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Amber light washes over Toya as he steps through the door of Weekend Garage. An and Kohane are waiting expectantly on the cafe’s small stage, the latter poring over the book in her hands.
“Toya! Geez, any later and karaoke night would have ended,” teases An, jumping up and walking over to the blue-haired boy.
A voice rings out from backstage. “Shut up, Shiraishi. We’re not even set up yet.” Akito walks out, carrying two microphone stands in each hand.
“Hey, partner.”
“Sorry, I got caught up with library duty,” Toya answers, dropping his backpack onto the floor. “Shall we?”
~
“An and I are going to get drinks,” says Kohane. “You two sing something!” she calls, waving as An leads her to the counter.
Akito shrugs, looking to Toya. “You wanna?”
Toya nods. “Of course, partner.”
As the music starts up, the two fall into a familiar rhythm: going quiet just as the other starts to sing loudly, finding harmonies naturally amid the twists and turns of the other’s voice. Singing with Akito feels like sleep’s warm embrace after a long day.
When Toya was seven, the Tenmas had taken him to Phoenix Wonderland, a rare break from the hours of practice he was subjected to every day.
“Fireworks start at in ten minutes!” proclaimed a park worker, waving people into the viewing area. As Toya turned, following his friends, he felt a hand on his shoulder. His blood ran cold.
“Thank you all for taking my son out, but that’ll be all for today. After all, he has to go home and practice,” came the cold voice of Aoyagi Harumichi above him. Toya let himself be led away from the Tenmas, out of the park, into the car. As the two of them drove away and Harumichi began his usual lecturing, a spark caught the young boy’s eye. Through the trees, he saw a singular golden firework explode, as if covering the night sky with stars.
Now, looking at Akito, Toya sees those same stars in the other boy’s eyes: brilliant, glowing, captivating. It’s as if Akito came into his life to replace all the fireworks he missed, to reignite every flame Toya had thought put out. He relit Toya’s once-dark sky, summoned the sun itself to warm his cold heart. He can’t hear anything but his partner’s voice. Akito. Akito. Akito—
“You okay, dude?” the other boy has stopped walking off the stage and is looking at him
quizzically. Their music has long stopped.
“Y-yeah.” Toya shakes his head, hurriedly following Akito off. A flurry of blue pushes past him.
“Akito, get back up here! I wanna do a duet; it’s been so long!” laughs An, unceremoniously dragging the orange-haired boy back up the steps.
Toya sits down next to Kohane as their partners pick up microphones, tuning out their bickering over which song to pick. He takes a sip of the coffee the girls had ordered for him; the hot liquid scorches his throat but distracts from his whirling thoughts.
He glances up at the stage, where Akito and An are singing their hearts out. His partner catches his eye, winks, and waves at the two seated singers.
Toya drops his head into his hands, face burning. Dear God.