Catch a Glimmer of Your Star

I'll take care of you

Basil chatted with Sunny over the next several hours, catching up on all the things they had been doing over the past four years that they were apart.

Having shut himself inside his room for most of that time, Sunny didn't have much to talk about compared to Basil. Sunny mostly talked about the things he did with Kel, Aubrey, and Hero during those "last" three days in Faraway.

Sunny mentioned some of the dreams he had, and the many adventures that he went on as a persona he called Omori. That was very interesting to Basil.

It's so sweet that you dreamed of going on adventures with all of us, Sunny.

Basil understood how much pain Sunny had been in, how badly Sunny would've wanted to forget. He couldn't fault Sunny for wanting to spend some time in a world where they were all together and happy again.

"But I'd rather forget about Omori and everything," Sunny said. "I feel that I'm ready to live in the real world again."

"I'm glad you're back. Still, things might be different now. Kel, Aubrey, and Hero didn't forgive us, did they?" Basil asked.

The nervous curl of Sunny's lips indicated that he was still working through those feelings.

"Sorry," Basil said with lowered eyes. "I know it was hard for you to confess the truth to them. I should've been awake. I should've heard their words myself."

Sunny spoke a little nervously. "It's okay. I'm sure they're a lot angrier at me than at you. Because I made everything worse by locking myself in my house for four years while you still went outside and tried to talk to everyone."

"But I came up with that plan to hang Mari. I lied to them for all these years."

"I promise that they're not madder at you than they are at me." Sunny blinked a couple of times. "I did the worst thing. I pushed Mari..."

Sensing a tremendous discomfort in Sunny, Basil offered to change the topic. "Sunny, I'm sorry. Let's talk about something else."

"Yeah, let's put all this behind us."

I agree. Let's move on from this whole thing.

Even if our friends are going to be mad at us, we still have each other to rely on, right?

Ironically, they didn't opt for a much lighter subject.

The topic of their conversation switched to Basil's personal activities during Sunny's supposed final three days in Faraway. Those memories were hard to relive, but Basil wanted to confront them with Sunny's help.

Basil had spent the whole time taking care of grandma when he wasn't out dealing with Aubrey's gang. On the night after the second day, grandma's breathing became shallow, sounding like she was close to passing on.

Basil could still remember the feelings in his heart when he heard her last gasps of breath.

Grandma, are you really going to leave me?

If you're gone, grandma, I'm going to be all alone again.

I don't want to be alone...

Reliving that heartache gave Basil pinpricks of pain all over his skin, and he started to sweat.

But Sunny was there. Sunny held his hand.

"I'm here, Basil," Sunny promised. "I won't leave your side."

Sunny, thank you.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Basil spoke.