Chapter 3 - 3

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. I'd delivered countless

addresses as Maki Amagi, and she had a wealth of

statements and anecdotes I could draw on, but I was

coming to realize that Makina Oda had none of her own. I

had an almost shockingly small number of things I felt I

could actually say.

"And...as Yuna said a moment ago, I think I really might

be a little nervous. I imagine that some of you have seen

me perform under the name Maki Amagi as part of my work

in the entertainment industry, but it's true that this is the

first time I've openly performed under my real name

since...elementary school, probably, when I went to audition

at my agency. Frankly, I barely remember it at all."

What had Yuna and Rinka talked about during their turns?

I should have listened to them and followed their example. I

hadn't, though, and when I forced myself to say whatever

came to my mind on the spur of the moment, I ended up

delivering a self-centered monologue that was totally devoid

of substance.

"I understand very clearly now just how much I owe to

my agency and the other members of my group. I'm far less

capable on my own than I ever realized...and while I thought

that my experience would let me elevate the work of my

classmates in this performance, the truth is that I found

them helping me instead, time after time."

What on earth am I even saying? Nothing that would ever

come out of Maki Amagi's mouth, that's for sure. The me

that the world wanted—that my coworkers wanted—never

whined or complained. She stood at the front of the pack

like it was the only place it made sense for her to be, pulling

her teammates forward as their intrepid leader.

But then, just when I thought I'd spouted enough

platitudes to make it through my speech safely...my true

feelings overflowed.

"That's doubly true for my fellow performers, Yuna and

Rinka. I've spent the past month and a half coaching them,

yes...but in retrospect, I'm not sure they ever needed my

help at all."

"Oh, come on," said Yuna.

"We wouldn't be up onstage right now if it weren't for

you, Makina. I'm sure of it," Rinka added.

The two of them had wasted no time in backing me up. It

was a very light, low-impact exchange, and a few people in

the audience laughed, maybe because that sort of humility

was so unlike Maki Amagi. They might have thought it was a

joke—but it wasn't. I was being entirely earnest. I said it

because I was genuinely impressed by them...and because,

deep down, a very small and cowardly part of me wished

that I had slacked off on training them.

"We only have one song left to share with you today, but I

promise that I'll put everything I have into it. I'll rise to meet

the expectations of everyone who helped make this

possible," I said, bringing my speech to a close before I

could let anything else slip out on accident. I turned my

gaze downward...and was reassured by the sound of the

audience applauding. I let out a sigh of relief, careful not to

let anyone notice, but it wasn't over yet. There was still one

song left.

I'd never felt this sort of anxiety before. I'd never felt this

sort of nervousness—this overwhelming urge to leap off the

stage and run away. That was probably because those were

my feelings, not Maki Amagi's.

"Well, then, it feels like we only just started, but the next

song will be our last," said Rinka, tagging in now that my

speech was over.

"That's right," said Yuna, "and we'll be finishing things off

with an original song that everyone in our class helped us

write!"

"You might say it's the bonds of our class in the form of a

song...which probably seems a little cheesy, I know, but

nevertheless. It's a song that we hope will show all of you

why class 2-A is the best!"

"Don't look away—you won't want to miss a second of it!

Right, Makina?"

"Right..." I said. "Thank you for listening to our final song:

'After Adventure.'"

Those words served as the band's signal. The drummer

counted us in, and the song began. I still hadn't made sense

of my feelings. I was as bewildered and anxious as ever, but

I'd practiced for this moment more times than I could count.

The choreography was deeply ingrained in my muscle

memory. As the music played, the lyrics would spring to my

lips with a will of their own.

So it'll be fine. It'll be fine...!

"After Adventure"—a name specifically written out using

the English alphabet, to draw attention to the two capital

A's. In other words, 2-A. The instrumentals were an

arrangement of a song that I'd written previously, while the

lyrics were brand-new.

The song's most impactful moment came right after the

second chorus, going into the third verse. There would be

instrumental solos courtesy of the band, after which Yuna,

Rinka, and I would each sing a solo of our own before

coming together for the final chorus. It felt a little too jampacked, if anything, but I preferred to think of it as

aggressive—or rather, adventurous.

My solo... I thought as I sang. Would I be able to pull it off,

in my current state? Yuna and Rinka had both improved so

much. They were good, genuinely, and they were enjoying

the performance from the bottoms of their hearts. It was a

solo that would have to beat them. A solo that could win me

Yotsy. A solo...that could cause me to lose her forever.

And then, before I knew it, the moment had almost

arrived.

The second chorus was over. The band members took

their turns in the spotlight.

I'm scared. I hate this... I keep imagining the worst

possible outcomes...and at this rate, they'll really happen!

"It's all right."

I felt a warmth on my shoulder...where it turned out Rinka

had laid her hand.

"It's all right," Rinka repeated. They were the same words

she'd said to me just moments before, but this time, I

noticed that her hand was very slightly trembling. Her gaze

was fixed straight forward, but there was a stiffness to her

expression now.

"Yeah. Let's just do our best. No regrets, right?" said

Yuna, who patted me on the back next. She was trying to

help me be a little less tense...or maybe she was trying to

distract herself from her own nervousness?

That's right. The two of them are amateurs. They

normally wouldn't be up onstage at all. Plus, they have

something precious to them riding on the outcome of this

performance as well.

And I was the one who'd put them in that position. If I'd

never transferred into their school, they would still be

wrapped up in the same placid routine as ever. The cultural

festival would have come and gone without incident.

I knew that the two of them felt all the emotions you'd

expect from a normal, well-adjusted person. They felt fear,

and nervousness, and agitation...not to mention anger and

resentment toward me, surely. They must have been even

more distressed by what was happening than I was—so how

could they stay so true to themselves in spite of it? I could

understand them trying to distract themselves from their

own anxiety, but why would they go out of their way to

dispel mine as well? Why would they lend their enemy a

helping hand?

"Oh, and then there's the obvious. Right, Rinka?" said

Yuna.

"Right," Rinka agreed. "We have the world's greatest

goddess watching over us."

"A...goddess?" I muttered in bewilderment. Their eyes

were shining with joy as they looked out into the audience—

no, up. I followed their gaze, and at that exact moment, as

the band's solos came to an end, I heard her.

"Makinaaa!!!"

"Ah..."

There it was. The voice of my goddess. Her shout of

encouragement pierced through the din of the crowd, clear

as could be.

Yotsy. Yotsy...! Yotsy!!!

I really was incredibly simple. I'd changed far, far less

since I was a child than I let myself believe. All the anxiety,

fear, and confusion I felt were because of Yotsy...and that

was why, from the moment I'd set foot on the stage, I

hadn't been able to bring myself to look at her. What sort of

face would she be making? Was she disappointed with me?

Would she stop liking me after this? I was so worried, so

scared, that I just couldn't look up at her.

But then I heard her. She cheered for me, and I knew in

an instant exactly how she felt.

That was all it took to sweep away the churning darkness

within me, revealing the world in all its colorful glory. Yotsy,

the girl I loved...was watching me!

It was ridiculous. How simpleminded could I be? I always

worried that Yotsy was so blindly trusting that she could

easily be taken in by someone with a silver tongue and bad

intentions, but considering how easy it was to play me like a

fiddle, I was in no position to worry about her. All it took was

hearing her voice—realizing how she felt—to lift the weight

that had seemed like it would crush me off my back. I'd

never realized how easy to manipulate I was until that very

moment.

Listen to me, Yotsy! I want you to hear my songs...and to

understand my feelings for you!

I felt so light, it was like gravity had lost its grip on me.

My heart was beating with such a heated fervor, it felt like it

might explode. She'd only said one word—just my name—

but that was all I'd wanted from her. My fears,

apprehensions, and even all thoughts of the contest that

had given rise to them were blown clean out of my mind. It

was like I'd gone through my own personal big bang,

rewriting the world and everything I'd thought I knew about

it.

Yotsy!!!

Moments before, the thought of my solo had terrified me,

but now I leaped straight into it. I sang and danced with

everything I had...and in that moment, I was happier to be

standing onstage than I'd ever been before.

◇◇◇

The concert ended in a roaring success. We stood there,

bowing to the audience as they applauded and shouted for

an encore, until the moment the curtain fell. An encore

wasn't in the cards, unfortunately—there wasn't time for

one in the schedule. We'd known that from the start, and

had more or less anticipated that this would happen...but

my feelings about that restriction had changed dramatically

since the moments leading up to the performance. Now, I

felt a little regretful that we couldn't give the audience what

they wanted. I wished that I could stay on that stage for just

a little longer. It was incredibly unlike me.

"Nice work, Makina," said Rinka.

"You as well," I replied after a moment of hesitation. "And

you, Yuna."

"Thanks, you too! Ahh, man, I'm wiped out... Nice work to

all of you in the band too!" Yuna called out.

"Great job, you three!" one of the band's members

replied.

"It was seriously incredible! I'm so glad I took up playing

the guitar as a hobby... I'll never forget this as long as I

live!"

"Dude, are you crying?! Come on, cut it out! We still have

to break down all our gear!"

Now that the curtains had sealed the stage away again,

we all chatted as we packed up and prepared to leave. Of

course, unlike the band's members, the three of us didn't

have anything in particular to carry off the stage other than

ourselves. Throwing on an oversized coat that would mostly

cover up my costume was all I had to do.

"Gotta say, I really went all out at the end," Yuna

suddenly muttered as we left the gymnasium.

"I know what you mean," Rinka agreed.

We'd made our exit through a back entrance to the

building, before most of the audience could leave, and were

on our way to our classroom, which had been designated as

our waiting area. I had to admit that the two of them were

right—their solos had both been fantastic. So fantastic that

it was hard to believe they'd been nervous just moments

before. They'd blown even their best practice sessions out

of the water. There was just something about how they'd

sung in the moment—a passion that I couldn't quite put into

words.

"But, I mean, how could I not, after Yotsuba shouted my

name like that? I was seriously so surprised! It made me so

happy too, though, and gave me a crazy boost of

motivation...and I just went for it, I guess!"

"Huh?" Rinka and I grunted in unison.

"Hold on. I thought Yotsuba shouted my name?" said

Rinka.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Yuna countered. "I

know what I heard! She said 'Yuna,' plain as day!"

What on earth are those two talking about? "Actually...she

said my name," I insisted. She did! She shouted it out! I'm

absolutely positive of it! Nothing in the world could ever

convince me otherwise!

"You too, Makina?!" Yuna yelped before pausing to think.

"Wait... Oh. I see now..." she said with a slight snicker.

"I think I understand what happened too," Rinka agreed,

bashfully scratching her cheek.

"Oh," I said. I'd finally caught on. In retrospect, there was

only one possible explanation for the passion that I'd felt

from them during each of their solos. I could feel my face

flush in an instant. "Did she shout all of our names, but we

only heard it when she said our own?"

It certainly seemed that way. We'd all been caught up in

the intensity of our performance. Being up onstage in the

middle of a song puts you in a very unusual state of mind—

a state of mind that, for instance, could have easily blocked

out Yotsy's voice right up until the moment she said my

name specifically.

"Heh..." I chuckled. It was so purely ridiculous, of all of us,

that all I could do was laugh. And before I knew it, Yuna and

Rinka were laughing along with me.

"Ha ha ha! You know, I'm starting to realize something

about us," said Yuna.

"Same," Rinka agreed. "We really might be birds of a

feather."

I had to admit, they had a point. All three of us, after all,

were hopelessly head over heels for the same girl.

"Oh, and by the way, Makina—I had no idea you could

even make a face like that," Yuna added.

"Huh?" I grunted. That was the moment I finally realized I

was smiling just as broadly as the two of them.

"You have always looked a little conflicted when you're

around us," said Rinka.

"I...have? Really?"

"Yup. When you didn't have one of those suuuper fake

smiles on, anyway," added Yuna.

"I wouldn't quite put it like that...but I will say that the

way you're smiling right now is downright lovely in

comparison."

"Oh, come on, Rinka! Playing the prince now?" Yuna

jabbed.

"Not intentionally, anyway. I really meant it," Rinka

replied with a smile so dashing, there was no way she could

brush it off as easily as she'd dismissed her flirtatious word

choice.

As I walked along with the two of them...I realized that I

couldn't feel so much as a trace of the simmering discontent

that had been building up in me before the performance

began. Instead, I felt the refreshing sense of

accomplishment that came with a successful show, the

strangest sense of belonging...and the irrepressible love for

Yotsy that burned within my heart.

Chapter 5: Apologies, Conflict,

and a Total Freak-Out

"That was amazing, huh...?"

"It sure was..."

"And now it's over..."

"It sure is..."

Class 2-A's idol show was a wrap. The curtain fell, our

class rep announced that it was all over, and the audience

began gradually filtering out and dispersing across the rest

of the festival. Mukai and I, however, remained in place. We

were still too caught up in the heat of the moment to move

just yet.

The performance had been amazing. So amazing that

"amazing" was the only word that could do it justice! Using

popular, mainstream songs for the first two numbers had

gotten the audience hooked, and then right when everyone

was perfectly warmed up, the third song had swept in to

knock our socks clean off! It was the best!

Especially everyone's solos! Yuna was crazy adorable,

and Rinka was just ridiculously cool in every possible way.

And Makina was just...I don't even know what to say other

than "overwhelming." Overpoweringly cute, cool, and

beautiful, all at the same time. It was like some sort of

divine entity had inhabited her, instilling her with its

presence from top to bottom... Anyway, the point is that I

was super, super, suuuper moved!

Mio's nitpicking partway through the performance had

made me a little worried for just a moment, I'll admit, but

once it was over, I knew for a fact that it had been as super

ultra satisfying as a show could be. The audience wouldn't

have gone that crazy if it hadn't been! It was just...just

perfect!

I spent a little while basking in the moment, and by the

time I thought to take a look around, Mio, Koganezaki, and

Emma had all vanished. They sure were in a hurry, huh...? I

thought before turning to Mukai, who was still nearby, and

giving her an appreciative nod. "Thank you so much,

Mukai!" I said.

"What?"

"You're the whole reason we were able to make this show

into such a big deal and get the audience so excited for it!

So, thanks."

"D-Do you think so?" Mukai bashfully stammered. "I don't

think I did anything particularly important at all, though..."

"Are you kidding?! You so did! Super important!" I

shouted. Not only did we have the illustrations she drew to

thank for gathering up such a big crowd, it was also thanks

to them that the class came together to work as such an

effective team. Her art was where everything had started,

more or less.

"Okay, but in that case, you deserve just as much credit,

Hazama! If it weren't for you, everyone would've just kept

doing their own thing. I don't think it would've turned out

nearly as well if you hadn't pulled us all together," said

Mukai.

There she goes, being humble again. She should be

proud of how she managed to turn the event into this much

of a smash hit!

I really couldn't exaggerate just how well the

advertisement Mukai drew had turned out. It was pretty,

and adorable, and I felt like I could stare at it for hours on

end if I let myself. Not to mention how high-level it was as a

piece of art! It had a refined sort of elegance, and even

knowing it was an advertisement, it felt like it had value in a

way that a photo never could have accomplished...or, well,

that was how Koganezaki had explained it to me. Plus, all

that stuff about me having contributed? Like...come on,

right?

"Honestly, looking back? I think it would've turned out

this way even if I hadn't said anything," I replied.

"Huh?"

"I mean, everyone wanted to make the most of the

festival from the start, right? They wouldn't have been able

to work together so well if they didn't. All I did was say what

everyone was thinking in a kind of stuck-up sort of way,

that's all. I guess I made it sound all pretty and stuff, but at

the end of the day—"

"That is not true!" Mukai shouted, cutting me off midsentence. It was loud enough that a few of the people who

were still making their way out of the gym looked up

reflexively, and I was so startled I completely forgot what I'd

even been trying to say. "Maybe I have no right to say this...

Actually, no—I do have a right to say it, more so than most

people: You need to stop doing this, Hazama."

"I... What?"

"You were the one who told me you liked my art,

remember? You gave me the push I needed. Your

encouragement was the whole reason I could work up the

nerve to put myself out there...and if it weren't for you, I

don't think I'd have ever managed it."

Mukai was mad. I'd been under the impression that she

was the sort of person who didn't get angry at all...but

somehow, I'd managed to upset her anyway. My deepseated negativity had set her off.

"U-Umm, Mukai—" I began.

"There's something I need to apologize to you about,

Hazama," Mukai said, cutting me off again.

"Huh...?"

"Do you remember how back when we'd only just started

preparing for the festival...I told you that I liked drawing as a

hobby?"

"Y-Yeah. Of course I do."

"Well, the truth is...I only said that because I wanted to

show off."

"You...what? But it was true, wasn't it? How would telling

me about a real hobby of yours be showing off?"

"Because I only said it to prove that I was better than

you. I...didn't want you to think I was the same as you,"

Mukai choked out as she looked away from me. Her fists

were clenched so tightly they were trembling. I could easily

tell just how much effort it was taking her to admit all of

this. "You're always failing tests, and you never do well in

gym either. I thought you, well...I thought you came across

as a total screwup, so..."

"Makes sense."

Mukai paused. "You're...not mad?"

"Well, it's all true, so..."

Admitting that Mukai was pretty much spot-on with all

that didn't quite feel the same as my usual pessimism.

Everything she'd said was just the simple truth, and getting

all indignant about her saying it to my face wouldn't un-fail

any of those tests or make me into a capable athlete. I was

doing my best to improve myself, for what it's worth...but

that was still a work in progress.

"I...looked down on you, Hazama. I'm gloomy, and don't

have any friends. I wasn't excited about the cultural festival

at all. Why would I be? I couldn't even participate in any of

the preparations, really, and I wouldn't have anyone to walk

around the festival with when it happened. I didn't fit

in...and it hurt to think that everyone knew it."

Tears had begun to dribble down Mukai's cheeks. They

started out slowly enough, but then the dam burst and they

really started to pour. Mukai wiped away at them with both

her hands, still talking all the while.

"That's why I thought I'd just go off into a corner

somewhere and do random chores, even if it was all just for

show...and that's where I found you. I was always lagging

behind everyone else and could barely make any friends,

but I thought that at the very least, I couldn't let myself be

on your level...so I decided to tell you about my drawings. It

was a way of showing that I wasn't like you—of bragging

that at least there was something I was good at. I was trying

to make myself look superior to you."

"Mukai, did...did you...hate me?" I asked.

"N-No, not at all!" Mukai frantically replied. "The only

person I hated...was myself. How could I lack self-confidence

that badly and be that stuck-up at the same time? The

second I found someone who seemed worse off than I was, I

used the drawings I love to reassure myself that I wasn't as

bad as her. Isn't that awful...?"

I nearly denied it reflexively, but I forced myself to

swallow the words back instead. I didn't think that Mukai

was awful...but I also barely knew anything about her at all.

We'd only started talking when the cultural festival

preparations began, and I had no clue what she'd been like

or what sort of life she'd lived before that point. Even if I

said she was wrong, my words wouldn't carry any weight at

all.

"But then you smiled at me. You told me I was amazing,

right to my face, and you said you thought my drawings

were pretty. It made me so happy to hear that, but it hurt

just as much...and I ended up deciding that I wanted to be

like you."

"Whaaat?! Like me?!"

"Yeah. You always think so hard about absolutely

everyone except for yourself, right? You're a genuinely kind

person, and that kindness gave me the courage I needed. I

don't know if anyone else could have made me take a step

forward like you did. And so..." Mukai said, taking hold of my

hand with both of hers, "I'm sorry. It's taken me way too

long to apologize to you. You were always just so nice, and I

let myself keep kicking it down the road..."

"No, no, you don't have to apologize at all!" I yelped. "I

mean, I'm not even upset! I'm actually happy to hear all

this, if anything!"

"What?"

"I mean, it sounds to me like you only decided to tell me

about your drawings because I'm always such a hot mess,

right? I know how hard it can be to open up about the things

you like. There's always a chance that people will be nasty

about it, after all...so no matter what your reasons were, I'm

still glad they ended up convincing you to share your art

with me."

If I were the sort of person who seemed like she could do

anything and everything, like Koganezaki, then Mukai never

would have talked to me to begin with. I wouldn't either, if I

ended up in that sort of position myself! And so...in a certain

way, I actually agreed with her. Maybe me being the way I

was actually had helped, just this one time.

"Thank you, Mukai," I said. "Hee hee... And hey, feel free

to open up to me about anything else from now on, if you

ever feel like it! I really like the idea that I'm someone who's

easy for you to talk to about these things, so go ahead and

make yourself look as superior as you want! I'm always up

for it!"

"Heh heh... What's that supposed to mean?" Mukai

chuckled. She was finally smiling again, and I was relieved

to see it, even if she was still crying a little.

I don't mean it in a self-deprecating way at all when I say

that for once, I was actually glad that I was such a weak

person. Even if I was weak, after all, I'd managed to be

worth something in my own sort of way. Not that I was about

to start declaring my weakness to be my greatest strength

and get all stuck-up about it, or anything like that!

"But...sorry," Mukai added.

"For what?"

"I can't open up to you about everything anymore.

There's absolutely no way!"

"Whaaat?! Why not?!" She spent that long talking me up,

and now she's dragging me back down to reality?! I was so

sure she'd be all for it, after everything she just said!

While I was reeling with shock, Mukai sort of bashfully

glanced away from me. She still had my hand clasped in

hers, and was actually squeezing it pretty tightly.

"I mean...I love you way too much to do that now," Mukai

said. "I want you to think that I'm a cool, incredible person—

more than I do with anyone else! I want you to be glad that

we ended up being friends!"

"Wait, but I already am! I'm super glad already,

actually?!" I protested.

"That's not enough! I want you to be even gladder!"

Mukai pulled my hand toward her chest. Despite the tears

that still lingered in her eyes, the smile on her face was both

brilliant and remarkably bold.

GUCHI GAWA тоJIN WAUDAL

re

"I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make you

like me more than ever, Hazama—so let's stick together,

okay?" said Mukai.

"S-Sure... Let's, Mukai!" I replied as I squeezed her hand

back.

We'd met under the pettiest of circumstances, but now,

looking back, I was thankful that the wild twists and turns of

fate had ended up leading me to befriend such a wonderful

girl. I wanted nothing more than for the two of us to stay

friends for the rest of our lives.

A moment later, Mukai let out a slight, sharp gasp. "I,

umm... O-Okay, I'd better get going!" she said. It looked like

everything she'd just said to me was finally sinking in, and

judging by the blush on her face, her own speech had her

pretty embarrassed.

I watched as Mukai ran off on her way. I would've liked to

take a little longer to let the concert and the exchange I'd

just had with her sink in...but I barely had the chance to

start before I got a text that made me realize this was

absolutely not the time.

Mio Kuruma is making her way toward Oda. I'm doing what I can

to delay her, but you should hurry here as quickly as possible.

"Wait, what?!"

There's basically no way that Mio tracking Makina down

right now could be good! Actually, it'd be bad in all sorts of

ways! Makina will end up questioning why Mio's here in the

first place, and then there's how Mio's trying to get Makina

to go back to the idol industry, and...so...umm...!

"Anyway, I've gotta run!"

Thinking the situation through would have to come later.

For the time being, I set off at a sprint! If I remembered the

schedule correctly, Yuna, Rinka, and Makina would have

gone back to class 2-A's room to take a break and get

changed. Mio shouldn't have known about any of that...but

it also wouldn't have been strange for her to check our

classroom first if she was searching for them.

"Oh! Another text... Gah, I knew it!"

Koganezaki's follow-up text confirmed my worst fears:

Mio really was heading straight for our classroom.

Oh, jeez! Gotta hurry!

◇◇◇

"Makina!" I shouted as I burst through the classroom

doors!

"Yotsy...?" Makina said, her eyes wide with shock. And,

standing across from her...

Oh nooo, Mio's here already! And she took her wig off

too!

Yuna and Rinka were also in the classroom, looking

completely bewildered. They definitely had no idea what on

earth was going on. Koganezaki, meanwhile, was standing

right beside the door, doing her absolute best to fade into

the background. Those three aside, nobody else was around

at the moment.

"You're late," Koganezaki whispered in a sort of

accusatory tone.

"Umm... What's going on, exactly...?" I asked.

"Kuruma barged into the classroom, and as you might

expect, her sudden appearance threw the whole room into a

state of pandemonium. Oda managed to calm things down,

more or less, and had just coaxed all uninvolved parties to

leave shortly before you arrived. As for me and those

two...well, frankly, we missed our chance to leave at a

natural moment."

"O-Oh. Got it," I replied. That settles it. Mio's busted for

sure! And wait—since I'm the one who snuck her in here,

doesn't that mean I'm busted too?! Everyone's gonna know

I broke the school rules! A-Am I gonna get expelled?! Wh-

What should I do?!

"Sorry, Yotsuba," said Mio. "There was just no way I could

pack up and go home without saying something after that."

"'Yotsuba'...?" Makina repeated, glancing in my direction.

She must have been wondering why Mio was on a firstname basis with me, and judging by the looks they were

giving me, Yuna and Rinka were as well. "Oh... I see. I was

wondering why on earth you would be here, Mio...but

whatever it is you're after, I see you've gotten Yotsy

wrapped up in it."

Makina shot Mio a frigid glare. The look in her eyes was

so openly hostile, it actually made Mio's shoulders quiver.

"I'd prefer not to consider it, but did you come here

because you still haven't given up on convincing me to

return from my hiatus?" asked Makina.

"That's exactly right," Mio replied.

"Of course. You're still not ready to accept it, then."

"How the hell could I accept it?!" Mio bellowed.

I reeled back with shock, of course, and even Yuna and

Rinka looked caught off guard...but Makina's expression

didn't budge in the slightest.

"How... How could I ever accept you just up and leaving

without even bothering to ask how we felt about it?! Our

lives are riding on this! Don't you get that?!"

Makina didn't say a word. She looked Mio squarely in the

eye, never so much as flinching throughout the whole

tirade. The air in the classroom was excruciatingly

tense...and while part of me thought I had to do something

to stop Mio, I knew that I was an outsider here. This was

their problem, and none of the rest of us had any right to

involve ourselves.

"That's why...I went to Yotsuba," Mio continued. "I asked

her to help me convince you to come back to us and work

as an idol again."

"You...what? Why would you go out of your way to pick

Yotsy, of all people?" Makina asked.

"Because you looked like you were friends. Pretty close

too. I've never seen you call anyone by a nickname before."

Makina paused. "Stage names are more or less

nicknames."

"Oh, don't even start. If you're that desperate to change

the subject, it's pretty obvious I hit the nail on the head,"

Mio countered.

This time, the look on Makina's face shifted ever so

slightly.

Mio seemed to catch it too, and probably took it as

further proof of the influence that I held over Makina. "Don't

blame her, though. She said no at first. Then she spilled the

beans about you performing at the festival and I strongarmed her into playing along, but, well, she tried, anyway."

"S-Sorry..." I muttered.

"Don't apologize, Yotsy," said Makina. "Mio's always been

like this. She just has to have her way, or she won't be

satisfied."

"Pot, meet kettle!"

Eeek! The tension was unrelenting as the two of them

traded verbal bullets. What should I do... What even can I

do?!

"Okay, everyone—let's calm down for a moment, shall

we?"

"Mio...Kuruma, right? Did you seriously come all the way

here just to pick a fight with Makina?"

Rinka! Yuna! The two of them dove straight in, not

faltering in the slightest in the face of the oppressive

atmosphere!

"Oh... You two were the ones from the performance,

weren't you?" asked Mio.

"Yeah. What about it?" said Yuna.

"Okay," said Mio. She finally turned away from Makina

and walked over toward Yuna and Rinka.

O-Oh jeez, oh jeez! Don't tell me she's targeting them

next...?! Now I really, really have to stop her!

"Wh-What?" Yuna stammered. She took a step back,

intimidated by Mio's approach, while Rinka sucked in a

sharp breath and stepped forward to stand in front of her.

Mio, however, didn't even seem to register either of their

reactions. She closed in briskly, step by step, until finally...

"You two were sooooooooo good!!!"

...she raised her voice in such an elated, excited tone, it

was almost hard to believe that she'd seemed about to

come to blows with Makina just seconds before!

"Huh?" grunted Yuna.

"What...?" Rinka muttered.

The two of them were completely bewildered. And, I

mean, I was too! In fact, I think everyone was

shocked...except Makina, apparently?

"Was this really your first time onstage? Because you

both looked like you belong up there! And wow, the way

your voices projected! Oh, and even more than that, the

way you were, like, totally in sync with each other! You can't

make that sort of coordination happen without crazy

amounts of practice! And it's even better because you're

such totally different types, and you present yourselves in

such wildly different ways, but then when you look at the

two of you together you end up thinking, 'You know, those

two just mesh' anyway! I wanna see you put on a whole

show by yourselves now! If you ever do one, you've gotta

tell me, okay?!"

"U-Umm," grunted Yuna.

"Th-Thank you...?" said Rinka.

"Mio," Makina sighed. Yuna and Rinka had been totally

befuddled by Mio's rapid-fire, impassioned impressions of

their show, leaving it to Makina—the only person present

who was still keeping her cool—to intervene.

"What, Maki?" Mio snapped.

"You know what. We were having a conversation?"

"Sure, but you have to share thoughts like these as soon

as you have them! It's not the same otherwise. Hey," Mio

continued, looking back to Yuna and Rinka, "do you two

want me to put in a word with our agency for you? I know

for a fact you'll have a ton of fans in no time if you give it a

try! You think so too, right, Maki?!"

"You know what...? Fine," Makina sighed. "You really

never change, do you, Mio?"

Ah! She gave up! Apparently, Makina had been in the

same group with Mio for long enough to have a pretty solid

grasp of her personality. No wonder Makina hadn't been

surprised by her outburst.

"Oh, but you totally sucked, Maki. It was super obvious

you weren't even paying attention, and you dropped out of

sync a few times too. Your timing was so bad, it was like you

were trying to get in their way! And when you weren't the

one in front, you looked so stiff, I could barely even believe

it was you."

"Ugggh," Makina groaned.

I'd thought that things had gotten a little less intense for

a moment, but then Mio pivoted on a dime to go back on

the offensive. Suddenly, the atmosphere went right back to

excruciatingly uncomfortable.

You know...I never would've guessed it at first, but I'm

starting to think that Mio might be the sort of person who

says whatever she's thinking without considering the

consequences at all? It's like she's barging through this

encounter with all the conversational skills of a charging

wild boar! And looking back, it kind of feels like most of the

things she's done so far have been off the cuff and impulsedriven...?

"It was weird, though. The way you were acting today,

you seemed so...so...different. Like you weren't the Maki

that I—that we—know at all," Mio continued.

Makina was silent.

"The Maki I know is a perfect super-idol who does

everything flawlessly without batting an eyelash. You keep it

up backstage too, and take practice more seriously than any

of the rest of us. You never screw up, and you never let your

nerves get the better of you. You're basically invincible...but

at the same time, you still have that certain something that

makes idols endearing. I always knew that you were the sort

of person who deserved to be a top idol, and I was happy to

get to support you as your second-in-command."

It was instantly clear to me just how much faith Mio had

in Makina—and now that I thought about it, that was one

thing that Mio had been completely consistent about from

the start. She'd made it very clear that she and her fellow

idols needed Makina. Of course that meant she held Makina

in incredibly high esteem.

That was also, however, why she had no reservations

about saying that Makina had done terribly when she saw it

that way. The higher the expectations you had for someone,

the easier it was for them to disappoint you. Mio had been

watching her more intently than anyone—and by "her," I

mean the idol Maki Amagi.

Makina was still silent. She hadn't said a word.

Makina...

She'd barely reacted at all ever since Mio had turned the

conversation around on her. I quickly realized, however, that

it wasn't that Makina didn't care. She was just keeping her

emotions on a tight leash—hiding them away. She looked

unmoved and expressionless at a glance...but there was

something bitter in her eyes that made me suspect she was

enduring a painful surge of emotion. On the one hand, it

seemed like Makina was rejecting Mio with every fiber of her

being, but on the other hand, that very fact just went to

show how significant Mio's presence was in her mind.

Mio had kicked things off on a really harsh note. She'd

softened up her delivery quite a bit by now, but it still felt

like she wasn't getting through to Makina in the way she

wanted to, and I knew it was only a matter of time before

Makina's stonewalling set Mio off again. We'd end up going

through the exact same process, from the top.

And in that case...there's only one choice!

"Hey, umm, Mio?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah...? What, Yotsuba?"

"What did you think of the performance?!"

"Huh?" Mio grunted, turning to face me with a look of

indignant incomprehension.

Makina looked over at me as well, apparently just as

confused. Yuna and Rinka blinked with astonishment, and I

assumed that if I'd taken the time to glance at Koganezaki,

she'd be in the same boat. They weren't wrong to react that

way, of course. My question had been so sudden and so

seemingly clueless that anyone would.

"Uh," said Mio. "Yotsuba? We're kind of in the middle of

—"

"I risked getting expelled to sneak you into this school,

didn't I?!" I exploded! "And I told you that, right?! I told you

how dangerous this was! And what did you do? You strolled

on out of the gym the second the concert was over without

saying a word to me! And then just when I realize you've

disappeared, I learn that you decided to barge in here and

ambush Makina! Do you have any idea how risky that was?!

Did you have a plan for how you'd make it up to me if you

ruined my life with this stunt, or were you just gonna wing

that too?!"

"Y-Yotsuba?" gasped Yuna.

"L-Let's calm down, okay?" said Rinka.

"Shut up for a minute, you two! I'm really, really mad

right now!!!"

That's right. I'd thought as hard as I could about how I

could shift the prevailing mood in the room...and the

solution I landed on was to flip the heck out. It was the only

solution, in fact! Flipping the heck out would solve

everything!!! After all, the natural response when you

encounter someone who's acting out in an even louder and

more intense way than you are is to lower your own

intensity level...or so I read somewhere, at some point, I

think.

Makina and Mio were unmistakably the stars of this

particular show. This was their conflict—their stage. If we let

them continue along the path they'd been traveling so far,

though, they'd keep talking past each other forever. The

only way to break the stalemate would be for some

unexpected outside factor to throw things for a loop. And

that factor...was me! If someone who had nothing to do with

the dispute shoved her way into the middle of it and started

flipping her lid, then of course they'd be too flustered to

carry on with their endless argument!

"And while I'm at it," I continued, "what was up with you

storming into this classroom like that?! Right, Koganezaki?"

A pause ensued.

"What?" Koganezaki finally said.

"You told me that you had to drive everyone out of the

room to get some privacy a minute ago...meaning that there

were plenty of people here beforehand, right? Meaning that

my whole class saw Mio, right?"

"It stands to reason."

"See?! See?! Everyone knows you're here now! What

were you thinking?! If any of my classmates decide to spill

the beans, even once, the whole school will know the news

in minutes!"

"Umm," said Mio.

"What do you mean, umm?!"

"I, err... Sorry."

I'd succeeded in strong-arming Mio into apologizing, and I

was confident that she wouldn't be charging through the

conversation like a wild boar anymore...but I couldn't relax

just yet! I had a whole new, extremely important priority to

keep in mind now: making sure I didn't accidentally turn

around and look at Koganezaki! If I slipped up, took a peek,

and realized that she was glaring daggers at me, there was

a very real danger that I'd lose all momentum and wither up

into a husk on the spot!

Also, and equally importantly: I had to not look at Yuna

and Rinka either. I'd been pretty darn harsh with my

response to them a moment ago, and even if it was in the

heat of the moment, I knew that one glance would be all it'd

take to make me feel really, really bad about it.

I'll apologize as many times as it takes later on, so...for

now, sorry!

"Apologies can come later," I said. "You have something

more important to do first, right? And that's telling me

exactly what you thought of everything you saw today, in

detail!" I said. I might've heard someone whisper, "So

pointlessly obstinate" from behind me, but I firmly ignored

it!

"Okay, but I did, didn't I?" said Mio. "I literally just said

what I thought of the show a moment ago..."

"Oh, really? Remind me what exactly you said?"

"That...those two over there did really well."

"Yeah, that's right. You did say that, didn't you?" I

admitted. Hearing her praise Yuna and Rinka had made me

feel awfully proud, but that wasn't what I was talking about

right now! "And? What else?"

"That Maki was awful...?"

"Yup, I heard that too!"

"Well, then...I did give you my impressions after all, didn't

I?"

"You're missing the point on purpose, aren't you?" I

asked. I also leaned forward, glaring at her with all my

might, and pinched her side while I was at it! And since I

wasn't an idol, I had no idea how to not make it hurt!

There'd be no holding back on that pinch...

Wait, what?! Why does she feel so hard?! Are those her

abs?! W-Wow... I guess that's an idol for you.

Did every idol you saw singing, dancing, and jumping

around onstage in a cute, frilly little outfit have the toned

abs of a trained athlete hiding beneath it? One way or

another, it was pretty clear that my unexceptional pinch-

strength wasn't going to deal any damage to her at all!

No...you can't let her intimidate you now! Stand strong,

Yotsuba Hazama!

Getting mad was scary. I hated criticizing people. I'd scold

my little sisters from time to time when they did something

that they absolutely shouldn't, sure, but that was just

because we were family. It was a big sister's job to tell her

siblings when they'd done something wrong. Whenever I

did, though, one look at their expressions as I scolded them

would be all it took to tear my heart in half. Knowing that I

was the one who'd put those looks on their faces made me

so guilty, I felt like I might throw up.

I knew I wasn't scolding them because I wanted to make

them feel bad, though. I did it because I thought it was what

was best for them. Because I wanted them to be happy in

the long run, even if it made them unhappy with me in the

short term. And so...

You can do it, Yotsuba Hazama!

I psyched myself up as well as I could, telling myself that

I could—no, would—pull through, and focused all my

strength on keeping my knees from buckling on the spot. I

didn't like getting mad, and I certainly wasn't good at it, but

now that I'd started, I had to see it through to the end! It'd

be really rude to the others if I backed out now!

"You said that Makina sucked—but did you think that the

whole way through the show?" I asked.

Mio took in a sharp breath.

"I didn't see whatever made you think she was doing

badly from the start. I thought she was super graceful, and

awesome, and so amazing I almost couldn't believe that

we're the same age. But then, in the last song...she was

even better!"

All I could say about the final song of the set, "After

Adventure," was that it was good. I was a total amateur

when it came to music, and I wasn't at all prepared to judge

the objective value of its composition or lyrics, or its

potential as a song on the whole. What I could judge,

though, were Yuna's, Rinka's, and Makina's solo parts that

came after the band's big moment. I wouldn't forget those

for as long as I lived.

Words couldn't do them justice. It was like all three of

them had let their emotions burst out in an explosion of

song, racing together toward the ultimate finale that was

the last chorus. I—and, I'm sure, everyone else in the gym—

had been spellbound. I was convinced that everyone there

had felt grateful that they'd gotten to see it, and I had a

feeling that Mio was no exception. She'd seen the same

show that I had, so how could she be?!

"Did you really have the exact same opinion at the end

that you did halfway through? Did you really still think that

the time Makina spent here—the time she spent with us—

was all worthless once it was over?!"

For a moment, Mio didn't respond. She closed her eyes,

took a few deep breaths...and then smiled. A weak, listless

smile, so feeble it almost seemed like she might burst into

tears.

"Yeah, okay. You got me, Yotsuba," said Mio. She rifled

through the pockets of her uniform for a moment, then

pulled out a handkerchief and blotted my cheeks with it.

"Huh...?" I glanced down. The handkerchief was stained

with tears. "Am I crying?!"

"Yeah, you are. Bawling, really."

"No way?!"

I thought I was holding back so well! That means I totally

ruined my own freak-out, doesn't it?!

"Hey, Yotsuba?" Mio said. She paused, pulling the

handkerchief away again.

"Wha— Waugh?!" I yelped as she...threw her arms

around me?!

"Sorry. I think I got a little too worked up," said Mio. She

squeezed me tightly, her arms trembling. I could smell my

own lingering scent on the uniform she was wearing, but

also her distinctive scent beneath it. Her hug was so warm,

and the aroma so calming...

Wait, no! This isn't the right time to be calm at all! "HHey! You know I'm angry, right?!" I yelped.

"Right, right. Sure you are," said Mio. As if the repetition

wasn't bad enough already, she also patted me on the head

in the same sort of way you'd comfort a child throwing a

tantrum.

Oh, come on! What's the big idea?! I'm mad at you right

now, really! And we're the same age! I did try to struggle as

best as I could, but Mio was hugging me pretty darn tightly,

and I just couldn't seem to shake her off...

Ah?! It feels like someone's staring at me from behind,

and not in a good way...?! O-Oh, jeez, I feel it for sure! And

not just one person! There's one, two, three...a-anyway, a

lot of them!

"You were right, and I'll admit it. I really was trying not to

say everything that I thought about the show," Mio said

without letting me go.

Huh? Wait, we're just gonna keep talking like this?

"Maki?" said Mio.

Makina hesitated for just a moment. "What is it?"

"Your last solo was really good."

"It...what?" Makina said, gaping at Mio in shock.

"What're you making that face for? It's not like I never

compliment people," Mio awkwardly muttered.

I had a feeling that it wasn't the fact that Mio had

complimented Makina that surprised her. It was the way

she'd complimented her. I couldn't see Mio's face at the

time, though, seeing as she still had me firmly pinned in her

grip...and her tone of voice had been so uncharacteristically

gentle that I couldn't even begin to imagine how she'd

looked.

"I said before how I always thought you could do

everything perfectly and never got nervous at all, right...?

Well, if you want to put it another way, I could've also said

that you sorta seemed like a robot to me. Today's show,

though? That was something totally different."

Mio squeezed me a little tighter. I could tell that following

this thought to its conclusion would take a lot of courage for

her.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, it's just like you to

somehow pull off an above-average show while you have a

case of the nerves so bad, you'd think you'd never

performed before at all. But the end, though...I've never

seen anything like it from you. It was emotional, and

passionate, and just...just so human."

"Mio..." said Makina.

"Ha ha ha! You know, I was planning on saying this

eventually, even if Yotsuba hadn't jumped in like that...but

I'm not so sure I would've actually managed it. I probably

would've lost my cool and flown off the handle again

instead. To me, you're a rival and a teammate, all in one. I

can't imagine Shooting Star without you in it. And that's

why...I wanted you to feel like you belonged with us. And

then when I saw you up on that stage, I started wondering

what we even were to you, and it got under my skin so

badly..."

Mio released me. I finally got a chance to look at her...but

just for a moment, before she buried her face in my chest.

Almost as if to hide the tears that had started pooling in her

eyes.

"Sorry, Yotsuba," Mio choked out in a voice so quiet, only

I could hear it. Only seconds later, though, she jerked her

head right back up again with exactly the sort of

determined, perfectly idol-like smile on her face I'd come to

expect from her. "I've lost our bet. It really was an incredible

show."

"Huh...?" I grunted.

"Heh heh—honestly, I didn't think there was any chance I

could lose at first, and even if I did, I figured I could just lie

and say I won anyway. But after that show? I just can't. I

have to admit it. It's my total defeat!"

There was something sort of refreshing about her tone of

voice, but there was a certain sadness to it as well. She

wasn't celebrating how the bet had turned out, of course,

but she also wasn't in despair over it. It was clear that she'd

thought this through and processed the whole event before

finally coming to the conclusion that she'd lost, so all I could

do was nod in agreement.

"Yeah..." I said.

"What, are you gonna cry again? Need a hankie...? Oh,

but I guess this was in your uniform's pocket, so it was

yours from the get-go," said Mio.

"It's okay... You can use it."

"What for? I don't even need it."

"Umm, Mio...? And Yotsy too," Makina sort of hesitantly

spoke up. "What bet? What are you talking about...?"

O-Oh. Right. I still have to explain that whole thing to

Makina and the—

"Oh, it's not a big deal or anything. I just made a bet with

Yotsuba about whether your show would be good enough to

satisfy my quality standards. The deal was that whoever lost

would have to do whatever the winner asked them to."

"What?" said Makina.

"Huh?!" gasped Yuna.

"I'm sorry—Yotsuba...?!" said Rinka.

Three slightly accusatory gazes swung in my direction.

For what it's worth, that wasn't exactly what the actual

stakes of the bet had been...but it wasn't totally wrong in

the grand scheme of things either.

But. Well. Yup. I definitely deserve those reactions, don't

I?

Anyone would get upset if they learned that a

performance they'd worked that hard on had been used as

fodder for a bet without their knowledge. Even I'd get mad

about that! Probably. That said...the fact that Mio had

seemingly gone out of her way to not mention that the point

of the bet was to drag Makina back into her idol career was

probably her way of being nice—assuming she hadn't just

dodged that part because she was too embarrassed to

admit it, which also felt pretty plausible.

"Excuse me, anything?!" exclaimed Yuna. "What's that

supposed to mean?!"

"What exactly were you planning on telling her to do,

Yotsuba? And what do you suppose she was planning on

asking from you?" asked Rinka.

"Wh-Whoa, calm down, okay?! Please?!" Gaaah! Yuna and

Rinka are both super mad?!

"Anything means anything. Right, Yotsuba?"

"Mio?!"

"And as for your order for me...well, let's talk about it

later on, okay? In private, where we can really take our time.

Sound good, Yotsuba?" Mio said, watching Yuna's and

Rinka's overblown reactions—plus Makina, who had

seemingly frozen solid—very closely. She was definitely

enjoying it, and was definitely being as obviously,

intentionally provocative as possible...

Smooch!

...and then five gasps rang out in unison.

Sh-She kissed my cheek?! B-But why...?!

W

AB!

Class

26

"Okay! I've said everything I wanted to, so I'm gonna go

home now," said Mio. "Thanks for today, Yotsuba. Oh, and,

uhh—Yuna and Rinka? If you two have any interest in

debuting as idols, go ahead and reach out to me any time!

Yotsuba can put us in touch. And Makina...? I'll see you

later."

Just like that, without letting any of us get a word in

edgewise, Mio strolled out of the classroom. And left in her

wake...

"Oooh, Yotsuba? Again? Really? Again?"

"A-Again what, Yuna...?"

"Genuinely—how many people do you think you'll have to

seduce before you're satisfied? We'll have to place you

under house arrest pretty soon, at this rate."

"Rinka?!"

Why do both of their eyes look so weirdly vacant...? It's

kinda terrifying, actually?!

"Hee hee! That's a great idea, Rinka. Nobody will be able

to hurt her if she's safe and sound in my house, after all!"

"Yuna?!"

"Ha ha ha! We'll have to start polishing our housework

skills, in that case. Getting to eat Yotsuba's home cooking

would be lovely, but I like the thought of her eating our

cooking almost as much."

"I'd really love to eat your cooking, actually, but you two

are still kinda scaring me right now!"

It's the laughter! It's so dry, and the look in their eyes is

so totally mismatched with it! Those aren't laughing faces!

Clearly I'd touched a nerve—or, well, more like I'd

grabbed a whole bundle of nerves and squeezed as hard as

I could. In any case, my only choice was to apologize, and

that was exactly what I did. Repeatedly.

Some time later...

"All's well that ends well...or close enough, I suppose,"

Koganezaki muttered with a sigh of utmost, utterly heartfelt

apathy