❝　　listen to　｡　yoru ni kakeru　　⁺

（🪡）yoasobi ft. mafumafu

（🌀）lani - pastelle.
❝　　s.her　｡　　🪡　　⁺

（🌀）nyoka - amun.
❝　　t.any　｡　　🪡　　⁺

nyoka observed the screen out of the corner of their eye, leaning back on the couch, their hands placed on their legs. round four had concluded half an hour ago, with sawyer ending up as the loser of the competition. the cracks on the screen were visible, and nyoka was actively ignoring the pain emitting from their fist, which had shards stuck in it.

lani quietly watched him, moving her fingers towards their wrist carefully and beginning to remove the glass from their fingers, to which nyoka responded with a pained hiss, before biting her lip to calm down and sighing quietly. the girl noticed nyoka's behaviour, and although usually she believed their words of "everything will be alright", this time she could feel a small pit of doubt in her stomach.

she put the bloody shards on the table in front of the couch and wiped the blood off nyoka's fingers by brushing her sleeve over them. nyoka noticed and pulled their hand away, looking at lani with a soft frown, "not your dress.."

the white haired girl just smiled gently, letting go of nyoka and shaking her head. she sat up straight, seeming to have noticed the footsteps coming from behind the door earlier than nyoka, as the other had only noticed them once lani had straightened her back. she was clearly distressed, and yet tried to smile and stay calm. it wasn't like panicking or crying would bring them out of this situation.

the door opened, light flowing into the room, a guard standing in the doorway, holding it's gun in one hand, the other on the metal door. it had a single eye, it's pupil moving towards the broken screen, showing the trailer for the next match, flickering white in between, the music coming from it being glitchy and distorted. it looked over at nyoka, noticing the shards on the table in front of them and the leftover blood on her hand, before it's eye moved to lani, who was watching the alien, expectantly.

"... follow me." the segyein ordered, turning to leave, to which lani and nyoka quickly raised from the couch, following after it. it was comparably taller than them, which was no surprise, higher ranked segyein were usually of taller height, especially when it came to guards, as they needed the physical strength and speed, in case the humans weren't obedient.

the halls were white, the backstage room that lani and nyoka were in was a little further away from the stairs to the stage than the ones of the previous four, which was most likely due to their round being one of the later ones. after all, this was already the fifth round, and there was only an half hour break between round four and five. sometimes lani wondered how quick they were with setting up the stage.

nyoka on the other hand clenched their fists, knowing they'd be entering the stage which sawyer died on in just a few minutes. their throat felt like there was a string wrapped around it, slightly choking them with every step he took. they played with her sleeves nervously, fidgeting them around her fingers, her eyes focused on the floor, not wanting to see how close they already were to the staircase.

the first step came and nyoka stopped, their hands trembling. lani noticed how they had frozen, and looked over at the alien, which soon took note of it as well. it walked back down to nyoka, slightly pushing them. "walk, human." they commanded, but nyoka remained unmoved. the guard growled, raising the gun and holding it against nyoka's head threateningly, to which lani yelped, quickly grasping nyoka's hand and pulling them up the stairs, the purple haired only bitterly following as to not be shot before even entering the stage.

the lights were hot on nyoka's skin, and as they looked up, they noticed the sky. for the first time, they got to see a real sky, not the fake one in the garden or the drawings in the books he had read. a full and shining moon, round, beautiful, there wasn't a single dark side to it, at least not at the moment. nyoka has read that the moon only has no dark side on one day of the year and that it'd have one again the night after, at least on this planet. after all, earth had been destroyed decades ago. they haven't even been alive to the time it had gotten destroyed by the segyein.

lani led nyoka towards the edge of the stage, the spotlight following them with each foot they put in front of the other. lani put a hand on the microphone that was placed on her ear, making sure it wasn't loose, while nyoka removed it's microphone from it's stand, slightly tapping against it for a few seconds, to check if it was on.

the melody started playing, it was loud, louder than either of them had expected. this would be it, and yet nyoka didn't even feel the urge to fight for their life. not against someone they loved, not on the same stage sawyer had ... it couldn't. she wouldn't, she would not sing.

a heavy hand on lani's shoulder, thick claws, almost the size of lani's own hands, digging slightly into her skin. not hard enough to cause pain, yet firm enough to sting, causing the girl to slightly bite her tongue to ignore the distasteful feeling. she was met with sunlight, or well — the light of the projectors, which created an illusion of the sun. but lani didn't know that. to her, it was the first time seeing the beams of warmth and feeling them on her skin in a long time. after all those years, she had forgotten how they felt, to the point she had begun to think she didn't need them.

the alien slightly pushed her forward, this one comparably more gentle with her than aliens she's met before, who had treated humans harshly, uncaring for their health or feelings. she followed, not wanting to cause trouble, yet her eyes couldn't help but roam around the garden, lighting up at the sight of children playing, the trees and the flowers. this was the most beautiful place she'd ever seen, everyone looked so happy!

the alien let her go, but she didn't look after it as it left the gardens, leaving her to stare at everything in front of her in pure amazement. she almost didn't notice the light tap on her shoulder, only realising it after the person did it a second time, waving as she looked at them. a soft smile, purple hair and sweet, yellow eyes, they grinned brightly at her, one single, sharp teeth showing — almost like the ones cats had. at least that's how they looked in some of the old magazines she had seen.

"you're new, aren't you?", the asked cheerfully and welcoming, lani hadn't expected for another child to come up to her so quickly, but it wasn't a negative surprise to be proven wrong. she nodded in response and the other holds out their hand for her to take, to which she hesitates for a second, then placing her palm into theirs. "I'm nyoka!" they introduce themselves, grin only widening at her. lani couldn't help it, a gentle chuckle escaping her throat. "I'm lani." she returned the introduction, to which they nod in excitement, they seemed to like her name.

"want me to show you around?", he asks, keeping her hold on lani's hand, waiting for her response. there was no force in it's words or motions, it was completely up to lani to accept or reject their offer, and that felt.. comforting to lani. ".. sure" she nods, "that'd be nice." nyoka's face brightened, and they let out a happy laugh, before pulling her along, almost making lani stumble in his excitement.

lani struggled visibly, nyoka's silence was evident, and she had no choice but to fill in their lines, voice cracking in slight panic, failing to hit certain tones. her forehead wettened with pearls of sweat, eyes wide, she looked between nyoka and the crowd desperately. some of the aliens booed, enraged at nyoka's not supposed silence and lani's inability to take over the lines that weren't meant to be sung by her in the first place. the cold white of the moon above them changed into a red tint, not from the moon itself, but the lights that spread in the whole stadium.

the other silently watched lani's desperate attempt to sing the lines they had studied and perfected, that they were supposed to sing in this very moment, and in this very moment, he felt bad to make everything even harder for lani. his chest was heavy, air stuck in her throat, but she swallowed the stone that was stuck in his throat, and he lifted the microphone to his lips after a deep breath, continuing the melody that lani tried to sing, making her stop in her words.

her expression softened, the stress slowly dropping from her face and turning grateful, although exhausted and stressed, she didn't have to continue from memory, nyoka probably just had a bad moment. considering their situation, she could fully understand that! even if it gave her a shock, and caused a heavy panic in her stomach, which slowly loosened after pulling together from the inside in her panicked emotion.

as it was her turn, this time with the lines she actually learnt and knew in and out, her voice was a much calmer, sweeter tone, hitting each and every note she had to, without much trouble. nyoka watched her, expression darkening at the sight of lani's peacefulness as she sung. they frowned, grip on the microphone tightening painfully, but he could care less about the pain. the hand was injured already, what did a little more pain even matter. plus.. it'd die soon anyway.

the melody began to fasten, their voices sounding together, melodic, a harmony like that from when they were children and had only recently met. yet this time it didn't make her smile, this time, nyoka wanted to rip out their hair frustratedly, this time nyoka just wanted to— just shortly after they had turned away and the melody reached it's high, there was the gunshot. but nyoka didn't feel pain. did it miss? shouldn't he feel something or start bleeding?

she looked around in confusion, before dropping the microphone. there laid lani's body across the stage from them, in a pool of blood. this wasn't right. without a second thought, they ran towards her, dropping to the knees next to her shaking form, coughing and gasping for air. "n- nyoka—" his eyes softened and he whispered, "it's going to be okay", gently caressing her hair, and carrying her through the pain.

"there's so many children here.." lani murmured, her arm interlocked with nyoka's as they showed her around, her eyes admiring her surroundings with a childish excitement. nyoka giggled at her excitement, nodding. "I'm sure they'll all start liking you very soon", they pat her head, almost like an older sibling would. "are you sure? i don't know much about the garden yet.. or your games.." she smiled sheepishly, casting her gaze down towards the ground in a shy manner.

nyoka scoffed playfully, shaking their head in disagreement. "don't you worry about that! i can show you around, it's going to be okay!" with how self assured and proud as her voice sounded, lani had no trouble in trusting in his words, the shy smile on her lips growing warmer. "and i can teach you some of the games!" they carefully pulled her towards an open spot in the garden, not wanting her to stumble again because of them.

nyoka sat down in front of a xylophone, grasping one of the sticks and playing a note. "here! i play a note, and then you sing one and then i build up on it with one of my own, okay?" they smiled, her eyes silently asking if lani had understood, or if there were any questions of hers left. she nodded, confirming that she had understood, and began to sing a soft tune as nyoka played another note on the instrument. nyoka then followed up on one of their own, and their voices fell into soft harmony, fitting surprisingly well together.

nyoka stopped themselves and chuckled, putting down the stick and supporting their head with their hands. "your voice is so nice!" he complimented, to which lani was slightly flustered, not used to being complimented for something like that. sure, she had heard aliens discuss on her voice, that was the reason she ended up in the garden, but that wasn't the same as being praised by another human. "we should sing together more often, okay?" nyoka reached out their pinky towards lani, wiggling it slightly.

the girl looked surprised, before lifting her smallest finger and locking it with nyoka's in a pinky promise. "okay."