Iris, Rewritten

Ever since I debuted, I thought I was special.

Everyone’s attention was directed at me, always.

I think I was oblivious at the time, or maybe didn’t want to know…

That in this industry, attention was worth. That being the brightest one in the room made you worth more…

I thought that, without this attention, my life would be insignificant.

Takumi exits a studio, his golden blonde hair swaying with his movements.

A car is waiting for him outside the venue, surrounded by paparazzi and camera flashes.

He stops for a bit, taking a few photos, and answering questions they want to ask him.

“Sorry, but I must be heading home now.” He humbly thanks the crowd, waving goodbye as he enters the car.

He leaves the window rolled up, but can still feel the warmth of the rising sun, piercing the tint.

The inside of the car is black, but illuminated by the sunlight pouring in.

BZZZT

Takumi grabs his phone from his pocket, checking the message.

<Don’t forget, we have a test in two days!>

He smiles, and types back.

<Don’t worry. If I need help, all I have to do is ask a certain someone.>

The message replies with a thumbs up, and Takumi chuckles a bit.

He turns his phone off as the car stops for a red light.

He spots a restaurant through the car’s windows, looking pretty busy.

The people inside walk about, serving customers their food and taking orders. The customers enjoy their food, and their conversations with each other.

Maybe I’ll try that place…

The light switches back to green, and the driver continues on his route.

…

As they reach the highrise building Takumi lives in, he exits the car and courteously bows to the driver.

The driver smiles in return, and Takumi hands him a bill from his wallet.

Takumi takes the elevator to the penthouse, then walks into his room.

His room has a few things on the wall, most notably a framed portrait someone sketched for him.

He looks at the poster for a moment, gently smiling and reminiscing about when he got it.

He heads into the bathroom, preparing a shower for himself.

After the shower, he heads downstairs to grab something to eat, and his mom’s already one step ahead.

“Just hold on a moment, Taku-chan. Breakfast is almost ready!” she excitedly claims, and Takumi smiles.

“Okay.”

He sits at the table, looking over at the TV to see what Hikaru’s watching.

…

“Okay, Breakfast is ready!” their mom happily says, bringing dishes over to the table.

She sets one in front of Takumi, and one across the way for Hikaru.

Hikaru gets up from the couch, and sits where the plate is.

“How’s school been going?” Takumi asks

“Pretty good, just a few things I couldn’t really understand…” Hikaru trails off.

The brothers continue this conversation about school, and topics neither would’ve said to each other before.

Even if the topic was something redundant or something they’d never use…

They still studied it if the school needed them to.

“Sorry, I don’t understand much of that either.” Takumi brings up, after Hikaru mentioned struggling with math.

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Hikaru answers.

They finish breakfast, and Takumi grabs both of their plates to clean.

He heads upstairs, and begins studying for the test after the weekend’s over.

He sets up the textbooks, and his notebook side by side on his desk.

There, he turns on some music and gets to work, the one golden hue illuminating the room drifting into a piercing blue.

He studies through the night, and all of the next day.

…

At school on Monday, the test paper drops into Takumi’s hands.

He takes a deep breath, calming the pre-test nerves.

He opens his eyes, and looks over every question thoroughly. Nothing he hasn’t studied to answer before.

Takumi answers most of the questions, scribbling the notes down for each equation and results.

It wasn’t perfect. It didn’t have to be.

“Okay, that’s all the time. Please hand your test to the person in front of you.” the teacher says calmly, dismissing the class.

People clear the class for lunch, but the teacher stops Takumi for a moment.

“Sora-san, could you see me after school in the faulty office?”

“Is something wrong?” Takumi asks, confused.

The teacher takes a breath, then smiles.

“It’s nothing like that…just come see me, okay?”

“Okay,” Takumi answers, heading to lunch.

He heads to the lunch room, looking around for a moment.

“That test was difficult, right?” he asks, sitting down at a table.

Yuna sits across from him, eating a home-made lunch. It’s nothing absurd, or out of the ordinary. It was probably the most ordinary lunch you could imagine.

“There were a few tricky spots, for sure.” she replies, taking another bite.

Takumi unwraps his lunch he’d just bought from the concession: a chicken cutlet sandwich.

“I didn’t think I'd finish as much as I did.” Takumi shyly admits, chuckling a bit.

“But at least it’s over, right?” he asks, shooting a smile to Yuna.

She replies back with a smile of her own, and laughs softly.

They continue to talk about the test, before Takumi switches the topic.

“Did you want to grab something to celebrate after school?” he asks.

“What’d you have in mind?” Yuna tilts her head as she asks.

…

Takumi heads to the faculty office after school, and sits down in front of his teacher.

“Sora-san…” The teacher leads.

“... what happened?”

Takumi takes a moment to process, unsure of what he means.

“I mean, a few months ago, you looked like you never wanted to be here,” the teacher continues.

The teacher flips the test he’d just done, revealing the mark to be a 83%

“Now you’re paying attention, and actually learning.”

Takumi thinks back to his old tests, no studying or caring for them in the slightest.

“I’m not angry at you in the slightest,” the teacher adds. “I just wanted to know what happened.”

Takumi clears his throat, confident.

“I figured out what I wanted to see.”

The teacher looks confused, but happy nonetheless.

“Well, if that’s what it took, good for you.”

The teacher dismisses him, and he exits the office.

Leaving the school, he meets up with Yuna at the gates.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to ta-”

“It’s fine, I know.” Yuna interrupts, smiling at Takumi.

The two of them walk down the street, getting to a familiar looking restaurant.

One he saw on his way home a few days ago.

“This is the place…” Takumi hesitantly tells her.

“It looks nice.” she replies.

Caressed by the setting sun, the restaurant took on a new light. Somewhere comfortable, with an inviting and clear atmosphere.

They enter, and take a table for the two of them.

“Two strawberry parfaits please.” Takumi orders.

The server takes note, and heads back to log it in.

“You know, we didn’t have to do this…” Yuna says, trying to tell Takumi it’s not an obligation.

“It’s fine. We both did well on the test, what’s not to celebrate?” he says, smiling.

The parfaits arrive just in time.

Takumi raises his glass, gesturing over to Yuna to do the same.

“To being done with that test!” Takumi says, happily.

The glasses click together, and they eat their parfaits in content silence.

…

After they pay, they walk down the street to the riverside. The rippling reflection of the evening sun just beneath their feet, giving the moment a golden coating.

“Listen…” Takumi initiates.

He looks on, into the rippling sun.

“It’s weird. Weird to think that not too long ago, I’d never even seen a sight like this.”

A small, spring breeze moves the lingering warmth, and the grass around them quietly rustles.

“I always wanted to be seen by everyone… it made me think I was always going to be around.”

Takumi looks down at the grass, and runs his hands through it.

“...it’s strange that, of all those eyes staring at me, none of them could really see.”

Yuna silently inches closer to Takumi, not interrupting.

“Like the pen writing my story was held by someone else, and what it was drawing was what people saw.”

The mental image of a drawing returns to Takumi’s mind, complete with all the features.

It’s not the face of who he is now, or who he was.

It’s the face of someone who’s trying to change.

“I realized too late that what was being drawn was only what people wanted to see. Not what I wanted.”

He turns his hand over, looking into his palm.

“I don’t really know the answer now, but I feel closer than I was.”

Takumi swallows nervously, Yuna getting a little closer.

“There’s something I wanted to ask you…” he trails off.

“What’s that?” she asks.

Takumi softly inhales.

“Can you see me?” he asks.

Takumi plants his hands on the ground, staring back out at the sunset.

“I can see you.” she calmly states.

“Can you see the person I am now?” he asks again.

She moves closer, overlapping a few of her fingers above his.

“I see Takumi Sora, right in front of me.” she replies.

They let the silence linger between them.

He doesn’t need her to see him, he doesn’t try to force her to see him…

He asks to be seen.

“You always wanted to shine for everyone else…” Yuna starts, now looking at the sunset too.

“You should start shining for yourself.” she adds, completely overlapping his hand with hers.

Takumi flips his hand, and the two hold together.

“I don’t know where I’m walking anymore,” Takumi adds. “But at least I know these steps are mine.”

“But… if I ever lose sight of this…” Takumi trails off.

“I’ll be there to see you.” Yuna adds, no hesitation in her voice.

Here, in an unnamed riverbank, watching the same sun disappear behind the endless horizon, they decide to make a promise.

“I promise…to always look at you. The real you.” Yuna softly promises.

She leans her head against Takumi’s shoulder.

“and …”

Takumi softly exhales.

“...I promise to be the person you see.”

END.