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Everytime Mamoru saw him, it felt like he was staring at a really bright star.
“Mamoru! Found you!”
Mamoru looked up and saw a flurry of white feathers as a familiar figure flapped down from above.
“Ken-kun.” Mamoru greeted quietly that it was almost like a murmur.
Kensuke put his hands on his hips as he landed softly right in front of Mamoru. “You’re hiding in the shadows again, aren’t you?”
Kensuke smiled cheerfully as he held his hand out to Mamoru. Mamoru took Kensuke’s hand instinctively and let Kensuke pull him out of the shadows under the thick oak tree leaves. Mamoru blinked from the rays of the sun as he stepped into the sunlight. It was blinding, but the warmth didn’t feel bad.
Mamoru expected Kensuke to let go of his hand, but he was surprised when Kensuke held on tighter instead and suddenly pulled him up in the air.
“Ken-kun!!” Mamoru barely had enough time to unfurl his own black wings so his weight wouldn’t pull the two of them crashing down.
Kensule laughed as he took Mamoru higher and higher, above the clouds. “I keep telling you that you should spread your wings out more and travel! See the world around you!”
Mamoru remained quiet as they flew through the skies together hand in hand.
Kensuke’s world was truly beautiful no matter where they went. Everything was bright and cheerful.
Mamoru wouldn’t be lying if he admitted he was jealous of such a bright world. After all, his own world had already–
“Mamoru!”
Mamoru snapped out of his daze and looked at Kensuke. He hadn’t noticed Kensuke had stopped pulling him along and they were simply hovering above the clouds.
Kensuke leaned in close to Mamoru’s face. Mamoru covered his horns thinking Kensuke would tease him again by tickling them, but Kensuke flicked Mamoru’s forehead instead.
“Ow! Ken-kun!” Mamoru rubbed his forehead.
“You’re doing it again.”
Mamoru smiled and tilted his head to the side innocently. “Doing what?”
Kensuke’s face turned a bit more serious and focused. “You’re thinking about your old world.”
The smile on Mamoru’s face didn’t completely vanish, but his lips pressed tighter as if to hold back the true feelings inside.
“Because Ken-kun’s world is so bright, I can’t help but be reminded of how bright my–my old world used to be back then,” Mamoru admitted.
“Mamoru…”
“I know I can’t dwell on the past. No matter how much time passes, you cannot recover what you have lost, no matter how desperately you try to hold on.” This time the smile vanished, and Mamoru could only stare out to the horizon with empty eyes.
Kensuke squeezed Mamoru’s hand. He could never forget how devastated Mamoru looked when Kensuke, Koki, and Ryota found him after Mamoru’s world was lost beyond saving. It took almost all their strength to save Mamoru from “ending” his own existence, no matter how much Mamoru struggled.
“Why!? Why did you bother to save a pathetic existence like me, a failure of a world protector?” It was the first time Mamoru had fought against his own friends.
The other three had no answer for Mamoru at the time, but they couldn’t leave him alone. Eventually Mamoru calmed down, but the life and strength in him was weak. Ryota couldn’t bring Mamoru to his world since he might get hurt by thorns. Koki’s world seemed so pure that Mamoru might feel too much guilt by his own darkness. In the end, they decided to have Mamoru stay in Kensuke’s world for the time being.
At first, Mamoru wouldn’t move at all. He remained in the darkest shadows he could find. His wings shrunk to the size of his hands and remained curled up and hidden under his layered clothes. Kensuke stayed with him the entire time, with Koki and Ryota checking in on them from time to time. During the daytime Mamoru would rest calmly without doing anything, but during the night he would thrash around, fighting the nightmares that tormented his mind about the ending of his world.
Mamoru’s screams and cries were painful for Kensuke to hear, but he remained vigilant in protecting Mamoru. Kensuke would hold Mamoru close in his arms to make sure Mamoru wouldn’t hurt himself, wrapping his large white wings around them like a shield. He would sing soft lullabies too until Mamoru was able to settle down and sleep peacefully enough until dawn.
Of course, protecting Mamoru didn’t come without injuries, but if it meant keeping Mamoru safe, Kensuke didn’t care how many feathers he lost or how many times he bled from Mamoru scratching him subconsciously during Mamoru’s nightmare battles.
“I-I’m sorry, Kensuke…” Mamoru would always have the same guilty face every time he woke up and saw the injuries he caused on Kensuke’s body. Since Mamoru’s own power was weak, he wasn’t even able to help heal Kensuke.
Kensuke didn’t blame Mamoru. “Hey, no worries! I’m glad you didn’t go for my handsome face, haha!” Kensuke tried to lighten up the mood. Sometimes it worked to make Mamoru smile even a little, but sometimes Mamoru cried after. Ryota scolded Kensuke for making Mamoru cry while Koki used his power to heal Kensuke’s injuries.
After a few years passed, Mamoru started to recover and slowly returned to living each day step by step. He began talking to Kensuke, Koki, and Ryota again like normal, even if it was small mindless chatter. Koki would bring delicious food from his world and Ryota would bring soft flowers that grew beautifully in his world to give to Mamoru.
As for Kensuke, he started to fly to many places together with Mamoru. Kensuke showed Mamoru all his favorite spots around his world, telling him stories about his adventures in each place. Kensuke knew deep down that sharing his world could never make up for Mamoru losing his own, but he still had a small growing hope that by creating new memories together, Mamoru would be able to face the light again.
As the two of them began to watch the sunset on the horizon while flying through the sky together, Kensuke looked at Mamoru.
“Mamoru, there’s a special place I want to show you,” Kensuke told Mamoru.
“A special place?”
Kensuke smiled. “You’ll see when we get there, but you have to close your eyes first.”
“Eh? How am I supposed to fly with my eyes closed?” Mamoru questioned.
Kensuke chuckled. It had been a long time since he heard Mamoru’s cute humor. “I’ll guide you, silly! Come on! And make sure you don’t peek until we get there!”
Mamoru listened to Kensuke and closed his eyes, letting Kensuke guide him by holding his hand.
Kensuke flew them above the ground and clouds for a while until they carefully landed somewhere soft together.
“Okay, Mamoru! You can open your eyes now!”
Mamoru slowly opened his eyes. At first he saw nothing except the darkness around them. The sky was covered with dark clouds and the air was silent.
“Ken-kun? I don’t see anything?” Mamoru frowned.
Kensuke pointed up at the sky and snapped his fingers.
Mamoru blinked and all of a sudden, the clouds parted and cleared away as the sky began to glitter and sparkle with dozens of stars.
“....!” Mamoru gasped as they stood on a grassy hill together underneath an endless starry sky. Some stars shone brighter than others, some drew pictures together as constellations, and even the tiniest stars twinkled with beauty.
“I wanted to show you the stars, Mamoru!” Kensuke said.
“Amazing! Ken-kun!! It’s really amazing!!” Mamoru bubbled with excitement.
“Haha, keep your eyes open for the best part!”
Kensuke pointed up at the night sky again. Mamoru looked up and watched carefully as the stars began to streak across the sky.
“A meteor shower!”
“Yup! Tonight was the best night to see it!” Kensuke said.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it in your world, Ken-kun!” Mamoru claimed.
“Yeah, I remembered I had been bringing you to all my favorite spots around my world during the day time when the sun shined bright,” Kensuke told Mamoru. “But I purposely avoided taking you anywhere during the night.”
“Purposely avoided?” Mamoru was confused.
Kensuke paused. “I was a bit worried your nightmares would return if you were awake at night, so I held off.”
“Ken-kun…”
“But I really wanted to show you this meteor shower, because I heard from Kou that people in his world like to wish upon stars during a meteor shower.”
Kensuke stretched out his free hand up towards the night sky with his other hand holding Mamoru’s hand.
“That’s why–I want to make a bunch of wishes tonight with you here beside me!” Kensuke said out loud. “I want to wish for a new world to be born, a world full of bright twinkling stars!” Kensuke turned to look at Mamoru. “And I want that new world to be yours to watch over, Mamoru!”
“Ken-kun.” The light returned to Mamoru’s eyes when he looked back at Kensuke. Mamoru smiled from the bottom of his heart as he raised his free hand up to the twinkling stars like Kensuke. “I’m glad Ken-kun is here with me. Kou-kun and Ryo-kun too of course even if we don’t see each other very often since they’re busy watching over their respective worlds,” Mamoru said.
“Mamoru.”
Mamoru smiled at Kensuke. “But–I don’t need to wish for a new world.”
“Eh?” It was Kensuke’s turn to be confused.
“Of course, if a new world as bright and shining as this one is born and I am granted the wish to watch over and protect it, I would be happy. But, I’ve realized something very important that I’ve forgotten a long time ago when I lost my old world.”
“What’s that?”
Mamoru leaned over and rested his head on Kensuke’s shoulders, letting his growing wings unfold and brush gently against Kensuke’s wings.
“My world is wherever my heart is. Even if it’s as small as a seed I cannot see right now, I believe with time and care it will grow into a bright world like Ken-kun’s,” Mamoru believed.
“Mamoru!” Kensuke was so happy he lifted Mamoru up in his arms.
“W-Wait, Ken-kun!” Mamoru held onto Kensuke’s shoulders while Kensuke danced among the grass twirling with Mamoru in his arms.
Kensuke ruffled Mamoru’s hair, being mindful of Mamoru’s sensitive horns.
“Haha, you better grow your new world right next to mine so I can visit you every day!” Kensuke encouraged Mamoru. “Because I love you, Mamoru! We may have been stuck together for a long time already, but I don’t plan to let you out of my sight!”
“UWAH?! Ken-kun!!” Even in the darkness, Kensuke could see Mamoru blushing after hearing the sudden confession.
Kensuke finally put Mamoru down, giving him a minute to steady the world around him after spinning around.
“Ken-kun, Even though I don’t have my own world right now, my heart is still happy to be wherever Ken-kun is so–I love you too, Kensuke!”
Mamoru pulled Kensuke a bit down so that he could plant a kiss on Kensuke’s lips right as the last shooting star fell through the night sky, their wings entwined with each other’s.
When their lips parted, they both had tears in their eyes, but they were happy.
Because they were each other’s nameless star.