Summary: Kanata had already learned not to expect. Five years of Miyu's absence — how could this year be any different? "Hey, long time no see, Kanata." — Actually, it was wildly different.

Disclaimer: I don't own Daa! Daa! Daa! I have no property to my name, that's why I'm doing my best to finish my thesis (so I can graduate and find work already). During my breaks, I write this; this is what keeps me sane for the meantime.

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Waning Moon

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They were walking side by side. He was keeping to her pace — short, measured steps upon layers of snow. An expansive blanket of white covered the world around them, interrupted here and there by the color of the peeling paint of the houses and small shops that lined the streets. Above them, the sky was overcast – a dome of dirty white — and the snow continued to silently fall.

It was early afternoon, and Kanata and Miyu had just eaten their lunch moments ago. The meal was an interesting affair inside the Saionji household. The table was alive with incessant chatter. Miyu was pleased to see her parents enjoying themselves. And Kanata's dad could not contain his delight at seeing Miyu again.

Miyu could only wonder how much more animated they would be during their dinner later. She suppressed a chuckle.

With that, the silence between them was preserved. Kanata and Miyu had been walking for a few minutes now, but they had yet to exchange words. From Kanata's standpoint, the quiet was companionable; he wasn't very talkative to begin with.

And it seemed to him that Miyu didn't mind too. She appeared to have changed in this respect. She wasn't especially chatty now. But that wasn't a terrible change, Kanata thought — he could live with that.

Or maybe, just maybe, Miyu was actually be squirming inside her head, thinking of a way to break the silence, but couldn't find a subject they could talk about — that seemed plausible enough. She'd always been the type who had something to say. So why stay quiet now?

Kanata was itching to look at the expression on her face. Just to confirm, he told himself, if she was really suffering from this outwardly heavy, impenetrable silence between them.

With all the subtlety he could muster, Kanata tried to sneak a peek at her face.

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Busted.

When Kanata tried to look, Miyu had already been staring at him expectantly. She knew something like this would happen.

"Got ya." Miyu was openly laughing beside him.

Kanata, on the other hand, was puzzled. He tried to say something in the effect of his bewilderment, but no words came out.

"I thought you might want to see why I'm suddenly quiet. Ha! I so was right." She patted herself on the back, her face looking smug.

"Uh-huh." By now he had already managed to look composed, and spoke as if he were merely tolerant of a playful child. He went back to looking at the distance, hoping to hide his face in case it had actually turned scarlet.

"You should have seen how you looked!" Another laugh. "Like our proverbial deer caught in headlights. Just to let you know, Kanata, I can still talk your ear off."

He turned to look at her again, and was just about to retort something clever but the words were suddenly stuck on his throat. Kanata saw that Miyu wasn't looking at him anymore; something up ahead had caught her attention. Her side profile, Kanata mused, looked absolutely lovely. Breath-taking even.

"The town's really changed." Miyu was admiring the family restaurant a few meters away. It was a sizable building, newly constructed, that had taken up the corner of a block. Their destination—they were supposed to meet their friends in this place.

The restaurant looked vibrant, the atmosphere inside festive. Customers were coming and going, waiters and waitresses were everywhere at once, and the little chime at the door was constantly jingling with the door opening and closing every so often. It was as if the place was inviting Kanata to step inside its warmth.

But something in Miyu's tone ticked Kanata off. Her words were colored with the awe of a child when given new toys to play with. It irked Kanata that she was so welcoming of the change. He had imagined that she would be fearful that her territory was being transformed into something completely unrecognizable. The places in this town where their cherished memories had occurred were now all gone—how could she not worry about that?

One part of him believed Miyu had never even considered this town to be her home and therefore couldn't care less about what happened to it. By extension, that Miyu never found home in the Saionji Temple, in Kanata. But a majority of him recognized the foolishness of his thoughts. Still, he could not help but be frustrated.

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But Miyu was Miyu, bubbly and optimistic. With an almost imperceptible shake of his head, he considered, this might even be a good sign. It was always healthy to consider the greater side of things.

Miyu was already half-running to the café's door. "Old man Kanata, hurry up!" She was waving her hands at him, but he continued to ignore her taunts. As much as Miyu was loud and cheerful, Kanata was mature and cool. He wouldn't be caught dead running around eagerly like a child regardless of his own contained excitement.

"Hey! Show the old man some respect."

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The tinkling of the bell on the café door brought everyone's attention upon the arriving couple. A second later, most patrons had already eased back into their own affairs. But a couple of people from the group huddled on the corner table rose. One had vibrant, pink hair; the other had two bouncing braids.

Kanata could feel Miyu longing to just dash to their table and hug those two. And so, without warning, he grabbed the cuff of her trench coat. She scrambled around to face him, faintly flushed and a little breathless—baffled and a little annoyed at his sudden intrusion. If Kanata had been easy to blush, his face would be colored in an interesting shade by now. Their faces were so close—and for a split second, he was stumped.

But he caught himself immediately, and although his voice came out a little parched, he managed to say, "Snow." He let go of her cuff. "On your hair," To emphasize, Kanata pointed to his own head.

And as if waking up from a dream, she slowly reached for her head and dusted the bits of white snow that clung to her hair.

"Uh, right. Thanks." Her eyes were hidden behind her thick bangs so he couldn't discern what she was thinking. He wanted to reach out and help her — really just to touch her — when she stumbled a little from a sudden impact. Aya, who had crossed the room to reach her, was on Miyu's back, her arms around the blonde neck.

"Miyuuuuuuu, so slow~"

And there it was—the sight of women hugging with beaming faces. Kanata half-expected them to launch into a lengthy conversation right then. But both women merely glanced up at the group waiting with barely contained anticipation in their table and laughed, as if sharing a secret.

Before long, they were all huddled comfortably together in their booth with the rest of their middle school gang, except Aya and Santa who were at the counter, placing their orders. The table was filled with chatter: friendly greetings, short-lived chuckles, and snatches of gossip.

"This feels nostalgic, doesn't it?"Santa commented, sliding back into his seat.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we got together like this." Nozomu – sitting squashed between Aya and Christine – nodded solemnly.

"Miyu! You've been absent for six years!"

"But it's not like the rest of us see each other often too."

"And we're even the same college, Aya-chan."

The first item on their agenda was to reminisce. The second was to lament the fact that they rarely get together. They all had reachable mobile phone numbers and email addresses but sadly, their differing schedules and their unfortunately heavy workload kept them busy. Furthermore, they now lived scattered all over the globe.

Staying nearest Heiomachi were Aya and Nanami. They were attending the same university in a nearby town. But even though they're in the same college, they hardly saw each other. Moreover, this term, Aya was occupied with her internship with a publishing company.

Nozumu and Christine got themselves were on the founding board of their friend's start-up company after they lent a hand in its establishment. Unsurprisingly, Nozumu found his hobby – performing magic acts for the audience – even more satisfying than his job. At any rate, neither of them really needed to work so hard to bring food to their tables.

Santa, on the other hand, was now a full-pledged salary man in Tokyo – he would sometimes bump into Miyu in the city's streets – and was dating the celebrity endorser of their company's products.

"And Kanata here…Kanata, you sly dog! All your ex-girlfriends were babes! How could you just let them all go?" Mock resentment graced Nozumu's features. He was wagging a finger at Kanata as if admonishing a wayward child. "American babes –!"

Christine gently elbowed Nozumu to shut him up. The others laughed.

Unintentionally, Nozumu had accurately summarized Kanata's love life with his friendly jab. While Kanata was studying a business course in a university abroad on scholarship, he started dating maybe some of his classmates (one at a time, of course). It was sad, but no one actually stuck close to his heart.

However, it appeared that he already developed a certain type.

"Hey, Miyu, Miyu! Did you know? Kanata here only dated blondes and green-eyed girls. Then it's only a matter of time…" Nanami revealed suggestively, her eyebrows twitching in amusement.

The only blonde, green-eyed girl in their midst turned dangerously red, scandalized. "You guys!"

Scattered laughter rifled through their table. Satisfied of successfully making Miyu blush, the gang moved on to another topic.

And although the subject wasn't taken up again, the implication weighed heavily on their minds.

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It was already early in the evening when they finally parted. Everyone wanted to spend dinnertime with their own families, especially since they were now living apart from them on regular days.

Moreover, Miyu was particularly adamant to return to the temple to help prepare their meal later—it came as a surprise to everyone, especially to Kanata, that Miyu would be cooking.

At half-past six, Kanata and Miyu were walking again, side by side, like they had earlier, this time with a friendly banter flowing between them.

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AN:

To be honest, I treat this fic as an AU, where there was no alien baby and babysitter that came to earth and fell into Kanata's and Miyu's care. Had this been set in either anime- or manga-verse, personally, I don't think Miyu – or even Kanata – would be capable of looking for separate partners. Raising a baby together, even temporarily, isn't an experience that anyone could simply forget. Those memories would sit prominently in their minds. They'd always look back on those times and inevitably think of each other.

If Kanata or Miyu manage to find other partners still, they would always measure them with the other person as standard. And whatever their unfortunate partners would do, they would always have their doubt. After all, who could tell what those people would be like as parents?

Unless they themselves struck up a relationship with each other and parted on a sour note, they would be each other's greatest what ifs.

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Also, I hope you could review even if it's to tell me I'm horrible. I'll do my best to write better! :)