It was all going too fast. His mom rocketed out of the room, going for their landline phone in the kitchen.

"Mom! Just use your cellphone!" Tetsu laughed, calling after her.

"Ah, ah, ah, I have to call your papa!" She called back to him, muffled from the other room.

Sawai-san sat down in the blue chair again, her hand on her forehead in shock. I could guess at what she was thinking. All that pride.

"What's happening?" I asked. I still hadn't gotten an answer. It was all a flurry of talking and emotions, all at once, from everyone. I was lost in all of it. He finally hugged me tightly, and put his chin on my shoulder again, making me sigh in happiness.

"I told Keitaro last month, when you were in the hospital, that I wanted to collab with you. I asked him if he'd play piano for us. Remember, when we talked about wanting to duet together on Youtube? I told him about it. Now it's turned into this all of a sudden. I never would have dreamed of it like this," he sighed, pressing his cheek to mine. "I thought we'd just talk about it some more, sometime."

"I want to collab with you," I sighed with him. "Oh, but..." I remembered what I'd thought of during the second phone call. The sudden realization.

"Hmm?" He turned his face to mine, and we were so close to each other. His eyes were sparkling in happiness. So beautiful.

"This is so surreal. I don't think I've ever told you about this." A strange bubbling feeling was starting up in my stomach. Slight nausea. Remembering.

"What is it?" He asked, holding me tighter.

"If Yami were here, he'd freak out," I said, under my breath. Sawai-san perked up at the edge of my vision.

"What's this about Yuuhi?" Sawai-san asked, lowering her hand to her lap, paying the utmost attention.

I turned to her. "Remember back in the day, when we won that contest? How excited we were?" Of course she'd remember. It was so big in our lives, the biggest thing that had ever happened to us, leading to the worst.

"What contest?" Tetsu asked.

"Oh, yes, I remember. You entered a battle of the bands for a spot to be the opening act of some band. I didn't agree with Yuuhi about how hard he was making you all practice. But, he was so excited."

"Yeah. It doesn't sound like you know the full story. I'm surprised." My hands met Tetsu's on my middle, and he wiggled his chin onto my shoulder, getting a better position. It made my heart warm. I hesitated a little. "Well, the band we would have been opening for was Yellow Lizard. The person on the phone just now was Keitaro, the vocalist of Yellow Lizard."

Sawai-san slapped her knees, her mouth opening. I felt Tetsu tense up behind me.

"That's not all," I went on quickly. "Yami was so excited back then, because he thought it was an opportunity to go major. A chance to be discovered. But, we never got to go."

"What? But..." Tetsu sputtered.

"It's all coming full circle. If you want Lyra to be involved, the same person who Yami thought could help us go major will be helping us go major." I stared forward, fully realizing what I was saying.

"But... I remember that. Wait, this can't be happening. I know exactly what you're talking about. This can't be real." Tetsu gasped. "How can this be real?"

"Huh?" My eyes went wide. What was he talking about? "What do you mean you 'remember'?"

"K- Keitaro... A long time ago. He said he was excited about a band that had won the spot to open for the kick off of their Summer tour, but that band stood them up. It was chaos. That can't have been Lyra." He lifted his chin from my shoulder, shaking his head slightly. "He was so angry. He was so passionate about showing that band off, saying he was going to make it his personal project. But, he said he cut them off because they stood him up. That can't have been you. Wait... This doesn't make any sense. I have to call him back."

He picked his phone up from my lap.

"Wh-" I started. He'd heard about it? My mind went a little dizzy.

"Wait, but- that was you?!" He blurted out, his phone hanging in the air, pausing. "He was so excited! Talking about this young band, going on and on. Saying how unique their sound was. I told him, 'yeah, yeah', because I wasn't into visual kei, I wouldn't have known the difference..." He paused for a moment. His tone changed, much more gentle. "I can't believe this... Keitaro always says visual kei is such a small world, but this?" He rose his phone up again, waking it up and typing in Keitaro's number so quickly. "He's not going to believe this. This is the craziest thing. It's almost like..." He pressed the call button. "...Fate," he breathed.

"Fate..." I repeated, quietly, shock overtaking me.

Tetsu's parents, Natsuko, and Haru were gathered around the dinner table with us, and everyone was quiet. Tetsu had just told them what was exactly going on, from Keitaro telling us about his company's offer about a mini album, the temporary major contract for it, them getting the permission for Tetsu to do it as Aurelia, Lyra's involvement, and my story about how we were going to work with Keitaro in the past, and Keitaro's overwhelming shocked response to that fact. How it had been so long ago, that he'd forgotten our band's name, but now that we'd jogged his memory it all came back. How thrilled he was, how much more excited. All of it such a big coincidence, all of it so crazy, coming on so sudden.

Finally, Natsuko spoke. She cleared her throat. "This is all so exciting," she said, sounding a bit unsure. "But, think about it realistically. I know it's all so exciting, but can you do it? I don't want to be negative, that's not my intention. How can I put this delicately?"

"I thought about that, too. Don't worry about having to be delicate about it," Tetsu said, holding my hand under the table. I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb, lovingly. "I've been thinking all afternoon. I know we'll have to pace ourselves. I don't know what will happen. But, I believe we can do this."

"I believe in you, too," she said, "but I can't say I'm not worried."

"Stop being so negative," their mom interjected, half scolding. "This is such a wonderful thing." She turned to Tetsu, her hand going on his shoulder. He smiled at her, relief in his face. "It was such a terrible thing when your company let you go. So, this happening is wonderful. I don't know the outcome, but I know you'll try hard. You always do. I think it will be a great success. We'll stand behind you both. There's nothing to worry about."

Haru's uneasiness showed in the way his eyebrows were up more than usual. He lifted his chopsticks to his mouth, not saying anything. Natsuko's hand smacked his chest, and he almost lost the morsel of chicken on his chopsticks. "Back me up here," she sighed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I think it's wonderful," he said, echoing their mom's words.

"That's not what you said back at the house. What happened to your concerns about Sana's health in this?" She asked. "I thought those were valid points."

He cleared his throat, clearly nervous. We all stared at him. He lowered his chopsticks to his plate. Reality was already seeping in at her words. The excitement going away a little.

"Well, we were talking at home. I don't want to bring a damper on this. But, my professional opinion is that I'm a bit concerned. You can't get ahead of yourselves with this. Remember Sana's health. I know he's doing better, and that's great, but it's been unpredictable."

Tetsu nodded, squeezing my hand more. I squeezed his back. "I've been thinking about that, I promise," he tried to assure him. "But, Sana's on all these new medications. We have his diabetes device now, to tell us if things are going bad in that regard. His heart is really responding to his new heart medications. His asthma has been well controlled, because it's not Winter anymore. I think we're getting somewhere with it." He glanced at me, giving me a quick smile. I smiled back. What he was saying was right.

"True, but it hasn't been that long since he was in the hospital. What about the ketoacidosis problem he had? His illness won't stop just because you have a new and exciting prospect in your professional life, I'm sorry," Haru said, a bit too bluntly.

Tetsu shook his head slowly as Haru was talking, and I shrank a little, seeing his frustrated expression. His fingers interlaced with mine, holding my hand firmly. "Don't try to tell me that," he said, his voice no more harsh than before, sending relief through me.

"I see I've upset you, I'm sorry. That's why I didn't want to bring it up," Haru apologized.

"No, don't apologize," Natsuko sighed. "Tetsu, what we're trying to say is... We're not trying to discourage you. But, we know how much goes into making an album. How much work it takes. Whatever pace you have, with Sana's unpredictability, do you think it will be okay? I want this to work out, believe me I do, but I'm just worried. We both are."

"I appreciate that." Tetsu began swinging our hands a little bit under the table, and his friendly response surprised me a bit. I'd expected an outburst like Yami would, but I realized that wasn't like Tetsu. More relief spread through me.

"No matter what, we'll support you," their mom said, breaking into the conversation. She was so gentle. "If there's challenges, you always have your family."

"Thank you," Tetsu said, so calm.

His papa made a grumbling noise, and we looked at the head of the table. "Just eat," he said.

We all heeded his advice.

Later on, Natsuko and Haru had left, but not before warning us again. I knew they were just trying to show us reality, trying to bring us back to earth. It was easy to get carried away. Tetsu handled it maturely, further making me want to cling to him.

But, it was also true what Tetsu had said at the dinner table. I did seem to be doing better. I was tired a lot, but I wasn't in crisis. That was the difference. I was entering into a predictable pattern of when I was tired, which reminded me of before my crisis in December. I always would get tired around 2pm a bit, but I could handle that. Now I was getting tired after breakfast and after dinner, both big meals of the day. It made sense, with my body trying to process all that food. That was predictable, so different from before.

My new medications did seem to be working well. He made me realize that. I wasn't getting pounding in my heart anymore when provoked. My asthma problems which always got worse with the Winter weather were over for now, with it going into the height of Spring. I was feeling stronger, able to move a bit better. Haru was right, my health problems definitely weren't over and it could still be unpredictable, but I had hope. The idea of the mini album was giving me hope. And hope is so important in healing.

I was in bed, and Tetsu was putting on his pajamas. He seemed so different, a spring in his step. Even his movements were different, more excited and quick. Something was back that had been taken from him. It was obvious to see.

Finally, he made his way to the bed, climbing onto his side. I rolled over, and spread my arms out to him. He snuggled into them, and I wrapped one around him, pulling him in. His arm went over me, and I puckered my lips. His kiss met me, and there was such exuberance there. That unnamed thing that was back inside of him leading the way. So familiar, reminding me of before.

He was back. That was it. There was no mistaking it. His happiness that I'd been concerned about. Wondering if he was really happy. This energy in him now. That's what it was.

He was happy.

I wanted to cry.

He pushed my head back a little, his kiss so full of life. His arm tightened around my waist, bringing it closer to his own. His passionate voice went into my mouth, and his tongue entered it immediately after, and my own voice joined his. His other arm pushed under me, lifting me up and he rolled, bringing me on top of him. His hands slid down my back, landing on my butt, squeezing. This boldness.

I let him take me, enjoying every moment of his beautiful elation.