It took a long time for him to get used to their absence. The first months were the worst. He would wake up in the morning, get ready for school and assume that his parents would be there. His dad would be cooking breakfast and his mom sipping on coffee while reading the morning paper. However they were gone and wouldn’t be coming back. 

When Hiroto’s family heard the news they offered to let Satoru eat breakfast with them so he wouldn’t be alone. He was quite hesitant at first, not wanting to intrude.

 Hiroto was particularly persistent, practically begging Satoru to eat with them each morning on their walk to school.  

Satoru spoke with his sister about the situation and she didn't seem to be opposed, in fact she preferred that he went over to Hiroto's house from time to time. It allowed her to go to work and get things done without having to worry about him. It took quite some time and convincing that he wouldn’t be a burden before he started to spend his mornings at Hiroto’s house.

The first morning he came over, Hiroto’s parents gave him a warm welcome into their home. The whole thing brought him to tears. It reminded Satoru of his loss and he desperately wanted to go home, not his current home but the home in his memories.

Hiroto hugged Satoru tightly and his expression softened, “it’s okay. You can come here as much as you want.”

Satoru sniffed, wiping his tears, a small smile creeping onto his face . It had been too long since he last felt comforted in this way. 

Satoru couldn’t have been more grateful for Hiroto, his family and Kanato. Upon hearing about what happened, Kanato started inviting himself over after school to do homework or play games. Kanato was probably the only reason that Satoru kept up with any of his studies. 

He owed everything to them. Albeit nothing about the situation was easy, it felt a lot more manageable with Kanato and Hiroto there.

However Satoru wasn’t the only one who had struggles. Three years after Satoru’s parents passed, Kanato’s parents had a nasty divorce. They lost a lot of their money so Kanato and his mom had to move out into an apartment in a different area. His father owned most of their assets and left Kanato and his mother with nothing. Kanato’s mother was given full custody of him and Kanato never saw his father again. 

It was routine for Kanato to come over to Satoru’s place every day, but now it is no longer happening. It was definitely something to get used to. The apartment that was filled with energy and life became quiet and isolating once again. Satoru also quit coming to Hiroto’s house, the older he got  he went over less and less, eventually stopping all together. 

The trio lost connection, they had no more hangouts. For the next two years they never saw each other. It wasn’t until middle school that they got close again. It was like fate, they all ended up in the same class and despite the separation it felt like they had never left. Things fell into place and it took them no time at all to return to their regular rhythm. Middle school was also when they got into music.

Kanato was the one who got them all started. There was a CD shop that he saw everyday on his walk home and one day he saw a promotional poster outside the store that caught his eye. 

There were three people on the poster dressed in elegant aristocratic outfits. It was something he’d never seen before and he immediately headed inside to purchase the CD.

From there he ran home, excited to listen to the CD. Upon just hearing the first few notes, he became entranced. Everything about the music felt magical and the lyrics resonated with him. They were so beautiful, yet it had a sort of misery and anguish to them. 

Kanato immediately grabbed his phone to message both Hiroto and Satoru about what he found. 

The next day he gathered his allowance money and headed back to the CD shop to see if they had any more music from the band. 

To his surprise it was their first album. He was a little disappointed that they didn’t have more music out. But the store clerk pointed him in the direction of similar music, so he bought a couple more CDs and a few magazines. 

Before this Kanato had never been that interested or invested in music. It wasn’t really a thing that was a part of his life. His mom wasn’t huge on music and rarely played it. This got him excited in a way that he never thought he could be. 

Over the next few months he became obsessed. When his birthday rolled around the corner he begged his mom to let him buy a guitar and amp with his allowance. She was hesitant at first, not wanting it to get in the way of his studies, eventually she agreed to it as long as his grades didn’t drop.

After that he didn’t buy new merch for a few months while he saved up. It was pretty hard since the CD shop was so close to his apartment.

With his dedication he was able to save up the money to get himself a cheap guitar and amp. Kanato was overjoyed and took both Hiroto and Satoru with him when he bought them.   

Once he had his guitar he played every single day, until his hands bled. Whenever he got a new CD he was determined to learn all the songs. 

Kanato would often take requests from Satoru and Hiroto. He made it his goal to learn their favorite songs within a week. When he finally got them down he would invite them over to his apartment and give them a performance. 

Over the years Kanato would show Hiroto and Satoru the music he liked, eventually they all ended up liking the same bands. Kanato was always excited to show the things he found to the two of them, whether it be a new CD or DVD. He just had an immense passion for it all.