STARLIGHT | krmy ✓

31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE —
RONDO RONDO RONDO.

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THERE WAS ONLY one thing left to do. Maya wanders out into the living room, where Nana was baking banana muffins, humming a happy tune. Juuna was nowhere in sight — she had gone off to bed earlier, drained after having to put up with both Kaoruko's unrelenting nonsense and Karen's overwhelming energy. Nana, herself, seemed quite tired after shepherding everyone to bed. Maya had better make this quick, now that Claudine had long fallen asleep.

Her epiphany had taken a considerable weight off her shoulders.

"Maya-chan?" Nana notices her, straightening up from where she had been crouching by the oven. "What're you doing up so late?"

Maya looks directly into Nana's light green eyes, deciding to get straight to the point. There was no point in stalling, anyway.

"I don't want any more of my friends getting hurt..." Maya says quietly, locking her gaze on Nana's expression, waiting for a reaction. Nana didn't appear the least bit fazed or confused about what Maya had just said.

"...is there any other way?" Nana finishes, smiling softly, though there were hints of pained memories lingering at the edges of her lips.

"You remember."

"I do," Nana turns away to stare at the muffins baking in the oven, providing no further explanation.

"Is that why you've been trying so hard? To keep in touch with me," Maya draws nearer, till she was standing right behind Nana. The muffins were starting to turn a delicious shade of golden-brown.

Nana breathes in sharply, her shoulders squared. "I was worried. I couldn't do anything to help, and I–I–I didn't even know what had happened. Everything–Everybody just went back to normal like–like they didn't remember anything. I–I didn't know what happened to you–you just disappeared and didn't come back. And–when I saw you in school, you acted like nothing had happened and it just–just–"

Nana swallows, turning to face Maya fully this time, the ghosts of tears swimming in her eyes as she pressed her trembling lips tightly together.

"I'm just so glad you're okay," her smile was shaky, almost as if it would crumble should she try to utter one more word.

Maya feels something stir in her chest, a familiar feeling she had constantly dealt with throughout her life. She knew what it was: sorrow. The weighted grip on her chest, the way her limbs were frozen by her side, the way her throat was unbearably dry. She knew this feeling.

Nana, being as kind and empathetic as she was, was experiencing this overwhelming sorrow, too. She had been so worried about Maya, and had many of her questions left unanswered. They both needed the closure.

So Maya answers all of her questions — what had transpired, why the stage no longer loved her, why everybody just didn't remember what had happened — she told Nana all of it. Nana listens closely, and with every passing second, she steadily gets more and more distressed. And for some reason, it spurred Maya to continue.

"I–Kuro-chan..." Nana says slowly, once Maya had finished, her tone scarily shaky. Maya had never seen Daiba Nana, the dependable mother figure amongst them, like this before. It reminds her of how grave this situation that both of them have carried alone was. "Kuro-chan was amazing that day, yelling at the giraffe like that."