Instead of waiting for her inside the music room, Yuhi found himself going outside. He found a random empty spot in the main building's back and laid down on the grass. For the next few minutes, he was at ease when he heard a pair of approaching footsteps.

"Yuhi."

Yuhi looked up and saw a familiar face. "Back from the dead teach?"

The person standing over him is none other than Nakara Shin.

"I wish, it still hurts."

"Yet you came to school?"

"It's the last day before the summer holidays; of course, I have to attend." Shin trailed off. "What are you doing in a place like this? Did you go somewhere again?"

Yuhi sensed his tone and reluctantly sat up. "I was with Sumire."

Silence fell on them, and he sighed. He probably shouldn't have mentioned it to this guy, and he will say that he is hogging her.

To his surprise, Shin nodded.

"The thing both of you have been wishing for the most has come true. Since then, you've been wandering around looking for her. God saw it all, and that's why I am glad that you two have mutual feelings for each other. I prayed for it the entire time. I am glad."

His eyes widened when he heard those words.

Ah. .this idiot. Why did he pray for something like this? But in the first place, Shin has always been the one who supported the two of them the most. Whenever he is lost, and in doubt regarding Sumire, he would always prove so otherwise.

"Sorry."

"Huh, why? Did you bully her again? Was she doing fine?"

He can't mention the kiss now. Yup, even if he were to die. He won't mention the kiss. "Nothing."

"Hehe, your weird."

He is a strange guy. But Yuhi is grateful for having a friend like Shin by his side this entire time. His thoughts broke off when he felt a familiar throbbing pain in his chest and started to cough. Yuhi immediately placed his hand on his mouth.

"Yuhi?!!"

Yuhi couldn't respond as a stream of coughs escaped his lips. For the next few minutes, he kept having short bursts of coughs, but the pain increased per cough.

"Are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Yuhi muttered. It was a lie, of course, but he did not want anybody else to know about this.

Shin shook his head and reached over to grab hold of his hand, revealing the blood in the palm in his hand.

"Shin. .. this is. .."

"Stop it. You haven't been alright for a long while now. I knew it all along. Please don't hide it from me anymore."

His eyes went wide at his companions' words. Did he know all along?

"Yuhi, I want you to understand this. We're both here, but you always carry the heavy burden by yourself. Even if I want to help you carry the burden, even just a little bit of it, I always end up just seeing you suffer, and I can't do anything about it. That's painful, above anything else. As your friend, in your difficult times. I want to be your best support. That's the thing I have wished for the most."

'As your friend, huh?' The word friend still seems like a foreign word to him. But he is gradually starting to understand. To think even somebody as indifferent as Shin would end up saying something emotionally like this.

"Ever since then, you've always wanted to ask, right? I see it in your eyes. Whenever you try to, I always answer you with strong feelings, the same thing. The reason I hesitate to listen to Atsuro's orders regarding Sumire is because of you."

He really is a fool. But just like that time, his words can easily lift the things he hid in his heart.

"Shin, the truth is that I am afraid. I'm afraid of even thinking about the future a year from now. I don't if my heart is still working fine by this time or if it's still beating. I'm afraid that the time will come when I won't be able to protect her anymore, more than anything else."

He is afraid, what will happen to her when he dies?

"That's why, if possible, even if I shorten my lifespan. I want to take her out from that darkness."

He wants to take her out of this darkness and show her exactly how beautiful basking in that light is. Just like she showed him, he wants her to see that light.

Shin sighed deeply. "Don't do anything reckless anymore. You know she won't like it."

"I know."

Sumire will lecture him if she finds out. Yuhi recalled the tears in her eyes when she found him in that condition. He does not want her to make that type of face again, but at the same time, he wants to see it. That was the first time he saw her look like that, and he found it very cute.

Yuhi's thoughts broke off when he felt a familiar pair of arms around his neck. He was occupied speaking with Shin that he didn't realize when she came.

"Sumire?"

Indeed it was his girlfriend. But there was something different about her.

"Wahhh, I fell."

Gosh, she is cute.

"I'll get some medical supplies, and you two wait here." Shin immediately understood and quickly left.

Yuhi reluctantly puts the girl onto a bench nearby. "You fell?" Yuhi repeated, examining her now torn dress.

"I saw some reporters." Sumire deeply sighed. "I did skip half the party, so I figured they would come after me, but they came way too soon."

"I see."

'Those reporters again, huh?' How frustrating. Even though he has the power to crush them, he always ends up missing when they openly harass her. It is difficult to crush them when he has no actual evidence.

Sumire laughed softly. "Yuhi-san, you don't have to do anything."

"Who said I was?"

'Maybe I can fake the evidence..' If he does that flawlessly, he can get rid of those pests.

His thoughts broke off when Sumire brushed her fingers across his eyes. "You're making a scary face again. It's okay, Yuhi, this isn't the first time this has happened."

"Does that make it okay?"

"I wonder. But even before I became an idol, people naturally disliked me. That's why this is fine. There is something about me that people don't like. I have already given up trying to explain."

This girl is so stupid. How is that okay? How can she be okay with that kind of life? Receiving so much hate is painful. He understood that very well. How can she cope with that?

How can she cope with all that pain and suffering?