...

(I've finished making a list of all the new books the library received, so I can start practicing some...)

Hm? Shiraishi's calling me?

Hello? Shiraishi?

<Hey, sorry. I already called Akito about this, but it's about Kohane. There's something I want to talk to you guys about.>

<I'd like it if the three of us could meet up and talk it over. Are you free now?>

Yes, I can go.

<Thanks! See you then!>

See you.

Something about Azusawa...?

(That reminds me, she seemed bothered by something that someone said during our last event.)

...

Akito...

Hm? Oh, right. Wanna get some food?

Sure.

Oh, about yesterday...

You're talking about Kohane?

Yes. I like your idea about us entering into STAY GOLDEN again so that she'll be able to feel more confident about herself.

Right? To be fair, we pretty much went through the same thing.

Yes, we did.

...

Hm? What's up?

I was just wondering what Azusawa's singing will be like once she does find that confidence.

Yeah, I get what you mean. It's not like she's been letting her nerves get to her while she sings.

Exactly. I genuinely believe she's been giving every performance her all so far.

But also...

Tono said that there's something interesting about how Azusawa sings.

He did?

All I remember is how he said Kohane was too amateurish and someone he'd never work with...

Really?

Dude, seriously? You looked pretty pissed then too.

Yes, that did make me mad too...

Anyway, I have no idea what she's gonna be like when she does learn to have confidence in herself...

But even if she does, I doubt her personality will change all that much.

Remember what happened right after we decided to join up as a team? She saw what we were practicing and tried to do everything all in one night.

Right, that did happen.

We did everything we could to stop her and hurriedly came up with a separate list for her to work on.

We managed to come up with something more balanced and probably better for her...

But it was still far too much for any run-of-the-mill novice...

Yeah, and it was just meant to be a chance for her to see what she's made of.

She even commented that it was really hard but she still managed to get through all of it.

And I couldn't believe it either.

Since then, she's kept practicing because she honestly believes there's nothing more fun than singing.

And she still seems to believe so even now.

If she learns to feel more confident about herself, I'm sure she'll keep falling more in love with singing.

And we have to do well at STAY GOLDEN to make that happen.

Sure.

Azusawa keeps saying that she's constantly chasing after us, but that's really just a milestone she's been working towards.

I hope she'll be able to see that there's more beyond that point.