Summary: Minori loves Haruka, in spite of what she knows and doesn’t about her. It’s hard to help. But loving an idol and loving a friend are different, Minori knows, and she’ll have to reconcile that sooner or later.
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Minori grows up reaching forward, to a ghost of a girl, the illusion of an ideal.
The first time Minori meets Haruka, it’s at a handshake event, the lines of fans winding and colour coded, overlapping and crisscrossing until they reach each idol. Minori rocked back and forth on her heels, stepping forward a centimetre a minute, excitement overwhelming. Her heart got caught in her throat when she finally stepped up to see Haruka in person, the girl she’d admired from afar for so long.
She stammers wildly as Haruka takes her hands in her own with a rehearsed smile. They’re warm.
(The worst part is that Minori knows it’s all produced, that Haruka is more than a person now. She’s a brand, a product, an ideal image to sell. She’s not sure if knowing that, if loving Haruka still, makes her wise or foolish.)
