It was still dark, we ran out of the mysterious forest. Looking through the trees, it seemed like there was a road behind two burnt willow trees.

I ran towards the road which was passing within the forest, while Seanyung, Paikek and Bomyu followed me.

"The wind isn't strong anymore!" I commented and looked up the darkest night sky I had ever seen.

We stopped on the left side of the empty road surrounded by trees and waited for someone to come. It was our only chance as there was no signal and there was nothing to take us back to the city. The weather was calm and relaxing, but I felt lonely even though I had my friends with me.

"There were four stars a while ago." Bomyu gazed upon the sky, pointing his hand to the remaining stars.

"Where is the other one?" Paikek noticed the missing star as there were three of them shining.

"It disappeared." Bomyu kept seeking for it.

"Yeah, it was so pretty." Paikek's lower lip extended over his upper lip, and he unzipped his backpack, bringing out a blue dolphin plushy. He cuddled the stuffed animal tightly. It wasn't surprising to me that Paikek was carrying his plushies with him everywhere he went. After all, he had a collection of them.

On the other hand, Seanyung watched those three little stars in the night with his eyes wide.

"Wow, this is art." He amazed with his eyes glimmering.

"It's gorgeous." Bomyu marvelled and took pictures of the stars with his phone.

The sky was so clear in that memorable moment. We didn't get tired of watching the stars for many and many hours.

"We might never get a chance to see this again." I realised the sad truth because I felt that one day the three remaining stars might eventually die. I wished I knew why I felt this way.

We watched the magnificent night sky for hours. And later, the sun rose over the mysterious forest as the intense sunlight filtered through the trees.

It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I ever saw.

Unexpectedly, we started hearing the noise of an engine coming from the end of the road. An orange taxi car slowly approached to where we waited.

I jumped in front of the car, causing it to stop.

The brown-haired taxi driver opened the back door and let us in. When Paikek, Bomyu and Seanyung sat on the back seat, there left no space for me there. Therefore I sat on the passenger seat next to the driver.

We asked the driver to take us to the Kawaakari city, and she nodded like she was okay with it.

The summer breeze blew through the slightly open window of the taxi as it speeded along the road through the forest. I looked out noticing the skyscrapers close to us, we were almost there.

We entered the Kawaakari city through the famous bridge which was passing over the deep river. It was early in the morning so it wasn't possible to see many people on the streets.

"Hey Karu, do you remember? We made a lot of memories around here?" Paikek recited when we reached a street a few miles after we entered the city. There were not many tall buildings around the street; it was calm and beautiful.

"Yeah, we did!" I remembered that it was the street that Paikek, Seanyung, Bomyu and I used to play Kurokami-Sama when we were little kids.

"It's gonna be awesome if we visit the magic academy there." Paikek suggested.

"Yeah, It would be fascinating if we visit that magic academy! I missed it." Bomyu nodded, and he added, "I can't believe we're back here."

Eventually, we arrived at the street of the magic academy which was a silent narrow street. The morning weather was warm and sunny, making it even more beautiful.

The taxi driver stopped the car in front of a small car park.

"Cheers." I thanked the taxi driver, paid her and got out of the taxi.

It was a peaceful street which had cherry trees beside the pavements on each side of the road.

"It's been a while." I inhaled the fresh air of the peaceful street, as the morning sunlight fell over us.

"The weather is great. Why am I wearing a jacket." Bomyu unzipped his black denim jacket, revealing his sky blue t-shirt, and tied it around his waist.

"There's still a water pond in the road." Seanyung noticed the pond next to the sidewalk which was there since we were kids.

"I know." Bomyu laughed as we avoided the collected water in the road.

"Someone tripped right there, it was Paikek, right?" Seanyung pointed to the corner of the sidewalk which was higher than usual.

"Yeah." Paikek's cheeks turned pink as he turned his face away from us with the corners of his mouth slightly curled up.

"I was running, and I slipped." Paikek admitted while Seanyung and Bomyu chuckled.

There were two benches in front of the Magic Academy building, which was an old building with flower pots of every colour all around it. The building was made of red bricks and its roof was brown.

"People who came early got to sit on those benches." Seanyung recalled when he saw the brown bench on the right side of the entrance.

"Wanna go in?" I asked when we reached the front door.

Seanyung rushed and pushed the front door, opening it. Even though the magic academy appeared big from outside, it was small from inside; an old, messy place.

We looked around the shelves full of books and potions. The magical items were divided into four categories on different shelves; elementals, alchemy, spell casting and necromancy.

While looking at the tall shelves, I remembered the memories that I was there many years ago with my friends. It was beautiful yet nostalgic.

"Wow!" Paikek and Bomyu whooped at the same time when they saw our childhood picture on the wall.

I got stunned by the portrait from nine years ago. We were all so young in the picture. Well, I was ten, Bomyu was nine, and Paikek and Seanyung were eight years old. I was ugly back then but Bomyu, Paikek and Seanyung were almost looking like they were babies. We had smiles on our little faces. It was beautiful seeing it.

There was a massive room on the right side of the shelves. It was where we practised for magic when we were kids.

"It looks smaller now." Seanyung got surprised when he entered the practice room.

"Let me remind you about the time you tried to open a magic door with house keys." Paikek giggled as he messed up Seanyung's hair.

"Facts are facts." Bomyu patted Seanyung.

While we were having fun and making jokes, I felt someone watching us. It wasn't the same feeling I felt on the train a while ago. But, it was something real.

Then, I took a glance at a woman staring at us from behind the door.

She kept peeking while Paikek and Bomyu made fun of Seanyung's past. At first, I couldn't see her face until she decided to walk in. She was a brown-haired middle-aged woman, and she was wearing green joggers. Her young looking face was smiley all the time.

"Wow~" Paikek got stunned, and Bomyu was in shock when they saw the woman.

"Wow!" Seanyung's jaw dropped.

"I'm speechless!" Paikek startled as he put his hand on his mouth.

Four of us, all got surprised when we saw the athletic woman since she was someone I remember from memories.

She waved at us with a massive smile on her face while she came closer to hug each one of us. She exulted "Hi~~."

"How are you?" I asked her once she hugged me, and I recognised that she was our magic tutor when we were kids. Her name was Mrs Kimiko. Many and many beautiful memories with her flashed in my mind.

"You look exactly the same as before!" Seanyung complimented her.

"Thank you, my smart kid." the magic teacher gazed in Seanyung's eyes.

"It's so nice to see you again, Mrs Kimiko." I expressed my feelings to her as she looked in my eyes too.

"How are you?" She smiled.

"Fine, thank you, Mrs Kimiko." Bomyu beamed and then he asked "OH... You remember us?"

"Yes! Of course!" she answered immediately and added, "You guys are so memorable!"

We were all speechless, so Mrs Kimiko continued; "And, all of you look great."

"Thank you! You look great too!" I responded, and we laughed together with Mrs Kimiko.

"What you've been doing for ten years? Have you improved yourselves?" her eyes glimmered in happiness every time she talked.

However, it was a hard question to answer because I couldn't remember why my friends and I were away for that many years, and why we met again.

"We don't know." Bomyu giggled as he put his hand on my shoulder, then Mrs Kimiko laughed too.

After a couple of seconds of laughing, she asked a serious question with a smiley face; "Do you know why the fourth star disappeared?"

Immediately after she asked, my body started trembling and shivering, as I began to remember the night before.