What Matter's Most

For Her

The plaza was bustling as all the villagers from the town gathered around the stage. Shrunk and Isabelle both got a seat in the back since they were the only ones that were still available. Isabelle looked at the stage and made eye contact with Totakeke. He gave her a slight smile before he got up and grabbed the microphone. 

"Hey everyone, my name is K.K. Slider. It is so nice to see everyone here for tonight's festival. I'll be taking requests tonight but I just wanted to dedicate this song to someone special. Its called Stale Cupcakes." K.K. sat down on his stool and quickly adjusted his guitar. The whole audience went silent and K.K. smiled at Isabelle before he cleared his voice and started to sing. 

Isabelle could feel herself blushing as she heard his voice. It sounded beautiful, it always did. Even when they were younger she always told K.K. that he could sing. He didn't believe her at first, but after a while of playing on the streets, he started his dream of wanting to become a musician. Shrunk looked over at Isabelle and smiled. He knew that K.K. was dedicating this song to her but he didn't say anything.

After the song was over Isabelle couldn't help but feel sad. She was waiting for this day for so long. She always wanted to go to one of K.K's concerts but never could because of her work. But now he was here and singing a song just for her. 

A few of the other villagers soon started asking K.K. to play their favorite songs. Request after request Isabelle started to notice that K.K. was getting rather tired. She felt bad for her friend. She was sad that he was leaving but she could only imagine how he felt. He always traveled, she wondered when it was the last time he actually took a break. She knew K.K., and she knew full well that he was a bit of a workaholic. He always put his career before himself. 

~~~~~

After the performance was over people were starting to get in line to fill their plates up with food. Isabelle sat alone at the table as she waited for her brother to grab his meal. She wasn't hungry, the smell of food that would usually make her mouth water was now just making her nauseous. She looked around but saw that there was still no sign of K.K. She let out a sigh. Where was he? Was he even coming? Isabelle knew that parties and festivals weren't exactly K.K.'s thing. But he promised to make the most of tonight with her. 

 Isabelle stopped worrying soon though as she saw Totakeke walking over to her. She smiled, he was dressed so casually. All he had on was a grey hoodie and ripped jeans. Isabelle laughed. She found it funny how he always wore clothes when he wasn't performing.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," K.K. said as he sat down across from her. Isabelle smiled at him and shook her head.

"Its fine Totakeke. You made it, that's all that matters." Isabelle looked around and saw that some of the townsfolks were looking at them and whispering. She frowned and looked down at the table trying not to make eye contact with them.

"Hey, just ignore them." K.K. said, "If they wanna talk, let them talk." Isabelle nodded. K.K. was right, they only had tonight to spend time with each other and they weren't gonna let what other people say ruin it. Just as Isabelle was about to speak again Digby came up from behind K.K. and playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey K.K., I didn't think you'd stay for the festival," Digby said. K.K. was startled by Digby which made the young dog laugh.

"Digby...," Isabelle said with annoyance.

"What? I'm just saying. You and I both know that K.K. doesn't usually stay around to interact with others." Digby joked as he took a seat next to K.K., Isabelle rolled her eyes.

"Well, Digby's got a point. I'm just usually tired after I perform." K.K. said. Digby shrugged.

"Fair enough. So I'm assuming that you're not going to the party after this right?" Digby asked. Isabelle looked at her brother confused.

"Party? What other party? It's already really late. Why would anyone throw a party after the festival?" Isabelle couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"Well yeah I agree," Digby said, "But turns out one of the townsfolks is holding a late-night party at there place. Apparently they have a really nice house. I don't know about you two but I'm going." Isabelle looked at her brother and squinted.

"Are you going because you want to go or because Lottie's going?" Isabelle asked. Digby gave Isabelle a dirty look signaling for her to keep quiet. 

"Ohh so that's her name," K.K. laughed. "So you wanna go for a girl huh? I get it."

"I'm not going for a girl," Digby snapped, "I'm going because I wanna go!" K.K. shrugged.

"I believe you man. No need to kill the groove with your mood." K.K. grinned at Digby which only made him more annoyed.

"Alright then, I suppose I'll go as well," Isabelle said. Totakeke looked over at Isabelle, surprised.

"Wait really? Why?" K.K. asked. Isabelle shrugged.

"Why not? I say we make the most of tonight remember?" Isabelle teased, "But it's okay if you don't wanna go Totakeke. You had a busy day, you should probably get some rest anyway." K.K. looked at Isabelle and bit his lip. He really didn't wanna go to this party. He was exhausted, and he knew that he had to get up early the next day as well. But at the same time, he wanted to go but not for himself. Isabelle was right, they promised to make the most of tonight.

"Okay, I'll go too," Totakeke said as he got up from his seat. Digby seemed shocked and got up as well.

"Woah really? Are you actually serious right now?" Digby asked. K.K. smiled at the two dogs.

"Yeah, why not? I wanna go, I wanna do this. I don't have any other plans anyway. Besides, it'll be better than just staying inside my cramped camper." K.K. joked. Isabelle laughed and got up from her seat too.

"Alright then! Let's go. The earlier the better." Isabelle said as she started making her way through the plaza. Digby and K.K. followed behind her and Digby noticed that K.K. didn't seem very pleased.

"Are you sure you wanna do this bud?" Digby asked, "You don't have to y'know. You seem exhausted." K.K. smiled at Digby and chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I mean I guess... I just didn't think that you were the type to go to do these things." Digby said. K.K. let out a sigh.

"I'm not doing it because I want to go... I'm doing it for her."