Obligations. That word. She uses that word, does Miu-chan, with such a casual attitude, like she's the only person in the world who's ever had to justify failure. She sounds too neutral, too unaffected; like explaining it away and making it sound pretty is enough to make it bearable. Feeling truly angry now, she rises from her seat quickly, movements jerky with emotion. She doesn't care about Kotori Miu's unacceptable love life. She doesn't care that her lover died. But this crazy compensation she's aiming for, this fake mask she keeps wearing, fooling everyone, making herself look better...

"What a stupid thing to say, Miu-chan." She stands with her back to the other girl, voice calm but her words slower than usual. It's a thing that happens when she's angry; her mind slows down, walks more carefully. She glances at herself in the full-body mirrors on the wall. Her hair has slipped out in strands, black tracking down her cheeks. Wow. Miu-chan really is insufferable. "Who would have cared? If they didn't even know! You would have been a stranger in the crowd, that's it."