Eager not to be late again, Kaito arrived early for school the following morning and, to his surprise, the professor was already in the classroom.

“Kaito!” his wrinkled face cracked into a smile. “Glad to see you are up and running again, my boy.”

“Good morning, Professor,” Kaito awkwardly lifted his hand, as if to wave at the professor, but he quickly shoved his hand in his pocket instead.

“Say, Kaito, I actually wanted to ask you something. I’ve been looking at your transcript, and it says here you were a member of the Music Club at your previous school...” his words lingered in the air for a moment before he asked, “have you signed up for any clubs here in Hakone?”

“Err…” Kaito hesitated while behind him, the classroom started filling up with students.

Now, how exactly do I tell him that club was just an excuse to skip class…

“Why don’t you join our music club?” Professor Yoshida persisted. “They are actually busy right now preparing a play for the school, and your red-headed friend over there is the club’s president.”

“Touma?” Kaito asked, surprised. “Hmm… I don’t know, Professor; I can’t sing that well,” Kaito scratched the back of his head and tried his best to put on a friendly smile, but then he caught the professor and Touma exchanging looks, after which their gazes refocused on him.

They know… but how?

Was that Touma in the bathroom yesterday? Did he hear me sing?

“Well… You don’t have to sing! There are a bunch of other things as well, like, uh… well, let’s see.” The professor scratched his gray beard, and at this point, the classroom had filled up, and everyone was listening to the conversation, which made Kaito uncomfortable and annoyed.

“Oh, that’s right!” The professor’s finger shot up into the sky. “They always need people to play as props, like trees and stuff!” he said with a massive grin on his face, clearly impressed with himself.

“Just think about it, Kaito,” Professor Yoshida added in a serious tone. “Friends are hard to come by these days, so make all the effort you can while you’re still young.” He rested his hand on Kaito’s shoulder for a moment. Kaito nodded and made his way to his desk.

Somehow, Kaito had connected singing with the memory of his mother, and thus turned something that brought him joy and happiness into something he feared and at times, hated.

The day seemed to blow by like the spring breeze, and before long, Kaito was standing at the train station, and that was when he felt a poke to his side.

“Wha—?” He turned to see Touma’s arm extended toward him in a gesture.

“Here, take it. It’s the Music Club’s schedule.”

“Touma, I—”

“I know, I know. Just… promise you’ll think about it, okay?”

“Sure,” Kaito sighed.

“Cool. Now, what’s your Shine ID?” Touma asked with his cell phone in hand.

Confused, Kaito gave Touma a funny look. “My what?”

“Shine? You know… The instant messaging app?”

“Oh! That… Well, I don’t have it installed on my phone,” Kaito shrugged. “Sorry.”

Touma’s eyes grew wide. “You… you come from Tokyo… and you don’t have Shine on your phone?” He then grasped Kaito shoulders with both hands and rocked him back and forth. “What kind of city kid are you?!” he asked in disbelief.

Again, Kaito shrugged.

Touma insisted that Kaito download the application. After they were done adding each other, Kaito boarded his train home. He thought it was weird seeing the red-headed boy waving at him as the train station disappeared into the distance.

What a weirdo…

That evening, Kaito knew he would have to face inquisitions: first, he skipped dinner the previous evening and secondly, his aunt and sister were yet to learn of his injuries. Kaito made his way downstairs from his bedroom and tried his best to hide the fact that he was walking with a limp.

Kaito’s sister and aunt sat waiting around the dinner table, and just as he’d predicted, the first words out of Kanna’s mouth were, “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. It was sport’s day yesterday.”

“So, you fell? Are you sure? You’re not being bullied, are you?” Kanna looked seriously worried about his nephew.

Kaito thought it was a bit too much, but he didn’t blame her. After all, she recently went from being a young adult to a parent of two almost-grown-up kids in a very short time frame.

Kaito tried to put her mind at ease. “I’m not being bullied, Kanna. We were just doing long jumps, and I kinda… bailed.”

Yui tried hiding her giggle behind her hands.

It was pretty funny.

Suddenly, Kanna got up from her chair. “Oh, yeah! Kaito, remember to check your pockets before you throw your clothes in the washing basket!” She handed Kaito a familiar-looking note. “Here, I almost washed your Music Club schedule!”

Yui snatched the note before Kaito could. “That’s awesome, Kai-kai! Did you join the Music Club? That’s so cool!” she remarked delightfully.

“No, I’m not! They just asked me to join, but I’m not going to!”

Yui’s mood quickly changed. “But why?”

“I just… I just can’t, okay!”

Yui’s bottom lip started twitching and tears formed in her eyes. “Why!” she shouted at him. Kaito had never seen Yui this furious before. “Mama gave you everything! She taught you how to sing! She gave you a gift and you can’t even—” Tears streamed down her little face. “You can’t even thank her the way you know she’d want!”

Kaito swallowed hard. He was at a loss for words. He hated seeing Yui cry, and this time, he was the reason for her tears.

Kanna comforted Yui, and the two of them disappeared, leaving Kaito alone with his thoughts.

Is singing really such a big deal to her? I don’t get it…

Later that evening, Kaito found himself sitting on his bed, still pondering Yui’s reaction and wondered whether there was something he could say to her to make her feel better. The more he thought about it, the more horrible he felt, especially because he was the reason she had been crying. Notwithstanding, it perplexed him why Yui seemed to care so much about whether he sang or not, so much so that it could make her that angry and sad.

“Kaito, are you there?”

Yui?

No… that wasn’t Yui. Who—

“Uh… Hello?” he answered.

She giggled. “Hey, you’re home!”

It’s Miyu!

Kaito jumped off his bed and walked over to the crack in his wall.

What do I say to her?! I don’t know how this is supposed to work…

“Yeah! I am! How about you?”

Agh! You dolt! Did you really just ask her if she is home as well!! Oh my—

But Kaito’s thoughts were quickly silenced by Miyu’s soft giggle.

Every time I hear that laugh…

My heart…

Smiles.

“Hey! I’m kinda bored. Do you have time to talk a bit?”

“Yeah, sure! But don’t you have school tomorrow?” Kaito asked.

“Nope! Well, kind of… See, I’m being homeschooled by my dad. He thinks I’ll learn more from him than at a public school. It’s not that bad really; I get to sleep in almost every day!”

Kaito wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him, or herself.

“Ah, I see. Lucky you!” Kaito sat on the floor with his back against the wall. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing in particular! I just wanted to… get to know you a bit better.”

Ta-dum.

Kaito’s cheeks grew hot. His mouth was moving, but he couldn’t think of what words to say.

Fortunately for him, Miyu broke the silence. “So, tell me about yourself, Kaito? Where are you from? What do you like? Hmm? Hmm!”

“I, uh, I’m from Tokyo, and I was kinda forced to move here to stay with my aunt. Also, I don’t really have a hobby, to be honest,” Kaito sighed. He knew which question was coming next, and he dreaded even thinking of the answer.

“Wow! It must be so cool to live in Tokyo! I bet you were walking about the city every day, hanging out with friends, huh?”

What? She didn’t ask about my parents…

Cool…

“Well… Yeah, I guess.”

If you can call them friends…

“What about you? What do you do for fun?” asked Kaito.

“Hmm, let’s see! I love-love-love going to the aquarium and seeing the dolphins swim! And… um, I like to read all kinds of books; I love singing!” she giggled. “And I’m usually busy writing songs when—”

“Wait! you can write songs?”

Impressive!

“That’s amazing! Do you play an instrument?” he asked.

“Yes! Well, I learned to play guitar from my mom and well… she’s not around anymore, but she did leave me her big, brown guitar. So, I can only play what she taught me. Luckily, I know enough cords to make songs with!”

Her mom as well…

How can she talk about it so easily?

“Oh, I’m so sorry—”

“No! Don’t be! She has left me a lot of valuable memories and gifts to remember her by, and it’s up to me to make sure I make her proud! That’s why I write songs and sing whenever I can!”

I see…

“My mom…” Kaito hesitated, “she uh… passed away as well. She taught me how to sing and… well, everything I know basically.”

“Wow, she sounds like she was a great mom, Kaito! I know just how much it hurts, but you have to know that she would want you to be happy. You know that, right?” she asked softly.

“I know that… I guess I just forget sometimes.”

She really was a great mom…

Wait, is that why Yui was so upset? Mom had started giving up her singing career when she was born, so I guess mom never taught Yui the stuff she had taught me…

It makes sense now...

“Well, if you want… I could teach a couple more chords sometime.”

“You can play as well? Why am I even asking! Of course, you can play, with such a sensual voice it only makes sen—” Miyu’s voice slowly lowered until she let out a squeak and then, silence.

“Miyu?” asked Kaito.

“I have to go,” she whispered.

“Just, wait! Miyu?!”

Nothing…

Sigh.

Yours is the only voice that’s ever touched my heart…

Kaito wanted to tell her that, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get the words to cross his lips.

Still nothing…

Kaito woke up the next morning and found himself in an uncomfortable position, against his bedroom wall.

Ah man, I fell asleep here?

What happened?

The last thing he remembered was running his finger slowly down the crack in the wall, wishing she didn’t have to go.

With a sore neck, Kaito dressed up and left for the kitchen a lot earlier than usual.

I have an idea!

He flicked on two burners, cracked open some eggs in one frying pan, bacon in another, and loaded the toaster with bread. The appetizing smell of breakfast traveled around the house, and shortly after, the kitchen table was filled with sleepy faces.

“Is it mother’s day already?” asked Kanna with drowsy eyes, sipping on a cup of coffee.

Kaito shook his head and smiled. “Nope. I just wanted to apologize for last night,” he said, looking at Yui and continued, “and I promise from now on, I’m gonna try even harder.”

Yui smiled as she started gobbling up the breakfast her big brother had made for her.