i just want to see it.

▶  “boy i sure hope walking into this live café to ask for directions home doesn’t forever alter the course of my life ... what do you mean i’m now the leader of a group of street musicians.”

▶  imagine aiming to surpass a “legendary event” that you only just learned about. now also imagine one of your members is the daughter of the musician that held the event, and another is deeply inspired by him. oh and also imagine being a total greenhorn compared to everyone else in the group. that is her life (please help her she is trying her best.)

▶  with the voice of an angel, she’s certainly worthy of a spot on the roster... but her confidence and experience are sorely lacking when compared to the others.

▶  rather shy, nervous, and prone to second-guessing and floundering. she’s getting better though! anxiety can be quite the hurdle though.

▶  be prepared for the drama, the stakes, the slowburn 50k friends-to-lovers subplot, the angst, the epic highs and lows of high school street musicians...

▶  loves animals! she’s a member of the animal care committee at her school. she also enjoys looking after her dad’s pet snake, count pearl, and loves her dearly.

      HER  TABLET   ————          yes !!   this  unwanted  game  of  treasure  hunt  had  not  ended  up  fruitless  after  all !   although  ena  tried  her  hardest  to  remain  positive ,   part  of  her  had  grown  forlorn  at  the  thought  of  possibly  finding  her  art  supplies  here ,   MUCH  LESS  SUCH  AN  EXPENSIVE  TABLET   ;   alas ,   here  it  was ,   in  all  it’s  glory !   this  was  latest  good  news  she’s  had  in  a  while .

       holding  the  LCD  tightly  to  her  chest ,   the  student  takes  care  to  not  lose  herself  in  her  momentary  joy .   if  she  could  her  watercolors  too ,   that  would  be  fantastic !       in  the  middle  of  search  continued ,   the  artist  stops  in  her  tracks  upon  the  sight  of  a  familiar  enough  visage  amidst  a  sea  of  strangers .

    ❛❛   your name   …   you’re ,   um ,   kohane   ——   one of akito’s teammates ,   right ?!   what a coincidence !   do you remember me ?   i’m shinonome ena ,   akito’s older sister .   ❜❜      right   …   she’d  met  the  small  girl  along  with  an  for  the  first  time  during  an  accidental  run  -  in  with  their  group .   akito  was  so  insistent  they  move  on  that  they  barely  had  time  to  talk ,   that  brat .    ❛❛   thank you for always taking care of that akito ,   oh   &   for that birthday present from last time !   those cookies were so cute ,   i’d wanted to try that new shop for a while now !   ❜❜

     such  a  sweet  -  looking   &   cute  girl !   ena  couldn’t  understand  WHY  akito  was  so  insistent  she  never  meet  his  group ,   every  single  one  of  them  had  been  so  incredibly  kind .

     lost  in  thought ,   the  illustrator’s  gaze  at  last  falls  upon  the  object  within  the  younger  girl’s  grasp ,   mouth  popping  open  with  a  soft  little   ‘ ah ’   :      ❛❛   isn’t that   …   my pyonpyon plushie ?   ❜❜

     “Huh...?”  Remember? Was she supposed to? Kohane blinks once, twice, but even three times over doesn’t spark any sort of recognition. And yet... she’s talking like they’ve met before... she knows her name, even!  “Th-that’s right, but...”

But... she can’t think of what to say. Her mouth sits agape before she realizes she’s not saying anything, and quickly bows her head apologetically. There’s something overbearing about her presence now. Instinctively, Kohane tenses up in order to resist every urge to simply back away and run off. 

     “Shinonome... Ena...?”  Akito’s sister... no, not even saying her name does anything to aid her. They definitely haven’t met, but he has mentioned her once or twice before. Her grip on the plushie tightens for a moment, wracking her brain for any other possible explanation. Did arriving here steal some of her memories? Did she hit her head somewhere? Is Ena just being delusional? No, no... it didn’t seem right to blame her for this. Ena seemed so certain! More so than she did, so she had to be right!! Kohane must have just... forgotten! She was even nice enough to thank her, so surely this was all just silly Kohane having a lapse in memory. Surely!

The more she thinks, the more overwhelming it becomes. Her attention is only drawn away when Ena puts to name what the other has locked in her grasp, and she nearly jumps out of her skin because of it.

     “Oh! This, this is yours?! S-sorry, I just... w-well I, um... it says Shinonome, I recognized the name, so I thought it might be your brother’s...”  Try as she might to hide behind even more nervous laughs, it’s not doing her any favors. She’s beginning to feel rather light-headed. “R-right!! This is yours! I didn’t mean to grab it, so, here, you can have it back—!”  And thus it is shoved right into the other’s arms, rather forcefully at that.

Hands now empty, her conscience is feeling a little lighter. At least it was returned properly, right? She doesn’t have to think about anything else regarding this interaction, right? ...If only. She musters up a smile, as forced and shaky as it may be, and bows her head once again.

She’s passed by a few people now, each delighted by finding something that’s really theirs, apparently. As strange as it sounds, curiosity has gotten the best of her, and Kohane can’t help but comb through things to see if she could be as lucky. It seems silly, and she doesn’t even know what to expect to find, but it’s worth a shot.

     “Oh, wait, this one says...”  Shinonome...? So it really was true, then. Some of their stuff is here. She picks it up, rereading the tag just to be certain. It’s with that action that she feels a rather imposing look from the vendor, to which she lets pass a bit of nervous laughter in apology and assures them she is just looking... she wouldn’t dare take something that isn’t hers if they’ll react this strongly to simple musings. But still, it’s a bit vexing...

With all the noise, it’s a marvel she can think straight. It’s not bad though, all of the different kinds of music and various murmurs from onlookers are things that have grown quite familiar to her. Even more so, when she spots him along with it all, and she’s grateful for that. Miku mentioned that when Len spoke to him, it seemed as if they wound up in the same place she did. This might not be the greatest of situations to wind up in, but thank goodness she wasn’t in it alone... as selfish as that might be to be thankful for.

She shouldn’t count her blessings yet, though, because she’s yet to flag him down properly. Any further in her own head and she might have to find him all over again.

     “Shinonome-kun, w-wait!!”  There are many ways she could have tried to not lose him in a crowd, but the one she chose was... a choice. She edges her way between people, her hand reaching out and gripping at the fabric of his hoodie, and promptly yanking him back toward her. At least the panicked look on her face would suggest some kind of guilt over the action.

     「 ...Well there seems to be some kind of event going on over here, so why don’t you enjoy yourself? We can leave figuring all this out for later. 」

Miku really did seem awfully calm about all this, and as easily as worry comes to Kohane, she did have a point. There was some kind of festival, and judging by the faces in the crowd, everyone was enjoying themselves. She could almost envy them for it.

     “Mm, I–I guess I could. It kinda looks like they’re setting up for a fireworks show... That might be fun to watch, did you wanna join me Mi—?!”  With her head buried in her phone, Kohane had placed a little too much trust in the surrounding crowd to watch out for her. With high hopes like that, it was more of a wonder that she didn’t run into someone sooner.

     “Ah... um... Aoyagi-kun?”  Though with the amount of trepidation in her voice, one would never know that was his name, or that she was even trying to get his attention, for that matter. She certainly knows him well enough by now to recognize him, and she’d certainly be certain were it not for, well... well, she doesn’t really have a good reason for why. Maybe the unfamiliarity of this place is getting to her, making her second guess even the things she does recognize. It is a bit of a relief to see him though... if it really is him.

How frustrating. She should try harder, and have a little more faith in herself, right? That’s easy to say, but... no, it should be easy to do, too. All she has to do is call out his name for goodness’ sake!