Dream Star

Whenever Lila saw that sign, she couldn"t help but wonder. No matter how many times she saw or heard this name. Anybody pa.s.sing by would think it was a proper government building. However, Lila knew better. HYOU4 the name meant panther or leopard in English. The name of an animal. "A hunting organization." But n.o.body would bother translating that. A name is a name. Most places have names that have no particular meaning.

Kiryu leads her towards the side entrance. The moment they got inside, she looked up and saw a ma.s.sive flight of stairs.

"Sorry about this, but we have to walk a bit." Kiryu apologized.

"I don"t mind, but who are you avoiding?"

"Who else other than that former leader," Kiryu muttered. "Reis.h.i.+-san is annoying these days. He keeps lecturing me on pride and some other formal values. I understand that a leader has to have charisma and all that. But I hate it when people push their values onto me."

Lila laughed as they walked up the first flight of stairs. Due to her condition, she walked slowly. However, she glanced over and noticed that Kiryu was only walking slightly ahead of her. "He is keeping pace with her." Kiryu has longer legs and should walk faster than her. But he is keeping pace with her. Her gaze softened.

"This person isn"t honest either."

"By the way, was it okay for you to leave Haruka alone?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think somebody drugged that woman. Leaving them alone, is that okay?"

Lila paused and thought back to the scene she just saw. So that"s what that was all about. "Despite what it seems, I"m not an unreasonable person. If Rikksan is sick and needs help, then Haruka should help her."

"And your real thoughts?"

Lila laughed lightly. "My real thoughts? I"m quite bitter. I don"t want Haruka to get close to other women. I want him to be mine and mine alone. But such thoughts are very possessive."

"You know, Lila. I think you"ve forgotten that we"re hanyou"s. It"s normal for us to be possessive."

"You think so? I don"t think this is normal."

"I"m sure it isn"t that bad."

"He can say that with confidence because Kiryu has no idea what she is thinking." Lila wasn"t cruel enough to tell him. Even though she isn"t a saint or anything. Lila didn"t want to hurt Kiryu anymore than this.

Kiryu is already hurt enough. She doesn"t want to hurt him any more than this. She doesn"t want him to shoulder anything for her anymore. But, Lila couldn"t bring herself to say this to him. Right now, Kiryu is trying to find closure. That"s why she ought to let him help her until he finally let"s go. "It"s a stupid solution," Lila thought. With the way things are now, Kiryu will only grow more attached to her. He will never get over her.

"We"re here," Kiryu suddenly said.

Lila looked up and noticed they were at the top of the long flight of stairs. In front of them was a large metallic door. "So the side entrance leads to the archive room?" That doesn"t seem "safe." But considering how long these stairs are. n.o.body would come here.

Kiryu reached out for his pocket and took out a small badge. He raised it towards the scanner, and the doors opened. Now that she thought about it. Kiryu is already a member of HYOU4.

She isn"t surprised to see the large rows of shelves. Or the large stairwell at the center to reach the books.

"You look over there. I will go here."

"Kiryu, however, already knows where to look." Usually, people would have a hard time navigating around this place. But, Kiryu doesn"t. It"s like he knows this place more than his own home. She wonders how much time he spent here.

Kiryu reached over and flicked her forehead. "I don"t know what your thinking. But focus on work right now."

"Alright," she walked over to the shelves he pointed to. Lila started from the shelves she could reach. But it didn"t take long for her thoughts to go haywire.

A long time ago, there was a time where she blindly followed all the rules. Blindly followed whatever those people told her to do. She trained in many different fields.

Despite following them, Lila had longed realized that to her, those things didn"t have a meaning. No matter how much effort she put in them, no matter how motivated she got to work hard on her lessons. In the end, it seemed to have quite a fleeting feeling to her, like it was something that was just there and would disappear in an instance. Something she won"t be able to reach, something that didn"t have any meaning to her.

Whenever Lila partic.i.p.ated in these activities, she realizes that the colors in her world became more monotone. Like this, there is no meaning in anything. She couldn"t understand why the friends she had then were so excited when it came to lessons.

Lila couldn"t understand their pa.s.sion and drive, and along the way, she drifted from them. It was like that with that woman for a bit too, because she was couldn"t understand the girl"s pa.s.sionate feelings. Well, there was the matter with that person too, yet Lila, what played the most part in the argument. By the time she understood it, Lila saw no reason to approach the girl anymore.

"I don"t have anything," indeed the words she told Kiryu then weren"t a lie. However, there was something that had always been sleeping in her heart. Those bright feelings she felt when she came to this place accidentally and watched that persons stage.

It was then something inside her heart stirred. It was because of that, because Lila saw that bright world, that she could incorporate that in her songs. Taking into account every single individual"s feelings when she composes the songs, learning about the composer. All those traits into a song. It was because of that person that she began to have so many more different encounters afterwards.

Her gaze fell on Kiryu, "She wonders what he is thinking right now." Does he still remember those times? The times where they walked on the same path and walked towards the future. Just like a thread, Lila knew her future, and his would always...

Does Kiryu still think the same? Would it be okay to ask him? Lila shook her head, "Don"t be stupid." Even though Kiryu doesn"t hold a grudge against her, she still hurt him. That is one thing she can"t erase.