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“Oh! Look, there’s Ursa Major. And… Lynx, right there.” Kaito pointed with his free arm. Shuichi made an interested hum, curled up in the grass with his head on Kaito’s other arm. Maki could only really see a bunch of random stars, but elected not to say anything. Better to let Kaito have his fun.
The three of them lay in a pile of limbs. Maki’s leg was thrown over Kaito’s, and his arm was over hers. Shuichi’s arm was over Kaito’s chest, and his leg was over Shuichi’s. It was probably a little past midnight. Over the course of the night, after Shuichi and Kaito had given up on their sit-ups, they had all melted together into a pile. Now, Kaito pointed out constellations to them, while Maki pretended she could see exactly what he was talking about and Shuichi pretended he wasn’t falling asleep.
“And there’s Draco. Hercules is… over there. Oh! And Cassiopeia!” Kaito continued gesturing, but spoke quietly. He could tell Shuichi was nearly asleep, and was trying very hard to avoid waking his sidekick up. Maki was looking at the sky, though. She seemed thoughtful.
“There are stories behind some of the constellations, right?” she asked. “Do you know any?”
“A few,” he admitted. “I was never good at remembering those. Kiyo prolly would've been able to tell you.”
He studied the sky. “I know some of the bigger ones. Hercules, of course. I do know… Cepheus. Over there.” he pointed it out to her. “Do you know the story of Perseus and Andromeda?”
“I’ve heard it,” she confirmed. “There was a kid, back in the orphanage, who was really into Greek mythology. I remember her drawing a picture, and telling me that story when I asked about it.” Maki smiled fondly, but it was a little bittersweet.
“Yeah, well, Cephus is the king in that story. He was the one who chained Andromeda up, with the oracle’s guidance. I always thought that the whole thing kinda sucked for him.” Kaito told her.
“Why?” she furrowed her brow. “He chained his daughter to a rock. That’s a pretty dick move, no matter how you look at it.”
“Well, yeah,” Kaito said, “but he didn’t have much of a choice. It was his citizens who urged him to follow the oracle’s advice. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place- let all his people die, or sacrifice his daughter.”
“Huh,” she leaned her head back. “Guess so.”
The two lapsed into silence. After a moment, Maki spoke up. “Reminds me of someone we know,” she said softly. She looked over at Shuichi, on Kaito’s other side. He was fully asleep now- he looked almost peaceful, but there was a slight furrow in his brow. “He always has to choose between sacrificing someone and letting all of us die. It’s… admirable, how he always chooses to save us.”
“Yeah,” Kaito exhaled. “He’s pretty admirable, isn’t he? Well, he is my sidekick.”
Maki rolled her eyes, but didn’t comment. It was a little ridiculous; if anything, Kaito was the sidekick. But being Kaito’s sidekick had really seemed to help Shuichi, so she wouldn’t push it. They were good for each other.
And for her, too. She’d never thought she would be doing something like this- hanging out with her best friends, stargazing, talking about nothing. It seemed like someone else’s life. And yet… here she was.
“Perseus has a constellation, right?” she asked Kaito.
He pointed at a spot in the sky. “Right there. Heroes are a pretty common figure in constellations.”
She studied the spot he had pointed out. She still saw stars. Stars and heroes, huh? Sounded like something straight out of a TV show.
Kaito kept pointing out patterns in the sky, until she fell asleep. Kaito eventually fell asleep himself, under the stars and in between his sidekicks.