"DAD? YEAH, IT'S ME. We have an entire collection of vinyls stowed away in the attic, don't we? Yeah, I'll be bringing some of them here. I'd like to listen to music."
The next day Akaashi comes home with a carton in his arms. He puts it on the bed and thumbs through the collection.
It turns out his old man has great taste.
"We're rich, Box."
His phone vibrates with a message.
I'm training my friend Tanaka's parrot.
Followed by a video of Suga humming the opening chords of a horror classic, and a parrot perched on his shoulder singing along.
Akaashi laughs and sends him a thumbs up. Keep me updated.
He picks one of the vinyls. Classical. The London Violin Sound by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Released in the same year he was born. Akaashi wonders if he grew up listening to this.
The record scratches to life. He sits on the bed and stares at the bare, blue wall.
The painting stares back at him. A Seascape, Shipping by Moonlight.
Akaashi waits for something to happen. To feel something.
The clock ticks. Five seconds, then ten.
The musical pieces change. The first one bleeds into the second, then third.
When Summertime starts playing, the colours begin to swirl.
The lone watchtower in the painting winks. Its golden shivers and slips out.
The colours trickle out of the boundaries to cover the walls. An entire room filled with seawater.
Akaashi gasps and looks towards the ceiling. Ships float above, their sails drawn by wind.
He's back in his nightmare. The final stage. He has already sunk in the tar. Watching the world from the perspective of a drowned sailor.
He cries for a while, long after the music has ended. And for once it is not due to grief.
I can still be moved. I can still feel.
Akaashi realises he's quite close to reaching the end of the tunnel.
Through his tears, he sees Hoot sitting on the rail, studying him from the balcony.
In its beak is a letter.
❆
"Don't blame me if I fall asleep," says Kenma.
Kuroo opens an arm and he snuggles close. Chibi lies sprawled on his lap, its black fur like spines.
"I'll wake you up if you do," Kuroo says.
He presses play and a galaxy fades into view on the black screen.
"Oh, lonesome night. And babbits bawling, the wind biting the bone ... "
Cloud Atlas is a long movie. Since they plan on watching it in a single sitting, it will be some time before they're free.
❆
That night, Kuroo goes out after Kenma has fallen asleep.
No particular destination. Only aimless wandering through the streets of Tokyo. Akaashi used to accompany him before, but he's finally been getting some sleep at night. Kuroo now walks alone.
He contemplates buying a bicycle. Maybe he'll end up travelling all over Japan someday.
He'll only stop once he reaches the sea.
YOU ARE READING
Life Afterlife: The Sequel
Fanfiction"Death is death and there's not much we can do about it. But what comes after is in our hands." The sequel to In Another Life by LittleLuxray that nobody asked for-but which I simply had to write for myself. ~ In Cloud Atlas, Robert Frobisher writes...
