White Album 2 manga online
Volume 4, chapter 5
Page 111
111.1
Man: You know, the music department here at Houjou High School was really what supported Touma-san before she took off in the world…
Haruki: I’m sorry to interrupt, but, about what I asked you before…
Man: Oh, right!
Yes, the room is barred to students today, so take all the time you like with it.
111.2
Man: By the way, this young lady here…
Haruki: Yes, she’s my cameraperson for the day…
111.3
Haruki: Kazumi Touno.
Kazusa: Nice to meet you.
111.4
Haruki: You could try not to pop a vein while you’re greeting someone…
FX: Whisper
Page 112
112.1
FX: Shf shf
Chapter title: SESSION21
At the Beginning, At the End
112.2
Narration: I came to Houjou High School today with the aim of getting a full look at Kazusa.
Kazusa: He’s still here?
Haruki: He’s supposed to be promoted to vice principal next year.
112.3
FX: Slide
Narration: And this room is our most crucial… and most dangerous site.
Page 113
113.1
Haruki: I want to get a shot of you playing.
Kazusa: I told you to wait until the concert.
113.2
Haruki: You could just pretend, if you want.
Kazusa: Ugh!
113.4
Kazusa: Sure is nice, not having to hear some shitty guitarist practicing right now.
Haruki: Oh, sorry!
113.5
Haruki: I was doing my best, all right?
So I could keep up with the pianist next door.
Kazusa: …Huh.
Page 114
114.1
Narration: The scenery, unchanged since five years before, captivated us…
and the time passed quietly.
114.2
Kazusa: Hey, I have an idea. You play, Haruki.
Haruki: Not happening.
Kazusa: Just one song.
114.3
Kazusa: Or, what? You can’t play because your guitar is reserved for Setsuna?
Haruki: …I didn’t say that.
114.4
Narration: I don’t know how Kazusa figured out…
Haruki: …
Narration: but there was something sad in the way she tsked at me.
Page 115
115.1
Kazusa: God, you’re no help at all.
Kazusa: Fine. If you’re gonna be that stubborn…
I’ve got an idea or two of my own, you know.
115.3
Haruki: What?
Kazusa: …
115.4
Kazusa: This interview, this “close coverage”…
Kazusa: It’s the end, right?
Haruki: Ah…
115.5
Kazusa: If this is the end, and we’re never gonna see each other again…
Kazusa: then I may as well dig a little deeper, right?
Page 116
116.1
Kazusa: The night after the show.
Kazusa: That’s where Setsuna confessed to you, and kissed you… and you got together, right?
Haruki: !
Wait, what the hell are you talking about?!
116.2
Kazusa: I’m talking about five years ago.
The day everything ended.
Narration: An ambiguous smile…
seeming to carry both ill will and simple mischief.
116.3
Haruki: N-no…
I, uh, I mean…
Kazusa: If you’re gonna lie, at least try not to be obvious about it.
Narration: Even with that smile provoking me, at this point, I couldn’t possibly acknowledge the fact that Setsuna had been the one to confess…
Page 117
117.1
Haruki: I was the one who confessed to her…
Kazusa: Bullshit.
You never had that kinda nerve.
117.2
Kazusa: All the floundering around you did between Setsuna and me…
Haruki: What?
117.3
Haruki: I didn’t… do that.
117.4
Kazusa: Knowing you, that was probably your first kiss, too.
Haruki: Wh-what’s wrong with that?
117.5
Kazusa: Ha ha…
Kazusa: Aha…
Aha ha ha!
Haruki: What’s so funny?!
Page 118
118.1
Kazusa: Of course.
Kazusa: Setsuna was watching.
FX: Twitch
Kazusa: I got caught.
118.2
Kazusa: This whole time, I wondered.
Narration: What is she talking about?
Kazusa: …And, five years along, it finally comes out… The shocking truth!
118.3
Haruki: I have no idea what you…
FX: Flutter
Kazusa: It’s really too bad, though. For you, not for me or Setsuna.
Haruki: Seriously, what the hell do you mean?!
118.4
Kazusa: To think I was your first for all of it…
Kazusa: Disgusting.
Page 119
119.1
Kazusa: That night, I saw someone nodding off while I was playing piano…
Kazusa: And it pissed me off, so I was gonna tell him so—and then, once I got close enough…
119.2
Kazusa: I did all of it first.
Kazusa: Kissing him, sleeping with him… and falling for him.
Haruki: What!
Page 120
120.1
Kazusa: This is the end.
Kazusa: All we have left is the concert.
We’ll never be alone together again…
120.2
Kazusa: So, a last kiss…
Kazusa: I’m sure Setsuna could forgive that much, right?
120.3
Narration: A warm, soft sensation, lasting only a moment—
Kazusa: Mm…
Page 121
121.1
Kazusa: Our final interview is over!
Haruki: Kazusa…
FX: Shove
Kazusa: I’m going back to the hotel.
121.2
Kazusa: So… you’d better be at the concert tomorrow.
121.3
FX: Chirp chirp chirp
121.4
Narration: After I got home, I just kept making trial run after trial run.
Narration: Before I knew it, it was morning.
Page 122
122.1
Narration: I couldn’t get the word “end” out of my head.
I tried to think of Setsuna… but my heart kept turning to someone that wasn’t her.
122.2
Narration: It’s fine. It was only a moment’s delusion.
The past five years have given us a bond that could never be violated, could never waver, could never, ever be broken.
122.3
Narration: But then, why do I keep telling myself, “It’s fine”…?
“It’s fine” is something you tell somebody else, right?
It’s a line you use to reassure your girlfriend, right?
Page 123
*no text
Page 124
124.3
Haruki: Setsuna.
124.5
Setsuna: Haruki-kun…? What are you doing here?
Haruki: I went to your place, and your mother said you were on a work trip to Osaka…
Page 125
125.1
Setsuna: You promised you would wait until I contacted you…
125.2
Haruki: I had to hear your voice, Setsuna.
Setsuna: …That’s not fair, Haruki-kun.
125.3
Haruki: I’m sorry, truly. But I missed you…
Narration: That’s a lie. I’m just trying to run away…
Page 126
126.1
Setsuna: This is so frustrating…
126.2
Setsuna: We should be fighting right now, but instead, I’m happy. I’m so irritated with myself…
FX: Stroke
126.3
Setsuna: I’m irritated with myself…
for enjoying being touched.
Haruki: Setsuna…
126.4
Haruki: I want to make things up to you. I’ll do anything you want tonight.
Page 127
127.1
Narration: Setsuna knows what day today is.
I know she must have suspected something, but instead of trying to see through my lies…
she just accepted me, softly, gently.
127.2
Haruki: …Hey, Setsuna, are you still awake?
Setsuna: What is it?
127.3
Haruki: There’s something I want you to have.
Narration: For the sake of my girlfriend, and all her gentleness…
I have to stop hesitating.
I’m going to give her the present I couldn’t give her that day.
Page 128
128.1
Haruki: Let’s get married, Setsuna.
Setsuna: ?!
128.2
Setsuna: …Okay!
128.3
Narration: I took care of all the work I had piled up on the shinkansen ride home.
128.4
Narration: I had been at a standstill, because hearing Kazusa’s voice from the interview we did at our alma mater was too painful.
128.5
Kazusa: A guy in Vienna? Nah, I never had one.
FX: Chk chk
Kazusa: There were guys who approached me, but…
Narration: But my heart is no longer in disarray.
Because I have something tangible now—an engagement.
Haruki: This is a cut…
Kazusa: I shook them all off. Probably hurt their pride.
128.6
Kazusa: Hey, are we done? I’m tired!
Haruki: All right. Thanks, Kazusa.
Haruki: So, that’s the end.
Kazusa: …ah, um… Haruki, can you hear me? It’s Kazusa Touma.
Page 129
129.1
Kazusa: I’m gonna tell you how I feel now, after all this time.
Narration: A message, snuck in after the interview was over…
Haruki: This is…
Kazusa: I know, I know. You have Setsuna.
Kazusa: But, um… Look, I’m going to betray Setsuna one more time. Just one.
Kazusa: I can’t get rid of this stupid dream… This idea that, if I tell you everything, then just maybe…
129.2
Kazusa: …make sure you come to the concert.
129.3
Kazusa: With Setsuna, if you want.
Kazusa: Actually, definitely bring Setsuna.
129.4
Kazusa: Then, I’ll play for you… For both of you. Just you.
Narration: Could it be that I…
Kazusa: Just for that day, I’ll channel my feelings for you.
Page 130
130.1
Kazusa: So, just for that day, I want your eyes to be only on me.
130.2
Kazusa: Please.
Narration: have made an irreversible mistake…?
130.3
Coworker: Hey…
Coworker: Kitahara.
FX: Jolt
130.4
Coworker: How was the concert yesterday? I couldn’t go because of work…
Haruki: Oh, sorry, um…
Page 131
131.1
Coworker: …That’s not a promising reaction… Was that article true, then?
Haruki: Huh?
131.2
Coworker: Oh, no, it’s just that there was a small article about last night’s concert in the culture section of this morning’s Keiei paper.
Coworker: Saying stuff like, “Her technique and appearance were superior, but the expressiveness just didn’t match,” and, “It seemed like she ran out of stamina halfway through.” It was a little harsh.
131.3
Coworker: Maybe there’s a bit of a headwind blowing against that special feature we just ran.
Haruki: What…
Narration: Why would she run out of steam in the middle of a concert, when she was practicing ten hours a day just fine?
There must be some specific reason…
131.4
Haruki: Can we get in touch with Kazusa Touma?
Coworker: Afraid not. Apparently she’s completely shutting out the press corps.
Page 132
132.1
Haruki: Excuse me for a second!
132.2
FX: Huff
FX: Huff
FX: Huff
132.3
FX: Huff
FX: Huff
Sign: For sale
132.4
Narration: I doubt she’d come back to a ruin like this, but still—
Page 133
133.1
Haruki: !
133.2
Haruki: Hup…
FX: Heave
133.3
FX: Flump
133.4
Haruki: Blood…
133.5
Haruki: Kazusa!
Page 134
134.1
Haruki: Hey! Kazusa! Where are you?!
Haruki: I know you hear me! Quit sulking around and get out here!
134.2
Haruki: !
134.3
FX: Bam
Page 135
135.1
Haruki: You goddamn idiot! What are you thinking?!
FX: Tug
135.2
Kazusa: Haruki…?
FX: Gasp
Haruki: What, you don’t care about your fingers any more?!
135.3
Kazusa: Don’t touch me!
FX: Pow
Page 136
136.1
Kazusa: I begged you and begged you to come and hear me!
Kazusa: How could you do this to me?!
Kazusa: Do you just hate me that much?! Do you enjoy putting me through hell?!
136.2
Kazusa: No… I can’t take this…
Narration: The way she screamed, it was as though the world had completely rejected her existence.
Kazusa: If… If you hate me, then I…!
136.3
Kazusa: Don’t… Don’t shut me out…
Narration: As though I were the only one in the world…
Page 137
137.1
Haruki: I… I’m so sorry, Kazusa… I…
Kazusa: Make it up.
Haruki: Huh?
Kazusa: Make it up to me. Don’t run away from me any more.
137.2
Kazusa: Just for now.
Kazusa: Just for this moment, love me.
Kazusa: I’ve given up on real love. That belongs to Setsuna.
Kazusa: But at least give me a false love.
137.3
Haruki: …I can’t say “I love you” as a lie.
Page 138
138.1
Haruki: It’s not going to end as a lie.
It can’t end with this winter.
So don’t say, “for now.”
138.2
Kazusa: Wait, do you mean…
138.3
Narration: From a common sense standpoint, this is unthinkable.
The choice that began to float through my mind could only be called delirium.
138.4
Haruki: I can’t love without hurting someone any more.
So, I have to decide who I’m going to hurt…
Page 139
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Page 140
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