Her eyes sought the room; the holding room that held the 200 over members of the group was bursting with energy, noise and just pure excitement for the concert that they will be putting up, first time this big scaled out of Japan. A smile exchanged here and there with random members, a hi good luck for later exchanged with every other junior that walked past her, and a bittersweet tug on her heart with each person her sight fell onto that wasn’t her face. She continued to walk around in the huge room, trying to find the one that she was desperately trying to seek out in the midst of all these eager members who were engaged in their animated chats but to no avail. Her phone in her hand chimed and she flipped open the cover. The message in it was full of encouragement and love, asking her to do her best to show the world what AKB48 could do. The sender seemed to be bursting with energy as well, as though she would be performing with her on the stage in a while.

Because it’s Takamina, the first stage out of Japan would be carried out just fine! I’ll be praying for it to be a huge success. Take my feelings with you and do a good job! – Atsuko

The surrounding seemed to grow silent as the words echoed in Takamina’s head like how Atsuko would have said it. The people hurrying around her seemed to become a blur as a wave of cold air hit the captain.

Sometimes, even when one person was missing, the whole world seemed to have depopulated.