“Anyway, I’m headed downstairs,” he announced to her politely as they were about to part ways.
In response, she reflexively—well, no, quite purposely—shouted, “Me too, actually!”
“Oh.” Ai raised his eyebrows openly, with no sign of concealing his surprise, and Akane ardently wished she, too, could react that naturally. “Impatiens fan, huh? How old are you, anyway? High school? College?”
“I don’t know if I can call myself a fan, but…high school.”
“I see. Y’know, I don’t see a lot of kids your age at these things. Well, not in uniform, at least.”
Akane knew that Impatiens was the name of a girl group, and she knew that all sorts of free and paid events were held here in the basement… Analyzing Ai’s statements, she intuited what was going on and formed the appropriate responses. This was a skill she had honed over a lifetime of dealing with her desire to be liked.
“It’s my first time here. I was supposed to come with a friend from school, but now it’s just me.”
“Oh yeah?”
Since they were headed to the same place, they decided to go together. Scanning the posters on the walls, Akane learned that tonight’s event was a mini-concert and autograph session. Wrestling with the surreal experience of walking alongside a character from a book, she identified a few different ways this could go, then planned out her responses for each one.
At the bottom of the staircase was a staff member checking tickets. This, too, she had already accounted for.
“Wait, it’s not free tonight?!”
In response to her sculpted shock, the employee frowned sympathetically and gave an explanation that was likely part of his job: “Tonight you need the ticket you get from buying a specific CD from us.”
“Could I go buy it right now?”
“We’re already sold out.”
Akane turned and gave Ai her best “oh crap” face—but on the inside, she wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. While it would have been more convenient had tonight’s event been free to attend, she knew from seventeen years of experience that real life didn’t always work out perfectly. In the event that she couldn’t get in, her plan was to wait around in the store until it was over, then hope to encounter Ai again on his way out. She had already rehearsed it in her head.
So the next word out of her mouth left at a volume that was more than strictly dictated by the situation at hand.
“I have an extra ticket she can use. Here, this is for her.”
“What?!”
Ai gestured to Akane as he pulled a ticket from his wallet and handed it to the employee.
“Are…are you sure?!”
Crafting a tone of panic, she attempted to gauge Ai’s intent. But then she realized: Ai wasn’t the kind of person to have an ulterior motive. The Ai she knew was beautiful and protective and a little rough around the edges. Though they had only just met, he would never abandon a teen girl in trouble.
“Yeah, I have one already.”
Sure enough, he produced a second ticket from his wallet and held it out to the employee. And so the two were waved inside.
“Thank you so much… Sorry I got mixed up about that…”
“No problem. If anything, I’m glad that second ticket didn’t go to waste.”
Instead of lording his good deed over her head, he simply headed for the entrance to the event venue, and she followed along right behind him.
The basement was dimly lit and nearly packed with people. Ai chose to stand near the back, and Akane positioned herself right next to him.
“So how come you had two tickets?”
She attempted a somewhat natural conversation, or as much as she could allow herself, anyway. After all, he had willingly explained why he turned when she called his name. Judging from that, plus everything else she knew about his book counterpart, she figured he would be receptive.
Sure enough, this calculation proved correct. At her question, he turned away from the stage to look at her.
“Three, technically. There were three different CD variations, and I’d preordered one of each before they announced this event.”
“Wow. Lucky me,” she said in the sort of tone reserved for self-directed comments, though she didn’t fail to notice the chuckle it earned.
Swaying to the music playing over the venue loudspeakers, Akane wracked her brain, trying to figure out how Ai could be here in the real world. But before she could find an answer to this impossible question, a male staff member walked out onto the stage, mic in hand, to explain the rules of the event. As she was half-listening, however, at some point the man disappeared, and the next thing she knew, the lights dimmed further.
With an explosive sound effect, the girls appeared on stage. That was the moment Akane learned that there were seven members in total. All she had known about Impatiens going in was that they were an all-female pop idol group—but when the first song began to play, she realized she had heard it before.
It was the theme song for the film adaptation of Girl’s March.
Unfortunately, hearing it live did nothing to change her opinion of it. She gritted her teeth, willing her ears and heart to endure the lyrical trainwreck that so massively misinterpreted the original work.
After thirty minutes, the concert ended, and a staff member announced that the autograph session would start soon, enabling those who bought a CD to get it signed. She looked over at Ai and found him looking back at her.
“I’m gonna go now,” he explained, dutifully pointing at the exit so she would know where it was. Confused, she followed after him. The question on her mind was best brought to the surface with an ample dose of alarm.
“Don’t you want their autographs?” she asked as they climbed the stairs to the ground floor.
“Nah, just wanted to see the show,” he answered casually.
People engaged with their favorite artists in myriad ways, so she figured maybe he was the hands-off type. Perhaps all he cared about was seeing them sing and dance.
As for Akane, the part she cared about had only just begun.
“Hey, um…”
Right as he was naturally about to leave the store, she called out to stop him. Judging from the look on his face, he was genuinely unbothered that she had used one of his tickets.