Lunch ended and they all headed back to class. Satoru sat back down in his seat and fidgeted with his pencil, clicking the lead out and pushing it back in. He was now realizing what he agreed to, knowing Kanato it wouldn’t be something that would be taken lightly. When it came to music Kanato was always very serious, though he wasn’t sure how serious Kanato was until now. He’d always brought up starting a band but Satoru took it as more of a joke than anything. He realized that it probably wasn’t a joke back then and Kanato was serious. 

The more he thought about it the less he knew about what he had exactly signed up for. Satoru bounced his leg up and down, this whole thing was extremely important to Kanato, it would be something he would have to sacrifice months if not years to achieve the goal. The whole thing freaked him out and he could hardly focus on anything. 

Satoru didn’t even realize the school day was over until Kanato poked him on the cheek with his pencil, “earth to Satoru, it’s time to go home now.”

Satoru jumped and collected his things, putting them into his bag. He slung his bag over his shoulder then headed out of the classroom with Kanato, heading down to the entrance where they would wait for Hiroto. 

“Hey, are you alright? You seemed pretty dazed after lunch, did it have to do with what we talked about?” Kanato asked as they walked down the stairs. 

Satoru shrugged, “a little bit. I was just thinking about how big of a commitment the whole thing is, it honestly kinda psyched me out a bit.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you into saying yes, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Kanato said, seeming a little down. 

Satoru sighed, he didn’t want to disappoint Kanato, “no it’s fine, I’ll still do it but if I’m not satisfied with it I’m leaving.”

Kanato smiled, “thanks for having some fatih in me.”

They didn’t have to wait by the lockers long before Hiroto came down, practically skipping over to them. “Are we ready to head out now?”

“Well we’re all here so I’d say so,” Satoru replied, making his way over to the school’s gate. 

“Oh yeah tonight I’ll send you both the information for this weekend,” Kanato said prior to them going their separate ways for the night. 

 Both Hirtoto and Satoru nodded, giving Kanato the thumb’s up. 

It wasn’t long before the three parted ways, Hiroto and Satoru heading in one direction and Kanato heading the opposite way. 

“So what do you think about all this band stuff?” Hiroto asked, looking at Satoru as they started on their way home. 

Satoru shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m not fully convinced, Kanato is more of an idealist than a realist. So he might be setting us up for failure with all these grand ideas, but I’ll go along for now. Getting a job doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” he answered. 

“Wow, so pessimistic. Kanato seems to have been thinking about this pretty seriously so I trust him. I’m sure it’ll all be worth it,” Hiroto smiled, trying to reassure Satoru. 

“That may be true but I still stand with my opinion. Only when I see results will I take Kanato more seriously.”

Hiroto and Satoru talked more about the band as they continued on their way home. 

When Satoru reached his apartment complex he waved and said his farewells to Hiroto for the night before walking inside. 

The smile on his face dropped, not that he was particularly sad but the emptiness of the apartment stung. Satoru was by no means an extrovert but he hated coming home with no one welcoming him back. 

It wasn’t always like this, he used to have a normal family, one that would welcome him home and fill the small apartment with life. 

“When are mom and dad coming back?” Satoru asked Megumi, looking out the window. 

“When I called they said they’d be back in a few hours, around noon or so,” she answered as she played on her handheld console. 

Satoru eagerly awaited his parents' return and tried to do anything that would keep him busy. Time seemed to be passing by at a snail’s pace. Hours felt like years though when he now looked at the clock it was far past noon, in fact the sun was beginning to set. 

Satoru felt a pit in his stomach, something just wasn’t right. “Aren’t they supposed to be back right now?” 

“No, they called and said they got delayed, just go to bed and they’ll be back by morning,” she answered, ruffling his hair while smiling down at him. 

He felt that she was lying but it helped calm some of his nerves so he obeyed and headed to bed. 

All of the sudden he was woken from his shallow sleep by the sound of someone pounding on the door. His room was still pitch black except for the small nightlight beside his bed, it wasn't even morning yet. Satoru didn’t care and bolted out of his room thinking his parents had finally returned. 

Though that was the furthest from the truth. When he opened the door he was greeted by two officers standing in the doorway, and his sister who collapsed on the floor, sobbing, seeming to already understand what their presence meant. The atmosphere felt tense and it made his stomach churn. Satoru wasn’t quite sure what was happening, or what the police were doing at his home. He stood there trying to process what was going on but when he made eye contact with his sister and saw the utter despair and sorrow on her face he quickly turned away, retreating to his room. 

Satoru ran to his bed, taking refuge under his blanket, covering his head with his pillow as if to block out the sounds of his sister’s sobs. He just wanted to fall asleep and escape this nightmare, hoping that none of what he saw was real, that it was just a bad dream and he would be with his parents tomorrow. 

However the nightmare never ended, the next morning Megumi came into his room, telling him that his parents wouldn’t be coming back. They were gone. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand what she meant. They had to be out there, they weren’t there with him but he thought for sure he would see them again. They couldn’t just be gone, they just couldn’t.