Haruna Mishima 

I’m looking up at her now, standing on stage.
Haruna Mishima… Now a leading figure in the idol world, is not only beautiful but also has a beautiful voice that touches people’s hearts.
And yet, her personality is down-to-earth…
She’s the very picture of a “pure-hearted celebrity.”
I don’t know how many people believe in that concept these days…
But I know.
I know she possesses a heart as beautiful as her appearance.

And I know she overcame countless hardships to stand here smiling today.

And that’s why she shines so brightly on stage.
From here, my hand can’t reach her…
But I feel her presence close by.

Haruna Mishima… The girl sitting next to me.

“Starting today, I’ll be sitting next to you. Nice to meet you,” she said, smiling at me.

Haruna Mishima became my seatmate.
She is not flashy, but lovely and captivating, with a beautiful appearance.
She was never pretentious, and always kind to everyone. Her grades were excellent, and she excelled at sports. She was probably the top sprinter among the girls in our grade.
She was popular not just in our class, but with boys from other years too. Of course, many boys confessed to her, but they all got rejected.
She was truly an unattainable flower…

I secretly admired her too. But until now, we’d barely spoken. Because she and I lived in different worlds.

It feels weird to say it myself, but I’m just an ordinary boy. Although I’m not sure what would be the definition of ordinary…

But now, not only was she sitting next to me, she’d spoken to me kindly. My heart was racing so fast.

But that day didn’t end there.
As the closing bell rang and I prepared to leave, she talked to me.
“Um, hey… Want to walk home together?”

“Want to walk home together?”
Her simple request deeply shook me. Why would she want to walk with someone like me? Still reeling, I found myself nodding…

With the resentful stares of our male classmates on my back, I left the school building with her.
My heart was still pounding.
Honestly, I’d hardly ever walked home alone with a girl before… What should I talk about? How should I act?
While I was asking myself these seemingly unanswerable questions, she spoke up.

“Sorry for suddenly asking you to walk home together. Did I bother you?”

I shook my head vigorously, denying it. Maybe I looked funny, because she laughed a little…

“Good. Hey, I need to talk to you about something… You’re on the music festival committee, right?”

Yes, I was on the executive committee for the music festival scheduled for next week.
I hadn’t exactly volunteered for it; I was chosen simply because I wasn’t in any clubs or committees…
I told her yes. Then, as if gathering her courage, she spoke up.
　
“Listen. About the upcoming music festival…” Shaking off hesitation, she spoke in a voice louder than usual.
“I want you to let me enter!”

The stage was filled with thunderous cheers.

The audience was amazed by her unexpected appearance.
But what astonished them even more was her pure, clear voice, as clear and comforting as the sky itself.
After she finished singing, applause and cheers erupted spontaneously from the audience.
Even to an amateur, it was a magnificent performance.
And yet, even though I was the one who’d made it possible for her to be on stage… I felt like I was in a dream as I watched her surrounded by applause.

On the way back, after finishing cleanup for the music festival, she talked to me as I walked alone.

“Thanks for all your hard work cleaning up!”
It seemed she had waited for me to finish.

“Thanks to you, I could stand on stage… Thank you so much!”
Her voice was full of joy as she thanked me. Of course it was.
She had delivered such a performance and received applause and cheers worthy of it.

“I’m sure I caused you a lot of trouble by asking you to do that so suddenly…”

No, I didn’t do anything special. But… I started to say, then swallowed my words.
It was just by chance that I ended up sitting next to her. And just by chance that I was on the music festival committee.
So, that’s why you spoke to me? I couldn’t possibly ask that.

“We hardly ever talked before we ended up next to each other, but I’ve been thinking…”
“…that you’re someone who really listens to what people say…”

Huh? She knew about me? …Well, I guess that’s natural since we’re classmates.

“So… I thought maybe you wouldn’t laugh at what I had to say…”
Seeing how serious she looked back then, how could I laugh?
Sure, there was a little, no, a lot of opposition on the committee.
But all that struggle felt worth it now, hearing her sing and talking with her like this…

A week had passed since that music festival…
The way people looked at her had definitely changed.
Our male classmates were buzzing about “who’d win her heart.”
But she hadn’t changed at all.
She sat next to me as usual, with her gentle smile.
If anything had changed, it was that she started talking to me more actively.
Of course, that was a welcome change.

…But the world around her was surely changing.

One day, on our way home…
Sometimes we would walk home together, without either of us having asked.
At first, I was nervous, but after walking together a few times, our conversations gradually flowed more easily.
She was always bright, happily talking about class topics or her favorite music.
She loved cats, and whenever she spotted a stray, she’d happily go pet it, showing her innocent side.
She was so kind and genuine…
I was happy that a girl like her would walk home with someone like me, yet I felt uneasy too.

But today, she seemed down.
She looked somehow anxious, as if she was troubled by something.

Is something bothering you? I asked.

“I guess you figured it out… Yeah, I should tell you…”

After a pause, she spoke.

“I… got scouted.”

Scouted…

According to what she told me, several graduates from our academy were guests at that music festival…
One of them apparently works as a music producer. This kind of thing really happens…
But thinking about it, I suppose it was only a matter of time.
Her beautiful appearance and her clear singing voice are overflowing with charm that draws people in.
Whether it came sooner or later, it wasn’t surprising that a day like this would eventually arrive.

“What do you think I should do?”

I couldn’t answer her.
Silence followed.

“Oh, it’s starting to rain…”
She spoke and opened her umbrella.

You always carry an umbrella, don’t you?
I once asked her that on a sunny day.
To which she replied,
“I like umbrellas. With an umbrella, you can protect yourself the rain and the wind, right?”
She said that and smiled.

“Hey, you’ll get wet…”
And with that, she offered me her umbrella.
I took it, and we shared it…
My shoulder touched hers.
I noticed her hand holding the umbrella was trembling.

“You know, I think I’ll give it a shot.”
She said with a serious expression.

“I love singing. I never imagined I could become a singer before…”
“But if my singing could give someone courage, I’d be truly happy. So I’m going to try my best.”

I think you should do what you feel is right.
Besides, I want to see you singing again.

“R-really? If you say so…”

Yes. I want to see her sing again.
That’s my genuine, unadulterated feeling.
But…

I felt like she had drifted a little further away.

The class erupted in excitement when it was announced she would debut as a singer.
“Nothing will changed for me, though.”
She said that, but the excitement around her seemed likely to continue for a while.
“Please treat me the same as always.”

Of course, I said.
But actually, my chances to talk to her had already been decreasing.
People gathered around her desk during breaks, and she started leaving early more often for singing lessons.

One day…
Watching the rain start to fall in the evening, I felt gloomy.
Come to think of it, I didn’t bring my umbrella today…

“You can use my umbrella.”
She said that and handed me the umbrella she always carried.

But then you’ll be-
“I’ll be fine.”
Saying that, she left the classroom.

Looking out the classroom window toward the entrance, there was a man holding an umbrella waiting for her. Her manager, perhaps…
She got under his umbrella and entered a car parked in front of the school.
She was probably heading to her lesson.
Come to think of it, we haven’t gone home together in a long time…

In the end, I went home soaking wet without an umbrella.
I don’t even know why I didn’t use hers.
But somehow, there was a part of me that just wanted to…

About half a year had passed since that music festival day.
She had finally debuted and seemed to be steadily climbing the ladder of success.
She appeared on TV as a “pure-hearted idol,” a type rarely seen these days, and her debut song seemed to be selling well.

And as her popularity grew, she stopped showing up at school.
Rumors even spread that
she’d transferred to a school for celebrities…

Staring blankly at her empty seat, I found myself wondering if those days of walking home together had been nothing but a dream.

Then one day…
I was hurrying home in the pouring rain.
My small folding umbrella wouldn’t keep me dry.
I held the umbrella she’d lent me in my right hand…
But for some reason, I never felt like using it.
It was her umbrella.
Maybe that’s why.
And maybe since it was the only thing connecting me to her now that she felt so distant, I wanted to cheris it…

Lost in these thoughts, I noticed a girl standing frozen on the sidewalk, soaked by the rain.
She was…
Huh? Why is she here?

Haruna-chan…?

Still half-convinced, I called her.
She turned toward me.
No mistake.
Then, she talked to me in tears.

“I can’t sing well anymore… What should I do?”

Soaked to the bone in the heavy rain, she kept crying.

According to her, things had indeed gone smoothly at the start of her debut.
But because things were going so well, she kept receiving TV and magazine interviews, leaving her no time for singing lessons.
She pleaded for more singing practice, but the adults around her wouldn’t listen.
At a concert held during this time, it seems she couldn’t deliver the performance she wanted due to lack of practice.

Somehow, I thought that might just be the fate of a popular idol.
But for her pure-heartedness, it seemed like an event that couldn’t be dismissed with such a simple phrase.
She loved singing and wanted to cheer people up with her voice.
That was all she thought about when she knocked on the door of the entertainment world. She never imagined she’d be tossed around by the schemes and calculations of the adults around her.

“The way I am now, I can’t cheer anyone up. Maybe I should just quit…”

I opened the umbrella I held in my right hand…
And gently invited her in.

“My umbrella… you kept it for me…”

When it rains, you can just use an umbrella.
There’s no such thing as rain that lasts forever.
So, cheer up.
I want to continue hearing your songs.
Because no matter what happens, you’re always giving it your all, and that’s what gives me strength…

That was the best encouragement I could give her.
I don’t think I said anything particularly profound myself.
But despite my words, she smiled through her tears and spoke.

“Thank you… You’re right. No rain lasts forever.”
“I’m glad I met you… I’ll try a little harder.”

“We’re seatmates again! Nice to meet you again.”

The seating change put her next to me once more.
I was surprised by my own good fortune, and also happy that she’d decided to stay at this school.
There had been rumors she might transfer, but it seemed she’d resolved to graduate from here.
She was always an excellent student.
As long as she met the attendance requirement, she’d graduate without issue.

Then, during break, we were on the rooftop.
Since that rainy day, she’d become more cheerful.
Apparently, she’d managed to convince her producer to set aside time for her to practice.
She’d also insisted on keeping up with her studies, so it seemed she’d secured time to attend school properly, too.
Come to think of it, I felt like she was leaving early or skipping class less often than before.

She is pure-hearted, but that’s also why she is strong-willed.
It seems the adults around her finally gave in to her unwavering honesty.

But thanks to that, we could once again find time to talk like this, just the two of us.
Still, we never went home together.
She was now a proper idol.
If she were seen going home with a guy, it would become perfect fodder for the weekly magazines.

So we could only meet on the rooftop during breaks, talking for a little while.

We chatted about trivial things as usual, and I found myself wishing this moment could last forever.
Then, looking a little embarrassed, she handed me…
A single ticket.

“This is a ticket for my upcoming concert…”

“I want you to come.”

Here it is. I got a pretty good seat…

I’m not someone who usually goes to concerts, but I finally found my seat in the vast hall.
Her concert was about to start.
The crowd around me was mostly her enthusiastic male fans…
Well, not entirely. There were also older women and families with children.
This is the proof that her songs resonate with a wide range of people.

Since her debut, she had rapidly risen to become a top idol.
From an outsider’s perspective, it must have looked like smooth sailing.
But I knew.
I knew she had struggled to get here.

Five minutes before the start.
The crowd begins to get noisy.
For some reason, I felt myself getting nervous, too.

Then, the fans began a countdown.
Five, four, three, two, one…
Amidst thunderous cheers, she appeared on stage.
She smiled and looked out at the audience.

For some reason, I felt like our eyes met at that moment.

“I’m Haruna Mishima! Thank you all so much for coming today!”
“I hope my songs can bring even a little cheer to everyone! I’ll do my best singing!”

The cheers rose again.
And somehow, I felt like I might start crying.

…And then, she began to sing.
Holding the umbrella from that day.

“Unattainable flower” – 高嶺の花 in Japanese, it’s an expression used for a woman who is out of one’s league.