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painful battle. It must feel like everything in the world is out to get you, like everything is coming at you with weapons drawn. Over and over you were betrayed, you were hurt, and even your last wish was disrupted by the person closest to you. So you may firmly believe that you have not a single ally in the world.
    Your indomitable will, your burning spirit—they come from your hatred and refusal of the world. I understand that now. And that the way you are now, that very hatred is a crutch you need to keep yourself standing.
    But even so, I will not tolerate you turning your hateful looks on me. I wish to be your protector so greatly that it threatens to crack my heart. You may not believe me when I say that I have avoided seeing you. But I truly want to be a friend to you.
    If you didn’t wish any dishonorable acts of me, I believe I would run joyously to your side.
    So I wish you would be calm. I wish you would open your heart, just a little bit.
    If I told you that I couldn’t sleep for fear that you might be crying, you would probably get angry and slap me.

Chapter 2–Lemon Cookies Taste of Youth

    Several days after deciding on the casting, I was in the club room, beginning to focus on writing the script.
    “Mushanokōji’s novels are composed of dialogue and the main character’s soliloquy-like exposition, so it should be easy to turn into a script. If anyone can do it, it’s you, Konoha. I believe in you!”
    Tohko smiled, but just because there was a bit of dialogue, that didn’t mean I could just copy and paste it into the script. And there weren’t enough actors, so Sugiko’s brother Nakata and his friends couldn’t be in it. I had to massage their lines, so they wouldn’t sound unnatural, and we couldn’t change locations whenever we wanted. And long lines might work in a novel, but if a line went on too long onstage, it would be awkward and bore the audience.
    Peering back and forth between my notebooks and the copy of
Friendship
I’d taken out of the library, I wrestled the sentences out with a look of agony on my face while Tohko sat beside me indelicately with her feet up on her fold-up chair, reveling in giving orders.
    “Write it so it communicates Omiya’s hidden feelings andSugiko’s passion for him to the audience. The bittersweet triangle between Nojima, Omiya, and Sugiko is the tastiest part of this story.
    “Nojima is lost in a joyous fantasy at being in love with someone, and Omiya discreetly supports his friend, all while being tempted by Sugiko—oh, it’s so romantic!
    “Omiya treats Sugiko coldly on purpose, but she only starts to like him more and more because of it. Sugiko is adorable in the scene where she and her friend Takeko are playing cards with Nojima and Omiya, and she’s so uncomfortable that she blushes and spaces out and messes things up.
    “Yes—it’s steamy and warms the inside of your mouth and stomach like simmered tofu, but sprinkled with ponzu sauce made from squeezed citrus. You sympathize with Nojima’s feelings at the same time, and the faint whiffs of tart citrus prick your heart.
    “You gotta make the friendship between Nojima and Omiya really rich, too. Nanase mentioned this part, too, but when Sugiko is about to go abroad and Nojima comes to the station to see her off and tells her, ‘I hope you’ll be happy,’ while fighting back his feelings for her? That scene is so moving. It hurts a little, like when you almost burn your tongue on hot tofu.
    “Some think that Omiya is based on Mushanokōji’s fellow White Birch author, Naoya Shiga. Mushanokōji, who had to live a frugal life despite coming from the nobility, and Shiga, the son of a wealthy family who greatly enjoyed his life as a student. Mushanokōji was bad at sports, and Shiga was a well-rounded athlete. These two different people who grew up in such similar environments and had such similar personalities became the best of friends through their creative work. They would even go