Chapter XXXVII - Bonds Born From Broken Bridges

When you're chronically exhausted, sleep becomes an exercise in remembering rather than forgetting.

That night, I dreamt of Isao Junior High—of three boys sprawled across the grassy hillock behind the baseball diamond, cloud-watching on a perfect summer afternoon. In the dream, Akise pointed at the sky, naming constellations that didn't exist while Sosuke dozed beside him, baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.

And I... I just listened, feeling the warm earth beneath my back and something like contentment in my chest.

"That one's definitely the Sword of Damocles," Akise declared while tracing patterns in clouds that resembled nothing but formless cotton. "See the hilt there? And the blade? It's an omen of great destiny!"

"It's a cloud, Akise—quite literally just a cloud." Sosuke mumbled without opening his eyes.

I laughed, the sound coming easily, ignorant the weight it would later carry.

I woke with the phantom of that laughter still echoing in my ears.

For the first time in ages, the dream hadn't transformed into a nightmare. No falling, no drowning, no desperate clawing at the air.

Just that memory.

The bruise on my face had faded to a sickly yellow, so it no longer required gauze to conceal its worst excesses. Concurrently, my father hadn't returned home last night—a blessing disguised as abandonment. The apartment was quiet save for the distant rumble of early morning traffic and the rhythmic tick of the kitchen clock. I also took my time to thoroughly dress myself and iron my uniform.

Today mattered. Today carried weight. Today, the past and present would collide, and I needed armor, however flimsy.

Morning classes passed in a haze. Miyazono explained a complex English grammar rule. Takeda-sensei demonstrated some mathematical principle involving sine waves. Gojo-sensei droned about Meiji-era literature. None of it penetrated the fog of my thoughts.

By third period, my knee was already bouncing as I kept tapping my pen on the desk, earning me a sharp glance from Haruki, who found the motion distracting to his "tablet browsing."

Akise kept shooting me grins from across the room, practically vibrating with excitement. Even Minazuki-san seemed aware that something was happening; twice I caught her studying me with that penetrating gaze, as if trying to decipher a particularly puzzling piece of sheet music.

When the lunch bell finally rang, I strode confidently. No hesitation, no lingering to collect forgotten duties or assignments. Just a direct line to the door, ignoring Inoue's surprised call of my name.

Old wing. Third floor. End of hallway.

"FOUR SYMBOLS CLUB — CHAMBER OF CELESTIAL HARMONY."

I paused before the door, hand hovering over the handle. Through the frosted glass panel, I could make out indistinct shapes—movement, life, possibility.

Taking a deep breath, I slid the door open.

Akise was perched on the edge of the command table mid-gesture as if delivering an important proclamation. His uniform tie had been replaced with what appeared to be a handcrafted medallion hanging from a leather cord. The room's decorations had multiplied since my last visit—new streamers in vibrant colors, additional posters featuring mythological beasts, and a hand-painted banner spanning one wall that proclaimed "THE CELESTIAL GUARDIANS RETURN" in dramatic calligraphy.

And there, leaning against the window frame with casual grace, was Takami Sosuke.

He looked exactly as I remembered and nothing like memory simultaneously. Taller, perhaps, his shoulders broader than they'd been in junior high. His auburn hair was still styled in that wild look, like he just stepped off a tennis court.

They both turned as the door opened, conversation halting mid-sentence.

"Shou-chan!" Akise exclaimed, leaping from the table. "The Genbu arrives, fashionably late as befits a being of cosmic significance!"

"Late?" I blinked, glancing at my watch. "It's only 12:05."

"Five minutes is an eternity in the celestial realm," Akise declared solemnly.

"I just got here myself. Akise was catching me up on pretty much everything. " Sosuke said.

Now that the incessant rain was gone, his voice was much deeper than I remembered. After all, we've haven't talked since last school year. He was in Class 2-C and we were in 2-A. Not a lot of time to cross paths with each other unless we deliberately made time to.

Yet emphasis on "everything" made me raise an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I only revealed the sacred texts and ancient prophecies," Akise assured me with a wink. "Your mortal secrets remain veiled in shadow."

I mentally sighed in relief.

"Appreciate it." I fully stepped into the room and closed the door.

For a moment, we stood in a triangle of awkward silence, the distance of a year stretching between us. I could feel the weight of unspoken words, of years spent in separate orbits, of broken bridges we were now tentatively rebuilding.

Sosuke broke the stillness first.

"You look better than yesterday," he observed, gesturing vaguely toward my face. "Less like you went three rounds with a heavyweight."

"Thanks. I think."

"So... Akise tells me you've been keeping interesting company lately."

He was trying to hide his smile.

Screw Akise.

Nevertheless I shrugged, aiming for nonchalance and probably missing by a mile.

"If you mean Minazuki-san, it's not what you're thinking."

"Oh? What am I thinking?"

"That there's something going on between us."

"Is there not? The rumors are pretty specific about sightings at convenience stores, rooftop rendezvous..."

"Oho!" Akise's eyes gleamed with unholy delight. "Rooftop rendezvous? Shou-chan, you've been holding out on me! I demand elaborate details for, um, symbolic interpretation purposes."

Oh my god, these rumors were getting close to the truth. How many were following us? Were we being watched? Did people really have that much free time on their hands?

I resisted the urge to groan and bang my head against the nearest wall.

"There. Is. Nothing. To. Interpret. We just talk, man."

"Just talk?" Sosuke echoed whilst exchanging a meaningful glance with Akise. "With the girl who broke your nose last trimester? She terrifies half the student body, and she actually made Arisato back down in the hallway last week."

"...She's not as scary as people think," I mumbled.

"The Genbu defends the Crimson Witch! The ancient scrolls foretold this alliance!"

"She's not a witch either! I'm not defending her, I'm just—"

"Horny?" Sosuke cruedly suggested.

"Cosmically enthralled?" Akise offered simultaneously.

"NO!"

My denial echoed off the club room walls with enough force to make both of them blink in surprise. I took a deep breath, trying to regain composure.

"Okay, we are NOT having this conversation," I declared with as much dignity as I could muster. "We're here to discuss the club, remember? The Cultural Festival? Saving our club room from Arisato's storage committee, hello?"

Akise and Sosuke exchanged another look, this one laden with a different kind of meaning.

A silent agreement to shelve the teasing, at least temporarily.

"Right," they said in unison.

Sosuke promptly pulled out a chair and settled into it.

"Akise filled me in on the basics. You need a musical group for the Cultural Festival to prove the club has legitimate activities. You're playing piano—" he faltered here, glancing at me with a question in his eyes.

"Yes," I confirmed. "I'm playing again."

Sosuke nodded, accepting this tremendous shift with the same quiet equanimity he'd always shown in the face of change.

"Akise is handling... what was it again?"

"Composition! Arrangement! Thematic integration! The Dark Crystal Seraph weaves the threads of mortal melody into tapestries of cosmic significance!"

"Right. That," Sosuke turned back to me. "Minazuki is singing, and you need a fourth member to maintain club status."

"Actually, I talked to Sairenji yesterday at the hospital. She plays guitar, and she's agreed to join us when she returns to school," I quickly explained.

"...Sairenji Satsuki? Class 2-A's female rep? She's been sick for weeks, you sure?"

"She's recovering. Should be back sometime this week... or next week, according to the doctors."

Sosuke considered this, drumming his fingers lightly on the table.

"So you need a temporary fourth member until she returns. That's where I come in?"

"Yes... but also no," I replied. "We need you regardless. With or without Sairenji."

"Why?"

The question hung in the air, deceptively simple yet profound in its essence.

Why Sosuke? Why now? Why after all this time?

Akise, uncharacteristically serious, answered before I could formulate a response.

"Because you're Byakko. You've always been Byakko."

Sosuke's expression remained neutral, but something distinct flickered in his eyes.

Remembrance.

"The White Tiger of the West... courage and conviction, right?"

Akise nodded solemnly.

"The guardian of the western gate. The protector of sacred boundaries. The warrior who walks between worlds."

"Sounds like a lot of responsibility," Sosuke dryly remarked.

"It's just a title, but it... means something to us two," I interjected quietly.

"To all three of us," Akise corrected. "The original members of the Four Symbols Club. The Big Three of Isao."

Sosuke was quiet for a long moment, gaze drifting to the window where autumn sunlight filtered through half-bare branches. When he spoke again, his voice had softened.

"I haven't thought about that in a long time. The Big Three."

"Me neither," I admitted. "Not until recently."

"Yep. We were inseparable back then..." Akise reminisced.

"Now look at us." I sighed.

Sosuke glanced back at me, a wry smile tugging at his mouth.

"Still stuck with each other, after all this time."

"Apparently."

That was before everything—before my mother's death, before the piano was sold, before I'd become a hollow shell performing normalcy.

Back when friendship had been as simple as cloud-watching on summer afternoons.

"I miss that sometimes," Sosuke admitted, the confession sounding like it surprised even him. "Tennis is... lonely. Even when you're winning."

"Then come back."

Akise had a fire in his eyes.

"Reclaim your place as the White Tiger of the West. Join the band, save the club. It'll be just like old times."

Sosuke looked down.

"Just like that? After all this time?"

"Dumbass, there's never been anyone else as Byakko. The position's been vacant since you left." I told him. "It's always been yours to reclaim."

He took a deep breath and stood up, pacing to the window. Eventually he ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of consideration I remembered from countless strategy discussions in junior high.

"What about drums?" he asked suddenly as he turned to us.

Akise and I exchanged confused glances.

"What about them?" I ventured.

"If we're doing a music performance, you'll need percussion. I played drum set in elementary school, remember? My mom made me take lessons for three years."

I had completely forgotten this detail. Akise's hazel optics widened comically.

"The White Tiger reveals his hidden talents! The cosmic alignment grows ever more perfect!"

Sosuke's mouth quirked again in that almost-smile. "I'm rusty as hell, but it's probably like riding a bike, yeah?"

Hope bloomed in my chest.

"Does that mean you're in?"

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he rose from his chair and crossed to the far wall where Akise had pinned a faded paper bearing the stylized image of a white tiger. From his pocket, he withdrew something small that caught the light—a pin, I realized. The Byakko club pin he'd returned last school year.

"You kept this?" he asked, turning to Akise.

Akise nodded, suddenly solemn. "I never lost faith in the prophecy."

Sosuke studied the pin for a long moment, running his thumb over its surface as if checking for damage or alteration. Then, with deliberate care, he fastened it to his uniform lapel.

"The White Tiger returns to the Western Gate," he said, his tone gently mocking Akise's theatrical style while simultaneously acknowledging its significance. "...Or something like that."

Akise's face split into a grin of such pure joy that it almost hurt to witness. He launched himself across the room, arms spread wide.

"THE PROPHECY IS FULFILLED! THE CELESTIAL GUARDIANS REUNITE! THE COSMIC BALANCE—ACK!"

Sosuke effortlessly sidestepped the incoming embrace which caused Akise to stumble, and windmill his arms to regain balance.

"Some things really don't change," Sosuke observed, but the warmth in his eyes belied the sardonic tone.

The Big Three, reunited.

The fractured constellation made whole once more.

"So... does this mean we officially have three confirmed members for the Four Symbols Club?" I beamed at Sosuke.

"Plus Minazuki as your fourth."

"She's not my anything," I protested, but the denial lacked conviction even to my own ears.

"Speaking of the Crimson Witch," Akise began, but fell abruptly silent as the club room door slid open.