𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙀𝘿 on the 𝙎𝘼𝙈𝙀 𝙎𝙆𝙔 - 𝚔𝚎𝚒 𝚝𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚊

35 - Harnessed On The Same Sky

Does the moon really have its own eyes?

Time moved without stopping.

In years, he witnessed how the world revolved;

How his life changed;

And how he had seen himself grow.

He had left all those memories of her in that Ferris wheel. He knew from the start that those moments were already gone, shrugging them off and carried on living in the present.

That moment, seemed like time lost its meaning.

Days with her could be compared to an hour,

Passing like a blink, a breathe, and a step.

But it was the best part,

Leaving a sweet and bitter taste of sculpted memories and engraved bonds.

He knew he would relish each remembrance to teach him to live once more.

The present time for him is unable to go faster. He was actually worried about tomorrow—for something doesn't exist. Waiting almost took his time. So much time had slipped through the gaps of his fingers like a mirage dissolving in the brilliance of the sun.

Yet he wasn't aware of himself that his mind is a garden of the fragmented time.

It had been long, but he was still seeking her presence, always looking at the sky to fill his yearnings of her. She once told him that gazing at distant stars is a representation of the past—and there where his mind went.

But he was confident enough. They chose to say a farewell, because they knew they would meet again . . . Somewhere, somewhere in the long journey.

At first, his eyes were cast on the bamboo flooring of an izakaya restaurant. Only staring at it, without remembering what was lingering on his mind.

". . . shima! Earth to Tsukishima!"

He lifted his head and saw the bewildered look of the people in front of him. He seemed to suddenly remember he was with his former volleyball teammates in high school.

"What?" he sighed.

Then Koushi Sugawara snickered, "Tsukishima's in a reverie lately."

"Right! Literally in a reverie," Ryunosuke Tanaka laughed. He was seated beside the only woman in his life, Kiyoko Tanaka, and it was still hard for him to believe. "His expression is passably familiar, though!"

"There are two reasons why Tsukki's mind in the clouds," Tadashi Yamaguchi chuckled. "He's either thinking about someone who's far away or feeling perturbed if he's gonna pass his master's degree."

"Shut up, Yamaguchi," Kei Tsukishima snapped. But his words were accurate and he couldn't deny it.

Everyone laughed upon hearing it. He was still confused about why he was with them. He was dragged by Yamaguchi and Yachi, because a gathering like this—with the whole team—was unusual.

How many years it had been again since they gathered completely? After his high school graduation, he took a four-year Aircraft Engineering course and graduated from it. He had also undergone a two-year master's degree program (only waiting for the results), so between seven to eight years.

"Oi, Tsukki," Hinata approached him, "are you really going to be a pilot?"

"Yeah," he answered, "what about it?"

Hinata shuddered, almost setting his brain on fire. "That's more intense than volleyball . . !"

Kei only chuckled, took his glass of Kahlua and milk, and drank some of it.