Disclaimer: OMORI and its characters are owned by OMOCAT. Only the OCs are mine. Please support the official release.


Sunny flinched when the song ended abruptly. He had made another mistake and he could tell that it was bothering his sister Mari. When they first started, she would always wave off his mistakes telling him that the recital was a few months away and they were practicing to work out the kinks, but as time flew by and the recital date was drawing closer he could tell that his sister was getting more and more agitated. At first, she was discrete about it, but soon she didn't bother to hide her displeasure with his play.

First, she would stop playing but kept her eyes on the sheet music. Then, she would let out a long drawn-out exhale through her nose before stretching her fingers. Finally, she would give him a stern look that told him to get ready before starting the song again. It was routine that Sunny thought they did at least seven times when they practiced and he hated it.

He wasn't messing up on purpose, honest. He practiced his part with his tutor and on his own and every time he got through it with no mistakes, but when he played with Mari, he could only make mistakes. Maybe it was because he was anxious to play with her or it was her unreasonable expectations of everything needing to be perfect, he didn't know. What he did know was that he couldn't wait until the recital was over and for everything to go back to normal.

Sunny heard Mari start up the song again and he got ready for his part. He counted the seconds in his head and when heard his cue, he dragged the bow across his violin strings. He started off strong, as always, but then they reached the part where he always messes up and this time was no different.

Mari did her usual routine but when she looked at Sunny, she gave him the most obvious forced smile that you either had to be blind or stupid not to notice.

"Sunny, why don't you go out for a bit, so I could practice on my own for a while," she told him. Sunny knew that she didn't want to hear his mistakes but he wasn't going to pass up the chance for time off from practicing.

He slowly walked out of the piano room and after he closed the door behind him, he could hear Mari effortlessly play the piano. It sounded beautiful and a hundred times better without him there to ruin it. He didn't understand why Mari wouldn't exclude him and play the recital on her own. She told him she wanted it to be perfect and it would be perfect if he wasn't there to drag her down.

He looked at his violin and knew the answer. It was because he wanted to spend more time with her. She was taking more and more college courses causing him to see her less frequently and soon she'll be off to college where she'll only be home during the holidays. He wanted to do something with her to gain extra time with her before she inevitably leaves and when he got his violin his wish came true.

Last Christmas, his friends worked really hard to save up enough money to buy him the instrument and at the time, he was happy because he finally had a way to spend more time with his sister, but over time it became the bane of his existence. Lessons stole him away from his friends, it made his sister upset whenever he messed up, and the strings dug into his fingers during their long practice sessions. If he was being honest, he hated his violin and wanted nothing more than to destroy it and use the debris as firewood, but he couldn't do it, he didn't want to disappoint his friends after they worked so hard to get it for him.

Sunny sighed before walking to his shared bedroom. He placed his violin into its case and grabbed his favorite black hoodie and some money before going to the bathroom.

He took one good look at his fingers and sighed. The blisters have gotten worse, but luckily they weren't bleeding, but he knew that would change the longer he practiced. He couldn't tell Mari about it because she was already upset with his playing and didn't want to give her another thing to worry about. He tried telling his father but he told him to suck it up and not to cover his wounds with band-aids because it would, "Mess up his playing."

Sunny shook his head before placing his hands under cold water. If he couldn't cover his wounds then he could at least clean them before they become infected.

Exiting the bathroom, Sunny made his way to the front door and put on his shoes. He contemplated telling his sister that he was leaving but concluded that she was too distracted by her piano to even hear him. Putting on his hoodie, Sunny left his house.

Walking down the street, he contemplated what he wanted to do. He didn't want to hang out with Hero because he knew that the older boy was going to ask him about the recital and Sunny wanted to use his free time to think about anything but the recital. Aubrey and Kel were also off the table because they were busy with their respective sports, Aubrey was busy with a serious softball tournament and Kel had to train for basketball tryouts. Spending time with Basil also wasn't an option because the boy's grandmother took him to spend time with his parents.

He thought about going to Hobbeez, or Gino's, maybe even buy some candy at Othermart but it all sounded unappealing with no one to spend time with. The same went with the park and the secret hideout, so he decided to keep walking and see where the road will take him.

After walking for a few minutes, and trying to befriend a couple of stray cats, Sunny hadn't found anything to do. He contemplated going back home, but he enjoyed his time away from practicing and Mari's unreasonable standards. Plus, he didn't see any harm in staying out for a few more minutes.

After a few more minutes of walking, Sunny realized he hasn't walked past a house in a while. He couldn't even see the plaza anywhere. He knew he walked past it but he didn't think he moved so far that he couldn't see it anymore. He began to panic when he realized that he was lost.

Remembering his sister's words, Sunny took a deep breath and calmed down. He remembered what his mother told him if he ever got lost, look for anything familiar and retrace your steps from there. Sunny looked around for anything that he had seen before when he spotted a ginormous building off in the distance. It didn't take long for him to figure out that it was the hospital.

Even though Faraway is a small town, it has a huge hospital which Sunny never understood, but at that moment he didn't care. He raced to the hulking building in hopes of either using their phone to call home or to help him retrace his steps back home. He made it to the hospital and before he walked into the building, Sunny noticed a clock close by and realized he'd only been out of his house for twenty minutes. Not wanting to worry his sister, Sunny decided to hold off on calling home and walk around the surrounding area to not get lost again.

While the hospital does reside in Faraway, Sunny considers it to be in its own separate town. The schools are close by and there's a grocery store that his mom would go to on the off chance that Othermart didn't have what she was looking for. There's this one building where his parents would take him and his sister when he was little. Looking back on those memories made him smile.

Sunny headed off in the direction where he remembers the building was located. It didn't take long for him to see the building's silhouette and sign.

FARAWAY'S ICE/SWIM CENTER

It had both an ice rink and a swimming pool open all year. His parents would always take him and Mari here to skate when they were younger, but in recent years they've all but stopped showing up. Sunny assumed it had something to do with Mari's injury and his parents not wanting to put any unnecessary strain on her knee.

Sunny checked how much money he brought with him and saw he had enough to rent a pair of skates. Deciding that he was going to enjoy himself while on his break, Sunny walked into the center to have some fun.

He first walked up to the counter and paid the employee for some skates. He told her his size and she shortly returned with a pair of black skates. He thanked her and made his way over to the rink after placing his shoes in a locker.

He sat on the bleachers and watched the other skaters move around the rink. It wasn't too busy and Sunny watched a family of four skate. He saw the youngest tumble onto the ice and saw them begin to tear up. Before they could shed any tears, their older sibling skated up to them, gave them a bright smile, and took their hand before skating ahead of their parents.

Watching the scene play out reminded Sunny of the first time he went skating. He face-planted onto the ice and was ready to cry his eyes out when Mari crashed into the ice next to him, but she didn't tear up, no, she was laughing. It was seeing her enjoying herself that made him hold back his tears and try again. After that, he had gotten pretty good at skating and couldn't remember the last time he fell while skating.

Sunny broke out of his daydreaming and finished lacing his skates. He made his way to the rink entrance and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It has been a while since he last skated so he'll most likely be a little rusty. After calming down, Sunny took one step onto the ice and pushed himself forward.

It took him some time to maintain his balance but after a while, he was able to maintain a good pace between himself and the other skaters. He wasn't looking to go fast and disturb anyone, he just wanted to keep at his own pace and enjoy himself before he had to go back home and practice. He would stay in his own world while everyone would skate past him, he wouldn't mind.

But looking ahead, he could see a path forming in front of him that would allow him to skate by everyone…

Deciding to be selfish, Sunny picked up his speed and zoomed past everyone. He made sure not to bump into anyone or get in their way as he skated. He didn't hear anyone complain and if they did he was too far ahead to hear them.

He felt himself smile for the first time today.


After a couple of minutes of skating, Sunny decided to take a break. He found a vending machine, and lucky for him it had his favorite soda flavor, grape. After making his purchase, Sunny took a seat on the bleachers and watched everyone have fun.

He felt the seat beneath him shift which he assumed was someone else sitting down so he didn't pay them any attention. He was too busy thinking about doing a few more laps before he had to go back home, but he did wish they didn't sit so close to him.

"You were the one who was zooming by everyone, right?"

Sunny froze.

He kept his eyes on the ice, too scared to look at the most likely enraged man next to him. He contemplated running away and hiding away in his bedroom for years to come, but when Sunny felt the man place a hand on his shoulder he knew he was trapped. No matter how many times he took a deep breath he couldn't calm down.

"Why don't you come with me."

Sunny felt his breath hitch in his throat. He was gonna get scolded and banned from the center because he wanted to be selfish for a few minutes. He should've known better, nothing good ever happens to him when he's selfish.

Sunny felt the man get up but he never took his hand off of his shoulder. Sunny followed his example and the man guided him away from the bleachers. The walk wasn't long, but to Sunny, it felt like a century had passed and he still didn't know where he was going. All he could see was darkness with only the hand on his shoulder guiding him through it.

It wasn't until he felt his feet glide underneath him and the sound of skates scraping ice that the darkness disperse around him. He realized he was on another rink, smaller than the one he skated on earlier. Sunny felt the hand leave his shoulder and he finally got a good look at the man who guided him here.

He was tall, had dark skin, and was bald but had a big black beard. He was dressed in black sweatpants and hoodie and had a comforting smile. Sunny watched him skate over to a boy around his age who was decked out in a lot of padding before returning to him.

"Sorry for scaring you earlier, I just wanted to see if you would like to help train my boy," the man apologized. The boy skated up to them and Sunny could see the resemblance between him and his dad except he had short black hair and lighter skin.

"Hello, I'm Josiah-Jaxon, but people call me JJ. What's your name?" the boy introduced himself while sticking out his hand. Sunny hesitantly grasped it while having a hard time maintaining eye contact.

"S-Sunny."

"It's nice to meet ya Sunny, I'm JJ's father, Omar Blanchet," JJ's father said before turning to his son. "Alright, now go get ready while I set Sunny up."

JJ nodded before skating over to a goal while Omar led Sunny over to a bench area. He handed Sunny a stick that was a little too big for him. He then grabbed a stick of his own before carrying a bucket of small black discs over to a blue line.

"Alright, Sunny, here's what we're gonna do, you're gonna skate over to the face-off circle to our right and I'll pass the puck over to you," Omar instructed while pointing at the huge red circle that he wanted Sunny to go to before pointing to the other huge red circle. "After I pass you the puck, you're gonna pass it back to me and I'll take care of the rest. Got it?"

Sunny absent-mindedly nodded and Omar patted him on the head.

Sunny skated over to the red circle and got ready. He watched Omar pour the pucks onto the ice and Sunny took a moment to look over at JJ. He was wearing a white mask and was dropping onto his legs before quickly getting back up.

"You ready, Sunny?" Sunny snapped back to Omar and nodded. "You ready, JJ?"

"Yup!"

"Alright, and make sure you cover the five-hole."

Suddenly, Omar passed the puck to an unprepared Sunny. The puck quickly glided on the ice toward him and Sunny barely managed to get his stick in the way. The puck bounced off of his stick and the small object slowly slid away from him. Sunny slowly looked back up to see Omar skate back to his starting spot to get another puck.

"That's on me, I'll pass this one a little slower this time."

Omar passed Sunny the puck which he managed to handle a little easier than the first one. He saw Omar skate to his next spot and he passed it to him, which was slightly ahead of the older man but he managed to step into and rocket the puck past JJ.

"Good job, Sunny, but try to get the puck between my legs," Omar instructed as he moved back to his original starting point. "And JJ, get your glove hand up."

Omar passed Sunny another puck and he tried to do as instructed but he passed it a little far behind Omar. Luckily, the older man managed to retrieve the pass but he had to shoot the puck off-balanced, which allowed JJ to catch it in his glove.

Sunny watched as Omar slowly skated back to his starting point before dropping his head. It was the third time he messed up and he was sure that they were going to ask him to leave, just like Mari.

"Hey, don't worry! You haven't done this before, right?" Sunny shook his head at the older man's question. He managed to look up a little, expecting to see a disappointed look on the man's face, but what he saw surprised him. Omar was giving him a bright supportive smile, one he hasn't seen in a while.

"It's fine, I'll go a little slower to make things easier for you. Besides, It's not like JJ's stopping anything coming from his old man."

"We'll see about that!"

Omar passed a puck to Sunny and true to his word, skated a little slower to the other face-off circle. Sunny passed him the puck which was slightly ahead of him but he didn't need to step into his shot like before. Omar blasted the puck past JJ and praised Sunny by giving him a thumbs-up. They continued the drill for a few more minutes with Sunny getting better at passing the puck and JJ stopping a couple of shots.

They were down to their last puck and just like multiple times before, Omar passed the puck to Sunny, and Sunny passed it back to him. He managed to pass the puck to be between Omar's legs and the older man blasted the puck. This time, however, JJ managed to stop the shot from going past him by bringing up his blocker and knocking the puck away.

Sunny watched as the puck slid toward him. He felt something come over him as he quickly possessed the puck with his stick and shot it into the net. He snapped back to reality to see a surprised JJ and an applauding Omar.

"Good job, Sunny! Way to play the puck off the rebound!" Omar praised the young boy. JJ broke out of his trance and skated up to Sunny and gave him a supportive pat on the back.

"Yeah, you really caught me off guard."

Omar skated up to the two and took the stick away from Sunny and stuck out his knuckle, expecting a fist bump. Sunny hesitantly stuck out his fist and Omar energetically bumped his fist into Sunny's.

"You did great, Sunny! A little rusty at first but with a little practice I could see you being a great player."

Omar put the stick back with his equipment and tossed the two boys some water.

"That's it for the day. JJ, go and get ready to leave and Sunny, we'll be here tomorrow and I hope to see you again."

"Same here!" JJ called out from the bench.

Sunny politely nodded his head and waved goodbye to the father and son. He got his stuff from his locker and returned his skates. He checked the time and saw it's been almost two hours since he left.

Mari is going to be mad.

He rushed out of the center and ran home. Mari was going to make him do double the work just to make up for the lost time. He knew that he would get more blisters on his fingers and they might even bleed this time.

He thought about Omar's offer. Unlike playing the violin, he actually had fun practicing with them. None of them berated him for his mistakes and actually praised him when he did something good and not act like it wasn't anything special. It was something that he's been craving since he started practicing the violin with his sister.

Someone valuing him for what he is and not what he wasn't.