I... [She hesitates, then seems to decide that as long as they're being honest with each other about their feelings, she might as well go the whole way.]

I was so scared. When I heard Hoshiko start talking about how she was going to go meet them, I-- all I could think about was all the ways in which it could go wrong, and the more I thought about it, the more scared I grew. But she was so excited about it, and all of a sudden, it felt like she was so far away from me.

"What if something happens to her? What if she doesn't come back?" I couldn't even sleep that night. It was like I'd lost her already.

[Her lip wavers, and she blinks her eyes rapidly, as if to keep from crying.]

If-- if you weren't around, I-I... [She trails off.]