Subaru: ......
Natsume: ≪Subaru Akehoshi-kun.≫
Subaru: Wh—!? Ahhh, whew, that sure spooked me… You shouldn't just speak up outta nowhere, you know?
Anyway, uh…. Sa… Saka… Sakaki-kun, right? Didja need me for somethin'~?
Natsume: It's "Sakasaki," not "Sakaki". Natsume Sakasaki, though people often get my last name WRONG...
But we're the same CLASS, so you ought to at least remember my NAME. It's a pleasure to make your acquainTANCE ♪
Subaru: "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"! Ahaha, you've got a really unique way of talking, huh ☆
Uh, but… we're classmates? You… Er, Natsume, right? How come I've never seen you in class before?
Natsume: Ahaha—that's because I've already studied most of the material that we're covering around this time of YEAR.
A looong time aGO, I attended an idol training school just like this ONE.
Our school's curriculum is more basic though—it's geared towards kids who don't know how to do any of this alreaDY.
It's excruciatingly painful to have to sit and listen quietly to things you've already been TAUGHT.
I’m living life the smart WAY, and putting such "useless time" to better use by reading books and proving I’m different from oTHERS.
"Time is money," as they say; time is the best resource you have in this WORLD.
And I don't want to just squander IT. At Yumenosaki Academy, the stuDENTS… Those called idols are treated like royalTY/are given the royal treatMENT.
Even if you skip class for a little WHILE, no one—not even the teachers—will say anyTHING.
Subaru: Mmmm, but should you really be ditching like that? I mean, you're still paying tuition...
Natsume: My parents forced me to enroll here; I was completely and totally unwillingLY, to be FRANK...
ApparentLY, my daddy wants me to become someone famous enough to usher in a new eRA.
By combining "fortune teller" and "idol," I'll become a special kind of existence that can control the hearts of peoPLE...
While my daddy's not truly wicked by any MEANS, he's consumed by delusions of grandeur to a FAULT. It's his one and only FLAW.
I only wanted to become a fortune teller like my momMY...
But we're no longer in that kind of age; we have to keep our finger on the PULSE.
Subaru: Oh, wow… That's pretty neat. Everyone's got their own reasons for enrolling in Yumenosaki Academy, huh.
I enrolled just 'cause I was like, "I wanna be an idol!". It's a pretty normal reason, but… Well, I kinda feel like I'm in the minority nowadays.
Natsume: Fufufu. Those uninspired mobs all say the same thing as one anOTHER, but it's just pretty lipserVICE.
It's a lovely concept to yearn FOR, but tragically, they're unable to perfectly manifest such pure ideals into realiTY.
So in that SENSE, you are in the minoriTY. No—you're one-of-a-KIND, Subaru Akehoshi-kun.
If people stare straight at the SUN, they'll go BLIND.
That's why you're so out of place HERE, and why no one tries to understand YOU. Because that is “what you ARE”.
Hence why you pick up day duty when any of our classmates ask you to—that's my GUESS.
I've been watching YOU, and you've done it three days in a ROW...
It's STRANGE, seeing how day duty is supposed to change handlers day-by-DAY. So surely you were asked by someone to take their place, and gladly accepted, didn’t YOU?
How SAD. You'll never be loved by anyone being such a people pleaSER.
And if you keep making yourself oh-so-useFUL, they'll view you as "a nice little tool that'll do anything you ask him TO".
They won't think of you as a person like THEM, and so you'll never become FRIENDS.
And when you can't do what they ask of YOU, or when you make a misTAKE, they'll turn on you quicker than you THINK.
You useless tool! A mutt that can't even follow directions! Dimwitted, defective slave!
...and so ON. In FACT, they're hoping it'll hapPEN.
Humans feel discomforted when they gaze upon something of pure beauTY, and they seek to sully it with their own HANDS.
Plucking feathers from angels' wings until they plummet down to EARTH, throwing mud at the sun until they've completely eradicated its brilliANCE...
I've grown tired of seeing this fate brought about by humanity's inherent FLAW.
Subaru: Mmmnngh, sorry. Everything you're sayin's just flying right over my head.
Natsume: Ahaha—do you really not get what I'm sayING?
Subaru: ...Hey, what'd you really want with me? Did you just wanna make fun of me?
Natsume: Ahaha, sorRY. It's one of the tools of the trade when it comes to fortune telling—to either say something mysterious and profound enough that you'll have to analyze the meaning of IT, or to say something so incendiary that you'll lose your composure completeLY.
You could call it an occupational haZARD… It's become a bad habit of mine when I'm chatting with someone—but I don't hate you nor do I mean to hurt you or anyTHING.
If anyTHING… I called out to you because I'd like to be friends with YOU, Subaru Akehoshi-kun.
Subaru: Whoa, friends? That's great~! I haven't been able to just shoot the breeze with anyone like friends since enrolling!
Natsume: I thought SO. There's not many people who're able to accept you as a friend without holding resentment or jealousy in their HEART… How sad; geniuses are so loneLY ♪
As long as you have just one friend you can rely ON, you can survive any kind of dangerous battleGROUND...
But those same people are your rivals in showbusiNESS, so the chance of finding someone you can rely on is diffiCULT.
≪If only your father had had such a comrade-in-arms... Perhaps he wouldn't have met with such a tragic fate.≫
Subaru: ...Man. You know about my dad, so did you actually start chattin' me up just for kicks?
Natsume: Don't misunderstand; that's not why I did it at ALL.
Given your father's FAME, I'm sure the majority of people who've talked to you have brought him up in some way or another so far, howeVER...
My business is with "Subaru Akehoshi-kun," not with "the son of that Akehoshi".
Of course, I was interested in you because of your dad, BUT...
It's because my mommy and your dad were FRIENDS, so I've heard a lot about HIM… I felt both sympathy and pity for YOU, so I wanted to CHAT. That’s ALL.