(Transted/Edited/Proofread: Snow)

  "Taichi’s not coming today?."

  "Yeah… He said he’s busy..."

  Yuna quietly watched her daughter’s voice sink, like it had been soaked in rain.

  Ayane’s eyes, fixed on her phone screen, were sharp and brooding.

  Her lips were slightly pursed in a visible pout.

  Yuna’s intuition kicked in.

  ‘What happened yesterday?.’

  Otherwise, her daughter, who always lit up the room with a bright smile, wouldn’t be wearing such a gloomy expression.

  Sure, Ayane sometimes locked herself in her room and refused to talk to anyone, but at her core, she was a cheerful and resilient girl.

  And from experience, Yuna knew—

  When Ayane gave off this kind of mood…

  Nine times out of ten, it involved Taeil.

  Just like now.

  Yuna gave a casual gnce at her daughter, her face radiating 100% certainty.

  "So, did something happen on your date with Taichi yesterday?"

  There was no such thing as ‘subtle’ when it came to Katsuragi Yuna.

  She drove the knife straight into her daughter’s heart—clean, precise, and merciless.

  "No? Nothing happened! Really!"

  Ayane looked away, suddenly focused on braiding her hair.

  To anyone watching, it was the most suspicious reaction imaginable.

  ‘Why are they so alike in these things?’ Yuna thought. ‘They can’t hide their feelings at all.’

  Even that clumsy awkwardness, that razor-thin line of immaturity, reminded her of Taeil.

  Yuna reached out and gently hugged Ayane’s shoulders.

  "My daughter… Is this really such an embarrassing story that you have to hide it from me?."

  "It’s not that!"

  "It’s just… Ayane is just..."

  She trailed off, repeating the word ‘just’ over and over, as if trying to come up with the right excuse.

  Finally, she gave in and confessed.

  "I heard about Shin-chan’s dream..."

  "And?"

  Hearing someone else’s dream, a real dream, full of conviction, had made her feel small.

  This wasn’t just some idle wish.

  It had weight.

  And it left Ayane feeling left behind.

  It was no ordinary thing.

  "It looks like this isn’t the time to be cooking so leisurely."

  "Mom?"

  Yuna gently took her increasingly gloomy daughter by the arm and led her to the living room sofa.

  "Okay. Dad’s going to be home te today," she said with a smile. "Why don’t we have a little cozy time together? Just the two of us."

  She spoke gently but directly, her tone warm, grounding.

  "First of all... I think Mom knows what Taichi’s dream is."

  "Really?" Ayane blinked, surprised.

  "Isn’t it music?"

  Ayane’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  Yuna covered her mouth with a ugh. ‘A kid is a kid’, she thought affectionately.

  "How could I not know? He was raised with a guitar in his hands. I heard his parents consult with me several times."

  Regardless of the era, the arts and physical education had always been fields that stirred worry in parents’ hearts.

  Especially music.

  Sure, bands were popur, especially in Japan.

  But in such a massive market, only a handful truly make it.

  Even now, in modern Japan, the "Toyoko Kids" wandering around Shibuya with fshy hair and wild fashion, chasing musical dreams, were often beled as thugs.

  And if not judged, they were pitied.

  In reality, only a precious few rise to stardom.

  To become one of them, it’s widely believed you need raw talent, or ridiculous luck.

  In other words, those with mediocre effort, a half-hearted mindset, or average skills were bound to fail.

  And if that’s the perception in Japan, the so-called "mecca of bands," then Taeil’s Korean parents must have been even more anxious.

  After all, it's not just about failing to make money.

  The world of art and sports is filled with people who are crushed, by profit, by pressure, by unreachable ideals.

  Yuna gnced at Ayane.

  ‘Taeil isn’t like you’, she thought. ‘You have a banced, stable personality.’

  ‘He… that child is different.’

  ‘But not in a bad way.’

  In Yuna’s eyes, Taeil was born for music.

  Not because of any visible talent, but because of his attitude.

  Always cradling his guitar.

  Always humming, scribbling in his notebook when he thought no one was looking.

  Always lost in his own rhythm.

  Ayane, being the same age, might not have noticed it.

  But to the adults, it was obvious.

  Taeil was preparing himself, earnestly, relentlessly, for a life in music.

  As if… there was no other path for him.

  As if this was the only way forward.

  "I see," Ayane said quietly. "Ayane had no idea... But Mom knew everything already, huh."

  She tried to hide her embarrassment, tucking her hair behind her ear, her gaze slipping away.

  "Ayane, Mom used to be really scared of Taichi at first."

  Ayane looked at her with surprise, eyebrows furrowing at the unexpected evaluation.

  "Scared of Shin-chan?"

  "Well... Taichi, that boy never really felt like a child, did he?"

  It was different from the usual teenage confusion or wandering adolescence.

  Yuna had always sensed something else in Taeil, something heavier.

  She saw obsession in him.

  Taeil wasn’t a child who happened to like music.

  He was consumed by it.

  It had nothing to do with talent, brilliance, or some romantic notion of a musical prodigy.

  It made her stomach twist.

  At an age when he should’ve been enjoying life, running around, ughing, making innocent mistakes—

  Taeil had instead locked himself into music like it was the only thing he had left.

  It was... unsettling.

  What kind of child ends up with hands full of blisters and calluses from pying guitar relentlessly?

  What kind of pressure or need drives someone that young to cling to music so obsessively?

  Yuna, as someone with a daughter the same age, had felt deeply uncomfortable.

  She couldn’t understand Shin Taeil.

  She didn’t want to, at first.

  It was clear to her that he wasn’t a genius.

  And yet, that somehow made it even sadder.

  What broke her heart more was that even Taeil’s parents didn’t seem to understand their son.

  They loved him, sure.

  But Taeil’s idealism, his intensity, left even them on edge.

  To Yuna, Taeil felt like a sandcastle.

  Delicate, shaped with care, but always on the verge of colpsing at the lightest touch from the outside world.

  "I don’t know, Ayane… Shin-chan is just… Shin-chan."

  "Is that why you never stopped me from being friends with him?"

  Yuna nodded slowly.

  "He was the one who supported you when your dad and I failed to show up the way we should’ve. That meant something. And… I saw what you two meant to each other."

  She still remembered it clearly.

  The way Taeil, despite his own strange solitude, always stood beside Ayane quietly, calmly, as if he understood exactly what she needed, without ever being told.

  And strangely enough, the opposite was true too.

  When Taeil was with Ayane, the weight around him seemed to lift.

  His strangeness faded.

  He looked, for once, like a normal boy.

  To the parents watching from the sidelines, the two of them had always looked like a pair meant to stand together.

  "Mom," Ayane grinned faintly, "you’ve been watching Taichi for years. Are you scared of him? Or, have you gotten used to him?."

  Yuna gave a breath of ughter.

  "Maybe. He was such an unusual kid back then... maybe not scary, but definitely strange."

  She gnced at her daughter again, eyes filled with quiet concern.

  Her hand reached up and gently stroked Ayane’s hair.

  Because they accepted and affirmed everything about each other, they never noticed the gaps between their ideals.

  At this point, whether by fate or coincidence, it was hard to deny they were a match made in heaven.

  ‘That doesn’t mean I’m not worried, though… ‘ Yuna thought, her expression softening with concern.

  In her eyes, Taeil was always chasing something, something far away, something unreachable.

  She suspected that was also why he never seemed moved by the feelings of her daughter, who was so precious to her she wouldn’t mind cradling her in her eyes.

  Because he was so focused on his goal, even if Taeil noticed Ayane’s feelings, he likely wouldn’t be able to return them.

  ‘I don’t mind if they stay friends’, Yuna thought. ‘But… I hope she gives up on liking him more than that.’

  Still, she couldn’t bring herself to say those words aloud.

  As a parent, she didn’t have the right to force her daughter to relive her own regrets.

  Instead, she looked at Ayane gently.

  "Ayane... you want to be with Taichi, don’t you?"

  "Th-That… might be so?" Ayane mumbled, clearly flustered.

  She hesitated for a moment, then quietly opened her heart.

  "You know, Ayane’s never really thought seriously about the future. I mean, my grades are decent, my face is okay, like Mom’s, so it’s not bad, and I’m kinda popur at school, right? So, it just felt like my future was going to be fine."

  The path was already id out in her mind:

  Go to a decent university.

  Graduate with solid grades.

  Get a respectable job at a decent company.

  Build a stable career.

  Meet a nice guy through a blind date.

  Marry. Settle down.

  Even without Taeil, her life was already complete.

  If Taeil had heard that, he probably would’ve ughed in disbelief.

  But to Ayane, that’s genuinely how it felt.

  Her life might have twists and turns, but not real hardships.

  "That’s why I always thought… Ayane’s pce was beside Shin-chan. Honestly, there wasn’t a girl around him who was better suited than me, right? Even his so-called rivals..."

  She trailed off, eyes narrowing slightly.

  ‘There’s no need to worry’ she thought darkly, ‘you’ve got a married woman standing right in front of you’.

  "Huh?"

  Yuna blinked. "Ayane? Why are you looking at Mom like that?"

  She was startled by her daughter’s sudden, icy gaze, her expression turning cold and still, like a porcein doll.

  "...No, nothing."

  Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.

  "Anyway..." Ayane continued, trying to shift the mood, "that’s how I used to think. But tely, I’ve started to feel anxious. Like… like my rivals have increased."

  "Rivals?" Yuna asked, suddenly flustered.

  Now she was embarrassed.

  ‘You said you were going on a date, and now you’ve got a rival?’

  ‘Where on earth were you, and what exactly were you doing yesterday?.’

  Yuna’s expression gradually shifted from concern to suspicion.

  Her imagination, already well-trained from years of motherhood, began spinning.

  The image of Taeil in her mind was quickly evolving from an incomprehensible, awkward loner…to an evil pyboy toying with her precious daughter.

  "Someone really famous is interested in Shin-chan," Ayane said, sounding both resigned and surprised.

  Ayane’s shocked too."

  "A celebrity?" Yuna asked, her ears perking up.

  "Izumi. Tenma Izumi. She’s the vocalist of BARD."

  "Oh?"

  Yuna blinked, then gasped.

  "Oh my! Oh my!"

  A name she knew. A real singer! A celebrity!

  A love triangle involving a star?!

  Not just some random indie musician, a hugely popur one!

  Yuna’s eyes widened like saucers.

  Even her surprised expression mirrored Ayane’s.

  "Are you sure?" she asked breathlessly.

  "I’m not sure sure, but... I really think she likes him. Ayane’s intuition says so."

  Granted, Ayane’s intuition wasn’t exactly known for its accuracy, but even so, the situation was thrilling.

  Yuna, swept away by emotion, completely forgot she had sat down to comfort her daughter. Now she was lost in the dramatic whirlwind of her daughter's love life.

  "Thanks to Shin-chan, she didn’t quit the band," Ayane added suddenly.

  "Thanks to Taichi?.”

  "Yeah. he was the only audience member at a live show no one came to, and he gave them a 2,000 yen note."

  "You were the only audience member and gave them a 2,000 yen bill?!"

  Though the details were... somewhat distorted due to Ayane’s dramatic storytelling, Yuna still listened intently.

  Her impression of Taeil was once again changing, this time for the better.

  "And then Shin-chan said, 'Please shine from above!'"

  Ayane, now fully animated, excitedly reyed Taeil’s dramatic decration.

  Yuna clutched her chest.

  ‘This is... a youth drama coming to life.’

  A boy chasing his dream.

  A star who paved the way.

  A quiet girl at his side.

  All her earlier prejudices about Taeil had completely dissolved.

  She csped her hands together with sparkling eyes.

  "Mom approves of this couple!"

  "Moooom!" Ayane shrieked. "You’re supposed to be on my side!"

  "Uragirimono!" Ayane cried, again and again, pointing accusingly at her once-trusted parent. (T/L: Uragirimono = traitor)

  "But think about it!" Yuna said, trying to justify herself.

  "Isn’t it way more dramatic when a hardworking underdog meets and captures the heart of a star they admire? That’s way better than the usual childhood friend trope! Mom loves a good story of human triumph."

  "Th-that might be true... but—No, wait!. Would any mother seriously root for her own daughter’s love story to fail!?"

  "Are you confident that you can beat Izumi-san?"

  "Oh… I… I guess not…?"

  Ayane stuttered.

  ‘Can I win?’.

  She didn’t know the answer.

  Appearance?

  Subjectively, she had always felt proud of how she looked. But objectively, compared to a celebrity, her confidence wavered.

  Especially when it came to one of her biggest complexes: her chest, which hadn’t developed like her mother’s.

  It was a point of quiet insecurity, and standing next to someone like Izumi, with her striking figure, especially her magnificent chest, it was hard not to feel inadequate.

  If people had to choose between her and Izumi, it’d probably be Izumi.

  Unless, by chance, it came down purely to taste.

  Ability?

  Ayane had no choice but to admit defeat.

  She was still a minor.

  Izumi had already achieved real success, standing tall in the world as a professional musician and public figure.

  It was ughable, even pitiful, to compare the two.

  Ayane hated to admit it, but she couldn’t beat Izumi in anything.

  If there was one thing Ayane could cim, it was this:

  She’d spent more time with Taeil than anyone else.

  She understood him better than anyone else.

  Or… at least she used to believe that.

  But even that fragile confidence had started to crack ever since Taeil announced he was forming a band.

  Self-doubt gnawed at her.

  "Mom… Isn’t it true that… Ayane doesn’t really know anything about Shin-chan?"

  "...Hmm?"

  "Mom!?"

  Yuna raised an eyebrow, then answered pinly.

  "But isn’t that true? How well does Ayane actually know Taichi?"

  Ayane’s mind went bnk.

  She bit her lower lip.

  Even though she’d always cimed to like him so much, she suddenly felt ashamed.

  Ashamed that she didn’t have an answer to Yuna’s question.

  "You didn’t even know what Taichi was struggling with, did you?"

  ‘No…’

  ‘Had I even tried to find out?’

  —Clean hit.

  Yuna’s words struck like a finishing blow.

  "Coolook…!"

  Ayane dramatically colpsed, clutching her chest as if she’d been mortally wounded.

  Yuna, seeing her daughter reeling, gently pulled back, careful not to push her over the edge.

  "So… are you going to give up?"

  "No, no! I absolutely hate giving up before I’ve even lost!"

  "Then what do you want to do?"

  "I… I…"

  Ayane finally opened her mouth, the words heavy, as if they had to be pried loose.

  Yuna smiled brightly, like a girl witnessing something precious.

  ‘That’s my daughter.’

  The pride in her eyes was unmistakable.

  She looked thoroughly satisfied after hearing Ayane’s quiet but determined pledge.

  **********************************************************

  Iris stood still in the rge, dimly lit room, her gaze drifting across the countless photographs scattered across the floor.

  Each photo featured the same subjects, not ndscapes, not events—

  People.

  Specific people.

  She stepped carefully between them, her footsteps soundless, making sure not to touch even the corners of the images.

  Eventually, one photo caught her attention.

  She crouched down slowly in front of it, elbows resting on her knees, chin tucked into her arms. Her eyes moved silently, scanning the scene.

  A photo of a young man and woman walking arm-in-arm through Akihabara.

  Another of them listening to street buskers.

  A third of them, standing in line, waiting to enter a live house.

  And finally—a photo of the same pair leaving the venue with a man identified as BARD’s manager.

  Iris closed her eyes for a moment.

  "You were a fan of BARD too?"

  Her voice was light, nearly pyful, but it carried a strange undertone.

  ‘If I had run into you back then… it might’ve been fun.’

  ‘What a shame.’

  She licked her lips gently, almost absentmindedly, the echo of that missed encounter lingering in her mouth like a taste she couldn’t pce.

  Iris had missed that night, and failed to get a ticket.

  And now, someone else had been there in her pce.