The Songbook¹

*pant, pant…* Thank god…

You always seem to be chasing someone down, huh, Chief?

Ahaha, only when I have to chase after a cute, little wild child.

Alright, we have to go back, but…the path’s been covered up, so let’s stay here and wait for the ferry that I called.

…‘Kay.

……

……

(Can I ask him why he got in a bad mood today…? I’m not sure how to approach this without sounding too insensitive.)

It’s…

Hm?

It’s…turned into a whole mess.

Mm. What has?

…Everything I’ve been hiding.

Hiding…?

Like why a “wild child” like me was…

At the old school building that night.

……

You haven’t asked me about that, Chief. Don’t you wanna know?

I do, but I didn’t wanna force it out of you. I only want you to tell me what you’re comfortable with.

Alright… In that case…

I’ll talk about the elephant in the room first.

I don’t really have a type. Whoever I end up liking becomes my type.

I fall in love pretty easily, and I can’t hold my feelings back. I always end up liking people who don’t feel the same way.

I guess you could call me a hopeless romantic.

Mhm…

I try not to fall in love with anyone, because I know they won’t like me back, but I just can’t help myself.

Even though I know it won’t end well… It drives me nuts.

I thought that I…finally found the one.

……

It’s really hard for me to keep my expectations low. So one day…

Hey, so… If you’re free tonight…

Could you come meet me on the roof of the old building? I wanted to talk to you about something.

…I’ll think about it.

And before you get any weird ideas, it wasn’t someone in our club. The five of us met there by accident.

So you didn’t plan on being there together the night the building exploded…

We just happened to all be there at the same time. Everyone had their own reasons for going there.

But I won’t tell you what they were.

(So that’s what happened…)

So…what happened with your crush?

Didn’t even show up. I think I made my intentions a little too obvious.

I got a few PeChat messages right at the time we were supposed to meet. “I can’t meet you at the old school building.” “You can watch the movie with someone else.”

……

I basically got cut off without even being able to confess.

That’s awful…

Don’t look at me like that. I’m…mostly over it now.

I know that love can be really scary for people, so I’m not mad about it.

But…it still hurts a little bit. It takes a lot to fully get over it.

So I don’t wanna fall in love. I don’t wanna get close to anyone.

The more I love, the more I’m just gonna break down.

(I think I’m starting to understand why Nanaki-kun distances himself from people.)

(He doesn’t wanna get attached…because he doesn’t wanna get hurt.)

But I know I’ll end up falling in love again eventually. It’s always been that way.

And then I’ll get my heart broken and get hurt again.

……

We’re so far away from home, but the name of that damn movie still comes up.

I wanna forget about it already… I’ve been trying to forget.

No.

Huh?

You don’t need to try so hard to forget about it. Even though it hurts, you might still wanna hold onto that pain.

If you were that serious about it, then there’s no way you could forget about it. Those are your feelings. They’re important to you.

So…I think you should hold that pain close to you.

……

You have a lot of love to give, Nanaki-kun.

…Yeah. But there really isn’t any point if there’s nobody I can give it to.

I know I’m gonna keep experiencing love that curses me like this, but…

I don’t think I’ll ever find someone who I can truly connect with—someone who loves me as much as I love them.

I know how that feels. I can’t imagine that for myself either.

……

Nobody knows what the future has in store for them.

But because we don’t know, it’s important to love ourselves so we can be prepared to give love to whoever comes into our lives.

…You’re…

Hm?

Never mind. Thanks for hearing me out.

(Ah, he’s smiling… That’s a relief.)

…Nanaki-kun, you like listening to music, right?

Huh? Well, I do, but… I make it too.

You compose music? That’s amazing!

…Do you wanna listen?

Can I?

Yeah, since it’s a special occasion.

Thanks!

Here. Sorry, I only have one set of earbuds, so we’ll have to share.

……

What do you think?

I-It’s so good…! It’s a really great song… It’s like a pro made it…!

Yeah… Unlove made it.

Huh?

That’s the second thing I was hiding. I’m unlove.

WHAAAAAT?! You made the song we used for our hospitality live show?!

Yep.

Wai⁠— Uh, hold on. This is way too much of a shock…!

So you really didn’t know. I thought so.

(None of the documents I read mentioned that…! Kafka did this on purpose, didn’t he?!)

The song you wrote for the Morning Team was really, really amazing! So many of our guests fell in love with it!

…Do you like it too, Chief?

I love it!!

…!

Even though they don’t know your true identity, there are lots of people who really love your work!

So I think you should love yourself just as much!

…Your hand.

Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.

It’s fine, you don’t need to apologize. I run cold, so we can keep holding hands.

Huh?

Your hand’s really warm, so… I wouldn’t mind…

WHAT THE FRICK ARE YOU GUYS DOIN’?!

Ugh… We came here to bring you back on the ferry, but here you guys are doing whatever that is. Let’s just leave them on the island.

Akuta-kun? Ushio-kun?

No fair! I wanna hold hands with you and Nanaki too!

Holdy-hold! Holdy-hold!

What’s up with you? Did you turn into some kinda hand-holding monster?

Ow, ow…! Akuta-kun, don’t poke me in the eyes…!

*sigh…* Just hurry up and get on the boat.

Wow… Everything looks so magical at night.

It kinda reminds me of that one movie…

Yeah, the really famous one.

I’ve seen that one! It does remind me of the final scene. The one where the heroine jumps off the boat…

I haven’t seen that one yet… ‘Cuz the promise was broken and all.

Oh… I’m sorry! Did I spoil it for you?!

Spoiling the end of a movie…

Guilty on all charges.

I-I’m sorry… I really am…

Hahaha!

It’s alright, I can still enjoy movies even if I get spoiled.

…You’ll watch it with me sometime, right?

(Nanaki-kun looks happier now. I’m glad I was able to help him…)

Of course I will!

(Phew… That bath felt great. I should record my cassette tape for Kafka before I go to bed.)

Travel diary. Another sunny day. We started training in the morning, and our coordinator, Gannosuke-san…

Oh, I see you have finished your bath.

I have. They sure left a mess with the snacks…and now they’re all fast asleep.

They grew tired after having their fun, it seems. We must take them to their rooms after we clean.

I can help!

Thank you very much… Oh my, what is this?

(Th-That’s…! That’s the drawstring bag filled with unmentionables!)

I-I think that belongs to one of them! I’ll give it back tomorrow.

I see. I shall leave it to you.

Thanks!

(Ugh… Huh? This is heavier than I expected… My grip is⁠— Ah!)

An…egg?

Mrmm… Whuh…? Whazzat sound…

Just…now.

An egg…