“Takuto, you were really cool back then.”
“I see...”
Being told that the crybaby Pikachu was actually Sako made my face heat up with a mix of embarrassment and shame, arriving more than ten years late.
I really treated her like she was younger than me back then...
“I mean, why did you keep quiet about it until now? You could have told me when we met in elementary school.”
“Because I wanted Takuto to notice on his own.”
“‘Because’...”
As I thought, Sako is acting a bit childish today.
“Then, why did you give me so many hints this year?”
“Last year, when I came to the fireworks festival for the first time after we fought,” Sako looked straight into my eyes, “I realized that if you just wait, you might lose things forever.”
She said it with conviction.
“I-I see...”
Overwhelmed by Sako’s gaze, I felt like looking away. I probably have a thing or two to learn from my younger self.
While we talked, we arrived in front of Ichika Middle School.
“Two draft beers! Thanks for your business!”
By the school gate, a beer stall with a long line was set up. The deep voice saying ‘Thanks for your business!’ sounded familiar, so I took a look. The owner of the voice was chatting with an older customer while pouring beer.
“Takanori-kun, aren’t you coming to the shooting gallery this year? Look, you didn’t even come to the festival last year.”
“Haha, who knows? If I have time later, I’ll drop by!”
“I’ll be waiting! Still, you were so gallant back then, Takanori-kun...”
“Geez, old man, don’t tell that story every year! Here, sorry for the wait, two beers!”
Just by looking at him, you could tell he was a reliable, good person. Why did I feel like I wanted to be like that, even though he was a stranger...?
As I tilted my head, feeling like I was about to remember something but couldn't quite grasp it,
“Takuto, over here.”
Sako pulled on my sleeve.
While leading me, Sako passed through the middle school’s gate.
“Huh, this way?”
She walked straight through the back entrance of the school building and headed inside.
“Whoa, the security is total garbage...”
Was it really okay to enter this easily...?
“There were club activities until this evening, and the teachers are still here, so they haven't locked up yet. It seems the teachers are watching from the large classroom too.”
“Teachers, huh... I mean, you sure know a lot about this.”
“Already rehearsed.”
She turned a smug face toward me, her mouth curling up by 0.something millimeters.
Even so, while the noise from outside made it feel slightly less intense, a dark hallway at night is still pretty scary on its own...
If I had brought Azuma here, she’d probably be in tears.
『Konumaaa, why do I have to be brought to this middle school I have no connection to—...? I can't do this unless you hold my hand...』
Yeah, yeah. Since I feel like I haven't heard Azuma’s voice in a while, I have to supplement it with my imagination.
Eventually, we reached the instrument storage room next to the music room.
“Oh, how nostalgic.”
Inside the room of about fifteen tatami mats, instruments were crammed everywhere.
Along both walls, shelves were packed with wind instruments and sheet music. In the center of the room were timpani and xylophones, and by the window at the back were drums and a bass amp about knee-high.
“You can see the fireworks really clearly from here,” Sako said, leaning toward the window.
“Huh, is that so... Wait, how do you know that?”
“Because I came here alone last year.”
“Alone? You came all the way here? By trespassing?”
Sako nodded dutifully three times to my three questions.
“Takuto wasn't here last year. So, I thought I’d watch them here instead, where we were always together.”
“I-I see...”
I-I don't know what kind of face I should make at a time like this. Should I just smile?
“We always practiced here, didn't we?”
“We did...”
Sako turned to look around the room, so I also turned my back to the window and surveyed the interior again.
As the name suggested, the instrument storage room was a warehouse for instruments, so other sections took their instruments from here and practiced in empty classrooms or the music room. However, moving the drums was a hassle, so the drums were practiced right here in the storage room. The bass, which often practiced alongside the drums, was also frequently played in here.
“...This was also where I first heard Takuto’s song.”
“...It was.”
The words Sako said to me that day refrained in my head, and my heart still ached, even if only a little.
“...Takuto, I'm really sorry.”
“No, it’s really okay now.”
I laughed. I truly thought it was good that I could laugh about it now.
“But, don't say such horrible things to a friend again, okay?”
When I said that jokingly,
“Takuto isn't a friend.”
Sako replied.
“Eh? Hm? Oh, a childhood friend...?”
I thought being 'friends' and 'childhood friends' could coexist, but Sako is stubborn sometimes. I already have few friends as it is, so don't reduce the count...
“That’s true too, but ever since that day of the fireworks festival when we first met,” Sako turned back toward me, “Takuto has always been my longing.”
She declared it firmly.
“That’s...”
Those words were very similar to the ones I had told Ichikawa that day.
Is it a coincidence...? Or...?
“I, you see... I was saved by that longing, aimed for that longing, was encouraged by that longing, and was hurt by that longing... That’s how I’ve lived all this time. I think the reason I’m here now is thanks to Takuto, and also because of Takuto.”
After saying that much, Sako let out a breath that sounded like a giggle.
“That’s why, you see, I know exactly how precious ‘longing’ is.”
“Precious...?”
I pathetically repeated Sako’s words.
“Before the Rock On performance, when we were in the huddle, you said ‘to reach out for the things we long for,’ right?”
“I did...”
Before, she called me creepy for remembering Ichikawa’s words word-for-word, but I realized Sako also remembers things exactly.
“If you can’t reach your ‘longing,’ it’s scary. It’s painful, and you feel like you’re going to lose. That’s probably why Takuto became unable to write songs.”
The reason why scales disappeared from my music. It was probably because I couldn't reach amane’s music. Because I felt I wouldn't reach it.
“Hey, I understand.”
Sako bit her lower lip as if enduring something,
“The longing for me is Takuto, but for Takuto, it’s Ichikawa-san, right?”
She questioned me clearly.
“I...”
“But, don't forget one thing.”
Sako cut off my voice as I tried to answer and continued.
“Since Takuto is my longing, don't you dare degrade yourself into being a lesser version of someone else. It's impossible for Takuto to be an inferior version of amane. Takuto is incredibly cool just as Takuto is. Otherwise,” Sako smiled gently, “I, who look up to Takuto, would look like an idiot, wouldn't I?”
“Sako...”
Giving a weak reply, I sat down on top of the bass amp with my back to the window.
Then, Sako softly leaned her back against mine and sat down, looking out the window while back-to-back with me.
“Takuto, I really don't have anything. I can't play the bass as well as Yurisuke, I’m not cute inside or out like Erina, and I can't write lyrics or music that Takuto would listen to hundreds of times like Ichikawa-san. But,” I heard the sound of Sako taking a deep breath, “I want to stay by Takuto’s side forever. More than anyone else, more strongly than anyone else, that’s what I think.”
I gasped.
“I don't want to be apart from Takuto and feel like that ever again.”
I heard Sako’s voice becoming moist through our backs.
Feeling like I shouldn't look at her expression, I kept staring into the dark room.
“...Me too,” I was about to say that I didn't want to feel that way again either, when,
『The first part will begin shortly! Ten, nine, eight...』
A countdown for the start of the fireworks began from outside the window.
“Takuto, the fireworks are going up. Turn this way.”
“O-Oh.”
『Three, two, one...』
Just as I turned around to look out the window,
At the same moment the fireworks bloomed in the sky with a massive sound like a mix of a bass drum and a bass guitar—
“Mmph...”
Something soft was pressed against my lips.
Before my wide-open eyes were Sako’s closed eyelashes and her cheeks.
It took a few seconds to realize that the soft sensation was Sako’s lips, and while I still couldn't keep up with the understanding of it,
Sako, her face bright red, pulled away.
“With this, you won't be able to forget about me for the rest of your life, right?”
Illuminated by the fireworks, Sako smiled. The fireworks brilliantly lit up even the tears streaming down her cheeks.
The slightly salty droplet on my lips and the massive, massive colors blooming in the sky.
While I couldn't tell if the sound shaking my entire body was my heartbeat or the bursting of the fireworks,
Sako’s fist pushed against my chest with a slightly firm ‘thump.’
“If you're going to ‘reach out for your longing,’ you have to be at least this serious about it. Got it, Takuto?”