Starlight

Episode 1

You run ahead into the ice cream shop with an excited hop, forcing me to spring into a light jog to catch up. Pressing your face and palm against the glass of all the various flavors on display, you pace around and debate over your options repeatedly in cycling preferences. “I’ve never had Rainbow Ray before! But Chocolate Fudge is just too good! Can I get four scoops today, Papa? Pretty please? It’s my birthday.”

I suppose only allowing three scoops in total was a bit restrictive after all, but it’s for your own good. “Dearie, you know that your stomach gets upset beyond the third scoop”

Your pouts and stomping prove to be cute but ultimately ineffective as you relent, thinking even harder about your choices now. Even after all that time of careful contemplation, weighing your options against each other, you still go back to the same three flavors every time: Watermelon Burst Sorbet, Chocolate Fudge, and Nutty Coconut.

I suggest to you to slow down as you eat with hastened vitality, but you heed not my warning as you fall victim to a brain freeze. Clutching your head and whining in protest, all I can really tell you is that “I told you so.”

Episode 5

The lights dim as I shuffle into my seat in the auditorium, and all the chatter in the room falls silent as the curtains draw on the talented young performers on stage. Your confident smile gleams as you proudly show off all the time and effort that you had put into rehearsing for this recital.

Confidence fuels your deliberate and precise movements, demonstrating both your care and passion for the art to all the teachers and parents sitting in the audience. You dance your heart out as you command the stage, captivating the minds of all who lay eyes upon your performance.

The crowd roars into applause as the curtains begin to fall, and there you stand, center stage and brimming with joy. I wait for you outside of the school as you run out to me. “Papa! Papa! Did you see? Did you see me up there?”

I pat your head as you press against my hand. “Yeah. Yeah, I saw.”

Episode 8

I hold up my two cards for you to pick from as your eyes narrow in sheer concentration. Your hand hovers back and forth between the two cards, contemplating the unthinkable. The impossible decision gnaws at you as you throw yourself back onto the bed in defeat.

“Are you forfeiting?”

At the thought of admitting defeat, you perk back up with renewed strength, a glint in your eyes even more intense than before. You bite your lower lip and close your eyes, dramatically lowering your hand onto one of the cards in my hands. Drawing it into your hand, you slowly open your eyes to check the results of your decision.

I smile at your expression of shock as I draw the necessary card to complete my last pair, leaving you with the odd card. You fall over in exasperated defeat as I shuffle the deck once more. You push yourself up from the ground and turn to me once more with your cute little demand. “Rematch!”

“All right, one more.” I oblige as we find ourselves in the opposite scenario five minutes later. My hands hover between the two cards you present to me, but your face is all too telling. It’s almost comical. I raise an eyebrow at you as you avert your intense gaze on your cards away from me. With a sigh, I draw a card and leave you celebrating and gloating in victory.

Episode 14

I spread the blanket out on the grass as you run around the grass under the petals of the blooming cherry blossoms. It’s a lovely afternoon to spend some time together with the flowers of starting anew before you start your middle school years. You run back to me as we talk about all the things you’ll do in the future.

Later that evening, we head towards the shining Osaka castle, enjoying the lantern-lit festivities along the way. As I stand closely behind and watch you enjoy classic festival games and unhealthy snacks from food stands, a part of me wishes this could truly last forever. At least I can look forward to Tanabata again in a few months.

We stay out for way too long as you can barely stay awake on our way home, and even though there’s not much waiting for us at home, you still smile as I tuck you into bed. Even though things are harder for us than it needs to be, and even though I still have work the next morning, I feel like I could go on and on just like this.

Episode 22

I come home and find you still struggling with connecting the new game console I got you for your birthday to the TV as you crawl around and under, double-checking the wires and cross-examining the plugs. I set aside my work items as you finally succeed with some luck and persistence.

With a skip and a hop, you drag me over to the TV and pull me down onto the floor. Handing me a controller, you load in the latest fighting game that you had only played once before at a friend’s house. I give into the pressure and play with you, completely unfamiliar with the controls, and you subjugate me to losses after losses with smug vindictiveness for all the games I beat you at when you were younger.

Securing another win, you pump a fist into the air with cathartic glee. “Again!”

I sigh, setting the controller down and laying on the ground. “Couldn’t you invite a friend over to play with instead?”

I whine back at you playfully, even though my face holds a smile. One of these days, you’ll grow too busy for me, and it’ll be a hard day for me. I’ll be happy for you even if it pains me, but thankfully, today is not that day.

Episode 27

I peer over your shoulder as you anxiously open the letter, stalling with the same nervous hesitation you’ve shown before. As you take the letter out, unfold it, and begin reading, I try to catch a glimpse of any keywords, but you hold it too close to yourself for me to make out anything.

After you finish, you fold the letter up again, setting it down on the table as you turn to me with a blank expression. I try to read your mind, yet only anxious anticipation sits in me. “Well?”

“I…”

“You…?”

“I got in! I got in!”

“You got in!”

Your excitement fills your legs as you spring onto me, wrapping your arms around me in a teary cheer. Clinging onto me, you hop in place at the news of being accepted into the high school your mother and I met in.

As you let go of me, I look down at my watch for the time. “We should go out tonight to celebrate!”

“Actually…” You turn to me with a sorry smile as I was about to go grab my jacket. “I’ve already made plans for tonight with some friends.”

Letting go of my jacket, I slowly nod as you head for the door, putting on your shoes. “I see…”

You stand at the door, the Sun shining directly behind you. “I’ll be back before night!”

I purse my lips and bite the upper, but a small grin nestles itself onto my face as I push away the melancholy. “Have fun out there.”

Episode 36

I stand amongst the exhilarated crowd, glow stick in hand as you finally take to the big stage for your major public debut. Standing on that stage, you seem to be so far away, yet the light you shed can still be seen. Your hard work and perseverance for the past seven years have finally paid off.

With all these people here just to see you, I seem so insignificant in the audience, yet you still find me within the ocean of people and give me a smile of reassurance. Tears begin to well in my eyes as the music starts and you jump into the first song of your debut concert.

I wait for you outside after the show like I always do, though this time it seems as though an endless line of people is waiting to meet you in person. Hours pass until you’re finally freed from the queue, and it finally seems as though you’ve truly grown independent and too busy for me. It may not matter as much anymore, but I’ll always be there. I’ll always be watching.

Episode 41

I sit in the chair laid out for parents and guardians in the gym as you wait to receive your diploma. As the principal calls your name to the dramatic melody of the piano, you stand up with a teary response. I suppose such sentimental ceremonies were always a weakness of yours.

Your singing cuts through the choir of the rest of the school as the class representative approaches the stand to deliver her speech. I watch as you take your graduation photo with the rest of the class and wait for you outside as I always do. It still doesn’t feel real, watching you transform into your own over all these years. It still doesn’t feel real, yet it feels all too real to be just a dream.

You take another step away from me as you graduate high school and prepare to enter college, and you’ve still got your entire life ahead of you. I could watch you forever. I could watch you forever. If I could, I would, and I’ll watch over you forever and ever and ever.

Episode 49

We lie on the grass as the stars above glow from lightyears away. I point up to the vast, dark skies. “Do you see that? There’s the Summer Triangle!”

You press your head next to mine to align our perspectives as much as possible. “Oh, I think I see it!”

“There’s Altair… That there is Vega…”

“And that one right there must be Deneb!”

“No, actually. It’s that one over there.”

“What!? But that one’s so much brighter!”

I laugh at your childlike innocence even now. “I’m joking! You were right. That one is Deneb.”

“Not funny!” You give me a light shove as we fall silent. I soak in the moment as the rest of the world seems to no longer matter. No words are exchanged as we simply lie under the blanket of night, there for each other.

“Remember when I first took you stargazing, and you were so amazed you said that you’d fly up there one day like Kaguya flying to the moons and outshine each and every one of them?”

“Stooop!”

“Well, do you?”

“Don’t bring that up now!”

My hand pointing to the stars turns into an open palm as I try to grasp at the stars with no success. “Well, sometimes when I look up into the starlit skies, the light traveling all those lightyears through the expanse of outer space to meet my eyes makes me feel like even the most impossible odds are in reach.”

You turn to me with a confused laugh. “What is that supposed to mean?”

You may not realize it yourself, but from watching you go from where you’d started to seeing you at where you've come to now, you’re already up there shining brighter than all the other stars. “Nothing much. Just the musings of an old man.”

“You’ll be there for my next concert, right?”

For a moment, I’m surprised that you would still ask me to go even after all this time, but I can only nod in response. “Count on it.”