Hana Song can't remember the last time she has ever had a friend like Kusaragi Hirota.
Sure, Dae-hyun was also another friend of hers, but he wasn't into gaming like she was. And Hirota wasn't either, yet there was something so intriguing about him.
Hana couldn't explain it.
That was rare for her.
Sometimes it took her a while to find a way to put something, but she always found the words for it. No matter how long or confusing of a path it was to get there.
Hirota was unexplainable. So unexplainable, that it always felt like he was putting in the direct effort to make himself more mysterious.
Hana loves it.
She doesn't love him, however.
She doesn't love him the way that Kiriko does.
She loves him like someone loves a good mystery, like how someone loves to watch shooting stars at night and wonder why they would ever leave their place in the sky.
That is what Hirota is to her. A shooting star. Beautiful, heavenly, yet fleeting.
Always fleeting.
Hana has seen it before. She has felt it before.
In her father's eyes. In her mother's arms. But she keeps those feelings and memories tucked away as well. After all, some mysteries are best left unsolved.
"Is something wrong?" Hirota asks. He sits beside her on the couch. He is in the middle of playing Dragon Age. His character, Kyorin Cousland, stands in the middle of Lothering with his companions. So far in his playthrough, Hirota has played the game perfectly. He's saved everyone he could, completed every side-quest, and done everything Hana expected him to do.
"Nothing." Hana shakes her head. "I was just thinking."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Only if you talk about yourself first," teases Hana. She has already read his file thanks to a favor from Sombra, who she'd beaten in StarCraft despite the hacker using cheats.
Hirota rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the game. Hana expects nothing less from him.
They relax in each other's company for a bit longer before Hirota says that they should take a break and grab lunch. Hana agrees.
They sit beside each other, munching on some leftover food that Brigitte made.
"You know," Hana says after swallowing. "You don't need to keep entertaining me. If you don't like games, you can—"
"I do like them," he interjects.
She eyes him.
"They're nice," he says. "If a little unrealistic."
"Well, they're people that can use magic and do crazy things," Hana says. "It only makes sense that it would be unrealistic."
"That's not the part that I was talking about."
Hana realizes what she has just said. "Oh. I'm sorry."
"You haven't done anything wrong, Hana. Don't apologize."
"I was insensitive."
Hirota purses his lips. "I guess."
"You did well, Hirota."
Hirota stares at her.
"You worked so hard. You can rest now."
Hirota breaks in front of her.
Suddenly, shooting stars don't feel so far away now.
