Sometimes the final boss has gone through things that only a final boss could have gone through

Twenty or thirty minutes after Kikuchi-san interviewed

Hinami, we were in the cafeteria.

The two of us were next to each other at a four-person

table, with Mimimi and our classmate Tachibana on the

other side.

We were an unusual quartet, but there was a reason for

that.

"Anyway…you went to the same junior high as Hinami,

right, Tachibana?" I said, placing my notebook and pen on

the table.

Kikuchi-san and I had searched for people who knew

about Hinami's past and had interviewed Mimimi first. She

told us about Tachibana, who she remembered had been on

the basketball team with Hinami in junior high.

"Yeah," he answered aloofly. "So what? You wanna

interview me?"

He looked back and forth from me to Kikuchi-san.

I glanced over at my companion; her head was bowed

nervously. She especially seemed to be struggling to look at

Tachibana. Understandable; he's got a powerful normie

vibe.

I answered in the affirmative for her. Ever since I'd

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started eating lunch with Nakamura's group, I'd been

interacting more with Tachibana, and I could chat with him

about normal stuff fairly easily now.

"Yeah, exactly. We wanted to find out more about

Hinami's past so we could use it for her character in the

play."

"Huh."

He dipped his head noncommittally. I had to admit our

logic was slightly sketchy. We wanted to hear about the

actor's past to write the character better? It wasn't the most

natural request, but it wasn't the craziest thing ever. My

guess was that he generally accepted the premise, even if he

had a few lingering doubts.

"I'm curious, too! I only saw her now and then at games!"

Mimimi said.

"You played her at some tournaments, didn't you?" I

added.

"Yeah! Nice one, Brain! I'm impressed you remembered!"

"Thanks," I said, smoothly moving past her typical excited

response. Huh. Maybe we were capable of having a normal

conversation as long as other people were there.

By the way, we also asked Hinami to join us, but she said

she had work to do and disappeared off somewhere. She told

us we could go right ahead without her since she had

nothing to hide. Typical perfect heroine.

"So the thing I remember most…" Tachibana pursed his

lips and thought for a second, then hit us with a thunderbolt.

"She dated this super-popular guy on the guys' basketball

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team."

I just about jumped out of my skin. "What?! Seriously?!" I

shouted louder than anyone else.

"Be quiet, Brain!" Mimimi scolded in a tone she'd picked

up from Tama-chan.

"Sorry, sorry," I said, then fell into a downcast silence.

But honestly, I never imagined we'd turn up such a

shocking story on our first try. I mean, given what she's like,

it would've been more surprising if she hadn't had a

boyfriend, but man. There's always more to this Aoi Hinami

than I realize.

"He was the vice president of the team, this cool older guy

who all the girls were crazy about."

"Wow…an older guy."

I had this image that only the kids at the very top of the

middle-school hierarchy had the right to date someone

older. Kids like Hinami.

But Tachibana wasn't done.

"Then she dumped him right away."

"Sh-she dumped him…?"

The more I heard, the more I felt like I was listening to a

story about some distant, incomprehensible world. What,

was she already that strong back in middle school?

"I guess Hinami's always been like that…?" I mused.

Surprisingly, Tachibana tilted his head. "No…I'm not so

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sure about that."

"What?" I latched on instinctively. "…What do you

mean?"

He paused for a second, reflecting. "It's not like we were

best friends or anything…but we were in the same class our

first year."

"Uh-huh…"

I was totally absorbed. His story contained an imperfect

version of her, different from the Hinami I knew—not NO

NAME and not the perfect heroine, either.

"But that year…I don't think she stood out that much."

"…Really?" I couldn't help saying.

Mimimi and Kikuchi-san were both staring at Tachibana,

like they were as transfixed as I was.

This was some pretty juicy stuff. You graduate from

elementary school, and suddenly, you're in your first year of

middle school. The kids who rise right to the top on that

clean slate don't just have inherent potential; they also have

a certain amount of luck. Any little incident could knock

someone down a peg or two.

Gradually, that luck tapers off, and people settle into

positions that reflect their inherent potential more

accurately. That ends up being the class power structure.

But I could imagine what Tachibana was saying.

"So that was in her first year…"

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In her case, she didn't have enough potential to start with

—which meant she must have accumulated the elements she

needed to get popular one by one.

She wasn't the kind of person who depended on random

opportunities; she was the kind who built herself up layer by

layer through sheer effort.

"But then around the middle of the first year or maybe the

start of the second, more and more people started talking

about this cute girl, and then she was dating the team's vice

president. And then when she dumped him after a few

weeks, she got even more famous…and by the third year, she

had, like, this crew of fans. She was insanely popular with

the younger girls."

"F-fans…"

I smiled wryly, but Tachibana's expression was goodnatured.

"You know what I'm talking about. The popular older kids

who all the younger kids worshipped. They'd buy the same

accessories or shampoo or whatever as their idol."

"Oh, I definitely remember that!"

For me, my middle school years were a haze, but Mimimi

nodded enthusiastically.

"Those were the days. I had some fans like that, too!

There were these first-year girls who would call out,

'Nanami-senpai!' and wave at me. When I waved back,

they'd get all excited and scream. I was like, It's just me,

but…"

"Oh yeah…"

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I did have some memory of that, where these weird

sheeplike girls would get obsessed with some cute older girl.

I glanced at Kikuchi-san. She was nodding softly, like she

remembered, too. I guess those kinds of people exist at every

school.

"Right?" Tachibana said. "Aoi was an extreme version of

that. At the end, it was just over the top, like some royaltyfree model that everyone copied."

"Wh-what do you mean, 'royalty-free model'?" I asked.

Tachibana thought for a second, then gave me an

exasperated smile. "There was an expression going around:

'Just Aoi.'"

"Just Aoi…?" I repeated.

"Just Aoi being Aoi. It became a thing people said

whenever Aoi got a compliment or did something

impressive. Or if we were having some problem and she

came along and solved it, we'd be like, 'Just Aoi,' 'Just Aoi,"

like a kind of slogan."

"O-oh, I get it…"

I could imagine that. In normie groups, a certain word

will suddenly get trendy, and then people will start using it

in all sorts of different situations.

It's like once the normies start picking up that phrase,

anyone who says it must belong to their group. Obviously,

everyone wants to use it, so it becomes really common. I

remember that happening in junior high, and it happens

sometimes with Nakamura's group, too.

For something like that to become a running joke, it had

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to be general knowledge that she was amazing.

"Wowee. Typical amazing Aoi…" Mimimi was impressed,

and so was I.

"…Yeah. We ask one question, and all this stuff comes

spilling out."

You could only know these things if you'd gone to the

same junior high as her.

Feeling somewhat satisfied already, I glanced over at

Kikuchi-san.

One long, white finger was resting on her lip as she looked

down, like she was deep in thought.

Maybe because she sensed me looking at her, she

suddenly turned to me and nodded meaningfully. Wait,

what's that about?

She slid her gaze over to Tachibana.

"Um…I have a question."

"Uh-huh?" he said with a gentle expression.

When Kikuchi-san asked her question, her eyes were clear

and strong.

"Do you remember anything specific about Hinami at the

beginning of the first year?"

That caught me off guard.

I was glad we were learning this incredible stuff I'd had no

way of knowing before, but I was getting sidetracked. We

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weren't here to ask about how amazing Hinami had been in

junior high—we were here to ask what she was like before

she became so amazing.

But Kikuchi-san always kept her focus on what was

beneath the surface as she listened to the conversation.

"Beginning of the first year…?" Tachibana frowned. Yeah,

he wouldn't remember that period as well as after she turned

into an idol.

The incomplete Aoi Hinami—how on Earth did the

preperfect heroine think?

I glanced at Mimimi, and she was staring at Tachibana

with obvious interest.

"Oh wait, there's one thing I remember really well."

"Yeah?" I said, leaning forward in my seat. Kikuchi-san

was watching him with a quiet, earnest expression, too.

"Do you guys remember those little pieces of paper with a

weird cartoon character on them and a question like 'What's

your favorite food?' or 'What's your impression of me?' or

'Do you like anyone?' written on them? And you'd give them

to your friends and answer the question together?"

"…What?"

"Oh yeah! I remember that!"

"Yes, I do, too…"

I had no idea what he was talking about, but Mimimi and

Kikuchi-san both got it right away.

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"Oh yeah, yeah. Now I remember. Definitely."

I was sure loners had not been a part of whatever this was,

but if I wanted the conversation to continue, I better pretend

I shared that experience, too. After all, Mimimi and Kikuchisan both did. Tachibana might have been pitying me, but I

didn't see it, so no worries.

"Anyway…one time, Aoi gave me one of those out of the

blue. We weren't very close at that point, so it kinda came

out of nowhere. I was like, What, does this girl like me or

something? We were both on the basketball team, so, like,

no way!"

"Okay, but then what?" Mimimi's eyes were glowing with

excitement. I was curious what he'd say next, too.

After a minute, he frowned slightly and continued, a little

bothered.

"I heard—it wasn't just me. She gave them to almost

everyone in class. Girls and guys, everyone." His chin resting

in his hand, he looked back and forth between me and

Kikuchi-san. "Weird, right?"

"Yes…yes, that is odd." Kikuchi-san drew her eyebrows

together in thought, then nodded.

"Huh. Wonder why she did that!" Mimimi wasn't able to

interpret it, either.

"Right? It really stuck in my mind because it was so

sudden. Other than that, she was this totally ordinary girl, so

I don't remember much about her. When I think back now, I

wonder why I didn't notice a girl that cute…"

"Yes, I see…"

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"Interesting."

Everyone seemed puzzled.

Everyone except me.

At first glance, it was hard to imagine why she'd do that—

but knowing how she thought and fought as NO NAME, I

had a guess about her intentions.

According to Tachibana, the scraps of paper had

questions about favorite foods and crushes and so on written

on them. Even if they weren't the most brilliant questions,

they were questions, which gave me an idea of why she

handed them out.

I think—she was collecting data.

I'm speculating here, but I'd be willing to bet the question

she was most interested in was the second one: What's your

impression of me?

As you can see from the first goal she set for my special

training—for someone else to point out that I'd changed—

Hinami really values an outside perspective.

Which meant that before she decided to become perfect,

the first thing she probably did was collect objective data on

how the people around her saw her, compare it to how she

saw herself, and use that information for self-improvement.

Simply put, what she needed was a survey. Market

research.

If my speculation was right, signs of the current Hinami

did exist in her first year of junior high even if she wasn't

perfect yet. Yikes.

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"Oh, and one other thing. I remember this one really

clearly."

"Yeah? What?"

The memories were falling like dominoes now.

Tachibana's voice rose, and he pointed at me.

"It seems kinda weird now, and I don't even know if

anyone else remembers it."

I braced myself for whatever would have been so "weird."

"Maybe it was during some elective or at lunch? I don't

really remember the details. But the guys and girls in our

group were talking."

"Uh-huh…"

"We started talking about where we got our names. We

were going around and each saying our answer, and

everyone else would be like, 'Wow, cool.' You know, just a

random conversation."

"Oh, that's neat! I think my parents chose the name

'Minami' because they wanted me to be warm, like the

south. Gotta check that!"

"Huh. So anyway, Tachibana, what happened next?"

"Well, Aoi's turn came, and…"

"Hey!"

Mimimi pretended to be offended that I'd just ignored

her. Guess we can still joke around like this as long as other

people are with us. Kikuchi-san giggled, which made me feel

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all warm and fuzzy inside.

"She said her family wanted her to point toward the sun

and grow up as straight as the aoi flower. She told us a little

factoid about how aoi flowers bloom facing the sun, so I'm

pretty sure I'm remembering this right."

"Seems believable," I said. A typical naming story.

"Right. But get this. After she told us that, she said

something else, like it was nothing."

"…What'd she say?"

I needed to know, now. Kikuchi-san was leaning way

forward in her chair, ready to hear this important

information.

Tachibana slowly revealed the mystery.

"She said, 'Of course, that has nothing to do with me.'"

This unnatural phrase echoed across the table.

Nothing to do with me.

It was fairly abstract, and an odd thing to say in a

conversation about the origins of your own name…but it was

hard to know what she really meant.

"What the heck? I get why you'd say it was weird…"

"Right?"

Tachibana raised his eyebrows, and next to me, Kikuchisan slowly tilted her head.

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"…I wonder what she meant," she said.

Tachibana shrugged.

"No idea. It was just a side comment, so we didn't ask her

about it. You don't really interrogate someone over that. But

the reason I remember it so well is that everything felt a little

off afterward."

"Huh…"

The story seemed like a potential clue, but then again,

maybe not. We'd have to combine it with other information

to come up with our own interpretation. I didn't think this

story alone was enough to clear much up.

Tachibana rubbed his neck with his palm.

"That's about it when it comes to Aoi."

"…Thank you so much. That was very informative,"

Kikuchi-san replied, nervous and stiff, then bowed her head

dutifully in his direction.

"Oh yeah, by the way," he added, as if he'd remembered

something. He smiled shyly at Kikuchi-san.

Huh? What's going on?

"Um, are you on LINE?"

My ears twitched.

"LINE…?"

Huh? He was clearly about to ask for her ID. Wait a

second! Had he just realized how cute she was or

something? Hold on! Red flag! I don't like this! But I

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couldn't think of a justification for intervening, so all I could

do was glance over at her a couple of times.

She was glancing back at me like she didn't know what to

do, but I had no reason to step in…and while I was trying to

figure out what to do, Tachibana went on.

"Uh, it would be good to have your ID so I can let you

know if I think of anything else about Aoi," he said.

Shit. I couldn't come up with a reason to stop him, and

now he had his in. No fair!

"Oh…I—I see," Kikuchi-san said, nodding.

Wait, really? You're okay with that, Kikuchi-san?

But since she'd agreed, there was nothing I could do

except watch in a daze as they got ready to exchange LINE

IDs. Dammit, I have to put a stop to this! But I can't do it

alone! Mimimi, help! Mimimi, where are you?

Just then, possibly sensing my desperation, Mimimi

interrupted them by saying, "Oh, hey!" Nice, Mimimi! Keep

going, keep going!

As I silently entrusted my future to her, she pulled out her

phone.

"Can I have your ID, too, Kikuchi-san?"

Then she lowered her head, like she was asking Kikuchisan to be her girlfriend, and extended her phone, which was

in her right hand. Huh? That wasn't what I was expecting.

And why did she sound even shier than Tachibana? I didn't

care how much Kikuchi-san rivaled Tama-chan in her littleforest-critter cuteness—Mimimi was acting weird.

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"Oh, okay…here you go."

And then she exchanged her ID with the two of them in

turn. I couldn't stop them…

"Wait, aren't you all in the class group?" I asked, suddenly

realizing the obvious.

"Uh, you need to ask people for their IDs when you want

to DM," Tachibana retorted bewilderingly. I had no idea

what his logic was, but he's the normie, not me.

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"Okay, got it. Thanks!"

"Thank you, Kikuchi-san!!"

"Oh, um, you're welcome…," she replied with a dreamy

look. What the heck? What does this mean?!

Lost in my own suffering, I still managed to thank

Tachibana for the interview.

"Hey, thanks, man…"

"Sure, no problem."

I'd collected a number of interesting facts, but here at the

end, I'd been thrown into a mental fog. I had no idea an

enemy was lurking here…

* * *

The next day was Saturday.

Kikuchi-san and I had decided to get together over the

weekend. We'd met at the Bean Tree sculpture outside

Omiya Station and were heading toward our destination.

Even after multiple outings together, I was still nervous.

"Hello."

"Hello."

After exchanging our usual greeting, I turned to her and

took the lead.

"So should we get going?"

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There was one reason for our outing.

More interviews.

We headed to the Saizeria diner near Omiya, in the

building where the Loft store used to be.

"Uh…my name's Tomozaki. Thanks for coming," I said to

the high school girl sitting across from me.

I was meeting her for the first time; her black hair was

tied in pigtails, and she was wearing something low-cut and

black. Instead of a necklace, she had one of those choker

things around her neck. There was a furry black crucifix on

it.

Next to her was—Tachibana. I wasn't sure I liked him

being there, but whatever. We'd been talking a lot lately.

Kikuchi-san was sitting next to me, which made for a twoon-two setup.

"I'm Maehashi. Hope I can help." She bowed her head,

her face blank. I wasn't sure what to make of her polite but

emotionless vibe.

"My name is Kikuchi. Thank you for coming." She bowed

her head, too.

So there we were, introducing ourselves to a girl we'd

never met. As for why—

I took charge of the interview to get us rolling, using my

experience with committee stuff and the script meetings

with Kikuchi-san.

"Okay, so let's get started… You went to elementary school

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with Hinami, right?"

Yup—the girl sitting across from us went to the same

elementary school as Hinami.

Tachibana had told us about her the day before.

Apparently, he'd sent Kikuchi-san a LINE message asking if

she was free the next day and suggesting that we get together

with Maehashi-san, and I came along to help. Not to guard

Kikuchi-san. Just to help.

By the way, we also asked Hinami to join us again, but she

said she was busy and that we should just go ahead without

her. Typical perfect heroine.

"Hey, we're all in the same grade, so let's relax, okay,

guys?" Tachibana interrupted. He was right—Maehashi-san

had been in the same class as Hinami—but it was still hard

to relax around someone I was meeting for the first time

outside school, whether we were all the same age or not.

Plus, interviewing her made me extra nervous.

Maehashi-san's eyes glinted an odd color. She must be

wearing those "color contacts."

"Oh yeah, good point," she said, glancing at me and

Kikuchi-san. "Everyone okay with dropping the formalities?"

Her voice was flat, and her face was still expressionless;

she was like some kind of doll. Even I could tell her eye

makeup was really black and heavy, and the stuff on her

cheeks (not sure what that's called) was an eye-catching

color. Her lipstick was bright red, so the overall contrast was

strong.

"Sure," I said. It didn't come naturally, but if I made a

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conscious effort, it shouldn't be that hard to talk to them as

friends.

"Uh, um…" Kikuchi-san was obviously uncomfortable,

which wasn't surprising.

"Oh, you shouldn't worry about it, Kikuchi-san. I mean,

you're so polite, even with us. Ha-ha-ha."

But it wasn't me who smoothly came to her rescue—it was

Tachibana. Wait, I was about to say the same thing! It was

like that crappy feeling when someone cuts ahead of you in

line. Watch out, dude, I'm gonna use my honesty powers on

you pretty soon.

"Oh, o-okay. Thank you so much."

I watched enviously as she thanked him. He hadn't done

anything wrong, and yet I didn't want to let him get away

with it.

"Um, okay! So we'd like to interview you…" I tried to

change the subject as I opened my notebook. "What was

Hinami like in elementary school?"

"Let me think. I guess she was conscientious and

cheerful… A good kid?" Maehashi-san answered flatly.

"Hmm, conscientious and cheerful?"

That didn't sound very different from today's perfect

heroine, but the word conscientious did catch my attention.

Kikuchi-san must have noticed the same thing, because

she asked the next question. "'Conscientious'…what do you

mean by that?"

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"Um…"

Maehashi-san rubbed her chin with her red-tipped

pointer finger and answered in the same bored tone. "Like,

she always did what grown-ups told her to do."

"…Interesting."

"Like, she wasn't a headstrong kid, you know."

That description didn't seem totally out of character, but

it also wasn't a perfect match. Hinami wasn't the type to

rebel against adults for no reason now, either…but the

phrase she always did what grown-ups told her to do was

fairly puzzling.

She did have the guts to confront adults head-on, like

when she fearlessly picked a fight with the teachers in her

speech for student council president. Just like how Alucia

crossed swords with the king.

At the very least, not headstrong wasn't the first thing I'd

say if someone asked me to describe her personality.

"I see…," Kikuchi-san said pensively, looking straight at

Maehashi-san.

"Also, she seemed pretty attached to her family. I got the

impression that she loved her little sisters a lot."

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I remember that, too,"

Tachibana said, nodding.

"…Really?"

I was moderately surprised by that. I didn't even know she

had younger sisters. If it had slipped even Tachibana's mind,

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did that mean she'd changed when she got to high school?

"Let's see, what else? I was a fairly loud kid, so I didn't

really hang out with Hinami-san in elementary school."

Maehashi-san was loud, so they didn't hang out?

That sounded a little harsh—that's what you'd say about a

kid at the bottom of the hierarchy, not the Hinami we knew

now.

So Hinami wasn't born and raised at the top of the heap

after all.

"Hmm. Anything else? Anything you remember her

saying, or any other impressions?"

"Well…"

Maehashi-san told us what Hinami's friends were like,

what extracurriculars she did, what her family was like, and

some other stuff like that.

To roughly sum it up, it seemed that Hinami wasn't

exactly docile, but she wasn't especially lively, either. She

belonged to a middle-of-the-road group.

She also took piano lessons at the same school as

Maehashi-san and went to a typical cram school. So she

could play piano, huh?

Also, according to Maehashi-san, Hinami had gotten

along unusually well with her family, and her parents were

so cheerful and friendly to everyone that it made a bit of an

impression on parent-participation days and things like that.

If Maehashi-san remembered them out of the dozens of

family members who would have been at those events, they

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must have been fairly exceptional.

Even though she wasn't close friends with Hinami,

Maehashi-san said she'd gone to her house with a group of

kids to play a bunch of times, and Hinami's parents would

serve homemade cookies and juice and things like that. They

seemed like a model of a warm, well-off family.

That's where the final boss grew up? Man, human nature

is a mystery. As far as I could tell from Maehashi-san's

stories, Hinami's final-boss nature couldn't have come from

her family.

"…That's about it," Maehashi-san finally said. She seemed

pleased with herself for talking so much. Some people just

like to talk, no matter what they're saying.

"Thank you so much. That was very helpful."

Kikuchi-san took the lead in thanking her, and Tachibana

and I followed up.

"So we're all done, right?" I asked, consciously trying to

grab the steering wheel again.

The three of them stood up. O-okay, great. I managed to

take some leadership. Tachibana, you're not gonna beat

me.

With the interview over, we got ready to split up—or so I

thought.

We were standing outside the ticket gate at Omiya

Station.

"What train do you guys take?" Maehashi-san asked. I'd

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hung out in groups enough lately to recognize what was

going on. She wanted to go with whoever took the same train

as her.

But Tachibana said something I didn't expect.

"Actually, the three of us have some stuff to talk about

before we go home."

"What?" I muttered, confused. Misread that one.

Maehashi-san just nodded, apparently unconcerned. "Oh

yeah?"

"Yeah. So we'll say bye here. Later."

"Okay, later."

I didn't know exactly what he was thinking, but he was

thinking something. Since there was no reason to get

Maehashi-san involved, I went with the flow on this one.

"Um, bye."

"Oh, okay…good-bye."

Kikuchi-san seemed flustered, but she followed my lead

and said good-bye to Maehashi-san, too. Maehashi-san

waved her hand a couple of times, then disappeared through

the gate.

—And then.

"Uh…?"

I turned to Tachibana, but he just laughed. What's with

that smile? If this is because you get to spend more time

with Kikuchi-san, I'll knock it right off your face, young

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man. Her father won't stand for that.

"What's going on…?" Kikuchi-san asked Tachibana with a

piercing gaze. I doubted he could lie her. That look always

shines a light into the darkness of my heart and helps me

find the truth. He squinted, like he was looking at the sun.

"Oh, um, I just realized something. I mean, I wanted to

tell you something."

"You do…?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "I knew that, too—that Aoi and her little sister

were close."

"Yeah, I noticed," I said.

So everyone knew about that up through middle school,

like I'd guessed. The reason not many people knew any more

must be because when Hinami got to high school, she made

a calculated decision that that part of her character wouldn't

work to her advantage. I could see her doing that.

"But there's something odd about it."

"…Really?" Kikuchi-san asked.

Tachibana nodded. "Maehashi said…'sisters' with an 's,'

right?"

I thought back on our conversation. "…Yeah, she did."

"Yes, definitely."

Tachibana nodded, a suspicious look on his face.

"Thought so. It's weird…"

"What?"

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He frowned like he was struggling to put the pieces

together.

"I'm sure…Aoi only has one sister."

That only created more questions.

"Do you think you could be wrong?" I asked.

Tachibana tilted his head vaguely. "I guess I could be…

I've never asked her specifically, You only have one sister,

right? but I'm pretty sure. I don't think she has a younger

brother, either."

"Huh. Then…what does it mean…?" I asked, confused.

It was a mystery. What should we do about this?

In elementary school, she had sisters, plural, but in junior

high, she had only one. What did that mean?

"I can think of various explanations…but only a few seem

possible," Kikuchi-san said.

"…Right," Tachibana answered.

I could think of a few of those possibilities myself.

First, Tachibana was wrong, and she still had two or even

more sisters in junior high.

Second, something happened with her family, and the

sisters were split up.

Or third—one of her younger sisters died.

"Well…it doesn't seem like something we should ask her

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about. Especially since she hasn't brought it up herself," I

said.

Tachibana and Kikuchi-san nodded.

"Yeah."

"Let's…act like we didn't hear about this," Kikuchi-san

suggested with some solemnity. She paused for a moment,

then added, "I think it may be best…to stop digging now."

She sounded almost repentant, like she regretted starting

in the first place. We'd gotten permission from Hinami, but

maybe our own thoughtlessness was to blame for

accidentally discovering this.

Tachibana and I both said we agreed. She sighed, as if to

lighten the tension. "Well…I'll see you two later."

It was unusual for her to end a meeting, but this time, she

took the lead. We each headed for our train, and I'm sure

their feelings were as complicated as mine.

I still didn't know what to make of the day's events.

* * *

That night, my phone buzzed with a LINE notification.

I picked it up, wondering who'd sent me a message, and

saw Kikuchi-san's name, which also was unusual.

"…Wonder what's up."

I tapped on the message. I've heard that some people just

read the push notification so the other person doesn't know

you've seen the message, but that's for the pros. I'd be at a

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disadvantage the second I stepped into that particular ring,

which is why my chosen battle strategy is to get that "read"

notification on the other person's screen as quickly as

possible.

Anyway, this was what she said:

[Thank you very much for today.

Although I feel like we may have gone too far with our

research…

But the other things she said were very interesting.

I think I have a slightly better idea of Alucia.

Well, I'll see you on Monday. Good night.]

The first half of her message reassured me, but the last

two words killed me.

"Good night…"

Those words were weirdly embarrassing. Like, they're

what you say just before you lie down to sleep. Together. The

one problem was that it was only nine thirty, which was

clearly too early for a high schooler to go to bed, but that

didn't make it any less of a KO. I guess Kikuchi-san goes to

bed early.

Somehow resuscitating myself, I typed a reply.

[Good to hear.

Looking forward to reading the script.

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Okay, goodnight!]

I almost fainted as I typed that last word, which kind of

made me want to just stay like that and fall asleep so we

could go to sleep together, but I still hadn't taken a bath or

brushed my teeth. In the end, I resisted. Impressive, huh?

I still had lots to think over in terms of the Hinami

situation, but thanks to Kikuchi-san, I was nestled in soft

clouds until I was able to drift off to sleep.

* * *

It was Monday morning, the start of a new week. I headed

to Sewing Room #2 for my usual morning meeting.

I was especially anxious today. Partly, it was because I'd

made zero progress on my assignment, but the bigger

problem what we'd learned on Saturday. Of course, we were

only guessing at the truth, and nothing was certain. Still, I'd

learned a lot of things that Hinami had never told me

herself. And learning them when she wasn't there made me

uncomfortable.

"All right. So about the weekend…"

I jumped, suddenly brought back to reality by Hinami's

words. She didn't miss my reaction.

But the conclusion she drew from it wasn't quite accurate.

"…Let me guess. You haven't made any progress on your

assignment."

"Uh-uh…" I nodded noncommittally, vaguely relieved.

Hinami sighed her usual sigh.

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"Well, I suppose that interview helped you get a little

closer to Kikuchi-san, but don't let it go to your head. Keep

your eye on the goal."

"Oh right…"

The word interview had set me on edge again, but I'd

managed to respond.

"I know the individual tasks are difficult, but you don't

seem to be making very good progress on your assignment

lately."

"I—I know."

Despite my fears, Hinami didn't ask about the details of

the interview at all. I doubted I'd be able to keep our

discovery secret if she went after me, but I wasn't sure if it

was okay to talk about. I was grateful she wasn't bringing it

up. On the other hand…

…she really wasn't interested in her own past, was she?

"…Listen," I said, making up my mind to give it a try.

She frowned, apparently sensing my intent. "Don't tell me

you're going to annoy me again." She sighed, as if she was

sick of me.

Same old Hinami.

I didn't have the mental strength to delve into her inner

world.

"…Never mind."

I probably couldn't ask the question anyway.

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I mean—it would be way too insensitive.

Tell me about your sister.

* * *

Afterward, in the classroom before homeroom, I heard a

familiar voice.

"Tomozaki-kun."

Turning around, I saw Kikuchi-san standing next to me.

As usual, she was holding a copy of the script in a paper bag.

The only difference was that the bag was thicker than usual.

"Morning."

"Good morning." She reached into the bag and pulled out

the contents—about ten copies of the script, from the look of

it.

"…So…"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded. "You said we needed to start

rehearsals today."

I smiled. She'd made the deadline.

"Wow. You finished it?"

Maybe the interviews had borne fruit, or maybe she'd had

more time because of the weekend. Whatever the reason,

Kikuchi-san had finished the rehearsal script we'd be

handing out. Which meant we could start practicing today.

But her face clouded over slightly.

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"Actually…I didn't finish the whole thing."

"You didn't?"

She shook her head apologetically. "No. I've finished

editing the beginning and middle sections…but I'm not done

with anything after the scene where they fly on the dragon."

"Oh, okay."

She was still unsure about the ending.

I waited for her to go on without rushing her.

"But…that scene is like a dividing line in the story. I

thought we'd be able to rehearse it as long as it was finished

up to that point. So I brought the copies."

"That makes sense."

I could see how that scene marked a climax in the story.

The girl who raised flying dragons was taking flight herself—

that could be the final scene of the whole play if she wanted.

It was the perfect place for a pause.

"You know…if you run out of time, you could always end

the play there."

"Yes, but I'm going to give it a real ending!" she said,

sounding very determined.

"Okay. Can't wait to see it."

"Let's make it great!"

I took the pile of scripts she was handing me, happy that

she'd spoken so strongly.

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"…Yes, let's do that," I echoed, for my own resolve.

The performance was less than two weeks off.

At last, rehearsals were about to begin.

* * *

After school, the members of the organizing committee—

including me—stood up in front of the class before we

started on festival projects. We were going over what needed

to be done that day, with Izumi at the forefront as the

committee lead.

"Okay…next, let's talk about the play. Tomozaki!"

All eyes turned in my direction. O-oh shit.

I envisioned myself facing forward with my body open to

the crowd and my voice grounded.

"Uh, um, the script is ready, so those of you in the play,

um, let's start practicing today!"

My nervousness was on full display, but I heard enough

"Ooh"s from the class that I must have managed to speak

loudly enough. Okay. Glad everyone heard what I said.

"Um, okay, time to get started! Um, so…"

Izumi and I had already handed out the scripts to the

actors this morning, but where were we supposed to

rehearse? Just as the question crossed my mind, Izumi

jumped in.

"Oh, I signed up to use an empty classroom, so everyone

who's in the play, follow me! Everyone else, please continue

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getting ready for our class stall!"

"What she said."

Izumi smirked at my unhelpful addition. Hey, what's that

mean? What was I supposed to do? I didn't know the plan!

About ten people followed Izumi to the spare classroom,

including our mains, Hinami, Mizusawa, and Tama-chan,

and supporting actors like Erika Konno. Of course, Kikuchisan and I went along, too.

A jolt of excitement ran through me at the thought of the

script we'd created becoming a play. Although, all I did was

provide support.

"Damn, I wanted to be in the play, too…," Takei moaned,

gazing sadly at our backs as we walked off. Don't worry

about it, Takei. You'd probably have a hard time

memorizing your lines, and then you'd forget them if you

got nervous. It wasn't meant to be.

* * *

There we were in the empty classroom.

The first rehearsal, day one, was about to begin. We didn't

have much time to practice.

"Um…what should we do?" Izumi said, peering at me with

an anxious expression.

"Oh…right."

How did you get started on something like this? Our

school didn't have a theater club, and I doubted any of the

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actors had much experience. This would be hard.

At least I'd searched for play rehearsal on YouTube over

the weekend and watched a bunch of stuff, so I had a general

idea of how it was supposed to go. Unfortunately, I didn't

really know how to get started. I glanced at my mentor for

help, but Hinami was reading through the script and talking

with Tama-chan. Hmph.

Well…all I could do was wing it. Time to gamble on the 40

percent success rate.

"Uh, um, okay, everyone, we'll be starting the rehearsal

now…," I said, gathering my courage. Everyone looked at

me, and I couldn't exactly tell them to stop and just ignore

me after all. Actually, I'd be in trouble if they weren't looking

at me.

I let out a long breath, screwed up my courage once again,

and surveyed the group.

"Have you all read the script?"

"Yes," Hinami answered earnestly.

Whew. It's really stressful when you ask a question to a

group and no one answers. Just that one "yes" from her was

taking the tension out of my shoulders.

In the past, when I'd observed quick-answerers, I'd

thought that only someone with a lot of confidence would do

that, but now that I was the one asking the question, I was

super grateful for them. Just Aoi.

"H-has anyone not read it? Um…should we take some

time for reading?" I asked, gradually suppressing my nerves.

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About half the group, including Erika Konno, called out

that they hadn't read it or were still just halfway done. Well,

we only handed it out that morning.

"Okay, take a little time to skim through it right now. And,

um, after that…"

"How about if the people who've already read it have

questions about their role, they can ask Fuka-chan?" Hinami

interrupted helpfully, since I clearly had no idea what should

come next.

"Uh, yeah. That."

"Got it! Thanks!"

She acted like I was the one who'd suggested it. When she

was in perfect-heroine mode, Hinami's social skills were

something else. All I did was say yes.

"Hey, Kikuchi-san!" Hinami called, walking over to her. "I

was wondering how Alucia was feeling in this scene…"

With that, she started asking questions. Whatever she did,

she took the lead. Before long, everyone else was crowding

around Kikuchi-san, too, listening to her answers and

flipping through the script to find their own questions. The

mood was generally positive—a perfect example of leading

through actions instead of words. It's always tough to be the

first one, no matter what you're doing.

"Thanks. So…like this?"

I guess Hinami had gotten all the information she wanted

from Kikuchi-san; she took a deep breath and said:

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"If I don't do this, they'll kill you, Libra!"

Her hands emphasized the words, too—she was acting out

the scene where Alucia and Libra come to the garden for the

first time and she suddenly tries to break the dragon's wings.

Her acting wasn't overly dramatic, although her voice

carried well, and Alucia's urgency was clear.

"Let me do it!"

She lowered the script and grinned at Kikuchi-san.

"How was that?"

"It was p-perfect…"

Kikuchi-san was in awe. It was as if Hinami hadn't just

fulfilled her image of Alucia but had shown her a far better

version of the character. Some of that admiration probably

came from how Hinami had done it so quickly and casually,

but all the same, the performance was perfect. Well,

Hinami's whole life is an act, so her foundation is a little

different from everyone else's.

"Great! Actually, I've got some student council work in

around twenty minutes, so do you mind if I leave early?

Sorry about that. I'll keep going with my role along those

lines, so don't worry about me!" she said.

Suddenly, it all clicked. So that was what she was up to.

"Well…going by your performance just now, I think it

should be fine."

"Right! Kikuchi-san, is that okay with you?"

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"Oh, um, yes. No problem at all."

"Thanks! Sorry!" She covered her face with her hands in a

goofy way.

My guess was that she'd made a quick display of her

seriousness in order to both increase our confidence in her

and lower the amount of time she had to spend at

rehearsals, since she was already double-booked with other

commitments. It was scary to witness a seemingly minor

incident like this and realize she was reading the game so far

in advance.

We chatted for a few more minutes. When Erika Konno

came over to say she was done reading, it was really time to

start the rehearsal.

"Um, okay then, let's get started."

"Sounds good."

Once again, when I made an effort to get the ball rolling,

Hinami saved my butt by answering, even though she wasn't

going to be here the whole time. Just Aoi, as they say.

* * *

"Nice work."

"S-same to you."

A chaotic read-through by the ten actors had just ended.

Since everyone was still rehearsing with the script in their

hands, we managed to get through without any major

hiccups, but overseeing the whole thing was still exhausting.

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I sat down next to Kikuchi-san, who was squatting next to

the wall.

"That went okay, don't you think?"

She looked up at me and smiled slightly. "…Yes."

I could tell she was drained—but satisfied, too.

Watching people perform the lines she'd thought up must

have felt like something else.

The actors had split into groups of friends and were

scattered around the room, chatting. I could hear people

saying they thought the play was pretty good, and I'll admit,

I was pleased.

"…Even though we only did a read-through, I was nervous

about every line… I wasn't quite myself." She laughed, as if

to shake off her tiredness. "But…it was really fun."

"Yeah?"

I was relieved to see her so satisfied. Her story was

becoming a play performed by her classmates. It must have

been stressful.

But if she was able to say she ultimately enjoyed it, then

I'm sure the endeavor was worthwhile for her.

"Um…" She was studying my face.

"What?"

"Thank you. Thank you for all your help." She sounded

slightly shy, but her voice was full of emotion.

"It's nothing! …I'm doing it because I want to," I said, but

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she kept staring at me.

"I know, but…I've been thinking. You can't keep this up."

"…What do you mean?" I asked.

"You have the thing with Nanami-san," she reminded me.

"…The comedy skit?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Don't you need to work on that, too?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

I wasn't sure what to do. Without realizing it, I'd been

focusing all my energy on the play, but if we didn't get

started on the skit soon, we'd be in trouble. Actually, we

already were.

"Um…" Kikuchi-san peered at me. "Please work on that

tomorrow."

Her eyes were filled with a strength that wouldn't take no

for an answer.

"But…what about the rehearsal?"

"I think…"

"…What's up?"

She seemed to make up her mind. "I can take the lead, so

it'll be fine."

"Really?"

I wanted to respect her powerful determination, but as far

as I could tell from today's rehearsal and past events, I was

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worried she'd have a hard time. I mean, she barely seemed

able to say her opinion in an ordinary situation…

Nevertheless, she kept that powerful stare fixed on me.

"…You're wrong."

"Wrong?"

I didn't know what she meant.

"I've been thinking this for a little while now… You've

changed, and Hanabi-chan has changed, and I'm the only

one being left behind."

There was an emotion like worry or even fear in her words

and eyes. She was hugging the script to her chest, but her

gaze was directed straight ahead. "I've been feeling like…it's

time for me to change, too."

"…Really?"

Her words were filled with a clear will to move forward.

Up till now, she had been settled comfortably in her own

world.

"This is…a good opportunity for me to change. Don't you

agree?"

It was true that she was gradually edging toward the

outside world. And now she had a chance like never before.

Plus, if she was saying it herself, then I wasn't about to

stop her. "I understand." After all, she was choosing on her

own to take the first step into that outside world. I had no

reason to get in her way.

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"I think this arrangement would be ideal."

"…Okay."

But for some reason…the word ideal made me

uncomfortable.

I drowned out that discomfort by nodding. She was

choosing to move forward of her own free will. Nothing was

more important than respecting that.

"Thank you… I'll do my best," she said with a smile.

There was a clear shade of worry in her voice, but her eyes

were focused ahead of her.

* * *

After school the next day, I met with Mimimi.

"Brain!! We're running out of time!!"

"I know. What should we do?"

"You're so calm!"

We'd come to the cafeteria to talk. By the way, the reason

for changing locations from our last meeting was simple.

There weren't enough people in the stairwell, which meant

we were overly aware of each other.

I wasn't sure if it was thanks to our new location, but this

one-on-one meeting was proceeding more normally. The

presence or absence of other people nearby makes such a big

difference psychologically.

"But you're right… There's not much time left. We

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probably don't have time to come up with something from

scratch."

"Yeah. Which means…"

"Our only option…is to do that c-couple skit you

mentioned before."

I might have been talking in a normal way, but when it

came to the implications of that word, I couldn't help

stumbling. This doesn't bode well.

"Hmm. So that's the Brain's wish!"

"My wish? What are you talking about?"

"A couple skit! That's your request!"

"U-um…"

That also had implications…which was probably what she

intended. Now that Mimimi was feeling slightly more at

ease, she had me in the palm of her hand.

"Okay, let's go with that for now," I said. She batted her

eyelashes, scrunched down, and then jumped into a standing

position, clapping her hands.

"Hello, everyone!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" I shouted. She was already starting the

skit? "How am I supposed to dive right in like that?"

"Why not?!"

"Because we have to decide what to say first!"

"Even a dynamic duo like the Brain and me?"

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"'Dynamic duo'?"

"Even though we cuddle up next to the heater every

night?!"

"…Well, yeah, 'cause the heater's warm."

Mimimi was even more outrageous than usual, and given

the subject matter, I was getting more and more

embarrassed.

"Have you forgotten how well we worked together…?"

"Okay, seriously, come on!" I snapped back, ignoring her

joke—but for some reason, her eyes were sparkling.

"Hey, that was pretty good!"

"What was?"

She leaned way forward in my direction. Why are you so

close? Why?

"What we just did! Just now!"

"Huh?" I tilted my head. What was she talking about?

"We were having a normal conversation, but it sounded

like a comedy skit! The straight man and the funny girl!"

"What? Oh…"

I guess you could say that. I mean, Mimimi was being so

ridiculous, all I had to do was make normal comebacks, and

it turned into that. It wasn't exactly good enough to perform

up on stage.

"We just improv'd a couple skit!"

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"W-we did…?"

If Mimimi said so…but really?

She wasn't totally wrong—I'd focused on comebacks as

part of my special training for the game of life, so I guess you

could say that was paying off now. Although, I'd rather they

pay off in real life than in a comedy skit…

"I think it was good! I think we can do this!"

"I doubt it'll be that easy."

Our conversation was bouncing along at a good pace, and

to my own surprise, it didn't feel forced. Everything Mimimi

said was pulling my replies out of me, one after another.

But when I thought about it, I realized I'd probably talked

to Mimimi more than anyone else since starting my special

training. We got off at the same station, so we usually

walked home together, and maybe my internal

conversational tempo was naturally adjusting to hers.

"If we keep it up like this, we should be fine. And the

script should work, too!"

"…Script?" The word caught me off guard.

"Weren't ready for that, were you?! Believe it or not, I

already wrote it!"

"What, really?"

This was good news; I'd been thinking we'd be in trouble

if we didn't come up with something soon. Of course, it

would have been a problem if she invited me to do a comedy

skit and then didn't do anything to write it.

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"…So where's this script?"

Mimimi seemed to have left her bag in the classroom, and

she wasn't carrying anything. Where would she have it?

"He-he-he! You underestimate me!" she said, pulling out

her phone. Then I put two and two together.

"Oh! A text file."

"Correct! I'll send it to you, okay?"

With that, she sent me the file, which was labeled

"Zoo.txt," via LINE, and I saved it on my phone.

"Got it."

"I'm getting kinda nervous!"

"Ha-ha-ha, that's normal."

I glanced over the script while we chatted.

When I finished reading the last line, I told her my honest

opinion.

"Wow, seems like a real comedy skit." It was more

polished than I'd expected.

"R-really?!"

"Yeah, it's solid."

She latched on to that, puffing out her chest and snorting

noisily. "It is, isn't it?!"

"Don't get too full of yourself."

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"Heh-heh!"

I glanced over the script again.

Like she said, it was a couple comedy. The wife (Mimimi)

asks to go somewhere, but the husband (me) makes up

ridiculous reasons not to go, and their argument goes more

and more off the rails.

When Mimimi says she wants to go to the zoo, I say, "But

what if a lion escapes?"

"Then bring a stun gun," she says.

"But they'll confiscate it at the gate."

Then she starts getting desperate. "Well then, work out!

You only need three years or so at the gym to beat up a lion,

right?"

I answer logically. "Who plans a trip to the zoo three years

in advance?" Then I really go off topic: "And even if I did

beat up a lion, what do you think it'd do to me? I'm sure I'd

lose an arm or two. Would you still love me without arms?"

And she wraps it all up by saying, "What in the world are

we talking about anyway?!"

She really had written a solid script. I knew she liked

comedy, but I never guessed she'd make something this

polished. The part about love or whatever was a little

embarrassing, but the skit overall was so well done that I

could push through.

"Did you come up with this yourself?" I asked.

She hesitated. "The jokes are mine, but the style I copied

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from Bramayo!"

"Bramayo…?"

"You've never heard of Black Mayonnaise?! Their skits are

like this!"

"Oh yeah…"

The name rang a bell. I might have seen some of their

work before. I think they did arguments where they'd go on

and on endlessly about some little thing. I didn't watch

much TV, though, so I couldn't quite remember.

"It's two guys, right? So I thought I'd give it a little twist

and do their style as a couple's argument."

"…Huh."

Essentially, she was saying that if we kept their pattern of

complaining about some tiny detail and then going off the

rails, but changed the characters to a married couple, we'd

end up with a somewhat original script. Hmm. It was very

similar to what you did when you first wanted to improve at

a game.

Which meant…

"I think this'll work."

If it made sense from a game perspective, then I could see

a way forward.

"Really?! You thought it was funny?!"

I didn't know what to say. "I thought it was well done, but

if you're asking if I laughed…"

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"What?!" Mimimi stared at me in astonishment.

"No…I mean, I've never read a comedy script before, and

you wouldn't normally laugh just reading the words, right?"

"Oh, okay…" She read the script again herself. "Now it

doesn't seem funny anymore…"

"Hey, come on." I reread it, too—and strangely enough, it

was way less funny than the first time. Visions of a stonecold audience rose before my eyes. "Wow, you're right."

"I—I am?!"

"It doesn't seem funny at all anymore…"

"What?! No way…"

We both read it from the top again. This time, it…might

get a laugh?

Mimimi flopped on the table like a wet rag. "Noooo. It

sucks now…"

"Huh? I thought it was funny this time…"

"Y-you did?!"

We were going back and forth even though not a single

word had changed. What the heck?

"One more t-time!" Mimimi blurted and started from the

beginning again.

We weren't going to get anywhere like this, so I made my

mind up to suggest something. "Um, I have an idea."

"What?"

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"How about we just try it?"

"Huh?"

If you're unsure about something, just give it a shot. That

was one of the golden rules I'd discovered during my special

training in the game of life.

"Let's read it out loud and record ourselves if we can."

"…Oh, good idea!" Mimimi's face suddenly brightened.

One of my routines in the game of life was to record

myself and listen back from an objective perspective.

I was fairly sure the same thing would work for a comedy

skit that was supposed to entertain people.

"Let's get started!"

With that, we recorded ourselves reading the script out

loud.

The results?

"It's not too bad…right?" I said without much confidence

as we listened to the recording I'd made on my phone.

Recording ourselves seemed like a good idea in theory,

but once we did, I still couldn't decide if the script was any

good. I mean, I didn't really watch much comedy to start

with.

"What did you thi…? Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

When I glanced over at her, she was replaying the

recording with a pensive expression.

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"…Brain, I have a thought."

"Uh-huh?"

She paused for a second, then looked straight at me. "I

don't think we should memorize the script too closely."

I didn't really get her point.

"Wh-why? What if we messed it up because we hadn't

practiced enough? That would kinda suck…"

"Yeah, but…I'm not sure how to put this."

"Put what?"

She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "Don't you

think it would be funnier if we were just having one of our

normal conversations?"

"Huh?"

"On this recording, we've got a good tempo going in some

spots, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And maybe it's partly because it was our first time—but it

sounds like we're reading the script, or something…"

"Oh…I can see that."

Now I was following. As she said, our delivery was less

like a conversation and more like we were taking turns

reading lines.

"The best comedians sound like they're having a

conversation right then and there."

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"Okay, I can see that."

It was especially true of the duo she'd based her skit on.

"That's why I'm thinking we should memorize the general

flow of the skit, but not nail down the script so firmly that it

sounds like we're reading it."

"Y-you don't want to decide on it all the way?"

She swiped through the screen on her phone. "Let's see…

like where you say, 'That's the most important part!' Instead,

you could say, I mean, isn't that kinda important? or You're

talking about the most important part… or something!"

"Oh…I get what you mean."

I looked at the script, imagining how I could change it

around. The idea was to keep the content the same but base

the actual words on the mood at that moment so that we

didn't end up reciting memorized lines.

It would sound more like a conversation, but…

"That's…kinda scary."

She was talking about ad-libbing around a third of it,

which would be tough for a novice.

"I know…but listen." She grinned and went on in a happy,

reassuring tone. "You and I always have silly conversations

like this, so don't you think we can pull it off?"

That was kind of our relationship in a nutshell.

I talked to her more than anyone else, and I'd picked up

my tempo from her, which was fairly slapsticky already.

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In a sense, our normal conversations were practice for our

comedy skit.

"Well, if you put it like that…I guess you're right."

"I am! I have high expectations for your comebacks,

Brain!"

Her cheerful smile made me feel like as long as she was

there, it would work out somehow.

"…But when I think about it, I'm probably the one who

says more stupid stuff."

"Ah-ha-ha! Well…"

"Aw, come on…"

Bit by bit, our practice session was settling into something

more natural. I still felt a little embarrassed around her, but

the usual fun was returning.

Right then, something sort of clicked. When I talked to

Nakamura about the meaning of dating, he'd said, "It just

happened," and now that I was here with Mimimi, I was

starting to understand what he meant.

It was easy for me to imagine having a good time with

someone and then dating them as an extension of that.

But—how was that different from being friends?

* * *

We kept practicing until it got dark, then headed home

together.

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As we walked toward our houses from Kitayono Station, a

lot of things were on my mind.

Farther down this same street was the spot where Mimimi

had told me she liked me, and I still hadn't given her an

answer.

I couldn't, because I didn't know what that would mean to

me.

"…Ergh…," I groaned almost without realizing.

Mimimi stared at me. Those eyes of hers, as round as

acorns, were taking me in unflinchingly. The clarity and

power in them were almost overwhelming, but I thought I

could see a gentle light somewhere in their depths, too.

"…You're always thinking these days, aren't you, Brain?"

"You can tell?"

"Yeah."

She nodded.

Well, she was right that I had a lot to think about. There

was the whole What is dating? question, which I was

pondering at that very moment, and our research into

Hinami's background. Most of all, there was the play. Each

one was fairly substantial, and to have them all running

through my mind at once was a heavy burden for me. And I

had my assignment on top of that.

"Thinking, or…well…," I blurted out.

Mimimi thumped my shoulder. "What, what?! If you've

got something on your mind, Uncle Mimimi is here to

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listen!"

"Uh, Uncle Mimimi?" I wasn't sure how to respond to

that.

She poked me in the side a couple of times. Stop it! My

defense is even lower there than on my shoulder!

"You'll only make yourself sick keeping your problems to

yourself."

"W-will I…?"

"Yeah! Everything a girl my age says is true!"

"Wait, I thought you were my uncle…" I snickered, but I

was happy about her friendly concern for me.

"Um…thanks," I said honestly.

She turned beet red. "Wh-wh-wh-why?"

"For worrying about me…"

"D-d-d-don't mention it!"

Man, she stuttered worse than me these days. But if she

was offering to listen, maybe I should tell her. Even if she

couldn't solve my problems, I wondered if sharing them with

someone else would make me feel better. Lately, I was

starting to understand those things, mundane as they were.

"Actually, I've had a lot to think about lately."

"Such as?"

She smiled and raised her eyebrows really high. Her

expression was both funny and encouraging at the same

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time.

"Well, the playscript for one, and Hinami for another…"

I didn't mention the meaning of dating, which I'd been

thinking about right when she asked, but I did bring up

some of the other things in the mountain of problems I

currently faced.

"Aoi…?"

She latched on to the second one, I guess because I'd

mentioned an actual person's name.

"Um, well, it has to do with the play, but…remember when

we talked to Tachibana the other day?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's so much I don't know."

I told Mimimi about our investigation. Of course, I didn't

mention the parts that I thought should stay secret. Which

reminded me—Mimimi had been there when we interviewed

Tachibana, but she hadn't said much about how she viewed

Hinami.

"Like, why does she push herself that hard?" My interest

in the question was becoming more for myself than for

Kikuchi-san's script.

"Oh, that." She indicated her understanding, then

considered the question for a moment, her lips pursed. "I've

thought a lot about it since then…"

"Since when?"

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"You know, since everything happened with me and her."

"Oh right…"

She was talking about the election and the track-team

incident.

When she realized she couldn't push herself as hard as

Hinami, she'd wondered out loud how Hinami was able to

do it…but no one had an answer.

She sounded troubled but also fairly confident in her

words.

"I thought about it again after we talked to Tachibana…

and I feel like I realized one thing."

"…Oh yeah?"

I was more than a little interested.

Mimimi was close to Hinami, and the two of them were

always vying for the top two places. Finally, though, Mimimi

had realized she could never win.

Given her background, Mimimi might have some insights.

"Yeah. Maybe," she said, but she sounded surer than that.

"I think she's like me."

"…Really?"

Mimimi nodded. "I… Before, I told you that I wanted to be

the best at something because I felt like I wasn't special,

right?"

"…Yeah."

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I thought back to that conversation, when she'd confessed

to contenting herself with second place since she couldn't

beat Hinami. After so long, it had left a hollow spot in her

heart.

She couldn't see herself as special, so her only option was

to become the best at something—to attain that specialness

through effort.

"I think…"

She was studying the pavement and speaking with careful

consideration.

"…Aoi—might be aiming for first place so she can be

special, too."

So that was her theory.

"…Interesting."

The logic was simple when I thought about it.

If that was the reason Mimimi had tortured herself trying

to be number one…

…then didn't it make sense to think that Hinami—who

was trying just as hard to be number one—had the same

motivation?

It could certainly explain their relationship during that

period.

They'd been driven to compete by the same motivation,

but one of them had just been more motivated. If the type of

fuel burning inside them was the same, but the quantity was

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so different—then it would be impossible for them to switch

places. A harsh truth, for sure.

"…You could be right."

I didn't say all that straight-out, of course.

Mimimi nodded vaguely, but her eyes were distant and

contemplative.

"…Mimimi?" I asked, noticing something was off.

She gave me a complicated smile. "I'm kind of…a little

worried."

"About what?"

She looked up at the dark December sky.

"Maybe Aoi is like me. Hollow."

The words dropped quietly into the deserted Kitayono

alleyway—her concern for her close friend and rival.

"You think…Hinami is hollow?"

I'd never considered that possibility before, but I couldn't

dismiss it.

"It's true that I don't know what her core motivation is," I

said, borrowing Kikuchi-san's phrase.

Mimimi rubbed her chin and smiled. "Exactly! That is

why Mimimi, ace detective, posits that the sealed box is

actually empty!" she joked, trying to lighten the heavy air

settling over us.

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I nodded. Her tone was comical, but her words contained

a question I couldn't ignore.

"…An empty box, huh?"

Meanwhile, Mimimi just went on with her bewildering

detective persona. "However, my dear Watson! I do hope

that something is hidden inside that box!"

"You do? Even though you posited that it's empty?"

Mimimi the detective wagged her finger at the sky. "And

that's where you're wrong, my dear Watson! I'm not talking

about theories—I'm talking about hope! I mean, can you

imagine? If she works so hard and the box is actually empty?

That would be so sad, and if it's true…then she might…"

The strength of her voice steadily faded, dissolving into

the cold air.

"Might what?"

She spun around toward me, her humor gone. "…She

might never come to me to talk it through."

She smiled sadly.

"That's…"

I couldn't think of anything to say. Mimimi was right. If

Hinami really did have a weakness…I doubt she'd ever talk

to Mimimi about it.

…Would she ever talk to anyone about it?

To confess her own hollowness to another person…I

couldn't imagine Aoi Hinami doing that.

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"Oh, you agree! I can see it in your eyes!"

"H-hey, that's…"

"You do, don't you?! Mimimi, the famous detective, sees

right through you!"

She was joking, but she'd hit the nail on the head. I was at

a loss for words.

"Ha-ha-ha. You're an open book, Brain."

"S-sorry."

Mimimi laughed off my apology. "Anyway, it's fine! One

day, I shall unmask the mysterious thief!"

Was I seeing things, or was there a flicker of something

else behind her cheerful smile?

"…You will, huh?" I said, unsure how to answer.

Mimimi's words were swirling in my mind. She was

saying Hinami had an empty place in her heart—a feeling

that she wasn't special.

And the reason she worked so hard was to attain that

specialness.

It did make sense.

I mean, to put it in my kind of terminology—she took the

player's perspective fully. Her playstyle was to value

objectivity over subjectivity.

She didn't think like me or Tama-chan at all—we were

like, This is me! and believed in that even if we didn't have

much of a reason to, but her way of thinking was based on

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other people's standards. Mimimi was the same.

In which case, it would be logical to think that Hinami

needed some firm foundation in order to feel worthy. Even

when she was the pinnacle of self-confidence, though? It felt

like a contradiction, but maybe not. I'd need more time to

think it through.

"Anyway, thanks. There's a lot in what you said that'll help

me figure it out, I think."

"Really? I hardly said anything! Aoi, you damn thief! No

one's gonna break into this box on my watch! …Uh, wait a

second, that's not right…" She frowned, starting to put her

thoughts in order. "Ha-ha-ha…if Hinami's the thief, then

she'd be the one stealing what's in the box."

"Oh right! That's not good, then!"

I was naturally enjoying this random conversation.

"Since Hinami is the owner of the box…would she be

more like the director of the museum or something?" I said.

"Possibly! But Hinami's hot, so let's keep her as the thief."

"Come on, that makes zero sense."

"Details, details! Hotness is all that matters!"

"We're way off topic…"

But Mimimi had shown me a new perspective in this

after-school conversation. I had to admit, with her almost

childlike agility in how she expressed herself, Mimimi had a

brilliance that put me at ease.