Starlit Memoria ( Isao's Point of View Part 1 )

It was the day after, I was sitting at my kitchen table, staring at my phone intensely and anxiously bouncing my foot against the wooden floor.

Everyone planned to come over soon, and my delivery of tarot cards was running an hour late.

My brother glared at me from across the table. "Can you stop shaking the table?"

"Den comes early and my package hasn't arrived," I answered, looking back at him.

"So?"

"It matters because we're graduating soon I'm getting anxious because I wanna ask her out before then and I don't want there to be awkward silence between us if I don't have anything to say,"

Neito tapped his spoon on the rim of his bowl as he listened to me. "Didn't she break up with you last time you dated?"

"Yeah but... We were kids then, and I haven't stopped liking her so... Why should I give up? I mean yeah she likes her ex but, I don't know... I just really like her, I wanna show her that,"

"You're so damn cheesy." My brother stared at me as if he was disgusted.

"Shut up. You'll get it when you're older." I spoke quickly to dismiss his attitude. He just rolled his eyes and continued to eat his large bowl of cereal.

"Alright, Isao, Neito." My dad called as he entered the kitchen, sliding on his work jacket.

 He patted his pockets to make sure there wasn't anything he forgot. "I'll be heading to work, so keep an eye on Chie. Ok?"

"Ok Dad, have a good day," I responded.

Neito raised his hand to say bye since he had his mouthful.

I watched as my dad exited the front door, a part of me hoping to see the delivery van outside.

When I looked at the time on my phone again after another minute or two a message popped up on the screen.

"Can you come outside for a second?" The message read it was from Keiko.

I stood up quickly and walked to the front, sliding on my shoes quickly and exiting the house. I glanced around the front of my house until I noticed her standing across the street with a large hoodie on, her long brown hair sticking out the sides.

"Keiko!" I called out to get her attention.

She looked up at me from her phone, using her hoodie to block most of her face.

Keiko quickly crossed the street, making it easier to get a good view of her face. She had red puffy eyes, and under her left eye was a growing bruise and faint tear stains.

"Are your siblings home? I gotta do my makeup real quick." She whispered quickly as if she was trying to hide her condition from my family.

It hurt to see her like this, I wanted nothing more but to do something about her home life. But I had no power to, and she begged all of us not to do anything because she was scared to get separated from her family.

Her mother instilled that fear in her, and no matter what we all told her she'd never listen. No matter how badly they treated her, she wanted to believe that they were good people. That they'll change and she'd have a bond with them.

She always wore makeup to hide what they did to her, but it always took her some time to do it so she never could when her mom was home. So that was why she'd come to borrow our bathrooms to do it.

I forced a smile for her sake, "Neito is eating in the kitchen, and Chie is playing in her room."

"Alright, thank you!" She said happily, quickly hugging me before speeding her way into my house.

It was a common occurrence for most of us, the only people within the group whose home she wouldn't seek shelter at were Yuki, Seina, and Natsumi. Their caretakers wouldn't care about her fear of being taken away from her family if it meant her safety.

My dad is the same, so she'd often wait till he was at work.

I followed her into the house, and honestly, one of my main reasons for ordering these cards was to make sure things would get better for her.

For all of us.

Nothing hurt more than seeing the people I care about suffer, it always made my chest feel tight and I wanted to cry for them. But I had to be their pillar, to stand tall and lend them a shoulder to cry on.

No matter how much it hurt me.

If I could take their pain away, I would.

When I entered the kitchen again I noticed Neito was gone now and his dishes were lazily thrown into the sink. I walked to the bathroom where Keiko went to do her makeup and stood by the door in case she needed anything.

I called out to her to let her know I was there. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Uh... No, I think I'm good, thanks!" I never understood how she could act so happy in such a situation.

I guess I admired that about Keiko. No matter what pain she went through she always spoke so positively. It always felt like nothing affected her.

I fiddled with my phone, it ate at me that there was nothing I could do, I just had to wait for you to want to open up about it. "Let me know if you do,"

I stared at my phone, scrolling through the Chirrup app and waiting for what felt like forever for her to exit the bathroom. The doorbell finally rang while I waited when I rushed to answer it I was met by the delivery guy.

"Finally," I whispered under my breath, quickly writing my name down on the delivery order and taking my box. I thanked him before closing the door behind me and began to tear open the box eagerly like a child during their birthday.

Doing one while I wait shouldn't hurt, right?

I prepared the card deck, getting familiar with the cards as if I was conversing with them. I always felt a connection to tarot cards as if I was exchanging information with them.

I decided to ask them to give me one card for everyone, a broad term to see what was coming for us all.

I shuffled until 8 cards in total fell out of the deck as if the deck threw them out itself. I placed the rest of the cards down and then began to study the cards that fell and their position.

The Fool, Reversed.

Strength, Reversed.

The Hanged Man, Upright.

Death, Upright.

Temperance, Upright.

The Devil, Reversed.

The Magician, Upright.

The Chariot, Reversed.

"What do they say?" Keiko asked curiously from behind me, I jumped from how sudden it was to hear her voice directly behind me and quickly gathered all the cards.

"Nothing, nothing," I said quickly.

She grew both curious and concerned with my behavior. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I just made a mistake," I explained in an attempt to cover myself.

Just this once, I'll refuse to believe the cards were right.