"Good work, Omori! We're going to close up shop, now."
Sunny nodded back at the shopkeeper.
A month had passed after Sunny was taken in by Hiko and Abbi. Sunny had scored a part-time job at a floral shop in Somewhere through Hiko's connections. The job reminded Sunny of his good friend that loved flowers.
So, why was Sunny called Omori, you might ask?
Well, let's turn back the time one more time, even though I, the writer, had fast forwarded the time.
19 July 200X, the day after they took in Sunny.
"...All done!" Abbi had finished dyeing Sunny's hair into a silver color in the bathroom.
Sunny looked at the bathroom mirror, his eyes wide. He kind of liked the results from the hair dyeing.
"Now, for the lenses…" Abbi took out a contact lens container from her bag and opened it. She took a single transparent lens with her two fingers.
"Alright, open your eye wide…" Abbi held Sunny's face upwards by his cheek and slowly put the contact lens in, until…
Abbi saw that Sunny was trembling, and his eye was watering because of fear.
"Sunny…? Could… you be scared of using contact lenses?"
Sunny just stood silent, and nodded a little bit.
"Sunny… If you don't want to, you can tell me… I won't force you to use a contact lens."
Sunny's eye widened, his eye was lit with light. He nodded at Abbi's statement.
Sunny looked at Abbi in a very innocent manner. His face was small and had a roundish shape. His big eyes were like a cat's when their pupils were diluted, his nose small.
Abbi just stared at Sunny for a while, when…
She suddenly hugged Sunny tightly, rubbing his head with hers.
"You're so cuuuuuteeee!"
Sunny struggled to get out of the hug, slowly being suffocated.
The bathroom door was open, and someone passed by and saw what was happening.
"Hey, uh… I think you should stop whatever you're doing, Abbi…" Hiko said.
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, little sunshine!" Abbi let go of her tight hug on Sunny, Sunny put a hand on the wall, gasping for air. His face was growing blue during the hug.
"Hey, Sunny. We need to talk a little bit about something." Hiko said.
Sunny tilted his head.
The three of them sat on a circle on top of the mattresses. Hiko was wearing his favorite white t-shirt and black shorts combo while Abbi was wearing her right forearm exposed black t-shirt and blue hotpants. It was hot inside the room after all, with only one open window on top of the door as ventilation. Sunny was wearing his black shorts he was wearing before and Hiko's black sleeveless t-shirt that was over Sunny's size. He still had his eye bandage.
"So… you need a new name to use around town." Hiko started the conversation.
Sunny tilted his head in confusion.
"Well… you don't want to be found, right? And honestly, you gotta help us out, too. You don't want to just freeload, right?"
Sunny nodded without hesitation. It wasn't his intention to freeload on anyone.
"Right… and you need a cover name when you're on a job or spending money in town or whatever you're doing."
Sunny nodded again.
"So… any ideas?"
Sunny thought for a while, and whispered to Hiko and Abbi.
"... Omori."
"Omori? The piano brand? Why that, though?" Hiko asked.
Sunny went silent, looking away.
"... Something to remember my big sister by."
Sunny's eye was filled with loneliness. It was a little heartbreaking sight for Hiko and Abbi.
"... Okay, then. I'll take it. Now… A surname." Hiko continued.
"You know Hiko, the silver hair reminded me of white roses," Abbi smiled.
"White roses, huh? I remember it also meant silence in flower language."
Sunny looked at them in silence.
"How about it, Sunny? Your name is Omori Shiroibara. That's Japanese for white rose," said Hiko.
Sunny looked at Hiko and nodded, his eyes gleaming. Sunny seemed to like it.
"Alright, that wraps it up!"
… And that's how Omori Shiroibara came to be.
Returning the time back,
Sunny was wearing a green frilly apron, with the shop's name and logo on it. Under the apron, he was wearing a white shirt and long black pants. His eye bandage was now replaced with a white eyepatch. What he usually does in the shop is to check if the plants were in stock and to bring plants at command from the other employees. After all, Sunny's voice was definitely not the loudest. Besides that, Sunny was sometimes put outside as a mascot of sorts. Sunny seemed to garner attention from girls older than him due to his doll-like complexion.
After helping the employees close up shop, Sunny went to the Somewhere Theater. He was told to meet up with Hiko and Abbi there. He jogged lightly, as there was still time.
Somewhere was a very beautiful town. The streets were made with a beautiful grayish blue stone material tiling, and the pedestrian and buildings were made of terracotta. The pedestrian street had these ornate benches and streetlights, and the shops were made of different materials of their building, giving the town more color. Other than that, the fancy people walking through the place made it feel like you had been transported to older times.
Sunny jogged, as he enjoyed the view of the town and its ambience.
Sunny walked up the stairs towards the pantheon of musicians. After going through the flight of stairs, he looked around trying to find Hiko and Abbi. He found the two of them near the performer's doors. He ran up to them.
"Hm? Hey, Su- ahem, Omori!" Hiko called out to Sunny.
"Little sunshi- I mean, Omori!" Abbi waved at Sunny.
Hiko was wearing a black suit, while Abbi was wearing a simple black dress. Hiko was bringing a big cello case.
Sunny stopped in front of them and looked at the both of them innocently.
"We're both going to perform today," said Hiko, "Here, a ticket."
Hiko gave Sunny a ticket for him to go in. The two of them landed a job to perform in a concert that was held at the Somewhere Theater. Being given a ticket to give to their friend or relative, they decided to give it to Sunny.
"Cheer on us, will ya?" Hiko winked at Sunny.
"Knowing you will be seeing us perform, I'll have to do my best!" Abbi smiled, as she crouched and cupped Sunny's cheeks.
"Performers Hiko and Abbi, we need you backstage now!"
"Ah, we're called. See you inside, Omori!"
Hiko and Abbi walked into the performer's door and went in. Omori turned the other way and went into the theater.
The theater was crowded with a lot of people. All of them were wearing suits and fancy clothing, which indicated they were high-class people.
Sunny was sitting at the very front on the right. He looked at the stage, and thought to himself.
… If I didn't throw away my violin, maybe… maybe it will never come to this.
… If I didn't throw away my violin, I would be playing with Mari…
Speaking of Mari, how was she?
Back then, Sunny had asked Hiko to check up on Mari. Sunny hadn't known if Mari had woken up or not. At one point, Hiko had found some time to go by himself (Sunny didn't want to go) to Faraway Hospital to check up on someone named 'Mari Suzuki'. Fortunately, he was greeted with the news that she had been discharged from the hospital just the next day Sunny left them.
Breaking his chain of thoughts, Sunny decided to pay attention to the concert.
Many musicians who played on different instruments went up the stage, each giving a wonderful performance. Some performances were quartets, some trio, some duo, but no solo. Seeing them play wonderfully together also made Sunny feel depressed.
… That must've been how Mari wanted me to be, right?
A perfect musician… must be accompanied by a perfect musician.
Sunny remembered the past, when he was practicing his violin with Mari.
…
So much expectations, so much pressure.
The pressure had made Sunny fear of doing something wrong, which in fact just made him make more mistakes. Every time he made those mistakes, the angrier Mari sounded. Finally, at one point, Mari hit her boiling point.
"Why can't you play this correctly!?"
Sunny cringed upon remembering that. It was understandable, however. Mari was frustrated because Sunny couldn't play perfectly, like she wanted him to. She was already playing at near perfection.
The truth is, Sunny never played the violin because he loved the violin; it was because he loved Mari. He wanted to spend more time with Mari, who because of the piano and her studies had less and less time for her little brother. He didn't like or dislike the violin, but the past experiences of him playing…
It made him hate the violin.
Was that the reason Sunny threw his violin? Not entirely. The other reason was…
Suppressed feelings.
…
It was long ago, but at one time, Sunny had broken a vase and started crying. He was only five years old at that time. Sunny was crying very loudly as his sister and mother tried to comfort him while his father was cleaning up his mess. Annoyed by Sunny's cries, Sunny's father snapped at him.
"QUIET! STOP CRYING! YOU'RE A MAN! MEN, AREN'T SUPPOSED TO CRY!"
Sunny immediately stopped crying after that. No…
From that point on, Sunny had a tendency to not show a lot of emotions and keep his inner turmoil to himself. This tendency made Sunny pile up his stress within up until the pressure got to Sunny. Unable to process and contain the stress and pressure… while associating the violin with his pain…
He threw the violin. He threw what his friends had worked so hard for to give him. Thinking back at it, Sunny felt terrible for doing that.
…
Sunny hadn't realized he had closed his eyes in the middle of his thoughts. He opened it again, to the sight of Abbi and Hiko playing. They were enjoying their duet.
In a way, Hiko and Abbi reminded him of Hero and Mari a lot. Seeing them just made him even more depressed, despite the happy tone of the play.
Hiko and Abbi had finished their performance, and were greeted with applause. The both of them bowed. Abbi saw Sunny, and tried to wave at him. Sunny noticed and waved at her back. However, Abbi saw Sunny's slightly saddened look, which caused her smile to disappear. After that, they disappeared into backstage.
… Why am I here?
Musical instruments have and only caused me pain.
Sunny closed his eyes, as he rested his head on his hands, padded by his legs. He sighed.
… I should just go.
But just before Sunny tried to stand up, he heard something unusual from the announcer ever since the concert started.
"Now, for our next performance. Franz Schubert's Der Erlkönig played by virtuoso violinist Kerson Leong!"
A soloist, and a solo violinist to boot.
Sunny opened his eyes and looked at the stage. There, only a single person in a suit stood.
And then, he played.
…
Sunny looked at the violinist in awe as he played. The violinist played flawlessly and he played with ease. He saw that this violinist was enjoying his own playing. He also saw that this violinist was free to express and play his piece however he wanted. Sunny thought that the violinist looked cool.
Sunny looked at the violinist, and thought to himself,
I want to be like him.
For once, he wanted to play the violin not so that he could spend time with Mari. Right now…
He wanted to play the violin like this violinist.
A passion was sparked within Sunny from that fateful encounter.