The opening notes of a song drifted through the streets of U.
I stood alone in the throngs of ASes, facing into the wind. But although the wind blew against me, I did not waver in the slightest.
“Sing, Suzu,” Shinobu said.
“She can’t!! Not as her ordinary self!” Hiro said, tugging his arm violently.
“Yes, she can.”
“There’s no way!”
Ms. Kita held her breath. “Suzu,” she said.
Ruka was next.
“Suzu!”
Ms. Okumoto still looked stern.
“What’s she going to do?” she wondered aloud.
“Suzu,” Ms. Yoshitani said, looking at me tensely.
Still looking at my feet, I began to sing.
“She sang!” Ms. Nakai said, lunging forward.
“The same girl who can’t sing in public! She did it!” Ms. Hatanaka exclaimed.
My voice was barely a whisper. As I sang, still as a statue with its face downturned, oval bands encircled me. The lyrics were streaming in different languages.
Light glimmers in a flower
Like jewels in a dream
The sky breathes life, love to everything
I barely managed to sing a single verse. Looking up was impossible, so I turned my back to the crowd.
I could hear them rustling and whispering behind me.
The latest on Belle was splashed over online news sites.
Belle Unveiled!
An Idol’s Origin Revealed
The Surprising Truth Behind Belle
AS comment bubbles were exploding all over the place.
Did you see her?
Belle was—
Unveiled?
No way!
Belle’s real identity?
Who is she?!
Huge vertical screens popped up around me, creating an impromptu stage. The face I’d tried to keep hidden was projected on them in painstaking detail.
There was no place to hide.
I steeled my nerves and turned back toward the crowd.
Twilight was deepening over the streets of U.
At times I’ve thought “I’m not enough”
The chains that tie my heart
But there’s still a path that lies ahead for you and I
My voice wasn’t strong enough. But I kept singing anyway, my eyes closed, and when I finished, I looked down again.
The ASes watched me projected from all angles on the screens, dumbfounded.
She’s shaking…
They could see my mouth trembling.
That’s definitely Belle’s voice, but…
She doesn’t seem confident.
Hate to say it, she’s so nerdy looking that it hurts
Nooo, stop destroying my fantasy
She should’ve stayed as Belle
My feeble self was splashed all over the screens.
Why’d she get unveiled, anyway?
I told you, she did it herself.
There were all sorts of theories about me.
Why would she reveal her own identity?
She must have a reason.
You mean she had no choice?
Then what’s her reason?
Why’d she do it?
The ASes stared at the screens, flabbergasted. I kept looking at my feet.
Peggie Sue watched the unveiled Belle worriedly. She heard some young cat-eared girls talking behind her.
“Figures.”
“I knew it.”
“I feel sorry for her.”
“God, she’s so frumpy.”
They turned to one another and laughed cruelly. That irritated Peggie Sue. These girls had no idea what life was like. She wanted to tell them to get lost. She probably would have thought the same thing as them a little while ago. Why did she feel so angry now?
“Belle, don’t let them say whatever they want about you…”
Memories fade away, clouds of yesterday
With no one to love
is this life worth living?
A spotlight lit me up. I lifted my face, placed my hands on my chest, and sang.
Come back to me, and stay by my side
I feel my heart shake
Come, ease this ache
I’m standing over here, reaching for you
A million miles away, come back and stay
Every single AS was listening in shock. Monsters and beautiful women, dogs and cats, ducks, tough guys, hot guys, wrestlers, fairies and sages, ocean creatures and mountain creatures, knights in armor and snipers; some in witch hats or with stars painted on their faces, others with pigtails; mermaids, sirens—all of them.
No matter how far
the memories may be
When I close my eyes,
you’re all that I see
Come back to me
A million miles away, come back and stay
As I finished the song, the spotlight went out. U was just entering nighttime mode, and the lights of the buildings overhead switched off in unison. Darkness descended on all of U.
A roar of applause thundered through the night.
She’s our Belle after all!
That was Belle, no doubt about it!!
I feel like she was singing to someone.
Yeah, I think you’re right
Some special person among the billions on U.
The screens behind me went dark one or two at a time.
Guess she just had to get it off her chest
Feels like she’s been singing to one person from the start.
Eventually, the last screen went out, and darkness engulfed me.
Yeah, I remember feeling so happy thinking she was singing to me.
Me too…
So do I…
I wonder who she was really singing to.
Wish I knew.
Yeah, who could it be?
In the gaps between the units on the horizon of nighttime mode, I saw a U-shaped moon slowly rising. I gazed into the distance as the wind swirled around me, remembering a day long ago.
“Help!! Help me!!”
The little girl’s sobs reached us on the riverbank. The river had swelled in the span of mere minutes, leaving her stranded on the sandbank. The grown-ups were talking among themselves.
“This is awful!”
“We have to save her!”
“No, don’t go in!”
“Why not?!”
“You’ll drown trying to save her!”
“Then what should we do?!”
The girl was only four or five. Younger than me. She was wearing fancy clothes, like she came from the city, and was screaming helplessly. The grown-ups were shouting now.
“Throw her a life preserver to grab onto!”
“She’s too little! She’ll never catch it!”
“The police should send a rescue team!”
“They won’t make it in time!”
“Then what can we do?!”
“What can we do?!”
“What now?!”
Shinobu heard their shouts, too. He glanced over and saw my mom. He said she looked unsure what to do. But she still ran forward, grabbed one of the red life jackets from the tourist canoes, and swiftly pulled it on.
I tugged on the hem of her shirt, trying desperately to keep her from going.
“Don’t go, Mommy!! Don’t go!!”
She squatted down and took my hand.
“I have to. If I don’t, that little girl will die.”
Now I remembered—that was what she said.
She stood up, shook me off, and ran toward the water. I tried to chase after her but stumbled and fell. I stood up and screamed at her as loudly as I could.
“Mommy!! Mommy!! Mommy!!”
She didn’t look back. Her gaze fixed on the girl, she entered the water upstream and rode the current down to her.
A light rain began to fall.
The little girl was rescued from the river. The men pulled her out and all the grown-ups ran over to her.
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Is she okay?!”
“Call an ambulance!”
“Quick!”
“Hurry up!”
I stared at them, the rain soaking me.
“Stay strong!”
“They’ll be here any minute!”
“You made it!”
“It’s a miracle!”
“Thank goodness!”
The little girl was wearing the red life jacket. The one Mom should have been wearing.
The instant I noticed it, I understood what was happening.
My mom wasn’t there.
“Mommy… Mommy… Mommy!!”
I screamed for her over and over, but she was nowhere to be found. I heard an ambulance siren far away. The little girl was wrapped in a blanket and carried away from the riverbank by a crowd of grown-ups. Everyone was so focused on the little girl that they didn’t notice my mom was gone.
“Mommy!!”
I was the only one who kept screaming for her.
Over. And over. And over.
As the rain pattered down, the river picked up speed.
Just then, I noticed something.
“…Huh?!”
Mom was on the far bank.
The roar of the river seemed to go silent.
“Mo—”
I tried to say her name but couldn’t. Instead, tears and snot poured from my eyes and nose.
Mom was staring at me from the far bank.
She was smiling. Why was she smiling? It was the same smile she had when we played together.
I could hardly see through my tears.
“Don’t go…!!”
Don’t leave me alone.
I can’t make it on my own.
I tottered forward.
Step by step, I walked unsteadily over the riverbank stones. I headed toward the rushing river as if it were pulling me in.
“Suzu!”
Just then, a small hand grabbed my own and pulled me back.