The Hooligans, Kel, Basil, Aubrey, Sunny, Abbi and Hiko were walking on an empty big street with a few cars. Hiko was in front with a flashlight and a wooden plank he found on the street. Behind him was Abbi who was holding hands with Sunny. Sunny was slightly trembling. The walk was silent the whole time.

"Psst. Psst," Kim called out to her big brother.

"Y-yeah?" Vance responded while nearing his head to Kim's.

"Quiet!" Kim whispered loudly.

"O-okay…" Vance lowered his volume.

"You know, you know. About Hiko…"

"What's wrong with Hiko?"

"Could he be… an actual gang member!?" Kim's eyes sparkled.

"W-what…?"

"I mean, look at his tattoos! And his vibe literally screams yakuza !"

"What's yakuza ? That a candy?"

Kim sighed, "You know, whatever."

Vance scratched his head, "But… he does seem like a gang member. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if he was…"

Kim nodded, "... What's his deal anyway?"

The both of them stared at Hiko.

Could it be… that he's grooming Sunny as a gang head!? Kim pictured an adult Sunny sitting on a fancy chair, crossing his legs, a burning cigarette in hand, while looking condescendingly at whoever poor soul that crossed him.

…

On the front, Basil walked quickly towards Hiko. He passed by Abbi and Sunny. Sunny jumped a bit and his free hand hugged Abbi, trembling even more. Abbi looked at him, worried.

"Little sunshine? What's wrong, dear?" Abbi brushed his hair and looked at Basil. As long as Abbi knew Sunny, Sunny never acted so afraid of someone.

Basil walked up beside Hiko.

"Hiko?"

"Yeah?"

"How long have you been living here?"

"Hm… never counted. Since three years ago, perhaps? That was after Abbi ran away with me."

"R-ran away!?"

"Well… let's just say that we're both runaways."

"I… see…"

"..."

"Why… why did you not send Sunny back home?"

"Because… he didn't want to."

"Huh…?"

"I don't really understand his reasons, though… because… he drew them."

"He drew them…?"

"Sunny wasn't someone who would talk about his problems, right?"

"That's…" Basil looked down. He realized Sunny never really talked about his own problems to his friends.

"... I'll assume I'm correct. Well, there's a saying that art is expression so… I suggested him to tell me by drawing. IF he wants to, of course."

"..."

"It took time for him to be open with me and Abbi to a degree. Sunny wasn't open for quite some time after we first met him. However, when he was finally comfortable, he walked up and gave me these drawings. They were… disturbing."

"Disturbing?"

"Two disturbing things, in fact."

"...What are they?"

"Monsters."

"Huh?"

" Monsters with many eyes. Well, it was this big black cloud shaped thing with many eyes. The second one was smaller, though."

"..."

"... What happened to him?"

"That's…"

Basil stayed silent for a while. He took a deep breath and heavily said his next words.

"I'll… tell you what happened."

"Let's move farther in front, then."

After Basil finished explaining what happened during the night Sunny escaped, Hiko sighed and scratched his head.

"So that's what it is… Kid's gone through a lot. Though…"

"Though?"

"Why did he throw the violin?"

"I… don't know."

"Hm… I guess I'll only know when I talk to his sister."

"... I can get her here tomorrow, maybe- oh, no."

"Oh, no what?" Hiko looked at Basil.

"I-I forgot to call my Grandma…"

"Oh…"

"D-do you have a cell phone I can use?"

"Out of credits. What? Abbi and I live here because the rent is cheap!"

Basil looked down.

"... Though, there's a public phone near where we're going. You can call there."

Basil looked at Hiko, his complexion brightened, "Okay!"

"Speak of the devil, we're here!"

In the distance, there was a wall-fenced block-shaped building. It was a two-story building with a simple design. The front had two windows below, and at the top there were three.

The gang walked past the entrance and security post. There was a scarecrow inside the entrance.

"... Are you serious?" Kim looked at the scarecrow and then to Hiko with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, we're serious. It's better than not having a guard there."

Kim looked at the scarecrow again, amused. The gang walked into the building, leaving Kim. Kim noticed she was left behind and scurried to the building.

Inside the building, the group was met with a big empty hall with six pillars. There were stackable chairs stacked on their far left. The second floor were just corridors with an empty middle, with the corridors' empty side safeguarded with a simple wooden fence. At the back of the hall is a wooden floored stage, just ten centimeters higher than the floor.

The hall wasn't empty; there were people hanging out, practicing instruments, or creating their masterpiece. They were more or less as old as Hero or even older, ranging from high school to college.

Among them, was a group at the far back left, taking turns taking a paper from two bags each. They were laughing and hollering with amusement. The person that took the papers played a piece but with a gimmick like switching their playing hands, or playing it very fast.

(W notes: you know what I'm referencing :) )

Another one was a boy teenager at their near right wearing a disturbing white mask with the shape of a simple human face. He was painting on the canvas with ominous red paint, creating things while correlating them with the number 'four' and flowers. From time to time, he laughed like a madman. It seemed he had another mask under that mask. The group subconsciously tried to not get near him.

Hiko walked up to the stage and clapped his hands once, gathering attention from all the people in the hall.

"Everyone! Our Ling Ling's here! And he brought his friends! Say hello!" Hiko shouted.

"""Hello!"""

"Wait, Ling Ling's here?"

"Our boy mascot's here!?"

"Where, where!?"

The crowd immediately surrounded Sunny. There were older girls who fawned over him. After all, Sunny was adorable like a doll. There were some that shaked his hand, complimenting him on his performance today. Some of them shaked his hand and complimented him midway when they suddenly sat on a corner, getting depressed because of the fact that a 14 year old kid who played the violin for less than 2 years was better than them. They decided to go to a bar to get drunk.

"W-wow… I didn't know Sunny was famous around here," said Kel.

"Of course he is! He's our mascot! Our role model! Our Ling Ling!" Hiko puffed his chest proudly.

"Um… What's Ling Ling?" Aubrey asked.

"I don't really know." Hiko replied.

The entire group looked at him with disappointment.

"...The owners of this hall likes to call child prodigies and music legends Ling Lings, talking about how difficult pieces were their warmup menus in the morning, and that they practiced 40 hours a day." Hiko said with a serious expression.

"O… kay?" Aubrey tilted her head. She was weirded out.

Grumble .

"Huh? Where did that come from?" Basil asked.

Basil followed the direction of the sound and found a beetroot red Aubrey looking down.

Grumble .

"Oh… me, too." Basil looked at his stomach.

The group didn't realize, but they hadn't eaten anything for dinner and it was late at night.

"... You guys haven't eaten anything have you?" Hiko asked.

"Y-yeah…" Kel scratched his head, putting up a nervous smile.

"That's alright! I asked Sunny here to buy a curry mix- Why are you showered in cold sweat!?" Hiko responded to Kel while turning his sights to Sunny, who was looking away and trying to whistle (it failed miserably) and was, yes, showered in cold sweat.

Sunny twiddled his two pointing fingers and muttered something, but it was so soft nobody heard it.

"Huh…? Say that again?" Hiko put his ear near Sunny's mouth.

"I… left it on the streets…" Sunny whispered nervously.

"..."

"..."

"Sunny." Hiko put a hand on his shoulder.

Sunny slowly lifted his face and saw a crying Hiko with a moyai expression.

"It's okay."

He definitely doesn't look okay! Everyone else thought.

"Oh well, it is what it is. I guess we'll make something that's the second best thing you'll ever eat in the whole world!" Hiko's face suddenly changed into a confident smile. What a scary face change transition.

The group's eyes lit up.

"W-what is it!?

"It's…"

Their eyes gleamed. Kel's mouth was drooling. Aubrey's stomach grumbled even more, there was probably a Rumbling caused by Er*n there. Aubrey's face turned even redder.

"Instant noodles!"

"""Instant! … noodles?""" The group was confused.

"..."

"..."

"Wait, have you guys ever eaten instant noodles?"

"Uh…" Basil scratched his cheek while looking away. His grandma prohibited him from buying instant noodles.

"What's that?" Kel smiled, but was confused. Whatever went into Kel's stomach was either delivery pizza or her mom's cooking.

"No…?" Aubrey, even with her financial condition, still ate normal food.

"Is it sweet?" Kim asked.

There's noodles in the term, Kim! the entire Hooligans thought.

The rest of the Hooligans shook their heads.

"... Your lives are so miserable," Hiko said with a flat voice and empty expression, "But today! You shall be baptized in the unholy combination of noodles and MSG!" Hiko posed with both of his hands raised on his sides, an imaginary ray of (black) light coming from behind his head.

Unholy…? The group thought.

"HEY EVERYONE! WHO WANTS INSTANT NOODLES!?" Hiko asked the entire hall.

"""ME!"""

"ALRIGHT! SET UP THE TABLES AND STOVES!"

"""AYE, SIR!"""

"... What a rowdy crowd, eh?" said Basil as he nervously lifted a side of his mouth into a half-smile.

"Yeah, but that's what makes me want to huddle with 'em! Hey! Let me help!" Kel scurried towards the people who were taking out tables from the backstage.

"I-I'll help, too!" Aubrey followed Kel.

In the end, Basil and the Hooligans also joined in to help out the crowd to cook instant noodles. Sunny was already helping by lifting the tables. After the tables were set in the middle of the hall, a few portable stoves were set up with very big pots. Abbi came back from the backstage with a bunch of colorful packages. Strangely enough, when they were preparing to cook water, Sunny was sitting quite a distance from them.

"Hey Sunny, why aren't you helping?" Basil called.

Sunny jolted when Basil called him, and looked away while trembling. He didn't answer.

"You see… flower boy…" Hiko crouched to Basil's level.

"Sunny is on the ban list of cooking," Hiko said with a serious expression.

"W-what do you mean?"

"The last time me and Abbi asked him to just turn on the stove, he nearly burned down our apartment."

"Oh…"

Everyone sat in circular arranged chairs with a fork and a bowl filled with a clear soup and noodles. Basil, Kel, Aubrey, the Hooligans, Hiko, Abbi, and Sunny sat on one side of the circle in that order. Hiko and Sunny vigorously dug into their meal. The rest of the group… looked at their bowls with confusion.

"This is suspicious…" Basil stated.

"I don't know about you, but the smell is very enticing," Kel drooled.

"For once, I agree with you, Kel," Aubrey chimed in.

"Well, I'm taking one for the team…" Kim took some of the noodles and rolled it around her fork like it was spaghetti pasta. She slowly put the noodles in her mouth and chewed. What came with it was the flavor of MSG goodness.

"Y'all, it's really good!" Kim started eating into her bowl at a rapid rate.

"I knew it!" Kel instantly started eating from his bowl, "YO, THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!"

"The umami is lusciously wrapping me into its embrace! Subarashii! Mikhael posed with tears in his eyes.

Aubrey quietly ate from her bowl, she was starving.

After everyone was done, they communed with each other. After some time, the people who were in the hall before started going back home, leaving Basil, Kel, Aubrey, the Hooligans, Hiko, Abbi, and Sunny alone in the hall.

"Maaan, that was so good!" Kel laid down on the floor, content. It wasn't the healthiest meal, but it sure did the job.

…

"Oh! I forgot again!" Basil cried.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Kel asked.

Basil approached Hiko, "Hiko, you said there's a public phone nearby, right?"

"Yeah, just go out, turn right and then turn right again. It should be easy to spot."

"Thanks!" Basil walked towards the door.

"If you can't find us, we'll be on the roof!" Hiko said.

"Why the roof?" Aubrey asked.

"Why, Aubrey… We'll be sleeping with the stars!" said Hiko.

"What… Why don't we just sleep here?"

"Come on! It's summer, there's no cloud in sight, and it's windy! It's a perfect day for a roofless sleep!"

"What about our bedding?" Vance asked while raising his hand.

"We have enough for everyone backstage, just gotta dust up a little bit of dust!" Hiko said, smiling confidently, "Now, let's prep up!"

Opening the door to the roof, they all saw a beautiful dark blue sky jotted with sparkling stars here and there.

"... It was just like old times, right?" Kel said.

"... Yeah…" Aubrey responded.

Long ago, their old group went stargazing by their old picnic place. It was one of the activities Sunny genuinely enjoyed. That time, all of them enjoyed the cold windy breeze and the beautiful sight the sky had to offer as they laid down in a circle.

Hiko, Vance, Charlene, Mikhael, and Kel brought the mattresses from backstage so they could sleep up there. Abbi took out blankets that she found backstage. They were apparently unused curtain cloth, but they were comfortable enough.

The group spread out as soon as they finished putting the mattresses and blankets into place. The Hooligans more or less grouped up together on the left side of the roof, Aubrey and Kel were on the right, and Hiko and Abbi were in the middle, the two of them were looking at a certain someone. Kel and Aubrey noticed Hiko and Abbi and followed their sights. It was Sunny. Sunny lifted his head up, looking at the stars. He was dazzled by them, the breeze caressing his cheeks and playing with his hair. He closed his eyes as he enjoyed the breeze. Kel and Aubrey stared at this sight of Sunny and the stars.

"... You know, Aubrey? We haven't been good friends, have we? For Sunny."

Aubrey nodded.

It was partly their fault that Sunny ran away, and the fact that they didn't find Sunny for a long time and seeing him only to have one eye and smoking just made them feel more awful. Honestly, the both of them wanted to hug Sunny and never let him go ever again, but…

Sunny seemed to be scared of his old friends, and no one knows why.

…

The both of them stayed silent, until Kel took a deep breath. It seemed that Kel had made a choice.

Kel walked up to Sunny.

"Kel…?" Aubrey saw him walking to Sunny.

…

"Sunny?"

Sunny jolted. He looked away from Kel, not daring to look at him.

"... Sunny, I…" He reached out his hand towards Sunny. There was still a distance between them.

"..." Sunny didn't say anything.

Kel looked down, they stayed silent for a little while.

"... I'm sorry."

Sunny twitched. Kel didn't see his face, but Sunny was slightly surprised.

"I'm… sorry for not believing in you. I seriously thought you pushed Mari for real back then. I… I judged too quickly. I should've asked you. I'm sorry, very, very sorry," Kel still hung his head low. However, his confession did make him feel more relieved.

Kel didn't hear anything. It was silent. Kel sighed, as he looked towards Sunny again, thinking that he didn't get a response. However…

Sunny was looking at him, his eyes were darting here and there, however. His hands hung in front of his stomach. It was shaking a lot. The sight hurt Kel's heart. Sunny looked so fragile.

Sunny took a deep breath, and said something to Kel. However, it was so small that Kel could not hear him, but Kel understood what Sunny said through his lips.

'It's okay.'

"... No, it's not okay," said Kel, his voice trembling.

Sunny was surprised.

"You ran away, that means it's not okay. You're not okay. And I… I'm your very first Faraway friend! And I didn't even give you a chance to defend yourself! I'm… I'm an awful person. And now, look at what that did to you; you lost your eye!"

Kel pursed his lips, his eyes watering.

…

Kel felt a trembling hand on his right shoulder. Sunny had walked nearer towards him. His fear was very noticeable. Nevertheless, he tried to comfort Kel.

"D-don't cry," Sunny whispered, "I'm not angry at you."

Kel felt a stab in his heart as he fell on his knees. He put his left shoulder on his eyes as he sobbed.

After some roaming, they finally tucked into their mattresses and improvised blankets. The mattresses were arranged in a circular manner, with their heads on the outer part of the circle.

They were ordered in this fashion:

Aubrey, Kel, Basil, Kim, Vance, Mikhael, Angel, Charlene, Abbi, Hiko, and Sunny.

Kel was, as usual, sleeping with his hands and legs out in the open, one of his hands and legs trespassing on Basil's mattress. Basil, on the other hand, was sleeping peacefully when Kim laid one of her hands across Basil, one-hand hugging Basil.

Amongst them, two people haven't slept yet.

Because this was a circular arrangement, the first and the last in order would be sleeping next to each other. Hence, Sunny and Aubrey were sleeping next to each other.

Sunny was facing away from Aubrey, while Aubrey faced away from Sunny. Both of them couldn't sleep.

Aubrey, for one, had something weighing her mind. Of course, it was related to Sunny. She wanted to talk to him. It had been a long time since she saw him. But also… She wanted to help him. She doesn't know why, but she felt something was wrong with Sunny. So, this time, she wanted to be the receiving end of their conversations.

"... Sunny? Are you awake?" Aubrey tried to start a conversation with Sunny.

Sunny didn't say anything, and only jolted a little bit.

Aubrey turned towards him, seeing his back.

"Sunny… What's on your mind?" Aubrey asked.

"..." Sunny didn't say anything, trembling a little bit.

"Sunny… I… I want you to know that… it's okay for you to talk about a lot of things with me. I won't laugh. I will listen to every thought you have… whatever you're scared of… what's wrong… so… I want to hear your thoughts. Just like how you always heard mine."

"..."

"... A… It's okay if you don't want to answer. That's okay," Aubrey turned back to her previous position, looking away from Sunny.

…

Aubrey heard ruffling from behind her.

Aubrey sat up and looked towards Sunny's direction, to see Sunny sitting up and finally looking at her direction. Well, only his face did; his eyes were looking away. He was trembling even more. Aubrey looked worried. They just sat there silently for a while.

…

"Are you scared of us?"

Sunny twitched, confirming Aubrey's question.

"B… but why?"

"...'

"..."

"Eyes…"

"Eyes…?"

Sunny finally looked at her in the eyes, but only a split second. However, Aubrey didn't fail to notice that his eyes were tinted with the most fear she had seen from Sunny.

"Your eyes…

They're red… and scary…"

Sunny hugged himself, he looked away again. Sunny was trembling even more with hyperventilation on the side. Aubrey was surprised.

Not knowing what to do, Aubrey took one of his hands. At first, Sunny trembled even more, trying to get away from her grip. But…

"Sunny, my eyes aren't red! They're brown… like always. And…

"I won't leave you alone, Sunny. I'm here for you," she stroked Sunny's backhand with her thumb, slowly but surely calming Sunny down.

Aubrey then put a hand on his cheek, and another on the other. She brought his face to look at hers. Sunny fought against her hands, but looked at her face in the end.

"Here, look, Sunny…

My eyes are brown, right?" Aubrey smiled gently, "They aren't scary."

Sunny panicked looking at her, but slowly he started to calm down. He was probably no longer seeing red eyes.

Aubrey smiled, happy with his response. She stayed in that position for a while, her hands feeling Sunny's warmth. However, the longer she looked at Sunny, something surged even more from within her heart. Aubrey pursed her lips, trying to control whatever emotion she was having.

"Sunny…"

Aubrey suddenly hugged Sunny as tight as she could.

"I… I missed you so much."

"I was so scared. My parents… my dad… my mother… both of them were scary."

"I was so scared, and you weren't there."

"I was so scared, and I miss you so, so much."

"Sunny…" Aubrey said with a trembling voice and started sobbing on Sunny's chest.

Slowly, Aubrey was wrapped in Sunny's arms. His hands were trembling, but not as much as before. Because…

Aubrey's eyes were a beautiful brown.

Rolling back the time a bit…

"Found it!"

It took a little bit of time, but Basil finally found the public phone Hiko was talking about. It was shielded with a blue plastic construct with black streaks and scratches.

Basil took the phone and put a few cents in. He dialed his house's number

…

…

"... Hello? Who is this?" Basil heard a familiar voice from the other end of the phone. It was his grandma.

"Grandma, it's me… Basil."

"Basil!? I'm so worried! Come back home, right now!"

"... I can't. I'm stuck in Nowhere."

"Don't joke around."

"No, Grandma, the name of the place is literally Nowhere."

"Oh…"

"Don't worry about me Grandma, we found good people who wanted to house us for a night. Oh, speaking of we… I didn't go alone, rather, I went with Aubrey, Kel, Kim and a bunch more people! We're safe… we're all safe."

"I… see…"

"But Grandma, I also have very great news!"

"W-what is it?"

"We found Sunny!"