Seishun Buta Yarou Series - Volume 8 - Chapter 3.5

5

“Where are we going?”

They’d left Fujisawa Station on the Tokaido Line without Sakuta breathing a word about their destination.

He’d made fried rice for lunch, and after they’d finished eating it, as promised, the two of them had gone out together.

The sky out the east-facing window was as clear as he could have hoped, and the winter air made everything in the distance look pale.

“Tsujido,” Sakuta said.

Only naming the station.

Kaede was hanging on to the pole by the door, and her eyes turned toward the simplified route map on the wall. If she started with Fujisawa, it wouldn’t take her long to locate Tsujido.

“The next station?”

“As you can see!”

He pointed at the digital display, which was showing the next stop. “Tsujido.”

And even as they spoke, the train swept them toward the station until the brakes kicked in and slowed them down. Kaede staggered and clung to the pole to support herself.

When the doors opened, they stepped out onto the platform.

They waited for the initial rush to die down a bit and then set out.

“So where are we going?”

Her voice came from behind him as they headed up the stairs.

“Like I said, Tsujido!”

“We’re at Tsujido.”

“Then our next stop is the north exit from the eastern gates.”

Hard to tell which direction that actually was, but there were signs. Apparently, there were two actual gates, one east, one west. This station was certainly smaller than Fujisawa (which had three lines running through it) but didn’t lack for foot traffic.

The buildings around it seemed to have been massively redeveloped recently, and they looked much more modern than anything around Fujisawa.

Outside the gates, they soon spotted the north exit. They had a simple choice of exiting to the south or the north, so it was hard to get wrong.

There were a lot of people coming and going, and the average age seemed pretty low. Groups of kids Sakuta’s age and couples in college. And parents in their late twenties or early thirties with children in tow.

As they followed the flow of the crowd, Kaede’s voice got a bit cross. “Sakuta, seriously, where are we going?”

He was probably pushing his luck by this point.

“We’re here,” he said, looking up.

Before them stood a huge shopping mall. Connected directly to the station via a covered deck, and the crowd flow went right from the gates on into the mall.

“Here?” Kaede said, looking puzzled.

They went inside.

“Well, somewhere in here,” he said, grinding to a halt. He’d assumed they’d easily find what they were looking for, but that had been a huge mistake.

The mall itself just stretched forever, and it was impossible to tell where anything was. He looked around, found a map of the stores, and headed toward it.

But even then, there was too much information, and he was struggling to find their destination.

“……”

His eyes must have gone dead, because Kaede started looking worried.

“Sakuta?”

“Kaede, help me find the event stage.”

“Huh?”

“You’re my only hope!”

“Uh, okay…”

She was a little rattled, but with a job to do, Kaede began pouring over the map intently. A college couple passing behind them said, “This place is three times the size of the Tokyo Dome!” “Gosh, that’s craaazy!”

“Hear that?” he said, assuming Kaede had been listening.

“Never been to Tokyo Dome, so that meant nothing,” she said.

“Seriously. Japanese people should convert everything to the tatami scale.”

“That would be a lot of tatami.”

“Like a hundred thousand, you think?”

“…I can’t imagine that, either.”

“Really? It’s just ten times ten thousand.”

“Oh, the event stage.”

Brushing off his crystal-clear explanation, Kaede held up the pamphlet she’d acquired while he wasn’t looking. She pointed to the ground floor’s outdoor area.

“Here.”

It did say “event stage.”

And the exit was right next to the entrance they’d used.

They went back the way they’d come and out to the stage. There were maybe three hundred people watching. Seventy percent male, 30 percent female, ranging from teenagers up to fortysomethings. All of them were there for the group onstage.

“It was a short show today, but thanks for coming!”

A girl speaking into a microphone, her voice echoing through the speakers. Three girls onstage, all in colorful clothes, like idol singers. Sakuta didn’t know who they were, but they were probably actually idols.

The audience cheered and waved, and the girls ran offstage.

Once they were gone, the cheers gave way to a moment of silence.

“Here?” Kaede asked, looking baffled. Sakuta had stopped at the back of the venue. “But you have Mai.”

These suspicions were unwarranted.

“You’ll get it in a sec.”

It wasn’t his personal tastes that had brought him to an idol concert. He was here for the next person on, assuming they were still on schedule.

He looked to the stage, and the lady running things was introducing the next act.

“Sweet Bullet!” she cried, and seven idols ran out onto the stage.

“Oh!” Kaede said, her mouth dropping. “It’s Nodoka!”

Surrounded by six brunettes, Nodoka and her blond locks sure popped. Kaede had been aware Nodoka was an idol but had never seen her perform. And Sakuta knew exactly why she looked so stunned. Until Sakuta had met Mai and Nodoka, part of him had never believed celebrities were real.

But here was the proof.

The seven members lined up in a row, calling out to the crowd together.

“We’ve got zilch for time, so let’s hit our first song!”

The speaker was the long-haired girl in dead center, Uzuki Hirokawa.

Her honesty got a laugh.

And that was swallowed up by the intro. The number kicked off with a powerful solo from Uzuki herself, and Sweet Bullet’s concert was underway.

The crowd were heating up. The front rows were waving glow sticks even though it was broad daylight.

And the routines onstage heated up, too, their formations shifting, their moves in perfect sync. A good mix of energy and grace that captivated the crowd. Even to an amateur eye, Uzuki Hirokawa stood out—always at the center, leading both songs and dances. He could tell Kaede’s eyes were following her.

Nodoka was next in line and getting her share of attention. But Uzuki had something special. She just seemed so full of life. Her smile legitimately sparkled. He had no idea where she got her energy from, but it was certainly a force that drew people to her.

And the group finished the number off, going all out the whole time.

The music stopped, and the crowd roared. People were yelling “Zukki!” at Uzuki. The other members’ nicknames soon joined them. Someone yelled out “Dokaaa!” for Nodoka. If no one else had stepped up, Sakuta had been getting ready to do that himself. Shame.

As the crowd roared, the Sweet Bullet members stealthily wiped their sweat and caught their breaths, smiling and waving.

They’d only done one number. And in the cold outdoor winter air. Yet even from this distance, he could see that their brows were glistening. That was just how big a workout that choreography had been.

Uzuki was straight up steaming. Spotting that, Nodoka said, “Zukki, your aura is palpable.”

“Really? Then this must be a good day!”

The logic there wasn’t clear, and Uzuki had taken the dig as a compliment and was blushing.

“We’re all feeling it, right?” she asked, glancing around. “It’s great to be back here!”

Everyone else looked baffled.

“Oh? Just me?” Uzuki sounded rattled.

“Zukki, what do you mean? Back here?” the short-haired girl on the other side of her asked.

“This is where we played our first-ever show!”

“……”

The other Sweet Bullet members and the audience settled into an awkward silence. Like a chill had swept through the room.

Even Uzuki realized something must be wrong.

“Wait, is this not there?” she asked, her smile faltering.

“We’ve never been here before,” the short-haired girl whispered. But with the mic held to her lips, so everyone could hear. Obviously intentional.

“You’re kidding! Oh no! The aliens must have altered my memory!”

“Don’t drag those poor aliens into this!” Nodoka yelled, laughing.

The crowd was laughing with them. Warm smiles everywhere. To their fans, this was clearly business as usual.

“Uh, so let’s do another song! We’ve only got two numbers today, so no holding back!”

An enthusiastic recovery. The music kicked in.

“Sh-she’s something else…,” Kaede said. Her words speaking volumes.

“Yeah, she is. And she couldn’t fit in at a conventional high school. That’s how she wound up at a remote-learning place.”

“Huh?”

“I went to an orientation behind your back, and they did a reel of student interviews. She was one of them. I checked with Toyohama, and she confirmed it.”

“…Oh.”

It sounded like she was saying that just to say something. Like it hadn’t sunk it at all.

Perhaps it was difficult to connect that to someone who could sing, dance, smile like that, and goof up the moment she opened her mouth.

“As far as Minegahara goes…”

“……”

The moment he mentioned the name, Kaede’s shoulders went stiff. She didn’t even want to hear that word. Kaede was sure she’d messed up the exam, felt guilty for not trying harder to get through it. None of that was true.

“If you want to go, then I’ll have your back forever.”

“……But the exam’s over.”

“There’s secondary admissions.”

“……”

“But if you aren’t actually the one who wants to go to Minegahara, then I don’t feel a need to bend over backward to get you there. Mai and Toyohama agree with me. Dad and Ms. Tomobe are on the same page. And I’m sure the other Kaede would be, too.”

“!”

“I think you oughtta find a life where the little things make you happy. The scrumptious scrambled eggs for breakfast, but sometimes they cook too fast and get all hard, and we laugh about how bad I messed them up, and maybe Mai teaches you the trick to make ’em yourself, and you struggle to learn. Laughing about nothing, enjoying the good times, today, tomorrow, and the day after that. That’s all I want. I don’t want you being obsessed with making her wishes come true.”

It was a long speech, but his words never once faltered. He didn’t need to stop and think. All of this was just waiting inside him. He’d been thinking these words over and over for ages.

“Sakuta…”

“Even if you get into Minegahara, if you’ve gotta punish yourself to go there, I’d be against it.”

“Mm. It’s just…”

Kaede trailed off.

“If there’s something on your mind, it’s best to say it,” Sakuta said.

Kaede thought for a moment before she did.

“I do…want to do what everyone does.”

Her voice was awfully quiet.

“Doing something else…is mortifying.”

“Like that girl onstage?”

She’d certainly acted the ditz and got a big laugh. If Kaede had been in that position, she’d probably have died. Or at least run away.

“She’s all kinds of amazing.”

Uzuki’s hair was flying out behind her. Beads of sweat spraying. Her smile lighting up the venue.

“But she’s not like ‘everyone.’”

“……”

Kaede started to answer, but the words caught in her throat. She dropped her gaze, lost in thought.

She stayed quiet as the bridge played, but when Uzuki started singing again, she said, “I dunno.”

“Then let’s talk to her, figure that out, and then look again at what you want to do.”

He felt Kaede needed to know there was more to “everyone” than she thought. There were plenty of different crowds out there, and finding one she could get on with would be how she gained the courage and confidence she needed.

“Talk…?”

“I asked Toyohama. They’ve got time after this. Figured you could ask her about school and stuff.”

“…And that’s why we’re here?” she asked, finally putting the pieces together.

Her eyes turned back to the stage.

She didn’t outwardly accept or reject his plan. But the way she watched Uzuki’s every move was all he needed.

“Sakuta,” Kaede said, not glancing his way.

“Mm?”

“I really don’t have to go to Minegahara?”

It would have been easy to just say yes. But this wasn’t his choice. It was Kaede’s. It was a choice she had to make to be herself, to become herself.

So he pretended like he was answering her question but actually said something else entirely.

“The other Kaede was always super dedicated.”

“……”

“She woke up in a bed at the hospital, didn’t know where she was or who any of us were. She must have been so lost.”

“……Mm.”

“And she did everything she could to be my little sister.”

So that this time he wouldn’t have regrets. Like he had from failing to help the original Kaede.

“And being my sister made me her brother.”

“This other me was really something.”

Her voice shook. She was biting her lip.

“When I realized she was gone, I was totally heartbroken. You won’t believe how much I cried. I didn’t even know I had that many tears in me.”

Sakuta had bawled his eyes out. Feeling like he was squeezing out every last drop of moisture his body had in it.

“I still feel like crying when I remember her.”

“So she was…”

He could see her head dropping out of the corner of his eye, so before she could finish that thought, he got to the important part.

“But, Kaede, as much as I cried, the other half of me was overjoyed. Happier than I’d ever been.”

“Huh?”

“Because you’d come back.”

He glanced her way and found Kaede looking at him, surprised. Tears welling up in her eyes.

“…You mean that?” she asked.

“Of course. Geez, you think I’m a monster?”

“How was I supposed to know? You gotta say these things out loud.”

Kaede’s tears were flowing now.

But her sobs were drowned out by Sweet Bullet’s music.

“I thought you liked the other me better. That’s why…”

Her tears pattered on the ground at their feet.

“I thought…I had to replace her…”

Sakuta put his hand on her head.

“I promise I don’t like one of you over the other.”

“…Really?”

“You’re both just whatever.”

“Oh, come on.”

She looked up at him, her face a fright.

“You’re both my sisters. You don’t go around liking your sisters—that’s creepy.”

That seemed to make sense to her. The tears were still coming, but he got a smile out of her. And a real one. Not like the awkward half smiles she’d been prone to since she got her memories back.

The mini concert ended, and the stage area cleared out. In no time at all, the crowd was gone, too.

Only Sakuta and Kaede were left hanging out as the staff cleared the stage.

They were waiting to meet up with Nodoka.

Since they were both phoneless weirdos, vacating the area would make it impossible for anyone to find them.

Kaede had managed to stop crying, but her nose was still rather stuffy. She was about ready to run out of pocket tissues. He considered making a store run, but someone called his name.

A blond was waving at them from backstage, about thirty yards off. Nodoka. Probably inappropriate idol behavior, but none of the staff seemed to care.

Nodoka beckoned them over, and Uzuki Hirokawa was with her. Both were in street clothes now.

“Kaede, Toyohama’s ready for us.”

“Mm. Oh, wait, Sakuta.”

“Mm?”

He’d taken a step forward, but he turned back to her.

“Can we go to the zoo sometime soon?” she asked, as soon as their eyes met.

“Well, we’ve gotta justify the membership fee,” he said. The math insisted they had to go at least four times.

“I wanna see the pandas,” she said, puffing up her cheeks in protest.

“You like pandas, too?”

He thought that was the other Kaede.

“I…respect them,” she said, catching up to him. He had no idea what that meant, and his confusion must have showed, because she offered a supplemental explanation. “Everyone comes to see them, but they just don’t care. Pandas are cool like that.”

“Makes sense,” he said. Maybe that’s why the other Kaede liked them so much, too.

Nodoka was starting to look impatient, so they hustled over to her.