❝　　listen to　｡　　respawn　　⁺
（🪡）azami izumida & banri settsu

（🌀）aster - grimz.
❝　　t.she　｡　　🪡　　⁺

（🌀）cosmo - toori.
❝　　s.her　｡　　🪡　　⁺

"i hope you know i'll win this." the older one grinned, while standing in front of the mirror to make sure their microphone was working properly, and attached the right way, so it wouldn't fall off. unlike in the round they've watched just a few hours ago, the microphones were small, for the reason of the two having practiced a performance where holding a microphone would be a bothersome extra.

the female chuckled, brushing her hair, meeting aster's eyes over the mirror, although they were on opposite sides of the room. she hadn't been preparing weeks, - no - years, for this moment just to lose against aster. "you know, i don't really wanna compete against you," she mumbled, putting aside the hairbrush and turning around to face her friend. they sure had their rivalry, but that didn't mean she wanted one of them to be at fault for the other's death.

"cosmo, we talked about this before. stop thinking, there's nothing we can do to stop one another from.. you know." responded aster, following her motion of turning around, brushing over their black suit with one hand, the other buried in their pocket. cosmo frowned, crossing her arms, the dark hair that was resting on her shoulder falling straight against her back. "don't you feel sorry for the girl who lost her friend? that will be us soon. aster we don't have more than an hour left together—"

the door opened, two guards standing in the frame, holding guns in their claws, each walking to one of the two in the room. cosmo had immediately fallen silent, feeling the guard remove her collar. it was rare for the children in the garden to be able to get rid of them, cosmo could feel herself have an easier time breathing without it. aster on the other hand glared at the alien, not really willing to let herself be touched by that thing, yet having no way of refusal.

aster felt the claws of the alien digging into her shoulder, before being shoved towards the exit by it, cosmo closely behind them. they were guided towards a big staircase, and even from down there, you could already recognise the bright lights of the stage. cosmo couldn't keep the shiver from running down her spine. she needed to win, for once in her life to not end up second place. but why against aster? they've joked about this before, sure, but they never truly wanted to go against each other.

she walked up the stairs, the only noises being the faint screams of the crowd and the mixed footsteps, coming from aster and herself. the guards had let go of them, finally, but now there weren't any good things at both ends of the stairs. either you go back down, to those disgusting beasts that could kill you any second, even hold a gun to your head, or you go up to compete for the chance of life against your friend, the friend you see as a sibling, just to be met by another group of guns.

cosmo's head hung down for the entire walk up the stairs, but shortly before stepping on stage she took a deep breath, putting on her performing persona; playful, bubbly, mischievous, even. aster too had changed their expression, now even more confident than before. "you don't stand a chance", cosmo looked at aster from the corner of her eye, but aster only laughed mockingly. "keep telling yourself that, we both know it isn't true."

unlike the stage of the previous contestants, this one was looking more like a club. it was strange how they could change it from an elegant, romantic stage to one that could make you mistake this place for a party. it was a shame marionette and her opponent hadn't done much performance wise, cosmo would have loved to be able to take it and use it for her own. but that wasn't anything to be sad about, cosmo would win. she would be first place. for once.

cosmo dropped down on the ground, heavily out of breath as a few of the other children came to a stop around her, everyone trying to catch some air. the grass tickled her cheeks and hands, no one said anything, but the noises of some of the others sitting down could be heard. they've played ten rounds of tag in a row, they were all exhausted. well, they could only blame themselves for it.

she opened her eyes as she heard a female voice calling out to them, sitting up and seeing soleil run towards them, pulling another person behind her. they had brown hair and greyish eyes, but cosmo didn't recognise them. maybe they were new to the garden? but cosmo hasn't been here for that long of a time yet either, so maybe they've just not gotten the chance to be around each other.

soleil came to a stop, smiling brightly and practically presenting the other person to them. "this is aster!" she announced happily, and aster nodded proudly. "i wanted to ask if they and i could join in on playing tag!" she smiles, leaning back and forth on their toes.

cosmo nodded, "sure, we were just taking a break anyway." the others agreed as well, and after a while of resting and everyone introducing themselves to aster, they all chose the first tagger, which ended up being soleil after picking the shortest straw out of the long ones, to which everyone quickly ran away, soleil picking to run after a guy with short, red hair first, as he was the closest to her.

quickly did cosmo run to her usual hiding spot, behind a tree in a further corner of the garden. it wasn't a good place to hide, but somehow she had never been caught there before, maybe because the rest of the children were always rather in the middle of the garden when they were playing this game. this was also why she enjoyed it so much, she always won, because people just wouldn't find her.

but as she reached her usual spot, she was met by aster, to which she frowned. "hey, this is my spot.. hide somewhere else." she crossed her arms, but aster only scoffed in response. "i didn't see your name on it, do you own the garden?" they grinned. cosmo could feel her body warming up with anger, stomping off to hide in the other corner of the garden, at least she tried to, until she felt soleil's hand on her back, making her the next tagger.

she quickly ran back to aster, no matter how many of the others were around her, she wanted to get them for stealing her winning spot. aster quickly rushed away as they saw her running closer though, having observed soleil catching her. either way, after at least ten minutes of just running away from her, aster was ultimately caught. the other children though, have sat down on the grass, watching in absolute boredom. one even had fallen asleep, and another sighed as the two came back. "i don't wanna play anymore.."

aster grumbled "well me neither..", she had crossed their arms in annoyance, glaring at cosmo out of the corner of her eye. cosmo only copied the motion, biting the inside of her cheek. "playing with aster isn't fun anyway!" soleil sighed, shaking her head. "stop fighting you two.. it's just a game, come on, you just met. go and apologise to each other for.. whatever even happened." they looked at the two of them, waiting.

aster sighed, turning back to cosmo, who followed suit, although not very willingly. she held out her hand to aster, not looking at her, but waiting for them to take it, without saying a word. aster looked at soleil desperately, but soleil only nodded towards cosmo's hand, not letting either of them get out without making things up. hesitantly, they grasped cosmo's hand, shaking it slightly, before quickly pulling it away. not that cosmo wanted to keep the contact for long.

how did they end up like this? they started their relationship with a childish argument, and now, moments before one of them would die, they were arguing on stage. both of them trying to overshadow the other, with raising their voices, performing dances they've practiced for such a long time. it was hard to even recognise the other, it was like they've lost the sibling-like bond they've built over the years. this wasn't like any argument they've had almost every other day, this was their final argument.

aster took hold of cosmo's wrist, pulling her close to grin at her, it was taunting, bringing back the anger that she had felt for them so often, but it wasn't something that weakened her score, the rage in her voice brought it higher, after all, the song was perfect for strong and loud voices. the brunette frowned, pulling away from cosmo and raising their voice even more, it almost started hurting. though cosmo pulled aster back, dancing with them across the stage, laughing mockingly as aster sang her last few lines, her hands cupping their cheeks as they stared into each other's souls.

cosmo's eyes widened and aster's breath got stuck in their throat. blood spilled from cosmo's neck and mouth, dripping onto the black suit that aster wore, adding a barely visible, deep red to it. her body limped, falling into aster's arms, almost like one of the hugs they used to give each other, but this time it was horribly one-sided.

aster's heart dropped into her stomach, they couldn't even bring out the last line of the song. they were supposed to sing it together. sure, aster had wanted to win, but only now did they realise the actual cost it had. but.. this wasn't real. this was some kind of sick joke, right? cosmo was alive, the person from the previous round was alive. she shook cosmo desperately, wanting to yell at her to wake up, but not a word left their throat.

cosmo wouldn't wake up.

they dropped to their knees, closing their eyes and burying their face against their friend's hair, tears turning it wet against her cheek. she was hyperventilating, not even recognising the feeling of her collar being put back on. all they could think of was the regret, the regret of having pushed away the person they had never wanted to lose, and the regret of having their last moments be so bitter.

cosmo sat down next to aster, putting her pillow on the grass and lowering herself on it, stretching her legs out and leaning onto her hands. they both looked at the sky, watching the stars sparkle around the moon. peaceful moments like these were rather rare for them, as they usually spent their time together arguing over stupid and admittedly childish things.

"aster?" cosmo asked, looking at the other, who hummed in response, tilting her head. "do you wanna participate in alien stage some day?" her eyes had a questioning and curious look in them. alien stage was a big thing, even for those who couldn't sing. it brought you immense recognition among the seigyin, and it also changed how both they and humans treated you.

"yeah" aster nodded, laying down, placing her arms behind their head and looking back up at the sky. "what about you? do you want to?" the stars mirrored in their eyes, making them realize how nice the night was. interacting with others in the garden was fun, but the silence, just sitting next to the person that meant most to her was even better.

"mhm! and i'd win it!" she giggled, fully convinced of herself, pointing at herself with her thumb, filled with pride. aster let out a chuckle, "not if you go against me!" cosmo raised an eyebrow at that, leaning towards them. "oh yea? i bet you'd be the one losing!" she grinned teasingly, making aster roll her eyes.

"you wouldn't even stand a chance."