CREDITS TO: UTA NO PRINCE SAMA and Silvermoon249 (for Nanairo no Compass lyrics)

CHAPTER 30

A year later...

They were currently attending an award ceremony for the best and prolific international superstars. Being the representative of Japan, STARISH started to feel less confident, seeing the other candidates were also top-notch and much more popular. Even their popularity alone as the opening artist for Triple S in Japan had skyrocketed which led them to star in a lot of group and individual projects later, they still felt pessimistic about the idea of winning the award.

Especially when Tokiya was no longer with them.

But nothing could beat Haruka's nervousness. Her hands were obviously trembling, much to her friends' worry.

"Please.. let it be STARISH.." she whispered to herself.

"Haruka, just relax okay? I am positive that the guys will be the winner," Nozomi who just sat next to her squeezed her hand, attempting to comfort her.

"But, Nozomi-chan..."

"It's okay. If they don't win, in our hearts, they are still the best stars," Tomochika ensured her. Apparently, cheesy lines with a compliment about STARISH being the best stars is the best way to make Haruka less neurotic.

Haruka glanced at both of her sides. Nozomi, Shizuka, Tomochika, Sara (Cecil's wife) and Maaya gave her comforting looks even they were also jittery like her.

"Yeah, I guess you guys are right."

As the emcee cleared his throat to announce the winner, everybody started to freeze on their seats.

"The Best International Superstar award goes to...."

Being cliched, the emcee would pause which seemed like countless hours for the audience before dramatically announcing;

"STAAAARISHHH!"

"Ehhhh!!?" Haruka could not contain her shock. It seemed like Kami-sama granted her prayer.

"Haruka, they won!" Tomochika hugged her tightly. "Hey, don't cry! You are supposed to be happy for them."

"Yeah, Haru-chan! Tomo-chan is right!" the other girls also could not hide their thrilled and proud smiles.

Despite their words, Haruka still burst into tears because obviously, this precious moment reminded her of Tokiya, the most important person who absolutely could not miss such an important event.

Yet, his destiny said otherwise.

Tokiya-kun, STARISH won it.

She knew, somewhere, he was smiling proudly at his teammates.

Meanwhile for STARISH...

Instead of giving typical reactions like being shocked for a few seconds before happily walking to the stage to receive the trophy, all six of them just looked at each other blankly.

That was what other people perceived them yet in fact...

Like Haruka, there was only one person which they could not abandon from their minds.

Tokiya/Icchi/Tokiya-kun/Ichinose, finally, your wish came true. If only you are here....

Ren who was the first one to be dragged to the reality led the way before the others followed him. Around them, applauses resonated through the whole hall while their fans, way back to the hall, cheered enthusiastically while screaming their group name.

When all of them finally reached the stage, Otoya was the one who received the award. As the gold trophy touched his skin, his tears started flowing down. He did not ask for it but all the sweet memories he had created with his late roommate, Ichinose Tokiya attacked his mind like a video.

"Please give us some speech, STARISH."

All of them stared at Otoya, sending the red head to give a questioning look.

"Me?"

"Just go, Otoya. You are his best friend so you are the right person," Cecil muttered.

"But, I am crying, you guys! It's embarrassing.."

"It's okay. It will sound more sincere and meaningful," as Masato answered, Otoya coud see how the others also had tears in his eyes including Masato and Ren who were usually more collected.

He reluctantly approached the mic, receiving a loud cheer from the audience. He gave a bright smile, totally grateful for their support.

"Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for the award. We... honestly, first and foremost, we would like to apologize sincerely for making you guys waited. I mean... we took too much time to accept the trophy because we did not expect that we would be the winner. However, still, we would like to dedicate our appreciation to Shining Saotome-san, our president because without him, being the greatest supporter of STARISH, willing to do anything so that we would spread and share our music to as many people as possible, it is unattainable for us to achieve this award tonight."

"Next, our thanks goes to Ichinose Haruka-san, our composer and best friend since we were trainees in Saotome Academy. She is the founder of STARISH and indeed, her idea that all of us should sing together is the best thing ever ... Again, thank you so much, Ichinose Haruka-san. And to the fans, parents and family who came all the way including Aijima Cecil's family from Agnapolis, thank you for your endless support."

"And last but not least..." Otoya felt his eyes started to generate more tears as the image of certain blue head distracted his mind but he was determined to continue. "We wanted to dedicate this award to Ichinose Tokiya, our late teammate and the T of STARISH who left us unexpectedly last year."

And in the blink of an eye, the whole hall turned downright silent as they also could feel the pain that STARISH members had to swallow.

"It took us all when we learned the truth. Just like how STARISH lost its T, we also feel something's not good when he's not around. If he is still here, we would certainly push him to give the speech. To tell you the truth, we don't have an official leader but for some reasons, we respect him like our leader. Tokiya is the one who set the objective, what we would achieve as a group. His determination lifted up our enthusiasm to strive more and here we are, we achieved this award together with his soul. So, Tokiya, this is for you! Thank you for striving with us!" With the last sentence as Otoya raised up the trophy, a round and big applause was heard again yet this time, it sounded livelier.

Thanks to everyone's support, they grew much stronger without Tokiya.

"Kampai!!"

There were only STARISH members, hanging out after a late night party with Shining Agency members.

"Wow, I can't believe that we actually won," Otoya commented enthusiastically.

"Our life as the winner of the award would be busier after this," Masato sighed in happiness.

"You are right, Hijirikawa. Can you guys imagine what kind of job that each of us will be offered after this?" Ren asked before taking a sip of wine.

"Natsuki would be the spokeperson of children products or the host of a show for kids," Syo suggested.

"That sounds fun! For Syo-chan, he obviously will be casted as an actor for action-packed movies in Hollywood," Natsuki continued.

"Nah, Shinomi. Considering the majority of the casts over there are quite big, I bet Ochibi-chan will get enough screen time or even can show up on camera properly. Instead, he will be mistook for a toddler and casted as the male lead's son instead."

"Shut up, Ren!"

"I just said the truth, right, minnasan? Even Icchi will have fun teasing Ochibi-chan if he is here."

"Yes. What is it, again, minnasan? His notorious line..let's say it together.." they suddenly turned to Syo with a contemptuous look that the small guy hated the most upon hearing Otoya's cue. "I guess puberty doesn't favor you that much, unlike the rest of us."

"I said shut up, you dorks!" Syo screamed like a boiling kettle but it just made him looked three times cuter.

"Well, Ren sure will be a good male lead, considering he is so handsome, have a supermodel body type and alluring smile. I bet he and Tokiya will make a good debut in Hollywood, representing Asia or something," Otoya suggested.

"Yeah. After all, Icchi and me used to be the Sexiest Prince in our school and a lot of famous magazines," Ren smirked.

"Or rather, it was supposed to be only Ichinose but they were afraid that it might hurt your pride as someone who suffers from a prince disease so they decided to choose you as well," Masato commented in irritation, gaining himself laughter from the rest of his teammates.

"And you, Hijirikawa, you will receive tons of jobs as samurai, ninja or something along the line but you will still be stucked when you have to hug a woman," Ren smiled deviously at Masato who typically shot a glare back at him.

"Ah, hope Masato will do just fine. Don't want to make Tokiya disappointed with you after he tried so hard to play a role as a wimpish maiden just for his twin," Cecil brought up the disturbing but funny memory just for the sake of teasing Masato.

"Don't remind me about that, Aijima," Masato warned in horror but the aura around him still looked comical. "How about you? I bet you will act as Aladdin for the rest of your life."

"The 1000th person who called me Aladdin.." Cecil sighed in annoyance. "Even I myself can find the resemblance somehow."

"I hope Cecil-kun will not victimize a second person until he hates cats like Tokiya-kun. It was funny and lovable to see Tokiya-kun would get all frantic everytime he saw a cat nearby," Natsuki chuckled when he recalled about every single memory of Tokiya's scaredy-cat-saga when he bumped into cats.

"Much to his dismay, Izumi-chan also loves cats. Well, as expected from mini Tokiya, right?" Otoya also chuckled as he thought about Izumi.

"I think Ikki and Izumi-chan will make a good combination, you know. Considering Ikki gets along with children well and Izumi-chan is famous for being cute and innocent, I am not surprised if there are such jobs for them," Ren added.

Who knows that every single future job that they predicted for each one of them came true?

"Woww, that's amazing, Ren! It would be fun if I can work with Izumi. Basically, if I work with mini Tokiya, it just feels like Tokiya is still around, right?"

As they heard Otoya's honest and innocent remark, the aura in the room suddenly turned in despair.

It just feels that Tokiya is still around. Yeah, that makes sense.

"Minnasan, if Tokiya is still here, what kind of job will Tokiya get?" Cecil was not sure why he was asking this in the first place.

"Since he is charming and versatile, I think Tokiya will get a lot of works for singing and acting. Tons of international magazines love him since he is photogenic," Syo tried to make it sound casual but his slightly trembling voice said otherwise.

There it was. A pregnant silence as their mind imagined how it would feel if Tokiya was still with them, striving for STARISH.

They insanely missed him.

"I really wish Tokiya-kun will be here with us, to stand on the same stage with us again.." Natsuki's bubbly and ecstatic voice was no longer to be heard. Instead, he clutched his chest as he felt a sharp sorrow crawled into his veins.

"Me too," Masato and Otoya mumbled, almost in unison.

"You guys know what? I thought that Tokiya would end up like what movies always show us. If we change something in the past, the person that we want to save will not die. But I guess I am completely wrong. No matter how hard we try, we cannot save Tokiya. Well, I am not a God anyway. There is no way I can change his destiny," Cecil commented.

Masato, Ren and Natsuki looked gloomier. The wine and some foods on the table no longer atrracted their attention. Until now, they had a hard time to digest that they lost the same person twice.

Syo and Cecil could not hold their tears any longer. They bowed as tears dropped down to their chins.

And so did Otoya. He could not believe that once again, after his parents and aunt, he lost someone who is so precious in his life.

Hope you are good, Tokiya.

"Ne, Aijima-san.."

"What?" Cecil glowered at the blue head who distracted him from completing his task or to be exact, his nth punishment for fighting with Tokiya.. yet again.

They had to write eight pages of apology as assigned by Hyuga.

"About the spell.. I mean.. if you don't change anything from now on, the destiny will stay the same right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Then, if you do change anything from now on, the destiny will be changed, right?"

"Obviously, Tokiya," Cecil groaned in irritation, especially when the fact that he needed to be detained in the same room with Tokiya was stuck in his mind. "You are not going to write the essay? It's rare for you, Tokiya, out of all people to procrastinate..."

Cecil's words were cut by the face expression of Tokiya.

It was mixed with the feelings of happiness and sorrow.

"Tokiya.."

"Hm?"

"You are spaced out. Is there anything I can help you?"

"Aijima-san..." the cobalt blue orbs suddenly looked shining and it made Cecil flinched. "You are so sweet. You want to help someone who used to punch you because of a bento."

"You better tell me what's your concern before I change my mind, you doofus!" Cecil indirectly told the blue head to stop being dramatic when he was apparently being serious.

"Okay," Tokiya's cheeky face suddenly looked concerned but it still showed how much he felt thankful to Cecil. "Actually, I was thinking, is it okay for me to..."

"Hm?"

"Haruka told me tha she used to be pregnant but she missed the chance to tell Toki... I mean the future me, right?"

"Y..yes.." it made Cecil's heart sank yet at the same time, he could grasp what Tokiya tried to say. "Why?"

"I.. I was wondering if you can make her pregnant again.."

It was a downright silence.

"I can make your child alive again in her tummy by making your child live earlier so that he will live longer but it costs you two years from your lifespan since you made the request."

A ridiculously calm smile appeared on the fair-skinned face which made Cecil slightly irritated.

"Saw that coming. Logically, for things like this, it will seek a great sacrifice, right?"

"Then, if you can guess it, why on earth do you ask me for something like that!?" Cecil suddenly got cross. "Are you out of mind, Tokiya? We, especially Haruka came here for you. For you to stay beside her longer than you should and now, you asked me to shorten your life span? What the..."

"You made it sounded like I want to commit a suicide, Aijima-san," Tokiya chuckled. "Well, how should I put it.."

"Put it nicely or I will not help you, Tokiya," Cecil already crossed his arms, seeking for the world most reasonable explaination from the vocalist.

Tokiya cleared his throat. To give the reason why he decided to sacrifice his life for the child meant he had to relate it to his past which was the most terrible thing that he wanted to forget but he had no choices. He had to convince Cecil to help him.

"Since I was a child, I don't really know what it feels when you have your parents around. Sure, my mum raised me but she made me looking at her as my master and I need to be successful in my life. The only thing that made me still loved her is the fact that she is the one who gave birth to me but other than that, I have no sweet memories with her. At that time, I really want to see my father but my mother never allowed me to do so. It was a torture for me."

Cecil's crossed arms slowly dropped by his sides.

"When Haruka and I were expelled temporarily, I took care of her and that's when something crossed my mind. It will be better if the baby is still alive. At least Haruka will not suffer more. I really want to see her being the mother of my child because I love her, Aijima-san. I feel that I can understand what the late Tokiya felt when he saved Haruka from the man who tried to harm her. Haruka gives me more reasons to live my life and who knows, what might happen to me if I never crossed her path. And now, when I learned that I have a child, I want to get a chance to raise him by my own two hands even just for a few years."

Cecil did not give a quick response. Instead, he still considered before coming up with a decision.

"Please, Aijima-san. Please make my child alive again... I want to hold him.."

Cecil exhaled a heavy sigh but it apparently suggested that he would grant the blue head's wish.

"For someone who can be immature to the point of punching his friend just because of a bento, you sure can make me cry with your fatherly speech when you aren't even one."

Tokiya let out a chuckle.

"It's called an instinct, you Kuppuru boy. Every normal human being in this world have unconditional love when it comes to their children."

"Tsk, you consider yourself as normal? You, Tokiya? Just so you know, a normal human being never punch his friend just because of a bento."

"And a normal human being will not just steal others' food like some barbarians."

They stared into each other's eyes with imaginary lightning, shooting to each other before..

"Oi, omaera!!" Hyuga sensei's shout made them dropped from their chair. "You guys still want to fight even when you are in detention? Write another eight pages of apology or you will be stuck here until next week!"

"Ehhhh!!??"

"Mummy, look at me! Do I look like daddy?"

Cecil was suddenly dragged to the reality from being spaced out about Tokiya before turning his attention to the source of voice. All of the souls in Haruka's house including Cecil gasped in shock. Where the hell did this 15 years old Izumi get the smaller version of Tokiya's Maji Love Revolution costume?

"Masato ojichan sew this clothes for me," Izumi pointed his finger straight to Masato, received an 'ooo' exclaimation from the others.

"Tokiya-kun's genes are quite strong, right? I mean... Izumi-chan looks 100 percents like him," Natsuki commented in awe.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with my face?" Izumi rubbed his face in puzzlement.

"Nothing, son. It's just that... You look so much like your daddy. But, yeah.. you are much cuter," Ren commented, comparing Tokiya with Izumi while his big and rough hand stroked the blue hair.

"Is that so, Ren ojichan? That's good to hear," Izumi blushed at the compliment. You do not need to be a genius to guess how happy the boy was when he was compared with his father, as well as his idol.

"Look at that! Tokiya ojichan looks same with Izumi onichan!" Natsuki's son, Naoki exclaimed while jumping excitedly as he found a big picture of STARISH on stage after performing at Triple S decisive concert on the wall.

In unison, the other children gathered in front of the picture. All eyes were glued to Tokiya, who smiled handsomely while being hugged by Otoya.

"Waaaaa, so handsome!" All of them exclaimed in unison, caused a laugh resonated in the living room.

"Tokiya ojichan is so cool.." Ren's daughter, Rena stared at late Tokiya with dreamy eyes.

"He looks cool like our daddy right, Mika? But he doesn't have a weird mushroom head like daddy," Masato's son, Makoto shared his terribly honest opinion with his sister, Mika, much to Masato's irritation.

But no matter how you look at it, nothing could beat the sharp opinion from Syo's twins or to be more exact, his children with the late Risa.

"I thought that Tokiya ojichan will be short as well but.. it seems like he is also taller than daddy. He is even taller than Otoya ojichan," with a dramatic voice, Tatsumi expressed his sympathy for his daddy's tragic height, followed by Yuri's nod while wiping her imaginary tears.

"I promise I will marry a tall man so that my son will not suffer like daddy and Tatsumi oni-chan."

"Oi, omaera! How dare you talked bad about me!?" God knows how irritating for Syo to have children who could talk fluently at such young age but they used it to tease their father.

"Daddy, if you marry Haruka obachan, our next sibling probably will be tall like Izumi oni-chan," Yuri suddenly demanded.

"What kind of logic is that, omaira!? Stop joking around!" Syo threw a fit, sending them to laugh at his comical reaction even he is a father of two growing up twins.

Meanwhile for Haruka who was supposed to be the birthday girl for the gathering, she could not help but staring at Izumi with mixed feelings.

I miss you, Tokiya-kun, she smiled softly as she held the beautiful heart-shaped necklace around her neck. Tonight, along with a cream dressm she wore the set of silver jewellery which is the last birthday present from Tokiya.

I miss you too.

"Eh?" Haruka looked around. She was sure she heard a familiar and sweet voice hit her ears.

"Haruka.." Yachiyo who just came back from the kitchen grabbed her grandaughter's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I.. I am fine. It's just that... I was thinking... God is really amazing, obachan. He took away Tokiya-kun from me but he gave Izumi to me. Tokiya-kun must be proud of his son."

"Sure he is."

"Okay, guys. It's time for the birthday girl!" Tomochika who was busy chatting with the other wives and Megumi suddenly stood and announced.

They gathered around the cake, singing a Happy Birthday song to their beloved composer. Applause was everywhere as she blew the candles.

"Thank you so much, minnasan."

"Nanami, as the representative of STARISH, I would like to say... we wish you to get to smile everyday. Thanks for being a good composer and best friend of STARISH all this time. Please keep writing a good music for us, for everyone," Otoya remarked, gaining himself another a round of applause.

"Thank you minnasan. I will."

"Izumi-chan," Tomochika suddenly gave Izumi a suggestive smile.

"Hai!" Izumi left his friends before getting himself into his bedroom. A few seconds passed before he took out a black camera.

"Mummy, are you ready for the wish from daddy?" Izumi grinned with high expectation.

Haruka nodded softly. Of course that was the thing that she waited the most everytime she celebrated her birthday.

It was a recording from Tokiya and Izumi when the child was still five years old. Tokiya had Izumi recorded his birthday wishes to Haruka for upcoming years.

Haruka could not ask for a better husband. Even he left her since ten years ago, his unconditional love made him seemed still alive in her eyes.

Izumi pressed the 'play' button while the others formed a circle around him, paying their attention to the video.

"Haruka, tanjoubi omedettou!"A string of warm smiles written over their faces as soon as Tokiya showed up. "For this birthday, you are... 36 right? You are getting old but it's okay. I bet you are still beautiful as the first time I know you."

"And now... here is my gift, special for you.. Izumi, give me the camera. Let's sing here with daddy,"

"Okay!" Izumi handed the object before taking place next to Tokiya.

"Okay. Are you ready, dear? One..two..three.."

His gift to her for this year is Nanairo no Compass.

Ah... kimi dake ni todoke
kono kaze no oto yo...

Feeling Heart...

mou nakanakute ii yo sono mama de ii
sora o mite　Ah... My Sweetest Love
Blue... aoku kagayaku　hoo o tsutau sono shizuku

(Izumi: Daddy, Blue is 'ao', right?. Tokiya: Yes).
Rise... shitte ita kai? asu e no hikari da to

(Izumi: Daddy, why are we singing about 'rice'? Are you hungry? Tokiya: No, dear. We are not singing about 'gohan').

The others laughed at Izumi's random question, sending the said boy blushed. Well, it was normal for a child like him to be unable to read the atmosphere.

Truth... kimi wa tabun ne　jibun o mada yoku shiranai
sono namida wa kitto　kimi o michibiku niji ni naru
nagai tabi ni kogoeru nara
Ah... uta de atatamete ageru yo
kimi ga negau koto no zenbu ga hoshi ni naranai kamoshirenai
dakedo shinjiru yume de areba
ikusen aru "yozora no ichiban kirameku hazu no houseki" sa

Their voices blended so well together.

Haruka's eyes started to glisten with tears. Yes, she cried again but it did not mean she still could not accept her destiny. In fact, with the endless support from others, she managed to gather up her moxie to compose more beautiful songs just like what Tokiya suggested. She never mourned for her past, for her husband's death. Instead, she was grateful because she was given the second chance to start over with her late husband, to relish her Crystal Time with Tokiya.

If there was anything that made her still tied to her past was the fact that she never stopped loving Tokiya. Her love to him grew stronger and she was happy to feel the love.

Meeting him, every single moment with him is the Crystal Time in her life. 

"Good job, Izumi!" Tokiya gave a thumbs up to the confused and disheartened Izumi.

"But daddy is too good," he pouted. "Daddy's voice is so good. Izumi is bad."

"Hey, it's okay. When you grow up, your voice will be like mine," he embraced Izumi's shoulder, convinced him.

"And the words are so hard. I don't understand what I sing," Izumi pouted again, much to the others' amusement. "What is 'my sweetest', daddy?"

"Owhh.. do you mean 'My Sweetest Love'?" Tokiya turned to gaze at the screen, right into Haruka's eyes. "Over there. My Sweetest Love is your mummy, Ichinose Haruka."

His casual answer just made the others grinned.

"So, how was it, honey? Do you like it? It's the first song that brought you to meet me when you were sick, right? Just like before, I really wish that my gift to you will cheer you up and give you strength. I love you and see you on the next birthday, Haruka. Bye, bye! Izumi, say goodbye to mummy."

"Goodbye, mummy! See you on your next birthday!" Just like Tokiya, Izumi waved his tiny hands cheerfully.

Izumi pressed the 'off' button, still grinning sincerely at his mother.

"How was it, mummy? Do you love your present?"

Haruka's emotion got the best of her as she embraced Izumi.

To say that she loves the present was totally an understatement.

Her husband left her on her birthday so he would ensure that Haruka would accept his present on her every birthday.

"Thank you so much, Izumi. The best birthday present as always," she muttered softly.

Other women shed their tears, feeling touched with the drama in front of them.

You raised you son well, Ichinose, Masato thought as his eyes never left Izumi.

It's like.. you know you will get youself a very good child, Tokiya. Your decision from a long time ago... there is no way you will regret it, Cecil smiled warmly, admired how his late friend and teammate expressed his love to his wife even he was no longer here beside Haruka.

I love you, Tokiya-kun. Thanks for the wonderful gift.

You're welcome, Haruka. And just remember.. I will always love you too even we no longer can see each other.

THE END

Yeayyyy, it's finally complete!! I know I said this for numerous times but still I want to thank you guys for all the votes, comments and the 'add to library' thingy. They encouraged me to write this first fanfiction of mine. Previously, I was a reader who looked for Utapri fanfiction with a good plot. I found them which are 'Futari no Himitsu', 'The Switch", 'The Switch 2', 'A Date With Haruka Week' and 'Distant Field'. Those stories are from two Utapri fanfiction authors that I admire so much because they know how to utilize STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT's various personality as something entertaining in their stories. Their funny and excellent stories inspired me to produce something like that on my own even I don't think I am a good writer like them. Nevertheless, please let me know what do you think about this chapter or the whole story, okay? Sayonaraaaa!!