Editing Golden Time:Volume2 Chapter2

"There was a guy who wanted to buy these, and all of us were trying them out. But they're oddly small and narrow, and they don't fit anybody. If they fit you, he said you can have them for 5000 yen."

"Aren't they? They're cool! They haven't been worn but once since they were bought, but even were they used, they might as well have been new. Besides, this is a popular model, shown in magazines. Wouldn't they usually be 20000 yen or more?"

Normally over 20000 yen... Banri took one of the sneakers in each hand, looking them over hard.

With regards to footwear at the present time he had: the leather shoes he'd worn for the entrance ceremony, his favorite Jack Purcells he wore nearly every day, some sandals from a convenience store, and then of course his least favorite, some cheap, out of style, no-brand sneakers he wore on rainy days. Just those. As a male college freshman, he was about ready to have another pair of shoes. Besides, if he bought new shoes, what kind would he get for 2000 to 3000 yen? These might be good at 5000 yen.

"I've decided! I'll buy them! I want 'em! At 5000 yen, I'll go for it! But who should I be paying?"

"No way, no, no, way. If you guys buy it, you'll pay me 5000 yen! Are you underclassmen? Cute, precious, one of only two first-years? This isn't about money. Right?"

"Ah, then, I'll pay just half price! Please let me pay 25, even that would still be an incredible bargain!"

What on earth was Kouko worried about? When she doesn't even know anything about the situation. When she doesn't know anything about Linda nor Banri. And where in this self, where in the world, is the part she wants to worry about, so to speak? Or is there? When I haven't even told close friends nor anybody, you want me to explain it all to you, is that what you want me to tell you?

The girl to whom he had even confessed his love. Even now, he thought regretfully, his companion. Prettier than anyone else, awkward, but truly a gentle woman.

"Hey, show a little more gratitude, the fourth years all made these specially for you. Aren't they the real thing? They're my own design! Anyway, use them when you practice for the performance. Nah, look, look, smile! Shout! Shouldn't you be glad!?"

Everybody showed the "NO" side towards the former president. They were convenient, for sure.

"Wh, what the... such awful-looking lower-classmen you are! Man... even if I don't go nor cannot go to the employment agency again, my feelings have been hurt! Am I without a job offer, unpopular, without friends? Are you suggesting that I am becoming an insignificant bum without job nor prospects!? Waahhh!"

Watching the former president grieving amongst them, for various reasons, the NO sides facing him making him so pitiful, Banri lowered his fan. It looked like everybody else felt the same way.

...Well, as you might expect, there wasn't any more criticism... they had been about to weaken, as if they were exposed to a bitter headwind... or rather, they saw the shape of their own future... that sort of atmosphere was hanging over the rehearsal hall.

One of the senpais, leaning importantly against the wall, lifted up a cloth sack.

Removing the bag, a beautifully polished little musical instrument, a <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_(instrument) kane bell]</span>, was revealed to view. Of elegant silver, attached to a long handle, it was shaped like a little frying pan .

The senpai, holding it, with one hand serving as drumstick, 'Ko Ko Kon!', rapped on it as if to test it. There was a sharp, piercing sound. Surprised, everybody looked over that way.

And then, they took a breath.

The rhythm started slowly, the rhythm of Awa Odori.

Well, it was a festival.

"Whoa... something good, the feeling from that!"

"Ah! The dance, it makes me long for summer!"

Even the suited senpais, suddenly looked over towards the instruments, their eyes gleaming. It seemed that the festival-going blood in them, fostered by the Omaken activities, had been roused.

While ringing the bell, the guy doing the ringing made eye contact with Linda. Excitedly, he also spoke quickly. Linda smiled and nodded quickly, pulling from her pocket a white object. Then it dawned on Banri why she had been barefoot. Crouching down, she quickly put on <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabi tabi socks]</span>, and standing with her heels still exposed,

"We still haven't started the practice, though today we will just be stretching still, for the moment with this feeling. We'll be borrowing a <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko taiko drum]</span> starting with the next practice... one, two,"

With her fingertips, she took hold of the fan by its bamboo roots.

Whoosh, with her heart in it, the tips of their toes pushed into the tatami floor.

Her knees lightly lifting up, she danced flutteringly, like a butterfly.

Banri was captivated by that surpassingly brilliant dance. Though she was wearing a short T-shirt and track pants, dancing, she became a dazzling flower. From the sudden turns, her arms stretching out, and her feet springing up, the tatami mat rang.

"How's this?", tilting her chin upwards slightly, as if trying a pose, her gaze glamourous. "Yo!", the fourth-years cheered her on, their sharp whistles slicing the air.

Linda was not the least bit shy. Neither was she embarrassed. Still, she was the only one dancing and having fun, and even on this side I'm beginning to get upset from only watching. Even Banri was slowly getting impatient. I wanna go, me too, he was thinking. Before long, even the other members ran out of patience, and taking their fan's handles pressed them to the side of their jerseys, near the back, and then while lifting them one-handedly like Linda, they slowly began to take on the Awa Odori style.

Banri stepped out on the tatami mat too, on his toes. At first a bit carefully, gingerly alternating his gait, he dropped his hips into the men's dance. With the knees flexed. All the time, as if he was floating. Isn't it strange? Isn't it funny? Doesn't it get to be embarrassing? Briefly looking at the mirror, he discovered that he had slipped into the group, dancing like the others. Moving a little humorously, but truth be told, making rather good use of his entire body, the dance was quick and dynamic, more so than the popular image of it. He fit into the swaying group too, blushing red as a beet. If the Banri inside the mirror were to notice, he would laugh out of control. Himself, and everybody else, was smiling, breathing to the rhythm, quite pleasantly, as they were beginning to entrust the speed of their bodies to the musical instruments.

The rhythm light, but quick, Banri too moved both hands naturally back and forth. He danced it easily. Freely through the air, jumping to the splinters of sound, his fingertips moved flutteringly as if they were swimming. Strangely having fun, his head was going blank, aah, but, his footsteps were always too restricted. His hip joints were stiff. Looking in the mirror, his own image was not 'floating' that much. He was stomping too much... a little softer... more dynamic... besides, if everybody were to move together... piling on the practice, would they not be able to get a better feel for it?

Even the senpais in suits, lined up and standing around the door, were nodding to the beat and setting the heavy-looking bag on the floor by their feet. While watching the moving forms of the underclassmen, they started to clap their hands.

And then, finally, Kouko started moving.

Gasping in surprise, Banri looked over towards Kouko without thinking. Kouko, for quite a while in the corner, beating time, seeming to be having fun, now at last, holding a fan in her white hand, she was beginning to tilt her head back and forth. Somehow or other, it felt like she was coming alive. Finally, with an open feeling, was the soul of the dancer coming out? The other members, apart from Banri, seemed to notice Kouko, their glances starting to turn her way.

Kouko, her eyes half closed, her hips lowered, soon lifted both hands high.

''Crack! Flash!'' A flash of gold shone from her.

<span style="font-size: 300%;"><center>* * *</center></span>

"Tada-kun, you're awful...!"

"...That wasn't really my intention..."

"Tada-kun laughed and left me to take the blame...!"

"...Not so. But, really, I'm sorry..."

Fully two hours of practice over with, on the way out to the street.

Done changing, the upperclassmen having returned the key to the counter, there was the sound of many footsteps and all of them saying things like "See ya!", "Are you guys going to play mahjongg again?", "I'm beat!", "Are you going to the Criminal Procedure Code lecture?" and so on while they split up, heading off to the station, the campus and other places. Linda was making as if to go with other upperclassmen to the station also, but while still standing in the middle of the road she spotted the pair of freshmen and walked back towards them. Deliberately.

"Well then, Tada Banri and Kouko-chan, until the next practice, OK?"

With an wonderfully kind, benevolent smile,

"I mean, well, after all, since somebody's always hanging around the lobby, if you two show up there now and then, try and double-check the schedule! For the time being, the table in front of the bulletin board and to the side is where the Omaken tend to gather. That is, well, you see..., er, um, that... I really am tired. But that's entirely OK!"

She clapped Kouko on the shoulder. Wordlessly, Kouko looked at the shoulder that was struck.

The other upperclassmen saw what was happening too, and of course as one the group, with kindly-to-the-max smiles, said "Really, really.", "Always, always.", "It's OK, it's OK.", as if they were chanting, while they waved for them to come over.

"That, leg, well, there's nothing that can be done about it. Yes, oh yeah! The snake, it was bad!"

With an expression rather like a combat cameraman, Linda gently encouraged Kouko, in the end grabbing the shoulder she had clapped before once more, firmly, patting her twice on the back softly as if to finish cheering her up, and then went on towards the station, heading out into the chaotic street.

Banri,

"We... well then..."

He muttered, completely in a daze. Kouko looked over at his face.

A curl of her bangs flipped over to the tip of her nose, and her lip gloss had melted off, her dried lips part-way open. From mascara melting, the area around her eyes was dyed black, and in those eyes were the words, "What Was That?"

That sorrowful face was well below the standards of Kaga Kouko, the perfect Queen of Roses.

Gasping involuntarily, Banri spoke.

"Look, about the snake... I didn't say anything to Linda-senpai, nor to the other senpais..."

With a dry, crackling sound... the skin of Kouko's face was losing color even faster.

Saying that mind over matter is not enough, one who cannot dance, cannot dance, the facts were finally hitting home, and the flame of Kouko's life was guttering out.

---At first, she was giving off a rather subdued aura.

Invited by Linda into the maelstrom of dancing, Kouko came right in naturally, Banri thought. "Isn't this life?", she'd asked. Saying this and that, "Aren't I a woman of my word?", she'd said. "I am looking ahead! I am open! I can dance!" ...Since she'd gone so far as to declare magnificently, "I can dance!", then perhaps Kouko really would become able to dance. So he thought. To the extent that her sorry, untrained state had been exposed for all to see last time, the only problem (as she said) was in her head. She said that the new Kaga Kouko had overcome all of that, and had become a person able to dance.

But, unfortunately, that he'd thought so was really only the beginning.

Had Kouko done well for only about two seconds or so?

Taking the position, her long slim arm outstretched, she was certainly doing well until she held out her fan. She did extremely well in stepping out, on tiptoes, with one foot onto the tatami mat. Lightly turning her slender body, supple like a willow reed, with downcast eyes pretty like flowers, everyone gasped together, Banri too. It was like that for two seconds.

It was after that.

Falling into the beat of the instruments, raising both her arms, standing on tiptoe, swinging her partway bent-over body, changing her gait, Kouko all of a sudden had become rather 'interesting'.

The underside of her arms still raised, her chest went rigid. Her shoulders stiffened and stopped moving. Her elbows were still held out at right angles. Her spine was as if plaster had been stuffed into it. The upper half of her body swayed back and forth in a courageous effort, but the other half was resisting, continuing to shake like a roughly grade three earthquake. Her hips, joints and knees were entirely inflexible, everything setting into hard angles. It was awful.

Even before she noticed the gazes around her, it looked like even she was thinking, "Huh?" Huh? For some reason her own appearance...? Opening her eyes round and wide, Kouko was trying to look at herself, her face tilted downward. Still, it was that expression. Those angles.

There she was, 'that' again.

Snorting, Banri was forced to lower his face and hide his expression. He could not laugh--- And not just Banri, all the rest of the Omaken must have been thinking the same. If he burst into laughter here, he'd hurt Kouko after all the effort she made to come back. So, he'd pretend not to know for now, ah but... no, he couldn't. ...But... they were just too much alike...

Before long, there was a disturbance, the fourth-year senpais talking in low voices. They were saying things like "What does that remind me of...", "What was it, it's right on the tip of my tongue..." and "I know that...!" They could be each seen tilting their heads, holding their foreheads, and looking over at the twitchily moving Kouko, and then saying more: "Ah, that fellow, he's here, isn't he..." and "...Who was it...?"

Even Kouko was starting to notice it. Seeing her own ridiculous body in the mirror, fluttering uneasily, and seeing the suited senpais with their heads tilted to the side, her brows furrowed, apparently in distress. As if searching for help, she looked towards her best friend Banri.

Just what the heck was the right thing to do in that place, just what Kouko wanted him to do, Banri as yet had no idea.

But, already, he could not undo what had been done.

What do I do? His mind going blank in desperation, Banri rushed over to Kouko's side. And then, making a circle from his thumb and his other fingers, he mimed making his torso turn around. Needless to say, he was her buddy, R2-D2. Quite unintentionally, he had given the fourth-years a hint.

As a result, the fourth-years clapped their hands happily and said, "Ah! From Star Wars...!" The rest of the senpais, unable to take it anymore, stopped dancing and, here and there started breaking into laughter. But Banri somehow kept his cool. Or rather, pierced by Kouko's gaze towards him, he couldn't possibly laugh.

The fourth-years, not knowing the details of what was going on to this point, with a burst of laughter took off their suit-coats, surrounded Kouko and started to coach her, saying things like, "Ahhahha! This kid is useless!", "Look here, what's this!", "Don't you have any sense of rhythm!?", "Straighten up your back some more!", "It should be like this.", "Like this, don't you think?" and so on. Though they had definitely never done Awa Odori before, the fact was that they, who had only watched for a few minutes, looked overwhelmingly better than Kouko.

Before long Kouko stopped dancing, and suddenly holding her stomach, she groaned and sat down on the tatami floor. The other club members gathering around and asking what was happening, what was going on, she looked up sharply, with teary eyes, and said just one thing:

'I can't dance anymore, my legs are hurting already!'

Amongst the silent accusations of "It can't be your stomach!" flying about, she raised the cuff of her running pants, suddenly showing to all around the speckled pattern of her bruises. Linda screamed especially loudly, covering her mouth, taken aback. Banri reflexively took over, backing up Kouko. That's what it was! Her not being able to dance was because of her snake-bite! Look, that wound must be awful!

---And so, Kouko was able to introduce herself to all the members of the Omaken, and at the same time tell the tale of the battle against the snake.

"This is no good! No good at all! Not only am I completely embarrassed, but Tada-kun has betrayed me!"

"For that reason, I say sorry sorry, sorry... but what was I supposed to do to back you up?"

"At least, if we're friends then don't make me the punch-line! What, what's with this...!"

Kouko showed how R2-D2 moved about (that by itself was rather cute),

"Don't give me 'Wiii wiii'! Haven't we gotten to be friends!?"

Glaring at Banri, slowly but surely tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes. Her soft lips trembling, Banri panicked,

"We're friends! Really good friends! Look, look, Sex and the City!"

Taking Kouko firmly by the shoulder, he tried to walk daintily on his toes, with deep strides. He acted it out as much as he could, flapping his other arm around,

"Naaaa!"

At Kouko's angry shout, the other students-like guys could be heard arguing amongst themselves, "Is it a fight?", "Something incredible's going on." and so on.

Gulping once, Kouko waited until they went away.

"...Enough, stop it...!"

She glared at Banri even more strongly. Her eyes were already bright red.

"But, ...you only wanted to try harder in going forward...!"

Before his eyes, groaning as if wrung out, her temples, head, throat . . . all the way to her chest, she flushed bright red all at once. And then,

"But I thought I was 'able to change'...! I should have been able to get good at it... and yet why, why did this happen again...!"

From beneath her tightly closed eyelashes, at last large teardrops started rolling out. At three in the afternoon, with all the proper office workers and people from the surrounding areas coming downtown, there weren't many people they might know from their same school walking around the place. All the same, even Banri was losing his composure, desperately peeking towards Kouko's face.

[[Image:Golden Time vol02 141.jpg|thumb]]

"That kind of thing, hold on... it's nothing to cry about, is it...?"

"...Buuttt...!"

While crying aloud like a child, Kouko,

"...Tada-kun, sowwy!"

Her feelings had changed suddenly from rage to "sowwy". Catching hold of Banri's outstretched arm, she leaned against him. Her hands were warm and damp, like a baby's. Hiding her reddened, tear-stained face, she argued insistently in a whining voice.

"Sowwy, even though I unnerstan', and a guy's aroun'..."

"Ooo..."

Unable to hug her or do anything like that, of course, keeping his arm extended stiffly as support, Banri held Kouko up. While casually doing so, he guided her to a place amongst the bushes by the sidewalk. Like a drowning person desperately grabbing a piece of wood, Kouko stood with Banri's arm for support.

“We’ve beeng going aroud as fwends, I dow, I dow... you’re making fwends with a widdle kid...”

We go together to the school club, we eat lunch together, we dance together, you even listen to my problems. You send me e-mails. You worry about many things for me. Tada-kun has been a friend for me. I know that. But I’m acting like a spoiled brat, being a bother. Even Tada-kun must have been shocked--- Kouko said these things in a quavering voice while rubbing her face with the back of her hand like a child.

Yes.

Indeed.

Because they were friends, he ought to be putting his arm around the slender shoulders of the trembling woman, and brushing away the hair clinging to her wet cheeks with his finger, but he did not. He could not. In an unnatural stance, his arms stiffly raised, Banri patiently waited for Kouko to raise her face.

“...There there there, look, for now, cheer up! It isn’t something to cry over. It’s something to laugh about. I mean, it was only because I did those strange things that the mood turned out the way it did. And you’ll be fine if you try hard at the next practice. Right?”

Still behaving like a spoiled little girl, Kouko was hanging her head. As it was, her face was lowered so much, it was as if she’d gone all the way to Brazil.

"Oh, oh yeah, why don't we go to Starbucks!? Don't you like Starbucks!? Let's go! If we're friends, then going to Starbucks afterwards ought to be natural!"

"...I already had some earlier..."

Some seconds passed, and she muttered softly, but Kouko finally, slowly, raised her head. Rubbing her reddened nose,

"...But, if Tada-kun wants to drink Starbucks, I'll go with him anytime! We're friends, after all."

She chuckled.

Her dry lips lighting up with the three syllables, "Fi-nal-ly!", and giving an embarrassed smile, Kouko rubbed her sticky face with her fingertips. Laughing at the state she was in, and looking like she was trying to clean herself up, she shrugged her shoulders.

To put it mildly, she was a mess.

Her hair as messy as could be, her makeup running, and her nose was all red. If her customary good looks were 100, then earlier she was at 61, and now she had fallen to about 46.

However, more than any moment up to now, more than any time he'd seen any face of Kaga Kouko, his chest tightened. Not pretending at all, he smiled back at her with all he had.

If they were truly friends, then the pain didn't matter.

Banri insisted on treating Kouko, Kouko insisted on treating Banri, and in the end Kouko bought Banri's share, and Banri bought Kouko's share, meaning it didn't make much sense when eventually they paid.

For the time being, could he do something for Kouko's sake?

"Aren't you incredible!?"

"A latte, with a shot of espresso, vanilla syrup, whipped cream, caramel sauce and chocolate sauce. In a Grande. And you, Tada-kun?"

"For me, a normal Starbucks latte."

Each of them holding their trays carefully in both hands, they sat down, lined up at the counter seats facing outwards, looking out on the street.

While gazing at the people going to and fro, the two of them sighed reflexively. Both of them hearing this, with the same timing, mirror images of each other, they exchanged glances.

"...I'm really sorry for what happened earlier. Crying like that, I was ridiculous, wasn't I?"

It was the smiling Kouko from before.

The area around her eyes was still puffy and red. Her mascara had run, casting a shadow on her cheeks from her white eyelids and long, delicate eyelashes. And then, casting her profile suddenly downwards,

"I was a bit... over the top. Perhaps."

Kouko said that under her breath, embarrassed.

"Yeah, it rather felt like that."

Carefully sipping his hot coffee latte, Banri continued waiting on Kouko's words.

And, he realized. Seated next to her like this, he might perhaps be able to start talking with her in a normal way, easily.

Playing with her earrings with the tips of her beige fingernails, Kouko scooped only the tip of the whipped cream with her spoon, sticking her tongue out like a cat to taste it. Mixing the chocolate and caramel sauce a little to a marbled state, she took a slightly larger mouthful.

And then,

"...I was awfully, impatient."

She licked her lips and turned towards Banri. Once more, he was surprised by how big her eyes seemed from close by. Through the transparent surface of her eyes, they were brown. Now trembling and forlorn, they shone with a gentle light.

"Even I understand I am making a mess of things. Nowadays I, somehow, really, cannot help it. I think it's dangerous. ...I mean, from the beginning, I've been aware of how easy it was for me to make a mess of things. In a word, I,"

It's hard to to rescue somebody from their foolishness... from their impatience... He nodded to the words that followed, whether they were good or not.

"I wanted to settle many matters once and for all. Stubbornly, I wouldn't let go of my failures in the past. I thought to make it all new, starting right away."

"By those, 'failures in the past', you're referring, of course, to Yana-ssan?"

Kouko looked away.

"Yes. ...That's it. That, is the big one! The biggest. Of course it is! ...However I might excuse myself, I won't do that in front of you. That's right! I wanted to put my feelings about Mitsuo perfectly in order. It's not like I have any regrets."

Urk. He knew that at moments like this, his heart could come to sound like that.

"I simply have no hopes as to what might happen now. That is the truth. Still... I still don't know for sure. In some ways, it's as if I were paralyzed: Though I have clearly been rejected, somehow... it all feels like a living dream."

Speaking of somebody somewhere else, and things like that, Kouko held her huge cup in her delicate hands, quietly tasting it. However, plenty of cream had stuck to her nose and to her upper lip, and when he saw it, without thinking, Banri burst out laughing. No matter how seriously she spoke, this person was rather undecided. That was a good place to be.

"...Oh, no... Something's wrong."

Kouko, pulling her mirror out of a pouch of her bag, opened it and peered at her face.

In the silvery surface, a Swarovski rose had been drawn on the faba-bean shaped mirror. In Kouko's white hand, it looked really pretty, and suited her.

When Banri pulled out the matching mirror from his back pocket and showed her, Kouko, whipped cream still stuck to the tip of her nose, laughed sneezingly like a child.

"Tada-kun, are you using it for my sake?"

"Of course. Aren't the mirrors a friendship pair?"

"I'm glad. Very much so."

That Sunday at Veloce, Kouko said so. She'd said, 'These belong to the survivors.'

The time Banri and Kouko were rescued from the training camp of that new religion, Kouko had packed virtually all of her cosmetics into her luggage. However, this one mirror escaped in her pocket, she said. And then as far as Kouko was concerned, she felt it was a symbol of her bond with Banri.

Therefore Kouko, to become better friends with Banri, made him a present: the same, matching mirror. Hearing that and understanding that he was to receive it, Banri borrowed a magic marker from a store clerk, and Kouko wrote on it. 'Remember the anniversary of our escape', it said. It wasn't any kind of consolation prize, in remembrance of unrequited love. So it was clearly stated.

While wondering again at this mirror, Banri handled it carefully, even if it wasn't appropriate for him.

Wiping her nose and mouth with pale brown paper, Kouko conquered some of the fresh whipped cream with her spoon.

"So, I said this and that thing, but in reality, it wasn't 'this'. So anyway... mm! This chocolate is just about the best... anyway, as for me, in this life, I was just able to pretend I had adjusted to it. Or rather, I had convinced myself that I was able to. Relieved, refreshed, starting to move forward in a new life, I was such a woman. I even thought so. ...So I told myself I'd become. I believed that I could do it. But from believing it too much, I eventually understood that I could not do it quite so easily. I was still not all that successful in changing myself, finding in me the remnants of that disgraceful C-3PO, somehow awful... you could say it was a shock. It was disappointing..."

"Sure seems like it", said Banri, his hand supporting his cheek, blending his sigh with Kouko's, who was also in the same attitude, cheek in hand. His left hand supported the left side of his chin, and his legs were crossed, left foot on top.

"Because after all, idealism by itself will not suddenly make you a dancer. In the worst case, even if you are truly a woman refreshed and relieved, moving forward in life, even so you might have nothing to do with Awa Odori."

"I was given proof of that today."

Kouko suddenly stood up, her high-heels clicking. She went and came back with a plastic spoon. She handed it over to Banri, saying "Here."

"This whipped cream is about the best in the world. Let's both have it."

"Th, thanks."

Let us lick up this sweet whipped cream together.

For some reason, he hesitated. But answering with unusual restraint, realizing the humor, taking her at her word, Banri scooped up a mouthful of Kouko's whipped cream. He held it in his mouth, sweetly thick, melting.

"How about it? Isn't it the best!?"

"Yes, really... super sweet. Melts in your mouth."

"Even melting it's good! Doesn't it feel like 'I live for this'!?"

"Haven't you already bought stock in Starbucks?"

"Aah! I'd even buy it all! The wonder is I haven't done it already!"

She meant, "Sharing like this is the most fun!" If you looked into Kouko's face, you realized what she was thinking at once. She continued to stare intensely, even whimsically, from beginning to end as Banri reached the spoon out to his own cup and tasted the whipped cream. She seemed completely happy, her beautiful eyes sparkling.

Then,

"...You understand just how entirely useless I am. Even that uselessness you forgive me. Thank you. Besides behaving like a brat, just now I cried. Once again, excuse me. It seems every day I am an emotional disaster by your side..."

"A 'disaster'?"

Seeming suddenly surprised by that word, Banri looked back at Kouko. Kouko blinked as if in surprise from his expression,

"Eh? But... it's a mess, isn't it? But look, those... your memories... they aren't..."

Mumbling, he avoided the issue. He tried to lower his head as if it hurt. Geh, Banri frowned.

"No, or rather, no way. There is really no way!"

It was no joke. Just being pitied like this was meaningless. Lowering his spoon into his latte, he spoke distinctly. Although he didn't want to speak, he had to speak this once so she would know.

"Because it's not a big deal. Because I live like anyone else. Though I cannot say that there isn't anything that worries me, but normally I am not even aware of the memory loss, and it's not really a problem for me, and more than anything else, I want to be so. So, could you stop acting like you're nursing somebody pitiful and sick...!"

"But I didn't mean anything like that...! But, OK. Sure. I understand. If you say so, I won't say anything more. ...I swear by Starbucks."

As if taking an oath, Kouko placed her right hand on her cup, and lifted her left hand. OK then, watching that, Banri took a manly gulp of his slightly cooled latte. That he'd managed to not poke his face with the handle of his spoon, he didn't even realize. But,

"That reminds me, was there something between you and Linda-senpai?"

A snort escaped his nose.

"During practice, the two of you were acting a bit strange."

Stuck in such a critical place, the incredible Kaga Kouko--- the muscles of her neck beautifully stretched, waiting for his reply. He thought himself good enough a fast-talker, with a good enough poker face, to be able to steer away from this awkward topic.

But some things he simply could not say.

That it was possible that he'd gone out with Linda, his old classmate, for instance.

Though he had believed it entirely at their first meeting, in fact it wasn't so. Despite everything, she said nothing at all to him, but rather regarded him with doubt. Even if he believed that she had no reason for choosing to do things like that, he was reluctant to press her on the issue. He thought that if he wanted to preserve their current relationship as it was, he had better not allude to things like that. Far from it.

...No, wait. Nothing at all can be said, ...isn't there anything?

Looking a little towards Kouko, Banri gasped softly at his own thoughts. He wondered if it wouldn't be good idea to share this secret with Kouko.

It wasn't good to carry a mysterious secret, by himself, not sharing it. Would she not be able to understand these complicated feelings of his? Likewise the club, too. Even if something were to happen from now on, they may be able to get over it with an understanding person nearby. They'd seen each other at the point of utter desperation... in any case, he'd gone so far as to confess to her. And then he'd been rejected. At this point, what was there to hide? So now, seeing as they were friends like this, messing around side by side, licking whipped cream...

"I, I want to become like Linda-senpai. I admire her."

He was about to open his mouth, but closed it uncertainly.

OK, he let the matter drop, of course--- in only a moment, the mood had changed.

Even with their conversation lightening, their situation wasn't resolved. He wasn't going to burden her with his complicated situation; she had plenty of problems of her own.

Kouko didn't seem to be overly suspicious towards Linda. And if she held such aspirations, so much the better. Even if there was something there in his history with Linda, involving Kouko in it wasn't going to throw cold water on the relationship between the two of them.

"But look, Linda-senpai, doesn't she make you feel 'relaxed, refreshed, and having fun moving forward in life'? Don't you think so too?"

"Well... she's a good senpai. ...'Refreshing', like that, I think so too..."

"Seriously", she added.

Truly refreshing, giving the feeling that there hadn't been something in the past, 'looking forward', Banri was thinking too. Since the other day.

"She's awfully good at dancing too, she does everything really cool, and she's pretty. Wherever she is, you get the feeling she's at the center of it. I mean, look, that former president senpai, don't you think he absolutely adored Linda-senpai?"

"...Eh? Wh, what? Why? How did the conversation jump to that...?"

"It was the mood, the mood! But I get the feeling she isn't seeing anybody. ...From the very start, has she had a boyfriend around? Is that OK? Mature as she is, you would think she'd have a ton of guys after her."

Leaving the strangely silent Banri behind, "Haah", Kouko gasped, strangely sexily. While warming both her hands with her cup, she twisted on her stool.

"What if, I were to become like Linda-senpai? Her hairstyle? Her clothing, rather unisex-style? No, that's not quite what I mean. I want to have that sort of feeling in living. Not like my current, hesistant self, but truly positive, relaxed, without criticizing, seeing what the world has to offer. I want to become like that."

Thinking vaguely, "Isn't this all about image?", but for the time being staying quiet, he listened to Kouko speaking in awe of Linda-senpai.

"If I am to be like Linda-senpai, then... I will do Awa Odori perfectly. And then I will have lots of friends at school. I will rebuild the relaxed, good relationship I had long ago with Mitsuo, without dragging along any boring parts. Jumping into a new world, meeting all sorts of people, going out anew, having fun to the fullest in a new college life with new friends. For example, being invited to a drinking party just like that. Me too, carefree, going off to have fun..."

And at about the same time it dawned on him.

"Oh, that reminds me. We've been invited. By Oka-chan. So it is, to a drinking party of course..."

''Geh''. Rather unlike a princess, Kouko frowned. She seemed aware that something awkward had been said, but hadn't caught more than that.

Though Banri had started to forget, he remembered once more that he ought to invite Kouko. It was the perfect opportunity. Wasn't it a chance to "rebuild a relaxed relationship with Mitsuo"? And as far as Mitsuo was concerned for the time being, it might be a good idea for there to be somewhere he could see her face.

The two childhood friends had messed up in various ways, but as far as building a normal quiet relationship, they had at one time done just fine.

"Let's do that, for sure! I'll go too, let's go together. Yana-ssan will come too!"

"Eh, eh, ...ho, hold on. As for me, though, ...as you might expect, that, not much... I've got the feeling Mitsuo doesn't want me around yet..."

"Look at that hesitation coming out. That's not allowed. Don't you want to be a woman refreshed and relaxed, like Linda-senpai? If that's the case, don't fuss about the past, unable to jump quickly into a new world."

"But! ...That ultrasonic, detestable thing!"

"I know. Nobody said anything about becoming friends with Oka-chan. Why don't we just show up, normally, and mingle with our fellow first-years? Besides, what would you do if you were Linda-senpai? Invited like that by Oka-chan, it's a once in a lifetime chance to restart your relationship. If you're a person thinking you want to move forward in life, what do you think you ought to do, Kaga-san?"

"...But..."

Her brows furrowed, Kouko looked over at Banri as if she were worried. Acting like that, requesting help from Banri with a cute face, not meeting his eyes properly, was that something she'd only recently learned?

"No 'buts'! Since neither reliance on the spirit nor anything else is working out, of course you aren't going to make a huge change in your behavior here. Don't you want to move ahead? Don't you want to become a relaxed, refreshed woman? If so, make it reality! You're going to the gathering. Because there's nothing to complain about! There's no reason not to go out! In any case, we've got nothing going on! There's no reason why we can't spend some time having fun with our fellow freshmen! With a 'Hmph!' kinda of feeling."

"...Tada-kun, do you think I have the free time...really?"

"Eh? Is there something on your schedule? Wasn't it clear?"

...Even though it was clear. In chagrin, Kouko held the whipped cream in her mouth. Grabbing her spoon with one hand and stirring her cup as if in desperation, she let out a "phew!". And then,

"...All right. As far as you've...said, shall...we...try?"

When she glanced at him sidelong in defeat, Banri nodded vigorously. Doubting it as much as he had, it seemed to him a sudden, happy development.

Already, Yana-ssan, Oka-chan, they truly had nothing to do with matters. As it was, he himself was happy. He was truly looking forward to being able to go to the party with Kouko.

To where even though she had been invited to the get-together by the hated Oka Chinami, she would come. Such a thing--- excellent, maybe there was still hope. His thoughts had gone as far as that.

They were together in the club, together dancing, lunching together; they would even be showing up to the drinking party as a pair. Even with how stubbornly she had avoided trying or doing anything, she was coming because he had asked her. She was going out, with him only. It would become common knowledge. That felt good already, absolutely so. Even more than anything up to this point, it made him feel that things were going well.

So it is. From friendship comes affection. Isn't that the way it always is in this world? If they could be 'good friends', if he carefully built up their friendship like that, if he continued being Kouko's hoped-for perfect friend, then it would eventually work out . . . perhaps.

Even with this seemingly regretful love, he would perhaps see the day it worked out.

"What're you saying? You were only just dumped on Saturday---!" It was as if there were somebody behind him, whispering in shock; a thin, cool presence. Disregarding it as his imagination, Banri also drank from his latte. Unable to do anything else, he laughed. Things were looking up. He pulled a deep breath into his beating chest, the smell of roses next to Kouko covering his mouth.

The afternoon sunlight shining through the glass rather brightly hurt his eyes.

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| Forward to [[Golden Time:Volume2 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]

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