H o s h i - g a - H o s h i i - d e s u

"I want the stars"

by Lucathia

chapter 33: their whereabouts part 2

"Here we are."

Macchi stopped in front of a three-storied apartment. The building wasn't very tall compared to the skyscrapers in the heart of Shibuya. Hoshi immediately noticed how closely cramped together the doors were. The individual rooms that the doors led to must be tiny.

The orange-haired girl left him no time to think further as she started heading towards the stairway. They went up two flights of stairs, Macchi practically running with Hoshi trudging behind, and finally arrived in front of her door.

Hoshi could feel smugness radiating off the girl.

She set her broom against the wall and rummaged through her pockets. Her eyes lit up when her hands closed around her keys. They jingled as she took them out and inserted them into the doorknob. She turned her key until she heard the satisfying click.

Macchi grabbed the knob and flung the door open. She grinned, snatching her broom from the wall and turning towards Hoshi.

"Welcome to my humble little adobe, Hoshi-sama! I pay the rent all by myself!"

Amused, Hoshi let himself be shepherded into the small room. Macchi quickly found a pair of slippers for him and then headed towards the kitchen.

Left alone, Hoshi glanced around. The room was pretty small, especially since he was used to the spacious cottage in America and the somewhat spacious place that Sora had found them in Japan. The room was more like a box that had a little extension for the kitchen and a door to the bathroom. He did notice, however, the miniature jack-o-lanterns that decorated the walls. It was a homely little place. And it was just that...a homely little place too small to house more than one person. So where was everyone else?

Macchi, clueless to Hoshi's thoughts, came back with two glasses filled with some kind of orange liquid. She knelt down on her cushion in front of her low table, placing the glasses on the table.

"Hey, Hoshi-sama, don't just stand around! Come sit down."

Now that Macchi mentioned it, he was a bit tired of standing up. Hoshi plopped down on the other side of the table.

He spared the glass of orange liquid on the table a wary glance.

Orange liquid.

It couldn't be...

Pumpkin juice??

Macchi grabbed the glass closest to her and drank. She tilted the glass up and gulped down the orange liquid. Hoshi could see the liquid traveling down her throat like pulses.

"Don't you want some?" Macchi asked as she set her empty glass down.

"No, that's okay. I'm not thirsty." Even if he were thirsty, pumpkin juice wasn't going to quench his thirst.

Macchi shrugged and began to drink out of the other glass.

Hoshi wasn't one to fidget, though he came close to it. Sitting in such a small room, watching Macchi down that unknown orange liquid with him just sitting there doing nothing was a bit...uncomfortable. He didn't follow Macchi to watch her drink some unknown orange liquid after all. He didn't follow her to stay in this cramped little room. He didn't follow her to sit around and do nothing. He didn't follow her to fidget.

Hoshi suddenly leaned forward. He rested his arm on the table. He casually rested his face on his hand. His hair cascaded around his arm, part of it pooling on the table, part of it falling past the table without intrusion. A smile slowly spread over his face.

"Enjoying your juice?" asked Hoshi.

Macchi blinked and put down her glass.

"Uh...yeah...it's delicious." She smiled hesitantly.

Was it just my imagination? Hoshi-sama sounded like...

"Now that you've finished, can you tell me...just where is everyone?" The smile never left his face.

...like the Hao-sama in my memories.

Macchi stood up. She pointed to the telephone.

"Well, none of us live close to each other. Most went back to their own countries, though some stayed in Japan. I chose not to go back to England...since I have no one there waiting for me."

And Japan has got to have the best kabocha dishes ever.

At Hoshi's dubious look, Macchi hurriedly added on to her previous words. "But, don't worry Hoshi-sama! I have everyone's contact information." Her nervous smile turned into a reassuring one, "I'm sure everyone will be glad to know that you're back...you're our savior after all."

She headed over to the telephone without Hoshi's asking and hastily dialed a number. When no one picked up immediately, she began tapping her foot impatiently.

"Pick up, damn it!"

The phone kept ringing on and on. Just as Macchi thought that no one was going to answer, a voice sounded on the other end of the line.

"Hallo."

Finally!

Macchi opened her mouth. "Hey, I have something to tell y-" She was cut off as the voice on the other side continued.

"-geh weg ich mittag essen. Ich kann nicht telefon gehen lassen einen bote bitte. Beeeeeep!"

Macchi rolled her eyes. "Don't fool me with a German voice message! I know you're there Kanna!"

"Beeeeep!"

That, supposedly, was "the signal" that her time to leave a message was up.

Stupid Kanna. Why isn't she answering me?

Macchi frowned.

If what I'm going to say next doesn't catch her attention, I don't know what else will.

"He's back, Kanna."

Silence.

Macchi began counting in her mind.

Five, four, three, two...

"Holy !!#&."

"Hey, don't taint my innocent ears," replied Macchi. She was still annoyed that Kanna had tried to mislead her with a fake German voice message.

"Since when?" asked the dazed voice belonging the blue-haired girl on the other end of the line.

"I met him today at the restaurant I work at."

"That...can't be true. He's...not alive anymore."

"You got that wrong Kanna! He came to eat at the restaurant today and even paid for my meal!" protested Macchi.

Not to mention that he's currently sitting at the my table in my apartment!

Kanna laughed.

"Him, pay? Knowing him, he'd pressure the restaurant to not take his money. What you just said convinced me that you got the wrong person."

Macchi shook her head even though Kanna wouldn't be able to see her movement. "Why are you doubting me? I know Hao-sama. I'd never mistake him for anyone else. He came for us when we desperately needed help! So why are you denying that he's back?"

"I won't argue with you about him coming for us in our darkest hour. I'm forever grateful to him for helping me and taking me away from those people that shunned me. When he suggested a world without those very humans that made me feel so unwanted, I was all for it. We fought for his cause. Heck, we were willing to die for it. But...Macchi...that's not what I want anymore," said Kanna hastily, as if afraid that Macchi wouldn't listen to her.

"Kanna, what do you mean? What are you trying to get at?" Macchi felt a shiver of fear travel through her, quickly replacing her previous jubilant mood. Hoshi-sama was sitting in the same room as her, able to hear every single word that she was saying and thinking...and yet her conversation with Kanna didn't seem to be going well.

"Macchi, aren't you happy with your life as it is now? I...I like my current life. I finally found what I want to do the most. Moving back to Germany helped me pick up the pieces of my life that I had left behind when I went with Hao-sama. I...dear god...I even found people, regular humans, that I can...trust. I don't want to go back to hating humans! I don't...Macchi, is that what you want? A world void of humans?"

Macchi blinked.

Is that what I want? Do I still want a world void of humans?

"I...I..." stuttered Macchi. She felt a slight movement to her right. She turned around in panic, and saw Hoshi-sama standing there, his arm outstretched, signaling for the phone. Macchi's hand shook as she handed the phone over.

Kanna continued, oblivious to the change.

"I'm personally glad that I'm free of his hold now."

Macchi hugged her broom close to her for security. Her heart seemed to be pounding a mile a minute. She didn't think she could be any more nervous than she was now. She was scared out of her wits for Kanna. And scared for herself as well, considering that she was the one standing next to him in the same room. She didn't think Hoshi-sama would do anything to her...but Hao-sama would have.

"And tell me, just why is that?" asked Hoshi slowly.

The phone clattered on the other end.

Hoshi heard some very quiet cursing as the girl presumably fumbled for the phone.

"Damn that Macchi...she should had told me in the very beginning that he was in the same room as her. Damn. I just dug myself into some deep shit this time."

Hoshi waited quite patiently for her to pick up the phone again. When she did, she didn't disappoint him with her reaction. Exactly as he imagined it. Just about everyone he had met since he had woken up without his memory had said around the same thing when they met him again. Or, in this case, talked to him again.

"HAO-SAMA? How...how is that possible...I...you...it's just not possible!"

Hoshi ignored most of her words. He was only interested in what she had to say about his question.

"Tell me, why are you glad that you are," Hoshi so kindly repeated Kanna's words, "free of my hold now?" When Kanna didn't answer immediately, Hoshi quietly uttered the next question, the question that related to the one that had been plaguing him since the day before.

"What made you...change your mind about a world without humans?"

A pause, and then...

"Hao-sama...are you alright? You seem kind of off to me. Why are you asking me this? I thought you'd..." Kanna left her words trailing.

Macchi, who had heard every bit of the conversation since she was standing so close, completed Kanna's thought for her.

Kanna thought that Hao-sama would kill her for what she said, or at least lash out at her. Yet...all he has done is ask her questions.

Macchi relaxed her hold on her broom as Hoshi off-handedly answered Kanna.

"That doesn't matter...Macchi can give you the details later. Just answer my question."

"All right. Hao-sama, you heard my entire conversation with Macchi, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's why."

Hoshi's hair shadowed his eyes.

"That doesn't tell me a thing. Is the world truly fine with humans still in it?" asked Hoshi in a low, pressing voice.

"Hao-sama...that's a whole different question than the two you just asked me."

Hoshi was exasperated, hating having something like that pointed out to him. "Then forget about the previous two questions and just answer this one."

Kanna's voice trembled. "I...that's something that I can't answer...for you."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I...Hao-sama, Everyone has different opinions, and they can change." Her voice sped up. "I used to believe that the world needed to be rid of humans, but now I happen to believe that the world is fine as it is."

Hoshi gripped the phone harder. What was his opinion then? What did he think? What exactly was his opinion now?

He didn't notice as the other end of the line went dead.

to be continued

A/N: I don't speak German. As far as I know, winner-loser, who I asked for help, doesn't either. (thank you, winner-loser, for helping me though!) So please correct us if you can!

Translation of Kanna's message (or what it's intended to say):
Hello.
Go away, I am eating lunch.
I cannot answer the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep.

Next chapter: first day of school

If all things go according to plan, there should be around eight more chapters to this fic. I don't think I'll be able to finish before 2005...but expect a lot of updates during Winter break.

Please review. :)