Your POV

"(y/n), your stomach is growling."

It's around seven o'clock at night and the sun has nearly finished setting. The view from Shu's apartment perfectly displays the stars starting to appear in the sky, but I'm distracted by the smell of Shu's cooking as he fulfills my last wish from the bucket list.

I groan and flop onto the couch, turning on the TV to distract myself before I start drooling from the mere scent of the spaghetti carbonara. 

"It's not my fault you're so good at cooking," I scowl and he chuckles before a noise even louder than my stomach growling interrupts us; a phone call.

Shu checks my phone on the kitchen table top before tossing the device to me in one graceful arc. "It's from Aaliyah."

"Oh," is all I can say, because in all honesty, I forgot about Aaliyah. The last time I saw her was before I went to Beigoma and she told me to do something that I also forgot. Regardless, I answer the call. And I'm immediately greeted with the sound of screaming and fierce gushes of wind.

"Are you sure this is Aaliyah?" I mouth to Shu and he nods. I clear my throat, "Uh, Aaliyah?"

"Oh, sorry about that (y/n)!" Aaliyah chuckles before opening the camera. "I wanted to show you the view from up here! It's amazing!"

I peer curiously into the phone and 'amazing' is an understatement. From Aaliyah's point of view, I can see the white snowy tops of small mountains and fields of green that roll over valleys as, I suspect, she parasails over Switzerland. I see a flag hoisted up besides a building which confirms my suspicions.

"Isn't Switzerland expensive?" I gape. "Like, peak expensive?"

"It is!" Aaliyah giggles. "But that's in Earth. Here, Switzerland is also peak expensive for Shinwa, but I've learnt that the economy as a whole is generally lower than ours in Australia, Earth. For example, we would need about three dollars and fifty cents for a can of soda, but here we only need twenty cents!"

I gasp, "No way!"

"Yes way!" Aaliyah laughs excitedly. "Anyways, what have you discovered about Shinwa?"

I blink. "P-Pardon?"

"Before you left to Beigoma, I told you to not just spend your days frollicking around and instead find out some information about Shinwa," Aaliyah says. "So what did you learn today?"

"Uh..." I trail off before clearing my throat again. "People really value beyblade. So I went and bought my own to see why these toys are so special to people."

I stifle my laughter as Shu aggressively mouths, "They're not toys!"

"Wow," Aaliyah applauds me. "That's a marvelous idea. Speaking of marvelous ideas, Shu's parents have decided to come by Shu's apartment later on tonight."

Even from here, I can see Shu light up. "Really?"

"Yes," Aaliyah smiles before shrieking as she comes too close for comfort to some rocks. "Anyways, I should probably get going before I die. Bye!"

She says this all very fast before hanging up. Smiling, I pocket my phone before saying, "You must be happy that your parents are coming."

"Extremely," Shu responds, slightly dazed from the news as he carefully places down the spaghetti carbonara. "But they'll probably come in a few hours, so let's not bother to wait for them for dinner."

I sit down at the dinner table, inhaling the scent in and scanning the food eagerly. As I hoped, the two of us are sharing one big plate, just waiting for the Lady and the Tramp re-enactment to occur.

And it does.

Many times and majority purely accidental as the two of us find ourselves eating the same strand of spaghetti to lean in and press our lips together passionately and chastely. 

The kisses are strangely similar to when we first met, and I reach my hand out to grab his, making sure he won't go away again.

Eventually, the plate is empty and Shu sets up sun chairs out on his balcony for us to stargaze while we wait for his parents. There's two sun chairs out, one for him and one for me, but I disregard mine to clamber into his, his warm arms around my body and my head against his chest; his heartbeat so wonderfully close to mine.

The stars are incredibly ethereal and the night so clear I can almost see some distant planets and the faint outline of whatever galaxy we're in right now.

But Shu looks even more ethereal so I spend more time gazing at him than the stars.

"There's Basuto," Shu whispers, pointing to a particularly bright cluster of stars. "The constellation that connects our realms."

"Ah. Thank you, Basuto!" I exclaim. "For connecting me to Shu!"

Shu chuckles, the chuckle reverberating across his chest before we fall silent together, just gazing up at the sky and each other, holding on to the other as if we're afraid they might leave only for us to be galaxies away from each other again. 

"Hey, (y/n)?" 

"Hmm?"

Shu turns to face me. "This afternoon, I couldn't help overhearing your conversation with Toko and Nika about what you're going to do after this one month finishes. You're not...you're not seriously considering moving here just because of me, are you?"

"What, do you find it that crazy?" I frown. "Do I need to remind you that you left behind all of your friends for me?"

Shu exhales tiredly. "That was different. I went to Earth knowing that it was only going to be a temporary thing. You coming to Shinwa permanently is entirely different."

"Why?"

"You're seriously asking why?" Shu's eyebrows raises. "(y/n), you have a family. You have friends. You have intelligence that can take you to new heights in Earth. You have a future in Earth that I don't want you to abandon just because of me."

I bit my lip, "But if I can't even be with you, what's the point? I want you to be part of my future! I want to have a future with you!"

"Fine then," Shu exhales heavily again. "I'll move to Earth for you."

I nearly jump. "What? But you have such a bright future in Shinwa!"

When I realize what I said, Shu gives me a look that says, seriously?

I flush in embarrassment and we both fall silent again only for him to speak up after a few moments, "I guess we both feel the same way about each other."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I groan. "This is a tough predicament."

"Well," Shu shuffles so that we're now facing each other, completely blocking off the sky. "We still have to the end of this month. Let's not end this day on a bad note. We'll just discuss this sometime closer to the end of the month."

"I agree," I whisper, coming closer. "Let's just stay here."

It's awfully comfortable, so it's no surprise that we both fell asleep, only to be awaken by the sound of Shu's apartment opening.

"Shu!"

I yawn and blearily open my eyes to see Shu doing the same. "Shu, I just had the weirdest dream. And your mum was calling out your name in it."

"Me too," he says sleepily before sitting up straight, panic on his face. "Wait. That wasn't a dream."

Before we can move, the door to the balcony slides open and Shu's parents pop their heads out to look at us, both of them looking amused.

"We weren't doing anything!" Shu immediately says loudly.

"We never said you were," his father chuckles, mockingly putting his hands up. "You don't have to scream, son."

"Sorry," Shu says quickly before going back inside. "I'll reheat the leftover spaghetti for your dinner, just wait for a while. 

Even though Shu and I have already had dinner, we join his parents sitting around the table and join in to their conversation. The conversation between all four of us is so light and lively and full of energy, it's strange.

Or perhaps it's completely normal, and I am just the strange one who has never experienced a dinner like this between my parents occupied with their phones and talking to their colleagues and Blair, who's either busy snapping her Los Angeles friends or completely absent.

But the Kurenais, despite being apart for years, care for each other that shows even in just a mere conversation. 

The sense of family continues into the night, when Mr. Kurenai suggests we all read for half an hour before we sleep to wash away the hyper energy that came with arriving in Beigoma.

Usually I enjoy reading (especially fanfiction), but when I open the book all I can think about is how nice it would be to have this wholesome feeling for the rest of my life. If I leave Earth, am I really going to miss everything? My family? My friends?

But what family? And what friends? My parents say that they love me, but they don't know me at all. They just love me out of pure obligation because it's the standard to love your daughter. And my relationship with Blair has amounted to nothing. And my friends...

There's not even Chanel there anymore. It's just Layla. Only Layla, and even she runs away to save herself when we are both cast into darkness.

My thoughts vanished when Shu lets out a gasp, and I look over to see a thick paper cut against his index finger and beads of blood proceeding to form. 

"It's fine," Shu says, noticing everyone's eyes on him.

But his parents ignore his words, his mother giving him a hug as his father gets him a band-aid. The parents huddle around him, concerned and in that moment I see the perfect family.

And despite all my thoughts before, an irrational feeling arises and takes over everything.

And I start to miss my family.

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sorry the chapters are getting shorter, we're nearing the end ;) only one more chapter to go

word count: 1663