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Nijika: [Well! We should wrap it up for today, good job everyone!]
Nijika announced, signaling the end of the day's band practice. Her clapping being the cue for that it's time for some of the band members to head home. Normally, Hitori would immediately leave the building, there was reason for her to stay any longer anyway.
She would step out that door without leaving any baggage behind.
Very easily, in fact.
Yes, easy.
Normally, that is. However, this isn't any normal day, and what's stalling Hitori from heading home for the day and making her want to stay a little longer was that—
“They totally forgot about my birthday!!”
She couldn't say she was surprised, this had always been the normal outcome for all her previous birthdays, there being nobody to celebrate it with except her own family. Though she also couldn't say she wasn't at least hoping things would be any different this time around. It was the first time Hitori had people she was ‘allegedly’ close to, people she could call friends.
—allegedly.
Brushing aside Hitori's growing doubt about her relationship with her bandmates, it didn't change the fact that she was a little disappointed, and so, with much hesitation—
whirr
clank
whirr
clank
Letting go of all control of her body, Hitori started walking towards the door. The sound of metal clanking echoing throughout the entire livehouse with every step she took as her body moved mechanically.
Nijika: [B–Bocchi-chan turned into a robot?!]
Nijika questioned both in distress and bewilderment.
—Ryo simply chuckled.
whirr
Kita: [W–Wait! Hitori-chan!!]
clank
whirr
clank
Kita scurried towards the exit to catch up to Hitori, quickly running out the door until she was out of sight—
—and then came back peeking through the door, with only her head visible.
Kita: [Ah! Nijika-senpai, Ryo-senpai, we'll be going now!]
Nijika extended her arm and gave Kita a thumbs up.
Nijika: [Yeah! See you tomorrow!]
And just like that—Kita had ran off with Hitori—and the underclassmen were gone.
Nijika sighed, with no specific reason as to why. Maybe she was just tired.
Suddenly, she could feel arms enveloping her, tightening until her waist had no space to breathe. She was now imprisoned by Ryo's warm embrace. This wasn't anything out of the blue for her, though. Ever since certain recent events, the two have become more touchy-feely with each other, with frequent physical touch becoming almost becoming a norm for them. Just like now, Nijika being hugged with Ryo's chin resting on her shoulder—
Ryo: [I'm surprised you didn't get Bocchi anything for her birthday.]
You can practically hear a springing sound as a single strand of Nijika's hair defied all laws of physics and bounced up erect.
Nijika: [It's Bocchi-chan's birthday today?!]
Nijika could feel sweat dripping from Ryo's chin.
Nijika: [Why didn't you tell me?!]
Ryo: [I thought you already knew.]
Ryo just knew Nijika was doing one of those cat faces again.
Ryo: [—]
Ryo: [And I had no money to buy a gift.]
Despite being unable to see her face, Ryo could feel the irritation emanating from Nijika.
Ryo: [—Besides… it'd be a bad idea to interrupt them.]
━━━━━━━━━━♫(✦)♫━━━━━━━━━━
Regaining control of her body, Hitori turned back to see Kita running towards her.
“Is this déjà vu?"
Hitori: [Ah, Kita san…did you want to walk home together again…?]
Kita: [Oh! Yeah, but.. before that—]
Hitori felt a something grab her left arm, and suddenly—
Kita: [Hitori-chan, come here for a second.]
—it tugged, dragging her along, eventually ending up in an alley just behind STARRY.
Hitori: [W–What did you bring me in here for..?]
Kita: [Ah, well..]
Kita shuffled through her backpack looking for something. After around a minute, she took out a small white box. It was small enough to fit in her palm, and it was delicately wrapped with a red ribbon. She then handed it to Hitori, urging her to take it—
Kita: [—Happy birthday, Hitori-chan.]
Hitori: [You remembered…?]
To say she was surprised was an understatement, with how many times she'd failed to get even a single person to acknowledge her during this special occasion—not like she did anything to even inform anyone—she didn't expect that to change now. Especially after getting her hopes mercilessly crushed after band practice ended without a single one of her friends even greeting her.
Kita: [Of course I did! How could I not?!]
Kita: [I was planning to tell the others but, I thought they already knew and—I was surprised that they didn't get you anyth—]
Kita cut herself off mid sentence, and what looked like guilt crept up her face. She shook her head, as if to regain her composure, and—
Kita: [I'm sorry, I lied.]
Hitori: [Huh..?]
Kita looked down, shamefully. Something Hitori never would've expected to see.
Kita: [The truth is, I didn't tell them because I wanted you all to myself today.]
Hitori didn't really know what to say, so she kept her mouth shut, silently listening to what the vocalist had to say. It's not like Hitori was mad at her or anything. In fact, she was glad that someone even remembered that it was her birthday today. It's just that she didn't know how to respond to the information being presented to her.
Kita: [I know, I know… it's really selfish for me to do this, especially when it's your birthday, but—]
Kita: [I can't help but be greedy when it comes to you, Hitori-chan.]
Kita looked back up, facing Hitori. She looked her in the eyes, as if immediately regaining her confidence, not a shred of the previous contrition can be seen on her.
Kita: [And well…I also wanted this to be a day for you to remember.].
She was now back to radiating so much Kit-aura that it could've blinded Hitori.
Kita: [What are you waiting for? Come on! Open your gift!]
Hitori: [Ah!! R–Right!]
Hitori obliged, taking off the ribbon and opening the small box. What was inside was a small carving of what seemed to be a star, with four pointed ends to indicate how it shone brightly. On top of it was a small hole where a metal ring passed through to take hold of it.
Hitori: [Is this… a keychain?]
Kita: [Yeah! And I have my own too, so we match!]
Kita showed off the zipper of her backpack, dangling from it was a keychain with the same style and color scheme as the one Hitori had gotten, except if was shaped like a crescent.
Hitori: [But why a keychain? I–I mean.. it's not like I'm ungrateful or anything. I r–really appreciate this gift!!]
Hitori yelped to redeem herself, louder than she wanted to.
Hitori: [B–But, I just wanted to know why you got me this specifically..]
Kita simply smiled at her antics. She always found Hitori's reactions cute.
Kita: [Well… I thought it was kinda symbolic of us…]
Kita: [You know how at night, when the sun is nowhere to be seen, the moon is reflecting its light so everyone else can see?]
Kita: [That's what I want to do for you, Hitori-chan. You shine so brightly to me, and I want everyone else to see just how amazing you are.]
And not only that, the moon only shines because of the sun's light. And if it weren't for Hitori, Kita would've never found her way into the band. She would've never been given an opportunity to shine if it weren't for Hitori.
“But I can't say that.. It's Hitori-chan's birthday today. I shouldn't make this about me.”
Hitori: [B–But Kita-san… why didn't you buy a keychain that's shaped like the sun then…?]
Kita was caught off guard by the question.
Kita: [The star was more aesthetically pleasing! Besides, the sun is also a star isn't it? It just happens to be the closest one to us.]
Kita: [And I wouldn't want it any other way. I want to be the closest I can be to you, Hitori-chan.]
Unable to form the exact words to show her gratitude, Hitori pulled Kita into a hug. Kita would've never expected Hitori of all people to initiate such an action, but it was understandable to her considering the situation.
Hitori: [Th–thank you, Kita-san!!! I promise I won't ever lose this gift and I'll treasure it all my life!!!]
“There she goes exaggerating again.”
“——”
“Then again, this is Hitori-chan… she might actually be serious.”
Not that it bothered Kita—in fact, she liked the idea of Hitori desperately holding onto something that came from her.
Hitori squeezed tighter, and Kita could feel droplets falling into the shoulder of her uniform.
“Oh no, I made her cry.”
Kita: [There, there..]
Kita reciprocated the hug, one arm on Hitori's back, and the other caressing her hair in order to comfort the crying girl. Even Kita had to admit she had gotten fond of playing with the guitarist's hair.
The sun had only just started to set but the moon can already be seen in the center of the sky.
The moon only borrows its light from the sun—therefore, it could never shine as bright as the sun does. But that didn't matter to Kita. She thought it was as if she found a new purpose—to be the moon to Hitori.
This was what Ikuyo Kita wanted to do, to always be by her side and watch her from up close. As long as she was able to do that, she was content.
━━♫(✦)♫━━
Nijika would then repeatedly apologize to Hitori the following day whilst giving her her late birthday present.
And Ryo got her salary cut.