The one who gave courage and hope to me,
who lived embracing in my heart uncertainty and loneliness,
was you
.



"I need to talk to you," he said, one day. It was after practice, and I was tired and a bit grouchy-- but I obliged. I could never say no to him. I guess you could say he was a bit of a weakness of mine.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I think..." He was digging his fingernails into the hem of his shirt, looking somewhere over my shoulder. "I want to quit the band."

I was silent.

With six words, he had managed to stop my entire train of thought. I didn't feel tired anymore. I didn't even feel thirsty, even though my mouth had become dry.

"Teruki, don't look at me like that."

I blinked, swallowed the air that I forgot to breathe.

"You want to--?"

"I'm so tired, Teruki... This is wearing me out. I might go crazy if I don't stop." He managed to look me in the eye, but this time I was the one to look away.

I almost took this personally. We were closer than friends, closer even than he and Miku had become. It was entirely possible that I knew him better than anyone, but suddenly I felt I didn't know him at all.

"Bou-kun..." My voice felt heavy. I wasn't even sure of what I was trying to say. "This isn't.. This isn't something to say so suddenly like that. Maybe you should think--"

"No!" He cut me off with a shout, and I took a step back. "Teruki, I just can't do this anymore. I have no personal time ... I'm just not cut out for this anymore."

I stared at his face, tried to grasp every emotion I could possibly get ahold of. I raised my hand and traced a finger across his cheek, under his eye. He stared unblinkingly back at me, eyes full of desperation. I knew he wasn't kidding around this time.

"Please," He said, taking one of my hands and squeezing it. "I can't talk to Miku about this by myself."

It was possible that Miku would take this news the hardest. Even harder than me, even harder than Kanon. He and Miku had been together for a few months now, and... Well, to make a long story short, it had taken Miku a long time to get Bou on the same page.

I looked down at his hand holding mine, and I shut my eyes tightly, felt the lump in my throat forming. This was really happening, like we were all afraid it would. How could we think it would be all of us together forever? We were so childish, letting the days pass us by like an neverending summer.

I let my gaze rise back to look Bou in the eyes, and gave him a halfhearted smile.

"All right." I said. It was at that very moment that I agreed to help him tell the band, I realized later, that our summer began to change into autumn. "I'll help you."

I guess An Cafe was going to have to grow up sometime.