Sound Barriers

I opened the door to my hotel room, where Manager Na was getting through his nightly routine. For some reason, that included a small cup of coffee.

"Oh. Hey, Yozora," he said. "It's almost midnight, kid. What were you doing out so late?"

Judging by how casual he seems, he doesn't know anything. Looks like the others didn't tell him anything. That's good because I'm not sure if I can explain everything that went down earlier today.

"Nothing much," I replied. "Just... walking around."

"Ah, yeah. I get that. Sometimes, I think about walking around a whole new city with no clear directions. Sounds pretty enticing, that's for damn sure."

"I guess so. By the way, why coffee?"

"Y'know, I get that a lot. Contrary to most folks, caffeine makes me sleepy. Don't ask how or why, it just does. Anyway, I'm checking in. Don't stay up too late."

"Yeah. Good night, Manager Na."

He paced off into his room while I sluggishly retreated into mine. I immediately plopped down onto my bed without doing anything else. No changing clothes, no washing my face, not even brushing my teeth. I'm just... too tired to do anything other than nothing.

As my eyes were steadily closing, my phone went off. There's only one person I can think of who would call me this late. Turns out, I was right.

I picked up. "Hello?"

"Oh. Hey, Yozora," Yoshino said. "Honestly, didn't expect you to pick up."

"What? I always do."

"Hehe~ You do, don't you?"

Compared to before, she sounds a lot livelier now. I can't help but be thankful for that.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, absolutely peachy," she replied with her usual, playful tone. "I'm just thinking about how tomorrow's going to go now."

"Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?"

"...Yozora. Don't tell me you forgot the very reason why we came to Osaka in the first place. Spoiler alert, it wasn't just to hang out like we've been doing since coming here."

"What else was there—"

At that moment, it clicked.

"Ah~ Looks like you finally remember," Yoshino scoffed.

"The performance," I sighed. "Right... It had completely slipped my mind."

"Don't worry. I won't hold it against you. Anyway, showtime's at six in the evening, but we need to be up bright and early in the morning to prep. Don't sleep in too late, hm?

"Eh? How early is early?"

"I'd say a good... seven-o-clock?"

My mind went black. "S-seven...? I don't think I've ever woken up that early since grade school. The hell are we gonna be doing for those eleven hours between then and showtime?"

"Hey. Idols need time to prep. We need to get our makeup done, get fitted for outfits, and coordinate with the hosting stage crew. Can't just throw on last-minute getups and expect to look good on stage."

"And... What does that have to do with me?"

"You're our assistant."

"B-but—"

"You'll be alright, Yozora. Good night."

With that, she hung up. I tossed my phone onto the bedrest and rolled onto my back, staring blankly at the ceiling. The show... I can't believe I almost did something so reckless the day before the girls' big performance.

It's fine. It's whatever. I'll just pretend it didn't happen. Whatever went down today will never see the light of day again. At least, that's what I told myself before falling asleep.

The next morning, I woke up at six-fifteen on the dot. Without wasting a second, I dragged myself out of bed. For once, I stuck to my full morning routine—yes, that included brushing my teeth and washing my face this time—then threw on something suitable for the chilly weather and stepped out of my room.

But the second I saw who was there, I froze. My instincts screamed at me to turn around and slam the door shut. There she was, lying on the couch with her feet casually propped up on the coffee table—Yoshino.

I made the tactical decision to retreat, slowly backing into my room, but of course, nothing ever goes as planned. Somehow, she must've sensed the shift in the air, because her neck snapped around with unnerving precision, locking eyes with me before I could make my grand escape.

"Ah. Good morning, Yozora," she smiled.

"G-good morning, Yoshino..." I stuttered nervously.

"Hm? What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"It's not that. Just... What are you doing here so early? I thought you said to wake up by seven."

"I did, but I wanted to get here a little early because... Well, I wanted to—"

Suddenly, the door next to me slammed open and out stepped Manager Na in his business suit with a shiny smile.

"Oi, Yozora!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Wake the fu—oh, hey. You're up."

"Yep."

"And Yoshino is here too!"

"Good morning, Manager Na."

"Morning. What's got you over so damn early?"

"That's what I said," I mumbled.

"Hehe, it's nothing," Yoshino smiled. "I woke up pretty early and couldn't fall back asleep. Rather than waking the others up, I decided to just come here and hang out for a bit since I knew you were an early riser, manager."

"Aha! That, I am. Well, since we're all up, let's get a move on, shall we?"

We all made our way over to the front door, and all the while, I let out multiple sighs of relief. I'm not sure what Yoshino wants to talk about, but it definitely has something to do with yesterday. Not that I want to bury it forever, but the day after seems a little too soon, especially with the performance today.

To my dismay, however, the moment we reached the door, Yoshino spoke. "Could you step aside for a second? I need to speak to Yozora in private for just a minute."

"Oh?" he grinned. "Is he in trouble?"

She hid behind my head and shot a weird smile at me. "Big trouble, if you ask me. I'll bring it up to you later, but right now... I need to hear what he has to say."

"Got it. I'll be in your hotel room to make sure the others wake up. Meet up with us in the lobby whenever you're done beating him up."

"Will do."

My heart literally sank the moment the door shut behind me, as began Yoshino began taking a step toward me every few seconds.

"S-so... What was it you wanted to talk about...?" I gulped.

Instead of a verbal response, the smile on her face stretched wider. Then, without a word, she skipped up and gently pushed me against the door.

"Y-Yoshino...?!" I gasped, careful to stay as quiet as possible. Manager Na could still be nearby, listening in, but it didn't seem like Yoshino even thought about that possibility.

"Hehe~ Such a coincidence, hm? That we're both still here," Yoshino giggled. "What a shame, don't you think?"

"I... wouldn't necessarily say that..."

"Maybe, but I can say that one thing is for certain. I don't know about you, but the only reason why I'm standing here right now is because of you. So..."

She leaned in so fast that I didn’t even have a second to react. Suddenly, our heads were practically touching, her breath brushing against my ear.

"Stay alive, Yozora Noa," she whispered with a much more serious tone. "Don't even think about pulling off something like that again."

I found it difficult to reply, but I did anyway. "Don't worry. I won't... but that also means that you can't think about it either."

"Hehe. Of course, no? However, that will depend on you. You're the one who's keeping me here. That's why... I need you. I need to know that you're still here, somewhere out there, watching me. Can you do that, Yozora?"

"...Y-yeah. I promise, Yoshino."

She let out a soft chuckle and opened the door behind me. Then, she paused and turned back, a mellow smile spreading across her face.

"You know, people can make and break promises in the blink of an eye. I wonder where you land on. I guess I'll have to stay alive to make sure, huh?"

I watched as she walked further down the corridor, her hair swaying back and forth. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was really okay. Then again, who am I to worry about her when I can barely handle myself?

"Ah. By the way, Yozora..." her voice called out once more. "Just 'Yoko' is fine."