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It had been a few years since the Girls Band Party had conveyed and delivered a shocking performance; the girls were in college, and many of them had left the music industry. After graduating, Sayo and Lisa both made it to the prestigious Tokyo University. Roselia had long been a thing of the past, though the members regularly conversed virtually and in person. During their first year of studying at the university, Sayo and Lisa both experienced a rude awakening; while they were both extremely hard-working individuals, the coursework at Tokyo University was so rigorous that they had to practically withdraw from society for a month. Luckily, they gradually developed skills to manage their work; their social lives would thank them for that later.
Exam season was a large stressor for both of them. After they filled out their papers and handed them to the teachers, there was a grace period of rest; however, once the board that announced the results came up, there were perhaps even more pent-up feelings inside them. Lisa was a lot less studious than Sayo; usually, Sayo would be able to make it into the top echelons of scorers while Lisa would be somewhere around the middle, which was still impressive compared to the normal population of Japan and the world.
It was the period after some exams in the autumn. Sayo and Lisa were enjoying some ice cream together to celebrate the end of their exams. “Sayo~, how do you did on your exams?” Lisa asked inquisitively.
Sayo paused for a moment. “I think my performance on the most recent round of exams was satisfactory, Imai-san. What do you judge about your performance?”
Lisa laughed. “I think pretty well, Sayo; though, if I applied your standards, I drastically failed.”
It was Sayo’s turn to laugh. “That is nonsense, Imai-san; you have never been a failure in your life.”
“Woah, it’s a compliment from the ever strict Sayo! My life goals are all complete!”
“Stop teasing me out here in public, Imai-san; no kisses for you tonight,” Sayo said, burying half of her face in her hands, keeping her embarrassment away from anyone else.
Lisa was about to gasp, but she noticed something else first. Pointing to a signboard, she said, “Sayo, isn’t that the place where they post test scores and rankings?”
Sayo looked up in the direction of Lisa’s finger. “Imai-san, it is far too early to be posting the exam results; this is probably a fluke.”
“Come on, Sayo; why can’t we just check just in case?”
Sayo huffed a breath of cold air, the visible white clouds dissipating after a few seconds. “Alright, Imai-san, we can do that and err on the side of caution.”
They walked over to the board to inspect whether it was the board where the exam results were posted. Upon further inspection, they realized that the board really did contain the results and rankings. “See? It was the results board, Sayo,” Lisa said, wiggling her finger at Sayo.
“In any other parallel universe, you would have been incorrect, Imai-san.”
“Whatever. Let’s go check how we did!” Lisa smiled and gestured for Sayo to check the board. Lisa ran off to her right; it was customary for her to skip the first few pages, as she usually didn’t place high enough to land there.
Sayo stood in front of the top board, reading for her name.
1 工藤晴香 1597/1600
2 中島由貴 1582/1600
The first few names were all benign; she didn’t mind not being first or second. She had learned to be more self-accepting, and she couldn’t always be the best or perfect. Well, I’ll still make the top 10 or 20, hopefully, she thought as she continued reading. However, as she continued to read the board, she grew increasingly worried.
9 相羽 あいな 1547/1600
10 佐倉綾音 1539/1600
“No …” Sayo whispered to herself as she found herself out of the top 10 in the school. However, she held on to a shred of hope. “Well, 20 is still available. I suppose I can take a defeat once in a while.”
God, if you exist, please say I made it in the top 20, she thought. In desperation, she kept reading the list, hoping that she would encounter her name.
19 小澤亜李 1503/1600
20 志崎樺音 1500/1600
Sayo’s world shattered. For her whole life, she had demanded perfection of herself, and she usually had done well, except when Hina decided to copy her. However, this time, there was no Hina or local genius; it was just 20 people like her, and she had lost to all of them. Have I stooped to such a low level that I cannot even win against even one of these people? I must punish myself so I do not encounter such failure again, she thought, extremely frustrated. She punched herself a few times, sometimes hard enough to elicit a wince from the pain.
When she finally reached her name, it was too much for her.
165 氷川 紗夜 1277/1600
“I’m done for,” she whispered. She curled in a ball, ashamed of her score. I didn’t even score 1300 points out of 1600 … my intelligence is lower than that of an insect, and I am no better than it; even an insect could score higher than me. It was true, I will amount to nothing, and I am a useless being. I will always be surpassed. She began to cry on the spot. I cannot repeat these failures any longer; I must receive punishment for my poor performance. Taking a pair of scissors out of her bag, she began stabbing herself repeatedly.
One, she thought, two, three. She counted the number of times she stabbed herself. I cannot stop until I reach 150; that is the degree of punishment I must suffer to make up for my failure.
Luckily, Lisa saw what she was doing. “SAYO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Lisa shouted loud enough for the birds to fly away.
Sayo looked up. “Imai-san? What are you doing here?”
Lisa was clearly angry. “Sayo, you’re giving me those scissors.”
Shaking her head, Sayo said, “I cannot give you these until I have administered my punishment.”
“Sayo, you’re perfect; you don’t need to do that. Now, give me those scissors.”
“How come I’m perfect if I can lose to 164 people?”
“Sayo, everyone makes mistakes; plus, look at me! I keep getting below 300th place, and guess what? I’m doing fine! Someone of your caliber is above practically above everyone else. Don’t you dare think little of yourself.”
Sayo countered. “But Imai-san, you have a lot of things I don’t; you’re beautiful, you’re skilled at so many things, you have so many friends, you can connect with people easily, and so much else. I’m just … a piece of shit.”
This sent Lisa over the edge, and she slapped Sayo. “Don’t you EVER call one of my friends a piece of shit. Sayo, you’re good enough. When anyone in Roselia needed assistance, you were their to aid them. Whenever anyone wanted you to help them, you’d do a spectacular job. You helped us whenever we asked for it. You surpassed everyone’s expectations. You care for everyone. You’ve shown that that in word and deed. Yukina trusts you. Ako trusts you. Rinko trusts you. I trust you. You’ve aided us through all of our crises in a manner that no one else could hope to achieve. We all know you were an integral part of us.”
“Imai-san … it’s nothing special.”
“You bet your ass it’s very special. It was just my duty, and I had to fulfill it.”
Lisa paused for a bit before pulling Sayo into a tight embrace. “Would everyone had fulfilled that duty as well as you, though?” Sayo was surprised at the question; before she could answer “yes,” however, Lisa ended her small speech.
“The only one who expects that much out of you is you, Sayo; you see the portion of the mountain you haven’t climbed, but you don’t see the people still milling about in base camp. Everyone sees what you’ve done; it’s time to take pride in your accomplishments instead of finding shame in what you haven’t done.”
Lisa seemed to have cast a spell on Sayo; she teared up for an inexplicable reason. As she began to reflect on what she had done and not what she had left do, she began to smile, and it was the most beautiful smile that Lisa had ever seen in her life. She returned Lisa’s hug, and the dark aura that surrounded her gradually abated.
“Thank you, Imai-san … you can have these scissors.”
“Do I get a thank you kiss?”
“IMAI-SAN!”