The Youth of Shizume
(Storehouse)
"Their memories will always connect them,
more than a smudged mark could ever do."
...
"Eh monkey, remember that time?" he asked while shifting position, the hard wood of the window frame made him stiff after a while. His companion let out a sigh and responded, mirthful,
"If you're talking about the time I threw you off the docks, yeah, and it was fun as h—" He was interrupted by the thud of a fist hitting wood, "Shut up dip shit! Argh, you are an ass."
It was a quiet, warm night. Misaki, sitting on the window sill and facing outside, turned to his companion after a couple of minutes of silence. Solemn, he started, "You know, that time the guys got side-tracked and it was us—"
"Against those masked dealer-wannabes in storehouse twenty one, yeah."
Misaki's grip on the frame loosened, "It was pretty wild, eh? But man those suckers wouldn't stop bragging, well, until I beat the shit out of them, haha." At this, Saruhiko got up from the bed and walked to the window. The room was dark, he could only see Misaki's body outlined by the street lights.
"But not before I saved your ass from the one that almost chopped off your arm." He leaned on the empty half of the window sill, his eyes focused on the barely visible stars above, "It was… not boring. They were enough to keep me entertained for a short while."
The bright lights of Shizume made it difficult to star-gaze, but most people preferred to look at the projected ads and entertainment rather than the stars anyway. And it was something the young ones were used to, something that's always been that way for them.
Shizume replaced natural beauty for man-made, beauty was modified.
"Gah. I was totally fine, you are just a show off." Misaki looked back at the sky and, as if on cue, the prussian blue explosion of a peony firework took over the sky above the docks. A royal blue swirl followed short after. "I was good. To think such a lame group could have so many losers in it. And then —haha, you— ha, you were so out of breath by the time we knocked out the last one that I thought you would pass out right there, ha."
Saruhiko, annoyed, could do nothing but stare at the green and yellow fireworks covering the sky as Misaki laughed to his heart's content. Hand on his stomach, the teen doubled over, eyes ocasionally drifting to his companion's.
"…"
"And when we got out of there…" Misaki whispered, a scarcely audible murmur that Saruhiko knew so well. Eyes glued to the sky, Misaki's whole body showing anticipation.
"Yeah. It was…grandiose, exciting, it was us."
Misaki remained on the window sill of his room as Saruhiko, miles away, went to lay back on his bed.
The barest remnants of explosion sounds reached them, as kamuros, crossettes, rings and many more covered the sky in red gloriousness. Scarlet, dark and bright red, the sky spoke of a plethora of red pyrotechnics welcoming two triumphant boys into the night a year before.
...
ps: a ghost that remains with each other.