I nodded, and then fearfully, slowly, timidly…
Shiika put her arms around Erio.
Like a mother. Like a sister. Like…a friend.
She hugged Erio and gently patted her back as she sobbed.
“I’m sorry, too. I couldn’t express what I meant properly.”
“No. It’s me. I was the worst. Sorry… Sorry! I’m so sorry…”
Embracing Shiika’s small body, Erio sobbed.
The thread that had been pulled tight snapped. The brakes were no longer working. And the tears continued to flow without stopping.
Looking at these two young geniuses, Kushiro smiled and spoke to the other judges behind him.
“Seems like Ryouran High has a good crop of freshmen this year. I’m looking forward to seeing what these kids do in the future.”
“Yeah!”
“Yes, indeed.”
Oomuta and Ebina nodded, looking satisfied.
Then, hearing the bell ring for lunch break, the three judges got up from their seats and made to leave the auditorium.
“Mr. Kushiro, may I ask one last question?” Erio inquired from behind them.
Kushiro turned and nodded.
“Go on.”
“If I hadn’t used my whistle voice…would you have given me a hundred points on today’s exam?”
There was no point splitting hairs now. Surely she knew that.
But this wasn’t a question born from the desire to cling to the past and complain.
But one for the future. It was an inquiry that would help her reconsider the path she should take.
Kushiro answered the young genius’s sincere question with a smile.
“I can’t say how much the power of your singing voice will drop until I actually hear it… However, from my point of view, even without the whistle voice, I think the expressiveness of your voice is outstanding. Certainly worthy of a hundred points.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Erio bowed low. With a flutter of waving hands, the three judges exited the auditorium.
Seeing Shiika and Erio both praising each other for a good match, I sighed in relief.
Maybe Erio would be all right now. She wouldn’t do anything to negatively affect Shiika.
I also understood why Shiika had doubts about Erio’s voice and therefore tried to tangle with her using Seeker’s song.
Erio’s real voice had a wonderful color to it, and Shiika wanted to add that color to her box of pigments.
I was glad to see two musical prodigies finding common ground with each other.
Only one issue remained, a trivial one.
“Komae. Can you tell me one thing?”
“Huh? Ah, right, sure. But why do you look so serious?”
“Hearing what Erio said earlier, there’s something bothering me…”
I asked Komae a few questions to confirm the suspicions and hypotheses I had.
After listening to his answers, my suspicions became convictions.
The silhouette of the dark shadow that had been lurking around Shiika and Erio had become clear.
After hearing my thoughts, Komae turned pale.
“Seriously? In that case, Erio is…”
“Yeah. She wants to stick with you. That’s why Erio is in this position. You should talk with her. Discuss what comes next.”
“Un…understood.”
“Please do. Now, excuse me.”
Saying that, I left my seat with the slug in my hand.
“Where are you going, Gakuto?”
Akiba, who’d been listening to me converse with Komae, piped up then, also looking solemn.
“I’m going out for a bit. I have a troublesome slug that needs discarding,” I responded, smiling.