Life.

For Izumi Kyoku, life was something precious that should be lived freely, reigned in only by the limits of imagination. He was, in more ways than one, a dreamer -and to some, an idealist-. Yet Izumi didn't have an ounce of care for the words of others about his way of thinking.

He didn't remember quite clearly when it was that he began stargazing at night, but it was probably around the time he realized freedom was limited by society. Getting up from his bed, he went towards the chair by the only window of his room. He looked at his reflection in the panel of glass.

'I must admit I've had it easier than most' - he thought, directing his gaze at the sky.

The reason for Kyoku's thought was simple. Compared to many people in the world, he had had an easy life up to the current date. His parents were loving, his little sister was respectful and well-behaved, and he never lacked anything. From food to clothing, he always had everything he needed. As if that wasn't enough, he had yet another advantage. The one that people would always call cheating.

Kyoku was a handsome guy. He wasn't 1,85 meters tall, but an average 1,76. Neither did he have a body sculpted by gods, but he had a smooth, tanned skin, compact muscles and little to no fat. His nose wasn't crooked nor too sharp, but rather rounded and relatively small. His jaw was squared and his eyes were on the bigger side, but they were angular and tilted upwards on the outside, which made them look like they belonged in his face. As if that wasn't enough, they were of a vibrant, amber color.

He was, in the eyes of his peers, an unfair existence. How could common Japanese folk compete with a guy that looked like a latino model -probably one of the favourite type of men in oriental Asia- who had had natural, mahogany red hair.

"Yet with all of that in my favor... even though my life is and should be so easy..." - he said as he watched Capricorn, his Zodiac sign, up in the starry sky.

Kyoku was ambitious. He had high dreams and he had tried hard to find ways in which they could be achieved, but each and every way he tried, society found a way to shoot him down from the clouds. At some point he gave up and began living his life like everyone else. Just for the sake of living.

Expectations, results, disappointment. Those words that he tried to avoid at all costs, had hit him so hard that he began living like others wanted him to live. And thus he began working day and night to avoid those words again. But that wasn't the life he wanted. Kyoku wanted a life that excited him, a life where dreams could live eternally instead of being abandoned.

He didn't ask for a lawless society, as some people thought, neither was he an idealist. He knew that Utopia, the perfect place, wasn't possible and would never exist. He just asked for a world in which necessity and happiness were balanced. Yet he could only wish, since it was impossible.

He loved stargazing because stars were eternal. Even if a star died, it could keep shining brightly for millenia, stating with its bright light that it was there. That it lived and it would continue to live even after death. Society was, as a whole, the star reaper. Kyoku really thought that, had society been more lax with its need for "prim and proper" slaves, life would've been better.

But he didn't have a bad life, neither was he sad. If anything, he was bummed. He was just being an angsty teenager trying to escape from the fact that, in spite of all the advantages he had, his life was just like everyone else's. At least that was what he thought when he finally spotted Gemini.

Maybe that was him, trying to deny everything he had thought of before to escape from the sad reality. Or perhaps those were the wings that had been forcefully removed from his back, patting his head like one would a child, trying to console him for not being able to fly anymore. Metaphors sounded so sweet whenever he was having a moment.

"Would you look at that... shy Pluto showed up." - Kyoku said as he thought of the people that murdered their own dreams.

In a sense, he was like them. He blamed society for everything, but it had been himself who chose to give up, and he just didn't want to admit it. It was so much easier to just blame society for one's own suffering.

'Though suffering is kinda exaggerated' - he thought while he grabbed a leather notebook.

It was a gift he received from his late grandmother, and probably the gift he appreciated the most in his entire life. Not even the Gaming PC his parents bought him when he passed his first year of High School with flying colors came close to the notebook. The reason was simple. From the day he got it to the current date, Kyoku had filled page after page with his thoughts, emotions and experiences.

From a crossing black cat to a girl confessing to him and him rejecting her. From a moment he honestly laughed to a moment he forced himself to smile. From a moment he broke down to a moment he acted strong for others sake. Everything was written there. Kyoku was sensitive and empathetic, so he was glad he had a place where he could vomit all of those things in.

"And the black cat issued bad luck, but not mine.

Cause your lie was short-legged and badly planned,

that everyone found out and I didn't even show my hand..."

He muttered the scribbles, as he liked to call them, that were written down in the last page of the book. After thinking hard about it, he realized that he didn't know how to continue writing. It was all written in first person, but the words written had nothing to do with Kyoku himself. They were written from the point of view of his best friend when his ex cheated on him. Kyoku could tell how hurt his friend was and it was a really eye-opening experience for him, who was the third person and mediator. So eye-opening he had to write about it.

Kyoku himself hadn't realized the talent he had to express in words everything that happened, be it to him or around him. His little sister had once read some passages in the book and said they were really nice, but Kyoku didn't take her words seriously. Nobody ever took the words of a thirteen year old seriously.

Sighing heavily at the lack of ideas on how to continue writing, he turned once again towards the starry sky. It was such a beautiful sight. So infinite, so dreamy. Kyoku dreamed of having a dream, but he had cut those wings off himself when he faced the harsh reality of living in society. Scoring full marks was a lot more important than dreaming big. That was when, while lost in thought, Kyoku spotted a shooting star. It was there for nothing but a mere flash, but he had clearly seen it fly away.

'Such a childish thing...' - he thought while going to lay on his bed, ready to sleep.

Yet against his own thoughts, he put his hands together and made one simple -yet enormous- wish. He wished for a life in which he could dream. A life he could enjoy with his family. A life where people weren't afraid to dream even if it was against what society wanted. After making his wish, Kyoku fell asleep, all the while thinking he had just done such a childish and stupid thing.