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RAIN SLOWLY CAME to a halt from up above in the midnight skies that painted the world—Nene enjoyed every second of it, the smell of petrichor, the light of the street lamps that decorated the streets until the end of the town, the moon reigning the sky during the evening as always. Her neighborhood around this hour; the time for a family to get together and eat dinner—quiet, but not quite, and Nene enjoyed the peace.
The dark clouds promptly faded as Nene continued to stroll around her family's front yard, skipping and giggling, not a single care about a person witnessing her—she is a child who has yet to learn embarrassment and pride.
She softly sighed as she lied down on the damp grass, trying to count the infinite number of stars. One, two, three, four, five. Her mother was busy cooking dinner so Nene had snuck outside ( not the first she's done that and not the first her mother had caught her red-handed ) and ignored her mother's words of "don't lay on the grass!". Nene was no rebel—she liked sticking to the rules—but what's she's doing has never been stopped before and she won't be planning on stopping any time sooner.
"What are you doing?" A curious voice asked. Nene turned her head and saw the bare feet of a kid, just around her age. He wore shorts that showed off the scabs on his knee, and a t-shirt that's twice his size, slightly slipping past his shoulder to show bruises. His gleaming golden eyes rivaled the glow of the moon itself and Nene had almost gotten lost in it.
Nene turned back to the moon as the boy decided to lay next to her, following her gaze.
"I'm watching," Nene responded, her girly voice and the whisper she said it is barely heard by the young boy. "Okā-san told me to never watch the sun so I will watch the moon instead." Nene lost count of the stars. She tried again. One, two, three, four, five, six. Nene pointed at them, each star either glowing brighter or dimmer than the other; smaller or bigger than its own beside it.
The boy beside her shifted and focused his golden eyes to her face, his head tilted to the side while Nene just kept on looking forward, a content smile on her lips. "My mama told me if you look at the sun you won't be able to see anymore," he said as a matter-of-factly, almost proudly despite insinuating that you'll be blind if ever you broke the rules.
"Really?" Nene glanced at him again and saw his chest puff out in pride ( if he had feathers, then surely it would be ruffled right now ). "Oh," she mumbled, suddenly sad.
Nene, as much as she loved the sun, still wanted to see. She wanted to see the wonders of the world, the blue sky in both evening and morning, the colors of the food her mother cooked, the different shades of people's eyes, the color of the lipstick her mother wore ( that she secretly tried on )— she wanted to see them all.
The boy nodded. "Why? Do you like the moon? I like the moon! Tsukasa and I used to stargaze back in our old house." He exclaimed, his eyes now sparkling with excitement as a grin broke across his small face. Nene didn't know who Tsukasa was.
