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It wasn’t as if Kaede had never won a competition before. Her mother had a dedicated shelf in her kitchen back home lined end to end with trophies, and although she adored the proud smiles on her parents’ faces whenever she would bring one home, the metallic statues meant little to Kaede in and of themselves. She would have continued to play even if the world had come to an end.Another sour note rang out just as Amami entered the room, as if some unseen audience were meant to find his arrival ironic. There were no longer cameras hidden just out of view, Kaede knew, but sometimes, late at night, she could still feel sightless eyes trained on the back of her neck.“It sounds like you’re improving already,” Amami said, setting down the tea tray on top of the piano. His tone was devoid of irony, and Kaede was certain that if she had taken up even hula dancing or riding in circles on a unicycle, her boyfriend would have been equally impressed. She could do no wrong, despite having done so much on her path to becoming one of the final two survivors.Kaede Akamatsu didn’t feel very much like a winner after emerging from the rubble months prior.“If you say so…” Kaede got up from the bench, taking a cup of tea into her hands and moving to the couch where she dropped with a heavy sigh, amber liquid sloshing precariously upward.Amami joined her, a comforting arm draped over her shoulders, where the weight of leading the group had once rested so heavily.Closing her eyes, and melting into his side, Kaede asked, “Tell me about one of the places you’ve been…”Amami snorted softly. “You know those adventures weren’t real. They were only something cooked up by Shirogane and the team… and even then, they screwed up. I couldn’t even remember my talent until later on, after you and Saihara-kun helped me.”“Make something up, then,” Kaede insisted, poking him lightly in the side with her elbow.Although Amami’s travels had been as fictitious as Kaede’s mastery on the piano, they both tried their best with what they had. At least Amami’s sisters had proven to be real, unlike Shinguuji’s.“Alright….” Amami leaned his head back. The brown stains of age and water damage spotting the ceiling (a good deal of the prize money had gone toward the piano and lessons) formed a map in his mind as he spoke. “When all the fuss over the show dies down… We’ll go to Europe, and catch an opera in Paris. We’ll laugh afterward, because your music is so much better… Then we’ll go skiing in the Alps, and I’ll fall down in the snow, and catch a cold. You’ll scold me, of course… But it’ll all be okay, though, because everything will be real.”Kaede nodded, head buried in his side. “We'll make our own truths now.”