A familiar melody sounded.
Sakiko, who had been happily bouncing and cheering for her friend, suddenly froze in place.
Her heart desperately told her that this was not the song her original band had created. It was only that the intro sounded somewhat similar.
But no matter how much she tried to deceive herself, when Tomori hoarsely shouted the first line of the lyrics, Sakiko could not see her own face, but she knew she had completely broken down.
Her expression darkened. The joy of bouncing and cheering for her friend from earlier was gone. The corners of her eyes gradually turned red, and a twisted anger almost consumed her mind.
Why are you playing "Kasuga Kage"?!
That was our only bond, our only connection. Don't you care about our past friendship at all?
At that moment, Sakiko's mind was like that of a terminally ill patient on the verge of death, memories from two years ago flashing through her mind.
At that time, she was the young lady of the Togawa Group, studying in junior high at Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.
She was talented, high-spirited, and filled with smiles every day as she worked hard to pursue her dreams.
It was also during that time that she met friends who each had their own problems. They formed a girl band together, and under Sakiko's strong leadership, they became a united group.
Everyone regarded Sakiko as the center. Everyone changed because of her, and it was a good change.
At that time, it was no exaggeration to say Sakiko was the girls' "white moonlight."
She personally composed and created this song, practiced diligently with her friends every day after school and on weekends, sang at KTV, and went shopping together.
Until they experienced their first live performance together and were cheered on by fans.
At that time, everyone believed they would stay in the band for a lifetime.
However, things did not go as planned. Dreams are eventually defeated by reality. Fairy tales are just fairy tales, and it is difficult to realize them in reality.
The Togawa Group ran into trouble.
Her father, the manager who married into the Togawa family, became addicted to gambling. Using the family's trust in him, he defrauded a large amount of money from the Togawa Group and even secretly sold the house.
When the incident occurred, Sakiko's mother made a clean break. She immediately chose to divorce him and cut all ties.
There were also different interest groups within the Togawa Group, and Sakiko was stripped of her inheritance rights.
Originally, her mother, being soft-hearted, wanted to keep her by her side.
But Sakiko, with her extremely strong self-esteem, could not bear to face the looks of her uncles, aunts, and cousins in the Togawa family. She resolutely chose to leave with her father, taking nothing.
The high and mighty young lady instantly became part of a poor household. Even so, Sakiko did not give up on herself. She wanted to change her destiny through her own efforts.
However, her strong self-esteem still harmed her.
She felt she should not keep in touch with her old friends, partly because she did not want to see their pity.
Even if everyone was willing to help her, what could they do? They were just junior high students about to enter high school. Faced with Sakiko's reality, they were powerless.
She left in the cruelest way, without saying a word, deceiving them with lies.
Sakiko was not indifferent to her friends. She cared about them deeply. She regarded them as the most important treasures in her life.
Yet she still chose to end that friendship by hurting everyone.
A year of hardship made Sakiko mature somewhat and begin reflecting.
Perhaps she had really done something wrong.
However, the pressure of reality prevented Sakiko from gathering the courage to apologize for what she had done.
It was not until she met Toru that her life finally stabilized. She no longer had to rush to convenience stores at eleven at night just to grab discounted rice balls.
As the saying goes, when people have enough to eat, they begin to care about propriety. Sakiko now understood that truth.
Once she no longer had to worry about survival, she began to overthink and remember the mistakes of her past.
That was why she agreed to Mutsumi's invitation and came to this live performance.
She had even prepared herself to go backstage after the show ended to meet her former friends, apologize to them, and explain why she had done what she did.
She believed they would forgive her. As long as she was honest, there would not be so much entanglement.
They would still be friends.
Of course, the former band could not be reformed, and Sakiko could no longer spend time on amateur girl bands.
But no matter what, everything was developing in a positive direction.
It should have been like that.
But when she attended the live performance, when she heard the song she had composed being sung, Sakiko completely broke down.
"Kasuga Kage" should have been a memory that belonged only to us. It was our shared happiness and effort. How could you just play it like this?!
I, Sakiko, was ready to abandon my pride and gather the courage to apologize to you.
I considered you so important, and I thought you considered me important too.
But now I have become a complete clown. It turns out this was all my delusion, all my self-righteousness. You never cared about me at all. You had already forgotten me!
The broken Sakiko burst into tears. She turned around, not wanting anyone to see her crying. With her head lowered, she sobbed as she pushed through the crowd and ran out.
"Sakiko!"
Mutsumi tried to grab her, but she was a step too late.
Sounds of dissatisfaction rose from the surrounding audience. Mutsumi finally squeezed out of the crowd, but Sakiko was already gone.
Soyo on the stage happened to see this scene. She felt both surprised and panicked.
The surprise was that Sakiko had actually come to their live performance.
The panic was because they were playing "Kasuga Kage."
She wanted to throw down the bass in her hands and chase after her, but she was performing at that moment. Even Soyo could not abandon the performance to chase someone.
Perhaps even Soyo herself did not realize that Sakiko had only become an obsession for her. In her heart, the balance had already tilted toward her current friends and band.
So between the performance and Sakiko, she chose the former.
Toru happened to see Sakiko running out while crying.
He sighed.
"This is the painful literature of youth."
It reminded Toru of his previous life.
Back then, during his first love, he had also loved his girlfriend desperately and thought youth itself was painful.
Although Sakiko was now facing a group of beautiful girls, the flavor of that painful literature felt very similar.
"I believed in love so much back then, and now I've become like this."
Toru mocked himself.
He thought for a moment and still followed her.
The live performance had already succeeded. There was no need for him to keep watching.
It was more important to pay attention to Sakiko. People often did foolish things when they were emotionally broken.
Toru did not mock the seemingly pretentious and childish thoughts of these girls. Instead, he found them quite interesting.
Who does not have youth?
Who does not have a chuunibyou phase?
Who does not miss that foolish yet pure era?
This is youth.
Sakiko stumbled, almost falling down the stairs.
She ran out of the live venue like that, ignoring the surprised looks and pointing fingers of passersby, until she reached the street.
Her high heels could not endure it any longer. Sakiko fell to the ground, scraping her fair knees until they bled.
But her eyes were red from crying, and she did not care about the pain in her knees. She stood up and continued walking.
It was already close to summer, and the evening wind was still warm.
Sakiko walked through the crowd in a disheveled state.
The lights from nearby tall buildings flickered, displaying an advertisement for a certain idol group.
Seeing that advertisement, Sakiko's heart stirred slightly.
She suddenly felt that her dream was far out of reach. Perhaps she should become more realistic.
She walked absentmindedly through the colorful commercial district and eventually arrived at a street lit only by streetlights.
Climbing onto a pedestrian bridge, Sakiko stood there in a daze.
Two years ago, it was on a pedestrian overpass that she had misunderstood Tomori as trying to commit suicide and saved her. That event led to the story of the girls that followed.
Sakiko had a strong personality. Even when she became poor, it did not break her spirit.
By now, Sakiko had calmed down, which made her start thinking about her future instead.
Before she realized it, she had returned to North Ward, standing in front of that dark and dilapidated small house.
Taking a deep breath, she took out the key and opened the door.
The unpleasant smell of alcohol hit her immediately.
Sakiko frowned, but this had been her own choice, and she would not regret it.
No matter what, he was still her father. And he had said he had changed and would never gamble again.
As long as the debt of tens of millions of yen could be repaid, she could live a normal life.
Walking into the house and stepping around bottles and cans, Sakiko sensed something was wrong the next moment.
"Who are you?"
she demanded sharply.
Inside this place that she was not even sure could be called a home, besides her father, there were three unfamiliar men.
The three men were large and heavyset, with buzz cuts. Two of them had tattoos on their necks.
In Japan, people like this clearly belonged to a yakuza group.
"Young lady, we've been waiting for you for quite a while."
"Heh, I have to say, this gambling addict's daughter is really good-looking. She's a bit thin, but that's fine. With this temperament and appearance, she could become a top hostess if we sent her to the pleasure district."
"How about this, I'll waive part of the interest for you and take the first pick?"
The three men burst into laughter.
Fear gripped Sakiko's heart, but she still maintained a stern expression.
"Who exactly are you? Leave now, or I'll call the police!"
"Call the police? Oh, how scary."
"Young lady, even if you call the police, it's useless. Your father owes money, and we're here to collect the debt. Perfectly reasonable."
"Owes money? Aren't we paying it back every month?"
A strong sense of unease rose in Sakiko's heart.
"You're talking about another debt. This one has nothing to do with that. This is new money your father owes. Let me show you the IOU."
"Ah, I actually feel sorry for you, having such a gambling dog for a father."
"Boss, what's there to pity? If it weren't for this old dog, how would we get the chance to play with such a decent young girl?"
"Haha, you're right."
Sakiko trembled as she picked up the IOU.
When she saw that the debt amount had reached fifty million yen, her vision went black. She almost fainted and screamed,
"You gambled again!"
"Didn't you promise me you would never gamble again?"
(To be continued.)