Chapter 2: The Drama Club of Yesteryear
1
A few days had passed since the formation of the 『Quit-Club Alliance』—an alliance with an unknown purpose and two members—but so far, we hadn’t done anything that could be called an activity.
Though, what exactly constitutes an activity is still a mystery.
Then, one morning, as I left the house to go to school and reached the apartment stairs, I heard light footsteps coming down from the floor above.
I knew almost nothing about the residents of this building. But there was only one person on the upper floor who would be leaving at this time.
“Oh, it’s Sakura.”
As I waited, Minase Mishio appeared around the landing, just as I suspected. She smiled happily when she saw me.
“Yo.” I raised a hand in response.
“Hup!” Minase ran down the stairs and, halfway down, jumped with a little cry. She landed right in front of me and immediately hugged me tight.
“Morning!”
“Whoa!” I instinctively pushed her arms away and jumped back.
“Rude!” Minase stamped her foot and yelled, pointing at me.
“That reaction is rude!”
“Yeah, it’s rude, but suddenly hugging someone is a bit much, too, don’t you think?”
“It’s a greeting!” Minase said, still pouting.
“You don’t do that to everyone, do you?”
“Nope, you’re the first, Sakura.”
I felt a little relieved. If she did that everywhere, she’d create a massive number of guys with the wrong idea. Even so, her sense of boundaries was completely broken.
“But that’s good. I was just about to go up and ask you to walk with me.” Minase grinned.
“Crap. I should’ve left earlier.”
“You jerk.”
Ignoring Minase, who was expressing her anger by making a fist, I started down the stairs. She quickly followed me.
We reached the bottom of the stairs, passed through the entrance porch, and stepped outside, where Minase walked up beside me.
“I don’t know why you’re so grumpy when you get to walk with a cute girl.” she grumbled. ...She just called herself cute.
However, it probably didn’t mean much. Minase was undeniably cute, but from an outside perspective, she didn’t seem to be calculating or self-aware about it. Her use of “cute” was probably just a casual filler word.
“Maybe you’re just bad with girls?” Minase asked.
“Nah. I don’t think I’m that socially inept.”
“I know, right? You talk to girls in class just fine. ...Do you have a girlfriend? Have you ever?”
“Unfortunately not.”
Since late elementary school, I had been devoted to soccer, so I never had the time or the desire. I quit soccer last summer, but at the same time, I lost the motivation to go out and have fun, so I hadn’t felt like getting a girlfriend. Though, even if I wanted one, it wasn’t like I could just get one.
“I see.” Minase nodded, seemingly satisfied.
After that, we walked in silence.
“Hey—” I broke the silence first after a little while.
“What?” Minase glanced at me.
“Um... I’m not actually serious about not wanting to walk with you, okay?”
“I know.” she replied instantly.
I’d been wondering what her reaction would be, or if there would be an awkward silence—but Minase answered without missing a beat, and I felt a sense of relief.
“Why so sudden?”
“Well, I was just worried that if I kept joking, you might not get that I was kidding.”
At first, I honestly would have preferred to avoid her. Minase was cute and popular, a stark contrast to me, who had gone completely gloomy after quitting soccer.
But seeing her talk about coming to my place or inviting me to hers, it started to feel stupid to try and categorize Minase and me as completely different types of people.
And now, I thought it wasn’t so bad.
“I don’t think I’m slow on the uptake, but if I push too hard, don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Judging by Minase so far, I doubted that would ever happen.
Maybe we were similar.
A thought crossed my mind.
The reason I didn't mind hanging out with Minase was that she reminded me of a certain girl.
I told Minase I’d never had a girlfriend, but I did have a close female friend. That was only until fourth grade, though; our relationship ended when I moved away.
Just as I, a soccer lover, was always kicking a ball, she was always riding her BMX, jumping and spinning. She was as rough as any boy, and we were friends like two guys.
I thought my relationship with Minase now felt a little like that.
§§§
We took the train from the nearest station and rode for three stops, standing the whole way.
We got off the train with a stream of students in the same uniform and headed for the ticket gate.
“Ah.” Minase let out a small sound right before the gate, where the flow of disembarking passengers converged.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, following Minase’s gaze. But all I saw was the stream of people heading for the gate, and I couldn’t tell what she had noticed.
“Asahi!” Minase shouted, waving her hand and calling out a name.
Several people turned toward us at the sound, but the most noticeable reaction came from a Kazamigaoka female student. Her distinct features made her look a little sharp, but she was definitely a beauty. This must be the girl Minase was trying to call out to.
She stopped when she saw Minase.
Her expression was complicated. At first, she looked a little surprised, but then it changed to a look that was angry, yet also sad.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but a slight bump from a woman in business attire behind her seemed to snap her out of it. She turned on her heel as if looking away from us and walked off, passing through the ticket gate and exiting the station.
“Oh, man.” Minase stopped. Her raised hand waved emptily in the air.
“Let’s go. We’ll be in the way if we stand here.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re right.” Minase started walking when I prompted her.
I followed her through the gate, put my pass case back in my school bag, and walked beside her.
“Acquaintance?”
“Yeah. A girl from the drama club.”
“I see.”
It was a bit late, but knowing who it was didn’t change anything.
“She’s probably mad, huh?” Minase said with a wry smile.
“Mad?”
“Yeah. She’s serious about the club. I bet she’s mad at me for quitting so easily.”
Mad because she quit the drama club so easily—that was just the surface. There had to be a reason for that. The circumstances that led Minase to quit, and the reason that girl was directing her anger at Minase for making that choice. I was curious, but I didn’t feel I had the right to pry.
The Kazamigaoka students who had spilled out of the station as a collective mass gradually dispersed due to differences in walking speed, and soon there was a comfortable distance both in front and behind us.
“Speaking of which, you’re still doing your voice exercises.” I said.
I didn't have any particular ulterior motive, but Minase looked startled.
“Oh, sorry. Was I being loud?”
“No, I never minded that.”
I never thought of Minase’s voice, even during voice exercises, as noise or a disturbance. And since I’d been hearing it for a year, I honestly thought, Why bring it up now?
“Mishio—” A girl’s voice suddenly called out Minase’s name from behind us. It sounded familiar, so it was probably one of our classmates.
“I’m going on ahead, then.” I said.
“What are you talking about? Let’s walk the whole way together.” She grabbed my arm as I tried to walk away from her quickly.
“No, what are you talking about? Your friends are here.”
“They’re friends, but they’re classmates, too. Why do you need to be so weird about it, Sakura?”
She had the mindset that a friend of a friend is a friend to all.
But while we were having this exchange, they caught up to us.
“Morning, Mishio.”
“Yeah, morning.” Minase greeted them.
“Aoi-kun is with you, too. Morning.”
“Morning.”
There were two girls who had caught up to us from behind. Both were our classmates. They walked behind us, probably to avoid taking up the whole path.
“Kuki-kun told me. You and Mishio live close by, right?” one of them asked me.
We only talked when necessary, but she spoke to me normally.
It seemed Kuki had done a good job of manipulating the information. Hardly anyone would doubt the word of a popular guy like him.
“We don’t know exactly where, though.” Minase followed up.
“We were so surprised when we bumped into each other at the station.”
This was the cover story we had coordinated beforehand. If we kept it vague that we lived close but didn’t know the exact location, I could dismiss any guys who asked for Minase’s address with a simple, “Don’t know.”
“Hey, listen! Sakura was so mean! He knew we lived close by since last year and never said anything!”
“Mishio is pretty noticeable, after all.”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s hard not to be one-sided about it.”
The two girls tried to placate the annoyed Minase.
Minase was cute and drew attention. Even if I heard a rumor about a beautiful girl and saw her in person, Minase probably didn’t even notice most guys unless they were Kuki-level.
“Now that I think about it, I’m getting mad all over again. ...Couldn’t you have just talked to me sooner?”
“We were in different classes last year, weren’t we?” I ignored Minase, who was glaring at me. The two girls behind us giggled.
“Oh, right. Aoi-kun, you were in the soccer club, right?” one of them asked. ...Was Kuki the source of that information, too? It seemed he’d shared more than necessary.
“You were good, weren’t you? I heard you went to the national tournament in middle school.”
“Oh, really?” This time it was Minase. I hadn’t told her anything beyond the fact that I quit, so she looked at me with curiosity.
“That’s ancient history.”
I took pride in the fact that I had led the soccer club of a perfectly normal public middle school, with no particular history or achievements, to the national tournament. But now that I had quit, I didn’t feel like boasting.
“Then why did you—”
“No, you shouldn’t ask that. People have things they don’t want to talk about.” Minase cut her off, and the words were left unfinished.
“Oh, that’s true.” She accepted it.
I looked at Minase, and she looked back at me, grinning confidently with a strangely dependable expression.
We arrived at school shortly after, and as we were about to enter the classroom.
“Oops.”
Someone was about to come out, and I nearly collided with them in the doorway. I quickly jumped back and looked to see who it was—
“Yu...!” I gasped.
Standing there was Koreeda Murasakiko.
At first, she looked as surprised as I was, but after looking at me and then at Minase next to me, her expression instantly vanished. Her gaze was cold.
“You two are close lately.” Koreeda said quietly.
“Oh, yeah. We just happen to live close by.”
“I see.” Her reply was completely devoid of emotion.
“Don’t you think there’s a certain thing called priority?” Koreeda said only that, and then walked down the hallway.
“She seems kind of annoyed...” Minase murmured, watching her back as she stood next to me.
There was no point in staring at Koreeda’s back forever, so we entered the classroom. Minase and I said nothing and parted ways, heading to our respective seats.
“Yo. You were with Minase again today.” And there was Kuki. He was lightly perched on a desk, apparently waiting for me.
Kuki seemed to tan easily, and his skin was dark from repeated exposure. His face was rugged and handsome. But the reason he still gave off a refreshing impression was probably due to his likable personality.
“Just for today.” I lightly tapped Kuki’s hip with my school bag, making him move.
“Was it?”
“She’s impulsive.” I answered as I sat down.
In reality, she had only deliberately rung my doorbell a few times. The rest of the time, we either met by chance like today or went to school separately without seeing each other.
“She’s got you wrapped around her finger.”
“You think so? It’s pretty easygoing, actually.”
At first, it felt like I was being manipulated, but not anymore. Minase was impulsive, but if I just accepted that, I wouldn’t get annoyed.
“Hmm. Maybe you two are surprisingly compatible.”
“I wonder.”
I didn’t mention that we had formed an alliance. I wasn’t sure what the point of the 『Quit-Club Alliance』 was yet.
2
It was the next night.
Around nine o’clock, the doorbell rang.
“Hello?” I answered the intercom, assuming it was Minase. Her face appeared on the monitor as the call connected.
『It’s me, it’s me. ...Hey, come with me to the convenience store.』
“That’s sudden. Hold on, I’ll be right out.”
『Okay!』
I hung up the intercom, hearing her strangely obedient reply through the monitor. The monitor went dark.
I walked to the entrance and opened the door.
“Yo.” Minase raised a hand as a greeting.
“You’re going to the convenience store now?”
Did she forget to buy something? Even so, I thought she could go by herself.
“I just really felt like having some coffee.”
“You can drink coffee at home.”
“I know, but... sometimes I want a proper one from outside.”
It was true that the coffee at home was just from a household coffee maker. The difference in taste compared to a commercial coffee machine was obvious. I often thought about getting one at the convenience store but always passed it up, so I understood how Minase felt.
“Nah, I’ll pass.” I said.
I wasn’t in the mood right now.
I was about to close the door, thinking the conversation was over—
“Oh. That’s too bad. Guess I’ll go alone, then.”
“Huh?” My hand stopped.
If I refused, that’s what she’d do, right? It was nine o’clock at night. Was I going to let Minase walk alone at this hour?
“Shit. I’m coming with you after all.”
“Oh, really?” Minase looked surprised by my sudden change of heart.
“I’ll get ready right away, just wait a second. Don’t you dare leave before me.”
I went back inside and closed the door.
I changed clothes in about three minutes, grabbed my wallet and phone, and went outside. Since we were only going to the convenience store, I was wearing casual clothes that weren’t embarrassing to be seen in outside.
We walked side-by-side in the night.
“Were you worried about me?” Minase asked.
It seemed I had been seen through. Well, given the flow of the conversation, anyone who thought for a second would figure it out.
“Of course I was. It’s dangerous, so don’t walk alone so late.”
“It’s the convenience store.” Minase sounded displeased. I knew she didn’t want to be lectured like a parent by a classmate her age. That’s why I planned to make this a one-time thing. I’d say my piece, but I wouldn’t force her.
“The problem isn’t the destination; it’s the path to get there.”
The convenience store was just past this residential area, right on a main street. This area was quiet, so if anything happened, a cry for help might reach someone, but if I couldn’t even scream, this quiet environment could be my undoing.
“I’ll go with you when I can, so don’t go alone. I’ll worry.”
“Ooh! So, if I ask, you’ll always come with me?”
“Don’t try to use my concern against me.”
How dare she use herself as leverage.
“Then I won’t go when you can’t come. I promise. So you have to lower your standards for ‘I guess I can go with you,’ too.”
So, we had to meet halfway. I felt like I was losing out, but if she started making unreasonable demands every day, I’d figure out a way to deal with it then.
“Fine. That works.”
“I actually asked you yesterday, too.” Minase said.
I wasn’t home last night.
“Did you go alone, then?”
“No, I gave up. It was a big part of it that I wanted to go with Sakura.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Still, she had probably gone out alone before without me knowing. When she was in the drama club, she used to come home late after activities.
“Hey, where were you last night at that hour?”
“Hmm? Oh, work.”
I found the job last summer when I quit the club and had too much time on my hands. It was a perfect escape for me, who was empty after giving up the soccer I’d been devoted to. I worked almost every day during summer break, and now I work about three times a week so it doesn’t interfere with school.
“What? You have a job!? Where!?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Aww, come on, you can tell me.” Minase pouted.
“I feel like you’d show up there.”
I didn’t think she was that inconsiderate, and I’d welcome her as a customer, but I still had my position as an employee. I wasn’t important enough to just invite friends to my workplace.
“What kind of job?”
“That’s also a secret.”
“Ah, I know. A shady job.”
How did she figure that?
“Like hell it is! And what do you mean by a ‘shady job’ anyway?”
“Well, I don’t really know.” The bravado from a moment ago vanished. Her tone suddenly dropped. She was vaguely accusing me of something unfair.
“Maybe I should get a job, too.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” I agreed with Minase’s muttered thought.
She had plenty of time now that she quit her club. Whether she used it as an escape or to find something fun was up to Minase, but I thought a place like that would be good for her.
“What do you think I should do?”
“Figure it out yourself.”
Why ask me? She should decide based on what she wants to do. Though, I wasn’t exactly in a position to say that, since I just jumped into the first job posting I saw. I thought it was a rare case that it had lasted this long, so if Minase was serious, she should probably think it through properly.
“Like a maid café?”
“That sounds shady.”
“Apologize to all the maids across the country.” Minase snapped at me. ...She’s right. I should apologize.
While talking about that, we left the residential area and reached a major street intersection. It was a two-lane road in each direction. Cars passed only occasionally. The convenience store was diagonally across the intersection.
“Hey.” I called out to Minase as we entered the store.
“The convenience store coffee, that’s the big machine, right? I’ve never used it before. What do I do?”
“Oh, really?” She blinked her eyes. She probably never thought I hadn’t had one before. I often thought about getting one when I walked past, but I always ended up skipping it. There was never a reason to drink it here.
“Then I’ll teach you. Do you want iced or hot?”
“Iced.” I answered Minase, who had suddenly become enthusiastic. It was warm during the day and a little chilly after dark, but not enough to want hot coffee.
“Okay, this way.” She led me to the freezer. There, she had me take a cup with only ice in it, and we paid for it at the register.
“By the way, for hot coffee, you just tell the cashier. They don’t keep empty cups out on the floor.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Then Minase gave me a lecture on how to use the coffee machine—and with the coffee brewed, we sat down in the eat-in area. She had also bought an iced coffee, and we both put the straws to our lips.
“Mmm, it really is better than the one at home!” Minase exclaimed happily. Well, she came all the way to the convenience store just to drink it. Something you want when you want it tastes the best.
“What about you, Sakura? How is it?”
“It tastes like convenience store coffee that costs about a dollar.”
I hadn’t expected much to begin with, so I wasn’t disappointed.
“You’re so dry. Are you secretly a coffee snob?”
“No, not really.” I left that vague.
“But I’m surprised you’ve never had this kind of coffee, Sakura.” Minase moved on to the next topic without pressing.
“Do I look like such a coffee lover?”
“I mean, everyone goes to the convenience store, right? Didn’t you guys stop by after club activities?”
I see. It wasn’t about my personal preference; it was about the idea that high schoolers hang out at the convenience store eat-in, drinking and chatting.
“Where do you think I was? I was in the soccer club! When we stopped after practice, we only bought juice or ice cream. Don’t lump us in with you ‘refined’ culture club types.”
Besides, there were a lot of us, so we’d buy what we needed and leave quickly so as not to bother the store. We even limited the number of people who could enter at once. If we angered the store and they contacted the school, the whole club would get in trouble.
“That makes sense, too.” Minase accepted it with a wry smile.
“What about you guys? Did you stop by often after practice?”
“Yeah. We use our voices a lot. We’d stop when our throats were desperately dry.”
Her words trailed off there. She quietly sucked on her straw. Was she thinking about the club she had quit? I quit after only five months, but Minase kept it up for a year. The thing she threw away was bigger than mine.
“Hey, listen!”
“What is it, so sudden!?” Minase suddenly started slapping my arm. Wasn’t she just reminiscing about her old club?
“In my club, we mostly stuck together in small groups of close friends, you know?”
It was just my image, but the drama club was probably a girls-heavy club. If so, it made sense that they’d stick to groups, like an extension of the classroom. In contrast, the soccer club moved as a large group.
“That’s why we could stop by the eat-in on the way home. But there were unwritten rules, like we couldn’t go in if a senior was already there, or we had to give up our seats if a senior came later.”
“That’s a little like a sports club.”
A culture club that could use the eat-in because the group was small, but was bound by strange rules. Conversely, a sports club whose group was so big they had to be careful not to inconvenience the store just to stop by. Everyone had their own problems.
“I didn’t really fit in with that kind of thing.” Minase sighed.
“You seem like a free spirit.”
“Exactly. I decide where I want to bloom.”
Bloom? That was a strange expression.
“Well, it’s only because we both quit our clubs that we can relax here at the eat-in.”
“Exactly!” Minase agreed with a cheerful smile when I stated the conclusion.
We both brought the straws to our mouths and drank our coffee.
Silence.
Just as I said, time passed slowly.
It was a strange feeling. When I was in my club, I came home exhausted every day and never thought about going out again just to drink coffee at this hour.
I thought it wasn’t bad at all.
Suddenly,
Right now,
I had an idea.
It took a moment for that idea to take the form of words. Maybe it was the slow passage of time.
When the idea finally materialized in my head, I looked at Minase.
She was looking at me, too.
We must have been thinking the same thing.
We both said it at the same time.
“『The Quit-Club Alliance』.”
No explanation was needed.
In short, the 『Quit-Club Alliance』, formed the other day, would make its purpose to do the things we can only do because we quit our clubs.
“Minase, got any ideas?”
“Go straight home after school.”
“Hey.”
Are you in elementary school?
It was true that you couldn’t do that if you were in a club.
“Well, we’ll figure that out later.”
“Not that again. ...Fine, whatever.”
At least the policy was decided. It was like defining the soccer club as a club that plays soccer. We could take our time figuring out the daily activities. We had plenty of time.
3
There was a coffee shop called 『Miss Me Blind』.
It was located along a road with little traffic, surrounded by a residential area. Given the location, it wasn’t exactly bustling. Yet, it had been open here for nearly twenty years.
The shop wasn’t very large. There were less than ten counter seats and less than ten tables.
The owner was an elderly, rather dapper gentleman. Energetic seniors from the neighborhood often came for coffee, and perhaps the women were drawn by the owner himself.
Besides the owner, there were two employees, or rather, part-timers. One was the owner’s granddaughter, Misumi Ririka. And the other was me, Aoi Sakura.
Yes. This coffee shop, 『Miss Me Blind』, was my workplace.
It was just past eight o’clock at night. The shop would close in about an hour.
There were no customers left. The shop was mainly supported by neighborhood seniors, who rarely came at this hour.
I was currently sitting at the counter, drinking coffee that would be thrown out when the shop closed.
The coffee here was delicious. It certainly deserved to have lasted nearly twenty years. However, perhaps because my palate wasn’t refined, I hadn’t reached the point where I couldn’t drink convenience store coffee after tasting the real thing. I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
But thanks to that, I could drink coffee with Minase at the eat-in at night.
“You seem happy lately.” Misumi Ririka spoke to me as I drank coffee from my own mug. She was also drinking coffee, standing impolitely.
“Oh, Misumi-senpai.”
I called her senpai because we attended the same school, Kazamigaoka. She was a third-year, one grade above me.
She had a refined, beautiful face, and her hair was a short soft wolf cut... I thought, but she might have just roughly pulled it together with her fingers. She wasn’t a scary person, but her listless aura and cold attitude probably made her seem unapproachable to many.
If the majority of the customers, the elderly women, were here for the owner, then maybe the old men were here for Misumi-senpai. Their sense of what was scary or not was probably long gone.
“Do I look happy?”
“You do. You always look bored.” Misumi-senpai said.
I couldn’t deny that part. I was aware that I’d been listless ever since I quit soccer and had nothing to do.
That was exactly why I started working here. I wanted to find something to do, anything, and I came here. I didn’t know if I was suited for food service or customer service, but I figured I could quit if it didn’t work out.
The reason I was still here wasn’t so much that the job suited me, but that I simply liked the environment. Even on weekend days, it was only busy enough to be a social gathering for seniors, and in the evenings on weekdays until closing, there were hardly any customers.
“Did something good happen?” Misumi-senpai asked.
I thought I was living the same routine every day, but did something happen? The only thing that had happened was forming the 『Quit-Club Alliance』 with Minase. It had been a few days since we decided on the policy, but we hadn’t done anything yet. I wondered what we were going to do.
“Something did happen, didn’t it?”
“Not really.”
“Ha. You’re flustered.”
She said “Ha,” but she wasn’t smiling. But the fact that she seemed less emotional than her words suggested was normal for her. Even if her expression didn’t change when she said she was laughing or angry, she genuinely found it funny or was angry. So, she was laughing at me now.
“Senpai, are you actually going to school?” I asked, changing the subject with a slight annoyance and trying to counterattack.
“I am.” Misumi-senpai also looked annoyed.
“I’m not making the same mistake as last year. This year, I’m taking my days off strategically.”
“Is that what you mean?”
Misumi-senpai led a very unserious high school life. She placed much more importance on this job. So, she pushed her attendance to the absolute limit. Last year, she took too many days off early on and had to attend every day for the rest of the year. She planned to learn from that mistake this year.
“If Grandpa would just let me inherit this shop, I wouldn’t have to go to school at all.” Misumi-senpai said, looking at her grandfather—the owner—behind the counter.
The dapper owner, despite his white hair, must have heard us, but he just smiled gently without saying anything.
“It’s always this.” Misumi-senpai snorted.
As she said, she wanted to inherit the shop. But the owner insisted she graduate high school properly. That wasn’t even a condition for inheriting the shop, but Misumi-senpai obediently listened and continued to attend school without dropping out.
Misumi-senpai was actually very attached to her grandfather. I heard a while ago that her parents fought constantly, and she came here to live with the owner because she couldn't stand it.
I heard the owner’s wife passed away a few years ago. Misumi-senpai, despite her sharp tongue, was actually caring, so maybe she was worried about the owner being alone. They now lived together in the residential part of the shop.
“Alright, you two, let’s start preparing to close up.” The owner’s pleasant voice rang out. We started moving at his signal.
There was still some time until closing, but no one would come for coffee now. If anyone did, it would only be someone who suddenly craved coffee. Yes, like Minase the other day.
I remembered her suddenly asking me to go get convenience store coffee and couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Misumi-senpai stared at me.
I cleared my throat and started the closing preparations.
§§§
The next morning, Minase neither invited me nor did we run into each other on the way out, so I went to school alone.
I got off the train at the school’s nearest station, and as I was about to exit the ticket gate, I saw a female student on the other side.
It was the girl Minase had called Asahi.
I didn’t know how long she had been there. She wasn’t heading toward the school; she was just standing there, as if waiting for someone. Was she waiting for Minase? But Minase said she was angry at her.
It’s none of my business, I thought as I exited the gate. Then, she started moving. ...She was coming toward me?
“You’re Aoi Sakura-kun, right?” she finally spoke.
I had only seen her from a distance before, but seeing her now, I thought she was indeed a beauty. Her distinct features would probably make her stand out on stage.
“How do you know my name?”
“I can find that out easily enough.”
That was true. Unlike personal information like a phone number, there were plenty of ways to just find out a name.
“You’re not with Mishio today?”
“Minase?” So she was waiting for Minase. She must have seen me with her the other day and decided to call out to me.
“Minase and I came separately today. Sorry, but I don’t know if she’s ahead of me or behind.”
“It’s fine. I was waiting for you. ...Do you have a moment?”
“Yeah, sure.”
What could someone who had to look up my name possibly want with me?
“Then let’s talk while we walk. Though I think it will be over quickly.”
As she said, she started walking, and I walked beside her.
“So, what is it? Um... Asahi-san?”
“Wrong. Asahi is my first name. I’m Yakushiji Asahi.”
“My bad.”
It seemed I had called a girl by her first name the first time I spoke to her.
“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t know, so it’s fine. And you can call me by my first name, too. You do that with Mishio, don’t you?”
“Well...” I answered vaguely. I intended to take her up on the offer, but it felt awkward to say “I accept” out loud.
“So, to get to the point, can we talk properly sometime soon?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind... but what about?”
“Don’t you think the only thing I’d want to talk to you about is Mishio?”
Fair enough.
“If you set a date, time, and place, I’ll go there.”
“Then—” I said, pulling my phone out of my slacks pocket.
“How about here?”
I showed her the Instagram page for 『Miss Me Blind』. The owner, that dapper gentleman, kept it updated daily with aesthetically pleasing photos and a writing style that was neither too formal nor too casual.
“Let me see.”
“Go ahead.” My phone passed to Yakushiji. She looked at it for a while, then said, “Thank you,” and handed the device back to me.
“It’s my part-time job, by the way.”
“Wait. Wouldn’t Mishio show up there...?”
“It’s fine. I haven’t told Minase. I figure she’d try to crash the place.”
The moment I said that, Yakushiji burst out laughing.
“That sounds like Mishio.”
She chuckled.
Her sharp features and quick-witted way of speaking suggested a quick mind, but she was surprisingly expressive. I suppose you couldn’t be an actress otherwise, but I had vaguely assumed she was the type who only switched on when she was on stage.
“So, when works for you?” she asked, her expression serious again.
“Today is fine if you are. ...Oh, wait, club activities.”
“It’s fine. We have the day off today, too.”
“I see.” I replied to Yakushiji, who sounded somewhat self-mocking. I also had the day off from work today.
We then decided on a meeting time based on when all classes would be over.
“Well, I’ll see you later. ...I’ll go on ahead.”
Yakushiji quickened her pace. I, conversely, slowed mine. The difference between us gradually grew larger.
Yakushiji Asahi’s departure was as cool and dry as her appearance suggested.
So, after school, Yakushiji and I were sitting across from each other at a table in 『Miss Me Blind』. It was the furthest table in the shop, away from the counter.
Besides us, there was only one other pair of customers: an elderly gentleman and lady. They had both lost their spouses and often came for coffee together.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” I prompted Yakushiji to get straight to the point, but she didn’t answer.
“Yakushiji?”
“Huh? Oh, I-I’m sorry.” When I called her again, Yakushiji snapped back to attention and faced me.
She had been looking at the owner. Maybe she liked that type of man. I could see why. I hoped to be as dapper as the owner when I got older.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Mishio lately, haven’t you?” Yakushiji started after wetting her throat with cold water.
“We live close by.”
“I see.” This was news to her. Even Kuki Shōma’s influence didn’t seem to extend to other classes when the topic was just casual small talk.
“How is Mishio doing?” Yakushiji asked.
I thought it was a vague question, and then Misumi-senpai brought over our coffee. She silently set it down and left. She was as curt as ever, but half of that was probably consideration not to interrupt our conversation.
Yakushiji and I each put only milk in our cups and took a sip.
“This is delicious.” Yakushiji’s eyes widened. That was good to hear. As someone who worked here, I was happy.
“It’s very delicious,” she then told the owner behind the counter. “Thank you,” the owner smiled.
“Hey, Yakushiji.” I started after we had both tasted the coffee.
“We both made time for this, so shouldn’t we ask the questions we really want to ask? I can’t answer such a vague question.”
“I apologize. You’re right.” Yakushiji took another sip of coffee, as if to reset.
“Has she said anything about the drama club?”
“No, not really. I don’t ask about it either.”
She probably didn’t want to talk about the club she quit. I was the same right after I quit. I’d listen if Minase had any complaints about the drama club, but so far, she hadn’t shown any sign of that.
“Then you don’t know if she plans to return.” Yakushiji said regretfully.
Did she want Minase to return? Still, I didn’t know the circumstances that led Minase to quit. All I heard was, “a few things happened” and “it didn’t fit.” Was the situation one where Yakushiji could even hope for Minase’s return?
“If you can talk about it, why did Minase quit in the first place?” I asked boldly.
“Oh. So she hasn’t even told you that.” Yakushiji said, then fell silent. Was she unwilling to talk, or was she organizing her thoughts? Finally, she spoke.
“I think she was disillusioned.”
“Disillusioned?” I echoed.
“Our drama club used to be a regular at the national competition.”
“So I heard. Minase told me. ...Wait, ‘used to be’?” I noticed the past tense in Yakushiji’s speech.
“Yes. Being a regular is a thing of the past. That was true until the class above the current third-years. The atmosphere in the current drama club is lax. There’s no passion to aim for nationals again. We do have activities like a normal school, though.”
I see. So Minase’s earlier comment, “I thought this was where I could finally get serious about acting,” also meant this. She left home and enrolled, thinking it was a powerhouse, only to find no sign of that and become disillusioned.
“And bullying...”
“Bullying?” A troubling word.
“No, that’s a bit too strong a word, I suppose.” Yakushiji quickly corrected herself.
“Did you hear that Mishio attended a talent school?”
“Only a rumor. I haven’t heard it from her. ...Is it true?”
“Yes, it’s true.” Yakushiji nodded.
“She was apparently enrolled in a famous talent school in elementary school. But she didn’t make it, and she quit when she graduated elementary school.”
I somehow figured places like that were highly competitive. There were plenty of idols around my age. In the past, there was even a famous dance and vocal group where half the members were elementary schoolers when they debuted. There must be countless children who dreamed of living in that dazzling world, and parents who wanted to send their children there. But you couldn’t easily reach it without exceptional talent or a spark.
“When the seniors found that out, they started making fun of Mishio, calling her a talent school dropout.”
“Ugh.” I groaned at the ugliness of it.
“In reality, it was half jealousy. Mishio is cute, isn’t she? She has a presence just standing there.”
Minase Mishio experienced a setback as a child. Yet, she still wanted to act and came to Kazamigaoka, a national-level club. But that glory was now in the past. The members there had no passion to reclaim their former status, and worse, they mocked Minase.
“No wonder she quit a club like that.”
Considering Minase’s position, that was all I could say.
“I’m the same as Mishio. I chose Kazamigaoka because I wanted to join the drama club.”
“That’s rough.” She must have been incredibly disappointed.
“But I’m not giving up. I’m slowly gathering the motivated members. I think next year, when the current third-years leave, will be our chance.”
“So you’re planning to rebuild a completely degenerate drama club, then.” Yakushiji Asahi was surprisingly passionate.
“So, just subtly, if you can. Could you ask Mishio if she has any intention of coming back? If she agrees to return, I’ll kick those seniors out of the club right now. I want to make it a club where Mishio and I can aim for nationals again.”
Yakushiji leaned over the table, passionately making her case.
I, conversely, remained calm. I had a few things to consider. I’d address them one by one.
“Minase said she thought you were angry at her.” I started with that.
“Me? Angry at Mishio?”
“Yeah.” I nodded to the questioning Yakushiji.
“Yes, I won’t deny that part is true. When I joined and saw the club’s sorry state, we promised to start rebuilding it together. Yet, Mishio quit so easily.”
From Yakushiji’s perspective, she must have felt betrayed by that promise.
“But with seniors that malicious, it’s cruel to tell her to stay. I can’t blame her for that.”
She sounded conflicted.
“About your request just now, I honestly don’t want to bring up the club she quit.”
Minase now was essentially the past me. I didn’t want to talk about the club back then, and I didn’t want anyone to bring it up. So, unless the conversation naturally went that way, I wouldn’t actively ask about it.
“I see. Then, as I said, subtly is fine. Just if the topic comes up.”
“Understood. I’ll keep it in mind.”
The conversation reached a lull, and we drank our coffee. We did it at the same time.
“You asked this before, but how is Mishio doing lately? Is she happy, or depressed?” Yakushiji asked after setting down her cup.
She had asked that at the beginning. I had said it was vague, so she had narrowed it down a bit.
“Sorry, Yakushiji, but she seems pretty happy every day.”
After all, she was in the 『Quit-Club Alliance』, and she was excited to do things that were only possible because she quit her club. I couldn’t tell her about that weird alliance, though.
“That’s good, then.”
“Good?”
“It’s better than her being withdrawn or moping. Though I would have preferred it if she looked lonely or regretted her decision.”
Yakushiji probably meant that it would give her a better chance of returning to the club.
We both finished our coffee, and the atmosphere suggested it was time to wrap up.
“Thank you for today.” Yakushiji said, standing up. I stood up with her. But I left my school bag on the chair. Yakushiji noticed and tilted her head.
“I’m going to say goodbye to the owner before I leave.”
“I see, understood.”
We walked together toward the shop entrance.
Yakushiji insisted on paying for the coffee. Her reason was that she had asked me to meet her for her own convenience, and she wouldn’t budge, so I accepted her kindness. It was just a cup of coffee, but I planned to repay her somehow later.
“Thank you for the meal. The coffee was very delicious. May I come again?” Yakushiji made sure to speak to the owner one last time. When the owner smiled gently and replied, “Anytime. We look forward to seeing you,” she looked very happy and left the shop.
“What was that about the club?” Misumi-senpai asked as the door closed, separating the shop’s interior from the outside.
“Eavesdropping isn’t nice.”
“It just came to my ears while I was working.”
She’s gone now, but I remembered there was one other pair of customers besides us. Misumi-senpai must have overheard while serving their coffee refill.
“Well, just a consultation.”
I realized this wasn’t something I should share, even with Misumi-senpai. But then I realized we actually had something in common.
“Speaking of which, you were in a club too, weren’t you, Misumi-senpai?”
“Yeah, tennis. I quit after a year, though.”
Yes, she was another one who had dropped out of a club halfway through.
“I told them from the start I couldn’t make every practice because of helping out at home, and they said it was fine. But then they started calling me ‘unserious’ and saying I was ‘disrupting the harmony’... Got annoying, so I quit.” Misumi-senpai spoke, sounding utterly listless, as if recalling the event made her spirits sink.
I had to admit that was true of middle and high school clubs. The process was often valued over the result; you were judged on how seriously you committed to practice every day. Just producing results wasn't enough to earn their recognition.
She’d told me before that Misumi-senpai was the type who did produce results. She prioritized helping out at home—her part-time job—and even with only moderate practice, she was apparently the best among the first-years. That’s why she was shunned, and that’s why she quit.
“What about it?”
I hedged, “Oh, nothing,” but I was thinking that Misumi-senpai and Minase were in similar situations. For both of them, the cause was a breakdown in their relationships; the only difference was whether the opposition was an upperclassman or a peer.
“Right, I’m heading out too.”
“Since you’re here, why don’t you just work?”
“The two of you can handle it now.” There was a chance no customers would come until closing, so why rack up unnecessary labor costs? While I was grateful to be paid for the hours even in such a situation, I wanted this shop to last. I should stop them from being so generous.
I retrieved my school bag, which I’d left on the seat, and left the shop.
4
“Sakura.” “Aoi.” The moment the final homeroom ended, Minase and Kuki called out to me simultaneously.
“Huh?” They looked at each other, apparently having been unaware of the other's presence until their timing overlapped.
“Go ahead,” Minase offered, gesturing for Kuki to speak first.
“I was gonna ask Aoi to hang out for a bit.” Kuki started.
“Yeah, sure. Kuki, what about practice?”
“Day off.” He said, inexplicably smug.
“Nah, I’ll skip it today, though. Looks like Minase has plans. I’ll back off now and save the favor for later. ...See ya.” With that, Kuki waved over his shoulder and left. Kuki, you idiot, you’re being considerate in all the wrong ways.
“Um...” Minase looked troubled as she watched Kuki leave. “What should we do?”
“Kuki already said his piece, it’s not like you can drag him back now. ...So, what did you want?”
“Oh, yeah. We can talk while we walk.” Minase replied.
We walked down the hallway, chatting casually, and changed our shoes at the lockers.
“Did you decide on dinner already?” Minase asked as we headed toward the station.
“Sort of.”
“Does it have to be tonight?” When she pressed, I recalled the ingredients I planned to use today. I was pretty sure the pork belly expired today, and I should use it up. But that didn't make it a must for tonight. I could just toss it in the freezer for now.
“Well, tomorrow’s probably fine.”
“Then, hey, wanna go out and grab dinner together?” Minase suggested, her eyes sparkling.
“I don’t mind, but is there somewhere you want to go?”
“The one and only, 『Arashio Shidanchō』!”
“Ah, the salt ramen place.” I knew it. It was a specialty salt ramen shop in front of the station near where we lived. For some reason, an axe and a shield were incorporated into the shop’s logo.
“That’s sudden again.”
“Well, I just suddenly remembered it and wanted to eat it!” Minase said, pouting slightly.
“You remembered it, so you’ve been there before?”
“Yeah, after club activities. We’d stop by sometimes.” Minase laughed happily, recalling that time. It seemed she had no bad memories of the place.
Fine, whatever. I figured that since she’d promised before, she wouldn’t go alone if I refused, but there was no reason to turn her down, either. Plus, I could talk to her about Yakushiji.
Salt ramen it was for dinner tonight.
§§§
We went straight home and agreed to meet outside the apartment building at seven p.m.
I left my apartment a little before the time, and I heard the sound of light footsteps descending the stairs from the floor above, of course, Minase Mishio.
She appeared wearing a baggy shirt and pants, with a cap on her head. She looks like a rapper, I thought.
“Oh, it’s Sakura. Yo.” Minase spotted me and raised a hand as a greeting. The memory of her last greeting flashed through my mind.
“Hey, don’t jump! Don’t hug me!” I warned her.
Minase pouted, “Che,” clearly having planned to do exactly that.
We met up, went down the stairs, and stepped outside.
“Your outfit looks like a rapper’s.” I casually mentioned what I’d thought earlier.
“I was going for more of a street style, actually.”
“Gonna dance, then?”
“I dunno. I haven’t danced in a while, so I’m not super confident.” Minase said, then lightly jogged ahead. She turned back to me and suddenly started dancing. I couldn’t help but stare. It was a serious, full-body dance.
After about ten seconds, her cap fell off, and she let out a strange, wry laugh, “Uha,” before finishing the routine.
“How was it?” Minase asked, holding her final pose.
“That was amazing. Seriously, you spooked me.”
“Is that one of those ‘old habits die hard’ things? It’s surprising how much you can still dance.” Minase laughed shyly as she picked up her fallen cap. She dusted it off a couple of times and put it back on.
Whether she learned it a long time ago or just picked it up, she could definitely dance that well.
“You were at a talent school, right? Did you learn that there?”
“Yeah, I did... Wait, did I tell you that, Sakura?” Minase tilted her head.
Crap. Before Yakushiji had given me the information the other day, it was only a rumor. It was unnatural for me to know it as a confirmed fact. I decided to just come clean now.
“I met with Yakushiji the other day, and she told me then.”
“Asahi?” Minase asked in return.
We started walking again.
“I see, you talked to Asahi. ...She’s a sweet girl, isn’t she? People sometimes get scared because she’s so serious, but she’s really not like that at all. Is that your type, Sakura?”
“Stop messing around.” I said, feeling relieved that she didn’t seem to mind me meeting Yakushiji.
“She was worried about you, you know. Asking how you were doing after you quit the drama club. She also asked if you had any plans to go back.”
“Asahi’s so sweet.” Minase smiled softly.
“I feel bad for Asahi, but for now, I’m not going back.”
“Is it because the club isn’t aiming for nationals?”
“You know about that, too. ...Yeah, that’s part of it. But honestly, whether they go to nationals or not doesn’t really matter. If they were at least serious about acting... But they didn’t even have that. So I’m done with it.”
It seemed Minase had already settled things with the drama club in her heart. I’m done with it—that said everything.
Yakushiji had talked about wanting to rebuild the club with Minase, but I decided to keep that information to myself for now. I’d tell her if the opportunity arose.
“It’s fine now because I have the 『Quit-Club Alliance』!” Minase said. I wondered if that was really worth trading the drama club for.
Before I knew it, the lights of the station were visible ahead.
When we arrived at the specialty salt ramen shop, 『Arashio Shidanchō』, we both decided to order the standard salt ramen first.
I knew that wouldn’t be enough for me, so I flipped through the menu booklet, thinking about ordering some fried chicken. It seemed we could order them one by one, but six pieces were slightly cheaper. Still, six pieces would be tough now, unlike when I played soccer.
“Minase, I’m thinking of ordering some fried chicken. Want some?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll have some, I’ll have some.” She nodded enthusiastically.
“How many do you think you can handle?”
“Two... or maybe just one.”
She ate so little. No, maybe that was normal for a girl?
“So, if we order six, I’ll take four or five... Yeah, I can manage that.”
Five would be a struggle, but not impossible. I decided on that and called the staff over. I ordered two salt ramens and six pieces of fried chicken.
Minase was smiling happily in front of me.
“What is it?” I asked after the staff left.
“I just think this is nice.”
“What is? Going out to eat at night?”
“Yeah.” Minase nodded firmly.
“And sharing one thing, too.”
“We’re not really sharing one thing with the fried chicken, though.” We were just deciding how many each of us would eat before ordering.
“Hey, let’s make this an activity for the 『Quit-Club Alliance』!”
“Sure, but... is it really okay to eat ramen at night, completely ignoring nutritional balance?”
My body was built roughly, so I didn’t care, but was Minase going to be okay? Just as I thought that, she stammered, “Ugh...” in front of me. It seemed she would not be okay.
“W-Well, just sometimes. Sometimes.” Minase said, making excuses. I’d leave the frequency up to her.
“Oh, right. There’s going to be a marathon broadcast of a drama I love on cable TV soon, wanna watch it together?”
“When is it?”
“Next Saturday. From midnight until seven in the morning. All eight episodes.”
Minase kindly gave me the time and episode count, but I felt like she was casually suggesting something terrifying.
“That’s an all-nighter, isn’t it?”
“Oh, technically it’s Sunday. The one that starts at twenty-four o’clock on Saturday.” Minase ignored my protest-like comment and added a detail to be precise.
“My bad. Let me think about it.” I told her, holding my head. I’d nodded earlier, but I’d put a hold on it for now.
Just then.
“Oh, isn’t that Minase-san?” A voice rang out.
I looked up to see three female students. All were in the Kazamigaoka uniform. Judging by their school bags, they had just entered the shop. From their demeanor, I judged them to be third-years.
“Oh, senpai. Are you on your way back from practice?” Minase responded cheerfully.
Senpai meant my guess was right—and they were from the drama club.
“Yes, unlike some people, we haven’t abandoned it.”
“Abandoned? I just cut my losses. The current drama club isn’t worth sticking around for.”
I watched their exchange of barbed words with a strange sense of unease.
“Isn’t it just that you have a habit of running away? You ran away from the talent school as a dropout in elementary school, too, didn’t you?”
No, that wasn’t it. Minase had cut ties with the current Kazamigaoka drama club because she wanted to act seriously. The club members, who didn’t understand that, scoffed at her. One mocked her, and the other two nodded in agreement.
“Are we really doing this again?” Minase sighed, annoyed.
“I’ve told you a hundred times. It was a difference in direction with the school.”
“You did say that. And every time, I think, ‘Words can be twisted any way you want.’ A difference in direction, huh? Just like a band breaking up over ‘musical differences.’”
“Musical differences. I like that. There’s no need to work with people you don’t click with.” Minase suddenly changed the subject. “Do you know 『Nightmare Maria』?”
“Yeah, they’re a K-POP girl group, right?” I accidentally chimed in.
Minase looked at me and smiled happily. “Oh, Sakura, you know them?”
I wasn’t a fan or particularly interested, just aware of them. I was a soccer idiot in the past and listless now, but I was interested enough in music that I’d heard the names of major groups. I’d even heard some of their songs.
“Sierra from 『Nightmare Maria』, she left Japan because it wasn’t the right fit, and she’s a huge success now.” Minase said dramatically.
Recently, it wasn’t uncommon for K-POP idol groups to have Japanese members. She was one of those Japanese members.
“Oh, right. She was my classmate at the school, so I’ll introduce you sometime, okay?”
“Huh?” I let out a dumbfounded sound. She was friends with a member of the famous 『Nightmare Maria』, whose name was known even in Japan?
The drama club members were also buzzing. If what Minase said was true, they’d want to befriend her right now.
Minase looked at them again.
“The kids at the school aren’t there to learn how to sing and dance. They can already do that, and they’re all aiming to use that as their weapon to debut. You should go see for yourselves if you get the chance. There are tons of kids like Sierra, and they’re all glittering with ambition.” Minase said casually.
It seemed the talent school was exactly as I thought, or even more so—a place where fierce competition took place every day. And Minase had been there. The dance she showed me earlier was probably something a kid from that school could do as a matter of course.
“What does that have to do with anything? It doesn’t change the fact that you couldn’t survive there!” The senior from the drama club retorted, her face twitching, but still managing to spit out a sneer.
“Besides, who knows if you’re even friends with Sierra.”
“Then you can believe it’s a lie, senpai.” Minase said easily.
“It doesn’t bother me if you don’t believe me. ...Oh, I’ll let Sakura video chat with her sometime, okay?”
“Hey, I don’t—”
She was probably telling the truth. They were classmates at the school and still kept in touch. But I wasn’t a passionate fan, so an introduction would honestly be awkward.
“You, you—”
“Why don’t you just sit down and order something already?” I cut in again, my voice laced with barely concealed anger.
What right did these people have to look down on Minase? Minase did quit the talent school, but she came to Kazamigaoka, a national-level club, because she still wanted to act. She came here to pursue her passion, and who was it that was messing that up?
“If you cause any more trouble for the shop, they’ll call the school and ban you. We sports club members were really careful about that, but culture clubs are pretty arrogant, aren’t they? I’d really rather not have all Kazamigaoka students banned.”
“Kuh...” The drama club member bit her lip.
“...We’re leaving.” She turned on her heel without another word. Of course. Minase wouldn’t engage, and I just beat them down with common sense. They had nothing to say back.
“Hey, you’re just leaving? At least eat something before you go. Otherwise, you’ll have just caused trouble.”
“True.” Minase gave a wry smile.
Just then, our salt ramen and fried chicken were brought over. The ramen bowls were placed in front of Minase and me, and the plate of fried chicken was in the middle. I quickly grabbed two small plates and put one in front of Minase. She smiled and said, “Thanks.”
We both started eating the salt ramen.
“So good!” Minase said so contentedly after the first bite that I couldn’t help but smile in agreement.
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I’d eaten a meal with someone outside of school.
“Ugh, we were eating something so delicious, but that whole thing earlier just ruined the mood. I feel gross.” Minase suddenly looked up and complained.
“Anyone would feel gross after getting tangled up with them.”
“No, I mean bringing up my friend’s name. You know that saying? The one about people who brag about their connections having nothing else to be proud of.”
She was disgusted with herself for leveraging the fame of her friend, who was now a celebrity.
“Well, it’s true that I quit the school.”
“Was it a difference in direction?”
“Yeah.” Minase nodded.
“Back then, or even now, I guess? Those kinds of talent schools want kids who can sing and dance. Like Sierra... her real name is Kyōka, by the way. Kids like her. Well, she couldn’t be contained in Japan, so she went overseas and made it big.”
From her tone, they must have really been classmates.
“I preferred acting, and I wanted to be an actress someday. A stage actress, where I could see the audience’s faces.” Minase spoke clearly about her dream.
“Then you didn’t run away, did you?”
“Huh?” Minase looked surprised.
“The drama club, too. You only quit because you wanted to act seriously. Minase, you didn’t run away. ...Right?”
“That’s right,” she said, smiling happily.
Running away was something only those who had reached their desired stage could do, and Minase hadn’t gotten there yet. So, she hadn’t run away at all. She was still searching.
“Right. That drama you mentioned watching together? I’ll join you.”
“Really!? Thank you!” Minase thanked me, her face beaming with joy.
Yeah, I could at least do that much for her.
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