I see. Understood. So that is what I should envision, then. I feel as though I will be able to master these steps now. Thank you very much, Setsuna.

Not at all! Feel free to ask me whenever you have any other questions.

Yes, I will do just that.

Moving onto a completely different topic… Setsuna, do you happen to be tired today?

What?!

That was on my mind as well. You seem a little deflated today, Setsuna. Is something wrong? Have you not completely recovered from the live show the other day?

Oh, that's not it! I've completely recovered from the exhaustion of that! I'm full of energy!

Then is something else making you seem deflated?

Was it really written all over my face? Well, it's not exactly something for me to beat myself up about, but… What did you two think of my last live show?

Sorry, I was working behind the scenes last time, so…

Oh, of course! Sorry.

No, don't be. I'm sorry I wasn't able to watch you properly. Everyone in the audience did seem really excited when I had a peek, though.

And there were also lots of rave reviews online as well, so I'd say your live show was a huge success.

It was, wasn't it? I managed to project everyone's love outward, right? I do think I pulled it off. I really do, but…

Is something bugging you?

Yeah. I feel like I did live up to everyone's expectations, but there's just something on my mind…

I felt like I needed to get more fired up, but I just couldn't manage to do it.

It just shouldn't have been an issue for me… So that's what's been getting me down since.

So the reason for your lack of energy lies within your last live show, then.

You didn't quite understand it yourself, I see. That's only to be expected, because you were not going about things in your usual fashion.

Hm? Not my usual fashion? What do you mean by that? I was performing like I usually—

You weren't, though. You attempted to represent everyone's “love” on their behalf. You've simply gotten close to their feelings, but it's not that easy to truly share them.

That's not true! If I work harder to internalize and understand everyone's feelings of love, then I should be able to project those feelings!

Internalize and understand, you say? Don't you believe that to be quite a self-righteous way of thinking?

What?

I mean, this is merely my personal opinion. I'm not trying to force anything upon you, because I believe it would be wonderful if you could successfully do what you're saying.

I just simply love your live shows as they are. Ah, perhaps now I am forcing my thoughts upon you. Please forget what I've said. I must return to my student council work now.

But all I want to do is spread everyone's love.

Is Shioriko's opinion correct? Is my way of thinking self-righteous?

I thought I could make the world a more wonderful place if I learned about everyone's love and shared it around.

And I agree. That's why I supported the direction you were going with your new song.

Shioriko said I wasn't doing things in my usual fashion. What exactly is my usual way? What do you think?

The usual you? Hmm… Well, that's gotta be how you express your love with your whole body. How you express what you love and… Oh!

Is something up?

Hey, Setsuna? Did you pour your own feelings, the ones that come from the bottom of your heart, into the new song?

Huh?

I was just thinking that maybe you couldn't sing it to the best of your ability because you weren't singing from your heart about something you loved.

Well…that's just because I wasn't trying hard enough. I'll try harder next time and make more of an effort to understand how everyone feels!

You read every single word of everyone's letters, right? Your eyes sparkled over what everyone loved, over the books and anime they recommended to you.

But was there anything that actually swept your heart away?

All of the recommendations were amazing, and I completely understood people's obsessions with them. But whether or not I was actually captivated myself, well…

While you may be able to internalize others' feelings, that doesn't necessarily mean you can completely have those exact feelings yourself.

So that's what Shioriko was trying to tell me… It's true, I couldn't quite share the exact same feelings as everyone, yet I sang in that state anyway.

So that must've been the reason for that performance not sitting right with me.

It sounds like it.

…

Shioriko made me realize that I shouldn't be singing about what others love, but I should be filling up my songs with my own love.

I feel like I've had some kind of epiphany. There's a crucial key involved in making me burn with passion!

That key is what I truly love myself. So next time I'll sing about what fills me with love!

I want to know what others love, but the most important thing to my music is for me to passionately express what I love the most!

And if you keep doing that, I'm sure that everyone will be able to spread the word about what they love in the same way as you. That's the kind of world I think you'll create!

I really love it when you become oblivious to the world around you because you're so passionate about telling people about the things you love!