[Chapter 10] - Wish Upon a Star

                                   

{Mama . . . Why can't I go to school?} Ai wrote on her given drawing board and showed it to her mother, who was sitting at the dining table, looking through stacks of papers.

"Ai-chan. . " The lady brushed Ai's fringe to the side and pulled Ai to her lap. "Papa says it's better for you be home schooled"  The lady mumbled softly, placing a gentle kiss on Ai's forehead.

Ai nodded her head softly at her mother's explanation. {Is Papa coming back today to join us at the dinner table?} Ai continued writing on the next page of the paper, with the lady reading along by as she wrote.

"Ai-chan, Papa's out of town this week. He won't be joining us for the whole of this week. Didn't I explain that to you yesterday?" The lady continued gently, running her fingers through the long ends of Ai's hair.

{But Ai hasn't seen Papa for a long time . . . Ai missed Papa . . .}

'Papa hates you, Ai, didn't you get it? Because you can't talk. Papa despised you. Haven't you realised that? Not only that. You're a timeless bomb. . . . No one should be near you. . . '

'No . . .You're lying to me . . . No . . . '

Waking up in the usual way, Ai wiped away the tears that had rolled off her cheeks had made their way to her neck. She got off her bed and straddled towards the small window, exposing the beautiful night sky to her eyes. 'Stars. . . Even Stars had their beautiful endings. Will I be able to have a beautiful ending as well . . . The sky is just like what it was on that day . . .' Ai thought in her mind, allowing her memory to bring her back to that day, the day before her first day of work at the new workplace.

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It was 316 am in the morning, and Risa was still not asleep. She stood by the glass window of the study room, allowing the bridge of her nose to come in contact to the cool surface. 'Why do the stars shine so brightly in the night sky. . . '

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'Autumn nights are torturing nights for me. . . ' Risa thought as she zipped up the jacket she was wearing, leaning against the fences of the backyard for support. 'It has been ages ever since I had so much fun playing . . . How I wish I had never grown up. . . ' Risa continued in her mind. 'There's lesser things worry about when I was young. . . '

Ai walked out of the cottage and into the backyard, towards the direction where Risa stood, spacing out. Ai tapped lightly on Risa's shoulder, bringing Risa out of her world of thoughts.

"The children had all slept ?" Risa asked softly.

Ai nodded her head at the question and took out her phone - the way she communicates with Risa - and typed swiftly in it. {Sorry for holding you back till so late. I never knew Baa-chan would asked us to stay for the campfire night.}

"Nah. It’s alright. I'm glad that I'd came and stayed for the campfire. It has been ages ever since I'd enjoy myself so much. It's a good healing way before the training for second audition starts tomorrow. The smile of the children. . . If that is what I can give . . . I will give. . . "  Risa replied with her gaze fixed on the starlit night sky.

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 'If I am able to it, I would too, want to bring that smile to your face, Ai-san.'

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"The stars are gorgeous." Risa continued speaking, causing Ai to shift her attention to the sky Risa was watching. "I love the stars." Risa finished with a wide grin on her face.

Ai nodded her head lightly at the statement Risa made. It was indeed true that the stars were gorgeous. Ai turned to face Risa, watching the dazzling smile across Risa's face. 'Why is she always smiling so fervently? Her smile is so contagious that I could no longer conceal mine to her, to the rest of the world.'

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'Why is it that the stars remind me of your perfect smile, Risa-san? It's like you have became part of the stars in the sky, shining brightly, guiding the way home to the lost.'

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Risa shifted her attention away from the sky and turned towards the direction where Ai was, only to catch glimpse of the unguarded stare that Ai had on her. When Ai realised Risa had turned towards her, she turned away and shifted her attention to the sky, pretending nothing as such had happened.

"Is there anything on my face?" Risa asked as she ran her icy cold hands across her face.

Ai shook her head, refusing to make any eye contact with Risa.

"Then why were you staring at me?" Risa continued asking softly.

Ai had her attention back to her phone and began typing in it. {I was just wondering, what's so special about the stars that make you loving them. It's a stupid question, isn't it? You don't have to answer if you do not want to.} With that, Ai passed her phone over to Risa and went back to have her gaze fixed on the sky.

"Since I was young, my mama always brings me out to the beach and watch the stars. Even though they are so far away from us, they are always visible to us. Isn't that incredible? Even though they are small, even though they are light years away, they are always shining so brightly. Even though there would be this day where they will burn out, they still continue to shine brightly, lighting up the night sky. They had gave courage to lots of people and when they burnt out, they left their very last breath of life, to all people a wish of hope. It's just . . . an amazing existence, the stars." Risa explained.

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'And how I wish . . . Ai-san, that I can be like the star in your life, giving you courage, and even hope of life. '

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Taking her phone back from Risa, Ai typed, {That's a cute reason for you to like the stars, Risa-san}

Risa blushed at the compliment that Ai had gave. 'Can this be considered the first compliment you have gave about my individual self?' Risa thought silently in her mind. 'WAIT A MINUTE, why are you even blushing, Niigaki Risa?'

An elbow nudging on her forearm had brought Risa back from her seas of thoughts. Ai, once again, passed her phone to Risa.

{What's in your mind? When are you so red? Are you feeling cold? Do you wanna to get back indoors?}

"Hmm hmm." Risa responded and shook her head. "I wasn't thinking about anything. Nope, it's not because I'm feeling cold. . . perhaps it's because I'm thin skinned?" Risa ended with a huge laughter, laughing at her own joke.

'She is indeed interesting. . . ' Ai thought as she continued to stare at Risa. No longer being able to hold back her own laughter, Ai allowed a tiny smile to run across her own face. 'She's always able to make me smile, even though I do not want to. I'm trying to hide my true self from the whole world, yet she's always breaking my revelation.  Can I trust her wholeheartedly?'

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'And I thought I could really trust her wholeheartedly. Can I?' Ai thought deeply as she leaned her face towards the cold metal of the window. 'No, Ai, remember, she walked out of your house.' A taunting voice came sounding in her mind, reminding her about the incident that had happen just not too long ago. 'She walked out of the door. . . just like the way they did, Ai. Can you bring your heart to trust such person? ' Ai shook her head sadly at the question raised in her head.

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'Is there anyone on this earth where one could trust wholeheartedly, without the fear of being rejected again? I was rejected, betrayed by my own blood parents, of the love and care they should have gave me. Can someone so normal understand the pain behind all this?' Ai thought as she glanced at Risa, admiring her naked smile. 'Maybe . . . '

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'No you can't Ai. There's no one on this living earth you can trust. You are always be alone. Now and Forever. Didn't you decided on this since the day they left. Why are you so eagerly looking for someone you can trust?'

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Risa turned to face Ai, only to catch her smiling at her. Not asking any questions, their eyes met, and another wide grin began to run across their face.

{Let's get moving. If not we are going to miss the last train back to the city, Risa-san.}

Risa nodded her head at the suggestion. Ai took the first step, with Risa following closely behind Ai.

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'There's so much things about her that I don't know . . . Yet I wonder why, why do I feel the urge to protect her? I want to help her. Would you allow me . . . if I do so, Ai-san? '

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Eri knocked against the familiar door lightly, and stood there outside, waiting patiently for the approval of entry by the owner of the room.

"Come in."

"Sorry for interrupting." Eri called out softly as she turned the knob and entered the room.

"Ah, Kamei-san, it's you?"

 "Nakazawa-san, am I interrupting you? I have some issues to enquire with you." Eri asked politely as Yuko sat professionally behind her desk.

"Nope, you are not interrupting anything. I do not have any client for the upcoming hour." Yuko replied as she directed Eri to the sit infront of her desk. "What is it that you would like to enquire about, Kamei-san?"

"It's about Takahashi-san." Eri answered with a serious tone.

"Ai-chan?" Yuko repeated. "What about Ai-chan do you want to know?"

"Do you by any chance know whether Takahashi-san visits a psychiatrist?" Eri continued asking.

"No. I don't think so. I have proposed to her a few times about visiting a psychiatrist for drug treatment for her condition, but she had rejected the proposition about. She seemed to be quite disturbed by the fact of visiting a psychiatrist. I think I have recorded down all these in the profile, haven't you read them?" Yuko answered while giving a stern stare at Eri.

"Yes, I've read them. I just want to double confirm with you personally, Nakazawa-san." Eri replied.

"Why is that so, Kamei-san?"

"I found out that Takahashi-san had access to tranquiliser that requires a psychiatrist prescription. So I wondered if Takahashi-san was or is visiting one." Eri explained.

"Tranquiliser?" Yuko mumbled softly as she furrowed her eyebrow.

Seeing that Yuko was in her deep thoughts about Ai using tranquiliser, Eri decided to leave the room, in preparation of escaping Yuko's demand for the reason why Ai is using tranquiliser.

"Nakazawa-san, thank you for your help anyway. I'll leave now in preparation for the next client. I will do my best to help Takahashi-san. Please excuse me." With that, Eri bowed and exited Yuko's office.

'Just as what I expected, Nakazawa-san knew nothing about Ai-san's mental instability. Nakazawa-san has always been treating Ai-san like her little sister. I guess, Ai-san would not want Nakazawa-san to know about this and be more worried about her even more. Unless Nakazawa demands from me, there's no way I let it out to her. . . Let this be a decision made in respect to Ai-san's decision. . . . . .  I need to speak to Ai-san . . . ' Eri thought in her mind as she closed the door to Yuko's office.

"Fujimoto-san" Eri called out as she paced herself towards the reception table. "Can I have Takahashi Ai-san's address? I'm going over for a visitation."

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"Hiroki-san" Risa stood before the vocal trainer of the competition and called out.

"Yes, Niigaki-san? Is there anything that you need from me. I'm hoped that you have reflected on yourself about your performance for the past few days. I'd talked to the management about your issue and they said you should deserve another chance. If you are still not performing up to standards, you are out of this competition. I would not be able to help you anymore as well." Hiroki asked and continued with his 'lecture' to Risa.

"Wakarimashita. Arigatou gozaimasu." Risa replied as she bowed. "Hiroki-san, I have a request regarding on the competition song that I will sing next week." Risa brought up the request, which she had been working on it since early in the morning, where she couldn't fall asleep due to the fuzzy recurring memories in her mind.

"And that is?" Hiroki questioned, bring Risa's topic closer to the point.

"I would like to sing a song from myself." Risa finished.

"From yourself?"

"Yupp. A song that I've written." Risa answered.

"Do you know that singing a song that the adjudicator or the audience are unknown of will reduce your chance of winning the competition? Are you sure that you wanna to that?" Hiroki explained the possible outcome that may come about to Risa.

"I'm not concern about whether or not will I win the competition. I just want to sing that song." Risa finished with determination. 'I will sing for her. . . Even if I am to lose the competition, I will sing for her.' Risa thought in her mind.

"If you insist, I would not force you not to sing then. Pass me the song so that I can help you to make up the instrumental, Niigaki-san."

"Arigatou gozaimashita!" Risa shouted out, expressing her gratitude as she passed over the papers she had worked on earlier one.

'This is for you, Ai-san. . . '