Epilogue 4

Hinata: Aha, now I know I wasn’t seeing things. You look at Dad the way you’d look at a murderer, Onii-chan.

Yuuta: ...I hate him. I detest him. So much I wish he’d bite off his tongue and bleed out right now.

Hinata: I know.

Yuuta: What’s he even doing here? In this raunchy nightlife district? Like, did he come to reward himself with a drink after a hard day’s work?

Hinata: I don’t think so. You might hate me for saying this, but you two really are alike. Definitely related...

But I’m pretty sure he’s here because worried about us, just like you worry about me.

We’ve been pretty active lately, and we’ve actually made a name for ourselves.

If someone spotted us in a shady club in a town known for its nightlife, well—word’s gonna get out right away.

If he caught wind of it, he’d probably get worried, y’know? Even if not as our dad, but someone who loves us just a little bit.

Yuuta: ......

Hinata: I’ve never told you before because I figured you’d get angry or crabby if I did—

But he’s been like this for a while now. Whenever he hears something about 2wink, he sends me a text, even if it’s just a couple words.

If he sees something concerning online, he’ll call me up.

Like when Crazy:B went on their rampage over the summer, he wanted to know if we were okay.

He’s worried. He wants to help if anything happens to us. ...And I’m sure you’d respond to that saying he should help us before something happens if he wants to be our dad.

But he has been, in his own way.

Do you actually think I could have kept both of us alive all on my own? At our age?

When we still need consent from a parent or guardian to do pretty much anything at all?

Yuuta: ...That man is not our guardian. We left home and now we live at Starmony Hall, and we make our own money. He’s not part of our lives anymore.

No, worse. The second he called us monsters, he became a stranger.

Hinata: Yup. Which is why I’m not asking you to forgive him.

He may be a total stranger to us. He lost his right to be our dad when he said all those irresponsible things.

But, well, I want to be able to face him as a stranger.

If we hate him more than necessary, if we look down on him and treat him like less than a stranger—less than human, really, like a monster even...

Then we’ll end up just being the same as the guy who called us disgusting monsters. Actually, I think that’s how we become the monsters, who don’t consider other people human.

I don’t want to be like that, and I don’t want my onii-chan to be like that, either.

So as an idol, I’ll say the same thing to this complete stranger as I do to all of the people who come to see us perform—

Thank you.

And as an idol, I’ll pour my heart and soul into singing and dancing and conveying my love. I can’t give them all the love I’d give to a lover or a spouse... or to my family.

But I won’t discriminate against our fans, and I won’t be choosy about who I give my love to.

That’s what we hate the most, isn’t it?

Hinata: Someone who loves everyone isn’t weaker or broken compared to someone who only loves one person.

I know, I believe, there are people out there who can be saved by that indiscriminate love.

“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”

Yuuta: (...What was that all about?)

(Acting so tough... You’re always like this, y’know?)

(You talk like you’re some grown-up who has everything all figured out and I’m just a dumb baby. But we were born on the same day, and we’re supposed to have walked the same exact path since then.)

(But you pretend you’re my big brother, my leader, my protector—)

(I just wanted to share a little bit of that burden with you.)

(Which is why I said we should do things together... whatever burden we needed to carry, I wanted to share the load as the two of us.)

(And here I thought things were going so well.)

(Did it look to you like I was a little kid innocently asking if I could help too?)

(Was it all just a meaningless proposal from your cute little protégé who didn’t even know his own powerlessness?)