Sweet Mare's First Anniversary

At last, the day had come.

Lulu's… no, Sweet Mare's first anniversary.

I had prepared so many things for today.

All the merch I had collected until now, the gifts I had received from Rua, and even the light stick.

Of course they were just sitting at home, but what did that matter? The mood was what counted, right?

And hyung was in pretty much the same boat.

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He had prepped his light stick, piled up his merch, and thrown in an order of pizza for good measure.

Thanks to hyung ordering pizza, I got to pick something a little tastier today. Hyung, seriously, thank you.

Anyway, once every last preparation was done, the two of us flipped through streams until nine o'clock, savoring every second of the wait.

Somewhere in the middle of it, hyung turned to me with a question.

"…Jinwoo."

"What?"

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm ridiculously nervous."

I gave the obvious answer to the obvious question, but hyung only shook his head and looked at me again.

"Not that. I mean about Rua."

"Rua?"

"Yeah. Lulu is Rua, right? Doesn't it feel kind of weird?"

Weird?

Honestly, at first it had felt a little weird. How to put it—hard to believe? Completely unreal?

That kind of feeling had been strong.

But now…

"It doesn't really matter all that much, I think."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why. Because I'm thinking of Lulu and Rua as separate people."

That was true. I was keeping the two of them apart in my head.

It wasn't a total separation. I still paid attention to Rua's schedule, and I had even bought her cake and coffee yesterday so she could rest even a little.

Even so, the reason I could split them apart like this was probably because the gap between Rua and Lulu was enormous.

The difference between Rua and Lulu was honestly on the level of heaven and earth, water and oil, light and darkness.

That was how huge the gulf between them was.

"It's hard to picture, right? Rua and Lulu."

"Definitely. Even their voices—if you didn't already know, they'd sound completely different."

"So the more I watch, the more they feel like different people. These days I can separate them pretty comfortably."

"For someone who 'separates' them, you still went and bought cake and coffee yesterday."

"That's… separate from the separating. Lulu lives inside Rua's schedule, so looking after her that much is fine, isn't it?"

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I laid out the explanation as thoroughly as I could, half making excuses, and hyung just snorted and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you would~"

Something about the tone of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that voice got on my nerves, so I glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well~ ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was just thinking maybe you like Rua~"

"Like her? Me?"

Like her? No way.

Liking someone required being on the same level first. Besides, there was that saying, wasn't there?

Just the fact of liking someone can be enough to hurt them.

There was a high chance Rua and I were exactly that kind of relationship.

The kind where the moment I started liking her, Rua would get hurt.

To Rua, I was a completely comfortable person. Someone who could drop by the house, flop around for a bit, and leave without it being a big deal.

Someone she could unload even the tiniest worries on and just ramble to.

If that person suddenly liked her? In that instant the whole shelter would collapse.

I knew that far too well, so I didn't entertain the thought even a little. I made a conscious effort not to.

I told hyung that straight.

"Hyung, to Rua I'm like a comfortable shelter. If I start liking her, she loses that."

"Well… that's true."

"So I can't like her. I won't like her."

"Is that for Rua's sake?"

"Yeah."

"……Alright. Anything past that is your call. Do what you want."

Hyung shook his head, then took a bite of pizza.

That was his way of saying he had no intention of talking about it any further.

I understood the gesture perfectly, so I just kept eating pizza myself and waited for the live performance.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when nine o'clock finally arrived…

Ding~ dong~ deng~ dong~

From a black screen that had been broadcasting nothing at all, a school bell suddenly began to ring.

With that school-bell sound as the cue, the screen lit up.

Three characters stood inside it.

Lulu, Aris, and Mei were wearing school uniforms.

On top of that, their hairstyles had changed in subtle ways.

Lulu, who had worn twin-tails, now had a ponytail; Aris, who had worn a ponytail, now had long straight hair; Mei, who had worn braids, now had a half-up style.

The background was, of course, a school.

Just as the thought no way crossed my mind, the three of them began to speak.

"We're late!"

"Hurry up!"

"Wait, let's go together!"

Their voices, thick with acting energy, rang out—and right after that they launched straight into the song.

They had launched straight into the song, which was already startling enough—but what startled me even more was the quality of the models.

"How much money did they pour into the modeling?"

"No idea, but it looks like they poured a ton."

"Insane. Seriously."

Pizza and cola in hand, we just kept staring at the stage.

Listening to the lyrics left me with a strange feeling.

It reminded me of the sleep gum and mint candies Rua had given me. It reminded me of the way she smiled every time our eyes met. It reminded me of the silent notes she used to pass me without a word.

And of course Lulu was the one singing that particular part, so my heart pounded even harder.

Hard enough that I almost started thinking unnecessary thoughts.

The chorus brought the song to a close, and right afterward the three voices came through again.

"Hello~ We're Sweet Mare~"

Hyung and I were already clapping, even if no one on the other side could hear it.

Because the stage had been that good. Because this stage that had crashed in at a completely unexpected moment was that good.

"A love song with school as the theme—Love Signal. Did you enjoy it?"

"Getting ready was so~ hard. The rap part was especially brutal, you know?"

"Right~ Hitting the high notes was really tough for me~ Still, we sang it well, didn't we?"

Yeah. They had sung it incredibly well. It was probably pre-recorded, but even accounting for that they had nailed it.

"Alright, on to the next song~ The next one is~"

From there Sweet Mare launched into one new song after another.

And as they kept singing, one thing became clear: this was not pre-recorded at all.

They were singing live, right now, in this very moment.

You could tell from the way they breathed together.

The little sounds of them drawing in air, the way the high notes wavered just slightly—those details came through.

And yet, or rather because of that, it was even more moving.

Because they were singing live for us. Because you could feel their determination to share this exact moment with everyone watching.

Before I knew it, the roughly one-hour live was racing toward its end.

"This is the last song…!"

"And the last song is one we all already know~"

"That song—our very first title track! Dreaming Orbit!"

At last Sweet Mare's title song, Dreaming Orbit, began.

The fast tempo and rock-solid high notes—definitely a title track. They sang it brilliantly.

The more I listened, the more I thought about how hard Rua must have worked.

I had never seen it with my own eyes, but she must have poured everything into it. She must have fought desperately.

You could feel it in the song. You could feel it in the lyrics.

The final chorus brought the song to an end, and with that stage the first-anniversary live was over.

From the surprise new-song opening all the way through to the title track of their first album, this live had been exactly what a first anniversary deserved.

Hyung and I just clapped like idiots, and once the clapping died down we started cleaning up the living room.

If our parents came home and saw the mess they would absolutely smack us upside the head.

And right around the time we finished tidying up…

…This damn bratty little succubus was trying to give me a heart attack.

But I knew no one else would ever find out. I knew better than anyone how carefully Rua was watching herself. And I knew I was the only refuge she had.

So I answered her with everything I had.

It was the most sincere thing I could give her.