Dream Star

At that comment, he frowned. "You still blame him?"

"He should have returned Lila to Kiryu."

"Kasumi," Mikami"s tone is sharp. "Lilchan isn"t anybody"s possession. She is a big girl, she can choose who she wants to date and spend the rest of her life with. Even if Lilchan knew, she would have stayed with senpai."

"You"re such a liar, I told you to..."

"I know. And I do feel bad. But, I couldn"t keep them apart. I saw with my own eyes, the two slowly falling for one another, just like you watched over Kiryu-san and Lila before. You should understand better than anyone how I feel. Even then, I still tried to keep my promise to you. However, those two are..."

s.h.i.+chiro spoke up, "You don"t have to blame yourself, Kasumi. Mikami, you aren"t at fault, either."

The same as ever, huh? But, Mikami recalled the words Lila him not too long ago. His eyes went wide when he realized something. That"s why, that"s why she"s always like this whenever he mentions the tree. Mikami didn"t see the need to hide it that he knew about her visits to the tree and confronted her about it many times, that"s he had seen it that she hasn"t actually chosen anyone.

"Because I"m afraid.

All the other threads would disappear.

Wouldn"t that mean, I"m not connected to anyone anymore?

For me, that would be very sad. "

Joking, or am I?

Thinking about it logically, Mikami-kun, what do you think?"

He couldn"t respond. Of course, he couldn"t, he"s never once thought of the possibility of Teras.h.i.+ma feeling fear. After all, didn"t she say it to him that time she saved him? "The feeling of being afraid, I"ve forgotten it already." It can"t be. But after hearing this from both Kasumi and s.h.i.+chiro it made sense. His center isn"t the only one who"s naive; it"s him. How could he have possibly taken those words into a literal context?

Why did he not think of the possibility of there being another meaning behind those words of her?

Why did he think that a girl like her was completely strong and invincible?

After all, he"s already seen her break down plenty of times when she first came to light Town. Even after seeing that; how could he not have realised the hidden message she was sending behind those words? What an idiot. For someone who is supposedly really smart, he"s made the biggest mistake ever.

"I made a mistake. I should have said something to her then. If I did then," Mikami swallowed his words. It"s stupid, apologizing now. It"s already too late, isn"t it?

"We"ve all made mistakes when it comes to her, not the only one. Truthfully, our biggest mistake may have been letting her go to Light Town. Sure she met Karas.h.i.+ma again and got together with him and formed bonds with you and the others. But a part of me has always believed, that if we left her to even Ichinose then she really would be able to live a life without suffering. Or heck, even Soichiro was a better option. The one thing that separates Karas.h.i.+ma and Ichinose is, the latter has loved n.o.body but Lila. That alone is a determining factor."

"The same goes for Haruksenpai though." Mikami knew that Haruksenpai has only ever cared about Teras.h.i.+ma Lila. He"s only ever loved her. However, it seems like both Kasumi and s.h.i.+chiro are still biased towards Kiryu-san. It"s not like he doesn"t understand why.

Haruksenpai"s reputation isn"t good, and they saw with their own eyes how ruthless he could be. For both s.h.i.+chiro and Kasumi to reach this conclusion, they would have investigated, right? It seems like they caught senpai at a bad time.

"But, Lila knows that Karas.h.i.+ma has always loved her, correct?"

At that comment, Mikami nodded.

"Then surely it doesn"t count?"

Kasumi shook her head, "Usually that"s the case. But Lila is a very sensitive person. If she knows the person she loves has been with somebody else before then she will without a doubt prioritise that other person. Because she always thinks of others kindness before her own. That woman recently too has been saying quite a bit to her. What"s more, it doesn"t help how Aizawa"s new song reached number 6 on the first day sales. Although ranking doesn"t matter if Succhan sees that she will surely think that Aizawa"s feelings will reach Karas.h.i.+ma."

Even though this conversation intended to be about general concerns regarding her.

In the end, it"s like this, huh? Truly, when it comes to that girl and love. There are no shortcuts to the paradigm. But that"s fine. This way, they can a.n.a.lyze and talk through any problems that would arise.

"Mikami, you have to think about what you can do for her," Kasumi looked over at him with a pleading expression.

"What can I do?"

Other than silently watching over her. Initially, his group was in charge of caring for Lila when she arrived in Light Town. However, Mikami saw how the girl interacted with Haruksenpai. So he persuaded the other two to leave them alone.

s.h.i.+chiro nodded, "Not just you. But the others in RAY too. Just like how I and the others found our answer, you guys should be able to find it too."

An answer, huh?

....

Mikami wanted to spend some more time with Kasumi. But, the girl insisted on going on a jog or doing some training exercises before the show. A deep sigh pa.s.sed his lips, that girl, what is she thinking? They have not met in so long, shouldn"t she be all over him? He eventually arrived in front of a door.

"Hey, senpai, do you have a mi--" Mikami paused in mid-sentence when he saw the sight before him. Haruka had his arms wrapped around Lila, and the two laid on the small couch. However, he noted how Haruka"s arms ensured that Lila tested on him rather than the couch. "Interrupting?"

"She"s sleeping. You need me for something?"

"Just a little talk," Mikami walked over to the other couch. "So, I spoke with Kasumi and s.h.i.+chiro."

"I"m sure they expressed their dissatisfaction with me."

"Well yeah, but they calmly a.n.a.lyzed the situation too. Everybody acknowledges you love Lila."

"Thanks for doing this for me," Haruka looked over at the girl who was fast asleep. "Lila doesn"t mention it. But, I know how worried she is about her friends."

"She acts so considerate of you senpai, better step it up."

"I think so too. I"m going to tell you this first."

Mikami immediately sensed the serious atmosphere and paused. Is he going to do that at last? This would be the best timing for it.

"Zane, I"m planning to take him down. But, to do that, I"ll have to probably kill Sophia in the process."

"So, you figured it out?"

"The dual head of the organization ... The other head is Sophia. I thought it was strange when we first met. It felt like a setup. However, I genuinely sympathized with her. I thought she went through the same pain as me. If it"s Sophia, she wouldn"t hate me no matter what I did because she understands," a bitter laugh Haruka"s lips. "Who would have thought that she set me up?"