"Incredible… so this is Little Chiose's gift for music."
After dinner, Chiose dragged Taki up to the little terrace on the third floor. On the way past the storage room, she reached into the third level of a big rack and pulled out a guitar.
And then the most unbelievable thing Taki Shiina had ever witnessed happened.
Chiose Noshiro began to play the guitar. And the way she played it…
"So good. You can tell it isn't as otherworldly as her piano, but it's still so good."
"Time Heals the Shattered Heart," reworked on the spot into a guitar arrangement. The evening wind wandered freely through the ends of one girl's hair and then the other's, carrying the free-running notes with it out into the air.
Every song ends eventually. As Chiose Noshiro plucked the strings one final time, the last of the sunset burned out along the horizon.
All that remained in front of them was an endless spread of neon flickering under the night sky.
"Haven't practiced in ages. Did it sound good?"
"It sounded good."
Taki Shiina said it almost without meaning to. Her thoughts were only tangling further.
"I can play bass too. Want to hear?"
"What — what, what, what — Little Chiose, you—"
Taki Shiina turned and stared at Chiose Noshiro, refusing to believe it.
Even after the bass piece was over, Taki Shiina still hadn't come back to herself.
In that moment she finally understood how vast the gap between one person and another could be.
Chiose Noshiro was, beyond any doubt, an all-round musical talent of enormous creativity. Not just piano, not just guitar — even the bass she played that beautifully.
There was a fierce ache in the way Taki looked at her.
She was proud of everything Chiose could do. On any ordinary day, that ugly little sense of her own smallness would have risen up alongside the pride.
But today the guilt outweighed it.
"So… your talent shines like this. A hundred times, a thousand times brighter than I ever imagined. But… if you hadn't lost your hearing… there would have been a better road for you, wouldn't there."
"Hm?"
Chiose Noshiro, who couldn't hear the murmur, tilted her head like a cat that hadn't understood a thing.
[Ah… it's nothing. I was just marveling at your music. It's so moving… as wonderful as always.]
"As long as… Taki likes it… hehe."
Silly girl. You're still smiling.
If Chiose Noshiro ever found out that Taki was the one who had ruined her life — would she still be able to smile like that?
No. She wouldn't.
She'd never smile at me again.
And if the truth ever came out, Taki wouldn't have the face to stay here at all.
"Let's go back inside. I want to play the piano. Once the band really gets going I probably won't get to play whenever I like in the daytime, so — will you keep me company for a bit?"
"Ah, sure."
On the way downstairs, Chiose rattled on about her plans without waiting for answers.
"And then we can write songs together. Can Little Taki write songs? If you can't, I'll teach you."
They came around the corner of the stairwell.
"After the songs… we can take a hot bath. It's going to get warm soon — do you think we should dig out the electric fan? Then we keep playing. And when I have money someday… I'll buy a drum kit, so Little Taki can practice at my house too."
Chiose talked to herself the entire way down. Taki listened in silence, and the weight pressing on her slowly thinned away.
"Ah… this is nice."
The soft white hair of the girl in front of her swayed with every step, and those drifting strands were Taki Shiina's lifeline.
"A crow is a crow, and Little Chiose is still Little Chiose…"
What does a life need with grand accomplishments anyway?
"If every day from now on could just be like this…"
"Chiose Noshiro's smile — I'm going to protect it. No matter what."
I will. I can never hurt Chiose again.
Never. Not ever…
Wednesday. Rehearsal. Everyone was astonished to learn that Chiose could play guitar, and Taki noticed that Chiose had started wearing her hearing aid for long stretches.
Thursday. Takamatsu, their bandmate, finished the lyrics, and Sakiko and Little Chiose had the music written not long after.
The next morning Taki received the sheet music Chiose had arranged for her — a song called "Haruhikage."
Haruhikage?
It didn't sound as nice as the title she'd given Chiose's song last time.
Friday. Rehearsal moved fast. Chiose was wearing the hearing aid more and more often — she kept it in through the entire afternoon session.
Taki Shiina only noticed on the walk home afterward.
[Hey… wear it less, okay?]
Another sunset. The daily rehearsals filled every hour, and Taki kept letting Chiose's condition slip past her attention.
She knew perfectly well that Chiose was the one thing she could never overlook, not for a single second — and yet, once she got busy, this was exactly what happened.
"Mm?"
Chiose still had the sheet music in one hand. Even with the other hand tickling Taki's palm, she could spare a corner of her mind for it.
"It's fine, really. If the band's going to play together, of course I have to wear it."
"But… haah."
Taki was beginning to regret agreeing to let Chiose join the band. She regretted pushing her to be the guitarist, too.
If Chiose weren't in a band, she wouldn't have to wear the hearing aid and torture what little hearing she had left.
If Chiose weren't the guitarist and had stayed the reserve… she wouldn't need it for hours at a time either.
Was every decision she had ever made nothing more than groundwork laid for the next way she would hurt Chiose Noshiro?
Taki was trembling.
One sweep of [Humble Devouring] across Taki told Chiose that the moment to deepen the story had come around again.
"Silly Taki, don't be scared. As long as I'm not wearing it twelve hours a day, nothing bad is going to happen."
"Really? But that isn't what Little Chiose said before."
"Oh my. Before, I just… remembered it wrong."
Burrowing into Taki's arms, Chiose made a low purring sound, like a kitten begging to be spoiled.
"I like Taki best. We're best friends, aren't we! So believe me, okay!"
It didn't take long…
before Taki was coaxed back into calm.
"Little Chiose, can you take it off now?"
"Eh — oh, right. I forgot to take it off."
Chiose reached up, and Taki caught her hand at once.
"Eh?"
She tilted her head, puzzled — and then Taki Shiina spoke.
"There are a few more things I want to say to Little Chiose. Is that all right?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"I…"
Terrified that Chiose wouldn't hear her, Taki leaned in very close; terrified that a raised voice would do more damage to Chiose's ears, Taki Shiina didn't dare speak up.
"If you're going to be in a band, you have to take care of your own health. All right?"
"And in a band… you have to watch out for your own safety, too. Don't get mixed up with shady people… and also, in a band…"
Chiose listened with her eyes crinkled in a smile.
This mother-hen version of Taki had a charm all her own.
Choosing the role of the one being protected this time really had been exactly right.
"Okaaay!"
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