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"I FINISHED WASHING the moon rock for you, Nene!" Her mother called out from the kitchen, placing the rock down on the table with a cloth underneath to dry it.
Quickly, Nene hopped off the couch and rushed to the table, already missing the mere rock. Nene felt anxious the whole time her mother washed the dishes and tossed her moon rock along with with it. What if okā-san accidentally drops it and flushes it? What if the rock cracks to pieces? She thought with her lip bitten so hard that it turned red and swollen.
Her mother sighed, seeing Nene hug and nurture her rock as if it was a child of her own. It must be really precious to her to push Nene into this state of overprotection over a rock. A rock. "Are you going to keep that rock as a pet or something, Nene?" She gently asked, bending to reach her daughter's height. "You could name it Tobi or something."
"No, it'll be my good luck charm!" Nene exclaimed. "I have to give something to Amane-kun back when we meet again! I have to, I have to!" Nene glanced at the rock.
I love you! the rock said.
Okay, Nene replied.
Name me Tobi or something! The rock begged.
Nene felt torn.
Nene's mother chuckled and carried her to her bed room. "Okay, I get it. We're going to find something to give to Amane-san back." She pinched Nene's cheeks as the girl whined, bursting into a fit of giggles. "Okā-san is very happy to see you make a new friend but do you know how old was the boy?"
Nene blinked, suddenly nervous. "No. Why? Is it important?" That's not good. Maybe Nene can guess and say he's seven, but that would mean lying to her mother and Nene didn't want that! Amane looked like he was around her age, and Nene just turned seven, like Amane's favorite number.
"If he's 10 then tell okā-san, alright? You're going to reach that age soon and you have a lot to learn," her mother told her and left her room without any more explanation, the sound of her feet fading as she entered her own room.
Nene could only longingly stare at the rock sitting idly on the desk near her lamp, a smile making its way to her tired face. It almost glowed, Nene noticed, the light gave the rock light, too, like they were sharing light or something—Nene wondered if the rock was able to glow the way the moon did, or chase after the sun and never reach it.
Nene was sure of one thing, though. Nothing can shine brighter than Amane's eyes.
—
Nene stared at the heaping mess on her bed with displeasure.
As soon as Nene woke up, she remembered she had dreamt about a memory of her step-father collecting some charms to give to her as a gift—Nene always marvelled at each one her dad brought home—and she recalled her favorite sun charm. Her mother offered to make it a necklace or an accessory of some sort but Nene declined and said she liked it better when she's holding it like a lucky charm. The sun charm, as she remembered, hadn't been used since the day her father left abroad, which meant it was buried somewhere, deep within the stack of charms she had gained throughout the years.
