Work Text:
MARI gripped the edges of the sink with both hands, her forehead nearly touching the mirror.
She looked terrible.
The reflection staring back at her was pale and tense, strands of disheveled hair clinging to her forehead. This was not how someone about to step onto a stage was supposed to look.
MARI took a deep breath, turned on the faucet, and splashed handfuls of cold water onto her face, trying to calm herself down.
The rehearsal from moments ago replayed in her mind.
SUNNY’s violin technique had become exceptional, far better than she had ever expected when they first began. And yet, whenever they reached the same passage, he made almost exactly the same mistake.
MARI had made him start over again and again until, at last, she could no longer keep herself from scolding him. She told SUNNY that they were out of time. The recital was tonight, and everyone had worked so hard for it. He could not keep making a mistake he should have corrected long ago, not at the very last moment.
She did not understand.
SUNNY was capable of playing it correctly.
So why did he always make a mistake at that exact spot?
Only three hours remained before the recital, and all their friends would be there.
What if the performance went badly? Would everyone be disappointed? Their friends had spent an entire summer earning enough money to buy SUNNY that violin. Would they think all that effort had gone to waste? She and SUNNY had practiced for so long. This recital was supposed to become a memory that all of them would treasure.
She only wanted everything to be perfect.
She did not want SUNNY to have any regrets.
Back in the piano room, when she pointed out the mistake one last time, she had accidentally shouted at him. SUNNY had not lowered his head as he normally did, nor had he silently raised his bow and begun again.
He had simply stood before her, clutching the violin, his face pale and both hands stiff around the bow.
There had been nothing in his eyes but fear.
He was only nervous.
Everyone became nervous before stepping onto a stage, and SUNNY had never been good at expressing how he felt. Once the recital was over, everything would return to normal.
She would apologize to him then.
She could take him somewhere to eat his favorite food, spend the entire day playing with him, and promise not to make him touch the violin again. Perhaps she could even use the opportunity to ask him about AUBREY.
Whenever AUBREY’s name came up, the tiny expressions on SUNNY’s face never escaped her notice.
At the thought of his flustered little face, some of the tension finally left MARI’s expression.
After the recital, she would make it up to him properly.
But not now.
**CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!**
SUNNY stood at the top of the staircase, staring down at the violin lying shattered at the bottom. Splinters and broken pieces were scattered across the floor. His breathing came fast and uneven as a flood of tangled emotions surged through him, accompanied by a strange, almost sickening sense of relief.
“SUNNY!? What happened?”
MARI rushed out of the bathroom, her face filled with concern.
She saw SUNNY standing beside the staircase, the violin bow clenched tightly in his hand, his chest heaving. But when her gaze fell upon the ruined violin below, every trace of concern was swallowed by anger.
“What did you do?!” she nearly screamed. “We all spent the entire summer earning money for that violin! What are we supposed to do about the recital tonight?!”
SUNNY froze in place, his hand trembling faintly.
He tried to speak, but his heart felt as though it were pounding against his throat. He struggled to force out a few words.
“I… don’t want to… I don’t want to perform…”
MARI’s eyes widened, shock and fury rising across her face at once.
“What did you say? You don’t want to perform? Then why didn’t you tell us sooner? Why did you hide it from us until now?!”
Each of MARI’s questions pierced SUNNY like a thorn.
He lowered his head, trying to regain control, but a headache began to tear through him, as though countless sharp voices were assaulting his mind. His lips trembled as he desperately tried to explain.
“I… I just…”
“Are you even listening to me?!” MARI shouted, finally losing control.
She seized SUNNY by the arm, gripping him so tightly that he could not pull away.
SUNNY’s awareness grew increasingly hazy.
MARI’s voice began to break apart, becoming distorted and disordered, like a jumble of wrong notes buzzing inside his ears. He tried to wrench himself free, but the pain and terror made it impossible to focus. His vision blurred and twisted as he stumbled backward.
Then, suddenly, the ground vanished beneath him.
He saw—
_MARI’s terrified expression._
_The world spinning around him._
_Something piercing through his right eye._
And then—
Endless darkness.
.
.
.
Welcome to White Space.