Archive of Our Own

Let me tell you a little story

about the star that couldn’t shine or blink

out of a million, million, 

felt like an alien, alien

then that little star was surely

going to become the biggest thing

making a fantasy family,

beautiful galaxy, galaxy.

– Youtiful, Stray Kids

Shinonome Ena is born on the very last day of April. It’s storming outside when her mom first hands her over to her dad and her dad holds her uncertainly, like Ena is a fragile object that he’s afraid to break. It’s a beautiful sight, so her parents decide to name her Ena, representing that beautiful portrait made that day. Her parents watch her adoringly as lightning flashes in the background and thunder rumbles, demanding everyone’s attention. 

Similarly, Ena begins to cry in a tinny voice, and despite her small size, she has a loud heart. Her cries fill the room too, demanding her parents attention. 

And for the first ten months of her life, Ena gets all the attention she desires. Her mom begins to fade in the background (though Ena isn’t really aware of that) and when she isn’t in desperate need of her mother’s comfort, Ena’s dad watches over her in his studio. 

One time, Ena gets herself into Shinei’s paints, and Shinei finds her giggling and squealing, covered in red and blue paint and dripping the colors onto the fabric that protected the ground. Shinei is quick to scoop her up in his arms and laughs as the paint gets on his smock. He hadn’t expected his baby Ena to become a tiny artist himself, so he’s pleasantly surprised.

Ena lives her first year of her life blissfully unaware. She swallows up her parents’ attention and doesn’t notice how her mother’s stomach is getting bigger and how her nursery has now become a room for two. 

And then, in the middle of November the next year, her little brother Shinonome Akito is born on a chilly day. Ena obviously doesn’t remember anything about the day of his birth, but after she grows up a little and can finally start understanding and processing the world, she comes to the understanding that when Akito came crashing into the world, he came about as a fireball. With ginger hair and eyes that burn, Akito’s existence was flaming, and she bets he probably warmed up the cold November day that greeted him.

She bets he’s destined to light the world on fire.

**

Ena eventually ends up being the water to Akito’s fire. As the two of them grow, she learns how to express herself in a gentle manner, to be seen and not heard. One day, when Ena’s five and Akito, just a year younger, the two of them sit at their play table and decide to draw. Ena carefully picks her colored pencils, while Akito clumsily grabs a fistful of crayons and absolutely goes ham on the poor, unsuspecting piece of paper. When Shinei walks in to check on them both, Ena grins excitedly, holding up her piece of paper.

“Daddy, look!” She says, pointing at the paper and the stick figures that danced on it, “It’s me, Akito, you and mama!” 

Shinei hums, “That looks good, Ena. Great job!” 

Akito pouts from the lack of attention:

“I drawed us too!” He holds up his paper filled with random scribbles and Shinei has to squint before he realizes that Akito hadn’t drawn a family portrait but rather, had taken filling the page with crayon as a challenge.

“It’s very… colorful,” he says and Akito pouts from the half-hearted compliment.

“No fair. She’s good at drawing.” 

“I can show you!” Ena exclaims, and Akito looks at her hopefully.

“You will?” 

“Yeah!” Ena nods as she grabs some colored pencils and a new piece of paper. 

She hands Akito a colored pencil and she sets the new piece of paper on their play table before she begins to instruct Akito on how to draw her trademarked stick figures. Akito finishes two before he stands up on his chubby little legs and declares that he’s bored. Ena giggles as she watches her brother run off to go play with his toys, before looking at the unfinished drawing. One of the stick figures is smiling wide with brown hair and the other has orange hair. Ena smiles. It’s her and Akito. 

They always stuck together. Even if they argue, even if Akito keeps stealing Ena’s dolls, even when Ena shoves Akito aside to get extra pancakes, they always will stick together. 

**

Ena is quick to learn that Akito is always itching to run out into the world, ready to set it ablaze. He’s always doing something, unable to stay bored for too long, and once he gets unleashed out into the world, he moves as fast as a wildfire spreads, with nothing stopping him but himself. 

His parents take good notice of all the energy pent up in Akito and put it to good use. When he’s eight, their parents sign him up for soccer with the Shibuya Diamonds Youth FC, and Ena makes sure that her parents and her are sitting front row at every single one of Akito’s games. Ena’s the one to yell the loudest in the stands, cheering and encouraging Akito to run like the wind every time he takes control of the ball and books it down the field, weaving through the defenders with his dribbling. 

Her chest swells with pride when Akito scores a goal, and then two, and she wants to yell at the parents of the opposing teams in triumph. She wants them to know that yeah, the ace striker of the Shibuya Shining Diamonds Youth FC is the Shinonome Akito, a kid destined for greatness and her little brother . 

At nine years old, Ena knows that when (not if, when ) her brother becomes known by the world, she’ll be in the front row seats cheering him on. He’ll win the World Cup and she’ll give him the biggest hug and tell him how proud she is. She can’t wait for that moment. 

**

She’s easily reminded of the fact that her brother is gifted when one day, he comes home from soccer practice with a scraped cheek and bloody knees.

Akito swings the door open to their condo calling out an “I’m home!” tiredly as he kicks off his shoes. Ena glances up from where she’s scrolling through her (brand new) phone before her smile turns into a frown. 

“Welcome home- wait, why are you so beat up?”

Akito shrugs, annoyed at the coddling because it’s very uncool, “It’s soccer, Ena. Getting hurt is a part of it.”

Ena stares at him as he walks past without a glance before she pouts and complains loudly, “If you don’t get your scratches treated, you’re going to get them infected. Sit down.” 

Akito sighs, not wanting to argue, and walks over to the couch, flopping down on it. Ena walks over to the cabinet where the Shinonomes store their first aid kit before coming back and kneeling in front of Akito. She opens the first aid kit, follows the instructions and gently places an alcohol wipe to Akito’s cheek.

Akito winces at the way it stings, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Ena smiles sympathetically as she distracts him, asking, “How was practice today?” 

“It was good,” Akito mumbles, “I scored four goals.” 

“Wow,” Ena hums proudly as she places a bandaid over the disinfected scratch, “That’s amazing.” 

“I’m pretty great, right? One day, I’ll be like Messi.”

“I know you will,” Ena smiles. 

He’s really lucky to be gifted with the ability to run with the wind, with boundless physical energy to channel into prowess. Ena can’t help but envy him a little bit, but at the same time, she’s proud he’s putting it to good use. He’s really going to do great things. 

** 

Ena’s also quick to learn that she isn’t destined for greatness. 

She’s eleven when she decides that she loves drawing so much that she’s going to try and follow in her father’s footsteps to become an artist. It starts with Ena lingering more in her dad’s studio, watching him paint and observing his technique; Shinei is a pretty well known artist, after all. In fact, Ena takes art classes with his friend and has been for the past couple of years. 

Needless to say, Ena loves it. Every time she walks into the classroom, the scent of paint helps her envision the day she’ll have her own art studio, making paintings for the world to see. Her heart races with excitement every time she makes a new brush stroke, or draws a new line. 

Every time she brings a painting home from class, Akito is the first to compliment it. He’ll plod his way into Ena’s room and watch her finish some of her paintings with admiration before gushing about how much he loved a color Ena used or her brushstrokes. Ena beams with pride every time, already eager to start painting her next masterpiece. When Ena tries to hug him in celebration, he quickly sidesteps her, calling her corny. Maybe, she thinks, when Akito wins the World Cup, she’ll gift him a painting of himself and the professional artist and her soccer player brother will both be admired by the world. 

The professional artist idea sticks in her head, and one day, when she’s twelve, she decides to bring up the idea to her father. After art class with Yukihira-sensei, she skips happily into her house and greets her dad who’s watching the news, before she pops the question:

“So dad, I was looking at these two high schools with fine arts programs, and I was wondering which one you think-”

“Fine arts programs?” 

“Well, yeah,” Ena replies, “I want to be an artist, so I was thinking about expanding my skills while I can, you know?” 

“I wouldn’t bother,” Shinei shrugs. 

Ena stares at him in disbelief, sputtering out a “Huh?” 

“You don’t have the talent to become an artist.”

The sentence serves as a knife, stabbing into Ena’s heart. Ena refuses to believe that these words are coming out of her father’s mouth— the exact same person who signed her up for these art classes after she asked, the one who called her drawings good, the one who she thought would be her number one fan. 

“What are you saying? You’re joking, right?” Ena asks, in denial. 

“I’m not joking,” her dad replies bluntly, “You don’t have talent.” 

“There’s no way that’s true,” Ena retorts, feeling her confidence slowly dying, “I’ve been drawing my whole life, and I won that special prize in the middle school art contest.”

“I know,” Shinei replies, “There are countless others wanting to do the same thing. Unless you can win the grand prize at a big art contest, no one will notice you.” 

Ena’s thoughts jumble around in her head as she tries to muster a response. Nothing comes up except for the stinging feeling of betrayal that threatens to manifest itself in curses rolling out her mouth. She bites her tongue and forces out: 

“Why? Why didn’t you tell me? I’m serious about this but you-” 

“Ena,” her dad interrupts, “You’re not going to become the kind of artist you’re envisioning. You have the resolve, but if you don’t have the talent to match, then things aren’t going to happen for you.” 

Ena feels her blood boil. She had worked so hard, gone to painting class every day, even when Yukihira-sensei gave her the harshest criticism, because she wanted to show the world her art. 

“Are you saying just because I don’t have talent, it doesn’t matter how hard I work?” 

Shinei nods. 

“Yes, that’s the world I live in. No doors will open up for you as you are.” 

Ena scowls. She refuses to give up; even when her dad is the one knocking her down, she wants to be an artist. She chooses to fight so she yells in defiance. 

“You have no right to decide that! It’s my future, stay out of it!” 

With that, she furiously storms out of the living room. On the way to her room, she runs into Akito, who had just exited his, wondering what all the ruckus was about.

“Ena,” he begins, concerned, “What happened?” 

Ena fumes. She’s angry at the world and the world merely laughs at her in response. Her heart burns with determination so much that it hurts , but it also bleeds betrayal and doubt. 

Talentless. The word echoes in her head, increasing in volume with every iteration.

Talentless. Talentless. Talentless. 

It sears into her mind and all she sees is red when looking at Akito; he burns with the same determined flame as her, but he’s lucky to do something he’s actually good at. She would give anything to be as lucky as him, so that she wouldn’t have to hear those vicious words come out of her dad’s mouth. Unfortunately, that’s how her situation is, so Ena resolves to prove to her dad that she is an artist. Rather than being the water to Akito’s fire, in order to push towards her own dream, she needs to become a natural disaster, destroying every obstacle in her path until she reaches the end of the road. Let him burn, she thinks, she’ll destroy tenfold. 

“Shut up,” she grits out, pressing on. “Everything’s fine.” 

She slams the door to her room and Akito is left standing dumbstruck in the dark hallway. The sinking feeling in his stomach tells him that everything is definitely not fine. 

**

While Ena wages her war on the world, the pride from being so good at soccer gets to Akito’s head, lifting his mind up above the clouds. The inevitable and subsequent fall brutally crushes him. 

Ena doesn’t make the game that makes Akito give up. She’s too busy trying to perfect an art piece so she can convince the small parts of herself that still believe that it’s worth pursuing the field. While she paints, pouring her heart out through color, form and shape, Akito is struggling to keep his team’s morale high as the gap between them and Musashino East widens in Akito’s last ever elementary school championship match. 

Akito takes it into his own hands to light the match that leads to an explosion; he finds an opening and slips past the defender blocking him, leading to his teammate passing him the ball. He dribbles, kicking nutmegs and chopping feints, until it’s him and the goalkeeper. He finds an opening, takes a shot and scores, pushing the Shibuya Diamonds up a point. However, over the course of the rest of the match, they fall behind another three more, and Akito resists the way his knees want to crumple beneath him when two short whistles and one long one signal his defeat. 

He clenches his fists and looks down to the ground. All his life, he’s been told how good he is at soccer, and he loved practicing, loved running on the field so free with no limits, and loved spending his energy on chasing yet another elusive victory. Failure is a foreign concept to him at this point, and boy did it sting. Damn it, he wanted to win. He wanted to win so badly. 

“It’s alright, Shinonome,” one of his teammates says, approaching him, “We never really stood a chance anyway.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Musashino East’s team is filled with kids who left their homes and came all the way here to play soccer. They practice forever after school…”

Akito wordlessly listens, feeling an uneasy feeling bubble up in his chest. 

“I mean,” his teammate continues, “they all really want to go pro. They’re giving everything up for that.”

Akito’s chest pangs. He also took soccer seriously. He also did everything he could. It’s just that the thought of practicing from sunrise until sundown never really crossed his mind. He bites back the tears that threaten to rise, because no matter how much he could say he loves soccer, he didn’t really, because he couldn’t see himself doing what the Musashino East kids did. 

Could he even call himself a soccer player? Surely he shouldn’t. 

That evening, when Akito walks home with his teammate, he declares that he’s going to quit. He apologizes for acting like a bigshot when it comes to soccer, admits that he’s really just a big loser, and apologizes again for being a useless ace. When he bids his goodbye, a piece of himself is mercilessly ripped out of his heart. 

When he enters his house, Ena greets him, eating cheesecake at the kitchen counter. Their mom and dad aren’t home.

“How’d the championship go?” 

Akito scowls at her; it’s inconsiderate to ask about a fresh and gaping wound, after all. 

“We lost.”

“Oh that sucks,” Ena mutters sympathetically. Akito sighs loudly in return.

“I’m quitting anyway. It’s no big deal.” 

Before Ena can respond, he trudges off to his room. Ena sighs, resigned, before turning her attention back to her cheesecake. It’s best if she didn’t interfere this time.

**

But when you fall, you get up. It’s with Ena’s help that Akito is able to run free again. 

Life after quitting soccer ends up being pretty boring for Akito. He slowly makes his way to school, comes home, forces himself to focus on his homework, fails, scrolls the internet, attempts to do his homework again, eats food and turns in for the night, in that order. Every day, he rinses and repeats that routine, going through his life methodically, now that he couldn’t live on the wildside. Nothing really brings him joy; he’s lost. 

One day, he’s in the living room watching TV during their summer vacation, when he hears Ena and their mom talking in the kitchen. He doesn’t want to hear them talk, but the walls are thin so the sound drifts into the living room.

“Mom, there’s this summer festival in Shibuya this weekend. I was planning on going, so you don’t have to make dinner for me on Saturday.”

He chooses to ignore the conversation, trying his best to focus on the TV. 

However, that comes to bite him in the ass, when he’s trying to complete his very important agenda of doing nothing that Saturday. His phone rings as he finishes watching another episode of a sports anime (while internally dwelling on the fact that he’s never going to play soccer again) and he pauses the TV. He picks up his phone, grumbling when he sees that Ena is calling him. Reluctantly, he answers the call. 

“What do you want?” He asks bluntly. 

“Hey! Is that any way to greet your sister?” Ena chastises on the other end. Akito rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah. What do you want?” Akito repeats. 

“Are you home right now?”

“Yeah.” Akito replies, already beginning to tune her out.

“Oh great, thank goodness. Would you mind coming to the summer festival? I’m in a bit of trouble…” 

Akito sits up straight on the sofa, listening intently. Although they didn’t get along that well, he is still responsible for having his sister’s back.

“What kind of trouble?” He asks seriously, before snarkily adding on, “If this is about an errand you want me to run, forget it.” 

“No, you dingus.” Ena groans in exasperation, “I’m hurt.”

Akito nearly yells into the receiver, “You’re hurt?!”  

That’s how Akito finds himself running through the crowds at the Shibuya Summer Festival carrying a pair of sneakers; he scans the crowd for Ena, trying his hardest to focus on the task at hand and not at the way the overwhelming amount of sounds scratches at his brain. Eventually he finds Ena, sitting by the steps that lead to the park garden. Her face lights up when she sees Akito.

“Great, you’re here!” 

Akito nods, holding out the sneakers, “I brought the shoes, like you asked. Are you able to walk?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. These shoes just hurt a lot.” Ena slides her sandals off before she grabs the sneakers, “But did you have to bring sneakers? They’re so tacky.”

“Are you kidding me?” Akito replies, incredibly annoyed. Ena sighs.

“I suppose they’ll have to do,” she says as she slides them on, “Come on, explore the festival with me.” 

Next thing Akito knows, Ena’s grabbing his hand and dragging him through the crowds of the festivals. They stop at a couple of stands, grab some snacks, and take some photos (read: Akito takes photos of Ena, because he’d rather die than be Ena’s photography subject) before they begin to hear loud music. 

“Ugh,” Akito mutters, “Where’s all the noise coming from?”

“Looks like they’re setting up a performance,” Ena responds, before glancing at Akito, “Let’s go see it.”

They make their way to the crowd and find a spot under a tree. Akito sits down, saving the spot for them while Ena decides to go get the two some popsicles - one cherry flavored for herself and one orange flavored for Akito. When she comes back, she sits on the grass next to Akito, being careful not to get her yukata dirty, right in time for the start of the show.

Loud music blares, filling the air with fresh energy and excitement. Ena feels an unforeseen anticipation as the first performers make their way on stage and immediately break into song and dance, pouring their souls into their voices. The crowd receives the music and sends all their encouragement in response. It truly is an amazing sight, and Ena feels her heart thrum with the rhythm of the music. 

She turns to Akito, about to ask him what he thinks of the performance, but really, his face says it all. His eyes are wide, taking everything in, and there’s a reinvigorated sparkle in them that Ena’s missed seeing since he quit soccer. He’s focused so hard on the performance that he’s forgotten about the popsicle in his hand, and melted orange juice begins to drip down his hand. Usually, Akito hates the feeling of sticky hands, so the fact that he hasn’t noticed that yet really surprises Ena. 

It’s here where she realizes that while Akito was good at soccer— is good at soccer— his true passion may lie somewhere else. When she watches her little brother get more and more mesmerized by each passing second of the performance, she realizes that music might be his true calling.

Akito is just full of surprises, isn’t he? Regardless, Ena smiles and turns her attention back to the performance, enjoying the way the melodies course through her head. 

After the show’s over, the two of them make their way through the crowds and towards the exit of the festival. Ena hums as they walk.

“You know, that performance was really cool.”

Akito’s voice comes out almost breathy, as if he’s still blown over by the performance that happened earlier. 

“Yeah.” 

Ena smiles knowingly. 

“You should give that a try, you know.” 

Akito stares at her like she just grew a second hand and started speaking English. 

“Why would I do that?” 

“Well,” Ena begins nonchalantly, “I saw the way you were enjoying the performance. It looked like you wanted to join them up there.” 

Akito falls silent and directs his attention to the ground beneath them. He sees a pebble and begins kicking it ahead of him as he thinks. 

“I know nothing about music, though. Like… with soccer, I was good from the start. I can’t do music, because I’m just going to be bad.” 

“We all start somewhere. My drawings were pretty bad too, and even now they still need improvement,” Ena replies, “Give it a try. Go watch some shows. Try singing. You never know if you never give it a shot, right?” 

Akito sighs as a small hopeful smile makes its way to his expression. 

“I hate that you’re right.”

“I’m always right.” Ena replies proudly. Akito elbows her. 

“I’m calling bull.” He scoffs in return, and Ena playfully slaps his arm.

“Hey!” 

In a week’s time, Ena ends up suppressing a proud smile when Akito comes home gushing about the most legendary event he’s ever seen— an event called RAD Weekend. That night, when the two of them are enjoying some cheesecake and somehow getting along, Akito declares he will surpass that night. In a month’s time, she tells Akito to “just leave already” in the most jovial tone, when he announces that he’s leaving to go sing in public. She’s happy he’s found something that excites him, something that means so much to him, just like how art means so much to her.

They both have dreams that are waiting on the horizon, and Ena can’t wait to win the necessary battle to get there.  

**

Ena loses her first battle against talent. The subsequent fall ends up being pretty nasty. 

Ever since she started art classes with Yukihira-sensei, she’s been aware of the possibility of receiving harsh criticisms from him. He is known for being the reason why many students got into Tokyo University of the Arts, which also happens to be Ena’s dream art school. 

For the years leading up to the fall, Ena had been coasting. She would create to her heart’s content, and get by on average to good criticisms from Yukihira-sensei. It was comfortable, and she enjoyed it, because it proved that she was truly an artist. 

In her third year of middle school, her first criticism of the year is her best one yet. Yukihira-sensei commends almost everything about her art, and Ena feels like she’s finally making it with her dreams. She’s nearly floating as she leaves the art class, ready to go home to gloat to her father that she got commended by Yukihira-sensei. 

(Her father doesn’t listen.)

However, the next ones end up being pretty bad. The events end up feeling like a blur to Ena, but she ends up being called arrogant, and being told that she’s just attending the class for recognition and that she really shouldn’t come if that’s her main intention. The statement that stings the most for her, though, is when Yukihira-sensei tells her that he can’t see her ever growing in her art the way she is now. It burns so much that when she comes home, she doesn’t answer her mom’s greeting, she ignores Akito, and she lashes out at her father before storming into her room. 

On the day she reaches her breaking point, Yukihira-sensei instructs that it’s a free creation day with the theme of ‘self’. During creation time, Ena finds herself questioning what to make for the theme. All she knows is that she’s the daughter of an artist.

A bad one at that, her mind tells her. 

She’s an artist. 

Even the teacher agrees. 

She’s an artist, damn it. 

But are you really? Her mind asks her, and for the first time, Ena feels anxiety wash over her. Her chest tightens from the fear of the unknown, and she’s finding it hard to breathe. She grips at her tights, trying to focus on something that is not her mind taunting her, telling her that no matter how hard she tries, she’ll end up getting scathing criticisms from Yukihira-sensei because she is, in fact, not an artist. 

It’s so tiring to fight back against the world, especially when you have become your own enemy, so by the time the creation period ends, Ena submits her shattered dreams along with her blank canvas, and she drowns in the misery she created for herself. She resigns herself to the idea that she will never be an artist. 

Yukihira-sensei is obviously so disappointed that he doesn’t even give Ena any critique, and Ena decides it’s not worth it to come back to the class anymore. 

It storms on the day Ena decides to quit, and there’s a hurricane in Ena’s heart. When she gets home, she ignores everyone, going into her room and staring at her drawings littering her desk. With a frustrated yell she sweeps them all into her trash can. She huffs and puffs angrily as she stares at the years of work she’s thrown away, before she averts her gaze. She’s so mad she feels she’s going to explode and consequently disappear. ( Wouldn’t that be nice? ) 

And she has every right to be mad. All her life, she’s been screaming so loud so that the world could hear her, and acknowledge that she’s just a kid with a dream, but instead they refuse to listen, just because she doesn’t have the talent they desire. Instead, she ends up drowning in the waves of shame that come with failure, screams turned into muffles and gurgles. 

It’s so unfair. Who would live in a fucked up world like this? 

As Ena’s seething, a knock sounds on the door, before the door opens. Akito peeks in, concerned.

“Hey,” he starts awkwardly, when Ena glares at him with tears in her eyes, “Is everything okay?” 

Ena can’t believe what she’s hearing. She is mourning her dream that the world chose to kill and Akito is outside her room standing there with that… dopey… and clueless look on his face. As her world falls apart, Akito has the audacity to ask her if she’s okay?

“No,” she replies through gritted teeth, “Leave me alone.” 

“We can talk if you want to,” Akito says as he slides into the room, leaving the door open behind him, just wanting to be of help. However, his good intentions only make Ena angrier. She doesn’t want to talk to someone who still has a dream that’s alive and kicking; it will only make her feel worse.

“I said,” Ena turns to him, grabbing his shoulders and trying to push him out the doorway, “Leave me alone.” 

She raises her voice’s volume and Akito grips Ena’s arms and stands firm; he was always stronger than she was.

“What the hell, Ena?” He asks, irritated at the way she’s trying to push him, “I’m just trying to help.”

“And I don’t need your help!” Ena replies as she wrestles her arms out of his grip. Akito frowns. 

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone.” He mutters, “No need to get so pissy.” 

Ena erupts. Everything she had been bottling up since she got home explodes in a hot, ugly, messy fit of rage. She’s a natural disaster, hideously destroying everything in her path, and this time, it just so happened that Akito is blocking her way. 

“Shut the fuck up, you little… prick!” She screams as she swipes her arm at Akito’s face. She feels her acrylic nails dig into the skin on his cheek and Akito’s eyes widen in shock. His hands immediately fly up to his cheek as his skin breaks and blood appears. Remorse immediately fills Ena, along with the bitterness directed at the world, and she looks down at her hands in shock. She caused that. She hurt her brother.

The storm dies down. 

“Akito I-” 

“It’s fine,” Akito musters out, trying not to cry at the way the scratch stings, “Hope you feel better.” 

With that, Akito slips out of the room, slipping through Ena’s fingers as she tries to hold on to the sibling relationship they once had, the one she ruined. The world has taken away the last thing she valued dearly: her brother. She clenches her fists and looks at the ground, trying so hard not to break down and never be put together again. 

However, something catches her eye. She glances up and above her desk, hanging neatly, untouched since she first rediscovered it, is the stick figure drawing of her and Akito that she taught him how to do. 

She doesn’t deserve to have that drawing, not after what she did to her brother. Without thinking, feeling shame festering in her heart, she tears down the drawing.

In the aftermath, shreds of a drawing they both cherished fall slowly to the floor. 

In the aftermath, Akito is wounded, walking around with a pink bandaid on his cheek, not sparing her a glance for the subsequent week. 

In the aftermath, Ena loses herself. She’s a terrible artist, and a terrible sister, isn’t she? 

**

After a disaster, you rebuild. 

Ena’s scrolling through her social media while laying down on her bed when a knock sounds on her door. She glances at the clock on the wall, which says it’s nearly three in the morning, and there is only one other person in the house who would ever be awake at three in the morning on a Saturday night. Ena groans loudly, making sure that Akito knew that she was comfortable in bed before being disgraced with the hassle of getting out of it, before she trudges over to the door. She flings it open and gives Akito a pointed look.

“What do you want?” 

Akito doesn’t hesitate to get straight to the point, keeping his voice low so they don’t wake their parents up. He holds up a box of what looks like a hair dye kit. 

“You know how to dye hair, right? Can you dye mine?” 

“Yeah I do- do what, now?” Ena replies, doing a double take mid sentence. Akito scoffs, impatiently repeating his request. 

“Can you dye my hair?”

Ena stares at him, jaw agape. Sure, she knows how to dye hair, she had done it for a classmate before, but this request was coming too far out of left field for her to have any semblance of preparation for it. 

“Like, all of it? You want to go blonde?” 

“Maybe?” Akito shrugs, confused. 

Ena bursts into laughter, clutching her stomach at the prospect of Akito being blonde . Akito scowls, whisper-yelling at Ena in return. 

“What’s so funny?”

“No- it’s just that… that doesn’t suit you at all,” Ena replies, wiping the tears that came as a side effect of laughing too hard, “Why do you want to do it?” 

“Well,” Akito begins, “It’s just that a lot of the street musicians dye their hair. I thought maybe if I dyed mine, I’d fit in a bit more.” 

Ena giggles a little more, and Akito scowls, “Forget it.” 

“No, no!” Ena protests, “It’s just that… I’ve never seen you so worried about fitting in before. You’re so full of yourself, usually.” 

“Is that your attempt at a compliment?” Akito replies snarkily. 

“No, but this is. I think you’re just fine the way you are. You really don’t have to change yourself for others, you know?” 

Akito chuckles dryly, “You sound like you’re about to sing ‘We’re All In This Together’ and break into a dance.” 

Ena frowns in return.

“Hey. That’s my compliment. Take it or leave it.” 

Akito shakes his head, smiling in resignation. Ena can’t help but smile too. It’s moments like these, at three in the morning, where Akito is about to make one of the two biggest impulsive decisions a thirteen year old can make, where they really do feel like siblings, two halves facing the world together. 

“You won’t look good with fully blonde hair,” Ena hums thoughtfully, “How do you feel about doing a streak of blonde instead?”

“Would it look cool?” Akito asks warily. Ena nods confidently.

“Definitely.” 

“Alright,” he shrugs, “That seems fine with me.” 

Five minutes later, Ena finds herself in Akito’s bathroom, brushing on a mix of bleach and developer to one section of Akito’s hair. The two sit in silence, Akito staring blankly at the mirror, and Ena watching him curiously through his reflection before she decides to break the silence.

“Hey,” she begins, “I’m really sorry about the other day.”

“Hm?” Akito perks up curiously before he hums in understanding. “Oh, that. I get it. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” 

He brings a hand up to his cheek. “Plus, it’s basically gone now.” 

“I know. I just… want to try and be a better sibling-” Ena begins, before Akito cuts her off.

“Dude,” he begins. “We both have our own struggles right now. You’re not going to be sister of the year if you neglect yourself. I’ll be okay, okay?” 

Ena sighs and nods; he does have a point. 

“You’re right. I’ll focus on getting better myself.” 

“There you go,” Akito smiles softly, “I’ll get better too. I have your back, you know?”

Ena nods confidently, “I’ve always had yours, too.” 

The silence washes over them again, but this time, it’s more comfortable than strained. Both of them relish in the feeling of someone who understands when the rest of the world doesn’t and an hour or two later, Akito is smiling at the blonde streak in his hair. 

“It does look cool,” he breathes. “Thanks, Ena.”

Ena smiles, before patting his shoulder.

“Anytime.” 

(And a few weeks later, when Ena ends up accompanying Akito to the mall jewelry store and getting her earlobes pierced to give Akito company for getting his first ever helix piercings, she doesn’t complain, even when hers end up infected and she has to end up letting the holes close. 

The visible confidence boost in Akito as he admires his six piercings make it all worthwhile.)

**

Ena never really understands how much Akito is like her until he comes home on the verge of tears one day. Ena’s about to head out for her night classes when Akito opens the front door. 

“I’m home,” he says quietly, almost as if he’s scared he’s going to shatter if he tries to speak any louder. Ena greets him as she’s about to head out the door, before she notices that Akito’s eyes are glistening. 

She frowns.

“Did something happen?”

Akito shakes his head no, which only confirms Ena’s suspicions. She walks away from the door, grabbing Akito’s hand before dragging him into her room. She points at her desk chair and instructs. 

“Sit.” 

“Ena-”

“Talk to me,” she orders. 

“You have school to go to.” He reasons, trying not to burden his sister with his issues.

“Fuck that. Talk to me.” 

“Well,” Akito begins, “It’s really no big deal.”

Ena sighs loudly, before grabbing Akito’s shoulders and looking him straight in the eye.

“Okay. You are literally crying right now. It is a big deal.” 

Akito responds wetly, wiping the tears that were now rolling down his cheeks, “I am not crying, excuse you. You need to go to class.” 

“Akito, please, ” Ena pleads, “Talk to me. I… I don’t care about going to class. I want to be your sister right now, which means I listen to you and help you feel better, okay?” 

Akito stares at her, bewildered, as his eyes become glazed with more and more tears that are threatening to break the dam and fall. He lets that happen, slouching forward as he lets out a broken sob, and Ena is quick to hold him, and let him bury his face into her shoulder. As he cries, Ena realizes this is the first time she’s ever seen him break like this, and as his shoulders shake, releasing the pain he’s been bottling up for so long, she wonders what could have possibly happened to have warranted this reaction.

“I fucked up,” he hiccups, holding on tightly to the sleeves of Ena’s shirt as a means of grounding himself. Ena shushes him, rubbing soothing circles on his back, as she reassures him.

“I’m sure you didn’t do that,” she whispers, “What makes you think that?”

Akito recounts everything that happened to him that night, from how some senior performers taunted him into signing up for a performance at Crawl Green (Ena isn’t all too familiar with street lingo, but Akito tells her that Crawl Green is a  big deal ), how he tanked his performance so bad that barely anyone applauded him when he was done, and how he just ran for it until he ran into Ken— the Ken Shiraishi— who had cheered him up a little bit.

Something wasn’t adding up for Ena, however: if Ken cheered Akito up, why was he so upset?

“I dyed my hair for this. I got more piercings. I sing every day until I almost lose my voice, and I still feel… stuck in the same place.” Akito laments, “I’m not good at singing. I don’t belong there. I’m no Shiraishi. Why am I even trying?” 

Oh, ouch, this is hitting too close to home. Ena had seen Akito set foot on the threshold to the world, almost cockily declaring that he is going to surpass a legend one day, and she had fully expected him to do that. 

She hadn’t expected that impostor syndrome would devour him with every single step he took on his journey, breaking him down until he was a crying, shaking mess in Ena’s arms. 

Why is he even trying if it hurts so much? Heck, why did she even try for her dreams herself? 

“You’re trying because you care,” she finds herself saying, even though she battled that same question and lost months before. “You’re trying because even though you might not have talent, you have passion, and that means a shit ton more than talent ever could.” 

Akito listens, letting out shaky breaths as Ena continues on her tirade.

“You should continue trying. The world doesn’t like people with passion. They hate us, even. It’s our job to prove them wrong, and if I know anyone who can prove the world wrong, it’s you, Akito.” 

Akito gives her a meaningful look, and although she knows her brother feels reassured with that statement, the look eats her alive for the next couple of days.

The look implores her, digs into the depths of her soul and turns her being upside down .

Why did you give up, when you can prove the world wrong, too? 

**

Akito and Ena both decide to continue moving towards their dreams at the same time. The decision comes in the form of a person; Akito meets Toya, and Enanan meets K. Neither of them really expect it to hit them.

Ena is finding new music for her playlist when she stumbles upon a song that’s unfamiliar to her— one called “Carnation Recollection”. There’s no lyrics, just a melody, but the song is soft, and sweet, and tugs at all the parts of Ena’s heart that she never knew she had. It sends her reeling, yearning for all the things she’s given up on and misses (yearning for the one thing that makes her whole), and by the time the song finishes, she finds herself itching to draw. 

So that’s what she does. She digs in her desk for her tablet, one that had been abandoned for months, and plugs her charger into it. She loops the song as she draws as much as her heart desires.

When she finishes, she sits back and stares blankly at the art she just made. Had she shown it to Yukihira-sensei, she would be on the receiving end of his worst criticism yet. 

But still, she thinks, a song with this much meaning behind it deserves to show itself to the world. As she subconsciously makes a new social media account for her art, one with the username Enanan, she thinks about how maybe, her art deserved a chance with the world too.

She posts it, tagging the creator of Carnation Recollection, someone named K, and she logs off for the day.

The next day, she opens her social media account to see ten likes and a message in her inbox. She’s quite surprised to see it’s from K, and she’s even more enthralled that K liked her art and wants her to draw for the songs she composes.

K likes her art. Thank goodness someone other than her brother does. 

As she accepts K’s request, Akito bursts into her room beaming. 

“I found a singing partner,” he announces before he notices the giddy smile on her face and asks skeptically, “Why are you smiling like a schoolgirl with a crush?” 

“Someone likes my art,” Ena exhales.

The statement has Akito going through 50 questions a minute in his head. He liked her art; what was he now? Chopped liver? Since when did Ena pick up drawing again?

“Wha-?” he eloquently sputters out.

Ena giggles and shakes her head, “It’s nothing. Tell me about your singing partner.”

Akito indulges her, telling her everything. His name is Toya, he’s got the most beautiful deep and icy blue hair Akito’s ever seen and a singing voice that’s clearer than a sunny day. He tells her that Toya is the one, the guy he will surpass RAD Weekend with no matter what. 

He’s smiling like a schoolboy with a crush, and Ena’s glad he’s found someone who wants to sing with him. She’s glad she’s found someone who wants to create with her. 

Eventually two becomes four. Enanan joins Yuki and K as they create music, and eventually Amia gets roped in to make music videos for them. The four of them create a little haven on a Nightcord server, and become somewhat of an anonymous music group. Ena retreats there every day, drawing to music that makes her feel seen.  

(“We should call ourselves something cool and edgy,” Amia declares through voice chat. 

“Identity crisis,” Yuki replies cheerfully.

“Yuki,” K sighs, “No.” 

“Emo band, now we’re gay,” Amia suggests. 

“Amia,” Enanan interjects, “That’s not cool or edgy. Plus Yuki’s straight. I think.”

“Uh, yeah, I am,” Yuki agrees (read: lies). 

“How about Nightcord at 25:00?” K suggests. Enanan is quick to support the group’s de facto leader’s suggestion, and Amia scoffs.

“That’s pretty lame.”)

And two becomes four for Akito as well. It starts off with him griping about how An Shiraishi, the girl that he begrudgingly admits has the most power to surpass RAD Weekend, chose to team up with an absolute newbie when it came to the street music scene. He vows to take the so-called Vivids down, because he’s certain their talent beats their passion, and he hates lukewarm people who half-ass their way to success.

Kohane and An knock his socks off. Ena learns that they don’t only have talent, but they’re also dead serious about surpassing RAD Weekend, and that they’ve rightfully earned Akito’s respect. A few weeks later, she finds out that the BAD DOGS and Vivids have teamed up to surpass RAD Weekend together . (The power of friendship fuels them. Ena is disgusted.) 

Akito is much happier from then on. He comes home with a smile on his face, and Ena hears him humming when he comes downstairs to grab his slices of cheesecake. He looks hopeful, and she’s happy for him.

With Nightcord at 25:00, Ena’s able to draw to her heart’s content again. With Vivid BAD Squad, Akito’s able to sing at new levels. 

They both are able to keep moving forward. 

**

Ena reconnects with Akito’s journey to his dreams, thanks to the Shibuya Summer Festival. (Because, let’s be real, who is Akito Shinonome without the Shibuya Summer Festival?)

Ena hears about the festival starting up again when she’s out on a walk with Nightcord at 25:00. Mizuki notices the barricades set up on their usual walk back home, and they read the signs with piqued curiosity, before they announce to the group.

“We should go to the festival. It looks like they’re putting on a performance.” 

Ena hums, “It sounds fun. I’m in.” 

Kanade reads the sign, eyes widening as she realizes that one of her favorite artists is performing at the festival. 

“I think I can go. It’ll be cooler in the evening right?”

“Solid,” Mafuyu hums from next to her. He nods his head, “I think my cram school ends a bit earlier that day. We could meet up.” 

Mizuki cheers. “Great! Let’s do that then. I’ll bring extra cold drinks for Kanade and we can make a night out of it.” 

“Cool,” Ena smiles. She genuinely does feel excited to spend more time with the people she almost considers as her home. 

When she returns to her house, she gives her mother a heads up that she’s attending the summer festival that weekend while the former cooks in the kitchen, before she enters the living room where Akito’s watching TV. A shopping bag from the new clothes store that had been appearing all over Ena’s feed sits next to him, and needless to say, her curiosity is piqued. 

“Whatcha got there? That’s from the new store, right?” Ena drawls as she sits next to Akito, trying to start a conversation to see whether Akito was oh-so-generous enough to get her something. 

“What does it matter to you?” Akito huffs, annoyed that Ena is interrupting his very mentally consuming task of binging sports anime. Ena ignores him, and grabs the shopping bag, rummaging inside it and pulling out new dancing shoes.

“Oh, nice kicks,” she compliments, “What are they for?”

“Ena, stop,” Akito whines (like an absolute pissbaby in Ena’s opinion, but she’ll keep that thought to herself), “Hands off. I didn’t say you could-”

“The design’s way out of your league, though,” Ena comments offhandedly, wanting to get a reaction out of Akito because, hey, sometimes siblings liked to piss each other off for fun. 

And a reaction she gets. Akito seethes as he snatches the shoes back from Ena.

“Quit it. No one asked,” He grumps. Ena cackles upon seeing Akito’s pout and gives him a quick noogie, which causes him to yell out in frustration. 

“Alright. Have fun practicing with them.”

Since she ends up leaving the room, she ends up missing the nostalgic smile that creeps onto Akito’s face. He wonders if she remembered the last time the two of them went to a summer festival. 

Akito ends up having a lot of fun practicing with his new shoes apparently, because he comes back to the Shinonomes’ house a tired wreck every single day that week. 

“I’m home,” he yawns as he enters. He glances forlornly at the kitchen, before deciding that he’s too tired to even breathe and that he’s going to go sleep instead of eat dinner. However, before he can do that, Ena, who’s sitting at the kitchen counter raises a brow at him.

“You look like you just got hit by a truck,” she comments snarkily as she takes a bite of her pudding. Akito stares at her dumbly before she remembers what she’s eating and adds on:

“Oh yeah, Mom bought pudding. Yours is in the fridge.” 

“Pudding?” Akito murmurs, half asleep. Ena nods.

“Yup. If you don’t want yours, I could just have it-”

“I never said that,” Akito snaps in return, before he evens his tone out, “I’ll have one.”

“Cool,” Ena hums. “Sweets are the best cure for being tired, yanno? Anyway, I’m tired myself. Night. Get rest. You need it.” 

With that, Ena grabs what's left of her pudding, hops off the barstool and heads upstairs to her room. Akito’s left standing confused in the foyer. He mumbles to himself.

“Do I really look that tired?” 

He is that tired. He doesn’t get rest like Ena tells him to, and keeps practicing. Time flashes by in a blur and the summer festival rolls around faster than Akito and Ena expect it too. Ena feels giddy as she walks around, exploring the stalls with Kanade walking next to her. Mafuyu and Mizuki are off playing a game at one of the stalls ahead of them, and Mizuki is losing so badly that Mafuyu decides that he has to purposely throw the game for them to smile a little more. Mizuki challenges him to a rematch and that leaves Ena alone with Kanade. 

Kanade hums, “This truly is a beautiful setup.” 

Ena nods, “It really is. I’m excited for the performances.” 

Kanade smiles, “Me too. It will really help us with our music.”

“That,” Ena agrees, “and I’ve heard my brother is performing.” 

Kanade looks at Ena, surprised, “I never pegged you as the type to have a brother.” 

Ena giggles. “Well, the more you know. He’s the most annoying piece of shit alive, but I love him to pieces. He’s been there at my worst.” 

Kanade smiles softly, and something forlorn dances in her eyes as her hand drifts towards Ena’s. She interlocks her fingers with Ena’s as she looks the latter directly in the eyes.  “That sounds really nice. Thanks for sharing that with me.” 

Ena squeezes Kanade’s hand in return, “Of course. Maybe you’ll get a chance to meet him.”

Kanade beams. “I’ll look forward to that.” 

They make their way through the stands and find a place to get seated for the performance when Mizuki yelps in dismay. Ena raises a brow at them and Mizuki whines about how they lost the keychain Mafuyu won for them. Mafuyu is too busy striking up conversation with Kanade to move, so Ena offers to help them look for it in the Lost and Found. 

So the two of them walk together, and thankfully, Mizuki’s keychain is sitting prettily next to the Lost and Found box, but it isn’t the keychain that ends up catching Ena’s eyes. Sitting on top of all the misplaced phones and hoodies and valuables is a pair of bright blue and yellow shoes, shoes that give Ena a sense of deja vu, shoes that were in her living room the night before. 

Akito’s shoes, she thinks, before she gasps. Akito is about to perform, without the shoes he put great effort into practicing with. She’ll be damned if she catches his performance when he’s not at his best. 

“I’m… gonna go.” Ena announces to Mizuki, who’s fawning over their keychain. “I’ll meet you back with the others.”

Before Mizuki can protest, Ena grabs the sneakers and books it, running towards the stage faster than she ever has in her whole life. She channels her inner Akito, and asks a higher power for the energy and stamina to make it to the stage before performances begin, because she is far from the most athletic person on Earth. 

Fortune seems to favor her, as she finds Akito standing by the stage with Toya by his side. The former is frantically searching for his shoes, and Ena hollers.

“Akito!” 

Akito perks up as he meets Ena’s eyes. Ena jogs over to them, waving the shoes like they’re some sort of victory flag. The relief that washes over Akito’s expression is unforgettable. 

“My shoes. You found my shoes,” he tells Ena, before giving her a quick side hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I would be dead without you.”

“You owe me the most expensive cheesecake in Shibuya,” Ena smirks in return as she hands the shoes over to him. Akito laughs tersely.

“Your wish is my command.”

Ena grins. “Cool. Knock 'em dead, tiger.” 

And Akito does just that. His performance is nothing if not grand, and as he puts his whole soul into his performance, Ena puts her whole soul into watching him, in awe at how practiced and at ease he looks performing complicated footwork on stage.

(He was a dribbler. It makes sense. But Ena still is amazed). 

The performance finishes faster than Ena wants it to, but she finds herself cheering for her brother as he and Toya take a bow. To Ena, however, none of the other artists could even hold a candle to Akito.

When the show finishes, Akito jogs over to where Ena is chatting with her friends about the performances (read: hyping up Akito and Toya’s performance) and Ena notices him approaching. She grins, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

“You really did knock em dead.” 

“Thanks,” Akito returns an easygoing smile as he removes Ena’s hand from his head, “I’m glad it turned out okay.” 

A comfortable silence falls between the two, and all that fills the air are the excited murmurs of other people when Mafuyu clears his throat. 

“Uh,” he says pointedly, “is this your brother?”

Mizuki nods in Ena’s stead, “That’s otouto-kun in the flesh!” 

“Akiyama…” Akito gripes in return, and Ena giggles. 

“Akito, this is Kanade and this is Mafuyu,” she introduces, gesturing to the respective people as she speaks. 

“It’s a pleasure,” Kanade greets. 

“Nice to meet you, otouto-kun,” Mafuyu repeats flatly, and Mizuki snorts as Akito stiffens.  

Akito nods politely at the both of them before he turns to Ena and whispers very loudly.

“Since when did you have friends that aren’t Airi?”

Ena fumes as Mizuki bursts into laughter in the background, “Shut up .”

(Akito doesn’t complain when he buys Ena not one, but two cheesecakes the next day. It’s the least he could do, Ena reasons, since he made her look like a chronically online loser.) 

**

Ena and Akito are the kind of siblings to never really open up to each other, and on the off chance that they do end up doing that, they do it at unreasonable hours in the night and promptly act like it never happened.

This is one of those situations.

Ena’s on a voice call with Nightcord when Akito barges into her room, not hesitating to jump straight to the point.

“Ena, you like girls, right?” 

Ena scowls.

“Have you ever heard of knock- what ?” 

Ena immediately presses mute on her open Nightcord call, but alas, it is too late, as Mizuki is already cackling through the speakers on her computer. 

Nice one, otouto-kun! They laugh, and Ena chooses to deafen herself. 

“What the fuck, Akito?”

“Answer my question,” he says, not even bothering to apologize. It’s here where Ena notices how restless Akito is and she realizes that he’s going through something earth shattering: a sexuality crisis. 

“Yeah. I like girls,” Ena replies, “Why are you asking?”

Akito flops down on her bed and lets out a muffled groan into the nearest unsuspecting Shiba plush. He slightly lifts his head up to ask her a follow up question. 

“How did you figure that out?”

He proceeds to bury his face back into the Shiba plush’s ass.  

“Uh,” Ena hesitates, “I…”

“Was it Kanade?” he whines, still not lifting his face from the plushie. Ena rests her head on her hand, trying to hide the way her cheeks flush at the mention of Nightcord’s resident composer. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Ena shrugs, attempting and failing to keep her cool. 

“What do you label yourself as?”

“Akito,” Ena groans, “Just because it’s Pride Month doesn’t mean I’m answering your buzzfeed-esque questions.” 

“Answer, please,” Akito begs. “I’m having my own crisis over here.”

Ena huffs loudly. She can’t leave her brother in the midst of his sexuality crisis, can she? 

“I guess… sapphic. I dunno,” Ena shrugs. “Are you… considering a label?” 

“Welcome to the fucking party.” Akito sighs as he finally , finally sits up. “I think I like guys.” 

Ena gasps. Then she smiles, because she doesn’t want Akito to think she’s rejecting him, and she wants to be supportive because her brother is coming out to her . 

“I’m happy for you-”

“And girls.” Akito interrupts. “I like girls too. Girls are… neat. ”

As the Shinonome family’s resident sapphic, let the record show that Ena is internally cackling at Akito’s statement. Girls are hot, beautiful, gorgeous; neat isn’t exactly the word Ena would use to describe them, but who is she to judge?

“That’s nice. I’m still very happy for you,” Ena nods with finality. Akito sighs in relief. 

“Good. So yeah, I’m bi,” he chuckles awkwardly, “Surprise.” 

She’s not really surprised. Based on the way he talks about his teammates, she definitely kind of saw this coming. But either way, she holds out her arms for a hug and Akito gets up and walks over and obliges. As they quickly embrace, Ena pats him on the back.

“Thank you for trusting me with that. It means a lot.” 

“Thank you for not rejecting me,” Akito replies, “That also means a lot.” 

With that, Akito leaves the room, and like they always do with their very meaningful midnight conversations, they resolve to never bring it up in a conversation again. Ena unmutes and undeafens herself and continues chatting; Akito decides to go to sleep because he still has school the next day. However, the warm fuzzy feelings from being accepted by your own family make a home in the cavities of their chests for the next week. 

**

The sun is lighting the sky up on fire as it sets when Ena first meets Akito’s teammates. She’s walking home with the rest of her group after an afterparty at their usual diner, and complaining about how tired she is from talking so much (truly an exhausting task), when an unfamiliar, way too cheerful voice cuts into the group’s conversation.

“Mizuki? Is that you?” it asks, and Mizuki’s face softens in recognition as a girl who glimmered like the stars approaches them.

“An?!” Mizuki exclaims. This so-called An is about to glomp Mizuki when the sound of footsteps approaching fills the air. A mousy girl with pigtails follows An, complaining that she shouldn’t run off like that, and right by her side is Akito. Toya follows him closely behind as well. 

Ena is quick to make the connection. An is the An Shiraishi, the one Akito spent all of his middle school years griping about, which means that the timid looking girl next to her is…

“Hi Kohane!” Mizuki greets, “Otouto-kun, Toya, you’re here too.” 

Kohane greets Mizuki in return, thanking them for something Ena knows nothing about. Akito nods in their direction as well. 

“How long has it been?” He asks cooly, “Since the summer festival?”

“How’ve you been?” Toya adds on. Mizuki shrugs nonchalantly as they reply. 

“Oh, I’ve been fine. What are you guys doing here?” 

It’s here where An, who had been so caught up in catching up with Mizuki like an energetic labrador retriever, notices that Mizuki isn’t alone. 

“Oh just hanging out,” she replies, distracted, “Who’s this with you?”

“My music circle!” Mizuki replies, and Kanade and Mafuyu introduce themselves. Akito chuckles as he makes eye contact with Ena and finally, the two of them acknowledge each other’s presence. 

“That just leaves…” 

Ena scowls, affronted. 

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Akito retorts, equally as irritated, thanks to Ena’s response. 

“I could ask you the same,” Ena scoffs. 

An seems to finally, finally connect the dots here, and she interrupts the siblings’ bickering with an “Is that your sister, Aki?” 

“Unfortunately,” Akito sighs. 

Ena gasps, before she pokes a finger into Akito’s chest roughly.

“Excuse me? Did we forget I’m the eldest here?” 

Mizuki chuckles, watching them amusedly as they comment, “You two are so close.”

Akito raises a brow at them.

“How did you jump to that conclusion?” 

Before Ena can retaliate once more, she feels arms snake around her waist. She stiffens as she realizes that Shiraishi is hugging her, and her startled reaction is enough to warrant laughter out of her brother.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” An cheers into Ena’s ear. “Akito talks about you all the time, so I’ve been wanting to talk to you!” 

Oh wow, if serotonin was a person, it would definitely be An Shiraishi, Ena thinks as a smile fights its way onto her face.

“Sure,” she chuckles awkwardly. Mizuki laughs at the way Ena goes soft for An, and Akito rolls his eyes, thinking his worst nightmare has now come true. Kohane also introduces herself to Ena and thanks Ena for taking good care of Akito at home. 

Despite their overwhelming amount of positivity, An and Kohane are good kids. Toya’s an amazing partner. Ena understands why Akito loves them so much.

Akito has his people. He’s finally found them, and Ena couldn’t help but feel happy for him, just like how he feels happy that she has Nightcord. 

Who knows? Maybe these people will be more than just people, more than just teammates, more than just friends. 

Only time will tell. 

**

Ena’s not religious, but whichever higher power created the concept of artist's block will be on the receiving end of her wrath some day. She guarantees it. 

Let’s set the scene:

Nightcord’s new song is absolutely gorgeous. It tears Ena’s heart until it’s nothing but a bunch of rags and then carefully sews it back together with love. It leaves a positive feeling in Ena’s brain but a heaviness in the hollow of her chest, and the vibes are overwhelming.

Ena usually has no problem capturing the essence and emotion behind Nightcord’s songs. Within hours, she’d get to sketching, coloring and rendering a piece that served as the perfect visual accompaniment to the music.

This time, however, it ends up being a bit different. For multiple nights on end, Ena’s approach to her art involves staring at her blank screen for hours on end. She struggles so much with coming up with a concept for this particular song that she finds herself digging through her old reference books for inspiration. 

However, when she opens one particular book, a book she had gotten from Yukihira-sensei, a flyer slips out. Out of curiosity she picks it up, and sees it's a flyer she received a couple of weeks ago in the mail from her former art teacher. On the back is a handwritten note that reads:

Shinonome-san,

Hope everything is okay. Feel free to come back to class anytime. 

She flips it back over to read the contents of the flyer and raises her brows when she realizes that it’s an advertisement for a three day long spring class that Yukihira-sensei is holding. She then looks at the desk before her, filled with reference books and materials to aid her in her art, stuff she had so much fun making when she was in his class.

Why did she give up?

She remembers the negative feelings. She remembers the day she stormed into her room, an absolute hurricane. The memories of her throwing everything off her desk, scratching her brother in the face, and burning all the bridges she had with her craft were as clear as day. 

However, she also remembers the day she discovered Kanade’s music, where she picked up her stylus and drew until her fingers felt like falling off. She remembers that day as the one where she finally felt whole again.

Sure, the criticism Yukihira-sensei gave was harsh, but Ena’s nothing if she doesn’t have her art. She wants her art to be great— she wants to be great— not only for herself, but for Nightcord as well. She decides to go. It ends up being a much simpler decision than Ena expects it to be. She wants to move at the same pace as her bandmates, and she doesn’t want to be holding any of them back. 

On the day of the first session, Ena gets up a little earlier, packs her bag with art supplies she might need and is almost out the door, when a sleepy Akito saunters into the kitchen, not having school that morning. He lets out a quiet, “G’mornin” before he does a double take because Ena is up before eleven in the morning, and that, quite honestly, is a miracle. 

“What are you doing up?” Akito asks as he runs his hand through his hair tiredly. Ena scowls.

“I can get up before nine just fine,” she replies haughtily and Akito snorts. 

“This is a once in a lifetime occurrence, Ena. Where are you headed?”

Ena sighs.

“Art class.”

Akito raises a brow at her, confused.

“Didn’t you…”

“Quit?” Ena laughs, “Yeah. Yeah I did. But now I’m trying to go back.”

“That’s…” Akito begins, trailing off to try and figure out the right words to say. He’s proud. He’s always there to support her. 

What comes out instead is a “That’s sick.”

“I suppose,” Ena shrugs with a small smile dancing on her lips. Akito can’t help but return the gesture.

“Good luck. You’re going to kick ass. You always have.” To Akito, that’s been the truth for as long as he’s known Ena as an artist. 

Ena smiles, genuinely. It’s nice to have someone rooting for you in the front row. 

“Thanks.” 

She leaves the house knowing that this time, she won’t go down without a fight. She has her friends now, after all. 

**

Akito doesn’t believe in superstitions or luck. He believes that with the right amount of passion and an overwhelming amount of hard work, you make your own good fortune. 

He doubts that when his crew throws his past at his face. 

Let’s set the scene: 

Vivid BAD Squad and their crew had been discussing the logistics for their third group event, when An and Arata suggested the idea of performing at the prestigious Crawl Green, the place where RADder first debuted. It’s a place for big shots, and a successful performance would prove that they’re all a big deal. 

It also happened to be the place where Akito got bullied into performing terribly in front of a crowd. It happened to be the catalyst for him running out of a battle crying like a dog with its tail between its legs, meeting the Shiraishi Ken, and having a meltdown in front of his sister all in the span of two hours. 

The wound, despite being years old, is still fresh on his heart. And so while An and Arata decide to go negotiate with the owner of Crawl Green, Akito tries so hard to push the uneasy feeling in his stomach as far down as it will possibly go. 

Yes, he’s worked hard to get to this point. What if it isn’t enough? What if he falls flat on his face and he’s just cursed with terrible performances? Things musicians have said about him— that he’s the weak link, that he’s just talking out of his ass, that he isn’t going to amount to shit— echo in his head all throughout his walk home. 

He enters the house in a daze, and Ena’s munching on dessert at the kitchen counter. She mumbles a greeting with her mouth half full, and Akito notices there’s a plate of fresh cheesecake sitting untouched next to her. She glances at Akito and motions him over.

“Since when did you save cheesecake for me?” Akito jokes as he walks over and sits down.  Ena sighs.

“Oh, forget it. This is also for me-”

“Thank you.” Akito interjects. “I really need it right now.” 

Ena gives him the look that says my Ena senses were tingling all along, before she asks, “Did something happen again?”

“No, it’s just that… we’re going to try and perform in Crawl Green.” 

Ena’s eyes widen in realization, knowing what had happened to Akito years before in that venue. She doesn’t really know how to react, doesn’t know if she should encourage Akito or sympathize with him. 

She settles for a vague answer. 

“Oh…that’s cool.”

Akito hums noncommittally as he jabs his fork into his cheesecake. Ena can feel the unease in the air.

“You have a team now. Your performances are amazing. I know you’ll kick ass.” she states, because to her it’s a fact, not an opinion. Akito smiles, genuinely. 

“Thanks.” 

With that, Ena takes her leave, going back to her room to draw. Akito is left alone with his cheesecake and a bit more optimism. 

Later, he enters his room feeling that on the battlefield where he once lost, he will survive. He has his partners now, after all. 

**

High school flies by faster than Ena expects it to. Between developing her personal art portfolio and making the most of her life by living, laughing, and loving with those around her, Ena finds herself wondering if she’ll ever get the chance to have more time. 

She sits in front of her computer, on call with Kanade, and she’s aggressively refreshing her email. Today is the day she finds out whether her dreams will come true, or whether she’ll get swept away by her lack of talent. To say she’s a bundle of nerves is an understatement.

Kanade’s voice through the Nightcord call Ena’s on is the only thing keeping her grounded as she refreshes, refreshes again, and what do you know, refreshes again.

“Is it delayed?” Ena questions when the clock goes one minute past the time the decisions were supposed to drop, “Am I so bad that they didn’t even bother to send me my decision? Did I even complete my portfolio properly?”

“Ena,” Kanade sighs through her mic, “ take deep breaths with me. Websites are usually slow. Just give it a second.”

Ena knows Kanade is the voice of reason in this situation, but her finger keeps clicking her mouse, and the page keeps refreshing, refreshing, refreshing.

On the nth refresh (Ena lost count), a new email pops in her inbox. It’s the email.

“Shit,” she curses. “Shit, fuck, shit.” 

Kanade merely listens (with bated breath, Ena assumes) as Ena squeezes her eyes shut and clicks on the email.

Dear Ena Shinonome, 

On behalf of Tokyo University of the Arts, it is with great pleasure that I-

With great pleasure.

With. Great. Pleasure.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. 

Ena lets out a squeal so high pitched that it could be mistaken for a dog whistle. Right after she does that, the cathartic feeling of finally reaching the dream she’s been working towards for so long hits her like a freight train and she’s sobbing loudly into the mic.

“K-Kanade, I got in! I got in!”

“I know,”  Kanade laughs on the other end, “ you deserve it.”

Before Ena can say more, Akito barges into her room, worried. His worry only increases when he sees Ena’s tear streaked face.

“Who got hurt? What happened?” He asks, and Ena laughs wetly, shaking her head, before she turns to her computer and reads out loud in a shaky voice.

“Dear Ena Shinonome,” she begins, and Akito listens intently, “On behalf of Tokyo University of the Arts, it is with great pleasure that I offer you a spot in our freshman class this coming fall. Your portfolio showed great promise, and we look forward to seeing what you have to offer in the coming years. Congratulations.”

She turns back to Akito with an expectant look, and Akito is quick to surge forward and wrap Ena into a hug.

“You did it,” he laughs as Ena buries her face into his shoulder. The hug is far from comfortable, with Ena being squished up in her swivel chair, and Akito hunched over her, but they’re both too caught up in celebrating the fact that people with passion can win in this cruel talent-valuing world to care.

“You did it,” he repeats and Ena nods happily, “I did it.” 

And as the two siblings get caught up in their moment of celebration, the world surrenders its battle against Ena. 

“Uh guys,” Kanade interrupts, “ you forgot to mute.”

** 

It isn’t long before it’s time for Ena to leave the nest. 

Her room changes from a documentation of her growing up to a space with a desk and a bed, all her valuables being packed into boxes. It’s empty. There’s not much personality left. 

Akito stands in the doorway, watching as Ena places the last of her possessions into a box. The moment is bittersweet. Ena’s ready to take on the next battle against the world. Akito doesn’t want her to go without him.

“You sure you can handle yourself?” Akito asks playfully (nervously) and Ena chuckles teasingly (longingly) in return.

“Yeah, why? Is someone going to miss me? ”

Akito rolls his eyes as he covers up his intended response with sarcasm.

“I’m just worried you won’t get up in the morning without me banging on your door.”

Ena gives him a knowing smile.

“I’ll miss you too, but I’m not going too far away.”

“I know,” Akito sighs. “I can’t have your room to myself.”

Ena elbows him. Akito yelps. Through that exchange Ena thanks him for being there at her lowest, lets him know that if he’s ever feeling down she’s only a call or a twenty minute drive away, waiting with some pancakes or cheesecake. Akito lets her know the same, and that he will be raiding her apartment whenever he’s delaying going home.

It’s a happy exchange. It’s time for Ena to continue on with her life. Akito is able to come to terms with it. 

The two siblings exit Ena’s room, Ena ready to wreak havoc on a new chapter of her life, and Akito ready to set the rest of Vivid Street ablaze. The world prepares itself with bated breath. 

**

Vivid Street burns with the name of Vivid Bad Squad by the time Akito reaches his dream.

It’s the end of his last year of highschool. The event Vivid Bad Squad plans— Collision— is huge. An and Arata worked hard with negotiating and booked out COL, Kohane and Kotaro spent weeks handing out flyers that they designed at any crowded place in Shibuya, Tatsuya and Toya worked on assisting with lights and sound tech for the set list, and Akito oversaw it all helping as much as he could with getting this event to take off.

The event ends up being surreal. Everything goes even better than planned; although Vivid Bad Squad went into every event with the intention of getting a bit closer to surpassing RAD Weekend, this time, by the time they get on stage, the crowd’s energy infects them with a new sort of power that they’ve never felt before. Every one of them gives their performance their all, and Akito can tell, by the way Toya’s eyes glisten with mesmerization, the way Kohane is trembling, not from nervousness but from excitement, and the way An’s eyes crinkle into crescents because she’s smiling so damn hard that this is it. 

The crowd roars and Akito’s heart somehow manages to deafen it out. It’s beating with sheer joy, but he can’t help but feel disappointed at the same time. Surely, he should be feeling more. This is his dream come true after all; he should be crying, rushing into the arms of his teammates, and holding on to them so tight.

But he just smiles and cheers, and gives his partners celebratory side hugs. It’s anticlimactic.

With the end of the show, Akito heads backstage feeling a bit empty. An squeals that they finally did it, and Toya and Kohane exchange warm smiles, and Akito joins in on the reverie until a figure standing in a corner by the stage lights catches his eye. It’s an unfamiliar man, wearing a three-piece suit, looking entirely out of place in the street music scene. Akito approaches him and asks him if there’s anything he needs.

He says that he’s impressed by the group’s performance. He says that he wants to give Vivid Bad Squad a record deal.

A record deal. 

A motherfucking record deal.

Akito has to blink stupidly and ask the man to repeat himself to confirm that yes, the four of them are being offered a record deal, and then his heart feels whole again.

He isn’t crying, screaming and throwing up (in a positive way) because his story isn’t over yet. This is his chance to shine, the next chapter of his life, and he definitely isn’t ready to throw in the towel. He feels ready to take on the next part of his dream: becoming the greatest in the world, and he knows his teammates agree as well.

He shakes hands with the executive. His story’s only just begun. 

**

When Akito announces that he and the rest of Vivid BAD Squad have the opportunity to go on tour (a world tour, can you believe it?), Ena is overjoyed for her brother and temporarily grieving for her wallet. As a struggling art student, she knew tickets for the opening show in Shibuya were going to leave a dent in her savings, but she would rather die than miss out on Akito’s first ever dome show. 

That’s why, when Akito comes to her apartment with four VIP tickets in hand (for free!) Ena nearly starts bawling because her little brother wants to see her in the crowd just as much as she wants to see him on the stage. He could have given these tickets to anybody else, but she’s getting them. 

“The other three are for Niigo,” Akito explains, “I don’t want to see you making out with Kanade in the front row, though, got it?”

“Got it,” Ena nods, “I’ll make sure Mizuki and Mafuyu do-”

“Don’t. I will unleash security on you,” Akito retorts before he laughs, “I want the reason I’ve made it here to be there the whole time, okay?” 

Ena smiles, sincerely touched. 

“I’ll be there until you guys force me out,” she replies, “Do you have a lightstick? I want to wave it around while screaming ‘fight, fight, Akito!’ ”

“Dude,” Akito laughs, “I’m a street musician, not a member of More More Jump.” 

That’s how Ena finds herself sitting in the front row of the stadium in which Vivid Bad Squad are opening their world tour, sitting between Kanade and Minori (who Kohane had invited apparently). The stage is right in front of them, and Ena can’t help but feel excited as people begin to file in, murmuring about the performance yet to come. 

Minori is literally vibrating in the seat next to her when the stadium lights die down, leaving the crowd in complete darkness. Ena feels her heart thrum in her ears as the numerous spotlights on the stage begin to shine pink, teal, orange, and dark blue— what Akito had told her were their respective colors. The name Vivid Bad Squad begins to flash aggressively on the screens on the stage, and Ena begins screaming her heart out in encouragement as orchestral music starts playing. The melody is empowering, badass, and all too familiar; Ena gasps as she realizes this is the song that Akito and Toya sang at the Shibuya Summer festival years before, when Ena found Akito’s dancing shoes. Akito, Toya, Kohane and An begin to appear on stage, through those platforms that rise up from underneath, and they’re all dressed in all black streetwear with their hair styled differently than usual. They all look almost unrecognizable, but Ena finds herself screaming when An yells, “What’s up Tokyo?” 

The nostalgia of the song almost makes her tear up ( key word: almost ) and she finds herself singing along to Toya’s opening line, and Akito’s follow up to the best of her ability, before she forgets the rest of the lyrics and cheers loudly when An and Kohane build up to the chorus. Akito finds her in the front row during the chorus and waves at her and Ena smiles so brightly and waves back.

When RAD DOGS finishes up, the group jumps into some other upbeat and recognizable hits of theirs like Ready Steady, Beat Eater, and Awake Now before they jump into their first ment. Akito smiles as he and his teammates ramble excitedly about how excited they are to perform their very first concert in their first ever world tour, before they introduce the next couple of songs. 

Akito’s voice stands out in the next couple of songs— Utsuro Wo Aogu, Gekkou, Gekokujou,  Hitsuji Ga Ippiki, and Kashika. The last song nearly brings Ena to tears, especially after she finds out Akito wrote it, and this is him pouring his heart out to thousands of people. (And technically, Ena’s heart is poured out along with it; the two were opposite sides of the same coin, after all.)

The song is followed by another ment, where the four of them end up sitting on the stage as the cameras record them to display on the screens. The group begins talking about how they all invited people special to their first concert, thanking them. Kohane gets a little teary-eyed thanking Minori and Shiho for always talking about music with her; An thanks her dad, Mizuki and Haruka, before thanking Nagi (who Ena had heard passed on) for making RAD Weekend happen with a teary but proud smile on her face; Toya thanks Tsukasa and Saki for being an amazing brother and sister after sharing an anecdote, and the duo hollers (very) loudly upon Toya mentioning them. That leaves Akito. 

Ena finds herself holding her breath as Akito lifts the mic to speak. 

“You know,” Akito says to the crowd, looking off to nowhere in particular, “I used to play soccer. I would kick the ball nonstop because it was the only thing that really interested me. It was my life. And then I ended up quitting like every sore-loser eleven year old does.” 

The crowd laughs, finding his joke relatable, and Ena can’t help but let out a chuckle as well.

“After that, I wasn’t really sure what interested me. Until my older sister forced me to come to a summer festival with her. We caught a performance, and apparently, I was so mesmerized by it that she said I should try pursuing music. Then I saw RAD Weekend, and I became such an ass about trying to surpass it.”

The crowd laughs again, but Ena finds herself actually tearing up. 

“I invited my sister to this concert, and her friends— who, honestly, are like my annoying in-laws, but I love them anyway— because whenever I was at my lowest, Ena was always there to pick me up, and I’d like to hope I did the same,” he speaks as he gets up and walks over to the section where Ena’s sitting. He looks down at her and he’s glowing as he continues.

“Ena, we both finally made it,” Tears— happy tears— glisten in his eyes as he announces to the thousands of spectators watching him, “We’ve reached our dreams.”

Ena feels so much warmth blossom in her chest at that statement, because Akito’s right, they both made it. She nods happily as she watches him and he watches her. If there’s one thing Ena learns that night, it’s that Akito belongs in the spotlight. The way he finally gets his chance to shine is something she will never forget. 

She holds onto the moment as tight as she possibly can. 

**

And then, sometimes, you have to let go. 

Ena and Akito find themselves in the front seats of their dad’s minivan while Kanade, Mafuyu and Mizuki pile themselves in the middle row. It’s the day Akito and the rest of Vivid Bad Squad have to leave for the international leg of their world tour, and Ena had insisted on dropping him off at Tokyo Narita, despite it being nearly an hour away, and seeing him off to New York City. The rest of Nightcord just happened to tag along. 

“Seriously,” Akito comments as Ena drives, “You guys didn’t have to come see me off, too.”

In response he receives a “Well you’re like my little brother, too” from Kanade, a “I need to see you cry” from Mizuki, and a “I need to see Ena cry” from Mafuyu.

“Shut up,” Both siblings groan, before Akito laughs, “You already saw that at the opening show.”

“I know,” Mizuki and Mafuyu say in unison. “We want to see it again.”

Akito shoots the duo a glare for Ena’s sake; she’s too busy focusing on the road. The couple is absolutely insufferable, but Akito is glad that Ena has them.

They pull into the unloading area and Kanade, Mafuyu, and Mizuki hop out, and Mafuyu and Akito unload the latter’s suitcases out of the trunk of the van. Ena tells them to wait as she goes to park the vehicle, and once the five of them are together, they head inside to check Akito’s bags.

An, Kohane and Toya are all already there, ready to check in their bags (which, for An, is approximately six). 

“Hey,” Akito greets his bandmates and partners with hugs, “You guys ready to go?”

“Always, when it’s with you guys.” Toya replies.

So the eight of them quickly go through the business class check in lines, checking in all the necessary luggage before they make their way towards airport security. Once they reach, Akito turns to Ena, and both of their groups exchange looks knowingly.

“We’ll give you two a moment,” Kanade says as she drags Mafuyu and Mizuki away from the siblings. Kohane does the same with An and Toya.

That leaves Ena and Akito standing in front of security alone. Akito sighs and looks at Ena with a bittersweet smile on his face.

“So…” Ena begins.

“This is it,” Akito exhales and Ena finds herself wondering how the time flew by so fast. It feels like just yesterday when the two of them were coming home from the Shibuya Summer Festival for the first time, with the zeal to chase their dreams waiting at the horizon.

Now her little brother is off to sing on tour, and Ena’s attending her dream art school and they’re both screaming at the world like they always have, but the world is finally listening. The world finally cares.  

And now, they won’t be fighting the universe together, having found new companions to take on the next battle on the road to victory. What do you do when you finally reach that horizon you’ve been working your whole life towards?

To Ena, the answer ends up being really simple: 

You hold on to the people who journeyed with you to this point (as a way to thank them)... and then you let them go. You let them go, so they can experience their horizon for themselves.

That’s exactly what Ena does. 

She holds her arms open, and Akito willingly wraps her into a hug; she’s quick to hug him back, holding on so tight. Tears spring up in her eyes, and she’s surprised; she hadn’t really expected to cry while dropping her brother off. She presses her face into Akito’s torso and Akito buries his face in her shoulder.

They hold on for as long as the world lets them. The hug says everything they’ve wanted to say: that even though they don’t get along often, they love each other and are proud of each other, and no matter what the world throws at them, they’ll always have each other’s back. 

When they separate, both their eyes are glistening, and Akito laughs wetly. 

“I’ll be back soon.”

Ena smiles tearily in return, “I’ll be waiting in the front row.” 

With that, he slowly begins walking away to meet his partners and head into the security line. The rest of Nightcord joins Ena, and the quartet waves at the band until they can’t see them anymore and Ena feels the tears running down her face. She’s filled with love; yeah, she is far from winning the sister of the year award, but she’s so glad she got a chance to prove that she’s a sister. 

“Are you crying?” Mafuyu asks, cocking his head innocently, but Ena knew that’s what he wanted to see all along. 

“Yeah,” Ena laughs as she wipes away her tears, “I am.”

Kanade gently grabs her hand, telling her non verbally that she’ll be back with her family faster than she expects.

Meanwhile, as Akito waits in line, An peers at him curiously before breaking out into a knowing smile.

“Are you crying?” 

Akito nods, “I might be.” 

“Awww,” Kohane coos, “We’ll be back in a couple of months, Aki.” 

“I know,” Akito laughs as Toya cups his cheeks and gently thumbs away the tears, “I… I just have never been so far away from… family… for so long.” 

“Yeah, same,” An nods, “It’s okay. We’ll work through it together.”

Back with Ena, Kanade gently grabs her hand.

“Let’s go home, shall we?” 

Ena smiles and nods, relishing in the way her heart bursts at the seams.

“Let’s go home.” 

And with Akito, Toya gently grabs his hand as well.

“We’ll be home soon enough,” he reassures.

Akito takes a look between his three teammates, his partners, and his heart feels so full . 

“I’m already home.” 

The story never ends. Akito and Ena only move forward at a rapid speed towards their new dawns, their hearts thrumming with excitement. 

So this is life.