“Good morning, Konuma.”
Azuma-neesan was standing outside the ticket gate in her school uniform.
“Oh, good morning.”
When I returned the greeting, she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward slightly to look up at me. Then, in a theatrical manner, she said,
“It’s our second ‘good morning,’ isn’t it?”
She was probably referring to the ‘good morning’ we shared over the phone after I sent her the song in the early hours.
“I guess so... Wait, are you imitating Ichikawa right now?”
“Oh. How did you know?”
With a look that said ‘not bad,’ she straightened her posture and shoved her hands into the pockets of her blazer.
“No reason, just a hunch.”
“Heh...”
Actually, it was about half a guess, but it turned out I was right.
“Why did you suddenly imitate her?”
“No reason, just a hunch.”
“Heh...”
Since Azuma gave me the same response, I gave the same response back to her.
“Stop imitating me.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“Ahaha.”
Apparently, that little back-and-forth was amusing to her. She was laughing in a good mood, saying “that’s hilarious.” I bet she hasn’t slept and has that weird late-night energy going on...?
“...So, why Higashi-Koganei Station?”
Azuma had messaged me on LINE to meet at Higashi-Koganei Station, saying she wanted to walk to school together to talk about the song.
It wasn't Shin-Koganei Station or Musashino-Sakai Station; it was the farthest station within our school’s commuting area, about a thirty-minute walk to school. It was also the station where I had waved goodbye to Erina-san yesterday.
“That’s obviously so Amane won’t find us.”
“Huh...?”
Was there really a need to worry about that just to talk about music?
“There’s a bit of a reason for what I need to talk about today. It’s not like I want to be all secretive, but...”
“I see...”
Wait, she definitely just read my mind...
“Your responses... Oh well, let’s go.”
Azuma started walking, so I lined up beside her.
“By the way, you’re not bare-faced today.”
“...Huh?”
When I spoke up, she let out a bewildered sound and turned toward me.
“I mean, when I sent you the demo last time... you know, when I sent the additional part for ‘Weekday,’ you came with no makeup and a mask, right?”
At my observation, Azuma’s cheeks turned slightly red, and she gave me a half-lidded, judgmental stare.
“...Sexual harassment.”
“Sexual harassment!?”
Are you serious? Why do I have to be told that?
“Don’t notice things like that... It makes everything harder to do...”
“What? What does?”
“Everything!”
Azuma cleared her throat ostentatiously and looked away. I don’t quite understand, but it seems better not to dig any deeper.
“So, what’s this about the song? Should I explain the content?”
“No, that’s fine. I can tell what you want to say by listening to it.”
“That’s impressive... Well, you did say, ‘I’ve received the baton. Leave the rest to me.’”
As I recalled that and felt impressed all over again, she covered her mouth with the ‘moe’ part of her moe-sleeves and glared at me again.
“What do you even mean by the ‘moe’ part of moe-sleeves...? Also, why do you remember it word for word...? I thought that was a skill you only had for use against amane-sama?”
“No, I just thought it was a cool line.”
“Hey, are you trying to tease me for how I was this morning? If you do that, I won’t let you off easy.”
“No, it’s just my honest opinion...”
I fended off Azuma, who was starting to get combative like a hissing cat.
“Actually, if you remember what I said, then you remember what I said before that line, right?”
“Oh, the part about my emails triggering push notifications? Why was that? Should I message you on LINE when I send demos?”
“The part where I told you to forget that!”
Her face turned bright red as she protested again. She’s completely in cat mode now.
“I see...”
“That’s not it. I said, ‘I have plenty I want to say, but I’ll save it for tomorrow.’ And that ‘tomorrow’ has arrived now.”
As expected of Azuma, even when she says normal things, it turns into a poem...
“Don’t call it a poem.”
“I didn’t say it.”
“Then don’t think it.”
Looking grumpy, Azuma lowered the tone of her voice a bit and asked me.
“What I wanted to confirm was... is it really okay for the first song you made for ‘someone’ to be for Erina? Will Amane get angry?”
“Oh... I think it’ll probably be fine.”
“Why?”
She tilted her head, her large eyes blinking.
“...Because I got a LINE message yesterday.”
“What did it say?”
Man, this person is really inquisitive...
“It said... ‘Good luck.’”
When I answered while scratching my cheek, she said,
“Hmm, she’s quite a well-made girlfriend, isn’t she...?”
She spoke with a somewhat exasperated expression.
“I suppose so...”
“I don’t feel like it’ll be that simple, though... Well, if that’s the case, I’m going to turn it into lyrics, okay? Don’t blame me no matter what happens.”
“Yeah. I’ve already decided, so it’s fine.”
“...I see.”
Azuma nodded at my answer, looking just a little bit mournful for some reason.
“Hey, Konuma?”
“Yeah?”
Keeping that slightly low tone, Azuma questioned me.
“Do you think... like with Erina this time, even if those feelings won’t—well, won’t be reciprocated, and might even just be a nuisance to the other person, do you think it’s okay to keep holding onto those feelings?”
Her eyes, which had been looking at me until a moment ago, were now fixed on her own feet as she walked.
“Instead of saying it’s okay to hold onto them...”
I thought for a moment before answering.
“If you could throw them away just because you weren’t supposed to have them, wouldn’t you have thrown them away a long time ago? I don’t really know, though...”
I think it’s precisely because you can’t do that that it’s painful.
“I see... maybe so.”
Surprisingly, Azuma accepted what someone like me had to say, and then she continued with another question.
“Then, what about telling them? Do you think that’s not a mistake either?”
“Telling them isn’t a mistake either.”
‘Now you won’t be able to forget about me for the rest of your life, right, Takuto?’
Suddenly, Sako’s smile from the fireworks festival flashed through my mind.
“How should I put it... I felt grateful for it.”
“Are you talking about Sakohasu?”
“...It’s nothing. Anyway, don’t start such heavy topics first thing in the morning...”
I looked away to avoid Azuma’s gaze as she peered into my face.
“I don’t want to hear that from the person who sends a heavy data file at 4 AM.”
“Who’s talking about megabytes...?”
Relieved that we had returned to some light banter, I threw in a retort.
“...If you say so, Konuma.”
Azuma exhaled a long breath, as if she had made some kind of resolution.
“Seriously, don’t blame me no matter what happens.”