『Entangled Stars』;「運命」┇akane a. x aoi. a au

chapter vii : sorrowful bewilderment

#7: Sorrowful Bewilderment
意味のある星

After the bell rang, random chatters echoed throughout the whole classroom as each of the excited and homesick students slowly left one by one. As the noise of the leaving crowd slowly died down, a very small little girl with chocolate brown pigtails strutted through the quiet halls. Skipping and humming a random tune lightly.

Mindlessly. Aoi trailed back to her seat and closed her eyes as she felt a lump in her throat once again. Only now, it is accompanied by a heavy weight on her shoulders due to the devastation she was feeling.

Fixing her composure, she watched the curtains dancing with the warm evening air. But she suddenly flinched when a sound of a static radio bombarded all of the spaces of the academy out of nowhere

🎙️: "Ahem! Do you want to hear a short story that has always brought me into a sense of sorrowful bewilderment? Well if you do, I, Natsuhiko. . .OW! What was that for?!"

Her attention went to the radio speaker at the corner of the room where she heard the sound coming from. The sound of a boy was definitely hit at the back of his head.

A school announcement right after almost everyone left? Well, that's strange. Slowly getting confused, a cold ice-like voice of a girl followed after.

🎙️: "Stop it, Natsuhiko-kun."

🎙️: "But, Nanamine-san. Please. . ." The whine of the boy was very evident even by only hearing the sound from the speaker. She heard the sound of the girl sighing heavily, giving in.

🎙️: "What am I gonna do with you, Natsuhiko."

🎙️: "Now back to what I'm saying, the story is entitled;

Entangled Stars.

Where two lost stars crossed paths in the dark canvas-like sky. One star treated the encounter like a moment written from a prophecy of destiny while the other knew that it was all temporary.

The first star continued to do its very best to make the second star stay even to the point that it would push itself beyond the limitations of time and space to reach a future with the only star that it considered the brightest in the whole universe.

Now close your eyes listener and imagine your future."

For some unknown reason, Aoi found herself following the sound coming from the radio. Her eyelids shut closed. Relishing in the spoken words that she have heard earlier from the speaker. She realized that it was right. The story could really bring a feeling of bewilderment. But. . .

Why did it also say that
it was sorrowful?

Aoi felt herself stop breathing, the sounds from the radio fading away. With her eyes closed, strongly imagined a future she have wished for. . .

But why could she
only imagine nothing?

The sound of the radio became audible, the words struck her like thunder.

🎙️: "And even after all that they can't be. Two stars can't ever collide especially if peace was desired to be maintained."

"Ao-chan, finally I found you!"

Her indigo galaxies collided with a pair of crimson ones, its owner rushed to her position quickly. Everything was in slow motion, she watched the crimson-headed male trail to her with a determined stance that she had always admired. The cold evening wind hugged her frail body, listening to the sounds of the radio as the scene unfolds - as she awaits him.

🎙️: "Remember when I told you that the first star considered the second one as the brightest? It was right, the second star was truly the brightest amongst the others."

Finally reached her, his eyes widened when two frail arms encircled his body. She was hugging him. He lowered his head, getting a view of the fragile female who was shaking in front of him. "M-My future, Akane-kun."

The collision happened. The embrace was warm but she shivered at the cold truth that was now haunting her.

"What do you mean, Ao-chan?" His attention switched to the radio producing sounds or more so messages that seems to be scaring the person that he cherished the most. The Broadcast Club?

🎙️: "However it was unaware that all that marvelous glow meant that. . .

the second star was dying."

---

Four pairs of eyes switched to each other constantly as the scarlet-haired male stood in the middle with a firm expression of frustration. He clicked his tongue.

"What's wrong with what we did?" The orange-haired male, Natsuhiko, confusingly asked. "I just wanted to share a message and most importantly, it didn't even harm anyone."

"He's right, Vice President. I know that it doesn't really make sense that he just started using the radio out of nowhere. But we still followed the rule right?" The lime-headed female, Nanamine, reasoned as she lightly brushed the lines on her uniform.

"The rule to not cause any more "commotion" is still abided, Vice President." She added as she gestured air quotation marks with her slim fingers. Akane silently bit his bottom lip as he slowly lowered his gaze down.

They're right. The scarlet-haired male sighed as he took off his glasses and massaged his forehead. There's so much going on, lately.

"Why did we even have that kind of rule?" The three of them switched their attention to the black-haired boy floating at their side.

"Yeah, I wonder why, Tsukasa. . ." Natsuhiko answered him, the expression 'you know damn well' evident on his face.

"Oh—" Tsukasa bit the inside of his cheek as realization slowly hit him.

"Anyways, It's very noticeable that's something else that's going on in your mind, Akane. Maybe you should start dealing with that instead." Nanamine watched their Vice President visibly trying to hide his frustration.

"You're right. Sorry for suddenly barging in here." Akane folded his glasses and hung them in between his uniform's collars as fixed his composure.

"But please, next time use the supplies in the Broadcast Club properly. The school administrators wouldn't like what happened earlier especially if they found out that there are still students here after school hours." He explained.

"Alright, Vice President." The three nodded.

He turned towards the exit, leaving with still an indescribable feeling swirling within his whole system. As he closed the door the thought of her visited his mind again.

The memory of the scene earlier flashed at him. For the first time, she finally took the initiative of hugging him first. Her embrace was one of what he'd always longed for.

 But why did it accompany a heavy feeling in his heart that felt like. . .

it had nowhere else to be but there?