Purin looked up at the dark night sky. She could see hundreds-—no, thousands-—of stars that night. “I wonder where Tar-Tar is.” Purin said to herself, her eyes glued to the sky. It had been six years since she had said goodbye to her friend. She was now fourteen. Her hair had been kept short and untidy, and her golden eyes were still almost always bright and energetic.
But not on days where the sky shined like this.
Purin kept her eyes glued to the stars. She had become obsessed with them over the years, thinking that maybe he was on one of them. “Is he on that one? No...not bright enough. Tar-Tar would want a bright place. What about that one? Maybe...” she trailed off, the beauty of the sky taking the place of her silence.
“Tar-Tar...” Purin could feel her eyes getting damp. “Tar-Tar, where are you?!” she shouted, yelling to the sky. “I miss you, Tar-Tar! I want you to be here...” the tears in her eyes were falling-—drip, drip, drip. “Come back! I have candy for you!!” she yelled.
Purin continued to yell, until her voice became hoarse, her throat sore and her eyes nearly out of tears. Still, she cried and called out to the boy she loved-—Taruto.
Soon, she was on her knees, her hands digging into the ground, panting. Her voice hurt, and her eyes were tired from crying so much. She wiped away the tears off her wet face, but they still kept coming, even faster than before. “Nngh...” she sobbed.
“What are you crying for, kid?”
Purin looked up. There he stood, his eyes soft. He had grown since she had last seen him. He was finally taller than she was. His pigtails were no longer there, but Purin could still regonize him. The soft brown hair, the yellow eyes, the pointed ears... “Tar-Tar...” she said tearfully.
“Will you stop calling me by that stupid nickname?”
Purin looked up in awe. “Tar-Tar...You came...?”
He looked away shamelessly, a bit childish. “I really liked that candy. I want some more. I could hear you crying and saying you had some, so...”
Taruto was promptly cut off by a hug. Purin had wrapped his arms around him, tightly gripping his black shirt. “Tar-Tar...” she sobbed. “Tar-Tar...Tar-Tar...!”
Taruto smiled, tossling Purin’s hair. “Yeah, it’s me. Big deal.”
And it was a very big deal indeed.
The End.
