So KamiAso Infinite just dropped. *vibrates excitedly* MY BODY IS READY

Song inspiration: Oyosute Aina - Takagi Masakatsu

Tsukito stood at the shore of the beach, staring off into the distant ocean before him.

"Tsuki-Tsuki." He hears Apollon call his name, "Are you ready to return to Delphi?"

Tsukito picks up his violin case and pulled the strap over his shoulder, "Yes."

He turns towards Apollon, noting the sad smile on his face. After what happened yesterday, Tsukito had expected Apollon to go into a rage upon being rejected and punish him somehow. And he was completely prepared for that. He'd rather have that happen than be roped into a romantic relationship with the god out of pity or fear.

But much to his surprise, Apollon didn't do anything. He kept his distance for the rest of the day, only checking on him every once in a while to see if he needs anything. And he still remained kind and hospitable the whole time, showing no hint of malice at all.

"Very well, then." Apollon puts his fingers in his mouth and let out a whistle. As if on cue, the flying horse from before appeared by Apollon's side.

Now that Tsukito notices, it was huge! Much bigger than any other horse he has seen in his life. He was mildly intimidated by its large size, but nevertheless, Tsukito smiled up at it. "Hello again, Pegasus."

"You can pet him if you want. He's very friendly." Apollon said.

Taking up on Apollon's offer, he reaches for its mane, running his fingers through it gently. In response, it nudges its nose against Tsukito's face. He hears Apollon giggle as he climbs on the pegasus' back, "I think he likes you." He stretched a hand towards Tsukito to help pull him up. "Hang on tight, okay?"

Suddenly, Tsukito found himself flying through the clouds. It was freezing seeing that they were up at a higher altitude and the wind beating against them certainly did not help. The cold bit through Tsukito's thin clothes fairly easily, but Apollon didn't seem to be phased by it at all. Tsukito wonders how Apollon manages since he wears little to nothing.

Now that he notices, he could feel how abnormally warm Apollon was. It was like hugging a space heater...or something like that. Tsukito didn't know why, but this was oddly comforting to him.

He hopes Apollon doesn't notice as he inches a little closer to him in the most low-key way he could manage.

"Thank you." Tsukito said as Apollon dropped him off at his sanctuary.

"Are you going to be okay? Are you?"

Tsukito nodded, "Yes, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I'm glad. Take care of yourself, okay?"

Tsukito just stands where awkwardly, rocking on his heels, "So...see you around then?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Apollon let out a sigh, "I don't know."

"Fair enough." Tsukito replied, "Apollon, I'm...I'm sorry about what happened the day before."

Apollon shook his head, "No no, don't be. I'm actually a little glad that you were honest. Besides, that was the nicest way anyone's ever turned me down."

"Well, I do try to let people down gently." Tsukito said.

"That's a good quality to have, I think." Apollon lets out a small laugh, "Well, bye."

Before Tsukito could say anything else, Apollon flies off into the sky. He could only watch until the sun god disappears into the dense grey clouds.

It started raining when he got back to the hotel. Tsukito was sort of glad he made it in time or else the weather would have a bad effect on his poor violin.

Tsukito just lay in bed, his eyes intently fixed in the little cracks in the ceiling. It was the first moment of peace Tsukito has had in a while and he was gonna relish in it. He closed his eyes and focused all his attention on the sound of rain pattering against the window.

But after a while, the silence was starting to get uncomfortable. His fingers twitched slightly, as they always did when he suddenly felt the itching need to have violin strings on them. But this time, he also felt something else. Something he hadn't felt in a long time.

He actually feels like writing something.

Tsukito hurriedly jumps out of bed, snatching up the violin case he had placed by the door and then rushed back to the bed again. He hopped onto it, sitting cross-legged as he popped the latches open. Taking out the violin, and putting it aside, he found an old journal he had crammed into one of the compartments and forgot about for years. The paperback cover was slightly crumpled and the pages had turned yellow with age. It's been a long time since Tsukito ever touched it, let alone written anything. He wonders what the songs he wrote were like back then...?

As soon as he opens to the first few pages, he sees exactly why he doesn't remember them. Most of the pages were either torn or scribbled out with black marker, not a single note or lyric discernable. After several pages of this, he reaches the final page he wrote in. The handwritting was barely legible and getting more increasingly sloppy as it continued towards the end of the page.

"TAKERU IS GONE TAKERU IS GONE" over and over, filling up the entire two pages.

Well, it was nice to remember that he was an absolute mess after Takeru's death, but he certainly did not have the emotional energy to revisit that time. Tsukito tore out all of the ruined pages and crumpled them into a huge ball, tossing them across the room and into the trash can. Got that squared away.

He picked up his violin and played a few notes, trying to see what worked. But after a few tries, he feels that he's getting onto something. He put the violin down for a moment so that he could write this down. Then it continued from there.

An hour and a half later, Tsukito found that he'd only manage to fill the entirety of one page. It seemed like all of a sudden, the spontaneous surge of inspiration just disappeared. But still, he was surprised that he was able to compose anything at all. Maybe hanging out with Apollon was actually doing him some good.

But he feels that he couldn't stop here now. He really had something. Tsukito began pacing around the room, hoping maybe it might come back to him. But after a few minutes of doing that...nothing. Oh well, it wasn't like he was in a rush anyway. Sighing, he sat back down on the bed and skimmed over what he had wrote, what little of the song he wrote played in his head over and over.

But soon, the song in his head became a sharp ringing sound. There was a dull pain shooting through his head and he was starting to feel more increasingly dizzy. Everything went white before suddenly gruesome visions of warfare and death and fire flashed before his eyes.

Oh no...This again? Why was this happening? The first time, Tsukito just shrugged it off as a simple fever dream. But it doesn't seem that way now and it terrified him.

Tsukito curled up into a ball and covered his ears as if it would cease the ringing in his ears, but he could still hear the screams of agony and suffering. He tried to slow his breathing and remain calm, but it was hard with these frightening hallucinations.

He didn't have to suffer for long, as this time the visions were brief, only flashing before his eyes for a few moments. Suddenly, Tsukito found himself in his hotel room, now staring at a page of music notes...and blood?

Tsukito groans. He still had that pounding headache, but at the same time felt a little lightheaded. God, he needed to take care of himself better. But where did the blood drips on the page come from...?

It didn't take Tsukito very long to realize as he lifted a hand towards his face and wiped his nose. Seeing the blood on his fingers confirmed his suspicions.

He knew he got sick rather often, but that never included nosebleeds. Unless...it had something to do with the visions he'd been seeing. Did having random visions of war and bloodshed come with spontaneous nosebleeds now?

Whatever was going on, this is probably not the time to dwell on it. Just overthinking it made his head hurt even more. He should probably go into the bathroom and clean himself up and maybe lie down afterwards. That sounded like a much better idea right now.

Maybe he could ask Apollon about it...that is, if he still wanted anything to do with him now.

After a few dull rainy days, Tsukito hadn't heard or seen anything from Apollon. He figured that maybe he would give him some sort of sign from above, but if that was the case, Tsukito would've totally missed it.

It was just as he thought. Apollon won't help him anymore.

Well, that short amount of time was fun while it lasted, but maybe he should just spend his month in Delphi as normally as he could and maybe by the time he moves on to the next destination, he would just forget about all this mess with gods and magic.

Tsukito sat in the far back corner of a little cafe, just absentmindedly staring out the window. He just spent an hour reading over his song again and again. No matter what he did, he just couldn't figure out how to continue it. Does it even matter at this point?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he slides the journal aside and reaches for his coffee. To be honest, he doesn't really like the stuff, but it was a wonder how he's become so dependent on it.

"Excuse me, is it okay if I sit here?" Someone asks him while he was in mid-sip.

Tsukito puts down his coffee, "Sure, go ahead..." His sentence trails off as he faces the person who was speaking to him. He just stared in disbelief at the all too familiar golden blond hair and green eyes.

"Hello, again!"

"What are you doing here?"

Apollon takes a seat across from Tsukito, "I came to see you, what else would I be doing?"

"I figured you'd get tired of me." Tsukito said, "Or forgot to place some sort of terrible curse on me and came here to do the deed."

Apollon shook his head, "No no, I would never do that to you. Never!"

"But you could if you wanted to."

"No. I won't do that."

"How surprising. I thought you would. Especially after I rejected you and all." Tsukito says nonchalantly, taking another sip of his coffee.

"If it was a couple of centuries ago, then yes, maybe. But I've made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn't going to be that person anymore." Apollon replied, "Besides, I thought about what you said and...you're right, actually. I do have a bad habit of rushing into things. No wonder why all those girls tried to run away from me." He laughs sheepishly.

"Uh-huh...and?"

"After much consideration, I've decided...I still want you help you. As a friend." Apollon declared, grinning from ear to ear, "Besides, I promised you. And I never go back on my word."

Tsukito raised an eyebrow, "Very well, if that's what you want, then I suppose it's fine."

Apollon bounced in his seat, super ecstatic with Tsukito's answer. "I won't let you down this time!"

"I know. You told me that the first time." Tsukito says in a hushed tone, trying to calm him down. "I'm glad you're enthusiastic, but don't too excited now. People are staring."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry." Apollon whispered, sinking back into his seat. "No violin today?"

"It's been raining lately, so I've decided not to bring it outside, otherwise it would've affected the sound drastically."

Apollon's gaze went to Tsukito's journal, "Ooh, what do you have there?"

"A song." Tsukito states simply, sliding the journal across the table for Apollon to see.

"Wow! You wrote this?"

"Yes. I just suddenly had this surge of inspiration and wound up composing that. But it's not much."

"But it's something! It's something, at least!" Apollon said, "You just need to keep going."

Tsukito sighed, "That's the problem. I can't. I've tried for days, but I just can't seem to get it to come back to me."

"That's why I'm here...what are those stains on the page?"

"Blood." Tsukito responds nonchalantly despite the look of horror growing on Apollon's face, "I just suddenly got a nosebleed and it ended up dripping onto the page."

"Oh no, were you okay?! Were you?"

"I was fine for the most part...but I think I had one of those visions again. I thought maybe you might know something about it."

Apollon's eyes widened, "Really? What was it this time?"

"The same thing. War, violence, bloodshed, all those lovely things. It was very brief this time though. And I didn't feel like I was actually there, it was just like, a movie flashing before my eyes. Sorry, I'm not making any sense; this probably just all surreal to you."

"You're looking at the god of prophesies here. Visions are kind of my thing."

"Has anyone ever told you you are the god of way too many things?"

Apollon laughs, "Well, I kinda noticed a long time ago. But hey, I have to take up all these responsibilities because no one else is going to." He joked, "But anyway, visions and prophecies are a very finnicky thing. It's difficult to explain, but generally, they're meant to predict the future, but I think you already knew that. Most of the time they're really vague and plus, the future changes all the time, so it's unreliable, but at the same time, it is. And there's limitations to it too, like for example, I can't see my own future, but I can with everybody else's."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with me?"

"That, I don't know yet. But what I do know that every vision you have, no matter how small, has to be important somehow, especially with repeated visions of the same thing. So whatever you're seeing definitely has to mean something." Apollon continues to explain, "But that you have to figure out on your own."

"One question: is it possible to have visions of the past?" Tsukito asked.

"Yes, actually, but that happens very rarely. Is that what you think you're seeing?"

"Maybe..."

"What have you been seeing? Describe as much as you can in full detail."

"Well the first time, I was in a city of some sort, but not like a modern city with skyscrapers and things, but like an ancient city and it was burning to the ground. Civilians were screaming as they tried to escape and I think there were a few people violently coughing up blood and dying in the streets, but mostly there were soldiers with bows and arrows and spears and swords just brutally dismembering each other...what else? Oh, I remember there was a huge wall around the whole city, but it was starting to crumble."

"And? Anything else?"

Tsukito shook his head, "No, that's all I remember."

"Hmm...I do find it strange that you are even having visions in the first place. I mean it is possible for mortals to have the gift of prophecy but only when it's given to them by a god. And they usually shouldn't cause you any physical pain..."

"Then did you...?"

"No, no, I didn't do anything, I swear! I absolutely swear!" Apollon insists, "If we don't know where it's coming from, then there's nothing I can do to make it stop." When he saw the disheartened look on Tsukito's face, Apollon immediately felt terrible. "But that doesn't mean we can't try figuring it out. Maybe you're having these visions for a reason. If you keep having them, then you'll have to piece them together somehow."

Tsukito sighed, rubbing his forehead, "It'd be nice if I was not having them. I don't think my mental health could take it."

Apollon reached across the table, placing his hand on top of Tsukito's "Well, if you need to, you can always come to me, okay?" He says with a reassuring smile.

Tsukito couldn't help but smile back. Somehow...he feels like he can depend on Apollon a little bit. "Thank you."

"So about that song you were writing."

"Hmm? What about it?"

"Go get your violin and meet me at the temple." Apollon glances out the window, "I'll take care of the rain for you."

It was still pouring while Tsukito walked back to the hotel. It was only a ten minute walk, but the rain had completely soaked through his clothes.

He was shivering by the time he got back to his room. He quickly changes out of his wet clothes and by the time he was done, he could see the sun shining brightly through the window.

'Wow, he actually went and did it.'

He slung the strap of his violin case over his shoulder before heading out again. The air still felt sort of moist and sticky as it had just rained. Tsukito looks up at the sky and sees the gray clouds already beginning to recede behind the hills, leaving a clear blue sky. It was like Apollon had chased them away...maybe that was exactly what he did.

Tsukito was on his way towards Apollon's sanctuary when something in one of the shop windows had caught his eye. He couldn't read the sign outside, but he could easily assume that it was a bakery. Among all the freshly baked bread and cakes in the display window, Tsukito was more interested in the delicious-looking orange tart that sat in the center of it all. The vibrantly colored orange slices were arranged in a way that sort of resembled the sun. Tsukito could feel his mouth water just by looking at it. And he wasn't even that fond of sweets.

Maybe Apollon could wait just a few more minutes.

When he reached Apollon's temple, he was kind of expecting that Apollon would bring the original building into existence again. Turns out he was right. Go figure.

As Tsukito walked up the steps to the temple, he could hear that strange music from before, accompanied by Apollon's singing. The sun god didn't seem to notice Tsukito walking in.

Tsukito would've called out to him to get his attention, but his song was just so beautiful, he couldn't bring himself to disturb him. So Tsukito just stood off to the side and listened as Apollon continued plucking the strings on his lyre, completely unaware of his audience.

After a while, Apollon stops, "Oh yeah, I forgot about Tsuki-Tsuki."

When he stood up and turned around, his heart nearly jumped out his chest when he saw Tsukito standing there, "Tsuki-Tsuki, when did you get here?!"

"A while ago, actually." Tsukito answered bluntly, "I just didn't want to disturb you."

Apollon let out a sigh, "Please don't scare me like that, please."

"I apologize."

"But you were taking a while and I was starting to get worried."

"Oh yes, about that...I decided to make a stop somewhere." Tsukito presented Apollon with a white box, "I got you a treat. An offering of sorts, I suppose."

In an instant, Apollon's golden eyes glittered with joy, "Thank you! Thank you so much, Tsuki-Tsuki!" He said, enveloping Tsukito in a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey, be careful, you're going to ruin the tart." Tsukito scolds him as if he were a child.

"Oh, is that what it is?" Apollon asked, "It smells like oranges."

"That's because it is orange."

That seemed to make Apollon even more happier, "Really?!"

"Judging from that reaction, you must really like oranges." Tsukito said, "Now, are you going to sit down and eat it or not? It's going to get cold."

"Oh yes, of course, of course! And we should go over that song you wrote while we're at it."

Tsukito sighed, setting his violin case on the floor, "Alright, let's get to work."

First, Apollon had asked Tsukito to play it on his violin so that he could mimic it on his lyre, then he began to add on a few more notes to it and let Tsukito build it up from there. After many hours and many scrapped ideas, Tsukito felt like he had something solid, even though Apollon often had to give him little bits to play off of, so he couldn't really take all the credit for it.

"Good work, Tsuki-Tsuki! You deserve a break."

Tsukito placed his violin back into its case, "Good, because my fingers are starting to hurt. Do you feel like eating that tart now?"

"Oh no, we forgot. We totally forgot about it. Now it's gone cold."

"That's okay, I'm sure it's still good cold, but I mean you could always try heating it up somehow since you're the god of the sun."

"Oh yea, I didn't think of that! Wait a second, please." Apollon picked up the box and held it in his hands for a moment. Soon Tsukito could see steam coming out from a small opening in the box, "Alright, it's done! It's all done!"

Tsukito just stares at the box, just completely dumbfounded, "I was joking, but okay."

Apollon couldn't contain his excitement as he opened the box. "Wow, it's so pretty! It looks like the sun! It looks like the sun, doesn't it?"

"That's what I thought too. It reminded me of you, so I decided to get it." Tsukito chuckled in amusement. He couldn't help it, Apollon was just being too bubbly and adorable.

"Then I happily accept!" Apollon said, helping himself to a slice and biting into it, "It's good! It's so good!"

"Do gods even eat?" Tsukito asked.

"We do, but we don't have to eat constantly like humans do. We're fine just eating once a month." Apollon held up his slice of the tart to Tsukito's face, "Here Tsuki-Tsuki, try it."

"No thank you, I'm fine." Tsukito politely refuses.

"You're a human and you probably hadn't eaten all day. You need it more than me. Come on, please?"

"I can feed myself."

But Apollon was still being persistent, "Say 'ahh.'" He gives Tsukito this look with wide, sparkly eyes and a huge grin.

Tsukito huffed in exhasperation. When Apollon makes that face, it's hard to say no. "Fine, you win."

He tries to take a bite of the tart as quickly as he could. Somehow, the thought of being fed by someone else was kinda embarrassing to him. But Apollon seemed to see no problem with it, "Is it good, Tsuki-Tsuki? Is it good?"

"Hmm, it's not bad. I think it's way too sweet." Tsukito replied with a shrug, "That means more for you, I guess."

For a second, Apollon was a bit disappointed that Tsukito didn't like it, but was still extremely happy that he recieved a gift from him. But he had a feeling Tsukito just brought it out of pity for rejecting his love confession. Apollon hopes that's not the case. He couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Hey Tsuki-Tsuki, did you bring me a gift because you felt sorry for me?"

For a moment, Tsukito was taken aback by the question, but responded by shaking his head. "No, not at all. I'm from Japan, so being polite and nice gestures is kind of a habit. Since you still wanted to be my friend and went out of your way to continue helping me, so I felt I had to thank you somehow."

"Oh, I see. Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have assumed that you were that kind of person." Apollon said, "...and now I'm making this awkward, so...uhh...you feel like working on that song together? Maybe we could do a duet. Okay, maybe I should stop rambling."

"Apollon, slow down." Tsukito replied, "I would love to. Come on." He reached for his violin again, noticing how intently Apollon was staring at him as he did so. "Uhm...is something wrong?"

Apollon shook his head, "No, I was just noticing how delicately you handle the violin. Sorry, that just sounded really weird just now."

Tsukito raised an eyebrow, finding Apollon's random observation quite strange, "Well, violins are very fragile, so you do have to be careful with them. But I do try to be especially careful with this one since...it was a gift from my younger brother."

"Really?"

"Yes, when I was thirteen, he accidently broke my previous one and he felt so bad about it, he used up everything he managed to save up just to get me a new one for my birthday, even though he really wanted to save up for a new bicycle." Tsukito couldn't help but laugh at that memory. "So I just wound up using it ever since."

"You two must really love each other, huh?"

Tsukito smiles fondly, "Of course we do." He shakes his head clear of his thoughts as he felt tears just beginning to well up in his eyes, "Actually, you know what? How about I teach you how to play the violin? Then in return, you can teach me how to play the lyre, if that's okay with you." Tsukito eyed the golden lyre Apollon was holding, "I've never seen one before, so I've been quite fascinated about it."

"Of course I'll teach you, but isn't going to be night time soon? Don't you have to get back soon? Don't you?"

"It seems you forgot that I don't really sleep." Tsukito replied, "It's alright, I have all night."

So I started watching Bungou Stray Dogs (great show so far btw) The main reason why I started it was because Tsukito's voice actor also voices Atsushi and I'm just here like,

Guys, I can't believe Tsukito became a furry.