[ izumi can only groan internally along the way, as cole says his spiel. well, he wasn't really groaning at what cole has to say, because he is pretty sympathetic, but... why was leo even going around telling people about them? now izumi's going to have to explain his side of the story when he really just wants to bury the hatchet and be done with it.

this world sure has a way on bringing up the past in terrible ways, huh.

sigh. ]

...I never told him that. But I'd be lying if I didn't think about using him when he offered at the time..

[ he didn't deserve to be simped served like that. even now, izumi still has some doubts about what leo sees in him, but that's neither here or there. ]

You have to understand, though. We were fighting our old comrades at the time. Comrades that Leo-kun thought of as his best of friends, only to find out that they'd only liked him for his songs. Like, that's pretty messed up, right? Why did they even say it to his face like that?

[ it was said like a rhetorical question. izumi clenches his fists without realizing it. ]

And so, he pledged his allegiance to me when there was no one else to turn to. I wasn't about to leave him there, either. It's just... [ ... ] Well, as time went on, he started hurting everybody with his song. Even the audience.