...and a modern-day ninja-cum-angel, Emma, who’d descended to grace us with her presence somewhere along the way without making so much as the slightest hint of sound! Was I surprised by her sudden appearance? Nope, not in the slightest. Emma could show up out of the blue anywhere, anytime, and I’d welcome her without missing a beat! She’d trained me well!
“Emma!”
“Yotsubaaa!”
The two of us threw our arms around each other!
“Huuug!”
“Huuug, indeeeed!”
Aaaaaah, Emmaaaaaa! So! So! Soooooo cute!!!
“Sorry, what?” said Mio. “Who the heck is this ridiculously adorable little kid?!”
“I’m Emma, indeed!” Emma replied.
“Oh, hi, Emma! It’s been a while,” said Mukai.
“A while indeed, Chiaki!” said Emma.
Mio was left in a state of shock by Emma’s sheer angelic presence, while Mukai gave her a totally casual greeting. She and Emma had met back when we all got together to model for Mukai’s advertisement illustration, and from the sound of it, they’d gotten to know each other even better since then.
“Will you do the honors, Emma?” asked Koganezaki.
“Yes indeed, sister dearest!” said Emma. She broke away from me, then held up the SLR camera that she— Wait, what?! When did she get that camera bag?! I thought it was hanging from my shoulder just a second ago! Did... Did she use that hug to snatch it from me?!
“I assure you that Emma’s photography will be to your satisfaction,” said Koganezaki. “You might be surprised to hear this, but her skills are undeniable. She has, in fact, won several awards in the field.”
“Indeed!” Emma chirped.
“Wow, really?! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised—you have so many skills, Emma...”
Emma stood tall and proud while Koganezaki took a moment to bundle her long, fluffy hair up into a pair of buns.
Oh wooow! She looks so cute with her hair all tied up like that! Those are the yummiest-looking hair buns I’ve ever seen! I’ll have two to go, thanks! This place does takeout, doesn’t it...? Oh. No? It doesn’t? Ha ha ha... Y-Yeah, figures! You know I was just kidding, right...?
The clerk—I mean, Koganezaki—shot me a piercing glare, which I fled from by looking over at Mukai instead. She didn’t seem particularly surprised by Emma’s camerawoman promotion, which I assumed meant that she’d been told about all this in advance.
I get it now. That’s why she gave a really complicated-looking SLR camera to a total amateur like me—because she knew that Emma would be the one using it in the end!
“But wait,” I said. “In that case, what is my job...?”
“Your job is to watch the performance from start to finish,” said Koganezaki. “Surely not even your veil of obfuscating negativity is thick enough to blind you to the fact that those three want you, above all others, to see their big moment?”
“I mean...I know that, yeah,” I replied.
Koganezaki let out a quiet chuckle, and then—in an incredibly smooth, natural motion—reached over to pat my head. “Well, then sit still and don’t let yourself get distracted.”
“Yeah... Thanks, Koganezaki. And you too, Emma. I promise I’ll pay you back for this sometime soon!”
“Hee hee—I’m happy, indeed! I’ll do my best!”
I still felt a little guilty about the fact that I was the only one who got to sit back and enjoy the show without doing any real work at all, but Koganezaki was right. Plus, I knew for a fact that I’d regret it forever if I got distracted and missed even a moment of Yuna, Rinka, and Makina’s performance.
Mukai tapped me on the shoulder. “Ah, Hazama, look! It’s starting!” she said.
I turned to look at the stage just in time to see our class rep step out in front of the curtains with a microphone in hand. “Thank you very much for coming to see class 2-A’s performance. I’m Yayoi Niijima, our class representative!” she said. She seemed a little nervous, but her delivery was still loud and clear, and the audience responded with a round of applause and even a few whistles.
The atmosphere was really positive, all around. Even the class rep seemed to loosen up after a moment, a relieved smile coming across her face.
“I think you’re all aware that a new friend transferred into our class at the start of the second semester. Some of you might have complicated feelings about her presence in this school, but as far as we’re concerned, she’s a member of our class just like anyone else. She’s not some special, unapproachable other—she’s our friend. We...I didn’t realize that, until another girl in our class pointed it out to me.”
I heard Mukai let out a satisfied little “hmph!” next to me. She was grinning, while I was clutching the railing in front of me with all my strength in a fit of inexplicable embarrassment.
“I hope that by watching today’s performance, all of you will come to understand how amazing our new friend is, and also who we are as a class. We’ve all worked together to make this happen, and I couldn’t be happier to present the fruits of our efforts to such an incredible audience!”
A real intensity had started to creep into the class rep’s voice. The audience was listening with rapt attention to her every word too, and, like...I didn’t even know why, but for some reason, that was all it took to make me feel like I was about to break down in tears.
“We’ll be performing two covers and one original song today—three songs in total! We made sure to choose songs that you’ll all likely be familiar with for the covers, and the original song was written by our three performers. It’s the best song ever, and the only ones who’ll get to hear it are all of you, here and now! I hope you’re hyped, everyone!”
The audience roared with excitement. They were most definitely hyped, no two ways about it! A moment later the lights in the gymnasium dimmed, and penlights—which we’d put on sale in advance of the concert—began to glow among the audience. My heart was doing its absolute best to pound its way right through my rib cage.
“And, without further ado... It’s time for class 2-A’s cultural-festival idol show to begin!”