Work Text:
The celebrations were not exactly what Kanon had expected from Chinese New Year…
“Kanon! You missed a spot! If you’re not careful, you’ll have a year of bad luck!”
At her girlfriend’s behest, Kanon had travelled all the way from her dorm in Vienna to Shanghai. Keke had promised an unforgettable time, experiencing Chinese New Year and all its festivities so close to the source. However, all Kanon had been doing so far was clean, until everything was spic and span. And when she wasn’t sweeping the floors and dusting the furniture-
“Kanon! We’ll never finish painting all the doors and windows at this rate! If you don’t hurry up, you’ll have a decade of bad luck!”
Kanon could scarcely imagine the house looking any more red than it already was, but at Keke’s urging, she kept painting, even faster than before. She was beginning to regret arriving early, hoping to spend a few extra days with her girlfriend. The moments they saw each other were sparse, each pursuing their respective education in the performing arts on different sides of the globe, growing from seeds into hopefully beautiful flowers one day.
Their journey was theirs to make, their continued growth their own responsibility. However, their love, kindled during their time at high school in Japan, was a flame the two of them worked hard to fan, with scheduled calls, clear communication and visits such as this.
Really, Kanon didn’t mind seeing Keke run around in anticipation of a big event; she found her cutest that way.
And at last, on the eve of the day of the festival, Kanon was able to rest and enjoy a big feast with Keke and her family. She was going to let loose after all that hard work-
“Kanon! You’re not supposed to finish all the food! You’ll have bad luck for the rest of your life otherwise!”
“Yes, Keke…” Kanon whined, leaving the last delicious-looking fish dumpling untouched.
Complain as she did in the days leading up to the festival, she found the sentiment to be particularly distant while Keke dragged her by the hand through streets decked with lanterns and paper cut-outs of Chinese phrases. The roads were littered with confetti and burnt out firecrackers, all of which lay trampled underneath the feet of onlookers and prowling dragons or lions. Even at this late an hour, flocks of people still proudly hoisted festive animal costumes, as they marched down the boulevards of the city.
The warm lights and the spectacle would have been cause for slowing down, but Keke was in a hurry. They had a boat to catch supposedly.
As the crowds thinned out and the ever-present lights dimmed, Kanon was thankful she had donned her thickest winter clothes, not unlike Keke who was also bundled up head to toe.
Eventually they reached the port and after a little while of waiting, they were ushered onto the boat. Before long, the boat took off to the waters of the East China Sea.
Finally, Kanon and Keke were allowed to catch their breath. Keke’s stamina currently was a far cry from what it once was, before they had been idols together; not to mention, her curriculum probably required active upkeep of that stamina. It showed in moments like this. She really had grown
Though she couldn’t help but wonder: “So why was it so important that we got on this boat?”
“You’ll see!” Keke answered enigmatically.
“Are we going somewhere?” Kanon tried prying more information from her girlfriend.
“Nope! This is just a coastal ferry, but I want to show you something we can only see from here.”
Her eyes were locked with the skyline that was gradually moving away from the couple. Kanon decided to face that direction too.
A cold wind blew past the two and even all these layers of clothing couldn’t stave off the biting chill.
“Brrr, c-cold…” Keke bemoaned.
“You said it…” Kanon agreed.
Thankfully they could huddle up a little closer; Kanon wrapped her hands around Keke’s shoulder, while the latter nestled herself against the former’s chest.
Suddenly, a streak of light emerged from the skyscrapers of Shanghai.
“It’s starting!” Keke disrupted the quietude of the night alongside a loud thud. The streak had erupted in a large circle of red embers, which all softly fell from the night sky, back to the beacon of light that they had sprung from. Kanon understood now why Keke had taken her here.
“I still remember the first time I saw fireworks in my life,” Keke began, “from a boat like this one on a night like this.”
Kanon hummed curiously.
“It was beautiful, so so beautiful… but all I could think about was how I was down here and I wanted to be up there. I wanted to bloom into a storm of colors too. I wanted everyone to look at me and see how beautifully I could shine!”
That did sound a lot like Keke. It sounded like she hadn’t changed much from her chipper kid’s self.
“How could I possibly shine that brightly though…?” Keke lamented.
Keke’s grip on Kanon’s coat tightened unwittingly, which Kanon responded to in kind by strengthening her embrace.
“For a long time I thought I could reach those dreams by studying hard or working hard, by making my parents happy, but my feet were always firmly on the ground.”
Keke’s words trailed off a bit, leaving her lips atremble. The night was cold.
“Even when I discovered school idols and came to Japan on a whim, I couldn’t fly yet… Until I met you.”
More fireworks were shot up, cleaving through the night sky with a sharp trail of orange and cyan.
“You gave me the chance to take off and find my wings.”
The fireworks expanded with the force of two tiny stars of the same color…
“And then the others joined and we formed Liella. We performed our hearts out…!”
…when suddenly, those hearts of orange and cyan formed a chain reaction, pouring myriad other colors onto the indigo canvas.
“I think… I’m finally flying now, Kanon, and I can’t wait to show the world my true brightness”, Keke finished her monologue, imbuing the words with the warm energy of an unseen, wide smile.
Another lone flare bravely rose into view.
It didn’t make sense though, did it? The world had seen Keke’s brightness already, Kanon had.
I thought I was meant to be alone
Thought I was done claiming my own identity
Just like how Keke had once gazed upwards, at the fireworks in the sky, so had Kanon looked at the girl with her indomitable spirit, her overeagerness, her obstinacy in the face of challenges… or a girl with crippling stage fright.
Out of options for who I can be…
Kanon had soared, because Keke had taken her hand and led her into the sky.
Keke had lit up Kanon’s life.
But she couldn’t say that, right? It would sound sappy, or it would ruin the moment, or it would invalidate Keke’s journey. Still, with time seemingly frozen around the two, Kanon felt an urge welling up deep inside her. They were feelings that she couldn’t put into words.
When moments like that creep upon…
She could only express them through song.
“Look down, every step you took toughened the wooorld…” Those words would be the start of a new song that the two of them could sing together, to take the world by storm and show it their brilliance. “Light up the firewooorks.”
And with a resounding bang, it was like a field of flowers had been planted among the stars.
To the ocean it goes
Reachiiing you through the rivers!
They had been planted in the waters that surrounded them, where they flourished and grew into beautiful crests.
And I’ll stay youuu-uurs
Captured by the irises of a teenager who had staked her dream on the girl in her arms, and refused to let go. Kanon had been captivated by Keke’s beauty, continuing to shine every day as beautifully as the last.
No maaatter sunrise, nightfall
Although I may be flawed
We’ll walk together.
“Hello, flowerworks” , Kanon sang.
“Hello, flowerworks” , Keke echoed.
“A flower for you…”
“A flower for me.”
As the spectacle in front of them died down again, so did the winter cold bring the two girls closer together again, finding warmth to spare in each other. There was a comfortable silence that befell the two, now that the stampeding of fireworks had ceased, but the same couldn’t be said about their hearts.
“Your voice is still as wonderful as ever”, Keke said. “Thank you, Kanon. I love you.”
“I love you too, Keke.”