Et Itur Ad Astra

Side A: Golden Hour, Track 4

Summer 1999, 8 June, Junior Year

It was break time, and they were sitting on the floor of the PE shed, Tsukito not even complaining about the dirty floor, both of them evidently worn out from the emotional night before.

"That's a new addition," Tsukito noted, eyeing her knitted yukata cardigan.

Mitsuki was trying her best to be her normal self, even after her head had been stuffed full of awful thoughts like the stuffing in one of Clarie's knitted plushies. Her mind was swirling with thoughts from the moment she'd awakened to her entire walk to school. She felt as if she was going to explode with all the pent-up energy. She felt... guilty. Guilty for what she had done. Guilty for ruining their friendship. She couldn't even think about the possibility of them crumbling to dust. She was trying her best, but she could tell Tsukito, sharp-eyed as ever, wasn't having it. He looked at her with a mix of suspicion and something else she couldn't quite decipher.

She eyed him, groaning. Her eyes were still swollen from the night before and she'd come to school with a blotchy face, only avoiding Clarie's concern and the others' whispers by ducking her head consistently throughout the day. "What."

Then he stood, walked over, held out a hand and said: "You, my friend, are in need of a severe cheering-up."

"What is it now," she groaned. "I'm not up for another... another tattoo or whatever crazy shit you're up to." Thinking of the words Et Itur Ad Astra tattooed on both their backs just made her feel even worse, reminding her of all the dreams she had singlehandedly shattered within a single night.

She let him pull her to her feet, and she stood as he jogged out of the PE shed. Keeping her silence, she dragged her feet but forced herself to catch up to him and match his pace as they ran to a secluded corner of the school. She knew it well. It was the mended hole in the fence they'd used to crawl under to get to the sweet shop during their break times, before they became prefects in the beginning of junior year.

She pulled her hand back from Tsukito's, shaking her head. "Nuh-uh. We're prefects." Since when had she been the one to moralise to Tsukito? She was the wild one, the carefree, happy-go-lucky one. Tsukito was the stick in the mud. Currently, this stick was looking at her with eyes shining, as if in a dare. Fighting the sudden impulse and fire that flowed through her veins, she muttered, "You better not drop me again," and she stepped onto his outstretched hands. As he boosted her up, pushing her foot skywards, she flipped her other leg over the fence, landing successfully on the soft grass.

A smile rose to her lips as Tsukito dramatically did a fist pump to celebrate the apparent effects of arm day. Then he jumped up, being a good three inches taller than her, caught hold of the railing, pushed himself up, then ungracefully tumbled over onto the mound of wet earth with a thump. Mitsuki stuffed her wrist into her mouth to stifle her laugh, knowing that if they were found out, they would be dead. Already, she could feel the sadness evaporating off her like morning dew under daylight.

Tsukito rolled onto his feet, grunting as he swiped mud off his shirt but only succeeded in smearing it. An impish smile lighted up his honey-brown eyes as he took her hand and they ran. As they took off, one foot in front of another, Mitsuki felt the plaintiveness rise off her heart like cool rain off a hot road. Tsukito's hand wrapped around her wrist as they ran, she realised she had absolutely no idea where they were going, but for once in her life, she was fine with that.

It didn't take Mitsuki long to figure out where they were going. Along the fringes of Dulcet Creek was a large expanse of sea overlooked by a Ferris wheel. The beach was a beautiful place, its shores laced with seafoam and the sound of laughter. The sun was always shining at the beach, and clouds billowed over the glittering sun-streaked ocean. The beach was a twenty-minute walk from school, along a leaf-scattered rocky path.