"Don't worry about it. Lucoa likes Kaori too, so she was happy to help."
Yuto smiled as he explained.
Mr. and Mrs. Miyazono clearly wanted to find some way to repay Lucoa for what she had done, but after Yuto patiently talked them out of it several times, they finally gave up on the idea.
Wanting to repay such an enormous favor was perfectly natural, but ordinary material things were of little use to someone like Lucoa.
Rather than forcing a gift on her that she neither needed nor particularly cared about, it would be far more appropriate for the Miyazonos to simply thank her sincerely the next time they saw her.
"Oh, right. Miku asked me to tell you something."
Yuto's tone became a little more serious, though the gentle smile remained on his face.
"If you're willing, she'd like to invite you to play violin at one of her concerts sometime. She thinks very highly of you."
Kaori's face immediately lit up with surprise and delight.
Longing for the stage was practically part of her nature.
She loved performing, and she loved music; if she had not, there was no way she would have persisted with the violin for so many years despite everything she had endured.
Although Kaori had participated in plenty of competitions, she had never once performed at a real concert.
Even before her illness had worsened, standing on an actual concert stage had been one of the dreams she secretly treasured: stepping beneath the spotlights, feeling countless eyes focused upon her, raising her violin, and playing for an audience that had gathered specifically to listen.
Just imagining it was enough to make excitement swell inside her.
Unfortunately, excitement was quickly joined by anxiety.
What if she ruined Miku's concert?
"How big are Miku's concerts?"
Kaori asked the question somewhat nervously.
She knew Miku was an idol, but she had no idea just how famous she was in her own world, so she wanted some sense of what kind of audience she might be dealing with.
If it was a relatively small concert, Kaori felt she could probably manage.
But if it was something enormous...
That would be terrifying.
Yuto hesitated.
"Hmm... The last time I went to one of Miku and the others' concerts, there were probably a few hundred thousand people at the venue."
Kaori blinked.
Yuto continued, a little more cautiously, "And there were close to four billion watching online."
He had actually considered softening the number because he was worried the truth might scare her.
Even he had been stunned when he first learned the total audience size of that particular concert; calling something like that merely "large-scale" hardly did it justice.
Kaori froze.
Then, very slowly, the color drained from her face.
"Four billion... four billion... four billion..."
She began muttering the number beneath her breath as though her mind had stopped processing anything else.
Performing in front of countless people might have been one of her dreams, but surely there was supposed to be some kind of gradual progression involved.
The largest audience Kaori had ever performed for was only around a thousand people.
Jumping straight from that to an audience measured in the billions was not the kind of leap anyone could casually shrug off.
One mistake, and it would become an epic-scale disaster witnessed across an entire world.
Kaori was not the only one stunned. Her parents had gone completely still as well.
They genuinely had no idea Miku commanded an audience of that magnitude.
Four billion viewers.
The scale of influence behind a number like that was almost impossible to comprehend.
"M-Maybe..." Kaori gave Yuto an awkward smile. "Maybe you should turn her down for me, Kamisaka-kun. I feel like if I stood on a stage like that, I might end up embarrassing Miku."
The normally cheerful and fearless Kaori chose retreat without the slightest hesitation.
Yuto could only smile helplessly.
"If you refuse, Miku will be disappointed. What am I supposed to tell her then?"
Kaori's expression immediately became even more conflicted.
"It'll be fine. If Miku invited you herself, that means she believes in you. Come on, give it a try."
Seeing her hesitate, Yuto took the opportunity to encourage her, but Kaori's mind was still stuck on the same terrifying number.
Everything had sounded wonderful right up until he mentioned four billion.
That number alone had nearly short-circuited her brain.
"Are you really going to refuse?" Yuto gave her another little push. "Can you handle seeing Miku disappointed?"
Kaori immediately found herself struggling.
Seeing Miku disappointed because of her?
No.
She definitely could not handle that.
And standing on a concert stage really was one of her dreams.
She had spent years imagining what it would feel like, and now that the opportunity had suddenly appeared in front of her, could she really throw it away simply because she was frightened?
Kaori clenched her teeth.
Fine!
She would do it!
"Okay! I'll do it!"
Yuto smiled approvingly.
"That's more like it. There's nothing to be afraid of. When the time comes, just play the way you normally do."
"O-Okay..."
"And last time was a special case anyway. Miku's ordinary concerts probably don't have that many people watching."
Kaori's eyes immediately brightened again.
"Then about how many would there normally be?"
Yuto thought seriously for a moment.
"Maybe seven or eight hundred million?"
He paused, reconsidered, and added, "Or... around a billion?"
Kaori froze again.
A miserable expression slowly spread across her face.
"Can I take back what I just said...? I've suddenly realized I can't do this after all..."
"Sorry. Too late."
Yuto smiled brightly.
Kaori remained completely petrified.
...
After finishing his visit with Kaori, Yuto finally began making his way back.
By the time he reached the entrance of Ichinose Street, it was a little after three in the afternoon, and the various establishments lining the road were already beginning their preparations for the evening.
Yuto greeted familiar faces as he walked, casually exchanging a few words here and there.
At one point, a mail carrier passed him going the opposite direction.
Yuto barely paid attention.
It was only when he reached Hanako's nightclub that a shout from inside suddenly stopped him.
"Yuto, wait!"
He looked toward the entrance curiously.
Chiko was hurrying toward him with an excited expression, holding an envelope in one hand.
"Chiko-san, what is it?"
"Perfect timing! We got a letter from Hanako-san!"
Chiko excitedly waved the envelope in front of him.
Yuto's expression immediately brightened.
Ever since Hanako's previous letter, there had been no further news from her, and although he had never said much about it, he had been waiting and hoping to hear from her again.
Of course, if Yuto truly wanted to find Hanako now, it probably would not have been particularly difficult.
Considering the people he knew through the restaurant and the things he now had access to, tracking down one person was hardly impossible.
But when Hanako left, she had made it clear that she did not want to be disturbed.
Yuto respected that.
He had never deliberately gone searching for her.
What he had been waiting for all this time was something entirely different: a letter she chose to send of her own accord.
"When did it arrive?"
"Just a few minutes ago."
Chiko's answer immediately reminded him of the mail carrier he had passed on the street.
That must have been the person who delivered it.
At the time, Yuto had not thought anything of it.
"That really was lucky. If I'd come back a little later, I would've missed you."
He silently felt relieved.
If he had already returned to the restaurant, Chiko would not have been able to simply walk over and find him.
To most ordinary people, the restaurant was effectively invisible unless they had already been allowed inside.
"Hey, bring us two chairs."
Chiko smiled at Yuto before turning and calling toward the nightclub.
After Hanako left, Chiko had taken over as the establishment's mama-san, and judging by the ease with which she now gave orders around the place, she had settled into the role rather naturally.
"Huh? We need chairs too?"
Yuto looked slightly surprised.
Chiko casually waved a hand. "It's fine. Sit down and we'll read it slowly together."
Her tone remained relaxed and carefree, carrying the effortless confidence of an older sister from a yakuza family.
Before she began working under Hanako, Chiko had apparently been something of a delinquent herself, and Yuto still remembered the rainy day when those bald men from Housen surrounded him.
Chiko had been standing closest to Hanako's side, gripping a steel pipe with an expression arrogant enough to suggest she was ready to pick a fight with half the street.
The memory still felt slightly absurd.
Before long, someone carried two chairs over.
Yuto thanked them before sitting down.
Chiko was considerably more casual.
She merely gave the person a wave, crossed one leg over the other, leaned comfortably back in her chair, and opened the envelope.
Inside were a folded letter and a postcard.
Chiko picked up the postcard first.
The moment she looked at it, a smile spread across her face.
Without saying anything, she handed it to Yuto.
He accepted it and looked down.
The photograph showed Hanako.
She was smiling brilliantly.
Beside her stood a plainly dressed man wearing a straw hat. His skin was deeply tanned from spending long hours beneath the sun, and his smile looked both shy and slightly stiff.
He was not particularly handsome, but he had a sturdy build and an honest, unpretentious appearance.
Yuto's first impression was that he looked like a farmer.
Behind the two of them stretched broad fields of green farmland, with distant mountains faded into pale shades almost like ink washed across paper.
Above them was a clear blue sky scattered with soft white clouds, and the entire landscape looked so vivid that it almost resembled an oil painting bursting with summer color.
Yet what drew Yuto's attention most was not the scenery.
It was the two people standing within it.
Hanako and the man beside her looked peaceful.
Comfortable.
Completely at ease in each other's company.
Yuto could not help but smile.
Being able to see Hanako wearing that kind of smile was an enormous relief.
'Looks like Aunt Hanako found her own happiness too...'
He quietly breathed out, and without even realizing it, the weight in his chest seemed to become considerably lighter.