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

"I want the stars"

by Lucathia

chapter 35: start of school

After Anna heard Sora's conversation with her parents, the girl immediately offered Sora rooms at Funbari Onsens.

"We have plenty of rooms here. You can cook, right? You'll be a good addition to our staff."

While Sora was busy thanking Anna, the calculating girl shrugged the older women's thanks off, already thinking about how her customers would be glad to have home-cooked meals made with motherly affection.

Even though Sora didn't move over right away, she began working as the main cook the very next day. Anna had been needing a cook desperately ever since Ryu left for the culinary academy. She couldn't afford to let her customers starve while he was away.

Yoh's grandparents and parents had stayed the night at the inn, but when Sora came over to cook breakfast for everyone the next morning, they had already left for Izumo. Their only message was to contact them once Hao, or Hoshi, was found.

Tamao had tried to follow them, but Anna had stopped her. The pink-haired girl had stayed behind, albeit a bit happy that she would be able to see Yoh-sama more, though she couldn't help but feel confused as to why Anna wanted her to stay behind.

Sora, now busy cooking and preparing meals most of the time, was worried that she wouldn't have time to take Tsuki to school. School was starting the next day for Anna, Yoh, Manta, and Tsuki, so no one but herself would be left to look after the inn. Ren had headed back to his apartment, a scowl fixed on his face. The reason? A certain blue-haired Ainu had tagged along with him to his apartment. Horo Horo had somehow found out that Ren had bought a kitten.

That was how Yoh ended up with the job of walking Tsuki to school. Yoh was Tsuki's older cousin after all, and also the person Tsuki felt most comfortable with after his mother and Hoshi. Yoh waved goodbye to Anna, letting her know that he was going to meet her later at school after he dropped Tsuki off.

The two cousins found themselves standing outside of the inn under the bright morning sun. Yoh held Tsuki's hand, a lazy smile spreading over his face as he pushed his headphones over his ears and switched the music on.

"Let's go!"

Yoh tugged at Tsuki's hand as they made a mad dash towards school.

Two tall men with long, black hair marveled at the amount of people walking around in Shibuya. Hadn't school already resumed for most people? That alone should have caused the streets to empty out quite a bit, yet the streets were clearly still full.

Not that they were complaining. For them, the more people there were, the better chance they had to sell their crafts. Their disguise would be more believable as well.

The first man spread their colorful tablecloth out on the ground. He had a hawk nose and a stern expression. His mouth was fixed in a permanent frown, and his eyebrows were always furrowed. Two feathers were worn behind his head.

The second man took out their crafts, laying them across the cloth. Two strands of his long hair dangled in the front, each tied up separately, running down to his waist. His two feathers were worn behind his ear.

They both wore cloths around their foreheads and cloaks with strange designs that hid their intricate belts. Everything on them was intricate except for their plain, silver earrings.

The first man sat down and crossed his arms over his chest. He stared forward, waiting for customers to come to them.

A group of teenage girls walked by. One girl strayed from the group, approaching their crafts. She peered at one of the handmade ornaments before glancing at the seller. She "eeped" before stepping back quickly.

The second man sweatdropped. He heard the girl whisper urgently to her friends about the scary expression on the seller's face.

"Kalim, you're scaring the customers away. Try to smile for once."

The first man, otherwise known as Kalim, lifted the corners of his lips up, though his eyes were still glaring and shadowed.

The group of teenagers took a collective step backwards before scurrying away.

The second man sighed as he shook his head. "Never mind, that doesn't help."

Kalim resumed frowning and staring out to nowhere. Groups of people passed by them. No one stopped in front of them to buy anything.

The second man leaned against the building behind him, not too worried about their lack of business. Selling their crafts wasn't what they were here for anyway, though it would certainly help pay their rent. His eyes followed the people walking in the streets. He was surprised that he didn't have to look long before he spotted who he was looking for.

"There he is."

A long-haired boy wearing frayed jeans was among the crowd. The man could see an orange spirit trailing after him. Even though the boy's attire was way different from when he last saw him, there was no way he could ever mistake his ancestor for anyone else. For him, the boy stood out sharply from the crowd.

"Reckon he'll come over?"

Right when those words left his mouth, the boy saw the crafts they were selling and started making his way over. He ducked under some people's arms, pushing his way through.

"Well, that makes our job easier. Remember to empty out your thoughts, Kalim. Think about selling our crafts and nothing else. We have to appear like normal people."

Kalim nodded as they both waited for the boy to arrive before them.

When the boy finally arrived where they were and knelt down to look at their crafts, the man put on his best customer smile.

"Welcome boy! Shouldn't you be in school?" The man didn't wait for the boy to reply before he continued. "Don't worry, I won't say anything about your skipping school! Take a look, take a look! We have very fine, handmade crafts."

The boy ignored the man's annoying talk as he picked up a pair of earrings instead.

"Ah, the earrings caught your interest, didn't they? They're quite a bargain considering the effort we put into them." He continued talking, but the boy had already dropped the earrings and had stood up to leave.

"Hey, leaving alre-"

The boy left without a word or a backward glance. The orange spirit, which the man now saw was an orange cat, mewed as it followed its master away.

The two men watched the boy disappear into the crowd.

Kalim shook his head.

"You talk too much Silva."

The two boys walked quickly down the street, darting through the crowd, stores passing by in a blur. They were running late. Yoh was already resigned to the fate of being late to class. He didn't care much about himself being late to class, although it did bother him that Tsuki might also be late for his classes. So, when Yoh saw the pedestrian light blink, he sped up to try to make it across the crosswalk. They couldn't afford to wait after all.

However, Tsuki stopped suddenly. The little boy tugged Yoh to an abrupt stop along with him. The only difference was that Tsuki was standing safely on the sidewalk while Yoh was now standing in the dangerous intersection. Yoh's eyes widened. He quickly scrambled out of the intersection as the light blinked red.

A car zoomed by quickly.

Good thing he made it out of the street!

Yoh looked down at the little boy as he lowered the volume from his headphones. What was so important that Tsuki almost got him run over by a car with his abrupt stop?

Tsuki wore a sheepish expression.

"Um..."

The little boy stopped in his speech. Instead, his eyes spoke for him as they wandered towards the store display behind Yoh's head.

Yoh followed Tsuki's gaze, finally turning around himself.

His eyes landed on a beautiful pair of silver, star earrings.

The earrings were small in a petite kind of way. They shimmered under the spotlight that was shining upon them. Yoh stared at them, mesmerized. His mind wandered as he imagined his long-haired brother wearing them, his hair covering the earrings partly but not enough to obscure them. They were a perfect match for him.

Yoh stepped closer to the earrings, tugging Tsuki along with him.

"They're very pretty, aren't they?" murmured Yoh, his other hand reaching towards the display.

Tsuki nodded, his free hand stashed in his pocket, fingering something that was hidden there. He stared past the earrings on display, his mind occupied elsewhere.

Yoh continued admiring the earrings, his eyes finally trailing towards the price. His eyebrows shot up at the outrageous price, and he hastily stepped away from the display.

Tsuki glanced up wonderingly at Yoh-niisan's sudden movement. "Um, you're not going to buy them?"

Yoh grimaced. "They're pretty...but kind of expensive. Anna won't let me buy something that expensive."

Tsuki bit his lips as he frowned. "...but...but it feels wrong that Hoshi-niichan doesn't have any earrings!" He tightened his hand around whatever was in his pockets.

The older boy finally noticed that the younger one was fidgeting around.

"What's in your pocket?" asked Yoh curiously.

The younger boy looked down hurriedly, thoughts running through his mind. This was Yoh-niisan who was standing in front of him. Tsuki glanced at Yoh-niisan's friendly face. He wouldn't make fun of him for keeping what he kept, right? His mind made up, Tsuki pulled out what he had been fingering for so long.

It was Hoshi's pair of broken, star earrings, the ones that he had stepped on in his hurry to leave the safety of Sora's home. Hoshi hadn't worn them for the past year, but Tsuki remembered seeing Hoshi-niichan wearing them the first day that they had found him.

For Tsuki, the earrings represented Hoshi-niichan.

Tsuki held out the broken earrings, his head still lowered as he tried not to cry. He had picked up the earrings, hoping to fix them, but they weren't fixable. They were broken...and that made him feel as if Hoshi-niichan wasn't coming back to them.

Yoh stared at the broken earrings and then at Tsuki. He smiled before reaching out and taking one of the earrings in his hands.

"I think I know just the way to fix this."

The little boy raised his head, his eyes wide.

"Really?"

Yoh nodded.

Tsuki's eyes lit up.

"Cool!"

Yoh's smile got wider as he watched Tsuki happily take back the earrings that he had been examining. Yoh already had a plan in his mind. Since the earrings were chipped and cracked around the edges, he could smooth them so that the circle in the back became a crescent instead. Then, the earrings would have a star in the foreground and the crescent moon in the background.

Tsuki and Hoshi.

How fitting.

He blinked.

Was there something that he was forgetting?

He furrowed his eyebrows...

"Shoot! We're late!"

Hurriedly, he retook Tsuki's hand and they continued their mad dash towards school. This time, however, Tsuki was no longer depressed. The earrings were actually fixable! Hearing Yoh-niisan say that the earrings were fixable felt very reassuring.

He smiled as Yoh-niisan pulled him towards school.

to be continued

Next chapter: his earrings

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