The concert ended in a roaring success. We stood there, bowing to the audience as they applauded and shouted for an encore, until the moment the curtain fell. An encore wasn’t in the cards, unfortunately—there wasn’t time for one in the schedule. We’d known that from the start, and had more or less anticipated that this would happen...but my feelings about that restriction had changed dramatically since the moments leading up to the performance. Now, I felt a little regretful that we couldn’t give the audience what they wanted. I wished that I could stay on that stage for just a little longer. It was incredibly unlike me.
“Nice work, Makina,” said Rinka.
“You as well,” I replied after a moment of hesitation. “And you, Yuna.”
“Thanks, you too! Ahh, man, I’m wiped out... Nice work to all of you in the band too!” Yuna called out.
“Great job, you three!” one of the band’s members replied.
“It was seriously incredible! I’m so glad I took up playing the guitar as a hobby... I’ll never forget this as long as I live!”
“Dude, are you crying?! Come on, cut it out! We still have to break down all our gear!”
Now that the curtains had sealed the stage away again, we all chatted as we packed up and prepared to leave. Of course, unlike the band’s members, the three of us didn’t have anything in particular to carry off the stage other than ourselves. Throwing on an oversized coat that would mostly cover up my costume was all I had to do.
“Gotta say, I really went all out at the end,” Yuna suddenly muttered as we left the gymnasium.
“I know what you mean,” Rinka agreed.
We’d made our exit through a back entrance to the building, before most of the audience could leave, and were on our way to our classroom, which had been designated as our waiting area. I had to admit that the two of them were right—their solos had both been fantastic. So fantastic that it was hard to believe they’d been nervous just moments before. They’d blown even their best practice sessions out of the water. There was just something about how they’d sung in the moment—a passion that I couldn’t quite put into words.
“But, I mean, how could I not, after Yotsuba shouted my name like that? I was seriously so surprised! It made me so happy too, though, and gave me a crazy boost of motivation...and I just went for it, I guess!”
“Huh?” Rinka and I grunted in unison.
“Hold on. I thought Yotsuba shouted my name?” said Rinka.
“Huh? What’re you talking about?” Yuna countered. “I know what I heard! She said ‘Yuna,’ plain as day!”
What on earth are those two talking about? “Actually...she said my name,” I insisted. She did! She shouted it out! I’m absolutely positive of it! Nothing in the world could ever convince me otherwise!
“You too, Makina?!” Yuna yelped before pausing to think. “Wait... Oh. I see now...” she said with a slight snicker.
“I think I understand what happened too,” Rinka agreed, bashfully scratching her cheek.
“Oh,” I said. I’d finally caught on. In retrospect, there was only one possible explanation for the passion that I’d felt from them during each of their solos. I could feel my face flush in an instant. “Did she shout all of our names, but we only heard it when she said our own?”
It certainly seemed that way. We’d all been caught up in the intensity of our performance. Being up onstage in the middle of a song puts you in a very unusual state of mind—a state of mind that, for instance, could have easily blocked out Yotsy’s voice right up until the moment she said my name specifically.
“Heh...” I chuckled. It was so purely ridiculous, of all of us, that all I could do was laugh. And before I knew it, Yuna and Rinka were laughing along with me.
“Ha ha ha! You know, I’m starting to realize something about us,” said Yuna.
“Same,” Rinka agreed. “We really might be birds of a feather.”
I had to admit, they had a point. All three of us, after all, were hopelessly head over heels for the same girl.
“Oh, and by the way, Makina—I had no idea you could even make a face like that,” Yuna added.
“Huh?” I grunted. That was the moment I finally realized I was smiling just as broadly as the two of them.
“You have always looked a little conflicted when you’re around us,” said Rinka.
“I...have? Really?”
“Yup. When you didn’t have one of those suuuper fake smiles on, anyway,” added Yuna.
“I wouldn’t quite put it like that...but I will say that the way you’re smiling right now is downright lovely in comparison.”
“Oh, come on, Rinka! Playing the prince now?” Yuna jabbed.
“Not intentionally, anyway. I really meant it,” Rinka replied with a smile so dashing, there was no way she could brush it off as easily as she’d dismissed her flirtatious word choice.
As I walked along with the two of them...I realized that I couldn’t feel so much as a trace of the simmering discontent that had been building up in me before the performance began. Instead, I felt the refreshing sense of accomplishment that came with a successful show, the strangest sense of belonging...and the irrepressible love for Yotsy that burned within my heart.