The Last Wish

The Star We Lost That Day

When everyone awoke the next morning, they decided to go out and explore a little bit. They had already decided where and when they would be meeting, and so they gathered there, ready to look around.

“So where should we start?” Kakeru asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Hmm… let Ray decide where he wants to take us first,” said Hajime.

Everyone looked at Ray with hope, but he had zoned out, not hearing a word that was spoken.

“Ray… Ray… Ray… Ray~”

“Ah yes. Yes, what were we talking about?” he asked, coming back from his thoughts.

“Nothing special. We just wanted to know where you were planning to take us first on the tour of your hometown,” said Kai, a smile on his face.

“Anywhere you want to go, just ask me, I will tak-” He stopped mid sentence, as he looked past them, his eyes both nervous and teary.

Their eyes moved from Ray to follow his line of sight. A girl was walking with a boy, and they wondered if Ray knew them, for the way his sentence faltered said he did.

“Do you know them?” asked Shun. Ray simply nodded in reply. A strong connection could be felt between Ray and the others, a connection that transcended death.

The girl stopped in her tracks as she saw the boys, and walked over to them. For a second, Ray thought that it was because she could see him, but he was proved wrong very quickly.

“Haa… Six Gravity and Procellarum! I can’t believe my eyes!” she said, excitement having her bounce on her heels. The boy with her came running up behind her.

“Who are they?” he asked, a light frown on his face.

The girl stared at him with indignation. “They are the members of the most famous idol groups, Six Gravity and Procellarum. Ah, I’m so pleased to meet you, I’ve heard all your songs. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long, my dream’s finally come true!”

“Ah, so these are the idols. I’ve heard about them from you so often that my head starts to hurt whenever you say their names,” the boy said, face-palming. Gravi and Procella exchanged smiles.

“I forgot to introduce myself. I am Naruko, and he is-” she was stopped by the boy.

“C’mon, I'm not a child, I can introduce myself on my own.” Naruko smiled and gestured for him to carry on. He continued, “And I am Yuki. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you both.”

“So the fact that you guys are here in such a small village is suspicious. What are you guys here for?” asked Yuki nonchalantly.

“Yuki~ That’s rude!” said Naruko, pouting slightly. She turned to them and apologized for Yuki’s behavior, knowing Yuki would never apologize.

They walked together, light conversation between them, when out of nowhere, You asked them a question. “I was wondering. I think you both have lived in this place for a while?” They both nodded and he continued. “So by any chance, do you know someone called Ray?”

They both stopped walking, and did Ray as well. Ray appeared to hold his breath, despite not needing to breathe.

“Who’s that?” said Yuki in a deep, cold voice. “I have never heard that name before.”

Naruko stood there, shaking as if she had seen a ghost.

“We don’t know anyone named Ray,” said Yuki. Ray looked crestfallen. A hand on his chin, Yuki continued. “Oh but wait, I think I’ve heard of someone named Ray.”

Ray looked up again, hope on his face.

“You must be talking about that weak boy Ray. That person who decided to end his life so easily like it meant nothing.” Yuki’s voice continued to rise. “That guy who didn’t even think about how the people around him would feel, that guy-”

“Yuki, enough,” said Naruko. “He wasn’t any of that.”

“Yeah, how could I forget? I’m standing next to the person who loved him so much, and killed him with those words,” said Yuki, his voice breaking as he turned away.

“I never did that. I didn’t want him to die like that,” said Naruko, choking on her words.

You regretted asking that question. He pursed his lips as Yoru leaned forward. “You, you should apologize to them,” he whispered in his ears.

You stepped forward, about to apologize, but Naruko began to speak. “I see you all are Ray’s friends. I never knew he had such good friends, friends who were willing to travel a long way to see him.” Her tone changed to a forced lightness, a hint of jealousy in her eyes.

“You want to know what happened that day? Don’t mind Yuki. He and I still can’t believe what happened that day,” said Naruko, pain in her eyes. “It’s something we wanted to forget. But it’s something we will never be able to forget.” Her voice faltered but she continued with a smile. “I’ll tell you everything, since you seem to be his friends. We were a group of six people. Yuki, Ray, me and another three. Ever since we were children, we were good friends.”

“Aren’t you still friends?” asked Aoi with curiosity.

“We still are, but after that day, we began to drift apart.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize for interrupting, please continue,” said Aoi.

Naruko nodded. “We used to have so much fun together. We used to play all day at our secret base. But one day at that base, I asked one of our friends who she liked the most among our friends. I was jealous. Jealous that she was always hanging out with Ray. Her answer left everyone in shock, and then she ran back home. And that dumb Ray. I don’t know why… why he ran after her. He slipped and fell into the river. Was he so weak that he died instead? Wasn’t he the strongest of us all? I still can’t believe all this happened. I can’t believe he left us like this.” Tears fell down her cheeks and she tried to hide the fact that she was crying, but those tears weren’t missed by anyone.

Ray stood there in silence as she recounted his story, and he was crying too. Stepping closer to Naruko, he hugged her.

“Why does it feel like someone is hugging me?” she asked through her tears.

“Because you are being hugged by the person you lost that day,” said Kai quietly.

Naruko stared at them, tears still flowing from her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Ray was there, but the truth was in their eyes. Ray is standing there.