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Chapter Text

There are stories of a traveler only one hundred and thirty five centimeters tall with bright eyes and small marks on his cheeks and nose like stars. And he carries a large traveling bag on his back, and it is filled to the brim with a tent, a blanket and pillow, extra changes of clothes, and many boxed chocolate chip cookies. His mother had packed all of the clothes and the traveler packed the many boxed chocolate chip cookies. The traveler heaves all of these belongings on his small back as if the the large bag weighs like a small dust particle.

He travels to strange and peculiar places, like the planet covered in green trees and fauna and another planet that rains sheep from cotton ball clouds upside down. The traveler also has met a boy with wild orange hair not unlike the color of the sun, and another boy with hair as black and immersing as the space around them. He bid farewell to them, because he had to leave soon, or he would not be able to make it there in time.

The traveler leaps across space like holes could suck him up in a single moment. He hurries with a small smile on his lips. Then he jumps, his short arms bent at the elbow and legs stretching out to touch the ground below him. He lands gently on the ground and swivels around and looks at the planet. It is gray here, and the ground is filled with bowls as if rocks smashed into the planet many times in the past. The dark everlasting space spreads out like the love of a mother, and small bits of stars far off shine with pride and joy.

It's beautiful, he thinks, bringing hands to his mouth in awe. It is very beautiful here. Empty, but full of a strange feeling. His eyes close and he breaths in the cool air.

"What are you doing?"

The traveler turns, and behind him is another boy. He is much taller than the traveler, but his face is young and his eyes shine much brighter than the traveler's. This boy has blond hair, a yellow unseen by the traveler until now. Bright yellow, like . . . light. A different kind of light. And his voice is low and quiet. The boy wears a gray blanket thing over his torso, and his long legs are covered with pants of the same color. His eyes, edges creased, study the traveler in suspicion.

"M- me?" he stutters.

The blond boy nods. "What are you doing here. No one should be here except for me."

"I travel, I think," the traveler boy says, blushing out of embarrassment.

"What do you mean you think?"

"My mother just sent me off, saying that I am a traveler."

"What kind of a creature does that, pushing you off like that? How pathetic."

"It's not pathetic!" the traveler boy shouts. "All of us do it! At least, until the time's right. I just don't really know what to do."

"She should have told you what to do then."

"And what about you? What are you doing here?" he asks with a wonder-filled face.

"I live here," says the other boy, warily walking up to him. His golden shimmering hair basked in an unknown light, and the little traveler's eyes widened. "On the moon."

"You live here . . . on the moon?"

"Yes," the moon boy answers.

"But this is a planet," the traveler mumbles.

The moon boy's brows crease together. "This is the moon."

"What's a moon?" the traveler boy blurts. He immediately blushes and lowers his gaze to the bowls in the ground.

"It's a place," the moon boy answers.

"Don't you know more?"

"Even if I did," he continues, "there's no point in telling you. You won't care."

"I . . ." The traveler boy brings his fists his hands. "I care! You can tell me!" He walks up to the other boy, his feet seeming as if they do not touch the ground, but rather propelling him forward.

The moon boy watches in fascination, but does not let the emotion show. "How do you walk so weirdly?"

The traveler cocks his head in confusion. "Everyone walks like this."

"I don't," the moon boy whispers. He steps forward to the traveler, bare feet shuffling on the dust. The traveler boy widens his eyes and his mouth opens in awe.

"It's almost as if you're held to the ground!"

"But you seem like you can float up to space."

"I can float in space. . . You can't?"

The moon boy lowers his gaze, eyes focusing on the feet of the traveler boy. "I live here. I take care of the moon. I watch everything and make sure nothing happens."

"Have you ever seen other planets? Or other creatures like us?" The traveler boy kicks dust with the toe of his shoe. "Is it fun here?"

"I can't see anything from here," the moon boy says. "Except for the sun, stars, and Earth."

"Earth?" the traveler gasps. "What is that?"

"A planet," the moon boy answers. "It's covered in colors, and there are a lot of creatures down there."

The traveler closes his eyes and tries to imagine the world the moon boy described. There would be many creatures. Ones with four legs or six legs, maybe some look like him. Color. There would be gray and black and white. Colors like sunlight and colors like the moon boy's yellow hair. There would be colors he could not imagine. Colors like the red stars and the blue stars. . . .

"Have you seen a shooting star before?" the traveler asks the moon boy.

The moon boy shakes his head. "I hear stories about them. I've only seen stars, not shooting stars."

"Did you know," the traveler boy continues excitingly, "that when stars fall, creatures around the universe make wishes? Isn't it weird how creatures think a single star can make all of those wishes come true?"

"Why?" the moon boy asks. "It's just a star falling. What's so special about it?"

The traveler boy looks around as if searching for an answer. "Well-" He stops. He runs off energetically and floats up in the space. The moon boy follows slowly. The traveler's eyes shine in some strange mixture of colored light. "Is that Earth?" The moon boy looks down and nods.

"That's Earth."

"Hey," the traveler boy calls. The moon boy looks up to him, and a strange excitement fills him. "Do you want to know what's so special about falling stars?" His voice rises in an absolute rushing flurry of feeling. The moon boy watches confusingly as the traveler lowers himself to the moon boy's side.

"What are you-"

The traveler boy runs. The moon boy recalls seeing so much color in the boy's eyes, and a wide smile of happiness. The traveler continues, racing in space, rapidly gaining flashes of speed. The space behind him becomes a trail of white, and his arms bend at an angle and his legs stretch out, as if to touch the earth below him. The moon boy races after him, but can't catch up. He could never catch up. The traveler boy is falling to the earth in an immense radiation of color and emotion.

The feelings wave inside of him. It's beautiful, he thinks, bringing hands to his chest in awe. It is very beautiful here. Full of emotion, but calming. His eyes close and he breaths in the cool air. Fingers fit in the spaces between his knuckles. The moon boy brings his clasped hands to his mouth, and he whispers.

"I wish . . ."

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi calls out. He stops walking. "Look, it's a shooting star!"

Tsukishima looks up and lowers his headphones. "Yeah."

"Shouldn't we make a wish?" Yamaguchi asks. He closes his eyes and clasps his hands in front of his face. "Ah . . . I wish for . . ."

"Yamaguchi," Tsukishima calls out. "The moon."

Yamaguchi opens his eyes and smiles. "It's a full moon!" He is engrossed in staring at the moon, and suddenly he remembers the shooting star. "Ah! The wish! I wish . . ."

"I wish . . . I can see another shooting star again."

Chapter Text

The moon boy looks across the star-specked sky, eyes watching over the bright light. He closes his eyes and lets out a small breath. Hands graze his thin arms and his eyes open.

Cold. It is cold and dark. The space feels empty here on the moon. The moon boy watches the space now, looking past dusty-colored planets and moons. The space looks split, one side untouched and the other dusted by the traveler boy's fingertips. One side is bright and the other is dry and obscure.

Then there is a feeling of figures watching him. He senses their presence near him and drop to the dusted ground. One of them races forward and a boy much shorter than the traveler pops into the moon boy's view. He has loud, fiery orange hair and a bright face not unlike the sun in similarity. The other figure hurries to the sun boy's side, but does not rush. This boy is only a bit shorter than the moon boy and has black hair like the space around them.

"Who are you?" the sun boy asks.

The moon boy glares at him. "You're the one who suddenly landed here."

The sun boy puffs his cheeks. "Fine! I live at the sun. I make sure it's bright all the time. That one over there wanders around space. He flies all around the milky way."

"If you make sure the sun is bright, then shouldn't you be watching over it?" the moon boy wonders accusingly.

"Oh, it's okay! The sun is just right there!" The sun boy points over, opposite from the moon. "I heard that the sun makes parts of the planets bright and warm."

"It makes this place bright," the moon boy says.

"What is this place?" the space boy questions.

The moon boy sighs and frowns. He crosses his arms and looks at Earth. "Too many questions."

"Aww . . ." the sun boy mumbles. "But I wanted to know!"

"I wanted to know, too!" the space boy shouts.

The two visiting boys look at the moon boy curiously. The moon boy's frown deepens slightly. "This is the moon. I watch over it. I can't leave."

"You can't leave?" the sun boy repeats loudly. "Why not? I can leave the sun!"

"I just can't."

"Doesn't it get lonely?" the sun boy asks.

The moon boy only looks at him. His eyes are creased at the edges and his brows are furrowed. "Lonely?"

"Don't you get tired of just watching everything? Don't you just want to talk or play?"

"My brother is on the other side," the moon boy whispers.

"Then why don't you talk to him?" the sun boy continues.

"Because I can't. He told me that I have to look over this side."

"You stay here," the space boy repeats. "All alone?"

The moon boy shifts embarrassingly. "I'm not alone all the time."

"Then when was the last time you talked to someone?" the sun boy asks.

"I don't remember."

"Was it a long time?" the sun boy wonders.

"Earth turned once," the moon boy says.

"And how long does that take?"

He pauses. The moon boy watches the countless colors on the planet. There are colors that look calm, and others are vibrant like the sun boy's hair. "A long time."

"Who was it?" the space boy asks.

The moon boy turns to him. "Too many questions!"

"I just wanted to know. . . ." The space boy puffs his cheeks.

"He . . ." the moon boy finally answers, "said that he was a traveler. And he could float and jump and fall to the ground. He wanted to show me what a shooting star looked like, so he fell to Earth."

"A shooting star!" the sun boy gushes. The space boy brightens in enthusiasm. "Did you watch him? Did you make a wish?"

"Yes," the mon boy says.

"What did you wish?"

"Not telling." The moon boy blushes and looks away. "My brother told me that I shouldn't tell people what I wish for, or they will take it away from me."

"But you can tell if it's the same wish, right?" the sun boy shouts happily. "One time I saw a shooting star, and I wished to see another one!"

"I did, too," the space boy says.

The moon boy warily looks at them. "I . . . I did, too. But-" He stops.

The sun boy and space boy watch him incredulously.

"I want to see him again. The same one."

"Then we'll make a wish together! So that we all can meet him!" the sun boy proposes. "Let's wish on a star!"

"But there aren't any shooting stars," the space boy shoots at him.

"We can wish on the first star we see," the sun boy says. The space boy nods. They look at the moon boy, who, after a while, finally nods back. All three of them close their eyes. They counted to three and opened their eyes.

"That one!"

"That one!"

"That one."

They all point to the same star off in the distance. They realize that this one is a special star, one that shines much brighter than the others.

"Okay, okay!" the sun boy leads. "On the count of three again, we'll make a wish. Ready? One, two, three!"

"I wish to meet him!"

"I wish to meet him!"

"I wish to see him again. . . ."

And off in the distance behind the three boys, unbeknownst to them, a small glimmer of light falls out of its place.

Chapter Text

“Did you see that?” the little traveler boy calls. “Did you see that?” He runs across space and lands softly on the dusty moon. The boy looks around for the beautiful yellow hair, but there is none. His mouth falls open in confusion. Where is the moon boy? He looks around hastily. Where is he?

“Hello?” It is quiet. It feels lonely. Not even an echo accompanied the traveler boy. “Did . . . you see?”

“Who are you?”

The traveler boy turns and meets the figure of a boy much, much taller than him. This boy stands even taller than the moon boy. The taller boy has sandy hair, as if someone dampened the moon boy's hair with water and dust. Quietly, hesitantly, the traveler inches closer to the other.

“Who are you?” the traveler asks.

The boy smiles widely. He has beautiful white teeth. “I am a moon boy.”

The traveler shakes his head. “But there is already a moon boy. He has bright golden hair.” After saying it out loud, the traveler thinks that it is strange that the moon boy's bright hair contrasts his lonely and dull demeanor. Though, that changed a bit after they spoke for a while.

“I'm another moon boy,” the brother says. “The moon boy you talk about is my brother. We take care of the moon together. He watches over one half, and I watch over the other.”

The traveler averts his gaze. He toes the dust with his feet. “Don't you get lonely here?”

The taller boy cocks his head in confusion. “Lonely?”

“Don't you want to talk or go to new places? Don't you want to laugh or smile?”

“Is that what loneliness is?” the brother asks.

“Well,” the boy mumbles, “I'm not really sure, actually. My mother says that loneliness is different for everybody.”

The brother hums. “I don't think I get lonely. Do you?”

“Not really,” the traveler shakes his head. “But,” he continues, remembering the earlier moment, “I think I felt it . . . when I couldn't find the moon boy.”

“But I'm a moon boy,” the brother says.

“Huh?” the traveler mumbles. He grabs the sides of his head. “I'm so confused. . . .”

The brother laughs. “You felt lonely?”

The traveler nods. “I called for him. But no one answered.” He looks down at the dusty ground and puckers his lips in thought. “Do you ever call for someone, and no one answers?” the boy asks.

“I called for you,” the brother answers, “and you answered.”

“What about the moon boy?”

“Me?”

“No, I mean the boy with bright hair!” The traveler shakes his head furiously to clear up the misunderstanding.

The brother laughs. “If it's so confusing, why don't you give us different names?”

The little traveler boy hums in thought. He tries to find a name for the moon boy, so that he and the brother would not be so confused. “When I landed on Earth . . .”, the boy looks at the brother, and the older boy smiles, “I heard a wish.”

“And what was it?”

“Someone wished to see a shooting star with his friend again. And he said his friend's name.” The traveler boy taps his lips with his finger. “I think I remember.”

The boy smiles widely. “Tsukki.”

The brother laughs loudly. “Do you think he will like the name?”

The little traveler boy grins. “I hope he will!”