Haruna Mishima / Dream Fragment 

My name is “Haruna Mishima”.

My favorite thing is “gummies”. I love their indescribable texture, and I always keep my favorites in my school bag.

Something I dislike… maybe “bitter melon”. It’s not like I have a childish palate or anything, but its bitterness is just…

Now that I’m in my third year of high school, things have become a little hectic around me, but I haven’t changed much.
Every day, I go to school, attend classes, and enjoy chatting with my friends as usual. I think I’m living an average high school girl’s life.

…But for some reason, some people at school seem to call me an “unattainable flower” behind my back and don’t approach me… I’m a little confused.
I’m really just an ordinary girl.

But the boy who moved to the seat next to mine last week is different. He seemed kind of nervous, but… He really listened to what I said.
And he didn’t just talk to me; he had actual conversations with other people too… I thought he was a sincere person.

One day, I rested my chin on my desk at school and sighed.
Last night, I talked with my parents about my path after high school graduation…
(My dream of becoming a singer… Dad and Mom are completely against it.)
“Unstable careers are not good,” “Stop dreaming like a child,” was their stance.

(…Is there any way I could convince them?)
“…What’s wrong, Mishima-san? Feeling sick or something?”
The boy next to me quietly showed his concern.
“…You’ve been looking downcast all day.”
“Thanks… Well, I’m just a bit troubled…”
(That’s right… He was on the music festival committee! Maybe I could ask him about entering the festival? If I could sing well there, maybe my parents would understand that my dream is serious!)

But the entry period for the music festival had already passed. I might end up causing him trouble.
(I remember he has complicated family circumstances… Our school teacher is raising him as a surrogate mother, right? And to lighten the burden, he works part-time at a family restaurant…)
I didn’t want to burden him. I thought that, but I still couldn’t give up on my dream, so I gathered my courage and asked him.

“Um, hey… Want to walk home together?”

It was the first time I walked home alone with a boy, and my heart was pounding. But I managed to tell him about “wanting to perform at the music festival.” He seemed surprised by my words, but he gladly agreed.

Then came the day of the festival. Not just my parents, but a huge crowd filled the audience seats.
(…I’m so nervous my legs are shaking. What if I can’t sing at all!?)
Just then, I suddenly noticed a warm gaze fixed on me.
It was him, my seatmate. He was staring intently at me on stage, smiling. It felt like he was whispering, “It’s okay.”
Before I knew it, I stopped trembling, and my tension completely melted away. And so, I was able to sing my heart out at the music festival.

It was truly a stage of “destiny” for me. Surprisingly, a talent agency that saw the festival scouted me.
While I felt “happy,” I also felt uneasy about this sudden gateway to my dream. When I talked to him about it…
“…I think you should do what you feel is right. Besides, I want to see you singing again.”
He encouraged me with the same gentle smile he’d had during the music festival.
“R-really? If you say so…”
…And that’s how I decided to debut as an idol.

…My idol life started off smoothly, I think. But then I started going to school much less, and the time I spent with friends also decreased. My classmates started keeping their distance from me more than before.

Another difficult thing for me was that my singing lessons had also decreased. Idol work covered far more areas than I had ever imagined.

I don’t know if that was the reason, but I found myself unable to sing from my heart during concerts. Online, people would sometimes write things like, “Her face is cute, but her singing is so-so.”

One day, I was standing in the cold rain, feeling utterly hopeless.
(…This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to sing songs that cheered everyone up.)
As I trudged along, lost in these thoughts, a sky-blue umbrella suddenly appeared before me.

It was him, my seatmate. He said.
“When it rains, you can just use an umbrella. There’s no such thing as rain that lasts forever. So, cheer up.”
His words were simple and incredibly warm, slowly seeping into my frozen heart.
“Thank you… You’re right. No rain lasts forever.”
For the first time in ages, I could smile from my heart.
“I’m glad I met you… I’ll try a little harder.”

Thanks to him, I could sing again at my concert, pouring my feelings into it.
After it ended, I quietly slipped a letter into his shoe locker at school. “Please come to the big tree in the park at night.”
(I wanted to tell him “Thanks to you, I could keep going.” or “My fading dream started shining again”…)

I arrived at the park before him, and then it started to rain.
As I hurriedly took shelter under the big tree, he soon arrived holding an umbrella.
“Would you like to come over here and take shelter with me? You won’t get wet under this tree.”
“I-I guess so…”
He stood beside me, our shoulders almost touching.
(…Speaking of which, the girls in class said that confessing under this tree brings eternal happiness. If I were to confess to someone…)
When I glanced at him, he was looking up at the sky.
“…It’s beautiful.”
“Huh? …Oh, the stars!”
The rain had stopped, and stars were shining across the entire sky.
“…Haruna-chan, no matter how far away you go from now on, I’ll always be cheering for you.”
“Thank you… Every time the stars twinkle, I’ll think of you… You’re my wishing star that will never fade.”
(Even when we’re apart, we can see the same stars if we look up at the night sky… I’m so happy.)
I took one more step closer to him and softly smiled.