Confessions From the Shadows: My Eyes Were Always on You, Sakura Miko
Hololive Production. A place where countless talents sparkle and shine. Everyone's eyes are glued to the stars laughing on stage. But not mine. My eyes were always on that girl in the corner of the hallway, practicing her dance moves desperately, messing up again and again.
My name is Shirase Kotone. As a plain, ordinary staff member, I have always watched her from the shadows. Miko-senpai—Sakura Miko. A person who stumbles so many times, looks like she's about to burst into tears, yet still ma
Confessions From the Shadows: My Eyes Were Always on You, Sakura Miko - Into the Light — My Pride
The morning light fell white upon the window-side seat of Café Moondrop.
Inside the tiny shop, which held only fourteen seats, the bitter scent of blended coffee filled the air as it did every day. The owner, Kishimoto Sae, quietly polished cups behind the counter.
Shirasawa Kotone, seated at the very back, stared fixedly at the wood grain of the table. Her employee ID card, which she always wore around her neck, swayed faintly.
Across from her, Kobayashi Yukino wrapped both hands around her cup, her straight silver hair swaying. The braid on the right side alone gave a small bounce.
"...So, are you really going through with it?"
Yukino's voice had lost its usual impish lilt. Her pale, icy-blue eyes, like snow, gazed steadily at Kotone.
Kotone slowly lifted her face. Her large brown eyes reflected Yukino's unease.
"Yes. I am."
Her voice trembled. Even so, she didn't look away.
The words she'd heard from Ryou yesterday evening, in the kitchenette of Cover Tower, still echoed deep in her ears.
—*A faction within upper management has started moving.*
—*They intend to catch evidence of your TRG violation during the event.*
—*They plan to turn Miko's birthday event into a scandal.*
(*The same method they used for Nanasan.*)
Three years ago, an incident where a certain staff member and a talent had been framed. The rule called TRG, used as a tool in a power struggle.
The same thing was about to happen again.
Kotone clenched her skirt tightly on her lap.
Yukino set her cup down. Kotone noticed that her hand was trembling, just a little.
"Yukino's plan hasn't changed. I'm going to expose your secret, on stage."
Words of bravado. But the usual triumphant smile was absent.
Kotone gave a small nod.
"That's fine. I... will speak in my own words, too."
"...Why are you so calm?"
Yukino's voice wavered slightly.
(*Why, I wonder?*)
Kotone searched inside her own chest. It wasn't as if she wasn't afraid. From now on, in front of three hundred audience members and the people from upper management, she was going to confess, with her own mouth, that she harbored forbidden feelings.
But—.
(*Because I decided, during that call yesterday.*)
Late at night. In her six-tatami room at her apartment, Maison Kamuro, she had clutched her smartphone and cried. Miko-senpai had said she needed her. Had said she was lonely.
Those words alone had been enough.
Kotone quietly reached out her hand. She gently placed it over Yukino's hand, which was trembling on the table.
"Yukino-san."
Yukino's shoulders jumped with a start.
"Thank you, for cooperating with me."
Kotone smiled.
Yukino's cheeks flushed red rapidly. She hastily shook off Kotone's hand and turned her face away.
"D-Don't get the wrong idea! I'm only doing this for Miko-senpai!"
But Kotone's observational eye didn't miss the way those pale, icy-blue eyes glistened, just for an instant.
(*Yukino-san, too, really wants to protect someone.*)
Now, it felt as if everything that had happened, starting from the flaming incident, had held meaning.
Kotone stood up and placed her share of the coffee money on the table.
"Well then, I'll see you at the venue."
She turned her back and pushed open the café door.
The outside air was cold against her cheek.
The sun reflected off the glass windows of Cover Tower, shining brilliantly.
She walked out, into that light.
---
1:00 PM. Grand Arena Tokyo.
The enormous hall, packed with three thousand spectators, was filled with Sakura Miko's cherry-blossom-pink penlights. There were fifty staff members in total. People carrying equipment, adjusting the lighting, guiding audience members to their seats. Everyone had been preparing for this day.
And in one corner of the VIP section, the upper management personnel in their suits watched the stage with cold eyes.
Kotone stood in the darkness of the wings, holding her breath. Her black bob-cut hair gleamed dully in the light spilling from the spotlights.
The program schedule in her hand was slightly damp with sweat.
"Kotone-san, are you nervous?"
Right beside her, Miko smiled. Her waist-length, cherry-blossom-pink hair was beautiful as always, and her large, bright pink eyes narrowed gently.
"...You're one to talk, Miko-senpai."
"Miko, you know, feels strangely calm today! Maybe it's because you're here with me, Kotone-san!"
An innocent smile.
Kotone knew how much effort and how many tears lay behind that smile. The sight of her practicing dance late at night in Stella Hall, scraping her knees as she fell over and over. The nights she'd cried, stifling her voice in the basement restroom.
The reason she was standing here today was because she had witnessed that.
"Miko-senpai... do your best. I'll be right here, watching."
"Yeah! I'm off!"
Miko dashed out to the center of the stage.
The spotlight illuminated her small back.
"Everyone—! Nya-hello—!!"
A deafening roar of cheers erupted from the venue.
The event proceeded smoothly.
Songs. Dance. A talk corner. Miko laughed, and the audience returned her smiles.
About thirty minutes in, Yukino, who was standing next to Kotone in the wings, took a small breath.
"...I'm going."
Kotone nodded.
Yukino picked up a microphone and walked out onto the stage. Her silver hair, reaching down her back, shone like snow under the lights.
"Everyone—! It's Yukino!"
Cheers erupted again.
"I came today to celebrate Miko-senpai's birthday! But you know, Yukino actually has one more thing she absolutely has to tell everyone today!"
A stir began to run through the venue.
The upper management men in the VIP section leaned forward.
"I've come to know a certain person's secret—"
Yukino's voice trembled for just a moment.
But she immediately put on her impish smile and pointed the microphone toward the wings.
"Kotone-san, you'll tell them yourself, won't you?"
Silence.
Three thousand gazes focused on the dark wings.
Kotone took a deep breath.
Deep in her lungs, a sharp pain lanced through her.
Her legs trembled.
But—.
(*I decided I wouldn't run.*)
She took one step forward.
The lights were blinding.
She couldn't see any of the audience's faces.
But she knew, just beside her, that Miko was standing there.
She took the microphone from Yukino.
The cold sensation of the metal seeped into her palm.
"...I am Sakura Miko-san's support staff."
Her voice, through the microphone, echoed throughout the entire hall.
It was trembling.
But it didn't stop.
"I have watched my senpai's efforts, from the closest place."
The venue fell utterly silent.
"In the late-night studio, with no one else around, the sight of her practicing dance, falling over and over. The sight of her hurt by the flaming, crying all alone—I saw it all."
Beside her, Miko's presence stirred.
"And—that sight saved me. Seeing my senpai, who never gives up no matter how many times she fails, made me feel I had to work hard too. That I wanted to do something for someone else."
Tears began to overflow.
She couldn't hide them anymore.
"I, about my senpai—"
The words caught in her throat.
Her throat trembled, and they wouldn't come out.
But—.
"I know that this feeling goes against the rules. I know there's a rule called TRG, that no private, intimate relationship may be formed between talent and staff."
A stir of air moved from the VIP section.
"But—please, let me say just this."
Kotone readjusted her grip on the microphone with trembling hands and raised her face.
She looked straight at the girl beside her.
"Miko-senpai—you are my pride."
—In that instant.
The entire venue lost all sound.
She couldn't hear anything.
The audience, the staff, upper management—everyone stood frozen, as if time had stopped, watching the two on stage.
And then—.
"...Kotone-san!"
Miko's cry rang out from the very front row of the audience.
Miko had leapt to her feet. Large tears spilled from her wide pink eyes.
"It was because you were there, Kotone-san, that I was able to keep going! I wasn't alone!"
She ran up onto the stage.
Her small hand grasped Kotone's hand, tightly.
"I don't care about the rules! Kotone-san is someone precious to me!!"
Kotone was stunned.
Miko-senpai's hand was surprisingly hot, trembling, yet held a strength that said she would absolutely never let go.
Silence.
—The next moment.
*Clap.*
*Clap, clap.*
One person applauded.
Two.
Three.
It spread like a wave.
Soon, the applause and cheers of three thousand people shook the entire venue.
"This is so moving!"
"This is the best!"
"Smash the rules to pieces!"
The shouts of the audience layered over each other, becoming a roar so loud she could no longer tell what was what.
Kotone just stood there, rooted to the spot.
Beside her, Miko was laughing through her tears.
In the wings, Yukino stood frozen in astonishment. Her pale, icy-blue eyes were rapidly welling up.
(*I said it.*)
Still unable to fully grasp the situation, Kotone felt a gentle warmth spreading deep within her chest.
---
One hour later.
The event had ended in a resounding success.
In the darkness of the wings, Kotone leaned against the wall, just quietly catching her breath. The program schedule she'd been clutching was crumpled into a ball.
"...Shirasawa-san."
She looked up.
Ryou stood there. His short, neat black hair, his tired-looking, gentle brown eyes. Today he had removed his glasses and was touching the back of his neck with his right hand.
"Upper management is more shaken than I expected. They probably never dreamed that a talent and a staff member would show such solidarity in front of a huge crowd like that."
Ryou's mouth twisted slightly.
"But the result doesn't change. Your suspension is confirmed. The period is two weeks."
Kotone nodded quietly.
"I was prepared for that."
Her voice no longer trembled.
Ryou put his glasses back on and stared intently at Kotone.
"This isn't over. The closer you get to the truth about Nanasan, the more the people who want to crush you will definitely move. The faction conflict behind TRG—that isn't finished yet."
Ryou's voice dropped a register.
"Expect that anything could happen during your suspension period."
Kotone looked back directly into Ryou's eyes.
"Even so, I will fight. To protect Miko-senpai."
Ryou was silent for a moment.
And then—.
"...Hmm."
He gave a small laugh and clapped Kotone on the shoulder.
"But—you did well."
Saying just that, Ryou turned his back and disappeared down the corridor.
Kotone gently placed her own hand on the shoulder he had tapped.
(*Ryou-san acknowledged me.*)
Somehow, that made her happy.
---
As she walked down the corridor, she saw a figure standing under the emergency light at the dead end.
Silver hair.
Yukino was standing there.
As she drew closer, Yukino's face became clear. Her eyeliner was smeared into a mess; she looked just like a panda.
"...Don't look."
Yukino averted her face.
But she couldn't hide the sound of her crying.
"I still haven't lost. I'm not going to hand Miko-senpai over to someone like you."
Kotone listened in silence.
"...Weren't you scared? Saying something like that in front of all those people. Even though you might get fired."
Yukino's voice trembled.
"I was scared. But I was more afraid of regretting it if I didn't say it."
Yukino bit her lip.
After a long silence—.
"...Two weeks."
Yukino spoke, her voice wet with tears.
"When you come back—then, face me."
She raised her face.
Her pale, icy-blue eyes were distorted with tears, but they looked straight at Kotone.
"I don't want to lose to you. Against Miko-senpai—and probably, against you too."
Saying just that, Yukino ran off.
Her silver hair reflected the light of the emergency lamp, sparkling brightly.
Watching her retreating figure, Kotone let out a small sigh.
(*Yukino-san doesn't want to lose to me—?*)
She pondered the meaning of those words.
It was probably an emotion that Yukino herself cou
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