I Just Want A Single Ending!

"Then, I'll leave it to you."

Shiina Taki eagerly accepted his suggestion without hesitation.

Spending time with Kamigawa Saku and Takamatsu Tomori was an idea she could hardly turn down. As he'd said, this was a golden opportunity to learn more about Tomori.

Before, she'd felt a little irritated whenever Saku and Tomori went out together.

Now that he'd offered to include her, Taki found herself seeing Saku in a whole new light.

It was official: Kamigawa Saku was a good person.

With everything agreed upon, Saku looked pleased as well, knowing this arrangement had secured his single status a little more firmly.

"Oh, just so you know," he added as a precaution, "I don't actually go out with Tomori very often. My schedule is…pretty packed."

"No worries."

Even this much was enough to satisfy Taki.

"Now, remember what we talked about," Saku reminded her. "Take your time composing to fit Tomori's lyrics."

"Yes," she agreed.

Considering her current situation, starting from scratch made sense. Besides, without a deeper understanding of Tomori, trying to rush would be pointless.

"Oh, there's actually something I can tell you about how she writes lyrics," Saku suddenly remembered. "It might be useful for you."

"What is it?"

Taki immediately perked up, curious.

"When I helped Tomori with her writing block, she told me she wanted to write a song about CRYCHIC, which is what led to the lyrics for this song," Saku recalled, thinking back to that day. "You probably noticed that in the lyrics, right?"

"Yeah, I noticed… I just wasn't sure," Taki admitted. "But if that's the case, then it makes perfect sense."

The hints were certainly there, especially since CRYCHIC's symbol featured a teardrop or raindrop. In Ichishizuku Sky, if nothing else, the final line, "Please carry me forward, dear raindrop," was all but conclusive.

"Well, that's all I know. From here, it's up to you to interpret the song however you want." Saku had no more advice to give.

"T-thank you," Taki said, a bit awkwardly.

"No need to thank me."

With that, Saku stood up.

"Alright, I should be going. Don't want to take up more of your time."

"...Okay, goodbye!"

Standing up as well, Taki walked him to the door, waving as he left.

When his figure finally disappeared down the hall, she closed the door.

Just as she turned to head back to her room, her sister's door creaked open. Shiina Maki peeked her head out, curiosity in her eyes.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"...Kamigawa Saku."

Taki responded truthfully, though with a bit of reluctance.

"Ah, he came by again, huh?" Maki said with a knowing smile. "So, what did he want this time?"

"Nothing much. He just wanted to check in after I missed a week of school."

Naturally, Taki wasn't about to tell her sister all the complicated thoughts and struggles she'd been working through regarding her composing.

"Seems he cares about you quite a bit," Maki commented.

"Well, he is our band's manager," Taki replied, brushing it off.

"Oh? Do most managers go to this extent?" Maki raised an eyebrow, chuckling as she teased, "If so, he really is a great one."

"..."

Taki froze at her sister's words.

Seeing her go silent, Maki didn't press further. She simply gave her sister an amused look and then closed her door.

Returning to her room, Taki first reinstalled the composition software she had uninstalled earlier, then picked up her phone to check her messages.

A slew of unread notifications from Kamigawa Saku popped up on her screen.

Judging by the timestamps, he'd sent these on his way over.

The messages were pretty much just him asking why she hadn't been attending school and letting her know he was on his way.

Since they'd already talked, there was no need to respond.

Then, there were messages from Yahata Umiri.

Her texts were much shorter, but they, too, asked why she hadn't shown up at school that week.

A few of Umiri's later messages, however, were… impossible to ignore.

Yahata Umiri: You haven't read anything I sent. Are you just too busy, or are you ignoring me on purpose?

Yahata Umiri: Alright, fine. I'll go ask Kamigawa Saku about it.

A few minutes later…

Yahata Umiri: He says he's heading over to see you.

"This girl…" Taki thought, feeling a mix of emotions as she read through the texts.

Having such a caring friend was something she appreciated… but it also felt like Umiri had gone to tattle on her.

After a brief chuckle, she checked the timestamps from both their messages and realized something interesting.

Saku must've rushed over right after getting that first message from Umiri.

Now that she thought back, the first thing he'd said to her at the door was, "I came over to help you."

As if he'd already known she was in trouble.

In the end, he really did help her, too.

Not only that, he'd promised to teach her to compose, and even invited her to join him and Tomori whenever they went out…

At first, none of it had felt like much.

But seeing all these things pile up, Taki's feelings were getting… complicated.

Honestly, was this really what most managers would do?

Wasn't he being a bit too attentive?

Though, to be fair, he wasn't like this only with her. He'd also gone out of his way to help Tomori with her lyric-writing block.

So, maybe that was just his personality—not anything special directed solely at her.

But even so, she couldn't quite bring herself to feel comfortable with all his kindness.

Or rather, she just couldn't get used to Kamigawa Saku's thoughtfulness.

Especially since she'd concluded he was truly a good person, it was hard to find any reason to criticize him.

It's not like there had been anything to criticize him for in the first place, really.

All that dislike she'd had toward him… it was completely one-sided.

Even after all that, he was still willing to reach out, support her, and even go out of his way to help.

At that thought, Taki found herself suddenly at a loss.

"..."

He's a good manager. That's all there is to it.

She convinced herself with that simple reasoning, hoping to shake off any more strange thoughts.

Turning her focus back to work, she took another look at the lyrics for One Raindrop Sky.

The more she read them, the more she felt a connection to the words.

After all, she had been part of CRYCHIC too.

---

Meanwhile, back at home, Kamigawa Saku was making plans for the next day.

Ideally, he'd take the chance to ask Tomori to hang out with him, and he could invite Taki to come along too.

But unfortunately, Tomori was busy tomorrow.

And Sunday was set aside for band practice, so that was also out.

It looked like he'd have to put off the group outing for a while.

Luckily, he'd already warned Taki that his schedule didn't allow for frequent outings.

Which left him wondering… what should he do with his day off?

Saku thought through his current progress with all his potential friends-to-be.

That's when he spotted the main issue.

He'd barely interacted with Mutsumi Wakaba and MIsumi Uika.

With everyone else, he'd managed to establish some kind of regular contact, but these two were exceptions.

It made sense that he hadn't seen Uika much; as an idol, there was a natural distance between her and most people.

But with Wakaba… he'd only ever spoken to her once. And that had been a chance encounter!

It felt like he wasn't putting in enough effort.

First thing's first, he needed to figure out a way to create an opportunity to talk to her, even if it was only once.

From there, he could work on building a friendship.

With that thought, Saku made his decision.

He then sat down to carefully consider the best approach to meeting Wakaba Mutsumi.

…After spending far too much time analyzing it, he still hadn't come up with a good plan.

At this rate, he'd barely see her at all.

She wasn't an idol like Uika, but her parents were well-connected in the entertainment world.

There was no "normal" way to get close to someone like her.

If only she could just come to me, Saku thought with a sigh, as he headed out to meet Nagasaki Soyo for their bass lesson.

---

"Saku, are you free tomorrow?"

During a break in the lesson, Soyo asked the question with casual interest.

"Yeah, I'm free."

He answered right away.

"In that case, would you mind going to the mall with me?" she asked, unfolding a flyer and handing it over.

"There's this new place opening with all kinds of discounts."

[Agree]

[Decline]

The system prompts appeared.

"Is that so?"

Instead of answering right away, Saku took the flyer and skimmed it.

A bold print caught his eye immediately.

"'Up to 90% off'? Are they serious?"

"That's right. It's really tempting, don't you think?" Soyo nodded.

"It probably only applies to a few items they can afford to discount heavily. Everything else will be marked down, but it's likely just by 10% or so," Saku explained, seeing through the marketing ploy.

"Still, some of the opening deals seem good. Plus, if you buy enough, there's even a raffle," Soyo mentioned. "I thought I'd restock on household goods and groceries while I'm there."

Usually, she wouldn't go out of her way to check out opening sales like this.

But when she was about to toss the flyer, she had the idea to go with Saku instead.

As step-siblings, a weekend mall trip was normal enough, right?

That's why she'd asked him to come along.

"That makes sense. Sure, let's go tomorrow."

Saku agreed without a second thought.

He didn't have any other plans, and helping her carry things sounded perfectly fine.

[+10 Stamina]

"Good."

Though she was genuinely pleased he'd accepted, Soyo kept her composure, her expression calm with just a hint of a smile.

After all, as siblings, they'd likely have plenty more chances to shop together.

No need to be overly excited over something like this.

It would be better if she got used to it from now on.

"This mall's name seems oddly familiar…"

Saku glanced at the mall name again, realizing something. He quickly took out his phone to double-check.

"What's up? Did something happen with this place?" Soyo asked, noting his reaction.

"Oh, it's nothing," Saku replied after finding what he was looking for. "They did ask me to help with their opening promotions."

He quickly remembered why the name had caught his eye.

"Really? In that case, why don't you accept it and promote them tomorrow?" Soyo suggested. "We can always go another time."

"No, that's okay. I already turned them down," he said, shaking his head.

"Why, though?" she asked, puzzled. "Was the pay too low?"

"It's more… I'm not a fan of how they handled the prize drawing," Saku said, his expression conflicted.

"Handled it? How?"

"Well, you mentioned they had a raffle if you spent enough, right?" Saku explained. "They offered me the first-place prize as a bribe on top of my pay if I'd do the promo."

"Wait, what is the first-place prize?"

Curious, Soyo picked up the flyer to check for herself.

"First prize is a week-long trip to Paris. Second is a family hot springs trip, and third is a new fridge…"

---

Oh? You're still here? Wow. Either you really enjoy my company, or you scrolled too fast and forgot to close the tab. Either way—respect.

Now, since I have your attention, let's talk business. Web fluid, coffee, replacement suits—being me isn't cheap. And last I checked, saving the world doesn't come with a salary. Tragic, I know.

But you can make a difference! By supporting [patreon.com/WiseTL], you're not just helping a poor, overworked Spider-Man—you're securing front-row seats to even more chaos, bad jokes, and possibly a few existential crises.

So go on, be a hero. Support the cause. And who knows? Maybe I'll name my next web trick after you. (Probably not, but hey, worth a shot.)

Stay cool, don't trust bald telepaths, and always double-check your web cartridges.

— Xia Luo 🕷️