She knew she ought to be. After all, she was travelling across the ocean in pursuit of an aspiration she'd worked towards since the start of middle school. Chances like this simply didn't come around very often, were once-in-a-lifetime, and Kotori was grateful beyond measure to be offered it in the first place. Over and over again, she tried to convince herself that this was the way things were meant to be. Her life in Japan was over now, the past hidden in the shroud of smoke thrown up by all the bridges she had burned and the ties she had clumsily severed. A glittering new life, sparkling like pyrite, awaited her on the other side of the boarding gate.
But this future stirred nothing in her heart. No smile appeared on her face. Instead, all she could think about was the expression on Honoka's face at the moment she told her (Umi told her, she reminded herself) and the others that she was leaving Otonokizaka, leaving Japan, leaving Muse. Maybe for a few years, maybe for good.