It was already dusk when they decided to return to the inn and call it a day. The sun is setting magnificently behind the astonishing peak of Mt. Brimlet, portraying a beautiful scenery. Along with the setting sun, the moon as well starting to rise from the east. It looks so serene and majestic than it was yesterday.
Carrying his violin, Mizuki climbed the peak of a plateau adjacent to Mt. Brimlet. On his arrival to the top, he inhaled the cold breeze deeply to sooth the heavy feeling he had been carrying all along. All those years, the horrific images still recall on his memory, submerging him into the depths of an endless nightmare. His only escape is through the music he's so profound with hoping that it will give him peace of mind.
His grandma's words that day imprints on his mind and left him puzzles of questions about what she really means. He always subconsciously asks himself what it was all about. He felt guilty for seven years he hasn't made any progress nor vengeance for their deaths. If only he had left the Forest of White Secrets a long time ago, maybe at this time he had already found the moon goddess whom he is hoping to cross paths with. He blames himself for being a coward, for not saving them and for the only one alive to escape. It's like fate is playing with his petty little life. He felt so meaningless and empty as if there's a void of nothingness in the bottom of his heart.
He starts positioning his violin in his arms, which is his only friend that accompanies him through all the sorrows and tragedies in his life. He looked up high and sees the distant moon with loneliness and extreme grief in his eyes. The softest silver glowing through the night high atop the mountains and valleys is his only refuge and strength. He still hopes that the goddess would hear his call all these years, thinking that the goddess would pity him and care to heal his bleeding heart. But who is he for the goddess to come for his rescue, he's just a mere mortal with no parents nor a family to go home with.
As soon as he closed his eyes gently and starts fiddling the violin with a bow, streams of tears starts dripping off his eyes. His music was so emotional that every plants around him starts to wither and eventually dying. Having the ability to control vegetation at will, he also has the power to take away its life. At this point, his emotions grew stronger and gloomier that it was getting out of control.
From afar at the bottom of the plateau, Maku who has been looking for Mizuki heard the disturbing rhythm. He watched closely as the trees and shrubs starts to become dry and sapless. He wandered his eyes around and saw a human silhouette on top of the plateau beneath the dazzling moonlight. He quickly rushed over to the top to see what was happening.
Back to the top, Mizuki continues playing his tune without even noticing what disaster he's about to do subconsciously. His attention were solemnly centred on just playing and expressing his feelings into the open coldness of the night. Abruptly, after a few more strokes of the anguish rhythm he had been playing, it changes its tempo. With a smile written on his face, the rhythm of the music he creates turns from cold to lively. Although his tears are still visible in the edge of both his eyes, but it cannot hide the happiness his heart felt in a moment. He pictures out the faces of those he met today wiping the horrific images that remains in his memory. Those faces whom he truly believes that is purely genuine and honest. He's glad he had found kind hearted people after all those years. After all, he's just a child looking for a companion, a friend, a family. Along the rise of the gleefully lively music, every withered plant and trees around came back to their previous presentable figures.
Not that long, Maku arrives at the scene. He was about to interrupt Mizuki when he noticed that the music was already different from what he had heard at first so he refrain from doing so. He just stand there a few more distance away from Mizuki and watch the guy plays the tune. The more he stares at him, the more of this foreign sensation he had been feeling. He was mesmerize by the beauty of the music as well as the musician in conjunction with the seemingly beautiful moonlit of the night. He grasp his chest as his heartbeats pound louder and very unusual. He continues to watch the young lad as he felt butterflies in his stomach. It was like he felt something that wasn't there before out of the blue.
Finally, Mizuki finished his composition and eventually wiped the tears off his eyes with an honest smile carved on his face. He stood there for a moment of silence as he roamed his eyes in the starry skies. He put down his violin and decided to sit for a while when he noticed someone was watching from his left.
"I know you're there." He said looking towards the direction on his left.
Maku, who had been hiding behind the boulder hesitates whether to come out or not, eventually he decided to show himself to Mizuki.
"It's alright, it's me." Maku came out of the shadows. "I was about to go. I'm sorry if disturbed you."
He was about to leave when Mizuki stopped him. "No it's alright. You can stay."
Maku stopped on his feet and turns around. He walks toward Mizuki's direction with a bit of embarrassment. "Do you mind?" He said, referring to if he can sit next to Mizuki.
"No, I don't." He smiled to him.
Maku then sit beside him. It was so quiet, the noise of the crickets and the gushing sound of the wind is the only thing that could be heard. They both felt awkward and don't know how to speak up until Mizuki decides to start the conversation.
"How long have you been hiding there?" He asked.
"Not that long." He said as he reached the back of his head. "Actually, I was looking for you. Father told me to find you and ask you perhaps if you would like to join us at the bonfire." He said pointing to the visible flames across the plain. "Then I overheard this music and ended up here. I didn't mean to intrude."
"I was just having an alone time with myself hoping to calm these voices inside my head." He said coldly. "I tried everything I could but it wasn't enough. I could hear them clearly louder than the heavens." He paused. "Seven years had pass yet everything that happened on that very day still feels so very clear in my mind. I just wish I had died with them that day. Maybe life would be peaceful with no any burden I've been carrying all along. Day and night I pray to the gods hoping that they would hear my call but no response. I can only think of myself that fate is just playing with my meaningless life." He said as tears starts to appear in his eyes. The sadness is visible on his face that made him clutch his fist in guilt.
"Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for a wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist." Maku said with a smile as he pat and caress Mizuki's back. "When my mother passed away, I was so devastated that I couldn't even think straight. Aside from my father, she was the one who was always there for me. Yet, my father always reminds me that life is still worth living. As the years go by, I was glad I eventually found out what he really means." He looked at Mizuki with utter contempt.
Confused, Mizuki frowned his face wondering what Maku meant. "What is it?" He asked.
"It was the people whom you meet when you're at your downfall. The people who lift you up just so you have to be alright. The strangers you have become friends and the friends you haven't met yet." Maku then pointed his fingers toward the others who were sitting around the bonfire down below.
Mizuki tried to understand what Maku means and focused his attention towards the figures below. Somehow, his heart melted when he saw the lovely young Chaneri down below. She was dancing around the blazing flame with Jeruzen which seems to be he doesn't want to dance. He could also see and hear the laughter of others sitting in circle around the scorching pile of wood.
"It's happiness, isn't it?" He turns to asked Maku. "The happiness you found in others."
"It's not just happiness that I see through them, but love, acceptance, trust and family. Right now, Midnight Justice is the only family I could think of." He tilt his head a little bit sideways as he watched Mizuki closely in the eyes. "And now you."
Their face got so close to each other that both of them got awkward and red. Right there in a moment, both their heartbeats raced each other. Mizuki shunned his head away to avoid any misunderstanding between the two of them.
"I want to protect them, even if it cost me my life." He said staring out in the wide then he turns to face Mizuki again. "I want to protect you." He said genuinely.
Mizuki don't know how to respond on what Maku said so he just give him a tender smile. Then, a strong gust of wind blows towards them that leaves Mizuki shivering as his long majestic hair swayed with the wind. Maku offered his coat to cover him from the cold of the night. "You should be wearing thick clothes. Your body cannot handle the cold of night." He said.
"I'm already used to the coldness of the night. Ever since, these rushing winds are the only ones who hugged me in the night."
Maku just smiled and wrapped his arm around Mizuki. He hugged him tight like there's no tomorrow.
"It's so warm." He said as he embrace the heat emitting from Maku's body.
"I just thought you need one." He smiled at him while still at grip of hugging Mizuki.
Mizuki tilt his head high watching the twinkling stars above. He still clearly remembers when was the last time someone hugged him so tight. It was his deceased mother back at when before he was taken away by his grandma to escape.
"Please don't let go just yet." He pleaded Maku. He wants to embrace the feeling of being hugged by someone again.
Later in the night, their sincere conversation with each other continues. They've talked so much about their lives, insights and the two seem to get along. Their feelings towards each other must be mutual. Mizuki put his head on Maku's shoulder as they watched the serene moon above them. They are like two person in love lost in vast sea of stars with no other refuge but theirselves.