Revitalized | Rui Kamishiro x F!Reader

Ode to Song

"Ah, I love it!" Rui laughed. "It's adorable! You said you were the softer voice?"

"Mhm. There was this version of me and Yuuki, and one of two of our other group mates."

"Ah, can we listen to that version too?"

"Sure. It might be a little harder to find though."

You searched for the other version of Yuuki's duet as the two of you neared a bench. Spotting it, you pulled Rui along with you as you made your way over to it and sat down. As soon as you found it, you began playing it, and rested your head back to watch the clouds fly.

Once the song ended, Rui nodded with a hum. "Yes, they have very similar voices. Who were they?"

"That was Hina and Kazuni. Their voices changed over time. Mine did too, I suppose." You chuckled to yourself. "Yuuki's pretty much stayed the same until only just recently. I mean, it was a little higher back when we made this."

"I see. So, there were just four of you?"

"No, there was Kisane. But she wasn't very confident in her vocal range until she started writing her own songs in her range, so she skipped out on this one."

Rui hummed, whilst you exited your music app and turned your phone off. Now the both of you watched the puffs of white fly overhead. A bird flew with them, just higher than the trees around you.

"So, a lot of your first songs were like that one?"

"Yeah, pretty much." You laughed, "that was actually one of our deeper songs, looking back. The rest were pretty shallow, so we deleted the official releases and a good amount. I think the only other one we didn't was UFO."

"And what was that one about?"

"A lot of things. Loneliness, being swept away in a feeling, losing yourself... but above all, the stars," you sighed. "Everything was about the stars for us. I mean, our name was Super Nova 23. Just imagine what our Sekai looked like."

Rui smiled and let out a small chuckle. "What's behind that one?"

"That was one of the handful I wrote while locking myself away from my friends. Ah, figuratively speaking! I just mean I wrote it alone while I was swamped with a bunch of random feelings." You corrected, waving your hands. "I was on a toy piano kick. Sure, there's little that can be done with a good 15 keys, but sometimes it's just enough, y'know? Ah, well... maybe you don't."

"No, I can't say I do down to the specifics. But I understand the basis. Would you mind if we listened to that one too?"

"Hm, well, I suppose not." You lifted your phone back up, but hesitated. This might be one of the songs that was too much of a reminder. Too much nostalgia to keep in the short glass cup that made up your heart. You didn't want it to overflow in front of someone you'd just met, but...

"Hey, are you alright?"

You turned to him, realizing you had been staring at your homescreen while these thoughts swirled.

"Oh, um, yeah! Sorry. It's just... a pretty nostalgic song."

That was an understatement, you began to realize. You pictured the few performances you'd done of it, the images of dancing under the stars with the others while you poured your heart out to strangers who came to enjoy the ambience and share a love for the night sky. There had even been a lunar eclipse once. What a sight.

"Well, if it's too much, you don't have to play it. Sorry if I've been making you feel obligated to put yourself through that this whole time!"

"Wha- no, no, you haven't, really! I'm sorry, I'm still just emotional over the whole thing, is all. We can listen to it still. I know I haven't in a while."

"If you're sure you'll be alright."

You nodded and turned the song on.

As it began playing, you let the sweet melody surround you, drown out everything else, and take you somewhere you missed more than anything. The Starscape, where you'd given your first performances. The place you felt a little more like Y/n. Somewhere you felt like nothing could go wrong and life could center around whatever gave you joy. Your friends, the stage, the pretty lights, singing...

The stars...

You wished you'd held on a little longer when you had it. Held it a little closer to you when you slept at night. Held it closer than Isago, or any pet or family member.

Swept so far into your own lost world, you failed to notice it when your lips started moving, and your voice began to sing. Word for word, you recalled your first solo song, singing it just as you had when you first wrote it, if not better after all the experience that followed.

And as you failed to hear your own singing, you were more than oblivious to the new surroundings Rui was seeing. Your sweet voice just seemed to make the sun shine a little brighter, and he swore the birds sang along.

When the song ended, everything went silent and bleak, and when you opened your eyes, your face was overcome by red.

"Ah, d-did I just sing that? Oh, goodness, how embarrassing!"

Rui simply laughed, undoubtedly saddened by the lack of singing. He wanted to hear more. He stopped caring about what the song meant, or who wrote it, or how many times you had preformed it. He just wanted to hear your voice again.

"I, um..." you stood quickly, still hot faced and avoiding eye contact. "I should probably go home. It'll be dinner time soon and..." You trailed off. That was as far as your truthful excuse extended.

"Ah, already?" Rui stood too, almost desperate to just hear one more song, one more note from your sweet voice.

"Goodbye, Rui. Let's do this again, yeah?" You laughed nervously and turned to leave the park, albeit a bit too fast.

That just left Rui, feeling something akin to an emptiness in his chest. An emptiness that burned with something better underneath, but he couldn't quite tell what.

"Yes. Please." He whispered to himself. He then centered himself with a breath and turned to walk back home, looking back in hopes that maybe he could catch another glance of you before he'd have to wait for Monday.