Taro and Kokoro: Towards the stars

Saying Taro was utterly baffled would have been an understatement. Every song he had played on the highjacked café boombox, Kokoro was able to correctly guess in less than a minute.

“How about this one?” Taro asked, scrolling through a list of international artists and selecting the third song among the artist’s best hits.

“Remember me by Solo.” Kokoro replied almost instantaneously, showing him the name of the artist and song which she had correctly guessed by writing it down on her phone.

Taro looked up at her in disbelief. She had to be cheating in some way. She just had to.

“How do you know so many artists and songs?” Taro asked, waiting for her to finish typing her response. As she did so, Taro took stok of their ever-growing situation with the highjacked boombox. Almost all of the waiters and employees had gathered around the sound system and were trying to figure out why the songs kept repeatedly changing on their own. Soon enough, they were going to realize that their equipment was being remotely tampered with by someone in the building. He was going to have to disconnect within the next minute or so.

When he returned his attention to Kokoro, she was already holding her phone out for him to read her reply.

“I listen to them all the time. When I’m cleaning, eating, drawing, painting, even when I’m doing nothing and just resting. Music keeps me company all the time. The only reason I’m not listening to them right now is because I’m with you and we’re hanging out.”

“Wow.” Taro simply said for a lack of a better word. “Seems like you are really passionate about music huh.”

Kokoro initially smiled following Taro’s statement, but then her face suddenly shifted into a gloomy expression.

“Sorry, is something wrong?” Taro asked, concerned. For a brief moment he thought he accidentally said something to hurt her feelings without even knowing, but then Kokoro eased his anxiety by shaking her head in response.

“Then what’s the problem?” Taro asked. “Why do you suddenly look sad?”

Kokoro stared at him for a bit before deciding to give a reply. Taro immediately saw the change in her demeanor. Her movements were sluggish as she reached for her phone. The vibrant smile that once decorated her face was no longer there, and the colors that warmed her cheeks only a minute ago had completely disappeared. She didn’t even look like the Kokoro from yesterday. Something was very wrong. And Taro couldn’t help but suspect he might have caused it.

“Kokoro.” Taro was just about to apologize for, he wasn’t even quite sure. But a shadow suddenly loomed over their table cutting him off.

It was the manager. And from the angry look on the man’s face, he had figured out that Taro was the culprit messing with their boombox.

Taro could only flash a nervous smile in response.

***

Outside the café, Taro was now walking beside Kokoro after they were both kicked out of the establishment for tampering with the equipment. They had been walking in silence since the incident, but Taro suddenly decided to utilize the opportunity to speak up.

“Hey, um, I’m really sorry for getting us kicked out back there.” Taro said, reaching to scratch the back of his head.

Kokoro immediately covered her mouth following Taro’s apology.

“Wait, are you laughing?”

Kokoro now used both hands to cover her mouth, but her shoulders were still twitching.

“You are laughing, aren’t you?” Taro tried getting a good look at Kokoro’s face, but she refused to let him see by turning her head in the opposite direction.

“And here I was worried about you.”

Taro didn’t really get the depth of his words until they exited his mouth. That was when his eyes shot open at what he just said. He had just essentially confirmed to Kokoro that he cared about her. What was he thinking? How had he managed to let that slip?

He suddenly became hyper-aware of their situation, which in turn made him extremely nervous. He tried playing it off by scratching the back of his head again, but Kokoro reached out and grabbed hold of his hand.

He was speechless. He just stood there, gazing into Kokoro’s eyes. Somehow though, he found his anxiety levels dropping rapidly. He no longer had the urge to scratch the back of his head from embarrassment. He was at peace. And calm.

“Would you maybe like to play some games with me?” Taro asked, riding his newly found confidence thanks to the girl holding onto his arm and keeping him rooted in sanity. Kokoro smiled, then responded with a simple nod of her head.

***

The first game they played was a target-shooting game. Thanks to Taro’s experience with immersive first-person shooters, he was able to easily win a giant stuffed teddy bear for Kokoro on his first try. As a reward, Kokoro pretended to look at something in his ear only to then quickly plant a kiss on his cheek. This caused Taro’s brain to short circuit.

The second game they played was who could paint the fastest. Using traditional tools, Kokoro competed against four other girls while Taro stood holding the teddy bear in the corner. Kokoro was able to finish before the clock ran out coming in second, and when she showed Taro her painting, he was at a loss for words.

Her painting was a picture of him on his golden and black hover-bike from yesterday, when he was waving at them as they were about to board a hover-bus.

The rest of the games they played were more casual. Goldfish scooping, balloon darts, ring toss. They couldn’t go on any of the high-tech rides due to Kokoro’s condition, but when Taro noticed Kokoro gazing longingly at a group of people having fun on a gravity lift, one of those rides that simulated the experience of floating in zero G, Taro suddenly had an idea.

***

Kokoro was seated on her wheelchair while she waited for Taro who had excused himself to visit the bathroom. She had avoided drinking too many liquids all day specifically so she wouldn’t have to worry about all of that. She was busy playing with the teddy bear Taro had gotten her, admiring the furry stuffed toy as it was the first time a boy had ever gotten her something. Then Taro showed up from a different direction than he had left, and asked her to come with him.

They were now inside of a massive room with high walls and a glass roof. Beyond the glass, the sky was black, not really matching the sunset sky outside.

Kokoro was confused. What were they doing here?

“A slight confession,” Taro said to her as he began walking to the opposite wall of the large room. “Remember how I said I was going to the bathroom before?”

Kokoro nodded.

“Yeah, I didn’t really go. I just needed an excuse to come here and try this place out for myself, while also striking a deal with the manager.”

Taro opened a small compartment on the wall, took out a few things, and walked back towards her, handing her a small remote.

“We are currently standing in a gravity lift.” Taro said. “I talked to the guy in charge of this place, and since it was an older model they weren’t using at the moment, he let us have it. I figured you would like to try it out since there is no one else here but us. And don’t worry, I promise to keep your chair close for when you get back down.”

Kokoro didn’t know how to respond. She had always wanted to try out the rides in the park, but was hesitant in fear of inconveniencing the people around her. But here she was, a whole entire gravity lift just for her.

“Let me just go put on the magnet boots so I don’t float away with you.”

Taro made to leave, but Kokoro immediately reached out, grabbed his arm, before pressing the on button activating the zero G. They slowly began to float up together, Kokoro, Taro, the teddy bear, her wheelchair. When they were high enough that her body was somewhat straight, she reached out and wrapped Taro in a hug, the tightest one she could muster.

She was safe. She was loved. She was cared for. And all by this boy whom she just met.

“Thank you, Tomomi.” she whispered in her heart. And as they continued to float upwards, she looked up while still holding Taro in her arms, and saw that the once dark glass roof now shone with a starry sky.

(Towards the Stars by star Airi.) she suddenly remembered. Another one of her favorite songs.