“You told me that you had to drive everyone out of the room to get some privacy a minute ago...meaning that there were plenty of people here beforehand, right? Meaning that my whole class saw Mio, right?”
“It stands to reason.”
“See?! See?! Everyone knows you’re here now! What were you thinking?! If any of my classmates decide to spill the beans, even once, the whole school will know the news in minutes!”
“Umm,” said Mio.
“What do you mean, umm?!”
“I, err... Sorry.”
I’d succeeded in strong-arming Mio into apologizing, and I was confident that she wouldn’t be charging through the conversation like a wild boar anymore...but I couldn’t relax just yet! I had a whole new, extremely important priority to keep in mind now: making sure I didn’t accidentally turn around and look at Koganezaki! If I slipped up, took a peek, and realized that she was glaring daggers at me, there was a very real danger that I’d lose all momentum and wither up into a husk on the spot!
Also, and equally importantly: I had to not look at Yuna and Rinka either. I’d been pretty darn harsh with my response to them a moment ago, and even if it was in the heat of the moment, I knew that one glance would be all it’d take to make me feel really, really bad about it.
I’ll apologize as many times as it takes later on, so...for now, sorry!
“Apologies can come later,” I said. “You have something more important to do first, right? And that’s telling me exactly what you thought of everything you saw today, in detail!” I said. I might’ve heard someone whisper, “So pointlessly obstinate” from behind me, but I firmly ignored it!
“Okay, but I did, didn’t I?” said Mio. “I literally just said what I thought of the show a moment ago...”
“Oh, really? Remind me what exactly you said?”
“That...those two over there did really well.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You did say that, didn’t you?” I admitted. Hearing her praise Yuna and Rinka had made me feel awfully proud, but that wasn’t what I was talking about right now! “And? What else?”
“That Maki was awful...?”
“Yup, I heard that too!”
“Well, then...I did give you my impressions after all, didn’t I?”
“You’re missing the point on purpose, aren’t you?” I asked. I also leaned forward, glaring at her with all my might, and pinched her side while I was at it! And since I wasn’t an idol, I had no idea how to not make it hurt! There’d be no holding back on that pinch...
Wait, what?! Why does she feel so hard?! Are those her abs?! W-Wow... I guess that’s an idol for you.
Did every idol you saw singing, dancing, and jumping around onstage in a cute, frilly little outfit have the toned abs of a trained athlete hiding beneath it? One way or another, it was pretty clear that my unexceptional pinch-strength wasn’t going to deal any damage to her at all!
No...you can’t let her intimidate you now! Stand strong, Yotsuba Hazama!
Getting mad was scary. I hated criticizing people. I’d scold my little sisters from time to time when they did something that they absolutely shouldn’t, sure, but that was just because we were family. It was a big sister’s job to tell her siblings when they’d done something wrong. Whenever I did, though, one look at their expressions as I scolded them would be all it took to tear my heart in half. Knowing that I was the one who’d put those looks on their faces made me so guilty, I felt like I might throw up.
I knew I wasn’t scolding them because I wanted to make them feel bad, though. I did it because I thought it was what was best for them. Because I wanted them to be happy in the long run, even if it made them unhappy with me in the short term. And so...
You can do it, Yotsuba Hazama!
I psyched myself up as well as I could, telling myself that I could—no, would—pull through, and focused all my strength on keeping my knees from buckling on the spot. I didn’t like getting mad, and I certainly wasn’t good at it, but now that I’d started, I had to see it through to the end! It’d be really rude to the others if I backed out now!
“You said that Makina sucked—but did you think that the whole way through the show?” I asked.
Mio took in a sharp breath.
“I didn’t see whatever made you think she was doing badly from the start. I thought she was super graceful, and awesome, and so amazing I almost couldn’t believe that we’re the same age. But then, in the last song...she was even better!”
All I could say about the final song of the set, “After Adventure,” was that it was good. I was a total amateur when it came to music, and I wasn’t at all prepared to judge the objective value of its composition or lyrics, or its potential as a song on the whole. What I could judge, though, were Yuna’s, Rinka’s, and Makina’s solo parts that came after the band’s big moment. I wouldn’t forget those for as long as I lived.
Words couldn’t do them justice. It was like all three of them had let their emotions burst out in an explosion of song, racing together toward the ultimate finale that was the last chorus. I—and, I’m sure, everyone else in the gym—had been spellbound. I was convinced that everyone there had felt grateful that they’d gotten to see it, and I had a feeling that Mio was no exception. She’d seen the same show that I had, so how could she be?!
“Did you really have the exact same opinion at the end that you did halfway through? Did you really still think that the time Makina spent here—the time she spent with us—was all worthless once it was over?!”
For a moment, Mio didn’t respond. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths...and then smiled. A weak, listless smile, so feeble it almost seemed like she might burst into tears.
“Yeah, okay. You got me, Yotsuba,” said Mio. She rifled through the pockets of her uniform for a moment, then pulled out a handkerchief and blotted my cheeks with it.
“Huh...?” I glanced down. The handkerchief was stained with tears. “Am I crying?!”
“Yeah, you are. Bawling, really.”
“No way?!”
I thought I was holding back so well! That means I totally ruined my own freak-out, doesn’t it?!
“Hey, Yotsuba?” Mio said. She paused, pulling the handkerchief away again.
“Wha— Waugh?!” I yelped as she...threw her arms around me?!