Wakaba Mutsuki was still thinking about what he'd said when Hoshino Miru looked at her very seriously.
"Alright, now it's your turn to praise everyone."
Wakaba Mutsuki's brain immediately froze - she actually had to praise people? How should she praise them? What should she say?
"Don't be shy. The children praised you, so you should praise them back. That's what a polite onee-san does."
As soon as Hoshino Miru finished speaking, the children beside them also started chattering noisily, looking at Wakaba Mutsuki with particular anticipation. Finding that she seemed unable to speak, some children even cheered her on.
"Onee-san, don't be afraid!"
Wakaba Mutsuki bit her lip. She seemed to have been completely regarded by the children as a shy and introverted older sister who needed taking care of.
"Everyone... sang very well just now... I was very happy." Wakaba Mutsuki said quietly.
As soon as the words fell, Hoshino Miru and the children high-fived each other, shouting "Yay!" as if they'd accomplished something incredibly remarkable.
Watching them like this, though embarrassed, Wakaba Mutsuki felt an inexplicable sense of relief - it turned out to be so simple to say it out loud.
How strange. Was it because she was facing children that she felt so relaxed?
Wakaba Mutsuki looked at Hoshino Miru's face in confusion - just from hearing her voice, why were they so happy?
"Big brother, are you two dating?" A child noticed Wakaba Mutsuki sneaking glances at Hoshino Miru, as if discovering something fun.
Wakaba Mutsuki felt somewhat embarrassed. She wasn't very good at handling such questions and could only place her hopes on Hoshino Miru.
However, Hoshino Miru just paused for a moment, then looked at Wakaba Mutsuki with particular uncertainty.
"Um, what's our relationship right now?"
Wakaba Mutsuki immediately panicked. What did this sentence mean? The girl's little brain couldn't turn at all.
"We're friends." Wakaba Mutsuki said quietly, fortunately there was this all-purpose term.
Then, remembering that Hoshino Miru had previously said they were friends, Wakaba Mutsuki's mood became somewhat happy.
The children seemed particularly disappointed with this answer.
"Big brother looks so good, and onee-san is so pretty - why aren't you a couple?"
"Thank you for the compliment, but onee-san and I really are friends." Hoshino Miru smiled. "Big brother is still single with no girlfriend."
Hearing this, some people immediately showed sympathetic expressions toward Hoshino Miru.
"Are you friends who play guitar together?"
"That's right. This onee-san taught me guitar."
"Can we hear big brother play guitar?"
"Sure, but no laughing at me."
Soon, this group of children immediately covered their ears, thinking Wakaba Mutsuki's guitar sounded better, and clung to her asking her to play guitar.
When the children finally went home, Hoshino Miru sat beside Wakaba Mutsuki looking completely relaxed.
"Was that on purpose just now?" Wakaba Mutsuki knew that although Hoshino Miru's technique wasn't particularly good-sounding, it wasn't bad enough to make children cover their ears.
"Of course. Just preventing you from competing with me." Hoshino Miru answered unconcernedly.
"Compete with you about what?" Wakaba Mutsuki didn't quite understand his meaning.
"For example, thinking the children have no aesthetic sense, that no matter who plays guitar they'd think it's amazing, treating it as something fun."
Hearing Hoshino Miru say this, Wakaba Mutsuki turned her pretty face away. She wasn't that petty.
"They might not know your level, but they thought it sounded good - that's enough." Hoshino Miru smiled. "What does sensei think?"
"I still don't understand." Wakaba Mutsuki was silent for a moment. "I've heard real emotion before, which made me very envious."
"Why does sensei learn guitar?" Hoshino Miru asked.
Wakaba Mutsuki lowered her head. Hoshino Miru turned his gaze away - slanting sunlight cast down through the treetops, the sunset dim and hazy in the clouds, suddenly reminding him of a scene he'd seen before.
"You remind me of a girl who couldn't speak and often had to use paper and pen to express her meaning. Every conversation required writing, which was very troublesome, but she herself enjoyed it."
Wakaba Mutsuki seemed to understand. She appeared even more constrained, hugging her guitar.
"This is the first time I've seen you smile. Actually, it's prettier than I imagined, though thinking carefully about it, there's nothing particularly special."
Wakaba Mutsuki deeply lowered her head, looking like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.
"Don't be like that - you're making it seem like I'm bullying you." Hoshino Miru sighed lightly. "Seriously, I think you're really amazing - a professional-level guitarist."
"I... I don't know how to express my thoughts." Wakaba Mutsuki finally spoke.
"Just by saying that sentence, you're already expressing your feelings." Hoshino Miru smiled slightly. "The key isn't expression but actively speaking up."
"I'll say the wrong things."
"It's okay. If no one listens to your explanation, I'll patiently listen."
"Just sounding good isn't enough... my guitar won't... sing out emotions like theirs."
"But you smiled just now."
"Eh?"
"Smiling means you played out your own emotions. Playing guitar initially was just because it made you happy, right?"
"But..."
"No buts. That's enough, because of your guitar, someone was very happy just now."
Wakaba Mutsuki felt that no matter what doubts she threw out, Hoshino Miru could steadily catch them and throw them back without missing one.
"Have more confidence - you're my teacher after all." Hoshino Miru seemed to see what she was thinking. "If you're too self-deprecating and conflicted, I'll feel inferior too."
Wakaba Mutsuki was slightly stunned, staring intently at the boy beside her.
"Of course, if sensei isn't satisfied with that, that's fine too." Hoshino Miru used a particularly relaxed tone. "If you want to play pieces that shake people's hearts, I'll keep accompanying you until you play them."
He said it very simply, as if it were just a trivial matter not worth mentioning.
But in his eyes, Wakaba Mutsuki saw confidence - complete confidence in her.
How strange. Even she herself didn't have such confidence - why would Hoshino Miru believe she could play it?
Wakaba Mutsuki felt her heart beating somewhat fast - different from the feelings during her band period, it was an even stranger feeling that made her unable to stop staring at Hoshino Miru's face. But then it would beat even harder, so she could only awkwardly look away, though the corner of her eye still occasionally stole glances at Hoshino Miru.
Her arms that had been hugging the guitar unknowingly developed some hand sweat. Her whole body felt hot, reminding her of when Hoshino Miru had held her small hand before - it seemed to be the same feeling then.
"What's wrong, sensei?" Hoshino Miru looked at Wakaba Mutsuki in confusion.
Wakaba Mutsuki inexplicably blushed a bit and quietly protested: "Don't call me sensei."
"Should I call you Wakaba-san?" Hoshino Miru blinked.
"We're friends." Wakaba Mutsuki found a good reason for him. "You can call me by my name. Saki-chan calls me that way too."
Hoshino Miru also paused, looking at the girl's slowly reddening pretty face as the corners of his mouth began to lift.
"Alright, Mutsuki-sensei."
Wakaba Mutsuki finally glared at him indignantly, and he immediately raised both hands in surrender.
However, the two didn't know their time together had already been seen by someone.
...
That evening, Nagasaki Sose looked at photos a friend had forwarded, her pupils contracting in shock.
She saw Wakaba Mutsuki carrying a guitar, holding a crepe, with a boy also carrying a guitar beside her. Their actions seemed somewhat intimate.
Nagasaki Sose couldn't believe it. Not only was Toyokawa Sakiko now withdrawing from the band, but was Wakaba Mutsuki also joining someone else's band?
No wonder she'd said those words back then - so she was holding such thoughts?