Translation: Chelly
Editing/Proofreading: Henry, Scarlet
Interlude 3
When Mao-san told me I had to do the concert alone, my mind went blank.
Me, alone on stage?
I couldn’t imagine such a scenario at all, and my legs shook.
I thought it was impossible.
“You can’t say you can’t do it. If this fails, Ripqle is over.”
Mao-san said bluntly.
“Make the concert a success and sell out the merchandise. That’s the condition for Ripqle’s revival.”
It felt like a gaping hole had opened beneath my feet.
“T-that’s impossible… Ripqle exists because Akira-chan is—.”
“That’s not true!”
Mao-san shouted.
“That’s not true, Anju.”
Mao-san looked into my eyes, her gaze not letting me escape.
“It’s because of both of you that Ripqle exists. Not just Akira. Both of you.”
“But that makes it even more…”
“Akira did it! All by herself!”
My heart felt as if it were being squeezed.
“Even when you were gone, she acted as if you were always there… Singing and dancing happily… She pressed on, thinking about the day you’d come back.”
Mao-san spoke solemnly.
I realized that she has always had Akira in her sight.
She has been watching both her and me all this time.
“You need to keep going too, Anju.”
Despite hearing that, I found myself unable to reply.
I felt hollow and cold as if everything inside me was empty.
But Mao-san grasped my hand and shouted again.
“Fight, Anju!”
Then she bowed her head as if pleading.
“…Show them your dream!”
Her words snapped me out of it.
Akira-chan once said cheerfully on our way home from a show, “An idol’s job is to show dreams! But those dreams are ours too!”
I thought she was saying something very embarrassing.
Yet I admired the way she could express it so earnestly and with no shame.
“We’ll make not only our dreams come true, but everyone else’s as well!”
I didn’t understand it then.
I just nodded, saying, “Yeah, let’s do our best.”
But now, I feel like I understand.
Akira-chan has always believed in me and our “dream,” and she has kept fighting all this time.
Yuu-kun said he wanted to see Ripqle again.
Anna remained supportive of us.
Mao-san wished for me to fight.
Our dream has become everyone else’s.
“I understand. I’ll do it. I will.”
It’s time to face forward.
I’ve spent all this time looking back.
Using my inadequacy as an excuse, I’ve been holding back from reaching for my dream.
Pretending to give up what I desperately wanted.
No more.
I’ll give it my all.
“I’ll make my dream come true.”
Finally, I managed to say that.
After Sleep Club 