In Aki Rosenthal's Shadow: Feria's Secret Confession
A slightly strange school where Hololive talents attend. The popular Aki Rosenthal is everyone's idol, always having fun. But right next to her is always her best friend, Feria. Feria adores Aki. But that 'adoration' isn't just friendship. Deep down, she's secretly in love with her.
One day, a popular boy at school confesses his feelings to Aki. Watching that, Feria feels her heart shatter. 'I have to support her... as her best friend.' She thinks that, but inside she's a mess. Jealousy, sadnes
In Aki Rosenthal's Shadow: Feria's Secret Confession - The Thorn Named Mizuki Shion
Every time Aki turned over in her sleep, the wooden frame of the bed creaked.
Each time Feria heard that sound, something deep in her chest twinged with a faint, sharp pain. It had been like this since last night. From the moment Aki had said, "I've been asked to meet someone on the rooftop tomorrow," the flow of time itself had changed.
Time that felt heavy, and cold, and yet strangely vivid.
She hadn't slept a wink.
Whenever she closed her eyes, an image surfaced: a boy she didn't know, taking Aki's hand. Even when she covered her ears, Aki's happy voice echoed inside her head. Pulling the blankets over herself changed nothing.
Room 205 of Hoshizaki Academy's girls' dormitory, the Luminous Dorm, was already filled with morning light. Through the window, she could see the trees of the Komorebi Forest, which stretched across the north side of the campus, swaying in the wind.
"Feria, it's already morning! Wake up!"
Aki's bright voice rained down from above.
Feria slowly sat up. Her flaxen hair slipped over her shoulders, and the pink ribbon tied into a braid on the right side swayed gently. One half of the twin ribbons she and Aki had bought together.
"Good morning, Aki."
When she looked up, Aki was leaning out from the top bunk. Her straight golden hair fanned out softly, and the light-blue ribbon tied on the left side was translucent in the morning sun. Her blue eyes sparkled as brightly as ever, as if last night's nervous tension had never existed at all.
*(That's not true.)*
Feria murmured the words in her heart.
*(Aki's always like this. The more important something is, the brighter she shines. She's so much better than me at plastering over her anxiety with a smile.)*
"The weather's so nice today! I can't wait for after school."
Aki spoke while gazing out the window. Her profile was faintly flushed with anticipation.
After school.
Those words alone made Feria's chest tighten sharply.
"Oh, right. You're going to talk with Mizuki-kun on the rooftop, aren't you?"
Her mouth moved on its own. The correct response, as her best friend.
"Yeah! I'm still so nervous. I wonder what he wants to talk about."
*(As if you don't know.)*
Feria spat the words venomously at herself in her mind. Was Aki truly unaware, or was she just pretending not to notice? Being called out to the rooftop after school, by the ace of the soccer club, who said he "wanted to talk in person"—that could only be a confession, nothing else.
*(But it's not my place to say that.)*
Still in her nightclothes, Feria watched Aki's back as she headed toward the washroom.
★
The day at Hoshizaki Academy flowed by as it always did.
The main building's third floor, Class 2-C. Feria's seat was the second from the back by the window. Next to her was Aki's seat, and that spot alone always seemed especially bright.
Today, too, a crowd had gathered around Aki.
"Aki, I watched your stream yesterday! Your cooking was so bad I couldn't stop laughing!"
"That was a real disaster, I seriously burned it. I'm just glad the smoke detector didn't go off."
Laughter flew back and forth.
Aki offered the same smile to everyone. She had a personality that couldn't leave someone in trouble alone, and that was why people called her "everyone's sun." Feria knew that better than anyone.
In the spring of their first year, when Feria had been standing alone after the class reshuffle, it was Aki who had called out to her, "Want to eat lunch together?" Feria still remembered vividly the light-blue ribbon swaying on the left side of Aki's hair that day.
*(Right. That was how it started.)*
That Saturday they went shopping for matching ribbons. In a small general store on Nanairo Street, the shopping district in front of Hikarioka Station, they found two ribbons lined up together. Light blue and pink.
"With these, we'll always be together!"
Feria would never forget Aki's face, smiling as she said that.
And in that moment, she had also dimly realized something within herself—something different from "friendship." She had pretended not to notice, and all this time, she had kept it crammed inside the box labeled "best friend."
Lunch break.
The bread she'd bought at the school store, Hoshimaru, felt terribly dry. It was her usual favorite, yakisoba bread, but today she couldn't get it down.
"Feria, you're not hungry? Are you okay?"
Aki peered at her with concern.
"My stomach's just a little off. I'm fine."
Another lie.
A lie to keep Aki from worrying. A lie to stay her best friend. Lies like that just kept piling up, one after another.
*(I'm so good at seeing through lies, but I'm terrible at telling my own.)*
Back in middle school, Feria had realized she was strangely adept at detecting people's lies and inconsistencies. The past where she'd gone along with bullying in her friend group. Classmates whose smiles hid unknowable thoughts. Those experiences had kept her eyes from clouding over.
That was precisely why she could tell.
When someone was forcing a smile. When someone was hiding their true feelings.
And—when someone was playing the role of a good person.
★
The chime signaling the end of fifth period rang in the distance.
The classroom's atmosphere relaxed.
That was the moment.
From the hallway, she heard the excited shrieks of several girls.
"Wow, it's Mizuki-kun!"
"He's so cool! He's the ace of the soccer club, right?"
Feria's fingertips unconsciously went taut.
Beyond the open classroom door, a tall shadow stood.
Mizuki Shion.
Neatly trimmed dark brown hair. Black eyes that seemed to hold a strong will. The soccer club's dog tag hanging from his neck glittered, reflecting the hallway light. A small scar near the outer edge of his left eyebrow.
To anyone's eyes, he was the perfect sportsman.
"Aki, you got a minute?"
The gaze of everyone in the classroom converged on Aki at once.
Aki looked down for just a moment, then stood up, looking slightly embarrassed. Her cheeks were faintly red.
"Yeah. What is it?"
Mizuki smiled refreshingly. A perfect smile, like a textbook example of a "fine young man."
"After school, I'll be waiting on the rooftop. There's something I want to talk about."
Whispered voices rose from all around the classroom.
*(It's here.)*
From her seat by the window, Feria watched the scene intently.
Mizuki Shion.
His smile was too pristine.
The tone of his voice was too calculated.
The way he distributed his gaze, the placement of his hands, the angle of his head. Everything about him seemed like a packaged version of a "good person"—
*(I know this feeling.)*
Something stirred uneasily deep in Feria's chest.
In middle school, there had been people like that around her. Guys who were affable to everyone, deeply trusted by the teachers, but behind the scenes, they'd use others as stepping stones without a second thought. Those people, and Mizuki's smile right now—they overlapped perfectly.
*(Maybe I'm wrong.)*
*(But maybe I'm not.)*
"O-okay, after school then! I'll be there!"
Aki's voice sounded terribly far away.
★
After school.
The chime rang, cleaning duty ended, and students heading to club activities filed out into the hallway in droves.
"Feria, I have something to take care of, so go on back to the dorm without me."
Aki said that, then hastily picked up her bag. Her movements were just a little quicker than usual.
*(Asking here is what a best friend would do, right?)*
"Okay. I have some things to look up in the library, so let's meet back at the dorm later."
Her voice came out surprisingly smooth, even to her own ears.
"Okay! See you later!"
Aki dashed out of the classroom.
Feria watched her retreating figure intently.
*(Things to look up in the library.)*
*(That's a complete lie.)*
The lie she had told Aki spun around and around in her head.
Feria stood up unsteadily and began walking down the empty hallway. Her destination was the exact opposite of the library. She climbed the stairs of the main building, one step at a time, slowly.
The landing leading to the rooftop.
The rooftop door was usually locked, but today it was slightly ajar. The student council must have opened it.
*(I shouldn't look.)*
She knew it in her head.
*(If I were a real best friend, I should turn back here.)*
Her feet wouldn't stop.
She pressed her back against the wall of the landing and quietly peeked her face around the corner.
★
The rooftop was filled with the madder-red light of the setting sun.
The townscape of Hikarioka City was dyed in a gradation of orange and purple. In the distance, the silhouette of the downtown high-rises floated against the sky, and the wind rustled beyond the fence.
In the center of it all, two people stood.
Mizuki Shion, and Aki Rosenthal.
Backlit by the sunset, Mizuki wore a serious expression. It was different from the refreshing smile he'd shown in the classroom—a face that looked slightly more mature.
"Aki."
Aki was looking down, her expression unreadable.
"I like you. I've been watching you for the past month."
His voice was clear.
*(For the past month.)*
Feria dug her nails into the wall.
*(I've been watching her for a year.)*
"Huh...?"
Aki looked up. Her cheeks were dyed bright red, not just from the sunset, and her large blue eyes wavered with bewilderment.
"You're kind to everyone, Aki. You're cheerful, and you make everyone around you smile. But you look at me without any calculation, too. That's what drew me to you."
*(Looks at him without any calculation.)*
Only those words reverberated deep in Feria's ears.
*(Where exactly do you have to look to see "without calculation" in him?)*
Feria bit her lip. The taste of iron spread faintly inside her mouth.
"You don't have to give me an answer right now. I want you to think about it."
Aki was silent for a while.
Then, in a small voice, she said:
"...Thank you. I'm really, really happy. But I—I can't answer right away. I want to think about it."
*(She put off her answer.)*
Still leaning against the wall, Feria slowly sank into a crouch.
*(Aki hasn't become his yet.)*
A feeling of relief spread slowly through her chest.
But more than that—right now, she had become the worst best friend imaginable.
Because she had watched Aki receive a confession, and she had felt happy about it.
"Yeah. I'll be waiting."
Mizuki's gentle voice echoed across the rooftop.
Hugging her knees, Feria began to cry, stifling her sobs. Because even though she sensed something wrong behind that perfect smile, she was too powerless to say a single word of warning to Aki—and yet, the fact that Aki hadn't accepted Mizuki's confession made her happy from the bottom of her heart.
*(As a best friend, I'm the worst.)*
Tears fell onto the pink ribbon, leaving a stain.
★
By the time she returned to Room 205 of the girls' dorm, night had fully fallen.
Feria got back to the room first and sat at her desk, staring blankly at an open notebook. She had washed the tear stains away with cold water several times, so they shouldn't be noticeable anymore.
The door burst open with force.
"Feria! I'm back!"
Aki rushed in, out of breath. She tossed her bag onto her bed more roughly than usual, then hurried over to Feria's side.
"Listen, listen! Just like I thought, Mizuki-kun confessed to me!"
Aki's face was a mess of happiness and embarrassment, but it was so utterly endearing that Feria found herself at a loss for words.
*(Listen, she says.)*
*(That's the number one thing I don't want to hear about.)*
"That's great. Mizuki-kun is handsome, and he's the ace of the soccer club, right? He's super popular."
Her mouth chose the correct answer on its own.
"He said he's liked me for the past month! He was really paying attention to me. I'm so happy."
Aki sat on the bed, swinging her legs back and forth. The light-blue ribbon fluttered and danced with the motion.
"And so, I told him I wanted to wait a bit before giving my answer. Because it was all so sudden, and I still don't
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