From the seats, Yuu Yasaka (seated next to Shiori Hashima) watched on, a look of pained sadness on her face.
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Sora really was a born protagonist. He was destined to become one from the moment he started breathing. Not like herself. She hated her hair color; she hated her eye color. Why couldn’t she be a blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty like her mother? If she was, it’d be such a perfect picture when she joined the silver-haired, blue-eyed Sora.
Genetically speaking, black hair dominated over blond and black eyes dominated over blue, so it was perfectly natural for Yuu to have both. But in Sora’s case, his father had black hair and eyes, while her mother had that silver-blue combo. It was one of those generation-skipping things, apparently, but in his case, the recessive genes won out in his generation—a rare thing to see. Sora really was special, and Yuu was just normal.
For that matter, she hated that name. Yuu. She’d liked how cute it sounded as a kid, but when she asked her parents where it came from, apparently it had the same Chinese character as the name of a friend who they both cared a lot about. This person had passed away a long time before Yuu was born, and in Yuu’s eyes, her parents saw her as nothing but a replacement for that dead friend.
But despite being a normal girl burdened with the name of some stranger, she still tried her hardest to be a heroine for Sora Hashima, the protagonist. She heard that her mother caught her father’s heart with a lot of dirty jokes and sexual appeal, so she copied that and became a “dirty girl” herself. The fact was that words like “penis” and “sex” embarrassed her to say, and she’d prefer to have her first sexual experience on Christmas during the third year of a relationship. She was a fan of goth-Loli fashion, but putting it on, taking it off, and keeping it intact were all a major effort—if she had her way, she didn’t want to sport it every day at school. But that was the only fashion that’d really make a normal, black-haired, short-statured girl like herself stand out, so she lived with it.
And, really, it was tough being constantly berated as not being worthy enough for Sora. She knew most of all how unworthy she was. But she still wanted to be with him…and someday, she wanted to be his main heroine. And yet…
The story was now over, the curtain having fallen, and the entire cast came out and bowed deeply. When Sora in the middle raised his head back up, Yuu felt like their eyes met for a moment. Then he flashed the greatest smile ever, something that instantly charmed everyone who saw him. She thought for a second that he was smiling at her, but soon realized she was mistaken. His eyes were turned toward a seat behind and across from her own—and Kaede Mitahora was right there. A tragic young girl, gifted with genius-level talent but struck by an incurable illness. Way up there on the “main heroine” chart compared to her.
Why did someone like her have to pop up so suddenly? There was no way Yuu could beat her. If anything, Yuu wished she could take that disease in her place. Then Sora would look her way instead…
These thoughts and more crossed Yuu’s mind. She loathed herself for how shallow she was acting, and then she couldn’t stop the tears.
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Aw, Yuu’s crying…
Shiori looked to her side at the bawling Yuu. A warm smile came to her face. She really was at her cutest when she was crying. It excited her.
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Shiori Hashima was in love with Yuu Yasaka, in a romantic way.
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The way she gallantly acted all brave in order to stay close to this golden child was so cute. The way she made an effort to spout out all these dirty words, bottling up her shame, was simply adorable. The way she struggled to become a heroine despite being a normal girl laden with hang-ups—the pitiful way she had already thrown away all vestiges of herself—was so terrifyingly loveable that it made Shiori’s heart palpitate.
…But she also knew that as long as Yuu wasn’t like her, these feelings had no hope of ever being rewarded. Yuu had always been all about Sora for ages, and those feelings were never going to be pointed her way.
If not, then, Shiori at least wanted to exist inside Yuu’s heart as a potential love rival to hate. She kept making passes at Sora so she could stay close not to him, but to Yuu. She wanted Yuu to compare her small body to Shiori’s own naked one and get all depressed about it. She wasn’t about to waste time and effort trying to make Yuu turn her way. She didn’t need happiness. She wouldn’t come for Yuu’s heart or body. She just wanted to keep her close-up view of Yuu absorbed in her unrewarded love, crying over it in secret. That was all.
…Even she thought this was a little twisted. Not even she was sure how things wound up like this. Maybe it was the rebound from growing up surrounded by straightforward people like Itsuki and Chihiro. The light they shone in was so strong, nobody noticed the little bit of darkness growing inside of her.
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As the stage crew carried away the props, Kaede sent the drama club a message.
That was really great! Well done, everyone!
I have a curfew so I have to go back now, but let’s talk more in-depth later!
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“Kaede…”
It was a simple message, one that didn’t hint at just how much she really wanted to be up there herself, but it still made Sora’s heart burn.
Then:
“We’re all good here, Hashima. You should go visit the president.”
The vice president patted Sora on the shoulder.
“Huh? But…”
Sora looked around. The rest of the crew were all nodding and motioning at him to get going.
“…Thanks very much. I’ll see you later!”
Sora promptly ran off, hurrying for the hall entrance. There weren’t that many attendees in the first place, so he quickly found Kaede. She was in a wheelchair, pushed by a woman in her forties who was presumably her mother.
“Kaede!”
“Sora?”
She turned around. “Oh, are you…?” the woman with her said, seemingly aware of who he was. Leaving her mother behind, Kaede operated the wheelchair herself, zooming over to him.
“Are you done cleaning up?”
“Everyone else is still working on it. They wanted me to see you.”
“Oh.” Kaede smiled. “Your performance was really good. I didn’t think you’d do that well at it. Are you sure you’ve never acted before?”
“No, but Yuma worked me really hard, so at least I can pretend to know what I’m doing. I couldn’t hold a candle to you, though.”
Sora wasn’t just being modest. He really meant it.
“But you officially joined the drama club for me, didn’t you? So if you keep practicing, play a lot of roles, that sort of thing…I’m sure you’ll become even better than you are now.”
Kaede’s eyes seemed to be pointed far in the distance.
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“Sure wish I could perform with you on the same stage when it happens…”
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Sora’s eyes watered.
“You will… I’m sure you will…!”
His voice was shaky as he forced the words out.
“I am gonna practice. I am gonna play a lot of roles, and I’m gonna be an actor just as good as you. And I’ll get better at writing, too, and I’ll write the greatest story in the world someday. So please perform alongside me. I can do anything for you, Kaede. I can even become the kind of protagonist who’ll overcome anything that gets in my way…!”
That opened the floodgates. Sora’s refined face was now awash in tears.
“So… Please, Kaede, don’t die…”
The tears became a constant stream as he half prayed, half screamed. And for some reason, Kaede looked completely taken aback by Sora.
“…Huh? Don’t die?! Am I gonna die?!”
“Uhh…?”
Sora wiped the tears away, realizing Kaede was staring wide-eyed at him. Something wasn’t right with this.
“No, I mean, your illness…”
He lowered his voice, naming the disease in question. “Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Kaede nodded. She suffered from a lethal disease, but she seemed pretty calm about it.
“But… But that’s an incurable disease, right? And terminal?”
“Uh, no? Like, I’m being treated?”
“Whaaaa?!”
As Kaede explained, yes, back when his mother Nayuta Kani published that novel over ten years ago, that disease was incurable and deadly. But an effective medication developed several years back meant that now it could be fully cured, without any dangerous surgery or painful side effects. Advances in medicine never cease to amaze.
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