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These past months have been a handful.
How could anyone explain it to a rational person? Amane wasn't even sure anymore, and he'd rather not to. He'd already lost sleep thinking about it all.
"Maestro. You're sighing again." The monotone voice of Nene spoke beside him, staring at him with her unnatural, blue eyes. He didn't like looking at them at all. In fact, he hated it.
She wasn't always this way.
Two months ago, all she and her big sister Mei would have been worrying about was moving to New York.
Nene was a ray of sunshine back then. She didn't have those blue eyes, rather they were the color of bright red, full of life. She always had a smile on her face whenever she'd come over his house, where he mostly spent his days playing the piano.
"Amane, it's morning! You're still playing the piano?" She would call out, unannounced, hands on her hips with a slight frown. "I'm worried about your health if you keep locking yourself up in your garage like this."
And he'd merely roll his eyes, continuing to play the piano as always. Well, until she'd stop him either by nagging him or putting the vacuum cleaner's suction up his sleeve threatening to suck his clothes up if he didn't move from his spot.
Despite that, however, she'd always tell him how much she loved hearing him play. In fact, since meeting him for the first time as children, she had been a big fan of his playing. He could only assume it was because of his father being a famous conductor and musician, but aside from that, he couldn't help but feel... somewhat elated.
"Why don't you go perform outside for the town's festival tomorrow? I'm sure it'll be fine, even if it's for a little while! They're going to love it!"
"Idiot. There's still D2 roaming about, you know? And I'm not interested in playing piano for a world that won't even want to hear it."
She'd just smile at him, and would join his side by the piano, playing a few keys. "There's still me and Mei-nee-chan. And besides, I want to hear your playing outside before we move to New York the next day after."
They were all he had now. Not since those D2 attacked when he was a young boy and took the lives of his family. Since then he had been hiding his grief through the piano, and had been locking his own emotions up to himself.
He didn't really count on Nene being so determined he would play the piano at the festival tomorrow, but the sight of the instrument literally missing and his garage door wide open was proof of that.
But he found himself mustering up the courage to face the crowd that day, and play the piano for the first time in public. He even had Nene join along with him, and little by little, they moved closer together, dancing a bit along to the music.
That was probably the first time he had ever put on a carefree smile around her.
By the time their performance ended, Nene had taken him by the hand, guiding him to the front of the audience giving them applause, raising their arms up to them. "See? They love it! I told you so!"
The warmth of her hand felt so comforting to him at that time.
"I guess so."
He almost didn't notice how her eyes had widened at the sight of something in front of them.
Nor did he notice her pushing him aside as something suddenly fell down from the sky right at them, causing a huge explosion.
It was just white noise at first, then his sight slowly returned. He was on the ground, and he let out a scream when he felt an agonizing pain in his right arm. Sharp bits of debris stabbed through his flesh, but nothing really compared to the sight before him next.
She laid on him, unmoving, and he saw the horrid red seeping through her back. The foreign thing that had collided on them had directly affected her, being the one who had pushed him away and let herself be the one to take the hit instead.
"No... No.... Yashiro... Yashiro, wake up!"
Nene opened her eyes, seeing him close to tears, holding her close. She weakly reached out to put her hand on his cheek, smiling at him.
"Hey, Amane... Why are you crying?"
"You moron... Don't you dare close your eyes! I won't forgive you if you do!" He shouted, yet the tears began to build up, his uninjured hand trembling.
She was running out of breath, and gathering up her remaining strength, she softly uttered out her last words,
"I've always loved it... when you played the piano..."
Her hand dropped down, and her eyes finally closed for good.
He couldn't accept it. He didn't want to accept it.
"No... Music was supposed to make people happy. I'm not going to let this be... Not on my watch."
Strange, black creatures emitting with a purple glow crawled out from the hole the giant rock they had come from, beginning to wreck havoc on the town.
"Open your eyes, Yashiro. Wake up."
Mei had come running towards them, screaming their names.
"Wake up."
D2 began to spread throughout the place, and people ran about trying to escape.
"Wake up and look at me!"
The skull charm she had been wearing around her neck glowed a bright light, and sent her levitating into the air, to his utter surprise. It shattered, and rose vines sprung out of them, a couple of them tightly wrapping around his right arm and forcing him to lift it up.
What was happening?!
He remembered seeing the visage of a woman made of pink flames, before his right arm got completely bitten off.
And Nene finally opened her eyes once more. They were no longer the warm, red color they used to be, now replaced with a blue that only saw things as they were, and that was it.
That's when he learned about the existence of Musicarts. Weapons that were born from various classical music that had the ability to fight the invading, music-loathing D2. Through this strange man that they had met along the way, he found out that normally a Musicart would be made through an organization called the Symphonica International Organization, but at Nene's case, she became one at unnatural causes.
Speaking of Nene, she had not retained her memories as a human at all. She merely referred to herself as Destiny, and insisted they call her as such. To put it simply, it was now a known fact that the previous Nene no longer existed.
Mei took it the hardest out of the two of them. He knew just how difficult it was for her. How could she live with that knowledge at hand? Her sister was alive, but at the cost of becoming someone else completely.
Although, it was no time to dwell on such things now. With the dangers of Amane's conductor's bond with Nene, they had been advised to go to the New York's branch of the Symphonica to rectify her for stability. Apparently, she had the side effect of draining him whenever she went on combat with a D2 as a Musicart.
Now this brings them to the present. Currently in a car, on Las Vegas road, on their way to the New York Symphonica. He leaned to the side, avoiding Nene's stare. He was not in the mood to talk to her at the moment.
"He's probably just cranky cuz we haven't gotten any food around yet. Cheer up, okay? We'll stop by a gas station soon." Mei spoke up, keeping her eyes at the road driving.
"That's good. I'll need the necessary calories to power myself up. I'd prefer some cookies, plentiful of them."
"Call me nee-chan and I'll get you a whole bunch~!"
"Ah, shut up. I'm trying to think here!" Amane snapped at the both of them, crossing his arms.
"You're no fun, Amane. We really do need to get some supplies soon, huh?"
"Maestro has delicate tastes, it seems."
His right eye twitched, but he chose not to speak any further. It was no use trying to talk with any of them without getting the short end of the stick.
Fortunately they stopped by a gas station at last. Mei told them to go buy some stuff at the convenience store while she filled up their car with fuel, practically pushing the two of them to the entrance.
Amane sighed. Having to be stuck babysitting a Musicart were the least of his worries.
"What's taking you so long? They're just cookies." He asked, seeing her look around a variety of cookies on the shelves.
She turned to him, pointing at the cookies. "There's so much to choose from. It's important for me to make a good selection from these."
"Geez, just take this one." He picked a random one from the shelf and dropped it at her hands. She blinked at it, before looking back at him.
"Sounds good to me."
"You didn't even have to look around that long then!!"
As they were about to walk to the counter, Nene spotted donuts on another shelf, quickly going towards them. "What peculiarity is this?"
He huffed. "Those are called donuts. And don't go buying so much stuff, Mei is going to kill me."
"Do you like them, Maestro?"
Huh? What's with that question? "Why'd you even ask?"
Nene poked at one of the donuts. "I saw you glancing at them every so often. I assume you must have a fondness for them."
She... noticed?
How in the world did she see him? Usually she wouldn't go looking into such things, but this was entirely new.
"Would you like to get some?" She asked, and the temptation to say yes began to weigh on him.
"Hey, Amane! Would you like some donuts? On the house!"
"...No. Like I said, Mei's going to flip if we don't save on money."
Nene nodded at him, not saying anything else about the topic. After paying for their supplies, they immediately returned to the car with Mei.
He didn't notice Nene giving the donuts one last look, however.
"There should be a town a few miles ahead of us if we keep going on the road. Why don't you take a quick nap for a while, Amane?"
At that, he raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine, Mei. I'm not that tired."
"That's no good. You look terrible right now, and I know a good sleep will fix you up. Nene, try to make him rest, please?"
"Understood, nee-chan." A pair of arms circled around his neck, and before Amane could even speak up against it, he was forcibly pulled down, head onto Nene's lap. He tried to wriggle his way out, but her vice grip on him was too strong.
"Maestro, you need to rest. You have been staying up since yesterday." She brushed her hand on his hair, trying to coax him to sleep. Amane frowned, averting his eyes from her.
"Whatever." Maybe rest wasn't such a bad idea. As long as he didn't have to look right at her, it was fine.
When he woke up, the sun was already close to setting, and he noticed the car had stopped by a slightly empty town. Nene was not around, rather Mei was still in the driver's seat, eating a sandwich they had bought.
"Mei?"
"Hm? Oh, you're awake! Feeling better?"
"I suppose so... Where's the brat?"
"She went out to buy something. Said it was important. I wanted to come with her, but she said it was confidential, or something." Mei shrugged.
He couldn't even begin to imagine what that Musicart was up to. She did a variety of weird things, most of the time it would get them into trouble.
"I'm back." Nene announced herself, getting back inside the car. She had a basket with something covered in a checker patterned cloth.
"What did you buy?" The smell of something good wafted from the basket, and it was scent that was very familiar, especially to Amane.
It couldn't be...
"Donuts." Nene removed the cloth, revealing a dozen of plain donuts, looking fresh and still warm. She held one up, peering through the hole in the center.
"They appear to be delectable despite this odd flaw they possess. I bought some to add to the calories I need to regain my strength."
Mei put on a grin, shoulders shaking with laughter. "I see, I see. Well, we should get going, then. Try to share with the rest of us, okay?"
"Yes, nee-chan." She chomped on a donut, eyes widening at the taste. She quickly devoured it in a few more bites.
"Geez, you're such a glutton." Amane deadpanned at her. She picked up another donut, this time, to his confusion, handing it to him.
"Huh...?"
"I recall you saying you liked them, Maestro. Help yourself to some as well, I don't mind sharing."
He blinked, wordlessly taking the donut after a moment of hesitation. She returned to eating some more donuts, not even sparing him a glance or anything, like nothing had happened.
He really shouldn't think so much of it, really. This was just Destiny being her weird self. But he couldn't shake off the feeling that when she looked back at him at that time, it was like...
She was still there, somehow. And Destiny was being influenced by her.
"She said it was confidential, or something." He remembered what Mei said. Confidential, or just embarrassed to outright tell them she was going to get donuts?
He really shouldn't think so much of it.
"Thanks..." He muttered out, taking a bite off the donut in his hand.
It tasted like home.
She wasn't really gone. Or that's how Mei wanted to believe. And some part of him, also believed the same.
For a brief moment there, he saw Nene again in Destiny.
He didn't feel like hating that look she gave him any longer that day.
"Hm? Maestro, is there a reason you're looking at me like that?"
"...It's nothing."