Now, the time is here, Guest! Defeat that giant dragon in spectacular fashion!

...But the Guest robot, which should have answered my shout, showed no movement at all. Standing still before the giant toy dragon, the robot was nothing more than a cold piece of metal.

A chilling silence and murmurs drifted from the audience. I tried to hide my panic by laughing louder and raising my voice even more.

There was no way such a clumsy fix would work. The audience had already begun to pour out like the ebbing tide.

As soon as I hurriedly retreated backstage, I finally let out my suppressed anger.

What on earth happened, Guest! For the battery to go out at the most critical moment! It's because you didn't check it properly during practice, because you treat this stage so half-heartedly-..!! That's why it ended up in this pathetic state-!!

……That's enough, Tsukasa. He walked in front of Tsukasa and blocked me with a cold gaze. To think you'd hurl blame instead of offering comfort to a teammate. Tsukasa fell silent at the sharp, freezing energy in his voice.

Hiding Guest behind him What's the point of driving a teammate who is already reflecting on their mistakes into a corner?

Your heart must be very light, then.

My voice came out colder than expected. No, that was the intention. Wondering if she had been hurt again because of me, I pulled Guest into an embrace and left the area.

Ah, Tsukasa-kun, Rui-kun, stop—! Both of you are just acting like this because you want to save our stage……!

I tried to intervene between the two in a panic, but it wasn't enough to change the atmosphere on the ruined stage. Rui didn't even look at me or Tsukasa anymore, staring bitterly at the spot where the robot had shut down, and I felt a tightness in my chest at the fact that my passion had once again failed to reach people and shattered.

… I'm sorry.