Yesterday I didn't go to school for the half-day morning session. I had my mother send an email saying I had to help with some family matters. Since my grades are still close to perfect, no one made a fuss. We had a quiet midday dinner at home, just the three of us, Mother and Father and me. I believe it's fair to say my parents are coming around. The main thing my father got me was a very nice violin. I can't compose easily on one, so I had abandoned it, but it has its place when I simply want to practice music. Mother got me a new phone with a lot of space on it, crammed with collections of jazz, blues, enka, American Broadway music, rock and roll, pop music, etc. She bought a subscription to a music service and downloaded everything recommended in those genres.

Father still plays the violin beautifully ("I'll just test it out") and Mother is still very good on the flute. I accompanied them for an hour after our meal. The doctors Nishikino and their future doctor daughter all being musicians. I will cherish memories like this. Now I want to be conceited like Niko and admit when I heard Mother and Father playing, I thought "well, I guess I see where I got it from."

The occasion, of course, is that I am now a "musume nihachi". As they say in English, "sweet sixteen." I would not say my sixteenth year on Earth has started very sweetly at all. Also, I really don't feel sixteen, I feel twice as old as that. But I am thankful for my parents and my friends and my music and Niko. I am already counting Niko, because in my shoes, she would.

Not long after spending time with my parents, I went to Homura for a party. The Muses minus Eli were there, but her sister filled in for her, and of course Yukiho was there, too.

I was teary-eyed seeing everyone there. They all seemed to feel like I deserved love and attention, and I think I do need it. Early on, I got a phone call from Eli. She was wishing me a happy birthday, of course, but overall, it wasn't a phone call that cheered me up, exactly.

"Hey, Maki," she said, and then paused a while. "Since you're sixteen now, I think I ought to talk to you about things nobody else will." Not an auspicious start.

"Basically, the big question is, starting over in this situation, are you completely sure you want to push forward with all your might?"

I told Eli I didn't understand her at all.

"Well, you have to help Niko, you obviously feel obligated to. But I am hoping you will look at the whole situation a bit selfishly, because this is probably your only chance to."

What she was getting at was, Niko was not in love with me, and I didn't have any commitment to this girl. She asked me when we started dating, and I said a couple of months after she joined Muse. And how long had we been lovers for? It had sort of grown into that, but basically a couple of months, mostly after Niko graduated. So, Eli said, it amounts to being together about half a year, and yet I was basically almost committing myself to marriage with someone who didn't either know or remember me.

"If you think you're juggling a lot now, it's only going to get worse, Maki. Pretty soon - a year or two - you will have to start really studying for medical school. And Niko will want you to continue with music with her, too. You can make her your friend again, you can keep her in your life, but you don't absolutely have to be all I-will-love-you-forever with her. You've never even dated anyone else. You can even have sex with her, on your terms, you know. I just don't want you getting hurt if things don't work out, and you were just driven by memories and obligation."

I really didn't know what to say, and Eli thought I had hung up. I got my voice back enough to say no, I was still there, still listening. I didn't lash out, like I would have when we first got to know each other. I have definitely matured. And it's a good thing, too. I got the impression from Eli that she always saw me as something of a younger her.

"I get you, Eli," I said ... and then hummed a bit.

"Okay, look at it like this. Would you tell Niko that about being an idol? After all, it not only COULD but actually DID break her heart. Break it utterly. And more than once. And she had that dream in memory of her father and an obligation to that memory, right?"

Eli laughed. "So, Niko for you is your project, like being an idol is Niko's project? Got it."

We signed off on a good note. I thought about it while we chit-chatted, and I said Eli was right, no one else would have asked me the big question so bluntly like that, but they must all be thinking it. She said, yes, it adds courage to be hundreds of kilometers away where I can't see her face and vice versa.

Alisa came up to me. "Was that Onee-san?"

I told her it was and she got a vexed expression.

"I bet she dumped her problems with Nozomi-nee on you, right? If she did, I am going to tell her off."

I told her no, Eli didn't complain about Nozomi. But Alisa said that wasn't what she was getting at. "Onee-san feels like Nozomi-nee is pressuring her to be girlfriends instead of just best friends. Imagine that, after being in love with her for three years and completely supporting her. Anyway, the last time Nozomi called her, they had it out a little bit. Nozomi-nee said she wanted what you and Niko had before the accident. I could tell from your face that your conversation just now with Onee-san wasn't all that good, right? She was probably questioning your relationship with Niko, right?"

I told Alisa not to complain to her sister at all. Regardless of what set her off, she was sincerely concerned, and when she said only she would ask me that kind of question, it was mostly true. I am sure both my parents would jump at the chance if I gave them even an inch of space to do so, which I won't.

Alisa looked a little unsatisfied and said, well, from the sound of it you got adopted as her honorary younger sister, so welcome to the family. Your older sister is overbearing and insensitive, just so you know. I wondered out loud what happened to the girl that idolized Eli so much. Alisa said she's still there, but she now sees more than one side of Eli.

A little before Eli called, the family car arrived and Nozomi got out. I rushed over and Nozomi and I got Niko's wheelchair out of the back and helped her into it. Am I a great tutor or what, caring for my students so much even on my own birthday?

The Muses and the little sisters were committed to silence about Niko's situation - and even things like what year it was. Or what month it was. Since Niko remembered a month of high school already, and it was only mid-April now, even telling her the day was likely to confuse her.

For her, it's Heisei 23 - 2011 as most of the world writes it. The Touhoku earthquake and tsunami has just happened. The Democratic Party is firmly in control in the Diet, and looking likely to place its third prime minister in a row in office in the elections in September - the LDP stance on nuclear plants is now unpopular. Kimura Kaela, Uemura Kana, Radwimps, French Kiss, AKB48, the venerable Mr. Children, and from America, Lady Gaga, are all hot on the charts right now. It's sometime after April, Niko's not sure.

For the rest of us, it's Heisei 26 - 2014 - and I hoped we could all enjoy ourselves but keep that discrepancy in mind. The Time has to come soon, no question.

Okay before I forget, what Shirojima-sensei said about the talent agency was that they probably have a class-action suit against them - it has that smell - and when the lawyers in charge of the suit were asking around, everyone mentioned how brutally and maliciously they treated Yazawa Niko. So the agency may be trying to cut her out of the suit. If that fails, Shirojima-sensei warned me, they will basically say, well, she doesn't remember anything, and if her reputation has been damaged unfairly, we can help rehabilitate it, without admitting fault, etc. etc. but also say since she's three years older and crippled, her odds are terrible anyway, so they shouldn't have to do too much.

With that unpleasantness out of the way, I can report that Niko cried - again - but it was with emotion, not depression. She felt out of place there. She hadn't taken to Honoka right away, and I was just her tutor. So I made a decision I would stay by her side the entire time she was there, period. I got her drinks and wheeled her wherever she wanted to go. At first, that obviously just made Niko more self-conscious, but I assured her I wanted to do it, and was very happy she could attend. Maybe she thinks this is the µ's way of getting her and I both to make new friends. It sort of is.

We talked easily, it was such a relief. I now know - thanks to Niko - a lot about idols. The only drawback was remembering not to mention anything that happened after April of Heisei 23. We also talked about music, and singing. Niko could never afford vocal lessons. Her breathing is sometimes inefficient, and her voice could use some reduction in squeakiness. We waited to cut the cake Honoka made until Niko got there. It was her particular favorite - a matcha cake with sour cherry slices. It sounds bitter but Niko likes it with extra sugar. I said it was my favorite too - it is, because Niko likes it. When we got around to the subject of me composing music, I mentioned I had won some composing contests - it was a replay of our discussion at UTX. Just like then, I could see the wheels spinning in Niko's mind. Yes, she will get her pet composer this time, too, but with open eyes.

She was supposed to stay only a half hour, but it ended up being an hour. She wasn't in a lot of pain or overly tired, so that was okay. She was obviously confused by how close the idol research club had become in such a short time. She told me she guessed they had all been doing dance and performance in middle school. Honoka mentioned A-RISE, but Niko assumed they were a new school idol group, so it didn't confuse her. She believes µs was something some of the club members were involved in in middle school, and that's why she's never heard of them. When you look at it, Niko standing there watching A-RISE on the monitor at UTX was the foundation of µs. That's where she gave Honoka the idea of starting a school idol group. That's where she talked me into joining Otonokizaka. So all of us should have a soft spot for A-RISE and Niko and the big screen.

Niko got choked up and apologized for crying at my birthday party. I had a chance and I took it. I hugged my Niko for the first time. I told her I was happy to see her and I understood how she must feel. Niko asked me about the difference between now and the other two times I had encountered her at school. I said I thought maybe I had opened up to her. Of course, that made her really happy.

So yes, Niko's borrowed Nikki-san, Nishikino Maki's sweet sixteen was indeed a happy birthday. And not too soon. I deserved it.

Today is Easter Sunday, a day of resurrection for Christians. I wonder if that's a good omen for us. I got Niko some Eisei Fairy Tale Egg Boro Boro Biscuits and I think I'll hide them when I tutor her next.