"Convey your honesty."
"The hand you let go of."
"The hearts that drifted apart."
"Tomorrow, they will be joined together."
"Tomorrow, they will be connected again."
Someone began clapping along with the beat.
First one person, then two, then more and more, until there were countless hands clapping.
"That was not an illusion from a dream."
"If you keep wishing, it will come true."
"On this side of the door, there is no need to force yourself."
"Let us speak to one another with words free of pretense—"
"Then, let us offer this world, and everyone we have met here, a song filled with flowers and love, shall we?"
The melody grew more and more impassioned, and the rhythm of the people's emotions and clapping quickened as well.
At last.
The sun rose in the east, and the dark clouds receded into the west.
Light spilled across the earth, dyeing the world gold.
The sea breeze drifted gently past.
A new day had arrived.
"Come. For even better days ahead," Inori Yuzuriha said softly. "For reunions with family, and for the words that have yet to be spoken."
"A new day has arrived. At this moment, let us sing together. Believe that our song will surely reach everyone's hearts."
Sometimes, a soft hymn like this could become the strength that drove people onward.
The song was called "Hartes ciel, melenas walasye."
Translated, it meant that the sky was overcast and darkness had descended.
It was also a song that a certain heroine had sung to encourage everyone.
Inori Yuzuriha had actually considered many other songs.
For example, "Lion" from Macross.
But what everyone here needed now was not that kind of "encouragement," but something warmer.
A voice that seemed to be beside every single person, familiar somehow.
When it came