chest and covering for him. Instinctively, my arms clasp around his neck.
For a single second, everyone's songs, even my own, are overpowered by a gunshot. Only for a split second am I able to hear the songs again, but now the beats are panicked and the pitches shrill. Then there's an explosion in my back-- only the size of a quarter, but more devastating than a crowbar to the head.
Shuichi crumbled under the older man's weight. For a second, he had thought that the flamboyant singer had done it as a publicity stunt or had actually just lost it. Then the gun had fired, and as Ryuichi's stong, experienced knees buckled, he realized what happened. Now laying with him crumpled on top of Shuichi, he started to spread him on his back on the stage when it dawned on him that his legs had become nothing but dead weight. His spine was damaged by the bullet, and if by some miracle he lived, he would never walk again.
Feebly, his friend and idol smiled. "Shu-chan... don't worry. This way I won't fade out."
"You could never fade, Sakuma-san." Salty water crept from deep within Shuichi to the supple skin of his face.
Ryuichi tried to smile again, but his eyebrows twitched and his eyes scrunched in pain. "Please.. Shuichi. It's Ryuichi." The younger star nodded, and the tiny waterfalls continued down his cheeks. Ryuichi listened to his beautiful song one last time, the song sang with the angelic inner voice that had strived to be like his own, but was in reality the one perfect thing he had ever witnessed. Except now it was no longer energized and shining; it had slowed and mellowed. It was weeping for him. Melancholia overwhelmed Ryuichi, and his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper.
Shuichi leaned closer to hear his dying friend, and when he was so near that the boy's tears were partially dried by his idol's breath, Ryuichi brushed his lips against Shuichi's. They were gone as quickly as they touched, for his energy and life was wasting away in a pool around him, even as an ambulance arrived at the scene.
"Your singing... is beautiful... don't fade... this is fare... well, Shu-chan... aishi..." his mouth formed out the last two syllables of his confession, but no audibility came out. "Teru," thought Shuichi sadly.
Shuichi's tiny crystalline rivers became geysers. "And I you.. Ryuichi."
The older man smiled at him with his last bit of strength, and then his muscles relaxed. All of the love, sadness, and passion drained from his eyes, but they lost neither their luster nor their startling color. His head rested to one side and his eyes gently closed. The smile remained, making him look like an innocent toddler dreaming of Santa Claus and bunny rabbits and candy, except for tears raining down onto his cheeks.
And as his tears flowed for both himself and the child finally freed from a man's body, he vowed never to to burn out. Just like Sakuma-san.
~owari
When he sings my song, Shuuichi's even better. Color has seemed to spring form his very core, and it shows in both his exterior and his voice. His smile's much more genuine than I've ever seen it, and he's even more laid back than I am.
Mentally, I apologize to him again.
Tachi's arm twitches.
My microphone's steadily released from my grip on it.
Slowly, Tachi's arm extends toward the stage. Not just the stage. Shuuichi. Dark grey metal glints in the concert's colored lights.
I turn and throw myself at Shuichi, my barely larger build meeting his chest and covering for him. Instinctively, my arms clasp around his neck.
For a single second, everyone's songs, even my own, are overpowered by a gunshot. Only for a split second am I able to hear the songs again, but now the beats are panicked and the pitches shrill. Then there's an explosion in my back-- only the size of a quarter, but more devastating than a crowbar to the head.
Shuichi crumbled under the older man's weight. For a second, he had thought that the flamboyant singer had done it as a publicity stunt or had actually just lost it. Then the gun had fired, and as Ryuichi's stong, experienced knees buckled, he realized what happened. Now laying with him crumpled on top of Shuichi, he started to spread him on his back on the stage when it dawned on him that his legs had become nothing but dead weight. His spine was damaged by the bullet, and if by some miracle he lived, he would never walk again.
Feebly, his friend and idol smiled. "Shu-chan... don't worry. This way I won't fade out."
"You could never fade, Sakuma-san." Salty water crept from deep within Shuichi to the supple skin of his face.
Ryuichi tried to smile again, but his eyebrows twitched and his eyes scrunched in pain. "Please.. Shuichi. It's Ryuichi." The younger star nodded, and the tiny waterfalls continued down his cheeks. Ryuichi listened to his beautiful song one last time, the song sang with the angelic inner voice that had strived to be like his own, but was in reality the one perfect thing he had ever witnessed. Except now it was no longer energized and shining; it had slowed and mellowed. It was weeping for him. Melancholia overwhelmed Ryuichi, and his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper.
Shuichi leaned closer to hear his dying friend, and when he was so near that the boy's tears were partially dried by his idol's breath, Ryuichi brushed his lips against Shuichi's. They were gone as quickly as they touched, for his energy and life was wasting away in a pool around him, even as an ambulance arrived at the scene.
"Your singing... is beautiful... don't fade... this is fare... well, Shu-chan... aishi..." his mouth formed out the last two syllables of his confession, but no audibility came out. "Teru," thought Shuichi sadly.
Shuichi's tiny crystalline rivers became geysers. "And I you.. Ryuichi."
The older man smiled at him with his last bit of strength, and then his muscles relaxed. All of the love, sadness, and passion drained from his eyes, but they lost neither their luster nor their startling color. His head rested to one side and his eyes gently closed. The smile remained, making him look like an innocent toddler dreaming of Santa Claus and bunny rabbits and candy, except for tears raining down onto his cheeks.
And as his tears flowed for both himself and the child finally freed from a man's body, he vowed never to to burn out. Just like Sakuma-san.
~owari