Chapter Text
“One.”
“Are you sure about this? This seems like a bad idea.”
“What? Are you scared, Kai?”
“I’m not. It just seems dangerous.”
“Shut up. We’re gonna miss him.”
“Sabito-“
“Three! Jump!”
“Wait! I don’t think we should be doing this- oH MY GOD WE’RE GONNA DIE!”
The two jumped on the bed of a passing truck that was full of wheat.
“Eh? Wha-“ The driver of the truck was interrupted when his truck bounced off the pavement. His hands lost touch with the wheel. “Ah!” He took it in his hands again and swerved from side to side, avoiding people in the street.
“You are insane!” Kai shouted.
“I told you we’d make- WAH!” Sabito was interrupted when he was launched forward as the truck crashed into a fruit stand. He landed on the watermelons.
“Hey! Are you okay?” Kai asked, climbing on the roof of the truck and looking for Sabito.
“I’m okay!” Sabito raised his arm from under the melons he was buried in. He picked himself up and dusted himself off. His school uniform was stained red with the juice from the melons.
“Hey, are you two okay?”
“Are you two insane?! Look what you did to my stand! And look at all the damages you did! Someone’s going to have to pay for that!” The angry vendor of the stand shouted at Sabito.
A crowd began to gather.
“Look, there’s no need to shout. I’m sure we can work something out if we-“
“Sabito!”
Sabito paused when he heard a familiar voice.
An old man with a face mask made his way through the gathering crowd.
“Urokodaki San! Hi, I- Let me explain-!”
Urokodaki crossed his arms and sighed deeply.
Sabito lowered his head and sighed.
“You're closing up the shop all by yourself? It’s going to take you forever to get out of here.”
“I know!” Sabito threw his hands up behind the counter.
He’d been assign to close up the convenient store Urokodaki owned in town all by himself as punishment for the trouble he’d caused earlier that day.
Sabito’s behavior always became more obedient and calm when around Urokodaki.
Urokodaki had raised his after all.
Sabito had been orphaned from a young age. His parents were killed during a car accident. He traveled through many orphanages, when Urokodaki decided to foster him until he was old enough to be alright on his own, which was definitely looking like later.
“Oh. He’s making you wax the floors, too? That’s going to take a while since you have to move all the shelves around.”
“Thanks for reminding me, Makomo.” Sabito took back the list of closing tasks Urokodaki had given him from her. He sighed and laid his chin on the counter. “I’m going to die of boredom. Today is going by so slow.”
“You know, if you staid out of trouble: you wouldn’t be in this mess.” Makomo told him.
“I know, but what else is someone suppose to do for fun in this tiny town?” Sabito asked. “I’ve been here long enough to see all this place has to offer. And I don’t have a car, so it’s not like I can drive to the city when I want to.”
“Urokodaki San doesn’t let you borrow the car?” Makomo asked.
“What? He lets you?”
“Um.. no. I have to go.” She said.
“Wait, don’t leave me all by myself here. I’m going to die of loneliness.”
“I have homework.”
“You can do it behind the counter.” Sabito offered.
“The lighting isn’t very good back there.” Makomo was halfway out the door. “But I’ll see if I can come by later and bring you dinner! Bye!” She was gone.
“Hah..” Sabito sighed. He looked at the broom on his right. “Might’ve as well start early.”
>ding<
“Oh! The pork buns!” He raced off to the back.
“Phew!” Sabito wiped his forehead on the back of his hand as he locked the shop for the night. He untied the white apron behind him and removed it from over his head. He also pulled the bandana on his head off.
10:47 pm
“Two hours after closing, but I did it.” He grinned to himself as he twisted the key on the lock. “There.” He pushed on the door to make sure it was locked and nodded. “Hmph.” He walked by his nicely cleaned windows with his bike, spotting a smudge on one.
“Oi. I thought I got ride of you.” He said, swiping his thumb across the stain.
It remained.
“Oh, you think you’re some sort of tough guy huh?” He licked his thumb and swiped it over the smudge again.
It disappeared.
He chuckled. “Heh, that’s what I though.” He noticed a white glow on the glass. “Hm?” He turned around to see a star glowing. “Oh.” He looked around to see if anyone was around.
He had a delinquent reputation around these parts, so imagine how embarrassing it’d be to see someone like him: a tough and rough guy wishing on a star. That stuff was for babies and little kids. But not to him. Yeah, he was a guy with quite the reputation, but he still believed in wishing on stars. Was that really so bad?
The coast was clear.
Good.
He closed his eyes, keeping his wish to himself. Once he was through, he opened his eyes to see a cat standing across the street; staring at him. “Hey, what’re you looking? Shoo! Get lost.”
The cat meowed before walking away.
Sabito looked back up at the sky, only to see the star he’d wish on was still there.
It also looked brighter??
“Wha..” He squinted at it. “Did it get- No, no. That’s not right. It’s late. I’m tired.” He continued on his way, when suddenly there was a boom, and the sky brightened like day.
There was a loud crash behind him.
He stopped in his tracks and looked back at where the noise came from.
There was a dim glow over the hills.
He stood in place, debating if he should go investigate or go back home to Urokodaki and the others.
If Urokodaki found out he was out and about causing more trouble, he would get scolded. On the other hand, Urokodaki /did/ give him a task list that should’ve taken him longer than it did to complete. It’d be suspicious if he came home so early, no?
Do it. Don’t do it.
Go. Don’t go.
Curiosity killed the cat, but it also shaped the world.
Fuck it.
Sabito mounted his bike and turned to the direction of the glowing. He peddled up the road and toward the crash sight.
Sabito tossed his bike on the side of the road, his chain clicked as the back wheel kept spinning. He made his way up a green grass covered hill, where it looked like the glow from whatever had crashed was originating. The closer he got to the top, the dimmer the glowing grew. “No. No, no, no, no.” He hurried, running now. “Uh-!” He slip forward with the dew covered grass as he finally reached the top.
The glow was gone.
It was pitch black in front of him, where he knew a field was.
“Dammit.” He cursed under his breath. He took his phone out and turned on the flash, pointing out on the dark field.
Suddenly a glowing white light appeared, shining in his direction.
“Ah!” He quickly ducked down. “What the hell was that?” He gasped. His chest was rising up and down.
He could see the beams of light behind the hill flickering. They flickered faster and faster and the wind began to pick up. The ground trembled under him a bit.
Sabito hated to admit it, but he was slightly scared.
Only slightly.
He felt around for anything near him.
A rock, a stick, anything!
A rock. A rock! Aha! Yes! A rock!
He stood up quickly, holding the rock in his hand; ready to use it. “I’m not afraid of you!” He shouted, opening his eyes to see the light right in front of him. “Ah!” He gasped when he realized how close it was.
It was glowing, it felt hot, a faint twinkling sound came from it. It began to get louder and louder, and it started to sound like it was forming words.
Sabito carefully stepped closer to it, squinting as it got brighter. He reached for it as it continued to make those sounds. The closer he got, the more the sounds began to sound like words.
He was inches away from touching it when suddenly:
“I’m not afraid of you!” The light shouted before it extinguished.
Sabito fell back in surprise at the sudden light transition. He sat on the ground for a few seconds.
/I’m not afraid of you!/
It shouted at him.
In /his/ voice.
“What was that?” Sabito crawled forward and peeked over the hill, searching for the light.
His eyes widen when they fell on something that was definitely not a light.