"Haruka? What"s the matter?""Mmm, stay still."
Lila"s gaze softened when she felt his hand in hers. " Stupid," Lila thought. Haruka is foolish. But, it"s not like she doesn"t get it, "It was only a pat, Haruka."
"I don"t like him getting near you."
"But, you know I can"t just avoid him," or rather when Lila thought about it. She has no reason to avoid Kiryu. He has done nothing wrong after all. Unless loving her is a crime? She can"t control or change how others feel about her. Lila has had this mindset since middle school. So, even when she noticed other people"s feelings, she allowed them.
It was the least she could do. She could never return their feelings. So the least she could do was allow them to love her.
Her thoughts broke off when he lifted his head, his lips grazed teasingly across her neck. Wh--wh- Lyn felt herself panicking. What is he going to do?
"You, are mine," Haruka muttered, "I won"t let him take you back."
"Haruka.."
Haruka sighed and pulled away; he ran his hand through his hair. "Well, even if I say all this stuff and get irritated. The end decision is yours."
Oh, he looks sweaty. His clothes are sticking to his body. Lila recalled the sight from earlier and frantically shook her head. Don"t let it get to you. The moment she does, the moment Rosalia wins. She won"t allow that woman to get in her way anymore. In contrast to how things were last year, Lila is different now. She won"t turn a blind eye to such matters anymore.
"Did you do it with her?"
Haruka frowned, "Do you think I did?"
"No," truthfully Lila knew. If Haruka were going to cheat on her, it would be with Aizawa Mei. Rosalia? Even if she wants it, Haruka won"t touch her. But already having a candidate in mind on who her boyfriend might cheat on her with is strange. What happened earlier is still fresh in her mind. Aizawa Mei will be serious from now on, so she has to shape up too.
...….
"How did your talk go?"
"Kasumi," Lila nodded, "I think it was okay."
Kasumi took a seat beside her, "You think?"
"Haruka fell asleep after he drank my blood. So, rather than talk," Lila trailed off with flushed cheeks, " B--but do not get me wrong. I told him straight that he should protect his lips and body."
"You know Lila if a girl like you talks about other men"s body all the time, people will misunderstand. Wait, don"t tell me you said that to Karas.h.i.+ma? Those exact words?"
"Uh, yes?"
Kasumi took something out of her bag and hit her head with it, "Ouch.."
"Wah? Kasumi?"
"Honestly," Kasumi sighed. She ma.s.saged the temple of her forehead with her hands, "I don"t understand why you"re still clueless after dating Karas.h.i.+ma."
"H--Haruka said, that I"m bolder now."
Kasumi eyed her suspiciously, and her sweat fell, "I mean," Lila continued, "I guess I"m not that bad when it comes to romance and intimate things anymore? I understand things I didn"t before."
"I"d ask you what you understand, but I"m afraid to ask."
"Ah, that"s mean!" Lila exclaimed. B--but, now that she thought about it. Lila would rather not have Kasumi interrogate her on this matter.
"Well, all this aside. We should get going. They gave us the okay."
Her eyes lit up, "Our first job together since I got back! I"m so happy," Lila hugged her friend.
Kasumi"s gaze softened, "Yeah."
....
- Stadium - 7:00PM
Lila thought that she would head home after the shooting. However, Kasumi pulled her away. Since it"s Kasumi, there is no need to suspect anything, that"s why she went along. The excitement had yet to die down from that photoshoot.
The last place Lila expected for Kasumi to take her was the old concert venue on the outskirts of town. Lila did send a text message to Haruka that he could go home without her. But, she wondered if it was okay. He hadn"t replied since, and when she tried to call him, he didn"t answer. Lila deeply sighed, well in the first place, contacting his phone always ends up like this. If he doesn"t answer, he"s either busy or he left it behind somewhere.
"Kasumi, what are we doi--" Lila paused in mid-sentence.
"Good evening."
Ahh? This voice belongs to? Lila turned to the stage. There in the center stood Akari alongside a girl with curly dark blue hair and violet eyes.
"Um, that person?"
"A freshman who is a huge fan of Akari," Kasumi smiled, "The girl was oddly persistent about forming a unit with Akari. She asked from day one. There"s a new kohai shadowing senpai program we started this year. This girl volunteered and shadowed Akari around, the two of them started to get along from then onwards. I heard there was a lot of drama, though."
"I see," Lila"s gaze fell on stage where the other girl had just said something to Akari, and the girl wore a happy expression on her face. How many years have pa.s.sed since she last saw Akari smile like that? Thank goodness.
Akari is just as dear to her as Kiryu, maybe it"s because they are brother and sister. But the girl has always been important to her. "Everybody is doing well now, thank goodness," Lila whispered.
All the problems her group of friends had vanished, leaving no trace whatsoever. It"s like it was never there from the very beginning. Everybody is happy, and moving on --- but, Lila clenched her fist as she recalled Haruka"s pained expression and Kiryu. What about the three of them? The three of them are still like this even now.
.....
"Akari is really amazing now, isn"t she?"
"And so is Maaya and Rinna, Azuchan too," Lila murmured. Currently, the two of them were in the small lakeside area, she knelt down and touched the water. As expected of October it was chilly. The moment she dipped her hand inside, she felt the winter chill. It wasn"t just Akari"s stage, but her fellow G.o.ddess4 members and even Azua.
Everybody"s become so amazing, even now the beating in her heart due to the excitement had yet to fade. "I"m fortunate. My dream to get into the G.o.ddess4 has given me the chance to be here right now," Lila started, "If I didn"t become a G.o.ddess4 member, then surely the future would be different."
"Different?"
Lila paused to think, "It"s like, etto I think it would have taken me much longer to get to the top. Being a member of the G.o.ddess4 naturally gives you more opportunities and resources. But the technical reasons aside, I don"t think I would have been as motivated. Back then, all I thought about was Kiryu, Mother, and Ren-san. However, I noticed that Kiryu was slowly becoming more and more important. Back then, I thought, even if I had to sacrifice my career, it wouldn"t matter. I want to be with Kiryu."
In the past, her whole world was about Kiryu. Even if it meant sacrificing her believed music. Kasumi doesn"t know, but there was a case before that lead to her choosing between Kiryu and music. What she choose then was Kiryu.
"And now?" Kasumi sighed, "And now you want to be with Karas.h.i.+ma?"
"I do want to be with Haruka, but he isn"t part of this. The G.o.ddess4 was my starting point because I could see people"s smiles whenever I performed on stage; it pushed me to try harder. Because I saw so many people looking up to me and respecting me," she was only able to work hard because of everyone. Even now, that hasn"t changed. What"s motivated her this entire time was this.
"You"ve grown beautiful. You"re so much brighter than when we parted, that I can hardly see. So much that sometimes I feel like you are out of my reach. I"ve felt scared since we reunited."
Scared? Lila looked at her friend with a worried expression, but Kasumi dismisses it. Kasumi shook her head and continued, "Since I saw how hard you were working. That day I may have been the one who left, but before I realized it, you seemed to be the one who left me."
Ah, that"s right. It"s the same for the four of them. The one thing they all have in common, despite their clas.h.i.+ng personalities. It"s because they all know it. True loneliness. No matter what shape or form that loneliness is, they all understand it well. It"s a feeling that takes over their hearts, and in turn, it becomes beautiful melodies. It"s because they have such emotions that they can come together.
If she put it that way, the G.o.ddess4 seems like a group of loners, and it may seem that way if anyone found out. However, that"s not it. They all came together, their paths and roads connected. So they can share this feeling. Loneliness, pain, sadness, anger, frustration, cannot exist without happiness and joy.
Lila pulled Kasumi into a hug and shook her head, "You don"t have to worry about anything anymore. I"d never leave you behind," it pained Lila to say these words. She isn"t lying, and she is saying them from the bottom of her heart. But, "she can"t leave Haruka alone," if he leaves by himself, not only would they break up. But Lila felt like she would never see him again.