#crowcat writes

It’s the weekend (thank god), and like usual you’re spending the time in what you insist has to be the worst way possible- helping out at Wonder Stage.

You can’t even remember who dragged you into it originally- you used to do theater with Nene, you sat next to Emu in class last year, and of course you know Rui and Tsukasa. Everyone from Kamiyama High knows Rui and Tsukasa. Point is, you never had much of a friendship with any of the cast. 

So why in god’s name do they keep inviting you here?

Sure, you might have stopped a fire on the stage… and you might have rat-proofed backstage… and you might have bandaged Tsukasa’s arm when he scraped it against an unsanded prop. (Who even leaves their props unsanded? You spent the next few hours sanding almost every wood prop the stage had.) 

You realize now they’re probably using you. 

“We’re what?”

Nene looks up from her console and stares directly at you.

You also realize you said that out loud.

“You’re using me for my common sense and basic safety knowledge?”

You’re not the kind to just… dismiss something you said like that. You’ll hold yourself to it even if, like in this case, it gets you in a bit of trouble.

“We’re not using you for your common sense! I’ve got that as well!”

Nene sounds very annoyed. You’re wondering how long it’ll be until she just kicks you out.

“We’re using you for snacks.”

They’re- what? 

“…Understandable.”

You probably should have thought of that before. Theater kids (it’s no stretch to call the cast that) do love their snacks. 

And speaking of snacks-

“I brought something special for this rehearsal! Fufufu~”

You and Nene share a look of “Oh Fuck” and just watch as Rui carries a cardboard box into backstage. Tsukasa follows behind carrying a mini fridge.

“I thought we needed more food stuff back here! I mean, we need snacks between rehearsals, don’t we?”

The smile on Rui’s face shows how clearly pleased he is- you don’t want to ruin this for him.

You’re hesitant to mention the miserable past history of cooking supplies at Wonder Stage.

First was the first fridge- that one unfortunately molded over due to someone storing costumes over it. Nene didn’t mention names… but the tone she used made you think it was probably Tsukasa. 

Next was the mixer and oven. No, not a convection oven, like one meant for smaller living spaces. Rui brought a whole fucking restaurant oven to the Wonder Stage and thought it was a good idea. The mixer you actually thought would be fine (not like you were there to have a say). However Nene and Tsukasa made Rui throw out the oven because they knew that would be a violation of fire safety codes the world over. 

Of course the mixer got co-opted into practical effects.

Poor Emu only got to bake with the supplies once.

And so continues a long and troubled history with appliances, all conveyed to you backstage by whatever member happened to be hanging out with you at the time. Overall, there were:

Three failed fridges,

One failed oven,

Two failed sinks,

One entire air fryer, 

Five ice makers,

And countless random small kitchen tools 

That met a grisly end at the stage. 

Somehow one (1) microwave survived all of this appliance carnage. You’re thankful for that.

By the time you’d heard the third story you’d gotten the idea that bringing cooking supplies was a bad idea. 

And here Rui is, clearly not sharing that opinion, all smiling and cheerful. He places the box down, helps Tsukasa with getting the fridge set up, then takes his next victim out of the box. 

A blender.

“Someone is going to get injured.” Nene quite literally blurts this out. 

“Nooo! I’ll make sure of it. You have my word!” Rui is very convinced about this, you doubt you can change anything here.

“Well then, how long do you think this one will last?” You jokingly ask Nene.

“Hmm… I give it a day at most.”

Rui’s getting ingredients out of the fridge.

“I change my mind. Fifteen minutes.”

You get up, not wanting to witness this- you head instead onto the stage, deciding to hang out there. Emu’s practicing dances to herself and singing bits of the songs under her breath- you make sure to sit somewhere where you won’t interrupt her.

Unfortunately, you can still hear the chaos backstage.

“I bet I could put soda candies in here!” 

Rustling, the sound of Rui opening a bag of something.

“They’ll break the blades. Too hard.” 

Tsukasa’s voice, the sound of that bag promptly being closed and a whole new one being opened.

“But if we dissolve them—“ More bag rustling. 

“This thing has trouble enough with frozen fruit. Let’s just stick to that.” It’s odd to hear Tsukasa as the voice of reason.

“Fine. But I have no doubt it would work.”

The sound of something being poured into the blender. 

“That is… I think you should have stopped at the capacity line.” Nene’s voice now. It seems Rui has an audience.

“No! It’ll work fine.”

Aggressive blender noises and occasional mumbling you can’t make out continue for the next five minutes. 

“Fine, maybe the fill line is there for a reason. But I’m sure it’ll work if we just keep trying!” 

“Did… we didn’t add juice, did we?” 

A collective “Oh…” resounds from backstage. The sound of a fridge door opening and what sounds like an entire carton of juice being poured into the blender. 

More blender noises. By now Emu has noticed this and stops cartwheeling around stage. 

“What are they doing back there? Sounds fun!”

“Uh… Rui brought a blender. From the sound of it, he’s never used one before.” A motor roar sounds out, punctuating this statement.

“Ooh! Is he perhaps making a concoction?”

“I did not ask him and I do not want to be around to witness.”

“Well- I do!”

Emu bolts backstage, leaving you alone on the stage. 

The blender noises stop, and now you can slightly smell smoke.

“Looks like having the blades spin without making contact with anything is messing with the motor… I should-“

“We are working with food at the moment, you can dissect the blender later.” You still aren’t used to a reasonable Tsukasa.

“Don’t dissect the blender! I want to make potions with it!” Emu’s voice… god you hope they let her have it.

“Fine… I’ll settle for dissecting one of these backstage fans, they’ve got the same sort of motor- Hey! Give that back!”

Sounds like someone’s taken something. The sound of stirring.

“This should help. Though… with the sheer proportions of this drink I doubt anything can help.” Nene says, with a grimace audible in her tone.

“Trust me! It’ll work out! Now hand it over!”

“Not to Tsukasa, to-“

The sound of the blender running again cuts Rui off, though this time the sound of what has to be some sort of mechanical malfunction cuts it off after around 30 seconds.  A loud squeak from Emu, a yell from Tsukasa, and a muttered “told you so” from Nene. 

They were, after all, from traitorous stars. A being such as she shouldn’t soil her status by fraternizing with those defectors. 

But, Haruka wondered, if the girls from the Taiyōu system were really so horrid, then why did she have such a soft smile? Why did she have the prettiest laugh, by far, and the kindest heart and the most wonderful of mannerisms? It made no sense to Haruka. Her Saki had done nothing wrong, and though Haruka knew that she’d risk a nova if she returned to her side…

She still did. 

Every night, when the dusk slowly crept in but the warmth of the sunset lasted still, Haruka wandered down to Saki’s skies. She had many other places to be, yes, for she was a rather popular wishing star— but no one was to know if their wishes were granted an hour or so off. 

It gave her time.

Saki was kicking her legs back and forth, waiting on the edge of a cirrus cloud, her skin shimmering even more as the sunset reached its prime. Even though she struggled with the clouds covering her and dimming her oftentimes, she always had her partners… and her favorite wishing star at the end of the day. No matter how many clouds drained her, she could simply claw her way up and meet her beloved. 

And so she waited, as usual, for the stars to shine in her golden realms yet again and for her dear Haruka to make her way through the cosmos to her. 

Haruka danced around asteriods, waving to the friends she’d made on one planet, blowing a kiss to her fans on another, grinning as she finally brushed against the warm clouds that surrounded- 

No. No. Nonononononono, this can’t be, why can’t she move? Why can’t she reach out and hold Saki’s hand, chat about the mundane happenings of the astral court, maybe dip into the ocean like usual? 

“You know why, HA-6754.”

A booming voice from directly inside her mind… she’d been caught. 

As the hazy twilight seeped into Saki’s skies, a sense of foreboding crept into her mind. Her kind didn’t have premonitions per se, but even the most common worm could sometimes sense something sinister on the horizon. 

Ah, she’d felt like that many times and nothing’d been wrong. No need to indulge it today.

“It’s really a shame, you were such a fine wishing star. All the dreams whispered to you, were they not enough?” 

Haruka can see it now, the cold void form of the black hole that kept her star system going. Its face was disappointed, a grimace of warped matter. 

“No, I cherished every one of them! I just-“

A tear slides down her frozen form’s face.

“You just what? You wanted more, you’re saying? You went off and found yourself a lover from beyond our system, and you thought it would be all fine. You thought that you were so cherished that you were above the rules.”

The void snarls, appendages beginning to glow. 

“Goodbye, HA-6754. May your colors bring the same hope you failed to.”

Saki was playing with the pressure fronts when she saw the first flicker of light. She wondered first if it was her Haruka, then she disspelled those thoughts as it became clear that it was a nova.

Some poor soul had messed up. She blinked and nodded in respect, as had become tradition for Leonids. She continued swirling the storms about, humming some old rock tune she’d heard on a human’s radio a while back, waiting for her Haruka.

The moon had begun its rise- today he was a rather kindly halfmoon, and he waves to Saki as he typically does. Before the moon had split from the earthen form, the two of them played as kids… she considered him a brother.

“Toya? Why the sorrow on your face?” She tilts her head, her dangling earrings jingling. 

“Someone’s been novaed… I hate to think of what that would be if you, or Tsukasa, or anyone I care about was subject to such a horrible thing…” 

He falls silent.

“The wishing star you meet… has she arrived yet?”

“No- she must have had more wishes than usual, I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” 

Toya nods, solemnly, as always.

“I hope she will.”

It had to be at least halfway through the night, and Saki had seen no sign of her Haruka. But that nova… those colors… it was familiar, wasn’t it? 

Wasn’t that blue the same shade her eyes glowed when she sat beside Saki?

Wasn’t that green the color of her dress on the day they’d first spoken?

And that purple… Saki knew that purple too well. Haruka’s cheeks were always dusted with that warm purple whenever they talked, holding hands, kicking at the space junk beneath their feet…

Wasn’t that… no, it couldn’t be her.

Could it?

Saki waited… waited… watching the colors bloom in the sky, wishing on her favorite star… until she heard her voice. 

It was a sharp, pained yell- undeniably Haruka’s. That nova was her, wasn’t it? 

Beneath, on Earth, someone wishes upon the tears of a heartbroken star.