“What?! You kissed Sakoshu?!”
“Wait, your voice is too loud...!”
The familiar McDonald’s in Kichijoji.
On the table were coffee and a chocolate-flavored McShake.
Across from me was a girl who had returned from the UK, her eyes wide as she said things like, “Oh my gosh...!”
Somehow, seeing this scenery for the first time in a while made me feel at ease.
“So, what happened after that...?”
Erina-san asked while looking up at me.
“Well, quite a lot happened after that...”
*
*
*
Inside the dark instrument storage room with the lights off, brilliant flashes of light from outside illuminated the space at irregular intervals.
“Hey, Takuto.”
Sako, who seemed to have regained her composure at some point, called out to me while I was still in a daze.
“Y-Yes...?”
I was completely flustered in response. No, in this situation, isn’t Sako the one being unusual...?
Confirming that I had regained my senses, Sako stood up swiftly.
She brushed the dust off a guitar case tucked away in a corner of the storage room, took out an electric guitar, and began tuning it.
“W-What’s going on...?”
When I asked timidly, Sako put her index finger to her lips and said, “Shh,” signaling that I was interfering with her tuning. Ah, right, sorry, Sakoshu...
As for me, looking directly at those lips she had just placed her finger on made me feel like my brain was about to boil again, so I quickly averted my eyes.
Once she had all six strings perfectly in tune, she held the guitar out to me.
“Here.”
“Here”? What are you, Kanta from Totoro...?
“I mean, was there always a guitar here?”
“It’s for when the brass band does pop songs. Remember? Back in our day, when we played ‘Cherry,’ the members who could play did the guitar parts. Takuto, you were on drums and I was on bass.”
“Ah, that did happen...”
“Yeah.”
I see, so both I and Sako were ‘Cherry Boys’ back in middle school...
“Uh... and so?”
Why is Sako handing me the guitar...?
“Play something.”
“No, even if you say that...”
To my ears right now, this has no meaning—
“Just do it.”
Sako nodded, staring straight into my eyes.
With a gaze that brooked no argument, I accepted the guitar and gently held it.
I placed my slightly trembling left fingers on the fretboard and held down the strings.
I rested my stiff right thumb on the sixth string.
Phew... I took a deep breath out.
Haaa... I took a deep breath in.
Then, I slowly strummed downward with my right fingers.
C.
G.
C.
“...!”
I gasped.
“...Did you hear it?”
Sako peered into my face.
Slowly, but firmly, I nodded.
“Yeah... I heard it.”
That’s right.
The guitar I played surely delivered the resonance of C, the resonance of G, and then the resonance of C once more to my ears.
My right hand shook for a different reason than before.
“To me... the pitch, it's come back...?”
As I spoke with my body trembling uncontrollably,
“See?”
Sako gave a wide grin.
“Takuto, you can do it!”
She said just that.
Outside the window, the fireworks reached their climax with the Starmines beginning.
It was selfish of me, but they sparkled beautifully as if celebrating something.
“Hey, Takuto.”
A tear streaked down the smiling Sako’s cheek again.
I wonder why; in front of fireworks, Sako really cries and smiles a lot.
“I... finally... instead of taking away, I was able to give something back.”
Looking at Sako’s face as she smiled through her tears,
‘Hey, Takuto, I took away the music of amane that you love so much, you know? Not just your music, but I even took away amane’s music. With what face can I ask for forgiveness? You can’t forgive me, right? Right?!’
Sako’s scream from that day resurfaced softly in my mind.
“I was able to properly return music to you, Takuto.”
“Sako...”
“I’m so glad... I’m so glad...”
Sako clung to my shirt.
It was like a lost child who had finally found her parent.
“Truly, thank you, Sako.”
I expressed my gratitude to Sako from the bottom of my heart.
*
*
*
“Hmph...?”
After finishing the story, Erina-san, whether she wasn’t very interested or what, glared at me while slurping her shake loudly.
Wait, I thought I just told a pretty important story...
“Uh, um...”
“What is it?”
The judging eyes are painful, Erina-san...
“Are you... angry for some reason?”
When I asked, Erina-san let out a sigh.
“Sigh, Erina is just...”
“Yes...?”
“Erina didn’t hear anything at all about the fact that Takuto-kun was suffering from something like that in the first place...?”
“Ah, oh, is that so...?”
Now that she mentioned it, it’s true that I hadn’t told Erina-san about my slump.
“No, but...”
“If you say ‘it’s none of your business,’ Erina will be really angry, okay?”
Erina-san’s gaze sharpened.
She slammed her shake down on the table.
“There’s no way Takuto-kun’s worries have nothing to do with Erina! I’m always, always being helped by Takuto-kun this much, and even today I was about to talk to you about my own worries, you know? And yet, Takuto-kun doesn’t rely on Erina at all...”
“N-No, it’s not like that...”
“What do you mean it’s not like that?”
“Th-That’s...”
My eyes darted around. No, wait, isn't she right...?
It’s not that I don’t rely on her, but I definitely thought this story was about the band, so it didn’t involve her.
“I-I’m sorry...”
Erina-san closed one eye as if giving up.
“Sigh... Takuto-kun is Takuto-kun through and through, isn’t he... I wonder when you’ll stop being ‘Takuto-kun’...”
“No, I’ll always be me...”
My name has been used as an insult so much that there’s even a possibility of me ceasing to be myself.
“Well, whatever... tell me next time, okay?”
“Yeah...”
“Because Erina wants to be of help to Takuto-kun too.”
Erina-san pouted her lips as if sulking and went back to slurping her shake while it sat on the table.