Chapter 2 - 2

that going well. Judging by how you described her, she's the sort of girl who won't stop until she's satisfied, one way or the other." "Thought so..." I groaned. My shoulders slumped with dismay. "Come to think of it, didn't you say that you were a diehard idol fan at one point, Akksy?" "Oooh, yeah, I guess. Shooting Star's way outside my area of interest, though," Akksy replied. "Well, do you, like...know how members of idol groups usually treat each other, or anything like that...?" They weren't friends, and they weren't family. They were coworkers. A professional relationship. "Coworkers" wasn't a word I'd had many opportunities to use, but judging by how relationships like that were portrayed on TV—plus how business interests and money would make interpersonal dynamics all weird—I had a feeling that it would be a very complicated sort of relationship to have with someone. Like, imagine you get along really well with someone, but they're super bad at their job and end up getting fired. Or imagine the other way around, where someone's a total jerk but they make you so much money you can't bring yourself to complain about them. Someone who was your best friend one day could turn into your worst enemy the next, totally out of the blue...thought that bit might've just been some dramatic exaggeration on those TV shows' part. I wonder just who Makina is to Mio, at the end of the day...? Mio had certainly lavished Makina with praise during our encounter, but on the other hand, it had all been praise directed at her efforts as an idol. It didn't quite feel like she'd shown that she valued Makina as a person. The way I saw it, Makina was just Makina. I'd known her as my childhood friend Makina Oda since long before I found out about the idol Maki Amagi. To Mio, however, Makina was Maki. The girl she knew was Maki Amagi, her idol coworker. She saw—and valued—Makina in an entirely different way than I did. I couldn't say that she was in the wrong either...but I did wish that she'd learn to see Makina as more than just the idol she performed as. Maybe that was selfish of me, but I couldn't help it. "Hmmm. I mean, there's all sorts of idol groups. Some of them put on a show of being besties onstage, but actually hate each other's guts behind the scenes. Like, way beyond a 'not on speaking terms' level—I mean they actively badmouth each other and stuff." "O-Oh, really...?" "Idols are humans too, and people are just like that, right? Sometimes idols get caught bashing each other on secret social media accounts, and it turns into a huge scandal. It happens," Akksy said with a shrug. That sounded like it'd be a pretty major disaster to me, but the way she framed it made it seem like it was perfectly ordinary. Does Mio do stuff like that too...? I thought before shaking my head. I didn't want to believe that she was the sort of girl who'd sink that low. The fact that I'd met and spoken with her in person made it impossible for me to imagine. "Anyway, it sounds like this Mio girl's got a pretty good idea that you and Miss Makina are on good terms. She provoked you into the bet, sure, but you did agree, and if you back out on it without a really good excuse, don't you think that could end up causing trouble for Miss Makina in its own right?" Akksy noted. "Good point!" I exclaimed. If Mio ended up concluding that I was a bad influence on Makina, it could make her more dedicated to ending Makina's hiatus than ever. It seemed really possible that she'd resort to even pushier methods than before. In fact, judging by how she came across, I was positive that was exactly what she'd do! Now that I'd agreed to the bet, there was no getting out of it anymore. My only choice was to pray that the performance was good enough to satisfy Mio... "Whoa there, Yocchi—this is no time to sit around praying!" I blinked. "Excuse me?" "To start: How exactly are you planning on showing her the performance in the first place?" "Huh?" "Your show's on day one of the festival, right? That's the day when only currently enrolled students are allowed in, isn't it?" "The day when... Oh. Ooooooh." I hadn't even slightly considered that tiny little problem until the very moment Akksy pointed it out. There was a huge, physical barrier in between us and our bet playing out as intended! Class 2-A had come together for one purpose, more or less: to prove to the whole school that we made the best team ever, bar none. Considering the school was our target audience, day one of the festival—which was dedicated entirely to current students—fit the concept better than day two, when outside visitors would also be allowed in. It would invite way less in the way of trouble, as well. Mio, needless to say, was not one of our students. She wouldn't be allowed into the festival on day one. In other words...she wouldn't be able to see the performance at all!!! "Wh-What should we do?!" "You know, I bet this is why Maightingale brushed you off so quickly. She probably figured this out right away, and you know how she is about following the rules." "O-Oh, I have an idea! How about we record the performance and show it to her on video later?" "I'm not saying that wouldn't work, but it'd basically guarantee that you'd lose, y'know?" "Wait, how...?" "I mean, live concerts are all about the atmosphere, right? You have to be there to get the full effect. None of that excitement comes through on video—it all ends up feeling way smaller, somehow. Doesn't help that you're holding your show on the stage in a school gym." "That does make sense, actually..." Akksy was completely right. It wouldn't matter how good their performance was if those good points failed to come through in the version Mio actually got to see. And we wouldn't even be able to show her a properly produced concert recording—it'd be the sort of video that a single fan in the audience could record on their own. "If you want to stand any chance of winning this, then you're going to have to get Miss Mio in to see the performance in person," said Akksy. "Okay... But how?" "Gooood question." Akksy slumped forward, resting her cheek on the table she was sitting at and humming to herself as she pondered our options. "You could talk with the festival's executive committee and have them shift the show to day two?" "Well, umm, the thing is...we actually were scheduled to perform on day two at first, and ended up striking a deal to swap with another class who wanted a day-two slot..." "Ahh. Okay, yeah, then that's not happening. Asking to change your slot more than once is a really good way to make the scheduling people despise you. And since day two gets way more visitors, it's more desirable to begin with— shifting to day two would be way harder than shifting away from it." I didn't say it, but there was one other factor as well: I didn't want to drag my whole class into something that was really my own personal problem. Especially considering how I'd already gotten up on a soapbox in front of them back during the advertising meeting! "Okay, then, idea number two!" said Akksy. "You could get her to transfer into our school before the day of the festival!" "Wait, that's an option?! I guess if she could clear the entrance exam, it might just work...?" "Ha ha ha! No, it seriously wouldn't. I bet even the paperwork stage would take too long on its own." "Then why did you say it in the first place?!" "No harm sharing an extra idea or two, right? Even if they're bad ones!" Akksy said with a rather amused grin. Is she trying to do some sort of comedy bit right now...? It sure seemed that way, but then again, even joke ideas could hold the key to real solutions from time to time. Probably. I need to start thinking out of the box too... "Oh, okay, here's one," said Akksy. "You could bribe the teachers to look the other way when you let her in!" "I'm pretty sure I'd be expelled the second I even tried to bribe them!" "Oh, I guess you would. It'll be a real shame to lose you, Yocchi, especially since we only just became friends and all. I'll come see you whenever they give you visitation hours!" "When did this turn into me getting sent to prison?!" They don't lock you up in jail for getting kicked out of high school...and anyway, I haven't even been expelled yet! That said, it struck me that I might not even need to bribe anyone to make that plan work in a broad sense. If I asked my homeroom teacher Miki for help, then there was a slight chance she'd cooperate...or so I thought for a moment, but I dismissed the idea as quickly as I'd had it. Miki was a tremendously serious person—so much so that she'd given up her time off from work just to help me with my studies— and if I tried to pull her into a scheme that involved breaking the school rules, there was a hundred percent chance she'd get mad at me. Even just using the student guidance room without permission like we were at that very moment would probably make her mad, if she found out...especially since this time, it had been my idea. "Okay, well, if bribery's off the table, how about you smuggle her in?! Stuff Miss Mio in a cardboard box, then ship her to school the day before!" "That'd be super not okay even before you take our school rules into account!" "Hmm. You're a real stickler for these things, aren't you, Yocchi?" "Also, I don't think that Mio would let us stuff her into a cardboard box in the first place." "Oh, that's easy to solve. You just, y'know—whack!" Akksy said as she mimed a karate chop to the neck, like how they knock people out in movies. I was pretty sure I'd heard that doing that to someone in real life would most likely just kill them... It really did seem like sneaking Mio in was our only option. Bribing a teacher was out, though, and shipping her to school in a box was out too. That just left... "We could...have her act like one of our students and just walk in?" "Aww, but that's so played out! Wouldn't it be boring?" "Boring?! I think it'd be really risky in its own right, actually..." "Okay, but sneaking someone in's going to be risky no matter how you do it." "You're not wrong about that..." "So you just have to psych yourself up to face the consequences if you get caught. That aside, the only factors worth considering are how to make it less likely that you'll get busted...and what methods would be the most entertaining!" "Entertaining?!" I'm seriously worried about this, you know?! Why are you acting like it's a game? That's so mean! "Oh, don't look at me like that, Yocchi. It'll be fiiine! Just sit back, relax, and wait for your friendly neighborhood savior Akksy to step in with an idea so good it'll blow your socks off!" Akksy declared. That was actually the opposite of reassuring...but I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to say so. I decided to have faith that, for all her joking around, she really was doing her best to come up with a plan for me. Plus, it was all but certain that whatever she thought up in the end would be better than any plan I could dream up on my own! To make a long story short, I left school that day with the details of Akksy's plan—titled "Operation Sneak Mio Kuruma into the Festival"—jotted down for future reference. Now I just had to lay all the groundwork we'd need before the day arrived. ◇◇◇ A few days later... "Ahhh... Did I ever need that bath," I muttered to myself. Days on end of festival prep plus secretly working on Operation Sneak Mio Kuruma into the Festival in the background—not to mention all the actual schoolwork I had to deal with at the same time, considering I was still a student and all—had my capacity for busyness so severely maxed out, I was on the verge of overheating. And so the moment I got out of the bath, I went straight to my room and dove into bed! I was seriously tempted to go to sleep just like that, but it was still only ten...and before I could make any final decisions, there was a knock on my door. "Yeees?" I droned. "I'm coming in, okay?" my little sister Sakura said before stepping into the room. She took one look at me, then gave me another, longer, much more exasperated stare. "You look like a slob, Yotsuba." "Huh," I grunted back at her. Considering how I was lying sprawled out on my bed, lazing it up like no tomorrow...yeah, she did have a bit of a point, honestly. The fact that I'd thrown on a random T-shirt and pair of shorts after my bath wasn't helping much, especially considering my shirt had ridden up to expose my midsection. Sakura, on the other hand, was properly dressed in her pajamas. She'd even buttoned her shirt all the way up, which gave her a sort of formal vibe. "Oh," I continued, "is it that day already?" "Yes, it is," Sakura sighed. "I bet you were about to fall asleep without us, weren't you?" "Ha ha ha—my bad." It was, in fact, one of the days I was scheduled to have a bedroom sleepover with Sakura and my other sister, Aoi. We didn't have a strictly set schedule of exactly when or how often we'd have those days, but one of my sisters would usually tell me a few days in advance when they'd decided it was time again. I did vaguely remember them telling me about today as well, in retrospect... I'd just been so tired at the time that it went in one ear and out the other, most likely. "Yotsuba...?" said Sakura. "Hmm? Yeah?" I blearily replied. My sleepiness and exhaustion had me a little out of it. Sakura walked over to my bed, then crawled up onto it on her hands and knees, coming to a stop beside me... "Sakura— Mmph!" ...and then, before I had the chance to say or do much of anything, she kissed me. Uh... What?! "Mh! Yotsuba..." "S-Sakuraaa?!" I yelped. I was completely caught off guard, and she more or less had me pinned to the bed before I knew it. "Wh-What was that for? Did something happen...?" "Well, it's been so long since last time," Sakura pouted. Since last time...? For the record, normal sisters don't kiss each other on the lips at all! You know that, right?! "Mh..." My internal protests, of course, didn't stop her from doing it again. Oh, but don't get me wrong—I'm not saying I was trying to flat-out reject her or anything! After all, it's an older sister's duty to live up to her little sister's expectations...or at least, I was so used to this sort of thing by now that I could put myself into that mindset without too much trouble. I had no clue whether or not that was a good thing, but what I did know for sure was that it was pretty rare for Sakura to kiss me this proactively. She was usually way more shy, if not a little prickly, and she barely ever came straight out and asked for affection from me. "I love you, Yotsuba. I seriously do." "Mh... Sakura..." She was just pecking at me, really—almost like she was testing how soft my lips were. It felt sort of ticklish, though in a nice way. In fact, while the first kiss had woken me up in an instant, the longer it went on, the more that pleasant sensation felt like it was lulling me into a comfortable doze. "It's okay, Yotsuba. You can leave it to me. I'll make sure it feels nice," Sakura whispered. She'd read me like a book, apparently. "Don't worry—Aoi won't be here for a little longer, most likely... She was talking on the phone, and still has to take a bath... It'll just be the two of us for now." "So you can give me all the attention I want" was the unstated conclusion that I figured she was getting at. Aoi was Sakura's little sister too, and Sakura always made a point of playing the big sister when Aoi was around, which made her even more tense and prone to acting tough than ever. I had a feeling that her little don't-worry speech had been for herself as much as—if not more than—for me. "Love you, Yotsuba. I love you..." Sakura muttered in complete earnestness between every kiss. I was still totally pinned down, but I somehow managed to move my arm—which was completely asleep—just enough to pat her on the head. It was just about bedtime, so she didn't have her hair tied up into her usual pigtails. Hers was long, unlike mine, and was so incredibly silky that just touching it felt really nice. Anyway, I couldn't say for sure just how long the onesided kissing continued. It could've been a few seconds, or it could've been ten minutes. My sense of time was so hopelessly shot that I hadn't the foggiest idea, but one way or another... "Okay, Yotsuba, your wait's over! Your cutie-patootie little sis Aoi's finally arrived, and I'm ready to— Whahuuuuuuh?!" ...it was very abruptly disrupted when Aoi, who'd strolled right on in without bothering to knock, let out an earsplitting yelp. "What're you doing, Sakura?!" "Mh, Yotsuba..." "And you're just ignoring me?! Sheesh, just how caught up in it are you...?" Aoi let out a tired sigh and, confusingly, stepped back out of the room again. Sakura just kept on kissing me like she hadn't even noticed until Aoi arrived once more, this time carrying a set of bedding. We'd tried out a few configurations for our sleepovers in the past, and had quickly determined that one bed was way too cramped for all three of us. Spreading a pair of futons out on the floor, on the other hand, gave us a comfy amount of space to work with. One of those would be the one I had laid out on my bed, and the other that Aoi had just brought was most likely the one she usually slept on. "Well, you know how it is, Yotsuba," said Aoi. "She needs this sometimes. It seems like she's really been stressing over her entrance exams lately, after all." "Mmph, mmh!" "I'll be taking a nice, long turn after her, of course! You have an all-night course of little-sister therapy coming up!" "Mnhh, mph!" Sakura was totally absorbed in kissing me, and Aoi seemed to decide to give her some space, turning her attention to setting up her bedding instead. Normally she would've been sulking like a little kid by now, but every once in a while she'd have one of these moments of surprising maturity and consideration. In a certain sense, she was actually the toughest of the Hazama sisters. She only had one major weakness I could think of, in fact, that being her abysmal cooking. But then again, since she has me around to cook for her, doesn't she effectively have no weaknesses whatsoever...? Isn't she more or less flawless? "Okaaay, all done!" "Eeek! A-Aoi?! When did you get here?" "Ages ago, jeez! Honestly, do you know how irritating it's been to have to be around you making out like that?" Aoi huffed with her lips pursed and her hands on her hips. Sakura's eyes were about as wide as I'd ever seen them. Oh. I guess Aoi just looked like she was keeping her cool, and was actually pretty much at her limit?! Whatever it is about me that drives my sisters' affection to these crazy extremes, it's definitely something I should— "Okay, my turn next! Smooooch!" "Mmmph?!" "Ahh, there's seriously nothing better than kissing you, Yotsuba... I live for this...!" Aoi launched herself straight at me, clinging to me like her life depended on it and kissing me with all her might. I, meanwhile, didn't even know what was happening anymore. I mean, it felt nice, of course, and the way she kissed me was just so Aoi in the most endearing sort of way, but it was also pretty clear that this was a situation in which I didn't have the authority to so much as lift a finger. My job was to sit still and let my sisters get their fill of affection until they were satisfied. I knew that, really, sisters weren't supposed to kiss each other like this at all. By all rights, it was probably my responsibility as their older sister to put my foot down and tell them no. Why didn't I? Simply put...because this was what the two of them wanted. Not to mention that I appreciated my little sisters expressing their love for me, even if it wasn't quite the variety of love it probably should've been. In short: This was just the form that sisterly love had taken for the three of us. There was no way we could tell our parents about it, of course, and I wasn't about to proactively kiss the two of them either...but I guess you could say that we had a sort of tacit understanding, or something like it. "Come on, Aoi, it's my turn..." "Mmph, no it isn't! Your first turn was already so long!" Not to mention that, speaking as the oldest sibling, it was always nice to see the two of them getting along better than ever—even if they expressed it by fighting over me sometimes. ◇◇◇ Eventually, my rather heated bonding moment with Sakura and Aoi came to an end and the three of us climbed into bed. I slept in the middle, with the two of them on either side of me, each clinging to one of my arms. Could there possibly be a happier place on earth than this? I really don't think so! It's so perfect, it almost feels like I've wandered straight into heaven! The two of them must be the wings that carried me up there, I guess... Certain things had dragged on for long enough that it was now well and truly bedtime, but I no longer felt even the slightest bit sleepy. That wasn't much of a surprise—of course I'd be wide awake after spending that long with my heart pounding and my blood pumping away. "Oh, right! There's something I wanted to ask the two of you," I said. "Hm? What?" replied Sakura. "You two know all about Shooting Star, right?" It seemed pretty likely that people our age who didn't know much about Shooting Star were actually in the minority, really. Sakura and Aoi were firmly in the majority in that sense. They'd both been devastated when Makina's hiatus from show business was announced, and they'd also both freaked out in a big way when Makina stopped by for a visit the other day. "Is this about Maki...I mean, about Makina?" Sakura asked, pausing to quickly correct herself. "No, not this time, actually... It's about another member named Mio Kuruma," I explained. "Oh. Does that mean that Mio's your next target, Yotsuba?" Aoi prodded. "Target for what?!" I yelped. It wasn't that I didn't understand what she was implying, really...I just wanted to make it super clear that I had never been the one to initiate any of the things she was alluding to. But I was also afraid that if I did say it, the two of them would pick the argument to pieces in all sorts of ways I never could have anticipated. So I decided to keep it to myself instead. "N-No, I'm just a little curious, that's all! Just thought it'd be fun to find out a little about the people in her group—you know, her coworkers!" "Hmm..." Sakura shot me a very pointed glance, then added a skeptical sigh for good measure, almost making me cry then and there. "Mio's Shoo-Star's subleader. She's the same age as Makina, and...I think they get along, right?" "Yeah," Aoi chimed in. "They're always placed first and second as far as popularity goes, and they end up getting paired together as a set an awful lot." "Oh...?" They get along, huh? There was always the chance that this was the sort of situation Akksy had described where they were only acting like they got along, and there was no way of knowing how they felt about each other behind the scenes...but it was still a little reassuring to know that they seemed friendly from a fan's perspective. "I'm a fan of Mio's too," said Sakura. "Makina comes across as a prodigy and is always the one rushing ahead and pushing the group forward, but Mio's the one who looks out for everyone and pulls them along with her, if that makes sense." "A lot of people say that Mio's more of a leader than Maki sometimes," Aoi added. "Oh, really?" I said. "Some people think that Maki's only the leader because it's been that way since the group was founded, yeah. Honestly, she doesn't really feel like the leader type in a lot of ways," said Aoi. "And Mio had a leg up on her in terms of skills at first too. Makina just kept getting better and better as time went on, of course...but it's not like Mio ever stopped putting in the effort or anything," said Sakura. "The fact that Shoo-Star still works as a group even now that Makina's on hiatus is mostly thanks to Mio, in my book. It's hard to look good when everyone's always comparing you with Makina, but Mio really is incredible in her own right too." Whoooa... I knew that the two of them were fans of Shooting Star on the whole, but even taking that into consideration, their opinions of Mio were remarkably high. They were so enthusiastic about her, in fact, that I was starting to feel I might take a liking to her as well. She was pushy, sure, and she was a sort of person who I had a kind of hard time dealing with on a personal level...but then again, it was also possible that she was trying to get Makina to cancel her hiatus and get back to her idol work for Makina's sake rather than her own. There was just one thing that caught my attention about Sakura's description—the part about how it was hard to look good when everyone compared you with Makina. It struck me that by that same logic, it would be easier for her to look good if Makina wasn't around. This was a human relationship, of course, and I knew it couldn't be that black- and-white, but, well... It just seemed complicated, basically. "Yotsuba...?" said Sakura. "Hm? What is it?" I asked. "That's what I want to know. Were you thinking about something again?" "Are you sure you were 'just curious'?" Aoi added. "O-Of course!" I yelped. "You know it's never safe to believe you about this sort of thing. Right, Sakura?" "Right. Don't even think about it, Yotsuba. You already have Yuna and Rinka—not to mention me and Aoi!" I felt my sisters' grips on my arms grow distinctly tighter as they clung to me more firmly than ever. It felt like they were trying to claim me as their own, which was really cute, even though it was also a sign that they definitely thought I was a total degenerate with no sense of ethics whatsoever. So that was kind of conflicting...though considering that my whole goal was to break the school rules and sneak Mio onto our campus, I couldn't deny that I was doing some real scheming at the moment. "Well, if you ever decide you want to do something really bad, be sure to tell us first," said Aoi. "We're your sisters, so you can tell us anything—even things you couldn't tell your girlfriends! We'll satisfy all your desires!" "Something really bad?! My desires?!" "Right, Sakura?" Sakura hesitated. "Right," she finally said. "I'll do my best...!" I-Is it just me, or are my little sisters taking some pretty major steps forward...? I know they say that kids grow up fast these days, but this seems like a little much! Even I could tell that when Aoi said "something really bad," she wasn't exactly talking about secretly opening up a bag of potato chips to snack on after bedtime. Dragging my little sisters into anything worse than that would disqualify me from big-sisterhood so thoroughly and immediately that I absolutely had to restrain myself, no matter what...even if I was a little—juuust a little—curious about what exactly she'd meant with the whole "satisfying desires" part. Chapter 3: The Festival Begins! Day after frantically busy day passed by, and before I knew it, the time had arrived. October was just about Octover, and the cultural festival was here! It felt like it had barely taken any time at all to get here, weirdly enough, even though it had seemed like we had all the time in the world back when we first started planning. Class 2-A's performance was scheduled for Saturday, the first day of the festival. We all showed up bright and early, all wearing the T-shirts we'd had specially made for the event. I'd heard that the point of school uniforms was to instill a sense of belonging in a student body, and in a strange sort of way, those matching T-shirts accomplished that effect way more than any uniform I'd ever worn. I could really feel the solidarity in the classroom that morning. Everyone knew exactly what they'd be doing up until and throughout our performance. The performers—Yuna, Rinka, and Makina—would stick around in the classroom to change into and make any final adjustments to their outfits, put on makeup, and head over to the music room around lunchtime to warm up their voices. After that, it'd be time for the real deal. The rest of the people involved in the show proper—the musicians, the announcer, and the ones who'd help manage the event overall—would apparently be working right up until the last minute to make sure everything went off without a hitch. Most of the people who were left over were split up into two groups, with the majority of the boys standing by around the stage to act as security, just in case, and the girls standing by to sell the merch we'd made after the show was over. And as for me... "Good luck, Hazama! This is a really important job, but I know you can do it!" said our class rep. "Y-Yeah...!" I apprehensively replied as I accepted a shoulder bag containing a quite expensive-looking SLR camera. My role for the day: camerawoman. I'd be taking pictures of the show, catching as much of it on film as I could manage. People were talking about how the photos would probably end up in the yearbook and stuff, so like the class rep had said, it really was a super serious responsibility for sure! "Oh, jeez, the pressure..." I muttered to myself. "They taught me how to use it and all, but it still seems so hard..." "Ha ha ha! You'll be fine, Hazama! And it's not like you're alone—four other people will be taking pictures too." "Ah, Mukai," I said as I glanced upward. It seemed she'd noticed how anxious I was, and had decided to come over and talk to me. "Thanks again for all this, by the way." "It's fine! Don't mention it," Mukai replied. Mukai was, in fact, the very person who had suggested that I be one of the show's photographers. Her opinion carried quite a bit of weight in the class these days, seeing as she was in charge of our advertising efforts, but I was sure it still must've been pretty hard for her to convince them to give a jobless bum like me such an important role... Mukai claimed that, in her words, "That's not true! You were a huge help this time, and everyone said it was fine right away," but I was pretty sure she was just being nice. Mukai was also right: There were five people responsible for recording the performance, me included. We'd already figured out where each of us would be positioned, as well— I'd ended up on the gym's second-floor gallery, overlooking the stage. Mukai had been nice enough to make sure I was put there, since it'd be much easier to see from an overhead perspective than it would be down in the crowd. She was so nice, it almost made me want to break down in tears! Aside from a few people who were in charge of the lighting, only members of our class would be allowed up into the gallery during the performance. I had a feeling it was going to be a little weird looking down on everyone from on high like that, but it would definitely make it way easier to see what was happening. "Yotsuba!" "Hey, Yotsuba." "Ah!" I exclaimed. While Mukai and I were talking, Yuna and Rinka had shown up to see me—with Makina following along just a step behind them! "Can't wait to hear you cheer for us today," said Yuna. "We'll prove you right by making this the best performance anyone's ever seen," added Rinka. "Yeah! I can't wait!" I replied. They'd kept their comments as safe and neutral as they could, since we were surrounded by our classmates, but that was fine. I understood what they were really trying to say to me. We'd talked all about it on the phone the night before, after all, and above all else, I knew that the two of them were more excited for the show than anyone. "You too, Makina—break a leg!" I added. For a moment, Makina hesitated. "Thank you. I'll do my best," she finally said with a slight, awkward smile. I found myself a little worried about her. Maybe she was just nervous? Did she get nervous? "Are you okay, Makina?" asked Yuna. "If you're tired, you can feel free to rest until it's time for us to perform," Rinka suggested. "No need to worry about me, thank you. I'm in perfect condition. I'll be just fine," Makina replied. This time, she sounded just like she always did. Wait—is it me? Did she only sound uncomfortable because I'm the one she was talking to...? Looking back, she'd been going out of her way to avoid making eye contact with me all throughout the conversation. It hadn't started today, even—she'd been acting that way for quite some time now. "Hey, Makina?" I said. "Did I..." "Ah, sorry! I should stop by the restroom. I'll be back in a moment." "...do something..." I trailed off. Before I could even finish my question, Makina had made up an excuse and stepped out of the room. It was so obviously unnatural that Yuna, Rinka, and Mukai all cocked their heads in confusion. "Do you...think I did something?" I asked. "Considering this is you we're talking about? I can't rule it out," said Yuna. "Whaaat?!" "It's all right, Yotsuba," Rinka interjected. "Yuna and I will be watching over Makina. You don't have to worry about her —we have it under control." "You're not denying it either...?" I groaned. As depressing as that was, I was also relieved that the two of them would be around to keep an eye on her. Not long afterward, Yuna and Rinka were called away to prepare for the show. It was a bit of a shame, but considering that they were today's stars, I couldn't exactly complain. "Ugggh..." I sighed as I leaned up against one of the classroom's walls. Needless to say, I was still worried about Makina. In retrospect, she'd been acting a little strangely for ages. As far back as the day I met Mio on my way home from school, even. I'd just been too preoccupied with my own problems—or, really, too flustered by the memory of her kissing me—to notice. She could have dropped all sorts of hints that something was wrong that I just hadn't been able to pick up on. Would talking to her about it now be a good idea, though? What if it just made her more conflicted than ever? In the worst case, I was worried it could ruin her performance altogether... "The group's pretty close-knit these days, isn't it?" Mukai, who was still standing beside me, commented out of the blue. "Huh...?" "Momose, Aiba, and Oda, I mean." "O-Oh, those three! I know, right? I guess that's only natural, seeing as they've spent most of the past two months together. Anyone would get along after that, right?" "Oh... Sorry, I didn't phrase that very clearly. I guess I thought it went without saying that you were part of the group too." "Wait, me?" I asked. "Yeah," said Mukai. "It's not that you said anything that made me feel that way—I can sort of tell just looking at the four of you. It's your atmosphere, or something. I'm a little jealous, actually." "Huh?" The last part of what Mukai had said came out so quietly, I was pretty sure that I'd misheard her...but the rest of it had given me plenty to think about anyway. Oh, huh. If Makina and I look like we're close, then maybe it doesn't seem like she's behaving strangely from an outside perspective after all? Incidentally, I'd started calling Makina by her given name at some point along the way without really considering the potential consequences, but thankfully, my classmates had accepted it as normal without making much of a fuss about it. I'd definitely called her "Makina" all over the place by accident back during my speech at the advertising meeting, in retrospect...but Makina had told the whole class that it was fine for people to use her given name, and I guess people remembered that well enough to not read into me doing so. It was just another example of how high-level her communication skills were, or how incredibly charismatic she was, or something. "Oh... Sorry, Hazama! I should be going now," said Mukai. "It's fine," I said with a shake of my head. "Good luck today!" Mukai went along on her way. She wouldn't be up onstage, but she—and everyone else, for that matter—was still as busy as could be. I didn't have any responsibilities in particular to take care of at all until the show started...but I did have one ridiculously difficult mission that I had to pull off before then, unbeknownst to everyone. A ridiculously difficult mission that made me heave another sigh the second it crossed my mind. ◇◇◇ How would we sneak Mio into the school? The plan that Akksy gave me in the end was, in short, that we'd have her pretend to be an Eichou High student. In other words, Akksy had eventually decided to go with the plan that she herself had dismissed because it was boring... But, no, never mind—I don't actually want to complain about that, on second thought. All the other plans she thought up were way too risky! They would've practically taken superpowers to pull off! How, then, could we realistically sneak her into the school? The answer turned out to be surprisingly simple. "Umm, let's see... She should be here soon, right...?" I muttered as I glanced around the school's entryway. It was right around the time when students would usually be pouring into the building, and even though it was the day of the cultural festival, there were still plenty of kids heading inside. All of class 2-A's students had already arrived, though, so our shoe cubbies should have been deserted...but just as that thought crossed my mind, a girl stepped up to them. Huh...? Her long, black hair was tied into a pair of braided pigtails, she was wearing glasses, and for some reason, I found my eyes drawn toward her. She was wearing one of our school's uniforms, so she clearly belonged here, but for some reason she was standing by class 2-A's shoe cubbies, restlessly glancing around the area...until finally her gaze met mine and she jerked her chin in the air, gesturing for me to come over to her. Wait. Is that...? "G-Good morning...?" I said as I stepped toward her. "Why were you just standing around gaping at me? You said you'd find me yourself, didn't you?" the girl snapped. Her tone was really harsh, especially in contrast to her plain, subdued looks, and her glare was so sharp that I actually started trembling for a second. That powerful stare was something no disguise could ever cover up. There was no doubt about it! "You're, umm...Mio, right?" "Of course I am. Come on, hurry up. I need your shoes, remember?" DC D Π "O-Oh, right!" Mio stashed her outdoor shoes in my shoe cubby, then pulled out a pair of indoor footwear I'd brought for her (a spare pair that I didn't normally use, specifically). I watched her as she changed into them, and was struck by just how different she seemed. Her medium-length brown hair was now black and way longer, for one thing, but more importantly, she just felt different on an overall vibe sort of level. She felt...well, normal now. That special, sparkly idol aura I'd felt from her before was completely hidden away, replaced with a perfect facsimile of the sort of normal, mildmannered girl you could find at any school anywhere. Her eyes, however, were an exception. They were the same as ever. Makeup had nothing to do with the power of her gaze, apparently—it was a natural-born talent. I figured she probably could've used makeup to hide it, but considering she was supposed to be a prep school student, showing up with too much makeup on would've looked suspicious in its own right. The glasses would do a good enough job of keeping her gaze inconspicuous without catching people's attention, hopefully. Anyway, Mio's glare was bad for my heart, but good for my nerves. After all, it was a relief to see that she wasn't completely unrecognizable. If that powerful glare had vanished as well, her disguise would've been so perfect that if I'd lost track of her in a crowd, I might never have found her again. "All I can say is wow," I muttered. "What? This is totally normal," Mio gruffly replied. It was so much easier to recognize her when she talked. Her tone didn't match up with her looks at all—like if a purehearted, well-to-do maiden turned out to secretly ride around on a motorcycle in the dead of the night, or something. "Yotsuba? Why're you spacing out on me?" "Ah, sorry! So, umm, first things first...let's go somewhere!" Mio's aura had overpowered me, and I ended up setting off at a walk, wandering for some time without any destination in mind whatsoever. She followed along, sticking very close behind me. I didn't get the sense that any of the students we passed paid her any attention whatsoever. That was a good thing, of course—I would be in deep trouble if we were busted—but I still couldn't help being nervous. I probably looked like more of an intruder than she did, actually. "Where are we going, Yotsuba?" Mio eventually asked. "Huh?!" I yelped. "Oh, umm... So, the thing is, the cultural festival has an opening ceremony that's happening soon." "So?" "Well, all the students are supposed to attend...but it'd be a huge mistake for you to go too, right?" "It'd be an easy way to get caught, that's for sure." "So I thought we'd find somewhere for you to hide until the ceremony's over! I was just thinking about what would be a good spot." "Okay, I get it now. Anywhere works for me. I can just hang out in a restroom or something." "Wait, really? You wouldn't mind? I was so sure that you'd want your own green room and would throw a fit if I didn't get your lunch specially catered for you, or— Ouch! Ow ow ow?!?!" "You're messing with me, right? Right?" I mean, yeah, I was, but it was just a little joke! You didn't have to pinch me that hard! "Oh, relax. I know how to make it look like I'm pinching someone without it actually hurting." "It does hurt, actually?! Like, a lot?!" Mio kept pinching my side for a few seconds longer, then finally released me. It hurt so much I didn't know how she thought she could get away with telling me to relax about it. Then again, assuming she wasn't kidding and actually could pinch painfully or not-painfully at will...had I just been pinched by a master?! I sort of wondered if she'd be willing to demonstrate the looks-painful-but-isn't pinch on me too, but I had a feeling that she'd just do the painful one again if I asked, so I did my best to suppress my curiosity. "Well, umm, in that case, I should be going now!" I said. "I'll come back and get you as soon as the ceremony's over...but I thought it'd be boring just waiting for me, so I grabbed this for you to read." "A booklet about the festival? Thanks, but you don't have to bother coming back for me at all, really. I'm sure there are plenty of things I could do to entertain myself here—I can just catch a few opening acts while I wait." "No way! I couldn't abandon you! I'd feel bad about making you wait around on your own. It's fine, don't worry about it!" I assured her. "Oh...?" Mio replied. Her eyes widened slightly in a way that made me wonder if she was a little surprised, but she took the festival booklet and headed off into the nearby restroom before I could follow that train of thought any further. Oh—maybe she was planning on fiddling with her phone the whole time, and giving her that booklet was a waste of effort? I guess having it can't hurt, though, so it's probably fine, I told myself. I was still curious about what was going on in her head, but I had an opening ceremony to get to, so I rushed off to the gym instead of worrying about it. ◇◇◇ "Hey, I want to check this out," Mio said, eyes sparkling with glee as she pointed at one of the events listed in the festival booklet. I'd headed over to liberate her from her hiding place the moment the opening ceremony ended, and found that not only had she read the booklet in the meantime, she'd actually circled a few items on its itinerary. The one she was pointing at now was class 2-B's offering, which happened to be a maid café. I dunno... Class 2-B...? "What's that look supposed to mean? I'm here, so I might as well enjoy the festival—something weird about that?" Mio huffed. "No, it's not that you're being weird," I replied. "I get where you're coming from, okay? You broke the rules to sneak me in here, and I know that was asking a lot from you, but I don't exactly get many chances to attend this sort of event!" "You don't?" "Nope. I couldn't go to my own school's cultural festival— work got in the way. That's...not exactly why I'm curious about them, but I guess it's sort of related, at least," Mio explained as she bashfully broke eye contact. Judging by the slight flush of her cheeks, it wasn't an act—she really was a little embarrassed. Mio was right: If she got busted, I'd get in trouble for sure, and the more we walked around the festival, the bigger the risk that someone would see her and be all, "Wait, who's that kid?" I wanted to avoid that sort of situation, if at all possible...but I couldn't exactly tell her no after she'd opened up to me like that, could I? It was sort of like one of those moments when a cat that usually won't get anywhere near you suddenly gets all affectionate out of nowhere—not that I'd know much about that, seeing as I'd never had a pet cat! "Ugh..." I groaned. "Okay, fine." "All right!" Mio said, pumping her fist. "Let's get moving, then!" Mio set off down the corridor, humming a happy little tune as she went. It really felt like she had me in the palm of her hand, but I also definitely couldn't let her wander off on her own, so I chased after her. "Come to think of it, what was your plan? It's kind of weird that you rushed right back here if you weren't into the idea of us walking around the place. What were you thinking we'd do?" asked Mio. "It's not that I don't like the idea, exactly... But I was just planning on sticking around and waiting with you," I replied. "What, like, to keep an eye on me?" "No, not like that! I just thought you might get lonely, so I figured I'd hang out with you until the performance. I hadn't actually thought about what we'd do, though... We could've, umm, chatted, maybe?" Mio stopped in her tracks, then spun around to face me. Her lips were slightly pursed, and she looked sort of upset. "Wh-What's wrong?" I asked. "You're a flirt." "What?" "You, Yotsuba, are a flirt. You haven't realized it?" "Whaaat?!" "So, what, you're just like this naturally...? How is that even fair?" "H-How is what fair?!" "Well, whatever. It'd be one thing if it was on purpose, but I guess it's kind of endearing if it's just the way you are." "Oh. Uhh... Thanks?" "Ha ha ha! That's how you react? Come on!" I'd been totally serious throughout that whole exchange, but apparently as far as Mio was concerned, my reactions had been hysterical. The little smile on her face almost felt like a mean-spirited smirk, but at the same time, it gave me the impression that she was having a blast...and suddenly, the intensity of her gaze that had freaked me out so much up until then didn't bother me at all anymore. ◇◇◇ And then there we were—at class 2-B's maid café. "I believe I'll have...the omelet rice and a coffee, please. What would you like, Yotsuba?" asked Mio. "Huh? Uhh... Orange juice and a slice of cake," I ordered in a fluster. Okay...who is this girl I'm sitting with all of a sudden?! She's all graceful and ladylike and stuff! I can practically hear one of those fancy-shmancy sound effects they use to show that characters are high-class playing in the background! As Mio watched me fall into a state of total bewilderment, a very slight, satisfied smile flashed across her face. It was like she was silently saying, This sort of persona matches nicely with how I look now, doesn't it? or something along those lines. The thought had already crossed my mind when I first saw her by the shoe cubbies, but I was more sure than ever now: She wasn't a pro idol who took on acting gigs for nothing! "And...will that be all for you?" "Hyeeek!" And then, with a spine-chilling sensation that I had to imagine was a lot like how it felt to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge, my easygoing admiration of Mio's acting chops was swept away by a voice so frigid it felt downright lethal! It came from a certain waitress who I'd been doing my absolute best to not focus on—even though she'd had my full attention since the very moment that I stepped into the room—and now I did my best to give her a nod without looking her in the eye, or anywhere even close to it. "Yup...'s fine, thanks..." "Understood. Your order will be ready momentarily." I could actually hear her inner voice, I swear. Specifically, I could hear the inner voice of the (frilly, floofy maiduniform-clad) waitress saying, "Why are you here?", "Leave. Now," and "You'll make a decent meal for the sharks in whichever corner of Tokyo Bay I end up sinking you in." "Hmm. You know, I don't think I was giving this cultural festival enough credit," Mio said, shifting back to her usual tone as the waitress went on her way. "It's pretty decently put together, actually. The uniforms are on point, and that waitress was seriously so pretty. A little stiff in the expression department, though... In fact, she was glaring at us so hard, you'd think we murdered her whole family or something. Then again, I guess pretty girls who want nothing to do with you are popular in their own right." Right? They really did go all out on this café. And the waitress really was pretty, wasn't she? There was just one slight problem: the very real possibility that said waitress was, in fact, going to kill me at some point in the immediate future. Yes, indeed—the slender, well-endowed girl who looked incredibly natural in a frilly maid uniform and had a name tag with "Mai (heart)" written on it pinned to her chest was, in fact, an emissary from the netherworld sent to drag me down to the Great Beyond. That's right. I'd found myself in class 2-B. Which is to say, Mai Koganezaki's class. The moment I looked at the cultural festival booklet and saw that Koganezaki's class would be doing a maid café, I'd sent her a text saying, "I'll stop by for sure!" She'd responded with a text that read, "I'll kill you if you do," complete with a middle finger emoji. It had, to put it mildly, stuck out in my memory a little. And so, when Mio told me that was where she wanted to go, I'd started feverishly praying that Koganezaki wouldn't be working a shift when we arrived—and ended up having precisely none of those prayers answered. Given my track record for these things, of course they weren't. "I wonder if she'll take a picture with us if we ask? What do you think, Yotsuba?" "Huh?! Yeaaah, I, umm, think she probably wouldn't be very happy about that..." "Oh? Isn't that the point, though? You can just tell that she doesn't want to be wearing a maid uniform, and the fact that she's being forced to wear it anyway is exactly what makes it work so well." "I...kind of get that, actually," I admitted. Koganezaki really did look pretty darn good in a maid uniform. That wasn't surprising, of course—she had the sort of figure that would let her look good in just about anything. Seeing her dressed like that, by the way, reminded me of how I'd ended up wearing a maid uniform as well when I went to visit her apartment with Emma. It was really embarrassing, but knowing that I was doing it for her sake had given me the drive I needed to muster up my courage and put it on anyway. Considering that she'd seen me in a maid uniform, maybe this was a fair trade? Maybe it was okay for me to feast my eyes on her maid-uniformed figure? Surely it was, right? These were all rhetorical questions, right? Of course they were! Wham! "Pgyah!" "Thank you for waiting. Your coffee and orange juice." O-Oh, jeez, that scared me... The sound of my glass being slammed onto the table dispelled my defiant attitude in the blink of an eye. Needless to say, the merciless, maid-impersonating assassin who'd brutally dispatched my will to assert myself was none other than Koganezaki herself. She'd set my glass of orange juice down so forcefully that she just barely avoided spilling any of its contents, then set down Mio's coffee with the gentle care you'd expect from a waitress. The message couldn't have been clearer: If she wanted to, she could end me at any given moment. And even if she didn't, my heart might just give up the ghost and do the job for her! "Here's your omelet rice and cake!" a different waitress said as she brought our food to our table. Oh, that was close... I thought. I'd been worried that Koganezaki would shove my slice of cake right into my face if she was the one who delivered it. In fact, I was totally convinced she would've! "Umm, excuse me," said Mio. "Yes...?" Koganezaki replied. "It said on the menu that you'd cast the 'yummy-yummy spell' on our food if we asked? And I'm asking." "Wha—?!" I gasped. I almost tried to stop her, but it was already far too late. Mio had already finished making her request by the time I realized what she was doing, and since the waitress who'd brought our food had already moved on to another table...the only one left to fulfill her order was Koganezaki. Koganezaki paused for a moment...then shot me an incredibly pointed glare. "You brought her here, so you deal with her"...? Wha— Huh?! Did Koganezaki talk to me telepathically just now?! SSorry! Don't know her! She's a total stranger! Just happened to sit next to me! "Is that not okay...?" Mio asked. Her shoulders were slumped, and she had tears in her eyes. She looked so genuinely depressed that for a moment, I almost believed that she was a perfectly ordinary, slightly timid high school girl who'd worked up her courage to make the request. Her acting's incredible... But no, seriously, please stop! You have no idea what sort of price I'm going to have to pay when this is all over! "...As you wish," said Koganezaki, ignoring my terrified shivering. It seemed she'd taken pity on Mio—or, really, on Mio's totally fake schoolgirl persona—and agreed in the most purely emotionless tone of voice I'd ever heard come out of her mouth. I watched on pins and needles as Koganezaki turned to Mio's omelet, gulped... "Y-Yummy yummy, in your tummy..." ...and somehow, just barely, formed a heart with trembling fingers that she aimed at the dish. Her whole face was bright red, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears as she forced herself to recite the "spell" in the most weary, reluctant way imaginable. "...That's all." "Oooh," Mio cooed, throwing in a round of applause for good measure. I had no idea what she was so impressed by. Koganezaki turned to face me, her fists clenched as tightly as they could possibly go. The glare she shot in my direction all but screamed, This is your fault, and you'll be dead three times over by the time you finish making up for it. "Okay, but that was really cute, Koganeza— Owww?!" She flicked me in the forehead! Why, though?! I was just trying to be nice! ◇◇◇ To make a long story short, I did eventually manage to escape the gut-churning danger zone that was class 2-B's room. Seeing their maid café wasn't nearly enough to satisfy Mio's curiosity, though, and she ended up leading me all around the school on a grand tour of the festival's offerings. On the bright side, she didn't steer us toward any other restaurant-style attractions where we'd be obligated to hang around for a set period of time, sticking instead to exhibits that we could leave whenever we wanted. "Hmm..." Mio hummed to herself as she took it all in. She seemed rather impressed by all the various items, art pieces, and cultural-club research projects that my peers had chosen to put on display. You'd think that Mio had a remarkable variety of interests, judging by how indiscriminate she was about the things she stopped to look at...but to me, having had plenty of time to watch her by then, it sort of felt like she wasn't really focusing on any of them. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely. "Ahh, that was great!" Mio exclaimed, pausing to stretch as we stepped out of yet another classroom. "Hey, Mio?" I said. "Hmm?" "Are you nervous?" "Am I... What?" Makina's performance was scheduled to start at two in the afternoon. That moment was rapidly approaching, and the closer it came, the more Mio lost her cool...or at least it seemed that way to me, anyway. "I guess...I might be. Maybe I am," Mio replied. She seemed puzzled, narrowing her eyes for a moment. It was almost like she was asking herself how she felt. "Hey, Yotsuba? Is there somewhere nearby where we could take a break for a little? Somewhere there won't be anyone else around, I mean." "Umm... Yeah, I think so! This way," I replied. I took Mio by the hand and set off, making my way through—and fleeing from, more or less—the crowds of excited festivalgoers. Eventually, we arrived at a landing at the top of a staircase. That landing featured the doorway to the rooftop and basically nothing else whatsoever. "The roof's off-limits during the festival, so I don't think anyone else is going to bother coming all the way over here today," I explained. "Hmm. Sounds good," Mio replied. She smiled as she took a seat on the stairs. "Come on, don't just stand there. You should sit down too." "Oh, sure!" I sat down next to Mio...and a moment later, I heard a very long, deep sigh from beside me. "I really didn't think you'd call me out. Not that directly, anyway... Was it that obvious? Am I just an open book, or what?" Mio asked. "Umm, not really," I said. "It was just a hunch, honestly. I don't even know why I thought you were nervous..." "Oh, I was talking to myself just now, not to you. No need to answer me." "Whaaat?! Come on!" Was she really...? I was so sure she was talking to me! Why is communication always so dang hard?! "Gotcha! I was just kidding. You're really fun to mess with, Yotsuba." "To mess with?!" "Yup. You make it easy. Heh heh!" Mio chuckled in a weirdly childlike sort of way before reaching over and mussing up my hair. "Wha— Hey?! Mio?!" I yelped. I tried to push her arm away reflexively, but she dodged away from my grasp with ease. She was toying with me, in more ways than one...until suddenly, she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Someone was climbing the staircase. "It's okay," I said to Mio. She'd jumped with surprise, her shoulders shuddering slightly, but I knew exactly who was on her way to meet with us. I just hadn't mentioned it, that was all. "Well, here I am, Hazama," our visitor said as she ascended the staircase. "Huh?" grunted Mio. "Aren't you the maid from earlier...?" "That's correct, Mio Kuruma," said Koganezaki. She turned to me next, her mouth set in a frown and her eyes displaying all the interest you'd express toward a random rock you happened to notice lying by the side of the road. Oh, good! She's treating me the same way as always! "You know who I am...?" said Mio. "I'm guessing that means Yotsuba told you what's going on?" "Y-Yeah," I replied. "I asked her for advice when I was trying to figure out how to get you into the school. She did say no, but still." "And you expect her to be on our side, why?" "She is, trust me! You wouldn't think it just looking at her, but she's actually really helpful and reliable and stuff! Right, Koganezaki?" "Why exactly would you ask me to vouch for myself?" Koganezaki replied before crossing her arms and heaving a sigh. She had, incidentally, swapped her maid outfit for her usual student uniform, which was kind of a shame. Not that our school's winter uniform didn't suit her super well too! "It's pretty hard to believe that she's nice when your word is the only proof I have, Yotsuba," said Mio. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?!" I wailed. "That I might be deceiving you, presumably," said Koganezaki. "Which is fair enough, considering how much of a sucker you can be at times." "That's what you meant?!" Thanks for the helpful clarification, I guess! "I don't particularly need you to trust me," Koganezaki continued. "That said, since I'm aware of your presence here and the circumstances surrounding it, there's every chance that if you're exposed, I could end up being caught up in the inevitable fallout. I refused to help, yes, but I know perfectly well that if she ends up being questioned, she could easily end up accidentally implicating me anyway with some harebrained half-truth or another." "Oooh, yeah. I can definitely see that," said Mio. "Wow! Mean!" But also, it sort of sounds like she's going to help us after all? She really is the nicest! This is exactly why I always end up relying on her! At the end of the day, Koganezaki's number one! "Oh, right!" Mio added. "I forgot to ask for a picture earlier. Can I take one now?" "I'm off the clock at the moment, so no, you may not," Koganezaki bluntly replied. Heh heh heh! Classic Koganezaki—but I know that if I asked her, she'd totally say yes! After all, she's an incredibly hospitable person at the end of the day! She's got a chilly attitude, sure, but I know she loves me to pieces deep down! That said, I didn't actually end up asking. I didn't want to make it look like I was showing off how well we got along to Mio, after all...which was the only reason. I definitely wasn't worried about how depressed I'd get if she did shoot me down after all. My motivations were most definitely not that tragically pathetic. Chapter 4-A: The Show of Our Dreams Even though we arrived at the show's venue—the school gym—twenty minutes early, it was already packed full of students. There was no need to worry about lack of space, considering that school-wide assemblies were held in that gym pretty regularly, but it was still a little shocking to see just how many people had shown up. "Actually, is it just me, or is it nearly as packed now as it is for school assemblies?!" I exclaimed. Just looking out across the crowd had me worked up. Koganezaki, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed. "This has been a rather hotly anticipated event," she noted. "Wait, really?" "It baffles me that you—a member of the class putting it on—were somehow unaware of this, but of course it has. It's a show starring a real-life idol and the Sacrosanct, aided by a publicity campaign tailor-made to fan the flames of everyone's excitement. This is most certainly the must-see event of the festival's first day. I'm to understand that most of the other classes' offerings have been put on hold so everyone can come see it." "Whoooa..." I muttered. That's Koganezaki for you. Always ready to lend a healthy helping of context! "What's 'the Sacrosanct'?" asked Mio. "Oh, right, you wouldn't know!" I said. "Umm, so, a pair of girls are gonna be performing as idols with Makina, right? And 'the Sacrosanct' is basically a nickname for them, more or less." "They're performing with Maki...? What sort of sadistic punishment is that?" "Heh heh heh! I know what you're thinking, and you're way off base!" For any ordinary high school girl, having to perform alongside a genuine top idol would, to use a sorta scary turn of phrase, be more or less equivalent to a public execution. Mio's reaction was natural, especially considering how well she knew Makina as an idol. I, however, knew Yuna and Rinka well enough to very confidently declare that she was dead wrong! Mio took one look at the grin on my face, then let out a little "hmm" in response. Oh. That means she doesn't believe me, doesn't it? "Ah, Hazama!" a voice rang out. "Mukai!" I exclaimed as I realized who it was. "Just look at this crowd! Isn't it incredible?" "I know! I'm just glad that I managed to find you," Mukai replied with a slightly bashful smile. I had a feeling she might've been lingering near the gym's entrance, waiting for me to show up. "Hello, Mukai," said Koganezaki. "Oh, hi, Koganezaki! And, umm, is this...?" Mukai said as she glanced over at Mio. "U-Umm, I guess she's my friend, more or less," I babbled, only for Koganezaki to cut me off. "She's the girl we discussed earlier. Ideally, she'll accompany us to the second floor." "Oh, got it! That's fine, of course!" said Mukai. Huh? This conversation just took a weird turn. I wasn't keeping up at all, but thankfully, Mukai decided to clue me in so I didn't have to keep standing around in a befuddled daze forever. "Koganezaki already told me about your situation," said Mukai. "She said that you had a very important guest you had to bring to see the show. I didn't know who that guest was...but I guess I was expecting her to be a little less, well, normal." "Oh! Koganezaki said so? I see..." "That's right! Only members of our class are allowed in the second-floor gallery, right? It'd be terrible if an audience member got too excited and fell over the rail, after all. That's not a super strict rule, though, and when I asked around, everyone else said that it was totally fine as long as Koganezaki was vouching for her. She has a lot of clout, you know?" "I get it now," I said. The Sacrosanct fan club, while not an official organization, was still one of the biggest groups at our school, and everyone knew that Koganezaki was its vice president. She actually felt a lot more like its leader than its actual president, Akksy, ever had. I'd heard that the fan club had been going through a bit of an uproar about whether or not Makina should count as part of the Sacrosanct ever since she transferred in, and the fact that that decision had ultimately been left in Koganezaki's hands was a pretty clear sign of just how much respect its members held her in. Of cooourse, having that responsibility foisted onto her had led to Koganezaki going through a complete breakdown...but no way in heck would I let anyone hold that against her! Anyway, it went without saying that a lot of kids in our class were in the Sacrosanct fan club. More than there were in most classes, actually, probably since all of us were exposed to Yuna and Rinka on a daily basis. In that sense, Koganezaki was an influential figure in the school at large, but especially in my class! Woo! You go, Koganezaki! And it looks like you've been pulling strings to help me out behind the scenes too! Thanks so much! Love you, girl! Thwack! "Gyaaah?!" "Your face was loud." My forehead! She flicked it! Again! Are forehead flicks, like, her thing these days?! "We'd be glad to take you up on your generous offer," said Koganezaki. "Let's go, you two." "Hey," said Mio, "can I flick you in the forehead next? I bet I could get a really nice sound out of you!" "Please don't," I moaned. "This really isn't the time or place for everyone to be flicking my head..." "Can, umm... Can I try too?" "Not you too, Mukai?!" Was the sound of Koganezaki's flick just so satisfying, it turned my head into some sort of festival attraction?! I decided—in no small part to keep my forehead from getting turned into a flicking bag—to hustle everyone along up the stairs to the second-floor gallery, where we found a spot that would give us a full-on view of the stage. I ended up clustered together with Mio, Koganezaki, Mukai... "And me, indeed!" ...and a modern-day ninja-cum-angel, Emma, who'd descended to grace us with her presence somewhere along the way without making so much as the slightest hint of sound! Was I surprised by her sudden appearance? Nope, not in the slightest. Emma could show up out of the blue anywhere, anytime, and I'd welcome her without missing a beat! She'd trained me well! "Emma!" "Yotsubaaa!" The two of us threw our arms around each other! "Huuug!" "Huuug, indeeeed!" Aaaaaah, Emmaaaaaa! So! So! Soooooo cute!!! "Sorry, what?" said Mio. "Who the heck is this ridiculously adorable little kid?!" "I'm Emma, indeed!" Emma replied. "Oh, hi, Emma! It's been a while," said Mukai. "A while indeed, Chiaki!" said Emma. Mio was left in a state of shock by Emma's sheer angelic presence, while Mukai gave her a totally casual greeting. She and Emma had met back when we all got together to model for Mukai's advertisement illustration, and from the sound of it, they'd gotten to know each other even better since then. "Will you do the honors, Emma?" asked Koganezaki. "Yes indeed, sister dearest!" said Emma. She broke away from me, then held up the SLR camera that she— Wait, what?! When did she get that camera bag?! I thought it was hanging from my shoulder just a second ago! Did... Did she use that hug to snatch it from me?! "I assure you that Emma's photography will be to your satisfaction," said Koganezaki. "You might be surprised to hear this, but her skills are undeniable. She has, in fact, won several awards in the field." "Indeed!" Emma chirped. "Wow, really?! I guess I shouldn't be surprised—you have so many skills, Emma..." Emma stood tall and proud while Koganezaki took a moment to bundle her long, fluffy hair up into a pair of buns. Oh wooow! She looks so cute with her hair all tied up like that! Those are the yummiest-looking hair buns I've ever seen! I'll have two to go, thanks! This place does takeout, doesn't it...? Oh. No? It doesn't? Ha ha ha... Y-Yeah, figures! You know I was just kidding, right...? The clerk—I mean, Koganezaki—shot me a piercing glare, which I fled from by looking over at Mukai instead. She didn't seem particularly surprised by Emma's camerawoman promotion, which I assumed meant that she'd been told about all this in advance. I get it now. That's why she gave a really complicatedlooking SLR camera to a total amateur like me—because she knew that Emma would be the one using it in the end! "But wait," I said. "In that case, what is my job...?" "Your job is to watch the performance from start to finish," said Koganezaki. "Surely not even your veil of obfuscating negativity is thick enough to blind you to the fact that those three want you, above all others, to see their big moment?" "I mean...I know that, yeah," I replied. Koganezaki let out a quiet chuckle, and then—in an incredibly smooth, natural motion—reached over to pat my head. "Well, then sit still and don't let yourself get distracted." "Yeah... Thanks, Koganezaki. And you too, Emma. I promise I'll pay you back for this sometime soon!" "Hee hee—I'm happy, indeed! I'll do my best!" I still felt a little guilty about the fact that I was the only one who got to sit back and enjoy the show without doing any real work at all, but Koganezaki was right. Plus, I knew for a fact that I'd regret it forever if I got distracted and missed even a moment of Yuna, Rinka, and Makina's performance. Mukai tapped me on the shoulder. "Ah, Hazama, look! It's starting!" she said. I turned to look at the stage just in time to see our class rep step out in front of the curtains with a microphone in hand. "Thank you very much for coming to see class 2-A's performance. I'm Yayoi Niijima, our class representative!" she said. She seemed a little nervous, but her delivery was still loud and clear, and the audience responded with a round of applause and even a few whistles. The atmosphere was really positive, all around. Even the class rep seemed to loosen up after a moment, a relieved smile coming across her face. "I think you're all aware that a new friend transferred into our class at the start of the second semester. Some of you might have complicated feelings about her presence in this school, but as far as we're concerned, she's a member of our class just like anyone else. She's not some special, unapproachable other—she's our friend. We...I didn't realize that, until another girl in our class pointed it out to me." I heard Mukai let out a satisfied little "hmph!" next to me. She was grinning, while I was clutching the railing in front of me with all my strength in a fit of inexplicable embarrassment. "I hope that by watching today's performance, all of you will come to understand how amazing our new friend is, and also who we are as a class. We've all worked together to make this happen, and I couldn't be happier to present the fruits of our efforts to such an incredible audience!" A real intensity had started to creep into the class rep's voice. The audience was listening with rapt attention to her every word too, and, like...I didn't even know why, but for some reason, that was all it took to make me feel like I was about to break down in tears. "We'll be performing two covers and one original song today—three songs in total! We made sure to choose songs that you'll all likely be familiar with for the covers, and the original song was written by our three performers. It's the best song ever, and the only ones who'll get to hear it are all of you, here and now! I hope you're hyped, everyone!" The audience roared with excitement. They were most definitely hyped, no two ways about it! A moment later the lights in the gymnasium dimmed, and penlights—which we'd put on sale in advance of the concert—began to glow among the audience. My heart was doing its absolute best to pound its way right through my rib cage. "And, without further ado... It's time for class 2-A's cultural-festival idol show to begin!" With those words, the class rep gave the signal. The curtains slowly rose, and as our trio of performers was unveiled, the loudest, most raucous roar yet shook the gymnasium. I really mean it—it literally felt like everyone's voices were shaking the building to its foundation, but even so, the impact that the performers' appearance had on me was still far greater. I mean, like...come on! I was looking down on a stage with three perfect, heaven-sent girls clad in the most floofy, adorable, almost holy-looking dresses I'd ever seen! "Are you ready?! Then let me hear you shout!" Yuna, who was standing at stage left, shouted in the most energetic, endearing way possible. Her dress was pink, and she couldn't have looked more like a cute little fairy if she'd tried. She was the shortest of the trio, but her stage presence was as big as they came. In fact, word in my internal rumor mill had it that she was the most trendsetting, leader-like character among their group! "We hope you all enjoy the show, everyone!" Rinka called out from stage right. Her attitude was as cool and confident as could be, and her blue dress was perfectly designed to draw out every bit of her dignified presence, putting her best qualities right at the forefront. Her figure and proportions were downright perfect, and while her outfit matched that girly side of her fantastically, it also brought a sort of appeal that Yuna lacked into sharp focus, causing the audience—and especially the girls in the audience—to cry out in appreciation! "The three of us...will sing with everything we have," said the performer who stood in the center of the formation. She was not the genuine idol Maki Amagi, a performer capable of drawing the audience's attention by virtue of her name alone. No, she was Makina Oda, plain and simple. Her dress was simple as well, made from a pure white fabric and designed in a way that brought out the absolute best of that material in all its shimmering glory. Makina was... How to even put it...? She looked majestic, I guess. She didn't so much as flinch in the face of the audience's cheers. It almost felt like she and the space around her existed in a whole separate reality of their own. I can't find the right words to describe it, but, like...her aura was just ridiculously amazing, basically. Makina always had a certain something that made her feel special, but this was something altogether different. It was like she was a totally different person. Yuna, Rinka, and Makina stood on the stage, each shining away with their own unique appeal...and I was completely charmed in an instant! I was so profoundly grateful to have had the chance to see this show—in fact, I was grateful to have been born, period!!! Oh, and our costume designers are all geniuses! I already heard that they did everything they could to stretch their budget to its limits to make all those outfits from scratch, and boy, did it ever pay off! There's nothing cheap-looking about them whatsoever! "All right, it's time for our first song!" Yuna called out. That seemed to be the signal to kick things off, and the band started to play. They'd picked a song that even I was familiar with—a massive hit from an idol group that had been used a bunch in commercials recently. And of course, as the music began, Yuna, Rinka, and Makina started to dance. Oh, wow, they're all so cute... And wait, Yuna and Rinka are both really good at singing?! They have the choreography down pat too! They must've practiced so hard! You're doing great! Keep it up! You're awesome! The two of them were sharing the stage with Makina. It didn't feel like she was outdoing or overwhelming them at all as they danced in perfect synchrony. Oh, and sang in perfect harmony too! Ah, Yuna just winked! And Rinka's smile's so perfect! Wait, what was that that Makina just did?! How does that move even work?! Oh, wow! Oh, wow wow wow!!! My vocabulary for these things was already lacking at the best of times, and in the face of their performance, it was completely overwhelmed. Yuna, Rinka, and Makina were all just... Just amazing! So cute! Super awesome! Meanwhile, the crowd below us roared with approval. "Yunaaa!" someone shouted. "You rule, Rinka!" "Makiii!" Every time I heard someone in the audience shout out one of their names, it made me so happy, you'd think they were praising me—and the audience down below was only the start. "Who are those two...? Are they really amateurs?!" Mio muttered in astonishment, just as I'd hoped she would! Yuna and Rinka's moves had left her completely baffled! You see that?! Now you understand why everyone's so obsessed with them! If you want to go all talent scout on them, now's your... A-Actually, never mind! Don't do that! We wouldn't have any time to spend together anymore if that happened! "But..." Mio continued. Her pause lasted a very long time. "I don't think so. Not good enough." "Huh?" Wait, you don't think what? Is this still about scouting them? What's not good enough?! Do you have a problem with those two or something?! "Maki's movements are way stiffer than usual." "Wait... Makina's?" "She's not nervous, is she...? No, that can't be it. I don't even know what that would look like. Maybe she's sick? Or maybe..." Mio muttered. She was so absorbed by her analysis that she clearly wasn't listening to me at all anymore. To be totally honest, I couldn't see it. Makina didn't look stiff to me at all. In fact, her singing and dancing were both so good, it was really easy to understand why she was such a popular idol these days. But...now that Mio had pointed it out, I also had to admit that there were a few little things that stood out to me. For some reason, every once in a while, something about Makina's expression made it seem like she was having a tough time. No... We shouldn't be nitpicking like this. I mean, just look at the crowd! They love it, right? Everyone's so into the show! Mio's just overthinking things...and now I am too. I was starting to feel a little anxious, but I did my best to tell myself it was all right and put a lid on that apprehension. In the meantime, the second song had already come to an end. I was watching the whole time, of course...but, well, let's just say that if I hadn't handed photography duty off to Emma, things probably would have ended very poorly for me. I glanced to the side and saw Mio staring down at the stage, her chin resting in her palm. She was frowning, unsurprisingly. I had no idea whether Makina was really feeling sick or not, but I could tell that as far as our bet was concerned, her performance definitely wasn't hitting the level it needed to convince Mio to give up and admit defeat. "So, umm, once again—hello, everyone!" Yuna called out as she took a step forward. Now that the second song was over, there was a brief period scheduled where the performers would get to talk before the final number. Yuna was really into it in the most adorable sort of way, and the way Rinka calmly and affectionately watched over her was just so perfectly kind, I couldn't get enough of it! But Makina, though... I thought as I glanced at the third performer. The worries that I'd put a lid on earlier were doing their very best to worm their way out of their prison. Makina was still smiling, but she looked tired, somehow. It was like she wasn't fully present in the moment. Just looking at her made my chest clench. Assuming Makina really wasn't feeling well, and assuming it wasn't because she had a cold or something—that is to say, assuming it was an emotional problem rather than a physical one—then wasn't there something I could do for her? I would've laid a hand on her shoulder and said something to encourage her if I could, but there was no way I could reach her like that from the very back of the crowd, as far separated from the stage as I could've possibly been. I couldn't...but someone could. Yuna, Rinka... Help her, please! Two girls who were way, waaay more reliable than I could ever be were right by Makina's side. Two girls who'd happened to enroll at the same school as me, miraculously ended up becoming friends with me, and given me the strength and encouragement I needed time after time after time since even before we'd started dating. As far as I was concerned, Yuna and Rinka were my saviors. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been standing in that gymnasium at all...so I decided to believe in them. I believed with all my heart that Yuna and Rinka would find a way to pull things through. "Ah...!" I gasped. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe my prayer had been answered. One way or another, at that exact moment, my eyes met Rinka's. She flashed a slight, affectionate smile in my direction, then shot a glance over at Yuna. I looked at Yuna too, and found that she'd caught Rinka's signal and was looking toward me now, grinning up at the gallery. "It's all right." "We know." Neither of them actually spoke, of course, but they didn't need to. The warmth and reassurance of their feelings got through to me just fine anyway. I was so overjoyed, I gave them the biggest wave I possibly could. "Well, Yotsuba," said Mio, "I honestly hate to do this to you, but at this point..." I cut her off. "Don't worry." "Huh?" "Makina has Yuna and Rinka with her, so it'll be all right." I put it as plainly as I could, but even that wasn't enough to express how little there was to worry about. I had absolute faith in Yuna, in Rinka, and in the fact that Makina was about to exceed Mio's wildest expectations. So I turned to her and gave her the most confident grin I could. "If you really don't think her performance was good enough when it's over...then I'll do whatever you tell me to." Mio had offered to do whatever I told her to if I won our bet, back when she was trying to provoke me into accepting her challenge...and now I'd turned it back around on her, offering the same stakes. There was no way she could possibly misunderstand what I was trying to express. It seemed totally possible that she'd already come to a conclusion about the performance and didn't think that anything could change her mind. The show was already twothirds of the way over, and so far, Makina hadn't passed muster. Maybe she was so far behind, there was no way she could possibly make up for her weak opening in the remaining third. I, however, believed in them. I believed in Yuna, in Rinka...and in Makina as well. I'm so glad that I'm not the one whose efforts this bet's riding on. The winner would be determined by a totally subjective opinion. Mio would watch the show, evaluate it for herself, then decide who had won, with no oversight whatsoever. If I were the one performing, I would've been a pessimistic wreck—but if they were the ones who my hopes were riding on, I had a bottomless well of faith that I could place in them. I knew that they would produce results more satisfying than anything I could've ever possibly managed. "Oh...?" said Mio, her eyes wide with shock. I didn't have a clue what she was thinking, but she took a moment to closely study me, staring me straight in the eye...then smiled, as if she'd been convinced of something. "Someone's confident, huh?" "That's right!" I replied. Koganezaki, who was the one other person who knew everything that was going on, rolled her eyes with a shrug. Mukai, meanwhile—who didn't know about the bet at all— looked a little bewildered by our exchange. You'd think that I would've been worried, considering the situation, but I was actually as excited as could be. Yuna, Rinka, and Makina's performance had been wonderful so far...but I knew that we were about to see something even more incredible. I was positive of it. You can do it, everyone...! Chapter 4-B: The Show of Our Dreams—Makina's Side It feels...like I'm suffocating. For some time—in fact, ever since I woke up that morning —a strange, murky sensation had been spreading through me. The closer our performance time came, the stronger that feeling grew. I'd stood upon countless stages before, many of them far larger than the one in Eichou High's gym, and performed for crowds that dwarfed the scale of today's gathering...but somehow none of the arena concerts I'd been a part of, none of the music festivals or live TV broadcasts I'd been featured in, had ever affected me like this. This time, stepping up onto that stage...scared me. That's right. It scared me. I was terrified. I had been for a very long time. Some part of me wished that the day of my performance would just never arrive. "I would like the two of you to perform onstage with me at the cultural festival...and I would like us to use that performance to settle things between us." Whoever received the most accolades on the surveys we passed out to the attendees would be the winner. I'd suggested our little contest myself, and I'd done it with complete confidence that I would emerge victorious. The thought that I might lose never so much as crossed my mind. No matter how incredible the two of them—Yuna and Rinka—might have been, I believed that they could never be any sort of match for my experience and ability. "If I win, I'd like the two of you to refrain from interfering at all whenever I try to make a move on her." It was just a matter of romance. Just a first love. Just a very old piece of emotional baggage I'd never quite gotten around to discarding. If anyone else learned about our contest, they might very well laugh at me. At the very least, they would never imagine that I had really wagered something I considered more precious than life itself on some tiny performance in a middle-of-nowhere suburb. I, however, had been throwing myself into contests like this throughout my whole life. Their terms hadn't always been so clearly articulated, but I'd been faced with countless situations where failure would spell the end of my life as I knew it. Each and every time, I'd risen to the challenge and claimed victory. This time would be no different. I was sure of it. "If I lose...I swear I'll never approach Yotsy again, in the romantic sense of the word." What could possibly be stupider? I'd set the terms of our wager myself, and here I was, shaken to the core by them— far more so than my opponents were. In retrospect, the fact that I'd gone with a stilted, roundabout phrasing like "approach in the romantic sense of the word" was proof positive that I'd already been fixated on the possibility all the way back then. I couldn't help it, though. That was just how important Yotsy was to me. The petty promise we'd made when we were children—my purehearted desire to make her happy— was the driving force that had propelled the idol Maki Amagi to the heights of stardom. It was what gave Makina Oda's life meaning. I wanted to make Yotsy mine. I wanted her to make me hers. She was my everything, and I wanted to be her everything too. I loved her. More than I could bear. Over all those years we'd spent apart, that had never changed. My feelings hadn't...but she had found someone else who was special to her. Two of them. Yuna Momose. Rinka Aiba. I could tell that both of them were good, nice people—very much so. At the bare minimum, I didn't get the sense that they were the sort of people who would trick or use Yotsy at all. The month and a half or so that I'd spent giving them lessons to prepare for the show hadn't changed that impression at all. They were idolized by their peers at Eichou High—called "the Sacrosanct" by them, even—but their fame never seemed to have gone to their heads at all. To the contrary, they both seemed to be quite strong-willed, and had both had a positive influence on Yotsy, if anything. In that sense, I genuinely appreciated them. And then there was how they acted around me. There was no way they'd forgotten about our contest, or about my feelings for Yotsy, and yet they were perfectly friendly toward me. They treated me like a fellow performer. We'd even come to call each other by our first names, in time—it just felt natural to do so. By most people's standards, we might even have been...well...friends. In spite of that—no, because of it—my fear only continued to grow. And it wasn't just their personalities that fed my apprehensions. Their talent was an equally pressing factor. I'd realized that the two of them had potential as idols the moment we met. The rate of growth that they displayed over the course of the lessons I taught them, however, blew my expectations clear out of the water. As they quickly learned to sing, dance, charm an audience, and put their strongest traits on full display, my confidence drained away from me. While at first I would have declared that I had an almost hundred percent chance of winning, before long, I found myself admitting that there really was a chance I could lose. I put everything I had into teaching the two of them, of course, and I didn't regret that decision. I believed that no matter how much they polished their skills, I would come out ahead...but however unlikely failure was, its consequences still ate away at me. If I lose...I have to give up on Yotsy. This wasn't like any other contest I'd taken on before. In the past, I'd only been wagering myself—my reputation, and my future as an idol. This time I was wagering her. Something far weightier was on the line. Having to give up on Yotsy would hurt more than death ever could. A one-in-ten-thousand chance morphed into one in a thousand. One in a thousand became one in a hundred. As the odds of my defeat grew, it felt like an invisible knife dug deeper and deeper into my neck. The pain made me tremble. That was why Yuna and Rinka...were my enemies. They were a wall I had to surmount. And that was why... That was why... "Most likely...I think that Makina just wanted all of us to accept her." Once again, her words rang out in my mind. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about them, ever since Yotsy told the class what she believed my true feelings really were. "You all remember what she said, right? She said that she'd be willing to perform, but only if she didn't have to do it alone. She's not getting up onstage as Maki Amagi... She's performing as Makina Oda, a student in Eichou High's class 2-A! She's doing it so that she'll be accepted at our school— accepted as a member of our class!" No... No, I'm not. You don't understand, Yotsy. You don't understand at all! The truth was that all I wanted...was to compete with Yuna and Rinka. The cultural festival had just been a convenient opportunity in the near future to make that happen. Yotsy couldn't have been further off the mark. "It can be hard to understand your own feelings, sometimes—and by the same token, sometimes it's as easy as can be for an outsider to see through them in a heartbeat." In the end...which was it? What did I really want? If all I wanted was to claim Yotsy for myself, there were any number of better, simpler ways I could have made it happen. I probably hadn't really needed to involve so many people in my affairs. But I had. I'd put my idol career on hold to transfer into this high school, then chosen to perform as an idol at the cultural festival anyway. I'd made it happen through a mixture of hints and provocation. At the time, it had been the only option I could come up with. After all, the truth was that I... I... I...wanted someone to acknowledge me? "Hey! Earth to Makina?" a voice rang out from my left. "Huh...?" "Were you not listening?" came a second voice from my right—Rinka's. She had spoken away from the microphone she was holding, making sure that only I could hear her. Rinka was smiling, while Yuna was looking at me with a sullen pout on her face. "It's your turn to speak to the audience." "Oh. Ah... Right. Excuse me," I replied as I accepted the microphone in a fluster. Of course, I thought. This was the moment before the third song, when we were each supposed to give our thanks to the crowd. We'd planned it all out in advance. What was I thinking? How could I let myself space out onstage? It was unprecedented for me. Had I even sung the second song right...? I could feel a bead of sweat dripping down my back. "It's all right," said Rinka. "What?" "I do think you could stand to enjoy yourself a little more, though. We certainly are," she added with a grin as she patted me on the back. It was a very gentle sort of touch— one that was meant to calm me down. "Sorry, everyone! I think Makina might be just a liiittle nervous. After all, this is the first time Makina Oda's ever performed like this!" Yuna called out to the audience, retroactively turning my moment of mental absence into a cute little joke in the blink of an eye. "I mean, who wouldn't be nervous? I sure am, and I have been this whole time! I hate to say it, though, but time's one thing we're running a little short on." "Yes...we are," I said. "I'm sorry, everyone. I guess I just lost focus for a moment." My mind was in a panicked frenzy as I spoke into the microphone, but I reflexively made sure to keep my expression as composed as could be. I took a step forward, glancing around at the audience...and found that, judging by their faces, none of them seemed to have made much of my lapse. From this distance, I could tell very clearly how much they were enjoying the show. I was relieved, and began putting together an outline of what I wanted to say as I spoke up once more. "If I may take a moment to introduce myself...my name is Makina Oda, and I'm a member of class 2-A. I'd like to thank all of you for coming to see our performance today." It was an inoffensive, boilerplate sort of statement. That said, Yuna was right—these really were the first words that I'd spoken onstage as Makina Oda.