Starting Line (2)
“Tae-il's not coming today?”
“Yeah... He said he's busy...”
Yuuna quietly gauged her daughter's mood from that voice, drooping like a flower soaked by rain.
Her daughter's gaze at the smartphone screen wasn't pretty.
Her lips were pursed out, just like when she was pouting.
Yuuna's intuition kicked in.
Something must have happened yesterday.
Otherwise, her daughter—who always went around with a bright, beaming smile—wouldn't be wrapped in such a gloomy aura.
Sure, she sometimes holed up in her room and ignored even her own mother, but basically, Ayane was a positive, cheerful girl.
And from her experience, nine times out of ten, whenever Ayane radiated this gloomy vibe, it involved Tae-il.
Just like right now.
With 100% certainty on her face, Yuuna subtly tested the waters.
“Did something happen on your date with Tae-il yesterday, by any chance?”
What testing the waters?
Probing wasn't in Katsuragi Yuuna's dictionary.
She mercilessly plunged a dagger deep into her daughter's heart.
“No? Nothing happened. Really.”
Ayane averted her eyes and fiddled with her hair.
Anyone could see that was a reaction screaming something did happen.
She's just like him in this way, I swear.
She couldn't hide her emotions at all.
Even her airheaded side must come from being childhood friends.
Yuuna gently pulled Ayane into a hug by the shoulders.
“My daughter... This isn't something so embarrassing you have to hide it from Mom, is it?”
“It's not like that! Ayane just...”
After repeating “just” for a while, Ayane finally spilled her worries.
“I heard about Shin-ssi’s dream.”
“Oh?”
Getting depressed after hearing someone else's dream.
That wasn't normal.
“Looks like it's not the time to leisurely cook.”
“Mom?”
Yuuna grabbed her suddenly even more downcast daughter and led her to the living room sofa.
“Alright. Dad's coming home late today anyway. How about some quality mother-daughter time, just the two of us?”
Yuuna took the lead.
“First off, I think I know what Tae-il's dream is.”
“Really?”
“It's music, right?”
Ayane's eyes went wide.
Yuuna covered her mouth and chuckled softly, thinking kids are kids, after all.
“How could I not know when he's been glued to that guitar since he was little? His parents even consulted with me several times.”
No matter the era, arts and athletics were always among the future hopes that made parents worry.
Especially bands—a branch of orchestras loved by the masses—but in Japan's massive music market, the successful ones were just a handful of sand.
Take the Toyoko Kids wandering Shibuya's streets, or those with funky hairstyles and flashy clothes doing music; even in Japan, they were often seen as delinquents.
If not that, they were pitied at best.
Only a tiny fraction became stars. And the common belief was that to join that fraction, you needed either talent or incredible luck.
In short, half-hearted effort, half-hearted mindset, and half-hearted skill usually led to failure.
If even band-holy-land Japan thought that way, a Korean like Tae-il's parents must have worried even more—never less.
At least if he just couldn't make money, that'd be fortunate.
Arts and athletics were industries rife with people crushed by the pressures of practicality, ideals, and talent, destroying themselves in the process.
If only Tae-il had a personality like Ayane's. But he clearly had an idealistic streak.
In Yuuna's eyes, Tae-il seemed born to make music.
Not in a talented sense, but his attitude screamed it.
He was always playing guitar, humming melodies, and scribbling furiously in his notebook whenever he had a moment.
Ayane, being the same age, seemed oblivious with her narrow view, but adults could see it plain as day. That kid was preparing for music.
As if there was no other path. Desperately.
“I-I see. Ayane had no idea. Mom knew all along.”
Ayane awkwardly swept her hair back to hide her embarrassment.
“Ayane, you know? At first, Mom was really scared of Tae-il.”
Ayane shot her a puzzled look at the unexpected assessment.
“Shin-ssi was scary?”
“Well, he never seemed like a kid at all, did he?”
It was different from the usual teenage angst and confusion.
Yuuna had glimpsed a certain obsession in Tae-il, who was so bad at hiding his emotions.
Yes, it was obsession.
It wasn't the story of a genius shining in music or just showing interest.
It creeped her out.
At an age when he should purely enjoy everything given to him, Tae-il was fixated on music.
Chilling.
What had made a young boy grip the guitar until blisters formed and calluses built up?
What had immersed that child so deeply in music?
Yuuna couldn't understand the boy named Shin Tae-il. Having a daughter around the same age made his very existence feel off-putting.
It wasn't just because he was a genius—clearly, to her eyes, he wasn't one.
The sadder fact was that even his own parents didn't understand him.
His idealism never cooled his parents' love, but to third-party Yuuna, he seemed terribly unstable.
To put it metaphorically, he was a sandcastle.
Ready to crumble at the slightest external shock.
“Ayane wouldn't get it. Shin-ssi is just Shin-ssi.”
“That's why Mom never said anything about you two being close. We even got help from him when your dad and I weren't doing our parent jobs right.”
Yuuna was still sometimes surprised by the maturity her daughter occasionally showed.
Tae-il acted like he knew everything, calmly supporting her daughter as her pillar.
And vice versa.
When Tae-il was with Ayane, that idealism slept, and he seemed like a normal kid.
No joke. To both sets of parents, they looked like a match made in heaven.
“So he's not scary now?”
“After watching Tae-il for years, do you think Mom's still scared? Right?”
“You got used to him, so he's not scary anymore?”
“Maybe? He was so peculiar—almost alien—when he was little.”
Yuuna looked at her daughter with worried eyes.
Her hand gently stroked Ayane's hair.
Because they accepted everything about each other, they didn't notice each other's idealism.
At this point, it was beyond love goggles—you couldn't deny they were soulmates.
But that doesn't mean I'm not worried...
In her eyes, Tae-il was always chasing something. She thought that's why he didn't waver even at her precious daughter's charms.
His eyes were on his goal, so even if he noticed Ayane's feelings, he couldn't reciprocate.
Fine as friends, but she hoped Ayane would give up on him romantically.
Yuuna swallowed her true feelings.
She couldn't force her daughter's heartbreak as a parent.
Instead, she probed.
“Ayane wants to be with Tae-il, right?”
“M-Maybe?”
Ayane sounded uncertain.
She confessed her inner thoughts.
“Ayane's never really thought about the future, you know? Ayane's grades are good, face isn't bad since she takes after Mom, popular at school too. Feels like a bright future ahead?”
Go to a decent college, graduate with decent grades, land a decent job, build a career, meet a decent guy through an arranged date.
Even without Tae-il, Ayane's life was already set.
Tae-il would laugh if he heard, but that's how it was in her head.
Life with some bumps, but no real hardships.
“So Ayane thought her spot by Shin-ssi's side was secure forever. Honestly, there weren't any girls better than Ayane around him? The rivals that exist...”
A married woman right in front of her, so no worries.
“Huh?”
Yuuna tilted her head.
“A-Ayane? Why are you looking at Mom like that?”
She panicked as her daughter's gaze turned icy cold, like a corpse.
“Nothing. Really.”
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
“Anyway, then I suddenly got anxious. Rivals are multiplying.”
“Rivals?”
Yuuna was flustered.
She went on a date and came back with rivals?
What the hell did they do yesterday?
Yuuna started worrying about Ayane hanging with Tae-il. In her mind, Tae-il's image was evolving from incomprehensible mystery to wicked playboy toying with her daughter.
“Some super famous person seems interested in Shin-ssi. Ayane was shocked too.”
“Famous person?”
“Izumi. Tenma Izumi. BARD's vocalist.”
“Oh my?”
Yuuna repeated “oh my, oh my” at the singer she'd heard of.
A love triangle with a celebrity!
Not some nobody—a hugely popular star.
Drama straight out of a show!
Yuuna's eyes widened.
Her surprised face was just like her daughter's.
“You sure?”
“Not totally sure, but she definitely likes him a ton. Ayane's intuition says so.”
Couldn't trust her daughter's gut fully, but the situation was too intriguing.
Auntie excitement bubbling over.
Before she knew it, Yuuna forgot to comfort her and got sucked into the story.
“Thanks to Shin-ssi, she didn't quit the band.”
“Thanks to Tae-il?”
“Yeah. At a show no one watched, he was the only audience and gave her a 2,000-yen bill.”
“Only audience and a 2,000-yen bill!?”
The overly abbreviated explanation distorted the info, but whatever—Yuuna leaned in to her daughter's juicy tale. Her impression of Tae-il was shifting again.
“That's when Shin-ssi said this: 'Please keep shining up there!'”
Soon Ayane got excited too, detailing Tae-il's declaration down to the last word.
Yuuna felt like she was watching a hot-blooded youth drama.
A boy chasing dreams and a star who's already paved the way far ahead.
Her preconceptions about Tae-il had long vanished.
She clapped and shouted.
“Mom's all for this couple!”
“Mom! You're supposed to take your daughter's side here!”
Even Brutus!
Ayane wailed “traitor!” at the betrayal from trusted family.
“But isn't a dramatic tale of effort paying off with your idol star more exciting than the usual childhood friends ending up together? Mom loves an underdog victory arc.”
“Th-That's true, but... No, Mom wants my love life to crash and burn!?”
“Confident you can beat Izumi?”
“W-Well, not like I can't...?”
Ayane stammered.
Could she win?
Even she wasn't sure.
Looks?
Subjectively, she prided herself on not losing. But objectively, against a celebrity? Confidence dipped.
Especially as a woman whose secondary traits finished early, her chest—not at all like her mom's—was one of her few complexes.
Izumi's, meanwhile, were magnificent.
Ask anyone, and unless it was taste, they'd pick Izumi over Ayane.
Skills?
Ayane had to concede defeat.
Comparing a minor like her to Izumi, who'd already succeeded as an adult? It was embarrassingly one-sided.
Hated to admit it, but Ayane had zero categories where she beat Izumi.
Forcing one: spending the most time with Tae-il, understanding each other deeply?
But even that was shaken by his recent band declaration.
She self-mocked.
“Mom, what if Ayane doesn't know Shin-ssi at all?”
“Right?”
“Mom!?”
“But it's true, isn't it? How well do you really know Tae-il?”
Ayane's mind went blank.
She bit her lip.
Pathetic—claiming to love him so much, yet stumped by Mom's question.
“You didn't even know his worries, did you?”
Did you even try to find out?
Critical hit.
The finishing blow.
“Guh!”
Ayane clutched her chest and collapsed.
After landing the critical hit, instead of KO'ing her daughter, Yuuna used motherly magic.
“So, you giving up?”
“N-No way! I haven't lost yet—giving up now is absolutely not!”
“Then what do you want to do?”
“I-I...”
Ayane opened her heavy mouth.
Yuuna smiled brightly like a girl.
That's my daughter.
The mother looked deeply satisfied hearing her daughter's resolve.
* * *
Iris stood blankly in the spacious room, scanning the photos scattered on the floor.
All the photos featured the same specific person.
Careful not to step on them, Iris tiptoed between the pictures and crouched before one that caught her eye.
“Hm.”
She propped her elbow on her knee, rested her chin in her hand, and examined the photo with just her eyes.
A photo of a young man and woman arm-in-arm strolling through Akihabara.
A photo of the young man and woman listening to busking.
A photo of the young man and woman standing amid the crowd entering a Live House.
A photo of the young man and woman exiting a Live House with a man known as BARD's manager.
Iris closed her eyes.
“You were a BARD fan too, huh?”
If they'd met at the venue, it would've been fun.
What a shame.
Iris, who couldn't get tickets, quietly smacked her lips.