Chapter Text
It was that day again…
“Why can’t you just play a simple song, Sunny?!”
The day of the recital…
“I’m doing the best I can!”
It always starts with this day…
“You’re going to ruin everything! Do you know how much money we had to get to buy you that violin?!”
And, in a way, everything ends with this day, too.
“Shut up! I hate you!”
“Guys, stop fighting!”
The Suzuki siblings, who were on top of the stairs, both turned their attention to the new person in the room. A small, frail boy with a panicked expression on his face as he ran up the stairs towards the siblings. Tears were rushing down his face as he moved to separate the siblings.
“Please stop! This isn’t like you two!”
The two siblings continued to glare at each other despite Basil’s words. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Two siblings that loved each other more than anything else were now practically at each other’s throats.
Mari was the first to break the silence.
“Stay out of this, Basil. This doesn’t concern you.”
Basil couldn’t help but stutter a bit as he turned to Mari, arms outstretched to stop the siblings from approaching each other.
“No! I won’t! You two are supposed to be close! You two shouldn’t be making each other cry like this!”
Mari raised an eyebrow. Frankly, all Basil was managing to do was make her even more frustrated. He just didn’t GET IT! And now he was acting like Sunny was cr-
…Oh.
Mari looked at Sunny, and while it was clear that there was still anger in his eyes, there were also tears. Tears that betrayed the true emotion that Sunny was desperately trying to suppress.
Fear.
Mari’s expression softened as she saw what was going on. How could she do this? She never wanted to make Sunny afraid of her… She closed her eyes and sighed.
“Sunny, I…”
“Hey everyone! We’re heeeeere!”
Basil and the siblings both looked to the door as Kel barged straight into the house, followed closely by Hero. Hero couldn’t help but chuckle at his little brother’s antics, but those chuckles quickly stopped as he got a look at the situation. Mari and Sunny, being separated by Basil? Why was Sunny crying? And Mari looked absolutely furious!
“Mari? What’s going on?”
Mari and Sunny looked at each other for a moment, thinking about what to say before Basil blurted it out.
“Mari and Sunny are fighting!”
Oh no. Hero started marching up the stairs. This was going to end poorly.
It didn’t help that Aubrey had just arrived as well.
“Hm? Hey, why’s everyone on the stairs? Did I miss something?”
---
“We’ve got some time before the recital. I want you two to sit down and talk this out. Clearly you’re both angry and frustrated at each other, but if neither of you listen, you won’t get anywhere.”
Sunny had never seen Hero like this before. Sure, he’s mediated some fights between Kel and Aubrey before, but those were just petty squabbles that he sort of just… separated them from.
Never anything like this.
Everyone was seated at the dining room table. Mari and Sunny were across from each other, with Hero and Basil at the heads of the table. Aubrey was to Sunny’s right, and Kel was to Mari’s left.
“...”
Hero sighed. Looks like these two were really content with just staring at each other and waiting for an apology.
“Listen… I know you’re both upset with each other and I know you want the other to apologize, but we aren’t going to go anywhere unless one of you starts speaking up about what’s going on.”
Mari frowned at those words. This was something she hadn’t seen from Hero before, either. He’s gotten serious plenty of times, but he’s never really stepped up to be a leader like he is right now. She had to admit… It was pretty attractive.
But now isn't the time for that. For now, she turned to Sunny and decided to start talking.
“Alright, if Sunny isn’t going to talk, I will. We got into an argument on the stairs because Sunny ran away during our last second practice.”
Sunny flinched. He turned to the side, keeping quiet as Mari continued to speak.
“We would always play it perfectly, up until that one part. That one note that Sunny always plays too high. And he kept missing it again, and again, and again.”
Sunny’s eyes began to water. A sniffle could be heard from him as Mari kept going.
“Every day! Every day I tried to get him to practice more just for him to not improve even the slightest bit! I just don’t understand, why is this so difficult for you?! Say something, Sunny!”
The other kids at the table couldn’t help but be uncomfortable at how loud Mari was speaking. Kel simply looked away from everyone while Aubrey turned towards Sunny. A concerned look was plastered on her face as Sunny finally began speaking.
“I-I just… I just wanted to spend time with you, Mari…”
…Silence hung over the dining room as everyone watched Sunny start to tear up. It was quiet, but everyone felt like they could hear him loud and clear.
“I-I just… I-I wanted to spend time with my sister… I was scared that… th-that I’d lose you soon, and that I w-wouldn’t be able to spend time with you again… A-And you were so busy with the piano that I just… I just wanted… to be with you…”
Sunny kept sniveling, trying to wipe the tears away from his eyes. Everyone on the table had their expressions soften.
“B-But the more I played the violin… Th-The less time I had to spend with my friends… All I wanted was t-to spend time with them…”
Kel got up from his chair and started softly rubbing his back. A smile was plastered on his face as he began trying to cheer up his friend.
“Sunny… Don’t worry! No matter what, we’ll always be here with you! Isn’t that right, guys?”
Everyone else at the table smiled and nodded. Aubrey got up and hugged Sunny’s arm.
“Yeah! We’re always gonna be here for you, Sunny!”
A smile crept onto Sunny’s face, his eyes still full of tears as he accepted the affection from his friends.
“Th-Thank you…”
Mari, on the other hand, just clicked her tongue. So that’s what it was about. Sunny just didn’t care about the violin… Well maybe he should’ve thought about that before he signed up! Now it was the day of the recital and he was talking about not wanting to do it! It’s too late for that, Sunny!
“Mari.”
Mari was snapped out of her thoughts as Hero called out to her. The frustration and anger was still clear on her face, and she didn’t even bother trying to hide it from Hero. Mari walked over to him.
“What do you want, Hero?”
Mari’s harsh tone caused Hero to flinch, but he brushed it off. Mari needed his help right now, and he was going to give it.
“You should apologize to Sunny.”
“Why? He has no one to blame for this but himself.”
Hero sighed and looked her in the eyes.
“Mari, he’s a kid. All he wanted to do was spend time with you. He said it himself!”
Mari grit her teeth and clenched her fists. Hero just didn’t get it, did he? None of them did.
“You of all people should know why it’s not that simple, Hero!”
Hero’s expression hardened.
“It’s because I know that I’m telling you not to take your frustrations out on Sunny. He’s doing his best! What matters more to you: making sure the recital is perfect, or making sure your little brother is happy?”
Mari froze for a moment. As much as she wanted to refute his words… She knew he was right. All she was doing was taking out her anger on her little brother… All because he didn’t match her ideas of perfectionism. Letting out a sigh, she turned to go talk to Sunny-
“Alright kids, it’s time for the recital! Everyone ready to go?”
-Only to be interrupted by her father. Everyone at the table froze.
That’s right. The recital was still happening. Everyone looked between each other.
…This was awkward.
---
Sunny was holding onto his violin backstage. To say he was nervous would be understatement. Frankly, he was terrified. Everything he’s worked for, every moment spent practicing this god forsaken instrument was all for this.
And all the while, he couldn’t help but think about how much he didn’t want to do this.
The talk with Mari earlier was still swirling in his head. If it wasn’t for some clever makeup, he was sure his eyes would still be red and puffy. He just needed to get this over with, and he’d never have to play the violin ever aga-
“Little brother… Everything’s going to be okay.”
A chill shot up Sunny’s spine as Mari’s hand was put onto his shoulder. With a bit of a hesitant expression, Sunny turned back to his older sister standing over him.
“Mari…”
Mari couldn’t help but flinch as she saw the slight amount of fear in Sunny’s eyes. Did their argument really affect him that badly?
“Sunny, I… I’m sorry.”
Sunny, who was entirely expecting to hear a lecture from Mari, couldn’t help but let his mouth open slightly in surprise as she apologized to him.
“I know it’s not an excuse for how I acted, but I was so stressed to make sure this recital was perfect, and I wanted to put on a great show… And all of that piled up until I took it out on you. And I’m sorry for that.”
Sunny was silent, not moving an inch as he waited for Mari to continue. Mari put a hand on both of Sunny’s shoulders and crouched down to match his eye level.
“I just want to let you know that, no matter what, you’re my beloved little brother. It doesn’t matter if our performance isn’t perfect… I still love you, okay? And I’ll always be with you as your big sister. So let’s just go out there and do our best, little brother!”
Sunny felt like he was going to start crying all over again. He wrapped his arms around Mari and gave her as big a hug as he could muster. Mari softly giggled as she returned the gesture to her little brother.
”And now, last but certainly not least, Mari and Sunny Suzuki!”
The two siblings pulled away from each other as their names were called, turning to the stage.
“Well, this is it, little brother. Let’s show them what we’re made of.”
Mari held onto Sunny’s hand as the two of them walked out on stage to roaring applause.
---
Two Weeks Later…
All things must come to an end, and summer was no different… Sunny and Kel were standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to come and pick them up for school.
Sunny never minded school that much. Sure, he preferred summer just like any other kid, but he was never adverse to learning and the like.
Of course, Kel seemed to disagree.
“Ugh, I can’t believe it’s time for school already… Why can’t summer just be year-round?”
“Mhm.”
“Like seriously! It’s-”
Kel, who was lost in his ramblings for a bit, turned to the side to see Sunny staring off into space. Not exactly an uncommon thing for Sunny, but Kel was always curious to see what Sunny was thinking about.
“What’s up, Sunny? You’re staring off again.”
“Aubrey isn’t here.”
Kel looked over to where Sunny was staring. Sure enough, Aubrey wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Kel tilted his head in confusion.
“Huh… Yeah, you’re right. Shouldn’t she be here by now? She was here yesterday.”
Sunny didn’t respond. He simply just… continued staring out into space. Why wasn’t Aubrey here? Well, Sunny had an idea, but it wasn’t one he wanted to entertain for very long. If something was going on with her at home…
He shuddered. Sunny really hoped that wasn’t what was happening…
“Sunny! The bus is here!”
Sunny was snapped out of his thoughts by Kel, who was already stepping onto the bus. Sunny, with a slight flush on his face, stepped onto the bus behind him.
“Geez, you’re spacing out a lot today, Sunny! Any more and the teachers will chew you out in class.”
Sunny couldn’t help but give a small smile in response. Kel was always such a goofball… He always puts him in a good mood. Kel smiled as he took his seat right next to Basil, while Sunny sat right across from them. The bus started moving along, and eventually, they passed by Aubrey’s house.
Sunny really wished she was okay.
---
The Next Day…
“She isn’t here again…”
Sunny couldn’t help but frown as he noticed that Aubrey wasn’t at the bus stop once again. Being gone for one day without a word was worrying, but nothing to freak out over… Now though? None of them had heard a word from her on why she wasn’t coming to school. It seemed like Kel was starting to get worried too.
“Yeah… What do you think’s going on, Sunny? You think she’s okay?”
Sunny wanted to tell Kel that she would be fine and that there was nothing to worry about, but he knew for a fact that wasn’t the case. Something was wrong, and he wasn’t going to sit here and do nothing about it. So, he started walking.
“Huh? Hey, Sunny! Where are you going?”
“I’m going to check on Aubrey. I’ll be back.”
Sunny never even turned around as he quickly gave his reply. Kel was just left sputtering in disbelief as he watched his friend continue walking away.
“But… But the bus! It…”
Kel groaned and facepalmed. Well, he couldn’t exactly just leave Sunny by himself…
“Wait up, Sunny!”
Kel ran after Sunny to catch up with him.
After a while, the two of them made it to Aubrey’s house. Sunny, ever the go-getter apparently, walked up and knocked on the door without a word. Kel, on the other hand, had a few words for Aubrey.
“Aubrey, are you in there? You haven’t been showing up to school! Is everything okay?!”
“Kel, would you just shut up?! I’m-”
Aubrey was snapping back at Kel as she opened the door, only to be met with the stoic expression of Sunny. She stopped in her tracks, looking him in the eye for a moment in shock.
“Oh… Hi Sunny.”
“Hi Aubrey.”
Kel could only look between the two as the awkward tension lingered in the air. Was he missing something? She was so dismissive of him, but as soon as she saw it was Sunny, she’s totally fine with it?
“Uh… Yeah! Anyways, Sunny and I came here to check on you! You haven’t been showing up to school lately…”
Sunny nodded his head in confirmation, waiting for Aubrey to respond. Aubrey swallowed, looking between her two friends as she awkwardly chuckled.
“Um… Yeah, sorry… I-I haven’t been feeling great… Yeah. Sorry to worry you guys…”
Sunny tilted his head in confusion. He knew that wasn’t all it was, but when Aubrey made eye contact with him, she just slammed the door in his face. Sunny’s eyes widened a bit as she did that.
“Wh- Hey! Aubrey, what was that for?!”
Kel let out a sigh as he pat Sunny on the back.
“I guess she just needs some time to herself, huh? We’d better head back.”
Sunny hung his head, but silently nodded. Maybe she just wasn’t comfortable talking about it with Kel around? After all, he didn’t know about what was going on…
“Huh? Hey, stop! Wait! Pick us up!”
Sunny turned around to see Kel waving frantically as the bus was about to pass them. Sunny quickly sprung into action and ran towards the bus that was about to pass them up.
Maybe he should’ve thought of this.
“Waaaaaait!”
---
Later That Day…
“Bye Sunny! See ya tomorrow!”
Sunny waved Kel off as the two of them stepped off the school bus. Sunny waited until Kel was inside his house before pivoting and walking over to Aubrey’s.
Aubrey could try to pass it off as sickness as much as she wanted, but Sunny knew better. And as much as he was willing to give her her privacy, he couldn’t sit back and watch as she isolated herself from everyone. He needed to make sure she knew that she was loved and appreciated.
knock knock
Once again, Sunny silently knocked on the door. Once again, Aubrey opened it. Once again, the two of them made eye contact.
“...Sunny…”
“Aubrey. Kel isn’t here with me this time. You can tell the truth.”
Aubrey froze. So, Sunny was able to see right through her. Aubrey grabbed onto her right arm, awkwardly shifting in place as she looked at the ground.
“...Sunny, I think it’d be best if you didn’t know.”
Sunny held his stoic expression as Aubrey said that. After a brief pause, Sunny responded.
“I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I know, but-”
“AUBREY! WHO’S THAT AT THE DOOR?!”
Aubrey flinched at the loud yelling from behind her. She turned and screamed back.
“N-No one! Just someone trying to sell us something!”
“Tell them to fuck off! We’re not interested!”
Aubrey, who had a worried expression on her face, looked back at Sunny.
“I’m sorry…”
She closed the door on him once again. Sunny had a hard time hiding how hurt he felt as he turned around and started walking home.
He wasn’t going to give up on this. Sunny may be quiet, but he was incredibly stubborn, especially when it came to his friends.
He would get Aubrey out.
---
It had been eight months since then. Every day, Sunny would visit Aubrey’s House after school. Every day, he would knock on her door.
Every day, he was met with no one. Aubrey stopped answering the door after that first encounter.
“What’s on your mind, little bro?”
Sunny was lazily lying down on the couch and staring up at the ceiling when Mari approached him. He slowly rolled over, giving a look to his sister before rolling back onto his back. Mari gave a devious smirk and crossed her arms.
“Little brother of mine, you know what happens when we don’t talk to each other about our feelings…”
The less said about that whole fiasco, the better. Mari sighed and walked over to Sunny, softly parting his hair.
“Is this about Aubrey?”
Sunny was a little surprised to hear her say that. He turned to her with a confused expression.
“How’d you know?”
“You’ve been getting back home from school later than I have lately, Sunny. I thought you were just spending extra time with Kel and Basil, but I saw you walking to Aubrey’s house one time when I was getting home from school. So, I had a decent idea.”
Sunny sighed. He’d never be able to get anything by her, was he? He looked back up at the ceiling.
“...I’m worried about her. She hasn’t come to school this entire year. We’re already almost at the end…”
Mari hummed to herself a little bit, nodding as she continued listening to Sunny.
“I just… She told me about some stuff going on. Like, before this happened. And I can’t help but be worried about her…”
“Hm… Seems to me like she’s going through a tough time. Would you like to go visit her together? Maybe she’d be more receptive to another girl coming to visit!”
Well… Sunny wasn’t so convinced, but it was worth a shot, right? Sunny sighed and hauled himself out of bed, putting on his shoes as he headed out of the house. Mari happily followed behind him. Truth be told, she was pretty worried about Aubrey as well, so this was a good excuse to go and check on her! With that thought in mind, the two of them happily walked down to Aubrey’s house.
However, as they did…
“Mari… Do you smell that?”
Mari looked down at her younger brother in confusion, but when she sniffed… Sure enough, there was something strange.
“Hm, you’re right… That smells like smoke. Is something burning?”
Walking down the road gave them their answer. When Aubrey’s house was in sight…
…They saw the entire house on fire. The Suzuki siblings looked on in horror at the sight they had seen.
“Oh my god… What happened?!”
While Mari looked on in shock, it took her a moment to notice that Sunny wasn’t next to her. Instead, he was rushing straight into the burning house.
“Sunny? Sunny! Sunny, what are you doing?! Don’t go in there!”
“I have to go save Aubrey! Mari, call 9-1-1!”
“How do you even know she’s in there?! Sunny, don’t hurt yourself!”
However, it was too late. Sunny had already rushed into the house, and now he was dealing with the consequences of his actions. The entire house was in flames… rotten, burning wood was falling down from the ceiling. Despite that, Sunny had no time to sit and wait. He had to find Aubrey.
“Aubrey! Aubrey, are you in here?!”
Sunny frantically called out to her, but got no answer. This was bad. Was she already…?
No. Sunny shook his head. Aubrey was alive, he knew it. Sunny looked over to the ladder to Aubrey’s room, quickly rushing over and climbing it up. His entire body was burning up. It hurt to breathe. His eyes were watering from all the smoke. And yet, he had no choice but to keep going. When he reached the hatch, he quickly opened it, despite the burning sensation in his hand.
“Aubrey! Aubrey, are you in here?!”
Sure enough, as Sunny peered into the room, there was Aubrey. Cowering in a corner, terrified. Her expression turned to one of shock as Sunny entered the room.
“S-Sunny?! What are you doing here?!”
Sunny quickly crawled off of the ladder and made his way over to Aubrey.
“No time for that! Aubrey, we have to get out of here! Come on, grab my hand!”
Sunny did his best to reach out to Aubrey, and despite some hesitation, she took his hand. The entire house was falling apart, and Aubrey had no other choice.
Aubrey was with him. Now, all he needed to do was to just get to the entrance to the house. It wasn’t that far from Aubrey’s room! He just needed to-
Snap!
Sunny looked up at the sound of the snap. A large, burning piece of wood was about to fall on top of him. With no other choice, Sunny instinctively blocked it with his left arm.
“AUGH!”
“Sunny!”
Aubrey screamed out as she saw Sunny collapse to his knees. Sunny’s arm was on fire… the sound of fire trucks were blaring outside… Aubrey was on the verge of complete panic.
“Sunny, say something! Please!”
The tears in her eyes were becoming worse. She could barely see. There was another figure standing around the door. There was help? The person was saying something, but she couldn’t hear. All she could focus on was Sunny’s breathing. She had to get him out of here…
…With the last of her strength, Aubrey slowly hauled Sunny out of the building. Once she knew he was safe, she passed out.
“Aubrey! Sunny! Are you two okay?! Plea-”
And then nothing.