"So… what's your favorite food?" Hiko asked.
…
It was a peaceful night in the creative hall.
Some teenagers made a circle, playing a quartet piece for their recital.
Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were discussing on their work-in-progress artwork that they're supposed to make on a canvas bigger than the hall's door.
A few teenagers near the hall doors… were playing in-real-life S*per Sm*sh Br*s just because.
Our local madman artist was laughing like a madman on a corner. No one dared to get near him as he drew more fours on the canvas.
The stage was occupied by Abbi practicing a piece on a digital piano that was usually stored backstage.
In the center of it all, was Hiko and Sunny… drawing.
A few days ago, Hiko asked Sunny to 'trade drawings' to get to know each other. The premise was simple; Hiko and Sunny would take turns asking each other, and they would draw their answer on a piece of paper. The truth is, Hiko did this to find out more about Sunny… and how he could help him.
Sunny drew a steak, as it was his favorite food, and showed it to Hiko.
"... ah, so you like steak! Could you guess mine?" Hiko asked him with a big smile as he showed a drawing of a plate, rice, and something brown.
"... Curry," Sunny answered.
"That's right! It's the best thing there is in this world!" Hiko's eyes gleamed, "I will always have extra room for more curry!"
Sunny nodded.
"Now… what's your question?"
Sunny looked up and tilted his head with his hands put inside his crossed legs. It was a very adorable sight. It was so adorable that if Abbi saw him like that Sunny would be half alive due to suffocation.
"... Your favorite person."
"... Eh?" Hiko looked at Sunny surprised.
Sunny smirked a little, something he wouldn't do about a month and a half ago.
This cheeky little brat-
A vein popped on Hiko's right temple as he smiled.
"You know, Sunny. You're also going to draw yours, too." Hiko smiled devilishly.
Sunny's smirk disappeared as he slowly looked away with despair in his eye in realization. Sunny was showered with cold sweat.
Either way, they drew their favorite person in the end. Well, people.
Hiko showed his first. It was a drawing of two stickwomen, one shorter than the other. The taller one had green buns and a black t-shirt with an exposed right forearm. The other one had very long hair with a straight pony. She wore a kimono with flowers.
Sunny was surprised it wasn't just Abbi.
"... Who?"
"The shorter one, you ask? Well… she was a certain special someone from long ago…" Hiko looked far away with a saddened smile, "So, how about yours?"
Sunny looked away, trying to whistle. His hands were behind him.
"... Let me see!" Hiko tried to grab whatever Sunny was hiding. Sunny tried his best to make sure Hiko didn't get it.
In the end, Hiko finally got whatever Sunny drew.
Sunny puffed his cheeks in childish anger, also something he wouldn't do some time ago. His time with Hiko and Abbi had made him express more of his emotions.
"... Rules are rules, Sunny!" Sunny looked away, still puffing his cheeks.
Hiko looked at Sunny's drawing. Hiko looked in surprise as there were two of them, like his. One of the stickwomen was shorter. She had a blue bow and a pink dress. The taller one had long hair, her bangs were mostly tucked in behind the ears, with one bunch of loose hair in between. She wore a white dress.
"Who are they?" Hiko asked.
Sunny stayed silent, looking down. He was no longer puffing his cheeks. Rather, he had a small blush. Sunny pointed towards the short one first.
"... Friend."
Friend, heh. Hiko thought.
Sunny moved his pointing finger towards the taller one.
"... Sister." Sunny's face looked lonely and sad. He seemed to miss both of them.
Hiko's eyes widened, and then went back to normal.
"... I see."
The both of them stayed silent at each other. Until…
"Well, let's wrap today up, then. It's getting late," said Hiko as he gathered the papers and art supplies. Sunny followed suit.
Thanks to Hiko drawing with Sunny, Sunny would sometimes draw in his free time in the apartment. The subject of his drawings were usually Hiko, Abbi, himself, and the members of the CBA. Abbi liked what he was doing, and pinned some of her favorites on the walls.
But, what was the CBA?
The CBA was an abbreviation for the Coalition of Broke Artists. It was a community in Nowhere with the Brett-Eddy Creative Hall as its headquarters. Many of its members were music and art students of the prestigious Somewhere University of Music and Art who couldn't afford the pricey rent and living fee of Somewhere, and… well, broke artists. The members of the CBA were encouraged to learn how to protect themselves and other members of the CBA in their own creative ways due to the dangerous environment of Nowhere.
For example, do you remember the group of violinists that did the Ling Ling workout? Their bows were actually armed with hidden tasers on one end. Courtesy of the Crackhead company, founded by good old Uncle M*chael R**ves, every broke students' best friend for self-defense.
Or, do you remember that madman who likes to laugh madly at random times? Well, he actually had a gun… that holds four bullets. Did he even have a gun license?
For this very reason, Hiko would train Sunny to grow a little bit of muscle through a game of "More Push Ups, More Curry!", where the winner would get more curry (Hiko would sometimes let Sunny win). Yes, Hiko's curry was that good.
Other than that, Sunny and Hiko would play "Beat The Dummy!", where Hiko would make Sunny swing a makeshift bat on a worn out sandbag he found, hung on a tree next to the creative hall to push the sandbag as far as possible. There was that one time when the bat slipped out from Sunny's hand by accident and broke the creative hall's window. It was still patched with wooden planks even after Sunny's friends found him.
It had been a month and a half ever since Sunny met Hiko and Abbi.
Sunny was at his usual place in the morning; the creative hall. He was still trying to perfect his playing of Der Erlkonig.
Sunny had gone quite a long way since he had started. He had mastered the two stops part (although the sound quality was mediocre) and he was starting to grasp the three stops. In terms of technicality, he was at a quarter of the score. This wasn't the case for the quality. Nevertheless, he had progressed at an extremely fast rate.
Sunny wasn't happy, however. He didn't like the sound he was producing. Frustrated, he started to play the first part again, again and again. It didn't get any better. He had tears in his eyes.
CRASH!
Sunny stopped and looked towards the noise, it was a girl older than him. She was wearing long jeans, cream colored sweaters, and round glasses which had fallen lower to the left. Her hair was a mess.
She swore a bad word in awe of what Sunny was playing.
"... Der Erlkonig…? At that age…?"
Sunny tilted and whispered the bad word questioningly.
The girl took whatever she let go and scampered quickly to Sunny. Apparently, what fell was a violin case that was bigger than Sunny's.
"D-do you mind playing it again?"
Sunny frowned, but played it on her request. He slid down the bow and played, wanting to cry because of how frustrated and how horrible the sound was. He finished playing the part, and then…
"V-very well done! You did great for your age!"
This wasn't what Sunny wanted to hear. He pursed his lips as he tried to not cry.
"H-hey!? What's wrong?" The girl saw this.
"... It's not good…" Sunny whispered, as tears started to roll down his face.
The girl realized that the boy was frustrated. She patted his shoulder and talked to him.
"...I know, it wasn't good. But! For your age, you did good! I-if you don't mind, I'll teach you for a bit!" The girl smiled at him, as her glasses tilted a bit to the left.
Sunny looked at her as he wiped his tears. Sunny nodded with puffy eyes.
"My name's Angela, what's your name?" Angela brought her hand out for a handshake.
Sunny looked at the hand and gave a light grip on her fingers, "... Sunny."
"Alright, then, Sunny. Let me teach you some tricks, okay?"
And that was how Sunny met his first teacher.
Angela was a student of Somewhere University of Music and Arts in her final year. As you could see from her violin case, she was a violinist. While she was a good violinist, she wasn't a gifted prodigy. However, she was good at teaching other people. Angela gave guidance to Sunny about the more technical stuff, like hand positioning and techniques. Seeing her guidance helping Sunny grow at a tremendous rate made her feel joy (and depression all at the same time).
Angela would come to the hall more frequently after their meeting since she needed a place to practice for her final recital assessment that was accessible to her apartment. She would at times give Sunny pointers and guide him at times. This was the routine for quite some time… Until…
He met his second teacher.
…
One night, Angela entered the creative hall bringing another person with her. It was a teenage boy who had his messy hair grow to neck length. He didn't take care of his facial hair, which made him have a mustache and thin beard. He had eyebags on his eyes. He wore a black long sleeved t-shirt and black pants. He had bad posture, as he slouched his back.
It had been three months since Sunny met Hiko and Abbi. Thanks to Angela's guidance, Sunny's playing had improved rapidly, being able to play half the score technically right. He still made mistakes, but Sunny didn't care at this point as he was focused on being able to go through the composition first.
Sunny was playing Der Erlkonig as usual, when suddenly…
"CUT! CUT!"
Sunny stopped playing in shock, making a screech from his violin.
"Boy!"
Sunny pointed at himself, surprised.
"Yes, you!"
The emo teenage boy called upon Sunny. He walked towards the stage where Sunny was.
"Boy, where's the fear? Where's the terror!?" His eyes were bloodshot, his saliva was going everywhere.
Sunny tilted his head in confusion.
"Wait… you don't know the story of Der Erlkonig?"
Sunny shook his head.
"I knew it! Boy, as a musician, you don't just play; you have to breathe life into your music! That music needs to get its wings and soar to the sky!" The teenage boy talked with theatrical grandiose and gestures.
Sunny looked even more confused.
The teenage boy sighed, "Let me put this in simpler terms; you can't just play Der Erlkonig, you have to tell the story of Der Erlkonig!"
Sunny half-heartedly nodded.
"... Here, sit down, boy," the teenage boy sat down with Sunny also sitting down in front of him. He took out a picture book with the title Der Erlkonig.
"... Boy, I'll tell you straight. You, play with no soul. You play good, but you also need soul. Got it? What a disaster! But don't worry, boy, soon you shall play as if William Shakespeare's entire Romeo and Juliet were on the tip of your bow!" He talked as he exaggeratedly gestured his hands.
Sunny was now even more confused. You can hear cogs in his brain spinning and racking, trying to process what he just said.
"... Who's that?" Hiko whispered to Angela's ear.
"That's Javier! My friend who majors in musical composition. He's a bit of a weirdo, but he's a very passionate composer who topped his class! I asked him to come here and teach Sunny. He said he would only teach him if Sunny was worthwhile, and it seems he had deemed Sunny so!" Angela said as she smiled. Her glasses tilted to the left.
"... He's weird. I like him!" Hiko smiled.
"... But… wasn't the story of Der Erlkonig like… that?" Abbi joined in.
"That's true… but it's a children's picture book, so it should be fine, right?" said Angela.
They went silent until…
"Uh oh."
"What's wrong?" Hiko and Abbi looked at her.
"Javier stayed up all night yesterday. Was it for making that picture book!? Knowing him, he wouldn't spare any details, kid or not… Hiko, Abbi! You need to stop him!"
The three of them rushed towards Javier.
"""JAVIER, STOP!"""
…
In the end, they weren't able to stop Javier from telling Sunny the story of Der Erlkonig. For an entire week, Sunny wasn't willing to go out alone in the dark and would always hug Abbi or Hiko in his sleep.
…
Two strong notes resounded throughout the hall, indicating the end of a certain composition.
It had been 10 months since Sunny met Hiko and Abbi.
Sunny had played his piece better than ever. He had nailed down every part with a near-professional quality with Angela's teachings.. Besides that, he had also done the storytelling well enough thanks to Javier's guidance.. For an 8 month journey, Sunny had produced amazing results. He truly was a prodigy.
Three individuals applauded his performance, while one kept nodding, his face expressing his satisfaction.
"Very good, Sunny!"
"Way to go, little sunshine!"
"He's come a long way! … very quickly," Angela quickly slumped as she got depressed looking at how far Sunny had come in such a short span of time.
"... Good! He's ready!" Javier fidgeted his chin with two of his fingers.
Javier walked up the hall's stage and one-man hugged Sunny, him beside Sunny as he put one hand out in the air in front of them.
"Boy, how would you like it? To play on a big stage. Being applauded, being praised! How does that sound to you?"
Sunny looked at Javier. He reminisced back when he saw that violinist play on top of the stage and imagined himself playing up there.
After thinking it through, he wanted to play on stage. However, it was not for the cheers. He just wanted to show something he was proud of in front of people, to show people what he loved.
Sunny nodded.
"You want to? Great! You will reach stardom!" Javier theatrically said, "Don't forget to coin my name in, would ya?" Javier whispered to Sunny's ears. Sunny hesitantly nodded to Javier.
The other three showed their agreement to Sunny's choice. However, Sunny had his doubts.
"... It wasn't perfect, though," Sunny whispered with a frown.
"It doesn't have to be perfect. If you ask me, I don't mind some mistakes here and there. As long as you captured the essence of the music, I'd say you've done a great job! Rather, the mistakes make it authentic and beautiful, don't you think?" Hiko smiled.
"I agree with him, little sunshine!" Abbi walked towards Sunny and brushed his hair, "Besides, it would be a good experience for you as a violinist~."
"It's not as if musicians were robots! I'm sure someone great out there had made mistakes in their plays. As your teacher, I give you my approval to play!" Angela gave Sunny a thumbs up.
Feeling assured by the three of them, Sunny nodded, solidifying his choice.
"I know! Let's show the CBA your performance first! It will be your very first show!" said Hiko.
Sunny nodded, his eyes gleamed.
Some time later, after the four of them arranged chairs in the hall for the members of the CBA to sit on for Sunny's performance.
Sunny was standing behind the hall building alone, his hands trembling.
It was true that he wanted to perform on a stage, to show what he was proud of. However, the nervousness and fear of being watched and judged for his mistakes was still there.
So, Sunny took out Hiko's box of cigarettes and lighter that he stole and lit a cigarette.
It was a few months ago, but Sunny once asked Hiko why he was smoking.
"Hm… because I like it, I guess? It also keeps my nerves calm and allows me the respite to think things through."
That line stuck onto Sunny's head like glue. It was because of this very line that made Sunny start to smoke. He didn't smoke regularly, but whenever he was feeling extremely frustrated or stressed or whatever emotions he wanted to avoid, he would smoke. The worse the emotion he felt, the more he would smoke. The most he had done in one sitting was an entire box.
"... Sunny?"
Sunny looked towards the voice like he was a deer in headlights. It was Hiko.
Hiko saw what was on his hand and quickly ran towards him, grabbing the cigarette and lighter.
"Sunny! I've told you before, smoking is bad!" Ugh, I sound like a hypocrite.
Sunny looked down.
Hiko sighed as he kneeled and put his hands on both of his shoulders.
"Sunny, you know we care for you, right? I care for you. But you can't avoid nor cope with your emotions like this. Just let the smoker be me, okay?"
Sunny stayed silent.
"... You're scared of the stage, are you? You're scared of being judged for your mistakes… is it?"
Sunny's eye widened. He slowly nodded.
"... I see. Do you want to know a trick?"
Sunny looked at him and nodded.
"Imagine them as bunnies. Cute little bunnies won't harm you, right?"
Sunny nodded, as he was reminded of his crush. He blushed a little, and then he looked sad. Despite what happened that night, he still missed his old friends.
Hiko noticed this, but decided not to ask anymore questions. Hiko took out something from his pocket.
"Here, a lollipop. Watermelon flavored! You should eat this instead of inhaling a cig," Hiko smiled gently.
Sunny took the lollipop and unwrapped it. The candy part looked like a watermelon. Sunny was reminded of the time he, his old friends and his big sister went to the beach and ate watermelons. The one part he remembered the strongest was the face of his crush as she happily ate her watermelon, with seeds on her cheeks. He missed them even more. However, he also didn't want to go back.
Sunny put the lollipop in his mouth.
"... Good. Now, Sunny. Like I always said… if you feel stressed out or scared, you can talk to me or Abbi. We're here for you, okay?"
Sunny nodded.
"... Alright. Now, let's go back on, okay?" Hiko patted Sunny's head, "You have a show to run!" Hiko gave him a big smile.
The both of them walked back into the hall as they both held hands.
"... and then, he got up on that stage that night. Yes, he didn't play as well as he did in front of the four of us. But, it was a good start for him," Hiko said as he smiled, looking at Sunny playing.
Aubrey was staring at Hiko the whole time he told Sunny's story. She then looked at Sunny.
"... I see," Aubrey smiled as she blushed a little, "I'm glad that he was happy here. I'm kind of sad, though…"
"Why is that?" Hiko asked.
"I- we weren't there to see him express more of himself. If it was how you said, then there were so many faces we had missed," Aubrey said as her ears went red. Nice save there, Aubrey.
Too bad it wasn't good enough.
Hiko looked at her with a cheeky smug. Aubrey looked at him and was startled a bit.
"W-why are you making that face!?" Aubrey blushed.
"Hm… noooothing," Hiko had found out who was the short girl in Sunny's drawing.
They stayed silent for a while, with the sound of Sunny's playing in the background.
"D-did he say anything about m- us?" Aubrey asked while looking away. She was turning redder by the minute.
Of course, Hiko knew what she really wanted to know.
"Hm… He said enough about you," Hiko smirked. One thing about the drawing game was that the both of them really liked to tackle each other in terms of their loved ones, specifically Abbi and Aubrey. Thanks to that, the both of them actually knew quite a bit about each other's favorite person.
"I s- wait, what do you mean by 'enough about you!?'" Aubrey looked at Hiko quickly, she was beetroot red.
Hiko looked away and whistled. Unlike Sunny, Hiko could actually whistle.
After everyone woke up from the slumber, everyone quickly had breakfast. Hiko bought a bunch of pancake mixes and cheap chocolate syrup for their breakfast from his usual convenience store. As Sunny ate together with his old friends and the Hooligans, he was reminded of the times his old group slept over at his house. Hero and Mari would cook breakfast for all of them while Kel and Aubrey would fight with each other. Sunny and Basil would be on the couch watching the Sweetheart series. Sunny felt nostalgic and a pain only felt when you miss someone as he ate the pancake.
Soon after that, they all walked to the bus stop and waited.
"Thank you for your hospitality!" Basil bowed towards Hiko and Abbi.
"No problem! If you want to visit Sunny or us, feel free to! Though, don't stay with us too much!"
"Why is that?"
"We're tight on money… hahaha…" Hiko scratched the back of his head as he laughed nervously.
"Oh… sorry…" Basil felt bad.
"Ah, no worries. Besides, that instant noodle stash is a collective stash of the CBA!" Basically, whoever wanted to donate instant noodles to the hall was free to do so. No one had to donate anything. However, it was a custom to buy back the noodles you ate. So, in a way, Hiko did actually lose money. However, he didn't say this so as to not let Basil feel guilty.
"CBA?"
"That's… you know what? Forget about it."
Basil tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off.
…
"Won't you come back home?" said Aubrey to Sunny.
"Yeah… Mari and Hero misses you," said Kel.
Sunny flinched at the saying of Hero's name. He tightened his grip into a hug on Abbi's arm. Abbi stroked his head when she felt him hug her arm.
"No…," Sunny whispered.
""Oh…"" Aubrey and Kel looked down. Both of their faces wore a saddened expression. For Aubrey, however, it was more painful.
"... Not yet…" Sunny continued.
"Oh," Aubrey and Kel looked at Sunny with a gleam of hope. At the very least, Sunny wasn't going to be away forever.
Sunny had been holding on to Abbi and hadn't made eye contact with any of his old friends except Aubrey. He was still afraid of them. For Aubrey though, he would take quick glances at her.
The sound of a bus was heard in the distance.
"Hey guys! The bus is here!" Angel called out to the others.
"Alright then, we're going back home, gang!" Kim rallied the Hooligans.
"Saraba, nakama! We shall meet again!" Mikhael posed as he waved his wig with his hand.
"Mata nee, nakama!" Hiko answered back with a J*Jo pose, everyone was weirded out by the exchange, including Sunny.
The bus had stopped in front of them.
"Well, then… see you, Sunny!" Basil waved at Sunny as he walked towards the bus.
"Bye, Sunny! We'll visit you again!" Kel waved at Sunny, too.
"Sunny, please come back, okay? When you feel like it," Aubrey was two steps away from Sunny, her eyes pleading for Sunny to come back.
Sunny replied by nodding. He also waved his hand towards the other two behind. If he looked at their backs instead of their faces, the fear wasn't very bad.
…
…
"... Sunny…?"
Sunny instantly froze and audibly gasped. He was trembling so much it didn't even compare to the previous ones. He slowly looked towards the voice that he would always remember.
… it was Hero and Mari. The voice was from Hero. Mari covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes widened in surprise.
"... Little brother?"