Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kikuri triumphantly slammed down whatever she had in her arms onto the counter. The cashier behind the counter, who was completely accustomed to the sheer amount of alcohol by now, just smiled at her and started ringing up the various bottles and containers.

It had been a good night for Kikuri. SICK HACK just had a real good performance tonight that got the entire venue pumped up and singing along with them. She could taste the raw energy in the air as she nearly screamed the lyrics, feeling more alive than she ever had in a long while. Best of all, she managed not to break anything! She actually had money she could spend tonight! And that was why the first thing she did after drunkenly stumbling into her usual convenience store was go to the liquor section and grab whatever she happened to grab, not caring about the price. She could afford whatever she picked up today.

"That'll be 20,000 yen," the cashier said as she handed over the now bagged up drinks to Kikuri.

Kikuri dug into her pocket and grabbed a fistful of money. She slapped it onto the counter and started to walk away. "Keep the change! Buy yourself something nice. See ya!"

"Thank you for your— Ah, excuse me! This isn't enoug—"

But the cashier's words fell on deaf ears as Kikuri exited the store.

Kikuri hummed to herself as she reached into the bag and pulled out a carton of Onikoro, her usual go-to drink when she needed something cheap and alcoholic. She actually hated it and grew tired of it long ago, but it didn't feel right not having at least one every time she drank. There was something comforting about how much she grew to hate the familiar flavor of it.

She probably shouldn't have been drinking, considering that she had just left the afterparty for their live less than an hour ago, but she had money to spend. Saving up was for chumps! She stabbed the straw into the carton and took a big sip. The familiar, bitter flavor filled her mouth and burned its way down her throat. Letting out a content sigh, she closed her eyes and let her inhibitions get washed away.

She felt herself start to stumble, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground of the sidewalk, staring up into the dark, night sky. There was a dull throbbing somewhere in her side, but that was a problem for the her of tomorrow to deal with. She just laughed and pushed herself up so that she was sitting. Luckily, the sidewalk was practically empty with how late it was at night. It was almost unnaturally empty. She wished Seika was here to make it less empty.

Kikuri blinked in surprise. Seika? Why did her brain suddenly choose to bring up Seika? She felt herself start to quickly sober up as her brain started to think. That wasn't good. She reached over to her abandoned carton of Onikoro and took a sip out of it. She let out a sigh, her joyous, drunken haze ruined. Not even the Onikoro was helping her.

She had no idea why she suddenly thought of Seika. It was only a week since she stumbled into STARRY, loudly calling for Seika. Seika, in her usual grumpy way, welcomed Kikuri and listened to whatever she had drunkenly rambled about. Kikuri wasn't even sure what she said. She was just letting her mouth go on autopilot as she stared at Seika, soaking up her presence and just enjoying her company. Even if all she was doing was just typing away on her laptop and letting out the occasional "Mhm", she was sure that she was listening to her.

The familiar sound of a straw sucking up air hit her ears, and she realized that she finished up her drink. She threw the empty carton into her shopping bag along with the rest of her drinks. She knew what she had to do.

Calling Seika<3...

The dial tone played back as she waited for her to pick up. Though, it was kinda late, wasn't it? What if she was asleep? She didn't wanna wake her up, so she was about to hang up when—

"Kikuri? Do you know what time it is? I was just about to fall asleep." Sleep was heavy in Seika's voice, dragging it down and making her slur over her words. She let out a cute, high-pitched yawn that nearly made Kikuri blurt out how cute it was before she caught herself.

"I... Uh..." Kikuri felt guilty, but now that she called, she had to say something to make the call worth it. "...I just wanted to say hi, 's all."

"That all?" Luckily, Seika just sounded more confused than angry. "Well... hi, then, I guess."

Kikuri felt herself start to relax as she heard Seika's voice. Before she could stop herself, she said, "I wanted to hear your voice."

The call went silent, and the only thing Kikuri could hear was her heart beating against the drums of her ear, pounding a rhythm that even rivaled Shima on the drums.

After what seemed like an eternity, Seika spoke. "...Yeah? Let's talk a bit, then. How was your live today?"

And Kikuri let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She didn't even know that Seika was aware of her live, but she was grateful because she wouldn't have known what to talk about otherwise. As she began talking about how raw and rock her performance was tonight, she felt herself start to smile. 

Life was alright sometimes.

Chapter Text

It wasn't often that Ryo talked. She was usually content doing whatever she felt like doing whenever she wanted, someone who did things on a whim. But there were times where she felt like having a conversation.

"What do you think will happen to us after we die?"

"Eh? Where did that come from?" Nijika asked. Still, she thought about it. After a few seconds, she replied, "We become stars and watch over life on earth. Why do you ask?"

Ryo shrugged and said, "Dunno. Just thought about it."

"You? Thinking? That's rare," Nijika teased.

"I actually got an idea from a story I read," Ryo said, pretending not to have heard Nijika. "A real rich guy died and gathered some of his family in his will and had them go against each other to solve a riddle. The winner got his entire fortune. Turns out he was faking his death, though."

"Then what was the point of it?" Nijika asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Ryo just shrugged again. "No clue. Don't remember how it ended, but I think I wanna do something like that when I die."

"With what fortune? The only thing you'd have is debts you didn't pay off. Speaking of which, did you ever pay back Bo—"

"There's more to life than just money, Nijika," Ryo quickly interrupted. "For example, my collection of guitars. The winner would get all of those."

Nijika made a mental note to ask Bocchi later if Ryo ever paid her back, even though she already knew Ryo didn't. "Really? I thought you'd want to get buried with all of them."

Ryo hummed as she thought about what Nijika said. After some deliberation, she said, "You're right. I should get a coffin for each guitar and bury them next to me."

"You still have a while until you die, you know," Nijika said with a sigh.

"Mm... You're right. We can discuss our burial plans together once we get old," Ryo said, nodding, as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

Nijika just sighed again, but it was a fonder one this time. Ryo was thinking that far ahead, even though they still had their entire lives in front of them. Somehow, despite having known her for most of her life, Ryo still managed to confuse her sometimes. That was okay, though. She had years and years and however long they had to live to understand her.

Chapter Text

"...A-and some people believe that when they die, they become a star! That might be true because we're actually made of stars because back before Earth existed, stars created a lot of elements like hydrogen, helium..."

Kita smiled as she listened to Hitori talk. Ever since they'd started going out — Hitori was her girlfriend! She still couldn't believe it! — she'd gotten more comfortable talking about the things she liked, even being the one to occasionally initiate their conversations. Her nervous stuttering gradually became excited stuttering from trying to talk too quickly, a habit that just made her even more endearing to Kita.

She let Hitori's animated voice fill her mind as she thought back to how everything started. Hitori was actually the one who confessed first instead of the other way around like Kita thought would happen. It was her who pulled on Kita's sleeve with trembling, sweaty hands as she asked if she could talk to her in private after the day's rehearsal was over. Kita saw the knowing glances that Nijika and Ryo exchanged with each other, but she barely registered them over the pounding of her own heart as she followed Hitori outside.

Hitori was a nervous wreck, and honestly, Kita was barely holding it together. Just the two of them talking wasn't anything new, but it was the first time she saw Hitori act like this. She had no clue what she wanted. A small part of her was hoping, wishing that it'd be what she thought it was. It was a part of her that she instantly crushed, knowing that there'd be no way that Hitori would feel that way about her.

Hitori was shuffling her feet, staring at the ground, doing anything besides looking at Kita. As nervous as she was, Kita was starting to get worried and was about to ask Hitori if anything was bothering her before she suddenly stopped moving and took a deep breath. She raised her head and stared directly at Kita, her sky blue eyes grabbing Kita's attention and pulling her into her orbit. Kita's words died down in her throat as she saw the side of Hitori that rarely came out, the same determined shine in her gaze from when she played the guitar solo that completely turned around their first live, the same focus from when she improvised her bottleneck solo during the school festival. All of Kita's thoughts came to a halt. She could only think a single thing.

Hitori's so cool.

Compared to Kita and how she kept on pushing off confessing, Hitori worked up the courage to do it first, despite all of her anxiety, her lack of experience, her complete unfamiliarity of it all. She pushed through her insecurities and acted on the determination to do what she wanted, something that Kita could never imagine herself doing. And that was what made Hitori so cool compared to someone so weak like her.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she grasped Hitori's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Hitori stopped mid-ramble and gave Kita a confused look.

"A-ah, is everything okay?" Hitori asked, concern twinkling bright in her eyes.

There it was, that nervous, stuttering "Ah" that Hitori tended to do. No matter how cool Kita thought she was, she was still the Hitori who got nervous when Kita tried to get affectionate with her. Kita just beamed at her and shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I was just thinking about you."

"Me? What about me? D-did you want to say something? Did I talk about stars too much? I'm s—"

"No, it isn't that, don't worry. I love hearing you talk!" Kita quickly reassured her. "I was just thinking that if we're made of stars, isn't it neat how we're working at a place called STARRY?"

"O-oh." The tension visibly drained out of Hitori as she let her shoulders drop. "Yeah, that really is a coincidence, isn't it?"

"We're made of stars working at a place called STARRY ran by someone with 'star' in her name," Kita said with a giggle.

Hitori thoughtfully stared at the ground for a few seconds before she slowly said, "I think... even if we weren't made of stars, you'd still shine bright enough to be a star. Or... at least... I think..." She trailed off as she looked away from Kita, a blush overtaking her face.

Kita just stared at her, speechless, and felt her face start to heat up. That was so cheesy! But... she didn't deny that hearing her say that made her heart flutter. Whenever she thought she'd gotten used to Hitori, she always managed to do something that made her feel like a supernova of sheer joy.

"It isn't just me, Hitori." Kita gripped both of Hitori's hands and directly stared at her. Her face was still burning hot, but she fought the urge to look away. "You'd shine, too. You... you were always a star to me since the day I met you!"

"I-I..." Hitori was almost glowing red at this point. Her eyes were looking down at the ground, up at the ceiling, to the right and left at the walls, anywhere but at Kita. But then she went still. She looked up at Kita and returned her gaze, despite how red her face was. "Both of us, all of Kessoku Band... we'll shine brightly enough to get everyone's attention. We'll be the constellation that paints the night sky!"

Kita, for the second time that day, was speechless. That was... incredibly cheesy, but still. She couldn't help but think.

Hitori's SO cool.