That night.
After I got home, ate dinner, and took a bath, Hikari called me.
“What’s up?”
“Hello, Natsuki-kun.” It sounded like her voice was echoing in the background.
“It’s time for good kids to be asleep.” I glanced at the clock—it was already eleven.
“I’m a bad girl, so I won’t sleep yet!”
I heard a splash of water. Huh? Oh my, don’t tell me... “Uh, Hikari? Where are you right now?”
“What? I’m in my bathroom. I worked on my novel after I got home, so I ended up taking a late bath.”
Which means she’s completely naked right now. Don’t you dare imagine anything weird! I heard more splashing, and it made for some vivid imagery. I’m begging you, please stop. Are you underestimating how horny a teenage boy can be? I’ve leaped through time; my body has returned to its golden age!
“Natsuki-kun? What’s wrong? Are you shaken up?” Hikari giggled.
She talks like that when she’s doing something on purpose. It vexed me that she knew I had lost my composure, so I changed the topic. “Huh? No? Anyway, did you need something?”
“Hmm?” She sounded dissatisfied with my response but moved on to the topic I had expected. “Well, I wanted to talk about Yuino-chan. If we believe what she says, then our next step is to round up an audience of strangers, but...” Her tone had turned completely serious.
“It’s hard to do, from a practical standpoint,” I finished for her.
Finding complete strangers to sit with us would be difficult. Not to mention, the only places Nanase could perform in were her home and at the school music room. We couldn’t let strangers into her house, nor were unaffiliated people allowed into the school. Renting a music studio could help us get around that issue, but it would be costly. Plus, we’d likely need to hire random people to use their time to listen to Nanase play. It wasn’t very realistic for a bunch of high schoolers to put all the moving parts together.
“Besides, don’t you think it’s a little dicey for Nanase to suddenly jump into playing in front of strangers?”
“What do you mean?”
“We should also take baby steps in regards to who her audience is. Nanase might only have been able to play today because it was for us, her friends. But replicating that in front of a bunch of strangers is too big a change. I think it’s important that Nanase racks up small successes.” Just like how Miori overcame her fears by passing a ball around with Uta and me. “That’s why a more realistic suggestion would be...asking our classmates to be her audience.”
I’d simply expressed the first idea that had come to mind, but it actually sounded like a pretty good next step. Most importantly, it was something we could actually manage to pull off. I had a feeling most of our classmates would readily agree.
“So we want to find people she has some connection to, but who aren’t super close friends.” Hikari sounded like she was on board with my plan. “Yeah. I think that’s a good idea. Of course, it’s up to Yuino-chan in the end.”
“Let’s ask her tomorrow. If she’s down, then we can discuss it with the rest of our classmates.” Who would be good to ask? Hino and Fujiwara are easy choices. I bet Onozawa-san would come if it’d help Nanase play again.
While I was busy mulling over who to ask for help, Hikari began to slowly talk. “You know, this is just speculation on my part, but I don’t think that Yuino-chan is scared of failing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think she’s scared of disappointing others.” Hikari sounded fairly certain. “Today, after she couldn’t play, remember how crestfallen she looked and how she kept her head down? I think she was scared to see our faces. That’s precisely why she was relieved when she saw that we were only worried about her. She felt assured that we wouldn’t abandon her.” She spoke in a prosaic manner, as if she were possessed by someone else. “And that’s why she could play the second time.”
Hikari is able to come up with this theory because she’s spent so many years with her childhood friend. Or maybe she’s terrifyingly good at reading people due to the perception she’s developed as an aspiring author. Perhaps it’s both.
“Natsuki-kun, I think you’re right that she needs to experience success, but I have a feeling she won’t be able to overcome her condition if we don’t root out the core of her fears.”
“Assuming you’re right, do you think Nanase is aware of that?”
“No. I don’t think she has a good grasp on her feelings. Yuino-chan is skilled at appearing calm on the surface, but she’s masking her inner confusion.”
Hikari’s description of Nanase conflicted with my impression of our friend. However, Hikari was very persuasive. If Nanase were the type of person who could control her emotions, she probably wouldn’t have been suffering from these symptoms. Also, there was no doubt in my mind that Hikari knew Nanase the best.
“Let’s talk about the details tomorrow,” Hikari said.
“Yeah. It’s late, after all.”
“My bath ran longer than I wanted to. I should get out.”
“All right. Good night.”
“Yeah, good night.”
I was about to hang up when my phone screen suddenly changed.
“Ah?!” she yelped.
What?! As soon as I thought that, a flesh-colored rectangle appeared on my screen.
The delicate curve of her neck and shoulders, damp skin covered in water droplets... And two large, round shapes dangling from her chest shook along with her panicked movements.
“Sorry... I think I misclicked?! D-Don’t look!”
Evidently, Hikari had accidentally clicked on the video button. How? “I-It’s okay! I didn’t look!”
“Shoot! Um, uh, huh? Urgh...”
She was so flustered that it took her much too long to turn off the video. All the while, the camera bounced around, capturing her body.
“D-Don’t worry! I’m not looking! Calm down!” I didn’t take my eyes off the screen. My video isn’t on, so she won’t catch me even if I lie! Is my new age of lucky lecher events here? I got to see something good.