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Selfish Boy – Sakuya
Sakuya doesn’t like to share the things important to him. He doesn’t trust the world, full of liars that it is, to not take away those things.
Mahiru, too, has become such a thing.
He has become too important for Sakuya to ever let go so Sakuya must hold Mahiru tight and close to his heart. Close to where Sakuya always is so Mahiru can never be taken away.
“Sakkun?” Mahiru calls out, groggy under the drug Sakuya had so easily injected into him.
“Shh,” Sakuya whispers, voice soft with care and eyes warm with adoration even as he bundles Mahiru away. “It’s okay Mahiru. It’ll be okay. I’ll take care of you, I promise. We’ll be together forever.”
Sakuya is a selfish child.
(Those that fall into his greedy hands will never be let go.)
No Better Place – Kuro
“What’s your favorite place?”
“Hah?”
“Sorry,” Mahiru waves a hand. “That was a dumb question for you. After all, your favorite place would be somewhere dark where you can be a NEET vampire and play your video games.”
Kuro grunts and goes back to his game.
“Am I wrong?”
“Yes,” Kuro, surprisingly, answers. “I do have a favorite place. A good-natured vampire like myself still has high standards.”
Mahiru raises an eyebrow. “Oh really? And what place would that be?”
“Secret.”
Mahiru huffs. “Fine, fine. Be that way.”
Mahiru is fast asleep that night when Kuro finally answers his question.
Curled up next to Mahiru’s head, the kitten Kuro purrs as he presses his nose into Mahiru’s hair. He inhales the scent, warm and earthly and simple, all embodiments of Mahiru.
“My favorite place,” Kuro whispers to Mahiru. “Is one where you are always by my side. Where it is only the two of us in the world and you are only mine. There is no better place than that.”
In the darkness, the shadows formed by the moonlight grow ever longer as Kuro changes form. In the night, Kuro’s shape is more indistinct—the edges of his body jagged like claws and utterly swallowing Mahiru.
“One day, I will take you to such a place.”
(It is a promise.)
And You Will Fly – Licht
Licht values hard work more than anything else.
It is hard work that led him to become the famous pianist he is now. To him, there is nothing more valuable than hard work.
To him, there is no one more valuable than someone who has worked hard his whole life. For the sake of others, for the sake of himself.
To Licht, there is no one more worthy of becoming an angel than Shirota Mahiru.
Mahiru is worthy of wings like Licht’s. He is the only one worthy enough to stand by Licht’s side as a fellow angel.
But Mahiru does not yet have his wings, does not yet know he can fly.
“Licht?” Mahiru’s voice comes out slurred and slow, eyes drooping as he struggles to stay awake. “What are you…?”
“It’s alright Mahiru.” Licht’s hand comes up to rest on Mahiru’s upper back, keeping him steady as he sits in the circle of Licht’s long long legs. His fingers splay across Mahiru’s right shoulder blade, silently counting the span of them in centimeters. “Just sleep for now.”
Mahiru immediately obeys, slumping against Licht’s shoulder. His breathe tickles the side of Licht’s neck, sending tingles down his spine.
Licht slips a hand beneath Mahiru’s shirt to better feel the skin about Mahiru’s back, counting the knobs of his spine with his fingers. Mahiru doesn’t stir and Licht wonders if he should feel guilty for slipping such a strong drug in Mahiru’s drink.
He decides he doesn’t because when Mahiru wakes up again, he will be thankful. He will be grateful to Licht in helping him become the angel he was always meant to be.
(So Licht will give him wings—whether Mahiru wants them or not.)
A World Free of Melancholy – Tsubaki
Mahiru has begun to hear a voice in his dreams.
It sings to him, a slow and haunting melody with words that make Mahiru’s heart shake with indescribable emotions but can never remember when he wakes up in the morning.
The voice follows him even in the day. In the quiet hours when he eats his meals alone in the apartment, in the silence where he is left alone with his thoughts. With the voice, Mahiru is never truly alone anymore.
And every night, the voice sings for longer. The song grows more beautiful, more haunting and every day it grows louder in Mahiru’s head.
He hears it now even above the chatter of his classmates at school, the noise of the busy city when he goes to the store for groceries.
It never stops. It is always there.
One night, Mahiru wakes from his dream with tears down his face and a stranger standing by the foot of his bed.
He wears a kimono of night with the red of flames licking the edges of the shadows. Camellias lie scattered by his feet, their fallen petals glowing almost painfully bright in Mahiru’s curtained room.
The man grins, sharp like the edges of broken glass but soft with kindness, with acceptance.
There is hunger in the man’s eyes.
He hungers for one who will acknowledge him, who will stay by his side and let him rest his head in the circle of their arms. He will create wars, he will destroy the world, if it means obtaining that.
“I’ve come for you,” he croons and the voice in Mahiru’s head echoes, resonates with the man’s until it is all Mahiru can hear, can think of.
This man before him was the voice who sings in his dreams and Mahiru suddenly remembers, with utter clarity, the words of the man’s songs.
The man made of shadows with flames and freshly blooming camellias reaches out his hand. “Come with me, Mahiru. We’ll be together forever.”
(“I will never leave you," the voice sings in his ear. “My darling Mahiru, we’ll burn the world down together.”)
Toy Soldier – Tetsu
Tetsu has always likened himself to a soldier.
He is strong and sturdy, steadfast in his ways. He will protect what is important to him: the family onsen, the peace of his every day life and, above all, his sunshine.
There can be no warmth without the sun, no life without the life so Tetsu must protect it.
He must protect his sun from all else.
“Big brother Mahiru, are you alright?”
Tetsu stretches out his hand and Mahiru shakily takes it, using the support to get back up on his feet.
“F-fine, I think.” Mahiru manages a small smile. “Thanks for coming to help me Tetsu. You’re a lifesaver.”
Tetsu shrugs. “It’s nothing. I’m glad you’re alright, though. It would have been bad if you got injured on your first day of vacation.”
Mahiru laughs, the trembling in his body slowly trickling out of him. “Yeah, that’s true. We wouldn’t have been able to go to the beach together if I did.”
A thought suddenly occurs to Mahiru and he looks up at Tetsu, frowning. “How did you know I was here Tetsu? This place isn’t anywhere near where you live.”
“Advertising,” is Tetu’s simple answer. “Thought I could expand our customer base for the onsen if I went outside the neighborhood.”
Mahiru can’t help but laugh again and with that, the final remnants of fear lingering on his skin finally leave. “Of course. I shouldn’t even be surprised.”
So relieved to be safe, Mahiru never questions how Tetsu was advertising when he had no flyers, no label on his clothes to indicate the name of his family onsen—nothing.
And Tetsu will never tell.
(Tetsu is a toy soldier. He will follow Mahiru until the very end.)
For Want of Nothing – Tsurugi
Tsurugi has never been selfish.
Not in the ways that mattered, not in any way that would have made a difference. He hadn’t understood what it meant to be selfish until he realized what selfishness could give him.
It gave him shared meals at a kitchen table, a house flooded with sunlight, voices that spoke to fill in the once echoing silence and more warmth than he knew ever existed.
Selfishness gave Tsurugi the one thing he had ever wanted in his whole life.
Selfishness gave him Shirota Mahiru.
And Tsurugi wants it. He wants Mahiru and everything—the meals, the warmthnomorelonelinessIdon’twanttobEALONEANYMORE—that comes with him.
He has never wanted anything else so desperately, so fiercely.
And Mahiru, who is kind and likes the simple things and understands loneliness as intimately as Tsurugi does, accepts all of Tsurugi’s selfishness.
And Tsurugi takes. He takes and takes because Mahiru gives and he will continue to take until Mahiru is his.
“Tsurugi-san, have you seen my phone?”
“Hm?” Tsurugi leans back against the wall, hands hidden behind his back. “Why do you ask Mahiru-kun?”
“Sakuya said he was going to text me the time of the movie,” Mahiru answers. His back is turned so he doesn’t see Tsurugi pull out a familiar cell phone, a black cat plush keychain attached to it.
“Mahiru-kun, here it is.”
“What?” Mahiru turns and jogs over to Tsurugi, taking the phone from his hand. “Where did you find it Tsurugi-san?”
“On the kitchen table where you left it.” Tsurugi grins, teasing. “You’re becoming rather forgetful aren’t you, Mahiru-kun?”
“I was sure I checked there already,” Mahiru mutters, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “Strange, Sakuya still hasn’t texted me…”
“Perhaps something came up,” Tsurugi suggests. He shrugs, unconcerned and nonchalant as he leans forward into Mahiru’s space. “Why don’t I go with you instead?”
“Wha—Tsurugi-san?!” Mahiru yelps, leaning back as he realizes how close they’ve become.
Tsurugi continues to smile, unassuming and unguarded. “You’ve been looking forward to the movie, haven’t you? If Watanuki-kun can’t make it, I’ll go with you instead.”
“Well if you’re not busy…” He frowns. “Still, it’s not like Sakuya to not get back to me. I wonder if something really did happen.”
“Who knows~” Tsurugi sings, leaning ever closer towards Mahiru so his lips all but touch the top of Mahiru’s head.
(He wants.)