Before entering the classroom, Azusa took a deep breath. Then she forced her mouth into a smile, and in a small voice, said, “Okay.” She held the smile in place. It was a little ritual Azusa performed daily.
She opened the door. Some of her classmates had arrived early and looked over at her. For a second her legs froze, but then she looked around and saw smiles on everyone’s faces. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Morning!”
“Good morning, Azusa!”
Several of the girls had formed a circle at the front of the classroom by the window. In the center of it was Mizuki. With her lovely eyes set in a perfect oval face, she looked somehow more grown-up than the other students. Her glossy black hair was tied back, and her long, elegant lines were reminiscent of the actresses that performed the male roles at the Takarazuka Theater in Tokyo. She seemed a class apart from the girls around her. Azusa remembered the article she had read on her phone yesterday. No doubt about it, Mizuki was like mint.
“Morning, Mizuki! Hey, how was yesterday’s Virtual World concert?” In response to Azusa’s question, Mizuki’s face lit up.
“It was so good! The set list was awesome!”
Virtual World was an alternative band that had recently become popular. Its members played hard rock music while wearing grungy rabbit costumes, and they wielded an outsized influence over middle and high school students. Mizuki, a huge fan of the band, was no exception.
“Ooh, Mizuki, that’s so great!” A flutter ran through the other girls in the group. “You got tickets?”
“It really was great,” Mizuki responded, a little boastfully. “Kanako miraculously managed to get hold of two tickets, she said. So she took me. I already wish I could turn back time to yesterday. Right, Kanako?”
Mizuki put her hand on Kanako’s shoulder as she spoke, while Kanako nodded happily beside her.
“It was literally the best thing ever. Actually, at the end I got so excited that I started hugging Mizuki!”
“It’s true. And Kanako was crying like crazy, too, weren’t you!”
“I was! Because it was totally intense!”
As Kanako was nattering away with Mizuki, she flashed a quick glance at Azusa. Azusa pretended not to notice the meaningful look and responded innocently, “That’s great, really.” But behind her fixed smile, she thought that Kanako was going to be trouble. Azusa had never heard anything about Kanako being a fan of Virtual World, so she must have gotten the tickets just for Mizuki, she was sure.
“Ooh, next time I want to go with Azusa! She’s a huge fan of Virtual World, too, right?”
Kanako’s expression clouded as Mizuki spoke. Without letting her smile drop, Azusa nodded. “Sure. Definitely, let’s go. That would be so much fun.”
Kanako looked at Azusa again, her gaze now turning ugly. Disregarding this as well, Azusa made her way to her own seat at the back of the classroom, farthest from the window. Kanako was obsessed with Mizuki and was always at her side. And she hated Azusa, who was Mizuki’s childhood friend.
Kanako wants to take my place, thought Azusa. Mizuki’s special friendship meant security in the classroom—throughout the entire grade, really. And Kanako was always worrying about what everyone else thought. I’m sure she can’t help but be jealous of my position. She’ll use tickets or anything she can get her hands on to try to replace me. But I don’t think it’ll be that easy.
Azusa and Mizuki had been friends forever. Their mothers were close friends from high school. When she looked at the old photos, Mizuki was always there, standing right beside Azusa in every one. Mizuki was born nine months earlier, so there were photos of the two of them from the very day Azusa was born. They were literally together from birth.
Azusa was small and slow to mature, often lagging behind the other children. They wouldn’t let her play tag with them and refused to play house with her as well. She was always in tears about this or that. Mizuki, on the other hand, was a natural leader. That was probably why it fell to Mizuki to look out for her, always taking charge for as long as Azusa could remember. Her mother, Michiyo, too, constantly told her, “Stay close to Mizuki. Listen to what she says!” So she never thought it was strange to have Mizuki telling her what to do. For Azusa, Mizuki’s authority had been absolute.
Or so Azusa thought, transferring her pen case and textbook from her book bag to her desk drawer. Their mothers were still close and didn’t hesitate to let people know they were lifelong friends. They looked forward to handing down that friendship to their daughters. When the two women got all starry-eyed and talked about passing the torch to the next generation, Mizuki always gave an exasperated laugh and said, “Our friendship and your friendship are two different things. Don’t mix them up. I care for Azusa regardless of how you feel. Because we’re perfectly compatible, that’s why.”
Azusa always nodded at that point, but the truth was she thought their mothers were right. The two of them would never come close to their parents’ friendship. If they hadn’t been childhood friends, they probably wouldn’t even be as close as they were now. Mizuki liked to say they were compatible, but the truth was, their favorite things, their personalities, the way they spent their free time—these were all completely different. To be honest, Azusa didn’t even like Virtual World all that much, either. The pack of expressionless rabbits were creepy, and the music—well, mostly, it was just loud. But Mizuki’s authority was absolute, so she couldn’t say that. She had to find a way to like them, or else.