Chapter Text
The dry, auburn leaves fell into the ground like rain, covering the entirety of the road as the warm subtle wind fluttered through. With the sun still up, the rays of light created between the splotch-holed leaves and branches of the trees surrounding the forest and the road.
When the car pulled into a halt, Yuu heard their tires squeak as it stopped in front of what seemed to be an opening for a building; abandoned and its walls are scattered with vines.
“Are we here?” he asked, pushing his face between the driver’s and passenger’s seat, peeping at his father’s face then to his mother’s. “Not yet, prepare your things.” His father maneuvered so they could get a proper space to park their car just beside a few of the visitor’s vehicles. There are at least 4 cars parked. “We still need to walk to get to the shrine.”
Yuu groaned as he glared at his surroundings, ‘I should be in Ryuu’s house right now.’ he thought, Ryuu, his best friend asked him if he could come over so they could play this video game his had mother bought him for his birthday, but Yuu’s mom had different plans for the day.
He lazily grabbed his backpack, eyeing the contents inside; chocolates, a notebook for doodling, sunglasses, a cap, a bottle of water… what else does he need to keep him from boredom?
“Yuu, hurry!” his mother called. When everything was set his dad locked the car and they went off. He took one last glance at their car, hoping they’d ditch the trip and go back home where it’s not surrounded by trees and insect noises.
After they paid for the entrance, his mom quickly took out her phone and snapped photos of the landscape, “Look at the field! Those flowers are mesmerizing!” it took her about 5 photos each flower, Yuu observed. “Dad, where are we going again?” he tugged at his father’s sleeve.
“Ah, we’re here to see the Sun Deity.” He watched the way his father knitted his brows as he thought of his answer- seemingly distracted. “Oh I remember that story! The 10 naughty sun boys who almost set the earth on fire! My teacher told us that story before our afternoon nap.”
His father smiled at his response, “Did you like that story?”
Yuu bit his lip for a moment, curling his brows as he thought just like what his father did. “I love that story. But shouldn’t we go see Hou Yi’s shrine? He’s the hero who saved us after all!”
“Oh, we’ll see his later, but it’s important that we offer our prayer to the Sun Deity first, after all, he gives us light and life.”
Their little chat was interrupted when his mom decided they have a picture in front of the scribed wall of prayers, and after that they’ll walk along the jaded path where the story of the hero is written on the walls, at the end of the path, the statues of the 10 brothers are aligned together with Hou Yi.
Yuu walked carefully, not wanting to bump against other people. Then he pulled his mother’s hand to the side, “What’s wrong Yuu?” his mom looked down at him, swiping the bead of sweat on his forehead.
“I want to read the story! Can we walk slowly?” he followed his mother’s touch and wiped his own sweat. Then her mother nodded her head.
I, was carved just above the scribe;
In heaven a long time ago, Di Jun assigned his 10 sons to emerge the earth one by one. The 10 brothers were assigned to keep life, to produce life, and to start life.
Yuu checked the other side of the path just in case the second part of the story is on the opposite wall, but no. So after the last sentence it was immediately followed by the other, and so on.
II, the first brother was very cheerful; he loved watching animals and farmers. Below the script was a carving of sun smiling down to a farmer who’s feeding a horse.
III, the second brother loved playing with water, so he watched over the sea and the fishermen. There was a carving of a happy sun looking down on fishermen with nets on their hands.
IV the third and fourth brother are twins, and they only emerge in summer time. Below was a carving of children playing at the beach, above the children were the two but smaller deities happily watching over.
“Is that why it’s so hot in the summer?” he said to himself as he continued walking.
V the fifth and the sixth are rivals; they compete who’s the brightest, so they emerge alternately and ask their other brothers who shone the brightest. Below was a carving of a farm blooming with hundreds of harvests as the sun shone at its best.
VI the seventh brother was the most playful; he loved watching children play after school so he watched over the young.
VII the eighth brother was the most lovable, so he watched over the planet earth itself.
VIII the ninth was the most daring, so he thought of the most dreadful game.
IX the ninth brother said they all go out and play and they did. All of them emerged the planet earth and caused too much heat, boiling the seas and burning the crops.
X But a boy named Hou Yi saved the earth by killing the 9 brothers with a bow and arrow, saving the earth from destruction. And below the scribe was a carving of 9 boys without their light, and Hou Yi holding a burning arrow.
After the tenth scribe was the end of the path, they reached outside and saw the statues of the 10 brothers. Each statue was visited separately by the crowd to go over and pray their silent wishes.
“Mom, why isn’t the tenth brother in the story?” Yuu pulled at his mother’s hand again, his other hand taking out a fan from her bag. “I’ll tell you later, come on we should pray to the deities.” He pouted in annoyance, wanting to know what happened to the story. With that, he wasn’t able to focus that much on praying to the deities. But he remembered to pray for good grades and unending youth and energy for his parents.
Knowing that his mom won’t finish her prayers anytime soon, he took his father’s hand and asked him the same question, “Dad, why isn’t the tenth brother in the story?”
“Well, the tenth brother is the sun we have now.” He then pointed to the direction where the tenth statue is. “Have you prayed to him yet?” he asked, Yuu shook his head, and then they both went to the statue. “Some people think he’s the smartest one because he didn’t go out and play with his brothers. But some people say that he did go and play with his brothers but he was spared. If Hou Yi killed all ten of them, then we wouldn’t have a sun right now.” His father added.
“But, I want to know what kind of brother he is. And what he watched over.” he said, taking a step closer to the statue as he examined the features of deity, almost like the rest, but his smile was the smallest compared to the other nine. “Why isn’t he in the story?!” he asked again, earning a small laughter from his father.
After the visit to the deities and to Hou Yi, they had a picnic at the park along with the other visitors. Yuu quickly grabbed the sandwiches from his mother’s bag and ate two.
“You guys want to buy souvenirs after? There were sun medals I saw down the shop that we could put just in front of our door, for luck.” his mother asked as she ate her meal.
“Sounds great, I saw on the map that there’s a Koi and lotus pond as well, we should go see that.” His father added. Yuu wanted to go home rather. While waiting for his parents to finish whatever boring talk they have, Yuu watched the people around him, watching people talk animatedly and kids run around the green bed of grass and daises.
“Welcome!” an old lady greeted as the bell chimed, informing the owner of the incoming guests. After their small picnic, they went to the shop his mother was talking about, serious about buying sun medals.
Yuu wandered his gaze for a second, eyeing at all the knickknacks, lucky charms, gold discs, gold statues and idols- everything was basically painted gold and red, and some were green, and it’s oddly and uncomfortably cramped; it’s like everything for sale is displayed in the store. He briefly wondered if there’s even a storage room at the back.
Yuu is very nosy, perhaps, to his curiosity, he went and peeked over the opened door behind the cashier and checked if they do have a storage room, but failed when a boy came out of the room; who looked back to him.
Stammered, the boy widened his eyes as he froze in place. Feeling awkward, Yuu quickly turned away and went to his parents. Yuu wasn’t looking but he could feel the store manager’s eyes on him.
“You see something you like?” the old woman asked politely, and then he shook his head. His mother smiled as she started asking her questions regarding lucks and charms and they talked for quite some time. Then he turned to look back at the boy who’s now sitting behind the store clerk, playing with a small, golden sun pendant. He watched how he went to the glass mirror and pointed the pendant to the sun, closing one eye as he stared intently at the object, nose crinkling at the process.
“What are you looking at, Yuu?” his father asked, and the boy seemed to have heard so he quickly went back to the chair he sat on.
“I want a sun pendant too, dad. Like the one he’s holding.” He whispered as he quietly pointed at the boy.
“He?” his father didn’t seem to catch, but nobody was even there to be confused, so Yuu got a little impatient- but concerned.
“Are you talking about this dear?” the store owner held up a sun pendant and smiled genuinely- earning a big nod from Yuu.
He took the pendant from the lady and held it up, admiring the golden sun and the circled glass in the center; boring a hole into the symbol which allowed him to see what’s on the other side. When he closed his other eye and peeked, everything was much more vivid but colorful, adding extra light rays of purple and blue.
“Anyway, this gem...” the store owner continued and the both of them spoke animatedly again, then he turned towards the boy, who was now watching him.
“Is she your mom?” Yuu asked, he shook his head in response. he wondered about his dad for a second, only to find him outside reading something by the stand. So he pressed on with asking.
“Do you live here?” the boy finally stepped out and went to his direction, also holding his pendant in his small hands. “Yes. She said that,” he paused, pointing at Yuu’s hand holding the same jewelry, “she would only give sun pendants to those who can see me.”
Suddenly something buzzed in his head for a moment, taking in what he said because it seemed silly. Pretend game used to be his favorite, but apparently he learned about truth and facts now that his schooling accelerated. “You’re lying. Everyone can see you.” he knitted his brows- disapproving.
“I don’t lie… and, I promise! No one can see me. Only you.” He said, pocketing his pendant as he sighed quietly, hurt that he was accused for being a liar, at such a young age.
“No way, stop lying.” Yuu didn’t really want to believe him though; he used to pretend as a ghost all the time.
“I’m really not… what do I have to say to convince you? Your dad just noticed you earlier staring at me but he thought you were drifting away.” He replied.
“I wasn’t staring. I was just observing.” he felt his heart quicken in response, feeling a bit silly about himself.
“Yuu, seriously, who are you talking to? Who’s lying to you?” his mom quirked in front of him, and watched the store clerk look at him amusingly. With that, he felt blood rush through his face.
“Him? Can’t you see him?” he pointed at the boy next to him.
There were times before when his mom would catch him talking to his imaginary friend, and then she’d play along. As he got older though, her mom notice he stopped with them so today was a bit of a shock.
“Is this supposed to be pretend?” his mom whispered as she hunched her back a bit, her face close to her child as much as possible, if ever he whispers a yes.
Yuu could only stay quiet though, also not wanting to force his mother to believing him, and looked over towards the shop owner who nodded in his direction.
He suddenly didn’t know how to feel though, to be the first kid to ever see him, he thought it’s a good thing.
After the transactions, Yuu was quick to ask his mom if they’re still planning to go to the Koi pond, to which his mother forgot about but raised her brow to an agreement.
When they arrived, a number of people are sitting on the circle patterned stone that depicted for sitting purposes, with his tired legs; he wished he was sitting on one too.
People were crowding over the pond, watching the fishes swim as they continued to feed, threw some coins and wished, and whatever they did.
He didn’t notice, but the boy was there again, idly walking around. The crowd wasn’t giving him any attention, but it’d be weird if someone just walking around would spike attention from a group of people. A concerned person can ask him if he’s accompanied by an adult actually, because he might seem lost. Yuu watched him carefully, and as if on cue, he turned around to his direction; pointing at the bridge that connected the pond and the shrine.
“I’ll be right back dad, stay here okay?” he said, letting go of his father’s hand.
“Where are you going?” suddenly, his father sound alarmed.
“I’m going back to the shrine to pray. I don’t want you to see me.” He lied, of course he had to lie.
“Well, fifteen minutes, sounds alright?” his father checked his watch then smiled at him. “’right!”
When he got to him, he immediately asked, “What’s your name?” they walked slowly at the bridge, eyes following the lotuses around the river.
“Asahi. Your name’s Yuu, right?” he smiled at him, and he reciprocated with a toothy grin. He wondered if that smile hurts, or maybe his lips were wide enough for a huge grin.
“Asahi... Morning!” he smiled, Asahi was watching him take small steps.
“Yeah.” He looked up, only to see the afternoon sun.
And that’s when Noya realized what he’s seeing, or who he’s looking at. He stopped walking for a second, watching the small frame in front of him pause as he did, mouth slightly open.
“That’s why people can’t see you,” he said, his face a mixture of curiosity and excitement.
“Please don’t be scared. I've never talked to anyone except for old Hana. I was, elated, that you were able to see me, because it felt lonely. All this time.” He replied, Yuu kept in mind that Asahi talks weird. He stutters a lot.
“Did I do something to be allowed to see you? You’re, you’re the sun?” he didn’t want to sound like he was asking, but it ended up as one anyway.
“Well… you wanted to see me. So badly, maybe it was your heart’s desire?” he smiled. Yuu closed the space between them and pointed a finger at him, inching slowly as he felt the skin of his arm touch the tip of his finger.
“And I can touch you too.” he replied.
“Mhm.” He hummed happily, returning the simple touch. They laughed for a while, and resumed their walking. They talked mostly about Yuu's life and experiences; his school, what’s it like to have parents, his favorite sports (Asahi didn’t even know what sports is) and his favorite GariGari Kun- an ice popsicle, which Asahi felt happy to imagine a frozen sugar soda flavored treat on a stick. Yuu made a promise that he’ll bring him some of his favorites on his next visit, and Asahi was nothing but joyous to hold a first promise in his life.
But time wasn’t their friend, and those fifteen minutes passed like a blink of an eye.
Noya hoped that he didn’t have to leave, and so did Asahi.
“Don’t lose that pendant, okay?” Asahi didn’t look gloomy at all, in fact, he was glowing.
“Why? What would happen if I did?” he asked him worriedly.
“Well, I just. I don’t want you to forget about this place. Or me. You see that glass in the middle?” Yuu paused and stared at the pendant, “Yeah, you were looking through this a while ago.” He replied.
“That’s... very special, Nishinoya. Don’t let it crack, no matter what, okay? Just think of that pendant as, me.” Pink dusted his cheek as he looked back up at Yuu's face.
“Hey! How did you know Nishinoya’s my name?!” Asahi didn’t answer, but he blushed and smiled a little- which he found adorable, making him smile and launch his self to embrace the other boy.
“I won’t! And I’m friends with a deity! How could I forget?” they laughed innocently, but then they had to part soon.
“I’ll be back soon, okay? Wait for me!” Yuu held out his pinky finger. Asahi looked at his hand in confusion, earning a small laugh from him.
“It’s a pinky promise, you hold out your pinky, like mine, and then we loop it- like this.” And Asahi gave it a try. Yuu's fingers were smaller and thinner than his, and he watched it tighten around his finger.
“I’ll wait for you, Yuu.”