Boys of a Daytime Star

TOGETHER: Part ∞ + 20

In the middle of the unfortunate night, I was lonely in my room at our apartment. The bloodstains on the walls were as scary as being alone in this place. All the lights being off was another terrifying thing. The apartment I used to spend time with my friends was not a peaceful place anymore since there left nobody but me, nothing but pain.

For the last time, I took a look at our bedroom. On the corner of the Bomyu's bed, there was the magical snow globe that he bought from the magic shop. I picked it up and put it into my black backpack.

Then, I saw some of Paikek's plushies on his bed, I quickly collected them, putting them into my backpack. But strangely, Tootmuyu the dolphin was not there.

Lastly, Seanyung's bed was there, it was tidy and it had some books on the shelf next to it. One of the books was under his pillow, it was a blue one. I picked it up and the cover was saying that it was his diary. I didn't know Seanyung had a diary until I found it under his pillow.

I put it into my bag as well and walked back to the living room.

After walking out from the door, I took a glimpse of our apartment one last time. It was broken, demolished, cursed.

It was almost the end of the night, I decided to walk to the city centre with my backpack on.

Passing through the silenced streets of Kawaakari City, it took two hours for me to reach there from our apartment on foot.

I was exhausted, but seeing the glorious sunrise from Kawaakari's city centre was a glimmer of hope for me. The shadows of the skyscrapers were falling onto me as the sun rose over the horizon. Most of their lights were off and there was a statue in the middle of the square.

The city centre was crowded with people even though it was early in the morning. They were probably the people who never slept. Everyone was in a rush to their jobs, their school or maybe their funerals, but they had one common thing; they were all silent, lifelessly silent.

I looked all the way around, with my backpack on my back, trying to spot a single familiar person. However, nobody was.

"Taxi?" I waved my hand to an orange taxi which was passing by.

The orange coloured car stopped beside the sidewalk, as the driver opened the window, saying; "Come in."

I opened the door on the passenger side, getting in. I didn't notice I was shivering until the driver remarked in a raspy voice; "Are you okay? You don't look alright."

He had messy white hair and he didn't have much hair on the top of his head. A picture was on the front corner of the car where he was with a blonde woman in a red dress and a boy. It looked like it was his family. Regarding the picture, the man was wearing a black long coat and a black hat.

He didn't keep his eyes off the road, as he drove through the violent rain in a foggy, busy motorway.

"Where do you want to go, little man?" He asked in a raspy voice without taking his eyes off the road.

"Umm..." I faltered indecisively.

The only places I knew came to my mind, not many places though. Among all of them, it was best to go to the magic academy that our magic teacher Mrs Kimiko was working at;

"Can I go to the Magic Academy?"

"Sure." The driver took the road on the right and speeded in the rain. It was strange because not everyone knew about the Magic Academy.

"Are you a magician, little man?" The driver asked me as he was keeping his eyes on the road.

"I am." I stated in a low tone as I was worried about his reaction.

"My wife was a magician as well; she was a powerful one." He showed me the picture of her on the front side that I noticed earlier.

"What happened to her?"

"She died." His raspy voice cracked as he teared up.

"I'm so sorry." I regretted that I asked him that question.

"She always said that all stars will die and the universe will be so cold." He sniffed. Those words sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't remember where I heard them.

Eventually, he stopped the taxi when we reached the magic academy. I thanked him as I got out of the car; "Thank you."

The taxi went away while I walked to the front door of the old magic academy building. I opened the front door and stepped into the common room where there were potions and magical books on the shelves.

I knocked on the wooden door behind the shelves which had a "no entry" sign on it.

"Karu! How can I help you?" I turned my back, after hearing Mrs Kimiko's voice from behind.

"Hi Mrs Kimiko, I need your help." I looked into her eyes as my eyes shimmered with tears.

"Sure honey. I am always here to help, with my whole heart." Our magic teacher Mrs Kimiko smiled heartily.

"I don't know where any of my friends are."

"I'm so sorry honey. I am glad that you came to me first and I am willing to help you as long as I am able to." She spoke as her kind words made my face smile.

"Thank you, Mrs Kimiko. What can I do?" Hopelessly I asked.

"Do you have the star book?"

"No, it's stolen."

"What happened?" She wiped off my tears with a napkin.

"I was talking to Yonsan with my phone and once I turned my back it wasn't there. Bomyu, Paikek and Seanying were all busy as well. We first accused the Komorebi cafe ghost but then she said it wasn't her." I explained what happened.

"I see." Mrs Kimiko murmured thoughtfully as she picked up her purple wand and shook it in the air creating magical particles.

"Somebody lied." She concluded.

Immediately, I looked at her without blinking as I didn't understand what she meant.

"There is no magic trick existing to detect what happened but my senses are telling me that there is a liar." Mrs Kimiko opined with a concerned look in her face.

"Is it the ghost?" Looking into her concerned face, I wondered.

"It's clearly not. Ghosts can't touch anything, especially a magical book which is made to kill them."

"What do you mean by that? The book is made to kill the ghosts?" I puzzled.

"Yes, but it is only one of its abilities."

"How can I find my friends? Can you help me?" I asked again urgently.

She smiled as she lifted her wand creating a magical map of the Kawaakari city in the air.

"The magical map shows multiple locations and our location is the green dot." She explained and she continued; "The blue dots are showing your friends' locations but it doesn't show their names."

"Alright, Mrs Kimiko thank you." I thanked her with my all love.

"I will upload this to your phone so you can find them efficiently." She touched my phone with the wand, uploading the magical map into my phone.

"Thank you so much, Mrs Kimiko."

"By the way, I must warn you." She made eye contact with me: "You should be careful."

"Why?" I looked at her face, puzzled.

"One of your friends is the liar who stole the book."