Even as Rinako continued watching, she still wasn't quite sure what kind of story Voices of a Distant Star was trying to tell. But one thing was clear it wasn't really about an interstellar war. The sci-fi setting was just a canvas for something more intimate.
And the visuals were breathtaking. Thunderstorms over Jupiter. The ochre clouds of Mars. Every frame felt like a piece of art.
Most of the early scenes were just Mikako and Noboru exchanging messages across space. Slow, sparse, and quiet.
Just as Rinako began to wonder if the story had lost its direction—maybe even if Mizushiro had miscalculated one line pulled her sharply back in.
"The spacecraft will continue toward Pluto next... The delay for messages will grow even longer."
That line, followed by Noboru quietly reading a reply from Mikako that had taken six months to reach him, hit her like a punch.
"It's as slow as using a telegraph in the 20th century. But… it's okay."
"How could it be okay?" Noboru's voice was barely above a whisper.
Rinako felt her stomach tighten.
As someone with a science background, she immediately grasped the implications of interstellar communication using electromagnetic waves. In a story where two people are separated across light years, even the most basic message could take days, weeks or years to arrive.
How do you maintain a connection like that?
She shook her head. Just like in 5 Centimeters per Second, this was another story about two people drifting apart. But if Takaki and Akari were separated by half of Japan, Mikako and Noboru were now half a solar system apart and that distance was only growing.
And still, they hadn't given up.
The mood of the story began to shift. The once light tone gave way to something heavier. The delays in their communication increased. One message, then silence. Days. Weeks. Then months.
Near Pluto, Mikako's fleet encountered signs of an alien presence and engaged in combat.
She survived but the fleet made a sudden decision to jump even farther, to a point beyond the solar system. When Mikako opened her phone to send a new message, the estimated delivery time read:
"One year and sixteen days."
Rinako stared at the screen.
Even if Mikako sent the message right then, Noboru wouldn't read it for over a year.
And that wasn't the worst of it.
The mission's true destination was an alien star system eight light-years away. And the return route hadn't been charted. If Mikako really went that far, there might be no way back at all.
That was when it clicked for Rinako.
This wasn't a story about war. That was just the setting.
This was about love stretched beyond its limits. Love not just across countries or years—but across stars.
In the next scene, Noboru now a year older finally received a message Mikako had written twelve months earlier. Her words were gentle, apologetic.
"...Next time we receive a message from each other, it'll be in eight years and seven months. I'm sorry."
And then came the line that struck deepest:
"We're like lovers separated by the distance between the stars and the Earth."
Rinako felt that now familiar ache return the same one she had after watching 5 Centimeters per Second.
Only this time, it wasn't just the characters' helplessness it was their quiet endurance that made it hurt more.
"The sky, the air, the rain here... they're just like Earth. But they're not the same."
"I want the rain to stop…"
"I want to go to the convenience store and grab a cold drink…"
Just a few small lines, but they said everything. All the memories after school moments, little routines, fragments of a normal life surfaced like a wave.
Rinako couldn't hold it in anymore.
If 5 Centimeters per Second delivered its emotional blow at the very end, Voices of a Distant Star had been quietly building it from the midpoint onward. The loneliness wasn't a twist. It was a constant.
And now… it was irreversible.
Then came the final message delivered eight years late.
"Hello, twenty four year old Noboru. I'm fifteen year old Mikako."
As the music swelled—Through the Years, Far Away Mikako's voice overlapped with Noboru's thoughts.
Summer clouds. Cold rain. The scent of autumn wind.
The sound of rain on an umbrella. Spring soil. The peace of a convenience store at night.
I want to feel all of it… with Mikako.
The visuals faded into a quiet montage: Mikako drifting in space, her mecha powerless, her thoughts still anchored to Earth. Noboru training, joining a government agency, trying in his own way to reach her.
Years apart. Never forgetting.
Then the final lines:
"Sometimes… maybe thoughts can cross time and space. Noboru, have you ever believed that?"
"If something were to happen… what would you feel, Mikako?"
Right now, there's only one thing I want to say.
I'm right here.
I'm right here too.
The screen faded to black.
And Rinako just sat there, motionless.
Two nights in a row. Two completely different stories. But both had left her wrecked.
[TL: I recently discovered the song "I Can't Stop This Loneliness" by Anri, and it's been stuck in my head all week—so I wanted to recommend it to everyone. The lyrics don't exactly match the story, but the mood really stayed with me, so I thought it was worth sharing.]
Shout out to Driveby Throwaway, Peter, tutor 100, Julio Grabowski for joining my p-atreon! your support means everything to me.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-atreon.com/Alioth23 for 60+ advanced chapters)