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The Way Home

Hotaru...

Hotaru(I feel like I'm floating.)

Hotaru(Every sound around me feels so far away.)

Hotaru(It feels like I'm wrapped in a thin, invisible veil.)

HotaruKanata-san...

Hotaru(Some part of me still can't believe it.)

Hotaru(That I'll never see her again.)

HotaruSo... that's why you're disbanding...

MahoroYeah... that's right.

Hotaru(Mahoro-san looked like she was in so much pain.)

Hotaru(But when she talked about their memories, her expression was so soft.)

Hotaru(Could the band... really just end like this...?)

HotaruHehe... Kanata-san, you really do love millsage, don't you?

KanataOf course! I hope they would be happy.

KanataThey're my treasure.

Hotaru...!!

HotaruHah... hah...!

Hotaru(Kanata-san, Kanata-san, Kanata-san!)

Hotaru(Maybe someone like me can't change anything...!)

Hotaru(Maybe I won't be any help at all...!)

Hotaru(But...!)

Hotaru(Kanata-san's treasure...)

Hotaru(The music you left behind in this world...)

Hotaru(I can't stand the thought of it... disappearing!)

Hotaru(I still haven't given anything back to you...! After you gave me so much... so much...!)

Hotaru(At the very least... the happiness you wished for everyone, Kanata-san...!)

Hotaru(If I can change this ending, even just a little, so everyone doesn't have to be left grieving...! Then I...!)

Live House - Front Desk

Store ManagerHouka-chan, are you sure you don't want to join another band? You even got an invitation...

HoukaYes. The band I belong to now is my coffin.

Store ManagerYour coffin...? That's really not a good way to put it.

Houka(That was my intent from the very beginning. This band was to be my coffin. And yet, that wish can no longer come true.)

Houka(Then at least... even if I must go on as one who failed to die... I will leave the musician I was here.)

Store ManagerI know what happened, but... I still can't help wishing you'd keep playing in a band.

HoukaIf I could, that would be the greatest happiness of all.

Store ManagerThat's such a shame. You've got all that talent, Houka-chan.

HoukaI wonder about that...

Store ManagerYou were on vocals before you joined millsage, after all. I think you could do perfectly well that way too.

HoukaHehe. Such lavish praise is more than someone like me deserves.

Store ManagerRight, that reminds me. That long-haired girl who came by the dressing room today... Was she someone you know, Houka-chan?

HoukaAh... You mean Shiomi-san? Today was our first meeting.

HoukaAre you familiar with her?

Store ManagerNot personally, no. Videos of her playing street piano have been getting some attention lately.

Store ManagerShe was really famous in the classical music world when she was a kid. People called her the "Angel of the Music World." She was a prodigy!

Store ManagerApparently she doesn't enter competitions anymore these days. But I've seen her play, and she was unbelievable.

HoukaMy... You are rather well informed.

Store ManagerMy niece used to play piano, that's why. Here, this is the video that got all that buzz.

Houka...!

Houka(Remarkable...!)

HotaruHah, hah...! Um, excuse me!

HoukaMy...♪

Store ManagerWait, it's really her!? Why is she here!?

HotaruHah... hah...! Is... Is Mahoro-san still here!?

HoukaIf it is Mahoro-san you are looking for, I'm afraid she has already gone home. Did you need something from her?

HotaruAh... um...! It's about millsage...! ...(Deep breath)...

HotaruIs there anything... I can do to help...!?

Houka!

HotaruI-I'm sorry. I know it must sound strange, some outsider suddenly saying this...

HotaruLike, what do I know about any of this...!? I-I think that too...

HotaruBut... I...!

HotaruI could tell how precious millsage was to all of you.

HotaruAnd I'm sure Kanata-san felt the same way.

HotaruShe talked so much about millsage... and she smiled when she did. She called it her treasure, and said she wanted all of you to be happy...!

HotaruSo... please! Don't let the band end!

HotaruThere has to be a future, where all of you can still be happy!

Houka...

Houka(How very greedy...)

Houka(So childlike, so rough around the edges.)

Houka(And perhaps that is precisely why...)

HoukaI have taken your feelings... to heart.

Hotaru!

HoukaHowever, it is already rather late tonight...

HoukaIf you would not mind, perhaps we could speak again properly another day♪

Road Along the Shore

NagiAre you really sure... you're okay going home alone?

MahoroI told you, I'll be fine. You're having dinner with your family, right? Then you should hurry and meet up with them.

NagiBut...

MahoroYou worry too much. I'm still the older one here, you know, Nagi-chan.

NagiThen... maybe it's about time you learned to wake up on your own in the morning, big sister.

MahoroUrk... Let's say that's a separate issue...

NagiIt's still cold at night, don't make any detours. Call me if anything happens.

NagiNo practice today either. Get some proper rest, okay?

MahoroOkaaay.

NagiDo you really get it, though?

NagiSee you, then.

MahoroYeah. Thanks.

Mahoro...

MahoroNagi-chan used to be so much cuter...

MahoroSomewhere along the way, she went and got so cool. Makes me look like the unreliable one, doesn't it?

MahoroWell... I guess I really am unreliable.

Mahoro...

MahoroHey... Kanata.

MahoroI still remember what we talked about that day.

After the School Festival Live

Minase Girls' Academy - Roof

MahoroThere you are~ The festival after-party is already starting, you know?

KanataOh...

MahoroWhat's wrong? You're totally spacing out.

KanataNah...

KanataJust thinking how fun that live was.

MahoroHuh~? I didn't know you got like this too, Kanata.

KanataWhat, that a problem?

MahoroNo, not at all. I had a ton of fun at today's live too.

MahoroMy second-year middle school self would never believe it. Like, "You'll be playing in a band on the school festival stage one day!"

MahoroI think... my heart's still racing a little.

KanataStill, that was the whole youth thing, right?

MahoroYeah... Almost enough to make me laugh.

KanataAt first... there was something I wanted to do. That's why I started this band.

MahoroWait, what? Are we getting a passionate speech?

KanataYup. So shut up and listen.

KanataA mark I left behind, I guess.

KanataProof that I was really here in this world. Something that could only exist because I lived this life.

KanataI thought it'd be nice to have something like that. Y'know, proof I existed?

MahoroKanata...?

KanataAhaha! I mean, you know I used to be a sickly, fragile beauty, right?

KanataSo yeah, I tended to think about stuff like that.

MahoroSince when were you fragile?

KanataHarsh.

KanataAnyway. I wanted that, so I asked you guys to start a band with me.

KanataThen Natsume and Houka joined, and there were five of us... Haha. Damn, all I can think of are the dumbest memories.

MahoroLike... the metronome incident?

KanataOh yeah, that one. We could not come in together on the chorus for anything, so we tried playing along to a click, but...

MahoroWe listened to it so much, and I could still hear the click in my head when I went to bed... Then I overslept the next day. Ahaha.

KanataAnd that time, Nagi hit the distortion pedal for the first time with the knobs all over the place and made that toy-like sound. I laughed like crazy.

MahoroNagi-chan was panicking for once. Like, "I don't know how to fix it!"

KanataThen~ Y'know, our first live! Natsume stepped off the riser and wiped out mid-show.

MahoroIt was amazing how she still protected her guitar on instinct, wasn't it?

KanataSeriously, how did she not get hurt~?

MahoroOh, I remember when we all escorted Houka-chan too. The one where our arms got so sore we couldn't lift them afterward.

KanataSomewhere along the way, it turned into this whole noble lady with four butlers thing. Like, "Allow me to carry your luggage."

MahoroAhaha. What even was that?

KanataHaha, yeah... Anyway, y'know, we just kept piling up memories like that.

KanataThen, at that practice camp the other day, I realized something.

KanataI was like, oh... this was it.

MahoroThis...?

KanataYep. I kept lining up all these cool-sounding reasons, like leaving a mark and proving I existed, but...

KanataIn the end, I just wanted to live out my youth.

Mahoro...!

KanataThe story of our youth, with us as the main characters.

MahoroI think... I kind of get that.

MahoroWhen our live ended earlier, it felt like the last chapter of a manga or something!

KanataHuh? Who was it backstage saying, "It feels like my life is about to start!"?

MahoroThat's how it felt then! But now it feels like the credits are rolling on the perfect ending.

KanataHaha, what the heck does that mean?

KanataAnyway, y'know. I'm stupidly happy right now. I'm even grateful to this world.

KanataEnough that I wanna grab every random person walking by and go around kissing them all.

MahoroHuh?! K-Kiss?! W-W-W-What are you saying, Kanata!?

KanataYou're freaking out way too hard. What are you, an elementary school girl? I'm just saying that's how happy I am.

KanataSo instead, I'm gonna make music.

KanataI'm going to deliver it to everyone through sound. A happy gift from us to the world.

MahoroOh... So, that's why we're "millsage"...? The French word for "thousand," and...

KanataCorsage, a flower for celebration. millsage.

KanataIt's happiness I wanna share, more than we could ever hold in both hands.

KanataHey, Mahoro. Truth is, I...

MahoroHuh...?

Mahoro...!!

Mahoro...

MahoroThat happiness... was mine too...

MahoroIt really was... and yet...

MahoroI'm sorry, Kanata.