Dream Star

Kiryu woke up, to a missing girl who the night before was in his arms, and panicked. Was it only a dream? Has he been dreaming this whole time? He looked around and sighed. This isn"t his room at his apartment or the Austin family house. Calm down, and yet his gaze landed on the calendar. Seeing the date, his frown deepened. Today"s the day, huh? No wonder he felt exhausted, last night he wouldn"t let her go at all. To this very last day, he spent it only with her and saw n.o.body else. His new song was on hold too. While she would have liked to see him sing, Kiryu understood that she preferred remaining in his arms. In each other"s arms and holding each other. Only letting go when necessary. Even then, she would find a way to his arms again.

His gaze landed on his hand and he closed his eyes. Later, he has to let her go. The girl"s train leaves at 1 PM. There are still several hours before then, there"s still time. Time? There"s not enough time in the world for him before he let her go. He doesn"t want to...

Kiryu got up and made his way downstairs. The moment he did, he spotted blue hair tied up in a ponytail and cooking.

"Lila?"

"Ah, good morning my Kiryu! Wait, um I need to finish..."

Seeing the way the table set up, and all the food already on the table. He glanced over and saw the dark circles under the girl"s eyes. Even though she fell asleep before him, she must have gotten up and spent the whole night cooking away like this.

"Do you want to get chubby again?"

"Wah, dummy! I"m not fat!"

"But? I felt a lot of things recently..." he murmured against the girl"s ear. His comment caused Lila to drop the spoon and her whole face turned a bright red, "Maybe we should do it several more times..."

"M—My Kiryu, that"s all good and all. But first, we have to eat okay?"

He chuckled, at her indirect agreement.

"But, why did you make all this f--" he paused in mid-thought and recalled her doing this last time too. He looked over at the food again and saw a light around it. Her preservation method... Kiryu lips curve to a smile and he brought his lips to her ear again. "I won"t eat anyone else"s cooking, relax."

She looked at him suspiciously, "But, Selichan is a good cook I hear..."

"I"ve never eaten her food before."

"Is that true?"

He nodded. "I already planned for her to move out too, so don"t worry okay?"

"Ah-huh..." When he finally got round to explaining it, the whole time she was silent.

"Are you ready for our date?"

"En!"

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7:30 - Central Square

After a few minutes of waiting, Kiryu got irritated. Since the pa.s.sing by individuals was staring at him. It"s natural to stare when you see someone standing in the same place for so long. He has been waiting for an hour and a half. That girl, she"s late. Could it be that she canceled it? No no, she wouldn"t do something like that without notice. She was looking forward to it too.

"My Kiryu, sorry!" He glanced up and spotted blue hair. She made her way over. "I found this superb music store and before I knew it I was buying things.."

Once she was in front of him she draws her backpack from her back, and revealed several CDS, "Look, so many rare finds!"

Usually, he would smile at her child-like innocence. Yet… He reached over and hits her forehead, "Are CDS more important than me, huh?"

"That"s not. But it"s rare Kiryu. Rare."

True she has a point there. He exhaled, "Give me your bag, I"ll carry it."

Lila laughed, "Aha you"re not mad."

Kiryu responded with a sigh, yet as he brushed their fingertips together and picked up her bag. It was then he noted the girl"s attire. Those clothes, that"s the dress he likes her in and that coat too. She… is too excited about this. Kiryu pulled the girl into his arms, pressing her against him, "My Kiryu, what"s wrong?"

"… An apology for hitting you now."

Lila laughed, "I see, it seems cheap for having a bruise on my forehead. But I don"t mind it." she trailed off. Kiryu felt the girl wrap her arms around him, "You"re so warm my Kiryu…"

A part of him had known it already, the reason she confessed to him. He knew from the start and yet still took his chance and for a while; he had to suffer from the pain of her mistake. On those days she would always look at him ashamed and yet he would always pull her close, like this.

He brushed his hands on the girl"s hair, tucking a strand away, "Your prettier today…"

This wasn"t empty flattery either, Lila looked prettier than usual. Knowing her if he asked, she would say it"s a secret. His gaze softened when her eyes brightened.

"Yay, I did it. Lucky."

She is beautiful. So, so beautiful, from now onward she will grow more beautiful. But he won"t be beside her then. He won"t be the one to see it.

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Planetarium, 7:45

The planetarium was only a short way away from the central square, so they made it. The show should start in 5 minutes.

"It"s so pretty! Look my Kiryu!"

He chuckled at the girl"s reaction. It was a good idea to come here.

"Since it"s dark, we can do a lot."

"Like, cuddling! This is a good place for cuddles!"

.... Kiryu stared at her with wide eyes and a defeated sigh escaped his lips. His Lila is so cute. But even now she"s too oblivious. Well, he guesses it doesn"t matter. He chose a time slot where there weren"t too many people around, so it was quiet. Since the lights go off, he doubts anybody will bother them. But in case, his gaze fell on Ritsuko amongst a group of random people. The girl nodded.

"My Kiryu, are we sitting there?" Lila asked, breaking his thoughts.

"Yeah." He had picked out some good seats, one"s right at the front. "It"s a seat for couples too, so we can do what we want," Kiryu said. He may as well try again.

"Kissing?"

"...."

Defeat.

He nodded.

Soft laughter escaped Lila"s lips, "Okay."

The two of them made their way to their seats. Lila took full advantage of the double seat and snuggled up to his arms. So cute, "Can I hold your pretty hand?"

More laughter, "Okay dummy."

Before he could respond, there is an announcement on the PDA, "Thank you for attending, it is time for the show start. Welcome to the world of stars."
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As she felt Kiryu"s hand on hers, her gaze softened. That"s right, today she will have to let go of this hand. The hand of her most beloved person. She doesn"t want to let it go. She found Kiryu"s gaze on hers and Lila averted her gaze, as she focused on the show. The lights flickered off for a moment and then.
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It was cute how she was trying to avoid his gaze. But in that split second the lights went off.

Kiryu preyed on that moment, and his thumb traced her bottom lip. The moment he did, she closed her eyes. She"s so precious to him, so, so precious. He traced her bottom lip, the top, and the corners. Before he closed the remaining distance between them and kissed her.

"My Lila, I love you."

At that moment the lights flickered on and they were in a room filled with stars. Lila immediately pulled back, cheeks red, "That was too romantic.."

He chuckled, she"s so cute. "Look at the stars."

Lila nodded, she clapped her eyes when she looked up, "It"s so pretty! My Kiryu."

While he loves stars too, the prettiest person in his eyes is her.
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12:45, Train station.

Kiryu chuckled, "Hey, don"t cry anymore. The train isn"t a private one. Do you want the other pa.s.sengers to see you looking ugly?"

"Stupid, stupid. Stupid... Don"t bully me now."

His gaze softened, she won"t make this easy right until the last second is she? He pulled the girl into a kiss. A brief one but Lila tried to extend it.

Hearing the last bell, he drew his lips from hers. "Time to go." He murmured and squeezed her hands.

Lila shook her head and clung on to him. "No.. no I don"t want to, please Kiryu. Tell me you change your mind... I"ll convince them, even if we can"t contact each other... Please don"t say we will break up."

Seeing her tears become more rapid, broke his heart. He"s never seen Lila cry like this before. In the years since he"s known her, he"s never seen her cry in this manner. Kiryu took something out of his pocket and wrapped it around the girl"s neck, "My Kiryu.."

"My heart, I"ll leave it with you."

The stone he gave her was his personal stone.

Giving away a personal stone was something unheard of. By doing it, one is entrusting their lives to another person.

"My Kiryu.... what if I go crazy and took out my frustration on you?"

"That"s fine."

"Don"t be so stupid." she yelled, "I"m serious, what if the enemy catches me and they use me against you? That time if you weren"t there, I wouldn"t have been able to resist their words. What if they appear again and I end up going along? If I have this with me, your life ---"

He cuts her off again as his lips meet hers. A gentle and light kiss. He kisses her forehead, eyelids, nose before again settling on her lips, "My life is yours to do with as you please. So..."

Lila understood and pulled out her stone. He watched as she carefully placed it against his lips and he kissed it, alongside her fingers, "Now I hold your life in my hands..." he murmured against the stone.

"My Kiryu, will you come for me?"

He smiled, "I will."

".. I don"t want to. I said to you from the beginning. But we"ve already spoken about this a lot and I know there"s nothing else that we can talk about. But, at least let me tell you this. My Kiryu, I love you. I always will."

He drew her closer, and murmured against her ear, "I understand that deep down. I"ve always known your feelings too."

Kiryu wasn"t like Yuhi-san, he didn"t think he didn"t deserve her or anything of the sort. It was more to do with a matter of feelings. He was content with what they had. Their relations.h.i.+p was something special. Couples date and end up breaking up, what he had with Lila before he dated her was something special. He didn"t want to lose that as he felt the girl tremble. He couldn"t take it anymore.

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When she felt Kiryu tremble, she looked up.

"Kiryu?"

"Lila, don"t forget about me..."

!!!! Kiryu was crying... Lila hugged him. "Kiryu... my Kiryu, I"ll never forget.. I"ll always love you."

"My Lila.."

How could she forget? How could she forget this person? If it wasn"t for him, she wouldn"t have been able to get this far.

Hearing a voice call out to her, she turned and saw Haruka. That"s right. She has to go, but she can"t leave Kiryu like this. She turned to him.

Kiryu brushed back her loose strands of hair. One arm wrapped around his waist, Lila brought her arms around his neck. One had on the back of his head, combing his hair. The other inter winded their hands together. When his lips finally met hers.

It had almost caught her off guard with the way a simple and gentle kiss became more heated. It"s good. All she could barely think about anything other than Kiryu...

She likes everything about him.

His long eyelashes. His silver hair.

How he gets scared but won"t admit it. His fragile side.

The feeling of his figure when he hugged her.

His voice.

The way he calls her name.

And… and… and…

The way his hands felt, the warmth of his body... His love for her, the warmth of his love. She wants to treasure this feeling more, to spend more time with him.

Lila teared up again, no. No, she can"t let him go. Lila wanted to say something but, Kiryu immediately drew back. He brushed their foreheads against each other, "You"ll stop crying soon. I know he will take care of you."

"No.. please no."

The smile on his face was weak, and she understood. He also thought the same.

"Let"s break up. Goodbye, my Lila."

And with those words said, Kiryu pushed her into the train. Haruka immediately caught her.