Kohane and I are this way, so we'll see you later!

Yeah. See ya.

Seems like Azusawa and Shiraishi are back to normal.

It looks like your talk with Shiraishi really had an effect on her.

Maybe. Anyway, I knew those two were strong enough to weather this storm.

True. I guess we didn't need to worry much.

Hey, I wouldn't band together with someone I didn't believe in.

An's got her eyes on outdoing RAD WEEKEND, and she's smart enough to understand how important partners are for that.

To put on an event like that, your team has to fit together seamlessly and run like clockwork.

I guess that's why she was searching for someone to team up with for so long.

But it was a surprise that she'd pick someone like Kohane...

That's her choice, and I get that she wants to take care of her now that they've done some stuff together.

Well, if you believed in them that much, you could've given her the news a little differently...

What do you mean? I said things as clearly as I could.

I guess...

Akito... Do you think something like this happened to us too?

What are you talking about?

I just thought that maybe you understood Shiraishi's feelings right away because you've experienced that yourself.

As in...

If I tried to protect you or something?

Yeah.

Don't be dumb, I never did.

(As if Toya ever needed me to take him under my wing...)

(I approached him out of curiosity because I thought he sounded pretty good...)

(Then I found out he wasn't just good. He was a natural with a musical background and intuition way out of my league.)

(I couldn't have hoped for a better partner for trying to realize my goals.)

(But I had to step up my game to keep up with him, so I practiced like it was nobody's business.)

(I couldn't let the fact that I wasn't as talented stop me...)

Akito...? Is something wrong?

No, it's nothing.

But we gotta figure out what we're gonna do until the outdoor gig...

A month can go by really fast.

Yeah. We can't let a single day go to waste.

How about we check out the event schedule at a few clubs before we head home?

Yeah. Sounds good.