Chapter Text
They always felt like their trio should be a quartet. It was an odd feeling, really. They met through music. People considered their grouping odd- piano, bass, and drums. Others thought it was odd for the youngest and smallest to play the bass, too, but it wasn't odd to them. It was just their group of three- Sion (who usually just went by Ros), Ruki, and Crea. Most of the time the trio just mashed their (nick)names together, saying Rossrukicrea like a rapid cacophony.
They felt like there should have been another name in that mish-mash combination.
It was Ruki who became aware of it first. Odd, how kids tend to be more perceptive than adults. She felt it her entire life, though. It was as if she had always, always been looking longer than everyone else. As if she lived longer than everyone else, before. Since the beginning, Ruki looked for something. Way before she met the other two, she had a feeling that there were three people she needed to find. She found two of them. Ruki wondered where was the third.
She felt like the third person she was looking for disappeared a lot earlier than the others too, in some other time or life. And it's as if he didn't come back yet. Ruki hoped he didn't leave too early.
Crea realized there was something off too, a bit after Ruki joined to make their group a trio. He had a vague feeling that there should be more than just him and Ros. Crea thought Ruki was the final piece to the puzzle. She was an important piece, but she wasn't the last. There was still another person. Ruki came into their lives three years after Ros and Crea met. It's been seven years since then. The missing person was sure taking his time. Crea wondered where the last piece was.
Something in the back of his head told Crea that the missing piece was close, but at the same time unreachable. That feeling felt familiar- the familiar feeling of something being just out of reach.
Ros noticed it last. It's not like he was oblivious. Maybe it was because it was always with him. He didn't notice there was something missing because he never knew how the picture looked when it was complete. He only had the torn, tattered remains of a photo. So he thought that broken photo was the full thing. It was hard for Ruki and Crea to make him realize that something was missing. Someone was missing. That emptiness made itself apparent one day after practice, when Ros mused that their performances would sound better if there was someone singing.
He would never admit it, but Ros went on a frenzied rush, running around and looking for the other piece of the photo. He felt like that person took the other slip of the photo ages ago, and has yet to come back and glue the picture back together.
They would never say it aloud, but they always set up four chairs. They would never say it aloud, but they always waited for that fourth person. Or was it that first one? They weren't sure. They just knew he wasn't here.
He never came.
They often questioned why they were so sure that the person missing was a “he”. Ruki suggested that they all knew each other in a previous life, or something like that. Ros and Crea couldn't come up with anything else, so they all decided to go with that. They wondered, though. If they were together before, why weren't they together now?
Sometimes, when they practiced, playing their instruments with enough fervor to break windows, the sound blasting over their thoughts, they could hear a voice singing along. The voice never sang any words- it was mainly vocalese. He hummed along quietly, so very quietly. They heard it sometimes, in their very room. They'd ask questions aloud. No one would be there. Just like those toys that had kids match shapes, the person they were looking for, waiting for, his shape wasn't anywhere.
The trio would say they were imagining things if there weren't so many signs he was there. The sheet music was always arranged neatly for him, even when Ros threw them around haphazardly the day prior. The stand Ruki used was always adjusted and reinforced, letting her put the entire song's sheet music, making it easier for her to focus on playing. Crea's drumsticks were always placed on his seat despite the dual-tone haired male misplacing them everywhere, and new sticks would replace broken ones.
A few times they tried staying overnight to catch sight of their missing party member. Somehow, no matter how many sleep shifts they made, no matter how many energy drinks they (read: Crea) chugged down, they always fell asleep somehow whenever a nice spring scent wafted through the air. Just like magic, they all fell asleep, and woke up to neatly arranged instruments and blankets covering their shoulders.
And every time, they saw a faint silhouette with brown hair rushing away. Every time, they just missed him.
Ruki thought to try communicating with letters. So they each wrote letters to their shy (as Crea put it) party member. Ruki wrote a nice, polite letter asking about the fourth's day. Crea wrote an excited, casual letter talking about everything from tiny bunnies to sky diving. Ros wrote a rather rude letter, questioning if the fourth was some sort of pervert, hiding in the music room and watching the trio.
There were no reply letters, but those letters the trio made disappeared, somewhere. They think the fourth member took them. Ruki pouted a little at the lack of response, but the thought of their fourth member reading over the letters made it okay.
They really wished they got a response, though. Every letter they left, or conversation they had, they wanted their mysterious fourth member to reply. A response would have made their days.
Crea had the idea of their fourth member being a ghost. Ruki and Ros laughed at the idea, until there was knocking on the windows. After a moment that shall not be named, but had a lot to do with Ros and Ruki and very loud noises from vocal chords, Crea decided that was confirmation from their fourth member. Grudgingly, and because it explained the odd events that happened when they weren't there, the trio decided that yes, their fourth member was an actual ghost. That day, they officially inducted a ghost into their group, party members increased to four.
And these were their days.