“...That sure was something,” said Nanaka.
“...Yeah,” Kai concurred.
Street lights dotted the path forward as the pair walked side by side through the hot summer night, made more uncomfortable by the dampness of their sweat. In both of Kai’s hands, he carried convenience store bags containing provisions for their impending all-nighter. Nanaka had suggested a snack party for everyone to make up, so the bags were packed tight with treats and drinks.
Just a moment ago (though, honestly, it had been so long that the sun had set), the entire team had had their minds boggled.
Eru couldn’t exactly have been described as “quiet,” given that she’d continued to wail like an injured beast. However, she had slowly calmed down into a normal bawl, then into a softer sob, then to a sort of sniffling hiccup, and finally she’d simply pressed her eyes against Nanaka’s shoulder. That entire time, Nanaka had been rubbing and patting Eru on the back. Her gentle demeanor had made it seem like she was going to hum a quiet lullaby.
It had been a serene scene which Kai had felt like he could watch forever. The one to shatter it into pieces had been none other than Kuroba Eru, herself.
“Now, then.” Eru’s face had suddenly popped up from Nanaka’s shoulder, like a robot who’d received a jolt of electricity. Her voice may have been somewhat hoarse, but there was something else mixed into it...
Spirit, Kai had wondered? Gravitas? To put it simply, Eru had sounded menacing.
The voice in her ear had caused Nanaka to uneasily ask, “E-Eru...?” as the girl in question pushed herself off of Nanaka’s shoulders in order to stand up.
Crossing her arms and standing with her feet a shoulder-width apart, Eru had towered over them commandingly and glared at everyone with puffy red eyes. “Nanaka fixed the illustration,” she said accusingly. “Aina did the voice work, Aya handled the rest, and Kai directed the entire thing... Am I right, dear?”
She was, for the most part, so Kai had responded with a nod.
Eru heaved a deep sigh and then exploded. Pointing at Nanaka, she’d exclaimed, “Both your linework and color selection are terrible! It’s not even close!”
Then, pointing at Aya, she yelled, “Your work is sloppy!”
Pointing at Aina next, Eru went on to say, “Your characterization is weak! You’re terrible!”
And finally, her finger pointed to Kai as she concluded with, “And it’s your job to point all of this out!”
Having barked at each of them, Eru then exhaled contentedly. But, of course... Whether or not her accusations of “You suck!” and “Your work is sloppy!” were true to any extent wasn’t the real issue, as neither Aya nor Aina were the type to back off when there was someone picking a fight.
“Huuuh?!!!” The faux-angel’s raven silk and the eccentric junkie’s blonde twintails bent out of shape in sync with one another. They were perfectly in unison down to the enraged inflection of their voices, which shot up like a flare to signal the beginnings of war.
“Hey, what did you just say?” Aina demanded to know. “My characterization is weak? My characterization? You’re telling me my acting is weak?”
“...Tch, I forgot you were so stupid that I needed to repeat myself,” Eru observed mockingly.
“Ooooookay,” Aina drawled back. “For the first time in my life, I just heard the sound of something snapping in the back of my head, so don’t screw with me! What do you mean, ‘weak?!’ This character was based off of me to begin with! It’s me from middle school!”
“Huh?! My dear, you must be screwing with me!” Eru declared. “In the first place, this girl’s name is Ai, and she has nothing to do with you!”
“You obviously just took the first half of ‘Aina!’”
“Ai would never say something like that!”
“She would! Even I can say, ‘I’m sorry!’”
“Ai would only say, ‘Sorry!’”
“That’s only one word off!”
“Which makes all the difference in the world when it comes to characterization!” Eru crowed exultantly. “Dear me, you suck!”
“Oh! My! God! You said it again...!” screamed Aina, who was about to burst with anger.
“No, hold on,” Aya spoke up. “None of that really matters, okay? What’d you say? My work, sloppy? Huh? You better save the sleep talk for when you’re in bed. I didn’t mishear you, did I?”
Aina resumed, “Aya? I knooow you didn’t. I knoooooow you didn’t just say that what she said about me doesn’t matter. Right?”
Whoa, it spread, thought Kai. Once the ball began rolling, it wasn’t going to stop until it reached the bottom of the proverbial hill. It’d be a different story if there was someone willing to catch it, but when the ball was as thorny as these three were, it wasn’t something to get excited over. Even when the proverbial ball reached the bottom, it wasn’t like the spikes on it were going to disappear. Therefore, it was probably best to leave it alone.
He and Nanaka sighed together as if on cue and, after exchanging looks, left the room. Even after they’d quietly shut the door behind them, they could still hear the livid shouting match going on, as Aina, Eru, and Aya were completely oblivious to the fact that they’d slipped out.
“This looks like it might be an all-nighter,” Nanaka said, but couldn’t quite contain the happiness in her voice.
All-nighters weren’t exactly something to welcome with open arms, but Kai found himself smiling back and responding, “Yeah, it does.”
Before Kai and Nanaka left, they’d informed the latter’s mother (who was preparing dinner) of the circumstances upstairs, and that was actually only a moment ago. The room they’d left was probably still a war zone of insults.
“A long time ago, Eru told me this,” Nanaka began. Kai turned to his side to see her tilting her head up longingly at the stars. With nostalgia in her voice, she continued on to say, “She said that she names every single one of the characters she draws. They’re like her family... or maybe her kids, I think. Whatever they are, they’re all priceless treasures for her... So, I’m sure it must have been shocking for her... and incredibly so.”
Kai wanted to say something, but unable to find the right words, he turned to the sky, as well. The summer night was a black so dark that it seemed like a hole with no bottom.
Eru may have been able to cry today. She may have been able to smile today. But either way, she wasn’t going to forget what happened on that day, which wasn’t going to disappear. Kai knew all of this about Eru because he was the same way. He was sure that the regret would sink to the bottom of her heart and hide away in a dim corner of her soul.
“But still...” As he spoke, Kai felt as if he was asking himself, But still... what? “But still... We have to press forward, even if we have to drag her along with us.”
“...Yeah.” Nanaka spoke softly as she repeated, “Yeah, you’re right.” Suddenly, she quickened her pace and stepped out in front of him with a soft, pure-hearted smile. “By the way, Kai-kun. Did you notice?”
“...Huh? Notice what?”
“Eru called everyone by their names for the first time,” she observed.
Oh. Now that you mention it... “Ha ha,” Kai laughed lightly as Nanaka returned to his side, and then glanced over at her to find that she happened to be doing the same. They continued walking without a word, but eventually could no longer hold it in and broke out into genial laughter as they strolled home.
They couldn’t help themselves—it was too funny.