"Taki, do you know what I wanted to do most when I was little?"
That was how the one girl in the world who belonged only to Taki Shiina began.
[What?]
"When I was little… I longed to pour my whole life into music. But unlike other people, I never dreamed of standing on the stage of the National Noh Theatre or K-Arena Yokohama. I just wanted to play."
"My parents were gentle. They never laughed at my dream… but other people didn't seem able to understand it. When I was a kid, someone was always asking me, if you don't want to perform, if you don't want to be famous, then what's the point of playing the piano?"
[And then?]
Chiose's voice was soft and lilting. Just listening to it was a feast.
But Taki Shiina's expression was deadly serious, because this was the first time Chiose Noshiro had ever talked with her about the finer details of her early childhood.
She knew it!
This would be another breakthrough for their relationship.
Though thinking that only made Sakiko Togawa even more damnable.
If it weren't for Sakiko Togawa, she could have heard Chiose say all this five minutes ago!
"And then? Then I played day and night, of course! From the moment I first touched the keys in kindergarten, I haven't stopped playing a single day. Well, except when I was in the hospital. But even in the hospital, I played air piano!"
Chiose wiggled her fingertips in the air with a beaming smile. The adorable motion of playing a phantom keyboard made Taki Shiina's heart skip a beat—
S-so cute.
[Then, Little Chiose, don't you get lonely?]
Taki Shiina asked the question she had asked on a certain night before.
She'd already asked it once, but she wanted to ask again.
Because… she hoped Chiose would give an answer she could understand better.
[Don't you feel lonely, Little Chiose? Everyone your age chooses easier ways to get through their youth. Why would Chiose pick the hobby that's hardest on herself?]
"Because when I'm playing, that's when I feel like I'm truly breathing… I can feel all of my life force pinned onto the notes, and that's what I mean by burning."
"I just keep playing. It doesn't matter if no one listens. I don't care if people laugh and say I'm wasting my time. I just enjoy every single second of playing. Every second is a blessing!"
This was no lie. It was a heartfelt sigh straight from Chiose.
It was sincere talk she had held in for a long time, after years of settling.
She had sacrificed countless sparks of inspiration to devote herself single-mindedly to everything about the piano. She had endured the bafflement of countless people her age and a gnawing loneliness, and had barely fought off self-doubt more times than she could count.
Looking back over those years, the memories that seemed so painful no longer tasted bitter at all.
Chiose Noshiro smiled.
"Even if my playing is meaningless… even if I play until I'm old and decrepit, so what? This is what I want to do."
Chiose Noshiro was not only obsessive but foolish. Yet this was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to keep playing like this, just like this.
"Maybe no one will ever understand me, my whole life. I just want to give everything I have to one thing."
[No, I understand you.]
"Huh?"
Chiose tilted her head toward Taki. She'd assumed Taki was only trying to comfort her, but…
Taki Shiina's sincerity couldn't be faked.
[I can't fully, wholeheartedly experience it yet, but I feel like I've caught the first hint of it.]
[I think I'm starting to understand Chiose.]
"Really?"
[Really. Maybe it's the band that stirred me up. I feel like I truly…]
Chiose smiled and said nothing.
Maybe Taki really did have the beginnings of it, but her love wasn't intense enough yet.
Still, it was enough. Someone who hadn't resolved to play music until death didn't need that fierce an obsession.
Besides, not everyone could keep on living so breezily after the Simulation ended, the way Chiose Noshiro could.
"I have to thank Taki."
[M-me?]
"Yes! Taki led me into a world I never would have dared to dream of… becoming a band mercenary, joining a Supernova band… The road may have been bumpy, but I'm truly grateful!"
"It was Taki who helped me burn more fully, and enjoy the thrill of playing that I crave so greedily… so, I like Taki the most."
"Ahem. Ahem, ahem."
Taki Shiina used Tactical Cough! Chiose couldn't hear it, but it helped Taki smother her own embarrassment.
Her little face flushed red.
Every time she heard Chiose say "I like you" in that soft, sticky-sweet voice, she reacted strangely.
Come on! That's perfectly normal, okay? Who could withstand Chiose Noshiro's way with words?
Nobody could. Not a single person.
[Humble Devouring]
And as if she could read minds, Chiose turned around and sat in Taki's lap, looping both arms around the victim's neck.
"Suki! (I like you!) Suki Suki Suki Suki!"
Why are you getting more and more into it?!
Taki tried to cover her face to hide her mortification, but Chiose gave her no chance. She simply sealed up the very tool Taki used for speaking with her soft lips.
"Mmph!"
"Ngh…"
…
Taki Shiina: the loser-type girl who goes rigid from head to toe the moment she gets nervous, too scared to move a muscle, turning into a clueless little animal that lets out pitiful squeaks.
Taki Shiina is cute. I like Taki Shiina.
— Excerpt from Chiose Noshiro's Secret Diary
…
"Hah… hah! Little Chiose! That's so mean."
"What are you saying, Taki? I can't hear you."
"Nothing! You… ugh! So mean!"
Too flustered to find words, Taki Shiina hugged Chiose Noshiro even tighter.
Besides, it's perfectly normal for ordinary best friends to play kissing games, right?
That's what good friends are supposed to do, right?
Taki Shiina clearly remembered that back in elementary school, no matter which division of the school it was, from the elementary section to the middle school or even the high school, girls walking around in twos and threes often showed their affection this way.
Yeah! That's it…
"Taki, want to go for a stroll this afternoon?"
"This afternoon…"
Taki Shiina thought of the phone call from earlier.
She'd actually meant to tell Chiose who had called at first.
But forget it. Little Chiose was so happy for once.
Sakiko Togawa had said things that cut deeper than any knife… better not to bring her up in front of Little Chiose again.
Couldn't she see that Chiose had smashed her guitar out of heartbreak?
"Sure, let's go for a stroll. I know a really nice little Park, we can…"
…
The first layer of intimacy between people is the physical.
The second is telling each other about childhood wounds, and aching over each other's pasts.
The third? The third is buying groceries and cooking dinner at home.
The happiest thing in the world is simply coming home to a hot meal someone has made for you.
"What should we eat tonight, Taki?"
[I don't know, but we need to think it over carefully.]
[After all, there aren't many things in life we get to choose, and what to eat is one of them.]
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