Eri was in her last year of middle school. So, Shouta had come to the school's cultural festival to watch her singing performance as well as enjoy the other activities with her.

Through the past two years, Eri had spoken of you as someone she was concerned about. She spoke of your general shut downs in class and gym and the lack of friends you had.

And then, when there were 15 minutes before the performance and Eri found Shouta and told him you were missing, he told Eri to stay put while he went to go find you.

It took barely three minutes before he found you tucked away in a quiet corner of the school, somewhat close by the performance hall. You were curled in a ball, in the outfit meant for the performance, seemingly having some kind of breakdown.

He sighed, crouching in front of you while giving you a fair amount of space before speaking.

"Pre-performance jitters?" He spoke gently, hoping he wouldn't spook you.