A/N: This story is also published on Wattpad under the same name. Air Gear does not belong to me.


Trick 00: Prologue


? When the clouds are dropping ... ?


"Miyano Sayagi?"

The middle school principal frowned slightly when said thirteen year-old student appeared at the doorway of his office. The severity of the situation was not one which he hadn't dealt with before, but passing on the harsh news had been hard on him each and every time.

The petite, violet-haired girl gulped as she stepped inside the room. The dark circles that gloomed underneath her purple eyes were more than enough evidence of the misery Sayagi was going through, but nobody ever saw her cry at school. She wouldn't let anybody see that. Her frantic gaze searched the room for any sense of comfort, finally settling on the suit-clad man sitting in the corner. "Dad…"

Miyano Tadashi stood from his seat in silence and marched over to his daughter before placing a hand on her shoulder, which began to shake. Unlike Sayagi, his features remained sharp as ever, and his cold gaze pierced the room like a sword. "Yamanaka-sensei, we will be taking our leave now, if you'll please excuse us." Even his words were like a cutting edge, and perhaps only Sayagi and Tadashi himself knew of the pain he hid. He had no choice but to wear a mask.

Principal Yamanaka tensed visibly, not expecting such a harsh attitude from the father. He could only imagine that what's occurred to this family led to more than pure sadness. It wasn't easy to lose a wife, or a mother. He bowed as the two left. "Of course."


? And the rain w o n? t stop ... ?


The drizzle outside seemed to wash away the sorrow. It numbed the pain, and enveloped everything in a cold sheen. "Will this…" Sayagi began, but suddenly trailed off, as if questioning her choice to speak. Her father said nothing as he drove toward the hospital. "Be the last time we see mom?"

Her mother, Akagi Haruka, had long since given up on the fight against her illness. Sayagi and Tadashi tried to hold on, but there was no other possible outcome.

Two years of struggle had been too long.

A moment of silence passed, and it felt like eternity.

"Yeah."


? Just d o n? t forget ... ?


Haruka's pale hand reached out from her hospital bed, and latched itself to Sayagi's hand. The woman had shriveled up into a skeleton, but even then her daughter saw her beauty.

She wanted to believe in her beauty.

"Don't look so sad, dear," Haruka's voice was barely above a whisper, but in the room filled with nothing but silence, it was plenty enough. "I'll always be with you, and if you think of me," her gaze turned to the window and stared out to the clouds above. "I'll be in the sky, watching."


? W h a t? s waiting for you ... ?


At Haruka's funeral, Sayagi stood next to her father. The two stared ahead, where a black coffin rested, and atop it a portrait of beautiful Haruka. The quiet sobs of relatives and friends resonated from behind them, but it was as if the entire world had gone silent for them.

After all the respects have been paid, Sayagi turned her gaze up and at the sky.

The rain had not stopped.

"Are you watching from the sky, mother…?"


? ... at the top . ?