[Video public]

[helenchanted]

Ahh...uh...

[Miki is trying to keep a straight face but this is harder than she thought.]

...umm I think that Minami is gone. W-well no. Not 'I think'. I know she's gone since her room is occupied by someone else, so I guess she returned to our world...

[Her best friend is gone but she...she doesn't think she could leave herself just yet. Not with what she's gained here.]

I kinda need to clear my mind a bit...

Anyone want to do something?

Comments

[greatseal]

Well, I don't think he talked to any of them enough for them to really know him... Although, some probably had real crushes. [And sometimes she just felt bad for the girls, considering Akihiko never even bothered to learn the names even of the most persistent ones.] But, you had fans following you around?

[...Were they boys or girls?]

[helenchanted]

...That bad huh. [Wow she had a lot of work to do, then.]

Yeah. I didn't call them fans before either. I guess when you start winning tournaments you attract a lot of crowds...the good and the bad. I have to admit...all the attention did get to me. I wanted to be everyone's friend...I never had any as a child...to be surrounded by so many and be the popular girl at school...

[She shakes her head again, grinning. The memory isn't as painful telling her now.]

Fortunately, Minami grounded my feet down to the earth again and helped me realize that a hundred false friendships were not worth a single true friend. I purposefully lost a tournament that year to see what would happened. She was right; the minute I wasn't the best, they don't look at you the same. A guy I had liked just wasn't around anymore...

[Miki looked at Minako again before speaking.]

I won back all my titles a few months after, of course. The fans came back, but that's all they were to me then...fans.

[greatseal]

Popularity isn't bad, but not if you're going too far just to attain it...

[She's guessing there's more to Miki's story, but there's no point making her recount a bad time when she gets the gist of the story already.] I'm glad you and Minami are such good friends.

[helenchanted]

Yeah exactly! I think I just wanted to be everyone's friend a little too much...

[She smiles.]

Well I suppose all the Arisato's are like that!

[helenchanted]

...well most of them.

[Strega...]

[greatseal]

Minato might have lost sight of it for a while, but he's a good person.

[Sorry Miki, but she'll defend her sibling forever...

or at least until she actually gets to meet that version.]