The day our fate would be decided was here. Before anything else, I wanted to confirm that Sakura was coming to school. When I entered the classroom, I saw the same thing as always. Sakura sat quietly alone, so as not to get roped into other students' conversations. Her expression seemed even gloomier than usual. But in any case, she'd still come to school.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Ah, yeah. I'm fine."
I wondered if she was nervous. She seemed composed, if not completely calm.
"I thought that things would be tough if I were absent today, so..."
She understood that the entire class would be upset if she were absent, so she'd made the painful decision to come to school. I imagined it would be impossible to tell her not to think about Sudou and the others.
"Don't forget what I said yesterday. Testify for your own sake, more than anyone else's."
"Yeah. I'll be okay."
Ike and Yamauchi looked over at Sakura with great curiosity. Of course, that was because they now knew of her idol identity. Sakura was probably sensitive enough to notice this. She looked like she'd guessed that Ike and Yamauchi had discovered her identity. Oh no...
But Sakura just wore a thin smile and quietly mouthed the words, "It's all right." She was aware that we knew of her double life. Maybe working as an idol had made her sensitive to subtle changes in a room.