Chapter 1: Autumn Winds Bring New Encounters

October had arrived, and the wind had finally started to take on that distinctive chilly autumn bite. It was time for us to say goodbye to our summer uniforms and say hello to the Eichou High cultural festival, which was now looming just around the corner.

It had only been half a year since the last time I’d worn my winter uniform, but putting it on still gave me the most weirdly intense feeling of nostalgia. That probably had something to do with the enormous changes that had come about in my life since I started my second year of high school. Up to that point, I’d assumed that romance would be a foreign concept to me from the day I was born till the day I died—but then, somehow, I ended up with two wonderful girlfriends instead!

The me from back in April—a me who was still dressed in my winter uniform—never could have possibly imagined things would turn out this way. The two of them were still just friends to me back then. Who would have ever believed that I’d be asked out by two people, both of them girls, and who would have ever believed that I’d decide to say yes twice and two-time them?! I sure couldn’t believe what I’d done, that’s for sure...and somehow, in the end, the two of them had actually accepted my more-than-a-little-selfish decision.

It was like a big bang centered entirely on my love life—the biggest, most shocking development in my existence to date. And it didn’t even stop there! Ever since then, I started making new friends, learned about the feelings for me that my little sisters had been keeping hidden away, and reunited with my childhood friend who’d gone off and become a nationally famous idol since the last time I saw her in kindergarten. Honestly, it was kind of hard for me to believe that the person I’d become and the person I was back at the start of the school year could possibly be the same individual. The last six months had been just that eventful, and every one of those events had been just that intense. So intense, in fact, that I could practically see each and every one of them playing out before my eyes in perfect, vivid detail...

“...Huh?! Wait a second—is my life flashing before my eyes right now?!”

For a moment, I’d been so distracted by the sequence of images parading through my mind—each more impossibly hard to accept as a real thing that had really happened than the last—that the actual, present-moment me had accidentally dropped the pair of scissors I’d been holding.

“Whoa! Are you okay, Hazama?” asked Mukai, who happened to be standing nearby. Her eyes were wide with shock.

“Ah, yeah, I’m fine! Sorry about that,” I frantically replied.

Mukai scooped up the scissors and handed them to me. “You shouldn’t space out when you’re working with these! It’s dangerous.”

“Ugh—sorry. Ha ha ha... I was just sorta reminiscing, I guess,” I explained.

“Ahh...”

Mukai chuckled in a way that told me she knew where I was coming from. I had a feeling that the things that sprang to her mind were pretty different from the ones I was thinking of...but then again, everything that had happened between me and her was easily significant enough to make it onto my list too.

“Hey, Chiaki! Can you help us out over here for a second?” called out one of our classmates.

“Ah, s-sure!” Mukai replied, slightly flustered. She glanced over at me, and for some reason she looked almost a little apologetic...but then she went off to help our classmates before I could figure out why.

“She sure is busy, huh?” I said to myself as I watched her go. Then I went back to my work, this time taking great care to keep a firm grip on my scissors. Not that my “work” was anything major in the first place—I was just helping make really simple decorations for the performance. In other words, I was doing the same sort of busywork that I’d been occupied with since the start of our preparations for the festival.

Mukai, on the other hand? Oh, boy, were things different for her now!

I think it’s fair to say that Mukai probably hadn’t stood out much in our class before. Ever since the late-September meeting about advertising our festival offering, though, our classmates’ impression of her had been completely turned on its head. The cute, pretty, downright amazing pictures that she drew, after all, got picked up as the official art we’d be using to advertise class 2-A’s idol show!

Thanks to that decision, Mukai had suddenly become a super important leadership figure within our class. She’d pretty much turned into the head of our advertising efforts, and ended up getting constantly dragged this way and that by classmates who needed her input. The days of the two of us quietly working away on petty chores in a corner of the classroom were long gone...well, maybe just half gone, considering I’d been left behind in the same corner as ever.

It was only natural that things had turned out this way for Mukai. Not only were her illustrator skills the real deal, she was also just plain nice, not to mention a hard worker and a tremendously brave person. Of course everyone would realize what made her so great, I thought as I stood back at a far, far removed distance, arms crossed as I nodded with satisfaction.

On the day of the advertising meeting—the day that Mukai suddenly skyrocketed to the heights of stardom—a change came about class 2-A. We as a class had decided to put on an idol show starring our school’s very own Sacrosanct duo, Yuna Momose and Rinka Aiba, plus the real-life celebrity and center of the idol group Shooting Star, Makina Oda. It was a truly, excessively star-studded cast for an event like this, so all of us leaped straight to the conclusion that there was no way it could possibly fail...and in the process, we completely lost the drive to actually put any effort or passion into the event ourselves. After all, no matter what we did, the show would still be a smash hit in the end.

That all changed at the advertising meeting, though. In its aftermath, our whole class was caught up in a raging explosion of pure, fiery enthusiasm! We weren’t going to sit back and let the whole weight of the event’s success rest on our performing trio’s shoulders. No, every one of us would put in the work to support them and lift them to greater heights! We’d put this show on together, and make it all of ours!

It was already clear how the class would contribute to the advertising effort, but that was only the start. People with the appropriate know-how also quickly gathered up to help design and produce decorations for the stage, as well as the costumes that our trio of performers would wear for the show. Makina, Yuna, and Rinka would write the song they’d sing at the festival together, using one of the songs from Makina’s idol career as a base, but other capable classmates would help them arrange the song as well. We even put together a plan to recruit volunteers to play as a live band for the actual performance! Like, wow! Oh, and while we’re on the subject, this was an idol show, and it wouldn’t be an idol show without idol merch. It was decided that we’d make and sell a variety of merchandise with designs inspired by Mukai’s drawings.

It felt like the whole class was suddenly overflowing with ideas. There was just no stopping us! Handling all these preparations on top of our usual studies was really, really hard, of course...but everyone was also enjoying themselves so much more than before, and most importantly of all, Yuna, Rinka, and Makina were all way more upbeat. They seemed that way to me, anyway.

Huh? What about me?

Well...let’s just say that even if a person suddenly feels really, really enthusiastic and motivated about flying, it wouldn’t give them the ability to flap their arms and take off, just like that. I totally got in the spirit of it all too—I was like, “All right, let’s do this!” and everything—but there was still only so much that I could contribute to at all, and most of it was the same sort of chore-handling and errand-running that I’d already been doing.

But, I mean, you do need someone to be a gofer for this sort of thing sometimes, right? And it wasn’t like I minded playing that role. It was fulfilling in its own sort of way! The one tiny little issue was that now that Mukai wasn’t around to do those chores with me, I was on my own basically all the time. It made me feel a little lonely, I guess. That was why I’d been so glad when Mukai went to the trouble of coming over and talking to me a little. Then again, it was also possible that she just happened to be passing by and just happened to say something on impulse when she noticed me...

No, no, stop that. You can’t keep letting yourself get all discouraged like this!

Yuna, Rinka, and Makina were working their hardest, and now Mukai and the rest of the class were too. I had to do my part as well! I slapped my cheeks, hyping myself up to do my best!

“All right, let’s do this!”

Then I got right back to my chores, telling myself that I would finish all the work I had laid out in front of me within the day, no matter what it took!

◇◇◇

“Hee hee hee...” I quietly giggled to myself. The sky was more or less pitch black, and I was finally ready to start heading home. I ended up sticking around a lot later than I’d initially meant to, but at that particular moment I felt so incredibly satisfied, I couldn’t help but grin like a weirdo.

“What? You got all of those done, for real?! That’s incredible—you’re a lifesaver!”

That’s right. My classmates were all super grateful and praised me for my hard work!

Yes, they were a lot more motivated now than they’d been before, but “motivated” didn’t necessarily mean “totally ready and raring to go for a bunch of petty, time-consuming busywork.” I couldn’t blame them for not being excited for that. It wasn’t like I particularly enjoyed all those chores either. Realizing how grateful everyone was after I’d finished doing them, on the other hand, was something that I could really get used to, and drove me to work even harder than ever from that point on! Hee hee hee!

And so I headed for the shoeboxes, smiling all the way—and found a girl I knew very well standing beside them, staring absentmindedly at the ground.

“Huh? Makina?”

Makina sucked in a sharp breath and jerked her head up. “Ah—Yotsy,” she said, frantically combing her hair with her fingers.

So cute... Wait, no! Not the time!

“What’s up? I thought you’d have already gone home by now,” I asked.

“I, umm, was waiting,” said Makina.

“For what?”

Makina gave me a look. “Is there anything other than you that I’d possibly wait for?”

“Oh... Right, I get it now. S-Sorry!” I babbled. It really was obvious in retrospect, but I’d asked anyway, mostly because I was just going with the flow of the conversation and not really thinking about what I was saying. I was apparently more tired than I’d realized. I figured I’d probably end up walking home with her...but I also found myself wondering why she’d gone out of her way to wait in the first place. “Did you need to talk to me about something?” I asked.

“No, that’s not exactly it...”

“Oh?”

Makina seemed a little down. It was really obvious that something was going on with her...but the fact that whatever it was seemed to be hard for her to bring up also made it hard for me to probe deeper about it.

“Is your practice going well?” I asked.

“It is, yes,” Makina replied. “It looks like things have been pretty crazy for you too, if you had to stay this late.”

“Ha ha ha... I think everyone’s pretty busy, but I’m only doing random chores, so I have it easy in comparison.”

“Chores are just as important as any other work.”

“Th-Thanks,” I replied. Makina was the one who seemed like she was in low spirits, but somehow I’d ended up getting cheered up by her instead, pathetically enough. “O-Oh, right! Have you gotten used to the school yet?”

“I have, yes,” Makina replied.

“You only just transferred in last month, and now you already have to swap uniforms again! It’s just change after change for you, huh?”

“It certainly has been.”

I kept making random small talk as Makina and I walked home. I never managed to figure out why exactly Makina had waited for me, and I didn’t even get close to touching whatever the core issue that was bothering her was. Her reactions all seemed rather subdued too. In a weird way, it reminded me of how she’d been when we were in kindergarten together. She never liked talking about her feelings back then, but she also could never quite manage to keep them hidden, and I would always pick up on them in the end, just like I had now.

Of course, the one big difference was that back in kindergarten, unlike now, I’d been a hyperpositive little optimist who fully believed that the world revolved around her. Even if I noticed that she wasn’t in a great mood, I’d assume that just being around me was sure to make her feel better in no time and not bother thinking any deeper into the matter. I didn’t have that sort of unbridled confidence anymore...but if there was something bothering her, I still wanted to do something to help out. It felt like my duty as her childhood friend.

Hmm... What could have happened to her? Assuming it’s something I have any shot at figuring out... Oh!

I ran through all the big events of the past few days in order, racking my mind for an answer, when suddenly a certain development sprang right to mind and I stopped in my tracks.

“Yotsy?” Makina turned around to glance back at me, looking a little concerned that I’d ground to a halt out of nowhere.

I found my gaze drifting involuntarily to her lips, almost as if they were drawing me in...

That’s right... She kissed me...

I couldn’t stop myself from remembering that night in perfect detail. I could practically feel the slight chill in the air and the sensation of the wind as it brushed past my cheek. I remembered Makina’s expression, her scent, the sound of her breathing...and the sensation and flavor of her lips. It had been so incredibly shocking and impactful, it was seared into my memory—so vividly it almost felt like I was still kissing her now, at that exact moment...

“Hey... Yotsy?”

“N-Nothing! It’s nothing at all! I mean, seriously, nothing! With a capital N! I was absolutely not thinking about anything weird whatsoever!”

“Wh-Where’s this freak-out coming from?” Makina asked. My blind panic had definitely startled her.

That said: This one was definitely her fault! How was I supposed to not panic when she leaned in and peered at me with those full-blown puppy-dog eyes?! Ask literally anyone, and they’ll tell you that was a low blow!

Looking at her with a fresh gaze, she really was incredibly pretty...in a way that felt like it really would give me a heart attack one of these days. I said a quiet thank-you to my parents for giving me a heart sturdy enough to last for this long, at least.

“A-Anyway, I’m totally fine! Nothing to worry about at all,” I said.

“Oh, really...?” Makina replied.

She cocked her head skeptically, but didn’t try to dig any deeper. I wondered idly if it was hard for her to question me in much the same way I was having a hard time questioning her...though even if she did try asking, there was absolutely no way I’d be able to come out and say, “Oh, I was just remembering that one time you kissed me.” I could not be that honest. After all...I was already in a relationship. As far as society was concerned, what had happened between the two of us was definitely some form of cheating.

I’d known how Makina felt about me even before she kissed me out of the blue. I’d known that she loved me, and I knew it was that sort of love; I just hadn’t been able to work up the nerve to respond to her feelings. I was taken, and I knew it, so by all rights I should have told her that we couldn’t be together in that way...but we’d only just reunited, and had only just started spending time together again. I was scared that if I rejected her, we could end up estranged all over again.

And so instead of resolving the problem, I just kept kicking it along down the road. Was I really in any position to blame her for kissing me, considering how I’d been running from my own responsibilities? When it all came down to it, this was my fault...and yet there I was, letting my heart skip a beat at the sight of her all over again.

I really am the worst. I’ve been awful to Yuna, to Rinka, and to Makina too...

“Yotsy.”

Thinking back on how things had turned out this way put me on a one-way trip to the depths of self-loathing in a car with no brakes whatsoever, but then Makina tapped me on the shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“What? Oh...”

Before I knew it, we’d arrived at—and almost walked right past—my house. Makina’s home was just a few steps away as well. In the end, I’d spent almost the entire trip from school to our houses lost in thought.

“Sorry, Makina,” I said. “I just...”

“No, I understand. I can tell how tired you are. And besides, I’m happy just being around you, so it’s fine.”

“Makina...” There she went again, saying just the right thing to make me both happy and completely befuddled at the same time.

Makina smiled. “Okay, then. See you tomorrow.”

“Y-Yeah... See you,” I said with a nod that was so stiff and awkward, even I could tell. Then I watched as she turned around and went along on her way.

What exactly was it that I even wanted? I knew that things couldn’t stay this way. I couldn’t keep turning a blind eye to Makina’s feelings and acting like we were still just ordinary childhood friends. It would be so much easier if things could work that way, but they just wouldn’t.

And then there was Yuna and Rinka. I was already asking a lot of them when it came to my two-timing, and if I kept this up much longer, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if they decided that they’d had enough and left me.

I can’t bring myself to choose, and end up making everyone unhappy instead. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if I just...

It was a thought that I’d had on a number of occasions—more and more of them with each passing day. But...just thinking about an outcome like that was enough to make me feel like I couldn’t breathe. It made me want to break down and sob.

“I don’t want that...”

My heart ached. My head was pounding. Why was I like this? And why had everyone chosen me, of all the people they could have fallen for? Why...?

“Hey, are you okay?”

I felt someone touch my shoulder. I’d sort of forgotten that I was on a perfectly normal city street, right out in public. Of course curling up into a ball in a place like this would end up making someone worry about me.

Okay, gotta stand up! I’ll just stand up, smile, and say I’m fine, I told myself. I stood up, turned around—and was struck dumb.

The girl standing before me was wearing a big, thick, long coat that looked pretty out of season, even considering that it was starting to get a little chilly. She also had a hat on that was pulled way down, a big medical mask covering the lower half of her face, and sunglasses to boot. I could barely even make out a patch or two of her actual skin. She looked, to put it gently, more than a little suspicious.

“Eeek— Mmphgh?!” I grunted. I’d almost screamed with all my might, thinking that she might be the dangerous sort of creeper, but before I could get more than the very beginning of that shriek out, she clapped a hand over my mouth!

“Hey! Come on, don’t make a scene!” the girl hissed.

“Mmmph?! Mnggh?!” I-I’ve gotta run away! But for some reason, I can’t move at all! What’s gonna happen to me now? Who even knows where she might take me...? Maybe she’ll take me deep, deep down into the sort of pit where the sun never shines, hand me a pickaxe, and force me to do manual labor until I’m a broken husk of skin and bone!

“Oh, for the... It’s me! You know, me!”

The (alleged) creeper pulled the mask and sunglasses off her face, revealing, much to my surprise...a perfectly normal but rather pretty person?

“It’s me! Mio Kuruma!”

“...Who?”

But, nope! Still didn’t know her at all.

◇◇◇

The mysterious creeper who called herself Mio Kuruma and I made our way to the nearest park, where we paused by a vending machine.

“Want something? My treat.”

“Oh, then, umm...corn soup?”

“You got it.”

The creeper pressed the button for a can of hot corn soup, then handed it over to me. And, I mean, yes, I did know that I probably should’ve been running away...but she’d asked me if I could spare a second, and come on, how was I supposed to argue against that?! Like, imagine if I tried to resist and she decided to do something to me! How scary would that be?! I was keeping my phone constantly in hand, just so I could be ready to call the cops at any second, and she definitely did notice that. But even though I was being as openly suspicious as I could possibly be, she just grimaced and didn’t actually say a word about it.

The creeper bought a can of black coffee for herself, then led me over to a nearby bench where we sat down. Okay, honestly—why am I going along with this?

“Sheesh...” the creeper grumbled. “I really wasn’t counting on you not recognizing me at all. This kind of stings.”

“Have we, umm, met somewhere before?” I asked.

“No, this is definitely our first meeting.”

“O-Oh, okay...”

In that case, why would she assume that I would know her? I wondered as I took a sip of my canned corn soup. It was nice and hot.

“You and Maki just looked so close. I assumed that if you knew her that well, it would only make sense for you to know me too,” she explained.

“Maki...? You mean Makina...? Meaning... Huh?! Are you Makina’s stalker?!”

“No! Why the hell would I stalk someone like... Well, I guess depending on how you look at what I’m doing, it’s not actually that far off, but still.” For some reason, the creeper let out a very drained sort of sigh.

Huh? Hold on a second. Now that I’m looking at her again, it does sort of feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.

“Mio...Kuruma... Oh!” I exclaimed. I’d finally remembered. I had heard the name Mio Kuruma before! “Are you in Makina’s group with her? Shooting Star?”

“So...you did know.”

“Ah, umm! I just, well, forgot.”

“You realize that makes it sting even more than before?”

“Sorry...”

I hung my head, but also tilted it upward just enough to steal a peek at her face. Mio Kuruma was a member of the same idol group that Makina belonged to. She was the group’s second-in-command, in fact, and the way she could harmonize with Makina was really incredible. It was supposedly the biggest reason why Shooting Star had caught the world’s attention, actually, or something along those lines...according to a Wikipedia article that I was pretty sure I’d read at some point in the past...probably. Most likely. Pretty sure.

“Well, fine. You’re right. I’m one of her—of Maki’s—coworkers. Meaning I’m not a creeper or a stalker. Got that?”

“Y-Yup!” I yelped. Her irate energy was terrifying enough that I ended up standing with perfect posture, nodding vigorously. “But, umm, in that case, why are you dressed like that...?”

“If anyone knew it was me, it could turn into a whole thing. Would you want to have to deal with that?”

“O-Oh, that makes sense.” Guess that’s the sort of outfit that idols wear when they want to go incognito. But, wait—she also got all offended when I didn’t realize that she was an idol, so... Nope. Don’t get it. I just don’t get idols, period.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Huh? Ah, umm... I’m Yotsuba Hazama.”

“Yotsuba...? Hmm. Yotsuba. I’ll remember that.”

Sh-She’s jumping straight to using my first name, just like that?! Idols are incredible!

“Well, Yotsuba—it looks like you and Maki get along pretty well, don’t you?” she pressed.

“Huh?” I grunted.

“You walked home from school together, didn’t you? And you seemed pretty chummy too.”

“Bwuh?! O-Oh, did we, now...?”

“You wouldn’t think it, but Maki has a pretty big bubble when it comes to personal space. It’s not normal at all for her to walk so close to someone her shoulder nearly bumps up against theirs.”

It isn’t...? Huh. That was news to me. Makina had always given me the impression that she wasn’t really bothered by that sort of casual closeness...but then again, looking back, I couldn’t actually remember ever seeing her get that close to anyone else at all.

“Well...now I’m getting annoyed.”

“Huh?!” I yelped.

“Oh, no, not with you. I’m annoyed that Maki looks like she’s having such a good time with all this,” the creeper said in a tone that came across as both a little bored and a little on edge. Wait, no, not the creeper! I meant the idol—or, er, Kuruma, I guess...?

“Just call me Mio.”

“Huwah?”

“You looked like you were tying your brain in knots trying to figure out something stupid along those lines, so I took a guess.”

“Are you a mind reader?!”

“I’ve talked with a lot of different people through my work, and you’re one of the easier types to read. Your face says it all.”

“Oh! Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“You do, huh...?” Mio said with a look in her eyes that all but screamed, “So then why haven’t you tried to fix it?”

Huh? Wait a second—am I turning into a mind reader too?!

“Oh, and quit acting so tense. You’re a second-year in high school, right? That means we’re the same age.”

“Oh! Yes, I am.”

“It really pisses me off when people my age walk on eggshells around me. It always feels like they’re making fun of me.”

“B-But they probably don’t actually mean it that way, right...?” I tensely replied.

“...”

“I-I mean, I bet they’re just trying to be nice! Yup!”

Oh, god, that glare! That was a glare that could kill! This girl is so scary!

Apparently, people Mio’s age treating her like she was some sort of authority figure was a major pet peeve of hers. I didn’t really understand why, but I had a feeling she’d get upset if I asked, so I decided against it.

“So, umm...I should just call you Mio, then?” I confirmed.

“Right. Do that,” Mio replied.

“Mio, Mio, Mio, Mio...”

“Wait, wait—I didn’t say to keep saying it forever!”

“S-Sorry! I’m just not used to calling people by their first names right off the bat... I need to practice or I won’t get it right!”

“O-Okay, I guess?” Mio—yes, Mio—gave me a look that felt a little pitying, almost?

I could already tell that she hailed from the land of light and sunshine. I, on the other hand, came from the realm of shadows and gloom, and for people like that, calling someone you’ve only just met by their first name is an almost insurmountable hurdle. She just didn’t get it!

“Mio, Mio... So, umm, why exactly did you talk to me in the first place, M-Mio?” I asked.

“Because you were curled up into a ball on the side of the road, and I was worried...but, no, that’s not really it.” Mio cleared her throat in a stilted, not super natural-sounding sort of way and started over. “You know about what’s going on with Maki, don’t you?”

“Umm...”

“I mean, you know she didn’t really step away from show business because she wanted to focus on her studies, right?” Mio clarified.

Oh! That’s what she meant!

“Well, I can’t accept it,” Mio grumbled.

“Huh...? Wait, really?!” I yelped.

“Of course I can’t! Shooting Star was on the rise, moving into the single most important moment in the group’s career—and then our center ditches us to go on hiatus?! Unbelievable!”

Mio had been acting a little prickly this whole time, but now she’d full-on exploded. It felt like that question I’d just asked had only made things worse, so I decided to take a sip of corn soup instead of digging myself any deeper by saying something dumb.

“That’s why I want to bring her back somehow,” Mio continued.

“You... Huh?”

“Maki’s always been able to master anything she wants to, if she just puts her mind to it. She could keep her grades up and keep performing at the same time, no problem. There’s no way someone like her would have to go to a fancy prep school to get into college.”

“B-But don’t you think it’s important to respect Makina’s wishes about—?”

“And by the way,” Mio continued, trampling with ease right over the objection that I’d worked really hard to bring myself to spit out. Also, this might’ve just been my imagination, but it kind of looked like a really dangerous sort of sharp glint was starting to shine in her eyes...? “I’ve noticed that you don’t mind calling her by her first name. You just said it—‘Makina,’ right?”

“Hyeeek?!”

“So you two are close enough to be on a first-name basis? Even though it’s only been a month since she enrolled at your school? You just got done telling me about how you’re not used to calling people by their first names, Yotsuba, and there you are, saying Maki’s like it’s absolutely nothing... Care to explain how that makes sense?” Mio pressed. She was giving me a really close, appraising look that made it feel like she planned to study every inch of me from top to bottom. It felt uncomfortable in a gross, slimy, almost suffocating sort of way. “Well...fine. If you’re Maki’s friend, then I think you should take some time to think about what exactly would be best for her.”

“You mean...?”

“How would you feel about lending me a hand, Yotsuba? I want you to help me convince Maki to call off her hiatus and come back to show business with me.”

I barely held back a gasp. Is she kidding right now? She wants me to help her talk Makina into changing her mind...?!

“This is a pivotal moment for Shooting Star. It’s a crossroads, and which path we pick will determine whether or not we can make it in this industry long-term,” said Mio.

“It is...? But you’re already so popular,” I replied.

“For now, sure. We’ve been getting some attention. The fame we have right now’s not sustainable, though. Do you think we’ll still have that momentum a year from now? How about two?”

“U-Umm...”

“Idols are a consumable resource. When people get bored with an idol, they just move along to the next one. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to lose your place in this industry. You can’t just take the top spot once—you have to claim it again, and again, and again, until finally you can move on to the next stage. We’d just gotten our chance to make it big for real, after all this time...”

Mio’s fists were clenched tightly with frustration. I couldn’t find the right words to say to her. Her desperate drive was so purely, profoundly sincere that I couldn’t confront it head-on... She’d told me not to be nervous around her—to call her by her first name, since we were peers—but even if we were technically the same age, it felt like the two of us lived in completely different worlds.

“All idols are like this. We’re all locked in a constant, desperate struggle for relevance. It’d be nice if we could get by without Maki, but this industry just isn’t that gentle. Shooting Star isn’t Shooting Star unless all five of us are part of it. Plus...and I hate to admit this...Maki’s the real deal. She has a passion and a ravenous appetite for fame that none of us can match. We could never keep up with her... And that’s exactly why we need her, more than anything else!”

“Ugh...”

“So please, help me! I’ve talked to her a thousand times, and she just won’t listen, but maybe if you’re the one she’s hearing it from, it’ll finally get through to her!”

“B-But how could it? Why would she listen to me...?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I have no clue what your deal is, but it can’t hurt to try, can it?!” Mio practically shouted as she grabbed my shoulders. “I can’t let our group end like this. We’ve got the hopes of our whole agency riding on our shoulders—an agency full of girls who worked as hard as they could to follow in our footsteps because they looked up to us! It’s our duty to clear a path to success for them too! And that’s why we...we can’t just sit back and let Maki run off on her own to play her little games at some school somewhere!”

Mio’s desperation came through excruciatingly well. Her whole life really was riding on this, to such an extent that even just wanting to understand what she was going through felt terribly presumptuous of me. And, yes, I could see the logic in her words. She had a point...and from a societal perspective, she might even have been flat-out in the right. But still...

“I...don’t want to.”

I couldn’t say yes. I could barely say no either—I could actually feel myself physically trembling from the effort it took—but I still mustered up all the courage I had and shook my head.

“Makina thought as hard as she possibly could about all of this, and this is the decision that she came to... And, I mean, I think she’s really trying her hardest in all sorts of ways, so...I just don’t think I have any right to question that,” I said.

By no means did I understand everything there was to know about Makina. That was especially true when it came to her work as an idol—as Maki Amagi. There was no chance that I knew anywhere even close to as much about all that as Mio did. Just because I didn’t know everything about Makina, however, didn’t mean that I had to sit back and agree that she was “playing her little games” by going to school. I hated hearing her get belittled like that.

“Makina’s actually really amazing, you know?! Our school’s transfer student entrance exam is supposed to be super crazy hard, but she passed it anyway, and, like... She must’ve had to study a crazy amount to manage it, and she did it while she was still working as an idol, which means it must’ve been even harder for her than it would be for everyone else... She’s put so much hard work into all this, and I know you’re part of her group, but that doesn’t mean you can just wave off her effort by saying she can do anything with ease! It’s not easy at all!”

I was still scared witless, but something totally unrelated to my sense of reason had taken the wheel partway through my speech and put the pedal to the metal. By the end of it, I was straight up shouting.

Mio should’ve known way more about what Makina did behind the scenes when she was working as an idol. All I had to work off of was how I imagined her behaving. That said, I just couldn’t believe that she could have kept up her idol work and her studies without any trouble whatsoever. And that wasn’t even starting on all the hardship that the situation with her family and the stress of constantly having all eyes upon her from all directions as an idol must have brought her!

Makina really was incredible. She put someone like me—someone who couldn’t do much of anything at all—to shame, and I completely understood how easy it was to get the wrong idea about her. I also knew, though, that she was the same as us. She was just another high schooler, and more importantly, she was my precious childhood friend. I probably didn’t have any right to talk like this, since I was still putting off responding to her feelings...but at the very least, I wanted to respect the decision that she’d made. And even if someone else ended up being hurt as a result of that decision, I, at least, would still be on her side to the bitter end.

“Right... I’m realizing that I didn’t pick the right way to say this. I’ll admit that,” said Mio, hanging her head slightly. I wondered for a moment if I’d managed to get through to her—but it really did only last a moment. She looked up again right away and gave me a very self-assured glare.

Yup! This girl’s terrifying, all right!

“But I’m just as serious about this as she is. I’ve staked my whole life on it, and if you think I’m giving up that easily, you’re dead wrong. I can’t accept her bringing her career to a standstill just to go to a prep school, of all things...”

Mio really was serious. The air around her was so thick with tension, it almost made me shiver—but it didn’t make me consider backing down, even for a second. In fact, being hit with the full-force brunt of her dedication just made me more dedicated than ever! A surge of sentiment was spilling forth from deep within me, driving me to protect Makina with everything I had!

“Going to a prep school may seem pointless to you, but I know for a fact that it’s going to be valuable for Makina! She’ll make it valuable!” I insisted. “This is the path she chose, and she’s taking it as seriously as she takes everything else! And if she does go back to being an idol once she’s finished, her work won’t suffer for the time she spent at school. No, she’ll come back bigger, better, and cuter than ever! She’ll be the most super awesome amazing idol you’ve ever seen!”

“You seem awfully confident about that...even if you said it with the vocabulary of an elementary schooler. What makes you so sure? What exactly are you basing all that confidence on?”

“Huh? Well, umm...” That put me at a bit of a loss. I’d let myself get carried away and was coasting on pure momentum, which wasn’t exactly an easy mode to pivot away from to cite my sources. I was drawing a blank.

“What? You’re not basing it on anything?”

“N-No, just, umm... I just really don’t think Makina’s playing around, is the thing! She’s been working super hard on the idol show we’re doing for our cultural festival! She stays late after school every day, and—”

“Wait. What was that just now?”

Wham! Mio grabbed me by the shoulders all over again, but this time, she put way more strength into it! Her fingers dug into me so hard, I was worried they might actually leave a mark.

“O-Ow?!” I yelped.

“Answer me. What did you just say? Maki’s going to be in a show? At a high school cultural festival?!”

“Oh...”

When she put it that way, I could sort of see where this reaction was coming from. Belatedly, I realized that I had reached for an extremely sensitive nerve and straight up pinched it. Makina had put her idol career on hold for the sake of performing at a cultural festival as an idol...and while I thought that was really impressive and admirable of her, it seemed totally possible that Mio would see it as stronger evidence than ever that Makina was just playing around!

“N-No, it’s not what you think! I mean, okay, I guess it kind of is...but Makina’s taking it super seriously! It can’t have been easy transferring in at this time of year, but she’s doing her best to make something amazing with her new classmates anyway, and...” I babbled, but the truth was, all of that was just speculation on my part. I just hoped that was what motivated her.

I was, however, absolutely positive that she was taking the performance seriously. She’d written a song, collaborated with her classmates to come up with choreography, and spent who even knew how long giving Yuna and Rinka lessons. It might have been a far cry from a professional performance, sure, but I’d never had the slightest impression that Makina was just playing around with it all.

“How...interesting,” said Mio.

“What?”

“You have my attention now. When’s this cultural festival happening? You don’t seem like much of a liar, so I’m guessing all that confidence from before was totally sincere, right?”

“I-I mean, I’m not sure if I’m confident, really... I just believe in Makina, I guess...?”

“Well, if you believe in her that much, then how about the two of us make a little wager?”

“L-Like a bet?!”

“I’ll come to your festival and see your show. If I come out of it believing that Makina really is taking this seriously, and that this hiatus really will give her whatever it is she needs to up her skills as an idol, then I’ll step back and wait for her without complaining. If I come out of it thinking that she really is wasting her time, though...then you, Yotsuba, will have to do everything you can to help me convince her to give it up and come back to the group.”

“Huuuuuuh?!”

Mio flashed me a smirk—and that smirk was what finally made the pieces click together for me. This was her plan all along! She was going to make me into her ally like it or not, no matter what sort of dirty tricks she had to play to get me on-side!

It was clear that Makina had a soft spot for me, which meant that I had a unique chance of convincing her in a way that Mio wasn’t capable of. She knew that, and she’d been waiting this whole time for the perfect opportunity to bring me around to her team. And so, the second a cultural-festival idol show—the absolute perfect opportunity to draw a line between Makina’s life as an idol and her life as a student—came up, Mio had latched on to it without wasting a second. Her eyes glimmered with an elated confidence that told me she was positive the key to victory was already in her grasp! I, meanwhile, was fully confident that I could not get away from her. The pain gradually spreading out from my shoulders made that pretty darn clear!

“This bet is purely between you and me, Yotsuba. It has nothing to do with Maki,” said Mio. “All that’s on the line is whether or not you’ll help me. That’s not a problem at all, is it?”

“Wh-Whether or not it’s a problem isn’t really the problem...”

“What, are you saying all that confidence from before was just a bluff? You don’t really believe Maki’s taking the show that seriously? It’s just going to be a silly little game after all? Heh heh—well, how about this? We’ll add another layer to the bet: If I lose, then I’ll do anything you want me to. You get one favor that I can’t say no to! I’m offering you a pretty sweet deal here. Are you really going to run away when everything’s stacked in your favor?”

It was so, so obvious that Mio was trying to provoke me. She couldn’t have possibly been more blatant. She wasn’t even trying to hide it. Even an idiot like me could tell, for crying out loud! All I had to do was say, “Oh, I see, I’ll think about it” and brush her off. That would be the mature way of dealing with the situation, and I knew it perfectly well. I was a second-year high schooler, after all!

On the other hand, Mio was probably convinced that a performance put on at a high school’s cultural festival could never possibly come anywhere close to touching the things she and her co-idols could accomplish as pros. What she didn’t know, however, was that we were all dedicated to making our show the real deal...no, to making it the best show in the whole wide world! She was underestimating us, no question about it—but maybe that was intentional too? Maybe me assuming she was taking us lightly and agreeing to her deal was exactly what she was aiming for.

I knew I’d feel a little bad about it, but I’d found my decision. I would resist the urge to prove what we were made of and tell her that she wasn’t going to bait me—I, Yotsuba Hazama, would never fall for that sort of cheap provocation!

“I’m super confident, actually?! Makina’s show—class 2-A’s show—is totally going to be the best idol performance you’ve ever seen, and you’ll never, ever, eeever in a million years see it coming! You’re gonna be so shocked by how amazing it is, for sure!”

Gah! What just happened?! I didn’t mean to say any of that stuff!

The next thing I knew, I was declaring preemptive victory as loudly as I possibly could, pointing confidently at her while I was at it for good measure. Mio’s grin, meanwhile, grew broader than ever. It was a truly belligerent sort of smile, but at the same time, it was exactly the sort of smile I’d expect from an idol of her caliber—one that was so overflowing with charm, I knew it’d be a very long time before I managed to forget it.

“Well, then—it sounds like we have a deal.”

And that was how I ended up getting dragged into a bet that, really, I had no business participating in. If I won, Mio would give up on pulling Makina out of her hiatus, and if Mio won, I would have to help her convince Makina to return to her idol career. It was, in other words, a tremendously important bet with Makina at its center!

O-O-O-Oh, no! What am I supposed to do now?! I frantically wondered as I squared off against Mio, a torrent of cold sweat pouring down the small of my back.

Chapter 2: Planning Won’t Help, but Let’s Do It Anyway

“So, that’s the whole story! What on earth should I do now?!”

It was the day after I’d met Mio. The very serious predicament that I’d very carelessly stumbled my way into was far too weighty for me to bear on my own, and so the moment the afternoon break began, I went out to find a certain upperclassman and spilled the whole story to her, from start to finish!

“I don’t know how you’d expect me to know what you should do, whether I have the whole story or not,” that upperclassman said with a shrug that told me she really just couldn’t be bothered.

Her name was Akane Hishimochi, and she was both the president of the Sacrosanct fan club and also one of the very few third-years—or rather, the only third-year—who I was acquainted with. I’d called her out more or less on a whim, and had ended up meeting with her in the student guidance room yet again. That might seem like an odd choice for me, but, I mean...the place was always abandoned, right? It really was pretty convenient, in all sorts of ways.

“I really think it’d make more sense to talk to Maightingale about this sort of thing than me, don’t you?” the president asked.

“Maighting...? Oh, Koganezaki! I already did, actually. She said, ‘Don’t know, don’t care’ and left,” I explained.

“Oof, yeah, she would. Cold and coolheaded as ever, that girl.”

“It really is just like her, isn’t it? But I figured that since you’re the opposite of coolheaded, talking to you instead might make sense!”

The president paused. “Was that supposed to sound like an insult?”

“N-Naaah, no way! I just meant you’re friendly and enthusiastic, of course,” I replied in a stilted monotone.

The president gave me a long, hard stare, her eyes half closed behind her glasses, and I broke eye contact. “For crying out loud... You really never change, do you, uhh... Wait, what was it again?”

“What was what?”

The president paused. Again.

“Your name.”

“Huh?! You mean you forgot?!” Now that hurts! I’d thought that the president was the one upperclassman I was acquainted with, but apparently as far as she was concerned, we hadn’t even reached the acquaintance level!

“N-No, not like that,” said the president. “I remember your name. Of course I do. It’s just...”

“Just?”

“I gave you, y’know, a nickname or something, right? That’s the part I forgot.”

“Ahh...” Okay, I actually forgot that one too. I feel like it involved the word “band” in some way or another, but that’s all I’ve got. “Okay, but do you really have to use a nickname? Couldn’t you just use my actual name instead?” I proposed.

“Absolutely not!” the president snapped.

“Huuuh...?”

“Do you have even the slightest clue how socially awkward I am?! And you expect me to just come out and call you by your actual, real-life first name?!”

You’d almost think I was the one being unreasonable, from the way she laid into me. I hadn’t actually said anything about her using my first name, for the record—my last name would’ve been just fine too. It wasn’t like I was an idol who worked on a first-name-only basis or anything.

“Wait,” I said, “I thought you were super sociable, actually? You’re so cheerful and chatty and stuff!”

“You only think that because you’re seeing me on a surface level,” said the president. “You might say that’s how I defend myself. If I keep talking nonstop, then I’ll never have to deal with any awkward silences, and it makes me look nice and friendly too, right? Even if I do catch people saying stuff like ‘Man, Hishimochi just never shuts up, does she, lol’ behind my back later on sometimes...”

“Ugh?!” Just hearing about that bit of gossip was excruciating. Though, to be fair, pretty much any behind-the-back gossip was painful for me to listen to. You might even say that sort of gossip was my greatest weakness.

“But if I had my way, I wouldn’t talk to anyone. I’d love to shut myself up in my own little world, all alone...but that’s not on the table, right? So I figured that at the very least I could be as superficially friendly as possible, and, well, calling people nicknames is a pretty friendly sort of shtick, right? Or, I mean...I kinda hoped it would be, I guess...? Ugh, sorry, I’m being such a pain...”

Ahhh! The president’s losing momentum at record speed! I had no idea that her nickname for me was that important to her... If she’d just told me, I would’ve made a note about it on my phone or something!

“You’re not a pain at all!” I insisted. “I mean, I do stuff like that all the time too!”

“Put a sock in it, Miss Has-A-Social-Life...”

“Ugaaah?!”

O-Okay, yes, from a broad societal perspective, I probably would look like a socially fulfilled normie, what with the being-in-a-relationship thing and all. But that was just luck! By nature, I live in the deepest, darkest depths of the social trenches! Even if it was just her trying to protect herself, her bright and cheery attitude was way more impressive than anything I’ve ever pulled off!

“I-I know!” I said. “You can just give me a new nickname right now, okay?! We can’t un-forget the first one, but we can start fresh instead!”

“A new nickname...?”

“And I’ll call you by a nickname too! Like, uhh...”

I did, in fact, remember that the president already had a nickname I’d used in the past: Mocchi. That, however, was a nickname that she’d told me to call her—I hadn’t come up with it myself. Considering I was asking her to think up a new nickname for me, it only seemed fair for me to think up a new nickname for her too!

Let’s see... Nicknames, nicknames...

“Mocchi” had come from the latter half of “Hishimochi,” her surname. It was a pretty rare surname, by the way, written with some odd, kind of cute characters, but the problem was that if I picked a surname-derived nickname for her, it could just as easily apply to her parents too. Imagine if I called her at home, said, “Hi, is Mocchi there?” and her mom or dad was all, “Yes, speaking” or something! It was just asking for misunderstandings, no two ways about it.

In other words, this time, I was set on thinking up a new nickname using her given name, Akane, as its basis. It’d be the better move long-term, for sure!

So... Umm, sooo...

“Akksy?”

“You’re definitely making fun of me now!”

“Am not?! I thought it’d be cute! It has a nice ring, right?!” I’m absolutely not trying to make you sound like a big dumb cow! It’s Akksy, not Ox-y! Half of Akane with an s and a y!

I was operating off of the same system that Makina had used to give me my Yotsy nickname. A system employed by an idol could never be flawed—it would be no exaggeration to say that my new nickname for her could trace its origins back to the most noble and respectable of sources! (Even if Makina was in kindergarten when she gave mine to me!)

“Hmph... Akksy, huh?” the president—or rather, Akksy muttered to herself. A faint smile began to spread across her face. “You know, I think this might be the first time someone else has given me a nickname,” she said as the smile continued to grow, her eyes narrowing contentedly.

Th-That’s so...

On the one hand, her perfectly innocent smile was adorable, and on the other hand, the fact that she’d been calling people nicknames for so long without anyone else ever giving her one of her own was a little tragic. I was torn between “so cute” and “so sad” in equal measure. I hadn’t really considered it when she first told me to call her “Mocchi,” but from the sound of things, she really had come up with that nickname for herself...

“Akksy, Akksy... It still kinda feels like you’re making fun of me, but if you want to call me that, then I guess I wouldn’t mind letting you get away with it,” Akksy said in a hesitant, faltering tone, her cheeks slightly flushed as she looked at me with bashfully upturned eyes. She was actually acting so bashful that I felt a little embarrassed too. I’d given her the nickname pretty casually, but it was starting to feel like that act had carried a lot more significance than I’d realized. “H-Hey. Try saying it, okay?”

“O-Okay! So, umm...A-Akksy,” I said, a little flustered.

“Yeah,” Akksy replied after a slight pause. She still seemed embarrassed, but even more than that, she seemed distinctly happy in a really cute/sad sort of way. “And as for you...since you’re calling me Akksy, I’ll call you Yocchi!” she added with a grin, almost like she was powering through her embarrassment and overriding it with confidence.

From Yotsuba to Yocchi? I can sort of see it, and it’s actually kind of cute, I guess!

I hadn’t thought that Akksy would turn The Makina System right back around on me...and while I’m on the subject, there’s actually a bit of a story to how Makina ended up calling me “Yotsy” in the first place. You’d think that if the goal was just to trim my name down a bit, “Yotsu” would be the obvious choice, but it just didn’t have a very nice ring to it, and going all the way down to “Yot” would’ve made me sound like a boat. “Yotsy” was the nicer-sounding compromise that the two of us ended up settling on together. It was a weirdly heartwarming feeling to more or less live out that old memory all over again as my high school self, and I soon found myself grinning as well.

“I like it!” I said.

“Hee hee... You do...? Then I guess you’re Yocchi starting today!” the president—Akksy—said with a satisfied chuckle.

Actually getting called by a nickname like that really did make me feel like squirming a little, but in a good way. I had a feeling that the way she was acting now was probably the closest thing I’d seen to Akksy’s true personality. That did raise some questions about the crazy hyper persona she’d adopted the first time I met her, of course. Maybe she’d psyched herself up for it since she knew I’d be coming in advance?

Or maybe I’m reading into it too much, and it wasn’t about me after all. If that is what happened, though, then I feel a little bad for visiting her like this today. I did kinda call her out for a talk without any warning at all.

“So anyway, Akksy, about what I actually came to talk about today,” I said, steering us back on track. I felt a little bad for it, but this really was a super pressing problem for me, and I needed someone to give me advice about it. After all, the cultural festival was less than a month away!

“Oh, right. Yeah,” said Akksy. “So, umm, the issue was Miss Makina’s coworker, right? You know, when I step back and look at the big picture, I think you might be the single biggest trouble magnet in the world.”

“Ugh... I can’t argue with that...”

“So now you have a contest going—or I guess you called it a bet.”

“Do you think I could, like...just take it back? No way, right?”

“Yeah, nah, I can’t see 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 bad-mouth 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 one-sided 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 Oct-over, 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?”

“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, mild-mannered 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 maid-uniform-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?! S-Sorry! 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 complicated-looking 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 two-thirds 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 jam-packed, 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 mid-sentence. 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 deep-seated 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.

“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 first-name 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 strong-armed 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 impulse-driven...?

“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! “H-Hey! 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...?!

“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.

Chapter 6: The Cultural Festival: Day Two!

After all sorts of twists and turns, the first day of the cultural festival came to a close. Mio’s less-than-authorized intrusion, in the end, wasn’t exposed as badly as I’d feared after all. Her disguise had apparently done its job; nobody who’d seen her had realized that she was, in fact, Mio Kuruma. It also helped that Makina got in touch with everyone who’d been in 2-A’s classroom during the Mio Incident and asked them to keep quiet about it. When all was said and done, nobody learned about my misdeeds.

Yuna and Rinka did let me know that they wished I’d at least said something to them, of course, but for some reason, they didn’t press me for more information on how or why I’d ended up tangled up in a bet revolving around their performance. In fact, they didn’t even bring it up at all!

In short, I ended up with an awful lot to feel relieved about. I won’t be getting expelled after all! Thank goodness!

And then the second day of the festival arrived! Our class’s project was over and done with, and most of the merch we’d made had already sold out the day before, so pretty much all of us were free to spend that second day doing whatever we felt like. That left me, Yotsuba Hazama (position in class: background loner), with a pressing dilemma: Should I, or should I not, wear our class’s festival T-shirt today?

“Oh, Yotsuba!” said Rinka. “You wore your uniform today? Why?”

And I completely guessed wrong!

Per our school’s cultural-festival rules, everyone was supposed to gather up in their classrooms each morning before things kicked off. I figured the idea was just to make taking attendance easier? Anyway, I headed straight for my classroom when I arrived...and stepped inside to find everyone except me wearing their class T-shirts!

“Wait, you’re all wearing them?!” I yelped.

“Well, of course we are!” said Yuna. “I mean, how many chances do you think we’ll get to wear these after the festival’s over?”

“That’s...a really good point, yeah,” I admitted. When she put it that way, as soon as the festival was over, that shirt would be doomed to spend the rest of its days in the pajama pile. What else would you even wear a class T-shirt for? A trip to the amusement park? I’d sure never heard of anyone using them for anything like that. In my defense, though, it did still feel a little wrong to wear those T-shirts on a day when our class wouldn’t even be doing anything for the festival!

“Plus, we spent all yesterday in our stage costumes,” Yuna continued. “We barely got to wear these at all in the end.”

“Very true,” said Rinka. “It would feel like a waste not to wear them, considering our classmates went to the trouble of making them for us.”

“Oh, right...” I said. Does that make this better for me? I’m really not sure.

“Good morning,” a voice rang out.

“Ah!” I exclaimed as Makina stepped into the classroom. Her arrival wasn’t what had me excited, though. No, my attention was drawn straight to what she was wearing! “You came in your uniform!”

I’m not alone! I have an ally after all!

“Oh! Good morning, you three,” Makina replied as she stepped over to us. She took a look around the classroom...then took a final, longer look at me. “I see everyone wore their T-shirts.”

“I know, right? It felt so awkward up till a second ago,” I replied with a beaming smile. Now that I had an outfit in common with at least one person, I felt much more comfortable again. Up until she’d shown up, I’d been completely isolated! It had felt like I was cheering for the wrong team!

“Why did you wear your uniform today, though?” asked Yuna.

“To be honest, I was so distracted yesterday that I threw my T-shirt into the laundry without thinking about it,” Makina explained. “I’m just glad I’m not the only one.”

“That’s not quite the same reason why Yotsuba left hers behind, though,” said Rinka.

“Oh, really?”

Ugh... In other words, Makina did know that she was supposed to show up in her T-shirt today. They should’ve just made an announcement or something! Put it in the official cultural-festival policy: Class T-shirts are to be worn across all days of the event!

And so, the curtain was raised (on a kinda inauspicious note) on the second day of the festival.

◇◇◇

“Thanks for waiting, Yotsuba!”

“Aoi! And Sakura too! Did you have trouble finding your way here?”

“We’re not toddlers, Yotsuba. We can walk across town without getting lost,” Sakura said.

“Ha ha, fair enough!”

I met my sisters, both of whom were wearing their middle school uniforms, out front by the school gate. Outside visitors were allowed at the cultural festival on its second day, so they’d stopped by to hang out and see what it was all about. My class’s offering was already over and done with, of course, so we’d really just be walking around together and looking at everyone else’s.

“You’re looking around with your friends in the afternoon, right?” I asked Aoi.

“Yup!” Aoi replied. “And Sakura’s gonna be going around with hers too.”

“My friends and I are here to see the school just as much as the festival, though. Entrance exams are right around the corner and all,” Sakura added.

Basically no one from our middle school had tried to get into Eichou High back in my day, but apparently, a surprising number of students were now taking a shot at it. It wasn’t like the entrance exam had gotten easier or anything, so why was a bit of a mystery... But in any case, it was probably a good thing it hadn’t been that way back when I was applying. Going to a high school that none of my middle school classmates would end up at had sounded really appealing at the time, and if a bunch of other kids had signed up for the entrance exam, I probably wouldn’t have followed through with my accidental application and tried my luck on it.

“You’re looking around with Yuna and Rinka this afternoon, aren’t you?” said Aoi.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Sooo, does that mean you went out of your way to make time for us in the morning?”

“I sure did!”

“Yaaay! You’re the best!” Aoi exclaimed, clinging tightly to my arm.

Yup, yup! She’s adorable!

“Well, then, no time to waste! Let’s get a move on,” Aoi continued. “Your class already finished up yesterday, right?”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” I replied.

“No kidding! I would’ve done so much to see Yuna, Rinka, and Maki all up onstage together!”

“Okay, but you know how much trouble there would’ve been if they let the public in for that,” commented Sakura.

“Okay, then—I wanna go see Koganezaki’s class!” Aoi said as she flipped the festival’s pamphlet open and browsed through its offerings. Astonishingly enough, she’d picked the very same maid café I’d gone to with Mio the day before. “Can you imagine her working in a maid café?! It’s so not her style at all, but I’m sure she’ll look awesome in the outfit anyway!”

“I kind of want to see that too, actually,” Sakura added.

Aoi and Sakura had met Koganezaki the month before, when we all got together to model for Mukai’s illustration. Koganezaki had been in a relatively chill sort of mode at that time, and apparently, the two of them had come out of the encounter with the impression that she was a really nice person. Not that they were, like, wrong about that, or anything! It’s just that they didn’t know she could also be really strict and incredibly terrifying from time to time.

“Okay, then! Let’s go!”

Buuut, that said, I didn’t have any reason to turn them down. I could’ve stared at Koganezaki in a maid outfit all day without getting bored, after all! Plus, I knew that at the end of the day, she always went easy on her underclassmen. As long as I had Sakura and Aoi with me, I wouldn’t have to worry about getting the sort of frigid reception she’d given me the day before!

Heh heh heh! Watch as the genius tactician Yotsuba Hazama uses her little sisters as human shields! This plan is a masterstroke! Koganezaki will be laid bare—or rather, laid out in a maid uniform—before me! Bwa ha ha ha haaa!

◇◇◇

“Whoa... That line is crazy,” I said.

“I guess it’s not surprising that Koganezaki’s class would draw this sort of crowd,” said Sakura.

“It’s so popular!” Aoi exclaimed.

We’d arrived at class 2-B’s room to find a line extending all the way out into the hall. The place had seemed pretty empty the day before, but now it was packed to capacity. This, I had to assume, was the power of the second day being open to the public—and, well, also the power of class B’s maid café having really cute, well-put-together uniforms, I guess.

“What do you think? It sounds like we’d have to wait a half hour or so to get in,” I explained.

“Ugh,” Aoi moaned. “It kinda feels like a waste, doesn’t it...?”

“No...let’s wait,” said Sakura. “We’ve come this far, and if we leave now, I’ll end up wondering what it would’ve been like later.”

“Yeah, you’re right! I’m in too!” Aoi agreed.

“Okay, then, let’s line up!” I said. My sisters were in control here—I was just along for the ride. Little sisters are higher up on the chain of command than big sisters, after all! That was a well-established fact that everyone knew!

“Huh?”

A moment after we got in line, I noticed a very familiar, brightly colored head of hair bounce briefly into view up ahead of us. Then, a second later, out from the line stepped...Emma! Emma was here!

“Ah! Yotsuba!”

“Emma!”

And then we gave each other a big ole hug! And everyone lived happily ever after...

“Hmm.”

Ah! Those stares! They’re so frigid, it hurts! N-No, Sakura, Aoi, it’s not what you think! Emma’s... Emma’s an exception, okay?! I can’t help it!

“And good morning indeed, Sakura and Aoi!” Emma continued as she looked over to my sisters—while still hugging me, by the way.

“Good morning. It’s nice to see you again, Emma,” said Sakura.

“Emma! Morning!” Aoi added.

I’d known that they knew each other, of course, but I hadn’t expected Emma to remember their names. That’s so impressive! Good girl, good girl!

“Wait...” I said a moment later. “Hold on! You were lined up too, Emma?!”

“Indeed! I had a great need to see my sister dearest’s figure with my own two eyes!” Emma explained.

“Okay, but are you sure you want to give up your spot? You were way up ahead of us,” I asked. Her spot, of course, had already been filled in as the line shuffled forward, so it was a little too late regardless.

“Indeed, it’s okay! I sensed all of you, and thought I wanted to talk,” said Emma. “But...am I bothering you, indeed?”

“No, no, not at all! Right?” I asked.

Sakura and Aoi both nodded immediately.

“If you don’t mind, it’d be nice to have an upperclassman here with us,” said Sakura.

“Yeah, yeah!” Aoi excitedly agreed.

Oh, wooow! My little sisters are so sociable! That’s so impressive! Good girls, good girls!

“An upperclassman? You don’t have to see me that way, indeed,” said Emma. She’d started fidgeting bashfully, and I had a feeling that she wasn’t used to the idea of being treated like someone’s senior at school.

“But you literally are one for me, so...” Sakura said with a shrug.

“Sakura’s going to be taking the entrance exam for our school this year! She’s doing her best to go here with us,” I explained.

“Indeed?!” Emma gasped.

“Yeah, and me too!” Aoi chimed in. “It’s a little sad that I won’t get to go to school with Yotsuba, even if I do make it in, but at least I’ll just barely have a year with you, I’m pretty sure!”

“Aoi too?! I can hardly wait, indeed!”

None of this was set in stone yet, of course, but my sisters were both way more capable than I was, and they also apparently talked with Yuna and Rinka on the phone pretty often to get help with their studies. I guess it’ll be a year and a half before Aoi gets the chance, though, won’t it? Maybe Emma will have brushed up on her Japanese and done away with her “indeed” tic by then. She picked up that habit from Koganezaki back when they were both going to a rich-girls’ school, right? It’d actually be a little sad if she got over it.

“Me indeed, an upperclassman...” Emma quietly murmured to herself. It seemed like she was savoring the feel of the word as it passed through her lips.

“Okay, but what about middle school?” I prompted. “You must have had underclassmen then, right?”

“Back then...I was all alone, indeed.”

“Wha?”

“My dearest sister left, and I still barely knew Japanese, indeed,” Emma said with a smile that didn’t strike me as totally sincere.

Wearing a smile like that was so unlike her, I realized instantly that I’d asked a question I probably shouldn’t have. Koganezaki...well, she hadn’t really told me much of anything about her time in middle school, but I’d more or less put the pieces together well enough to realize that she’d gone through something pretty traumatic. Emma had stayed at that same school long after Koganezaki left, looking up to her all the while...and it wasn’t hard at all to imagine how that could have been a pretty unpleasant environment for her.

“Sorry, Emma,” I said. “I shouldn’t have pried, huh? My bad.”

“It’s okay, indeed!” Emma insisted.

For just a moment I wanted to tell her that I’d been all alone in middle school too, but I decided against it. It seemed pretty likely that we’d been totally different types of loner. “Well, my little sisters are both really good girls,” I said instead. “You can go ahead and act like a big, tough upperclassman with them, any time you like!”

“I really don’t like the idea of agreeing with Yotsuba about that...but she is right, basically,” said Sakura. “Both of us really like you a lot, Emma.”

“Ah, I know! Let’s trade contact info! I never found the right moment before, but this is the perfect chance!” suggested Aoi.

That’s my sisters! Unlike me, you’ve got social skills to spare! There’s no way in heck I’d ever have the guts and resolve to talk with a (super ridiculously ultra cute) upperclassman like that! Boy, do I ever respect that about you two!

“And why are you smirking in perhaps the most unsettling manner conceivable?”

“Oh, I was just thinking, is all,” I replied. “My personal angels are getting along with an actual, real-life angel, right before my eyes, so I was sorta moved, I... Wait, whaaat?!”

“What yourself,” said Koganezaki (maid edition), who’d shown up beside me at some point without me realizing it at all! In addition to the uniform, she was carrying a sign that had “Come See What the Fuss Is About! Class 2-B’s Maid Café, Now Open!” written on it. “The line is getting unwieldy, and I’m here to manage it. It’s a far easier job than serving customers,” she continued, though I had to note that she’d come to a dead stop beside us and wasn’t doing much managing of the line at all. Then again, she just looked so darn pretty that the other customers in line—and, for that matter, most of the passersby in the hallway—were too focused on her to cause any issues.

“Ah! Sister dearest!” Emma exclaimed.

“It’s very nice to see you again,” said Sakura.

“You look so great in that maid uniform, sister dearest!” added Aoi. The sister squad had quickly caught on to our visitor.

“It has been a while, Sakura, and thank you, Aoi. Do not call me that,” Koganezaki replied...in a way that really did feel nicer than how she usually acted! She really was a big sister. There was just something about being a big sister that made people like, well, that.

Emma, incidentally, had let go of me at some point along the way and now had her arms flung firmly around Koganezaki. Oh wow, that speed...! Not even I noticed when she moved!

“I see the two of you are keeping Haza—Yotsuba company today, then. That’s very kind of you,” said Koganezaki.

“Hey! Why are you acting like I’m their pet puppy?!” I whined.

“I would never intentionally compare you to something that cute, but in terms of disposition, I have to admit the comparison does stand.”

Mean! She wouldn’t even let me keep the cute part of the metaphor!

Meanwhile, Sakura and Aoi were watching us very closely.

“Umm, excuse me, Koganezaki,” said Sakura. “You’re friends with our sister, right?”

“Huh?” I grunted. S-Sakura? Where did that question come from...? Oh no—don’t tell me that Koganezaki acted so curt with me, she has you questioning whether or not I’m getting bullied at school?! “S-Sakura! That’s, umm, just her way of showing affection! It’s nothing—”

“Yes,” Koganezaki cut me off—though not before hesitating long enough to let me babble out half of an excuse. “We are indeed friends,” she continued. The look on her face was so inexplicably kind that I was captivated...and forgot what I’d been planning on saying entirely.

The same, it seemed, was true of my sisters. Aoi and Sakura were just staring, eyes wide, until finally...

“Oh... Okay.”

...tears began to pool in their eyes.

“Well, umm—I know she’s not very reliable, I guess, and can be pretty bad at taking a hint, but, well...” said Sakura.

“But she’s really considerate! She’s always putting other people first, even though she’s a super awkward crybaby herself...”

Sakura? Aoi? Are you trying to convince Koganezaki to stop being friends with me right now?! I mean, yes, I am kind of a mess in all sorts of ways, but come on!

“But you know,” Sakura continued, “she really went through a lot in elementary and middle school! So...”

“If you don’t mind, keep being friends with her from now on!” Aoi concluded.

I was speechless. Speechless and thoughtless, in the sense that my train of thought had ground to a screeching halt. I’d been a loner up until I got into high school, but only now did I realize that my former friendlessness weighed on my sisters as much as—no, more than—it did on me. I felt really guilty for being pathetic enough to make them worry like that...though at the same time, I felt touched by their kindness.

I also knew that, really, I should probably have been scolding them for putting Koganezaki on the spot for no good reason like this. I glanced over at her...and found her gazing at my sisters with a shockingly gentle look on her face. She sighed deeply, apparently reaching some sort of conclusion, then looked at me.

“You really managed the third option,” Koganezaki said.

“What?”

“I once told you that you had three options. You picked the third...and it seems it turned out well for you.”

“Ah,” I quietly gasped. The third option. She’s talking about when Sakura and Aoi found out about my two-timing, right...?

“No need to worry,” Koganezaki said as she turned back to my sisters. “I’ll admit that she—that Yotsuba can be unpredictable and unreliable, in more ways than one...but I’m well aware of how many people she’s helped in spite of those traits.”

“Oh, but just one thing,” Sakura added, slightly more quietly than before. “You’re not allowed to love her too much!”

“Right, that! Keep it nice and restrained!” Aoi whispered as well.

I knew very well that the “love” they were talking about wasn’t the platonic sort, and Koganezaki quite possibly knew it on an even more profound level than I did.

“Yes... Of course,” Koganezaki said with a smile after an ever so slight pause. “I’m only interested in faithful people, regardless.”

Rude! What, are you trying to say I’m unfaithful or something?...is what I really wanted to say, but I held it back! After all, saying that would’ve made it look like I wanted to end up in that sort of relationship with her! N-Not that Koganezaki wasn’t a lovely, appealing person or anything! It was just that I...er...

Okay, so maybe I’m not faithful, like, at all.

That realization stung a little, but as I watched the four of them chat away happily, the pain was replaced by an appreciation for how nice this sort of thing was from time to time.

◇◇◇

My sisters, Emma, and I finally made it into the maid café, where we enjoyed our fill of Koganezaki’s service. After that, Emma broke off to stay with Koganezaki while my sisters and I set off to explore the festival. Sakura and Aoi were particularly interested in the cultural clubs’ displays and led us to the home-ec club, which had set up a stand where they sold snacks, and the drama club, which was putting on a play. Before I knew it, the morning had sped right on by.

“I’ve been thinking of joining a club when I get into high school,” Sakura commented.

“That’s a great idea! You should!” I said.

“Me too, me too!” said Aoi. “That’s why I’m planning on looking at all the other displays with my friends later!”

“Neither of you ended up joining a club in middle school, did you?” I noted. A small part of me wondered if, just maybe, they’d refrained because they didn’t want to rub salt into my middle school wounds...

“It is not anything like what you’re thinking,” said Sakura.

“You weren’t even there anymore when I got into middle school!” noted Aoi. “I just didn’t join a club ’cause I wasn’t interested in any of them.”

“O-Oh! Okay!” My thoughts had been written all over my face yet again, clearly. They’d shut my theory down before I could even mention it.

“But, you know...the fact that I’m thinking of joining one now might actually be because of you,” Aoi continued. “You’ve looked like you’re having so much fun ever since you started high school, after all! Right, Sakura?”

“Yeah,” Sakura agreed. “First things first, though—I have to pass the test!”

The two of them looked elated at the prospect of the futures they were pursuing. They had them all planned out, and I was really impressed.

The future, huh...?

I’d tried to think about my future tons of times, but those attempts had always ended in failure. I was in my second year of high school. The more proactive kinds in my class had already started studying for their college entrance exams, apparently, but here I was, just barely treading water when it came to preparing for my high school tests.

I really do have to give it some thought, don’t I...?

The cultural festival would be over in a flash, and once the school trip—which was coming up next month—ended as well, all of us second-years would be in nose-to-the-grindstone exam prep mode. All the more so considering Eichou High was a prep school! Incredibly unreliable though I was, I was also my sisters’ role model, and I had to set a good example...or, well, I had to at least put up a show of doing my best, anyway. I’d be a miserable excuse for a big sister if I didn’t.

“Okay, we should split off now,” said Sakura.

“Don’t have too much fun this afternoon, Yotsuba!” Aoi added.

“I know,” I said. “You two take care too... I mean, get out there and have a blast!”

My worries about the future were still lingering in the back of my mind, but I saw my sisters off with a smile anyway. I didn’t let so much as a hint of gloom infect my expression. After all, no matter how things turned out for me, as long as my sisters were happy, healthy, and moving forward day by day, that was enough to keep me satisfied.

◇◇◇

“Hey! Sorry I’m late!”

“Nah, it’s fine!”

“Yuna and I just arrived as well, actually.”

I’d split up with my sisters and had just jogged up to Yuna and Rinka. That’s “up” in the vertical sense, since they’d told me to meet them on the staircase landing by the door to the rooftop.

“So, we put a lot of thought into how we could make the most of the festival with you,” said Yuna. “Like, should we all walk around together? Or should we draw up a schedule and take turns going on dates with you?”

“But when we were walking around ourselves this morning, it struck us that both of those options would pose difficulties,” said Rinka.

“What do you mean...?” I asked.

“You know—since we’re the Sacrosanct?” Yuna said so plainly and confidently, I could almost hear the dramatic-emphasis sound effect in the background. The hand-on-hip pose she struck didn’t help with that. It occurred to me that, on the whole, the two of them didn’t call themselves by their own nickname all that often. “People were talking to us all over the place—expecially people who came to see the performance yesterday... And, I mean, I’m glad we made an impression and all, but it definitely feels like having you with us in public right now could attract some not-so-great attention.”

“Attract some not-so-great attention,” I presumed, was code for “make people think, ‘Who’s that loathsome little insect clinging to the Sacrosanct and how are we going to squish her?’”

“Okay, that’s a good point,” I admitted. “Wait, what about Makina? How does she play into all that?”

“You haven’t heard?” said Rinka. “She’s spending the afternoon looking around with a few of our classmates.”

“Oh! Okay.”

I hadn’t heard. In fact, I hadn’t spoken with her at all since this morning in the classroom...and even then, it had sort of felt like she was trying to avoid me. She wouldn’t look me in the eye in the weirdest, most deliberate-feeling sort of way...but then again, that might have just been my usual negativity coloring my impression.

“So, yeah—going around the festival together’s probably not such a great plan,” Yuna continued. “Which, for the record, I’m not cool with! We finally get together, but can’t make the most of it during our own school festival? Come on!”

“Right...? But, wait. Does that mean you went out of your way to meet up with me just to tell me that we can’t hang out after all?”

That’s so thoughtful of them! They could’ve just sent me a text. It’s a shame that we can’t look around together, sure, but I definitely don’t want to cause trouble for them, so—

“No, not at all,” Rinka said.

“Huh?”

Rinka shook her head, then brought a hand up to my cheek.

“If we can’t go around the festival with you, then we won’t do it at all.”

“What...?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Yotsuba...we’re well past our limit.”

“Your limit for wha— Mmph?!”

Just like that—so naturally I hardly even realized what was happening—Rinka kissed me.

“Ah, hey!” Yuna yelped. “No getting a head start, Rinka!”

“Mmph... Ah... Yotsuba...”

“Get off her already! Come on!”

“Whoa!”

It almost felt like Rinka was trying to straight up inhale my lips until—with some difficulty—Yuna dragged us apart again. Wh-What on earth...? And wait, we’re at school right now, aren’t we?!

“Seriously, getting too worked up here is just asking to be caught,” Yuna grumbled. “What do you think we borrowed this for in the first place?”

“Ugh... Sorry. I couldn’t help myself,” said Rinka.

“You may come across all mature, but you’ve always been such a kid deep down, I swear. You’ve got no restraint at all!”

“I do too! Just...not when it comes to Yotsuba. She’s the one exception,” Rinka sulkily pouted. Pouted with the lips that had been pressed to mine just seconds before.

“Hold on,” I said, “what was that about borrowing something?”

“Heh heh! That would be this,” Yuna said as she proudly brandished what looked like a perfectly ordinary key. “It’s—drumroll, please—the key to the rooftop!”

“Huh?!”

“I have no clue why that one girl—Koganezaki, I mean—had it in the first place, but she loaned it to me. She said that nobody else would be up there during the festival, so we could get some peace and quiet. I’d never really talked to her before and I sorta had the idea we wouldn’t get along, but it turns out she might be pretty nice after all.”

That reminded me of how Koganezaki had used the rooftop—or, really, had shown up on the rooftop after Emma abducted me—the very first time we’d had a proper conversation. In retrospect, she must have already had the key back then...though that still left the mystery of why she had it unsolved.

“Okay, but even if we have the key, that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to go out on the rooftop whenever, right...?” I protested.

“Do you really have any right to say that?” said Yuna.

“You were the one who snuck Mio into school just yesterday,” Rinka pointed out.

“Well, yeah, but...”

“And now Rinka and I are your partners in crime!” Yuna cheerfully declared as she swung open the door and stepped outside without the slightest hint of hesitation. A chilly autumn breeze blew into the landing through the open doorway.

Oh. Do they think that I’m still worried about getting in trouble over the whole Mio thing...? This isn’t my first time on the rooftop, though, and I’ve used the student guidance room without permission a bunch of times lately. I’m already dancing on the brink of academic oblivion when it comes to this sort of thing, so honestly, I’d rather they stayed back where it was nice and safe instead of getting themselves involved...

“Ahh, the wind feels so nice!” said Yuna.

“Good thing it’s sunny out. Come on, Yotsuba, let’s go,” Rinka said as she took me by the hand.

“S-Sure,” I replied.

Rinka pulled me out onto the rooftop. The blue sky stretched out overhead in its full, vast glory. The whole space was incredibly open, and while I could still hear the hustle and bustle of the cultural festival down below, it felt like we were cut off from the rest of the world...

Kachk!

...Yup. Cut off from the rest of the world.

“You locked it?!”

“We wouldn’t want anyone else coming out here, now would we?” Rinka replied with a casual grin.

Oh. I guess, yeah. It wouldn’t be great if anyone caught us out on the roof without permi—

“Yotsubaaa!”

“Whoa! Yuna?!” I yelped as she flung herself into my arms with no warning whatsoever. I did manage to catch her, just barely, and the next thing I knew she was nuzzling her face into my chest.

“Aaaaaahhh,” Yuna practically groaned. “Finally! This is so relaxing, I swear...”

“U-Umm...?” I grunted.

“You’re not gonna complain about this, are you, Miss Tried-to-Get-a-Head-Start?” asked Yuna.

“Go ahead,” Rinka replied after a reluctant pause.

“With pleasure!”

That little exchange of theirs struck me as pretty suggestive, and the moment they were finished, Yuna tilted her head upward and pursed her lips.

“Mh!” Yuna grunted.

“Yuna...?”

“Mmmh!” she grunted again, more urgently this time.

I hesitated for just a moment...then gave in to her coaxing and kissed her.

“Mnhh... Ahhh!” Yuna gasped.

It must have been a little hard for her to breathe in that pose, and I tried to pull my face away, but her arms were wrapped very firmly around me and I couldn’t move an inch.

“Honestly, Yuna, you can be such a baby. Which...is a little conflicting to watch, from a childhood friend’s perspective,” Rinka said from right behind me.

Wait, when did she get there?!

“Personally, I’d rather be the doter than the dotee,” Rinka added as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I felt the heat of her breath on my ear a moment later, and no sooner had I realized what was happening than...

“Hyeek?!”

...her tongue touched my earlobe?! That certainly got a weird little shriek out of me. It didn’t feel bad, to be clear...it just really, really tickled, basically.

“Hee hee! I can feel you trembling... You’re adorable, Yotsuba,” said Rinka.

“Come on, Yotsuba! I’m still here, you know—don’t just focus behind you,” urged Yuna. I had been totally caught up in Rinka’s whispered voice, but now Yuna’s begging was vying for an equal share of my attention.

“Gah?!” I yelped—as if things weren’t already intense enough, Rinka’s hand crawled up my uniform and onto my chest! “R-Rinmmph...!”

“Mhh, mmph...”

I’d barely had a moment to be surprised before Yuna seized my attention again—this time with another kiss, complete with tongue! Meanwhile, the sounds in my ear were growing distinctly louder and wetter. Rinka must have picked up on Yuna’s renewed aggression and was going on the offense herself, licking and even straight up sucking my earlobe!

Wh-Wh-What is even happening right now?!

The noise of the festival now felt like it was far, far off in the distance. The sky was blue, the autumn wind that blew across the rooftop was bracing, and I...was sandwiched within the most Sacrosanct of spaces.

We’re doing this here. Outside. At school. I... I th-think I’m gonna be sick...

A mixture of embarrassment, anxiety that we’d get caught, and—more than anything else—pleasure was setting my body aflame. I let out a quiet moan as my legs gave way and I crumpled to the rooftop. Yuna wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she looked down at me, her eyes sparkling with the ravenous intent of a true carnivore. She looked incredibly cool and cute, all at the same time.

“We had a thought, you see,” Rinka said from behind me as she laid a hand on my shoulder. Her grasp felt comforting and considerate...but at the same time, it felt like she had a very firm grip on me that would not let me get away from her. “Being up onstage was way more fun than I ever imagined, but the past month and a half of preparations were also really hard on us. I’m sure you already know that, right?”

“Y-Yeah,” I said. “Of course I do.”

“The show was a huge hit!” said Yuna. “The audience loved it, and everyone in class said we did an awesome job. You thought so too, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yeah... Of course...”

Yuna crouched down, bringing herself eye to eye with me, and laid her hands on my cheeks. It felt like she was guiding me toward a very particular conclusion, in the strangest sort of way. Not a bad way at all—just a strange one.

“And sooo...” said Yuna.

“We thought it would only be fair to ask for a little reward,” Rinka concluded.

“Y-Yeah, you’re right! Totally! I think so too!” I said.

“Right? So, go ahead! We’re waiting!” said Yuna.

“Huh?” I grunted. It wasn’t until she’d very directly urged me to hand over her reward that it hit me: I didn’t have a reward for her. I hadn’t prepared anything at all! “Ah, err, can I, umm, get back to you on that after I—”

“Nooope! It has to be right now,” said Yuna.

“Agreed. We’ve waited for so long already,” added Rinka.

“O-Oh, right. Well, umm... In that case...”

Uhh... How much money did I have in my wallet again...? I very briefly wondered, but before I had the chance to actually attempt to buy my way out of trouble, Rinka laid a hand on my chin, tilted my head to the side, and kissed me.

“Do you understand what we’re getting at now?” Rinka asked as we broke apart again.

“Mhh, aha... R-Rinka... Uh. Huuuh?! Yuna?!”

“Ah! Now that was a funny shout!” Yuna said with a mischievous snicker as she very nonchalantly lifted the hem of my shirt. So, uhh, apparently my shock wasn’t a sign to step on the brakes, as far as she was concerned! “Okay, arms up!”

Long story short: Before I knew it, I’d been stripped to my skivvies. It felt like my defense stat had plummeted dramatically, while my anxiety stat skyrocketed!

“Ahhh...” Yuna said as she buried her face in my shirt. “Now there’s that Yotsuba smell!”

“Hey, no fair, Yuna! I want to smell it too!”

Suddenly my uniform was in high demand. The two of them had both looked a little perturbed when they’d learned that I’d loaned my uniform to Mio, and I was starting to suspect that they had, in fact, just been jealous.

“By the way, Yotsuba, I was wondering about this when I hugged you before—you don’t wear an undershirt or anything to school, do you?” asked Rinka.

“Oh, good point! It’s not a big deal for us, since our uniforms have jackets, but your sailor uniform doesn’t have anything like that. Don’t you get cold with just the one layer on?”

“Huh?” I grunted. “Oh, umm, no, the shirt’s made from a surprisingly heavy fabric. I’d actually probably overheat if I wore an undershirt... Wait, since you hugged me?! You could tell just from that?!”

“Well, of course I could,” Rinka proudly declared as she held her head up high and threw her chest out in a way that made it really conspicuous how much she had me beat in the size department. The T-shirt she was wearing made their movements really easy to notice too.

“I could’ve figured that out if I’d touched her like that too!” Yuna grumbled.

“Oh, really? You can be surprisingly insensitive about these things, so I’m not so sure.”

“I! Would’ve! Figured! It! Out! Thank you very much!”

And just like that, they’d gone into competitive mode. Competing while clustering around my uniform like moths to a flame!

“I’d know!” said Yuna. “After all, every time I take a bath, I take a moment to remind myself of exactly how big she was!”

Wait, you do?!

“Well, obviously. That’s the bare minimum, isn’t it?”

Is it, though?! Is it really?!

“Well, every time I go to bed, I always visualize exactly what it’d be like if she was there with me!”

“That’s even more obvious! It’s below the bare minimum!”

And that was the point where I decided to stop even trying to question it all.

I’d gotten a taste of Yuna’s and Rinka’s nude bodies at the end of summer vacation, and that sight was vividly burned into my memory. The image was so clear that even now, two months later, it still flashed into my mind’s eye without warning from time to time, wrestling my attention away from whatever I’d been trying to think about. It was kind of nice to think that the same was true of the two of them...but the shame was definitely winning out over the satisfaction, on the whole. After all, my body was not much to look at compared to theirs, the way I saw it.

“Wait...” I said. “You’re not planning on going further than this here, are you?!”

“Oooh?” said Yuna. “And what if I said yes?”

“But we’re at school! The cultural festival’s happening right now, you know?!”

“That’s the best part, isn’t it?” said Rinka. “While everyone else is having fun down below, we get to enjoy ourselves in our own little world.”

And now Rinka’s sounding like a delinquent! I mean, I do totally get where she’s coming from, but still... “I... I just don’t want the two of you to turn into bad girls because of me,” I said.

“Little late for that, isn’t it?” Yuna countered.

“More than a little, considering everything you’ve done to seduce us and wrap us around your finger. You’ve had so much of an influence on us already, it’s way too late to even think about going back to how we used to be.”

“I-It is...?!”

Yuna and Rinka grinned, then each took hold of one of my arms. It reminded me of a time I’d walked home with the two of them—of the period when I’d been conceited enough to think that they hadn’t figured out I was two-timing them, and that I couldn’t let them figure it out no matter what happened. The circumstances now, however, couldn’t have been more different. Everything was out in the open now. Now, it was so much more earnest.

“I’ll say it as many times as I have to,” said Yuna. “The two of us can’t live without you anymore, Yotsuba!”

“No matter how much I can smell you and feel your warmth, I’ll start longing for you again the second we part,” said Rinka.

I felt their class T-shirts rubbing against my skin as they whispered profoundly sweet, emotion-laden nothings into my ears. You’d think I’d be freezing without my uniform on, but their body heat was warm enough that I didn’t even notice the frigid air. That heat had a dizzying sort of power to it, the same sort—and magnitude—I felt when they kissed me...and at the same time, I found myself with a keen appreciation for just how much they’d entrusted themselves to me, and just how serious they were about me.

“Neither of us are ever going to give up our place as your girlfriends to anyone,” said Yuna. “And if someone tries to take it from us, we’ll fight them with everything we’ve got! We’re going to put our all into making sure your eyes stay locked on us, now and forever.”

“But that’s not to say we want to stifle you,” Rinka added. “We know we’re being driven by our own selfish desires...and we don’t want to abandon your own feelings, or the kindness you’ve always shown everyone.”

Who was the “someone” Yuna thought might try to steal me away? Who was it Rinka was imagining me showing kindness to? I was pretty dense, sure, but even I could figure that out. I realized what it was they were worried about in an instant.

I had a problem that I desperately needed to address. I’d been pushing it along down the road ahead of me, and I still didn’t know what the right answer would be. Yuna and Rinka understood that...and they were telling me that they would take my hands in theirs and move forward by my side. This wasn’t about them setting themselves up to be at some sort of advantage—not really. In the end, they were just thinking about my feelings.

“We want to respect your decision, Yotsuba... Oh, but not if it means dumping us! That’s totally not allowed, okay?!” said Yuna.

“Agreed. That too is something we’ll fight with everything we have. Even if you try, we’ll stick to you like glue and make sure you regret it... Kidding, of course.”

The two of them were perfectly in sync with their not-so-veiled threats...and then, a second later, they burst out laughing in unison. I found myself laughing along with them before I knew it.

My meeting them really had been a miracle. I took our school’s entrance exam by accident, passed it by luck, made friends with them through the greatest stroke of fortune imaginable—and became their girlfriend through the most incredible miracle there could have been. The idea that I would dump them really was laughable. I had no intention of ever, ever letting them go.

“Thanks, Yuna. Thanks, Rinka,” I said.

“Hee hee! You’re welcome!” said Yuna.

“We aren’t finished just yet, though,” Rinka added.

“Huh?”

“We still have plenty of time left, and personally, I think this break has lasted long enough by now,” Rinka said with a grin as she pulled herself closer to me.

Yuna did the same thing on my other side. “Your uniform still smells a little like her,” she said. “Your girlfriends are very forgiving, but even we get jealous, you know?”

“And that...is why we have to mark you ourselves. With our scents, and our feelings as well.”

The two of them gazed at me with upturned eyes. They were both just so, so, so, so cute, I couldn’t even!

“Okay, then. Make me feel it,” I said, accepting them both with a grin. “I love you, Yuna. I love you, Rinka. I love both of you so, so much.”

I knew that words alone weren’t worth much. You could say anything you wanted to. That was why I had to show them I meant it through action as well—and that was why I threw my arms around them. I was dishonest—just the worst, really. I’d made them worry so many times in ways I just couldn’t justify. I knew that someday, I really might end up making someone seriously resent me. Still, though, I wanted to believe that I would do what was best in the end—not for me, but for Yuna and Rinka, my family, and everyone else who was important to me. I wanted to believe that my choices would lead to their happiness.

“Hee hee!” Yuna giggled.

“I love you too!” said Rinka.

“Excuse me! I think you meant ‘we,’ didn’t you?”

“We may both be her girlfriends, but my feelings are mine and mine alone. I’m not sharing those with you, Yuna.”

“Fair enough, actually. Okay, then, Yotsuba—I love love looove you too!”

In the end we totally disregarded the whole cultural festival, flirting the day away on the rooftop instead until the sun began to set. We’d had a lot less time to spend together since the second semester started, and particularly since October began, which was probably why all of us—Yuna, Rinka, and I—felt like we needed to make up for lost time...but, really, that was just an excuse. The truth was that I would have taken any excuse to be with them. I would have wanted to spend time with them just as much even if we had seen a ton of each other recently. And I knew that, most likely, that was how it was for everyone who fell in love.

And that...was why I decided that it was time for me to let my feelings take the wheel and see where they drove me.

Chapter 7: The Festival Ends. And Then...

The final hurrah of Eichou High’s cultural festival—a bonfire lit in the very center of the school courtyard as a sort of closing ceremony—was apparently a tradition that had been passed down since the school’s founding. Cultural clubs and motivated students would put on little performances, people would sing karaoke, and everyone would chow down on all the unsold leftovers from the food stalls. It was a real party all around, though it never got too out of hand. I’d also heard that some students, maybe driven by the excitement of being at school in the nighttime, would take the chance to ask each other out and stuff... Buuut attendance was completely optional, so I hadn’t participated at all during my first year at the school, naturally.

“Okay, everyone—next up, we’ve got the tag team of your dreams: a collaboration between the pop music club and the dance club!” a festival executive committee member shouted into a microphone, much to the crowd’s delight.

I was sitting a ways off from said crowd in the shadows, watching the bonfire flicker away in the distance. Next year, we’d be studying for our exams. That meant that this was the last year we’d get to take a really active role in the festival, and that was the big reason why I’d stuck around. It sort of felt like a waste to not be there for the event’s conclusion at least once. Oh, and I also still had a problem on my plate that needed solving, of course.

“Hey, Yotsuba,” Yuna said as she and Rinka walked over to me.

“We brought you a drink,” said Rinka.

“Oh... Thanks,” I replied. “Sorry I sent you guys out for them.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Yuna said with a shrug. “I mean, we’re the ones who wore you out, right?”

“Ha ha ha...” Rinka chuckled as she awkwardly scratched her cheek.

In the end, we really did spend the whole rest of the festival, and the cleanup period, er...let’s say “losing track of time.” We didn’t look around the stalls or anything at all. What drove us to go quite that far? As best as I could tell, the same sense of not wanting to miss out that drove me to attend this closing event.

Anyway, Yuna and Rinka were doing just fine now, but I’d never had much stamina to begin with, and those meager reserves had been pushed to their limit. I opened up the plastic bottle that Yuna had handed me and took a long swig of the sports drink within. It was a little lukewarm, but still really tasty.

“I guess that’s a wrap, huh?” I said.

“That’s right,” Rinka agreed. “It’s hitting me a little harder than it did last year.”

“Same. Probably since the performance was so fun and all,” Yuna chimed in.

The two of them looked totally satisfied. From what I’d heard, they hadn’t joined in on the closing party last year either. As it turned out, that was kind of my fault—I’d raced along home at the first chance I got, and the two of them had each independently decided that it wasn’t worth sticking around if I wasn’t there. I’d only learned that when they brought it up with me just a little while ago, and while it sort of made me happy, I also felt sort of bad for causing problems for them...

“Ah, Yocchi!”

Hm? I know that nickname...!

“Akksy!” I shouted as I caught sight of her. Akane Hishimochi—Akksy—was walking toward me from the bonfire, giving me the biggest wave she could.

“Hey! I’m surprised you stayed late for this,” said Akksy.

“You too!” I replied. “I thought you’d have gone home to study for your tests!”

“Eh—I skipped the daytime part of the festival to make up for it. I’ve always liked these wrap-up parties, and as you well know, I’m basically nocturnal.”

“I didn’t know that at all, actually...”

Yup—that’s the Akksy we all know and love, all right. At first I hadn’t quite known what to make of her, but as of our third meeting, she’d reached a “trading jokes and japes with the owner” level of regular customer status in the local eatery of my mind...or actually, that might be a little much.

“Who’s this, Yotsuba?” asked Rinka.

“Oh! Umm, she’s a third-year who—”

“Geh!” Akksy squawked in incredibly loud surprise. “I-I-I-I-Is... Is th-that... A-A-Are th-th-they...th-th-the S-S-Sacrosaaaaaanct?!”

Oh. Oh, right! Akksy’s the president of the Sacrosanct fan club! And while Koganezaki’s helping manage the fan club because she wants to keep their activities reasonable and rational, Akksy’s the opposite! She’s just their super-obsessive ultra-fan, plain and simple! And that means that if she’s suddenly exposed to both of them at point-blank range, she’s basically guaranteed to lose it!

“Ahabuwabuhawgh...”

“Or maybe she’ll pass out?!”

I jumped forward to catch Akksy before she collapsed on the spot.

“U-Umm...?” said Yuna.

“I-Is she all right?” Rinka asked.

The two of them were completely bewildered by Akksy’s behavior—and, I mean, I guess they would be! The question was: How could I explain it to them?

“So...” I whispered, “maybe I should step aside for a minute, and you can just—”

“N-No! No way no how nope nope nope!” Akksy frantically babbled as she grabbed onto me, holding me in place! “Don’t leave me here, Yocchi! I can’t take this on my own! I need you here!”

“O-Ow! That hurts! Ouch!”

How’s she gripping me that strongly?! Is she getting one of those moment-of-mortal-peril adrenaline rushes right now?! She’s that against being alone with them?!

“So...”

“Yotsuba...?”

Agggh?! And now they’re both giving me that “Oh, great, you did it again” look?!

“O-Okay! I get it! I’ll stay, I’ll stay!” I shouted.

“Really...?” said Akksy. “You won’t run away if I let go? That feels like it’d be pretty in-character for you, right?”

“I can’t totally deny it, but I promise I definitely won’t run this time!”

I didn’t know why she was giving me such a distrustful, pleading stare in the first place, but for the time being, I tried to dispel her doubts with everything I had. Yuna’s and Rinka’s stares were getting painful in their own right, so there was no time to waste!

“U-Uhhmnh!” Akksy yelped, once again ridiculously loudly. She also very casually sidled around behind me as if I were a human shield. “Yesterday! Show! It was great! Really good! Awesome!”

Oh, Akksy was watching? I guess she wouldn’t miss it, come to think of it. And considering how borderline incomprehensible her words were, I assumed she was trying to talk to Yuna and Rinka now, not me.

“O-Oh. Thank you?” said Rinka.

“Makina put on an incredible show too, of course, but the two of you were just—ahh, your synergy was just perfect! If you ever put on a show with just the two of you, I swear I’ll line up at nine p.m. the day before just to make sure I get in and see Your Holinesses perform again!!!”

“‘H-Holinesses’?!” yelped Yuna.

“Line up where...?” asked Rinka.

“I will, of course, get a banner custom-made and recruit volunteers to hold it up during the show! I seriously considered getting one for this show, but seeing as it was your first ever performance, I knew there was a chance that too much support could actually be counterproductive and just put more pressure on you than ever...or so I thought, but even though I spent ages agonizing over it, having now witnessed your moment of glory with my own two unworthy eyes, I’ve realized that I was entirely wrong, all my fears were groundless, and the fact that I ever had them in the first place means that I am, in fact, worth less than a pile of garbage!”

Akksy’s faltering mumblings had done a complete about-face and morphed into a seemingly endless motormouthed ramble to end all rambles about how amazing Yuna and Rinka were. I didn’t actually catch the better part of what she’d said, to be totally honest, and since this was Yuna and Rinka’s first time meeting her, I knew they were probably having an even harder time following any of it. The looks they were giving me had some serious Really, who is she? energy, that’s for sure!

“H-Hey, Akksy? Let’s just take a second to calm down, okay? Come on, deep breaths!” I said.

“Wuh?! Ah, right. Haaah... Pheeew...”

Akksy took a deep breath. Silence fell. That seemed like the best chance I’d get, so I decided to take my shot.

“So, umm, this is Akane Hishimochi! She’s a third year, and we just became friends a few—”

“Yes, that’s right! Friends! We’re friends among friends! Downright besties!” Akksy said as she hugged me from behind.

Wha—?!

“Hmm...”

“Friends, huh...?”

Two very suspicious stares turned my way once more. Wait...did I just get myself suspected of funny business all over again?!

“It’s pretty rare for her to call someone a nickname, isn’t it?” said Yuna.

“True,” Rinka agreed. “She’s been calling us by our real names for the whole past year—ever since we met, practically.”

“I-It’s not that weird, is it?! N-No way, right...?” I stammered. But even as I made the claim, I looked back and tried to come up with some nicknames I’d called people...and only came up with Miki, which didn’t even count because that was actually just her first name, and it had never even felt like a formal nickname to begin with.

“Looks like we’ve got even more reason than usual to ask what’s going on between you two,” said Yuna.

“I mean, I dunno if ‘going on’ is the phrase I would use...”

“It’s a little late to try to keep it hidden, wouldn’t you say?” said Rinka.

“I-I’m not, really! It’s just that, umm, Akksy’s the president of the Sacrosanct fan club, so we ended up—”

“What?” Yuna and Rinka said in perfect unison, freezing up on the spot. Akksy’s shoulders jolted conspicuously as well.

Oh. Did I just mess up again somehow...?

“The Sacrosanct fan club?” Yuna repeated.

“Its president?” said Rinka.

Their stares turned to Akksy next. The look in their eyes had shifted, suspicion changing into extremely intense caution!

“Ah, I, umm, well,” Akksy babbled. She was obviously terrified, and was actually shivering.

O-Oh, duh! Sure, those two have more or less reached an acceptance of the whole Sacrosanct thing, but that doesn’t mean they’re one hundred percent okay with everything that the fan club that worships them does on account of it!

It all made sense now. No wonder Akksy had gone from flying on cloud nine to plunging into the depths of hell over the course of a single sentence! And unfortunately, I couldn’t just sit back and watch her suffer...!

“H-Hey, guys?” I said. “Sure, she’s the president of the fan club, but, umm, I’m pretty sure she’s only doing it because she genuinely admires the two of you, and, umm...”

“Miss President...?” said Rinka.

“Y-Yesh?!” Akksy squeaked.

Th-They’re ignoring me...! And that glance they both just shot me felt like a Be quiet for a minute, Yotsuba sort of look for sure!

“The thing is, we’ve heard a story or two about how you’ve been spreading pictures of us all around the school,” said Yuna.

“I-I, umm...”

Oh, yikes! The look in her eyes has gone from “caution” to “outright hostility”!

I’d actually heard those rumors as well. Before I actually met one of them—that being Koganezaki—I’d been under the impression that the fan-club people were doing some pretty terrible stuff when it came to Yuna and Rinka’s privacy. Nowadays I had confidence that Koganezaki would be there to keep things in check and made sure nobody crossed any really nasty lines, but considering that Yuna and Rinka were the subjects of those theoretical privacy invasions—and also that they barely knew Koganezaki or Akksy at all—I really couldn’t blame them for reacting like this.

“I-I’m... I’m...” said Akksy. “I’m sooo sorrryyyyyyyyy!!!”

She’s groveling! Full-blown, face-pressed-to-the-ground groveling! Sure, I’ve done that my fair share of times too (or it sure feels like it, anyway), but wow, watching someone else do it is...well, it sure is something!

Silence.

Ahhh?! And Yuna and Rinka aren’t reacting at all! It must be because they’re already used to seeing people (read: me) grovel before them—it’s lost its impact with repetition! I’m so sorry, Akksy! It’s all my fault for blowing through my grovel-stock so carelessly!

“Desire’s like a stress ball,” Akksy muttered.

“What?” said Yuna.

“The more you try to squeeze it down, the harder it pushes back against you, until finally, bang! It bursts all over you...and then there’s just no fixing it anymore. And that means that some kids would end up going crazy for sure, more or less,” she carried on, still speaking in a quiet, almost inaudible murmur.

When I say “almost inaudible,” by the way, I mean to me. Yuna and Rinka definitely couldn’t hear her at all! And so I decided to step in and serve as her interpreter—or, well, more like her megaphone, I guess?—relaying her words as she carried on.

“That’s why you have to let out a little steam every once in a while before it builds up... Otherwise they might’ve started taking really extreme creepshots, or editing their pictures in really bad ways and spreading them around, or even doing something bad to the two of you directly if things got really out of hand. That’s why Mai...why Ms. Mai Koganezaki and I got together and worked out ways that we could make sure it didn’t come to that. We were just trying to keep the fan club wholesome and make sure everyone was satisfied, so, umm...”

“...Is what she said!” I concluded.

“Hmm,” went Yuna.

“Is that so?” said Rinka.

The reactions: understated. Akksy and I: shivering.

“I-I’m not trying to say that I was doing it for your own good, or anything like that,” Akksy piped up. “But...I just wanted to watch my favorite pairing from a healthy distance. I just wanted you to be happy. That’s really all... I’m so sorry...”

“Akksy...”

Tears dribbled down Akksy’s cheeks, and I just couldn’t stop myself from sympathizing with her. From what I understood, she’d always been the sort of person who latched onto an interest and went all in on it, more or less? Back when we first met, she’d told me how she’d once loved an idol group, but circumstances had played out in a way that left her unable to support them anymore... And watching her eyes sparkle with glee as she’d talked about her new obsession just moments before—seeing how full of life she seemed—I couldn’t help but think about how happy she looked. I knew that all of this must have been as unpleasant as could be for Yuna and Rinka, but some part of me still wondered...

“Well...you do you, I guess,” Yuna said with a very perfunctory, half-hearted sigh.

“Huh?” I grunted.

“People have been taking pictures of us without permission since middle school. It’s nothing new,” Rinka added. “In fact, things have gotten a lot better compared to how they were back then.”

“Th-They have...?” I said. I was in a state of minor disbelief, and Akksy seemed just as dumbfounded as she looked up at the two of them.

“And besides, we’re the ones who set the whole Sacrosanct ball rolling in the first place,” said Yuna. “Building up that image was our choice, and now we get to live with it. C’est la vie.”

“S-Say la what...? I-I mean, oh, right!”

I remembered the day they’d revealed that truth to me—the day that I confessed I’d been two-timing them—very clearly. The two of them were each tremendously special in their own rights, and could easily have been the center of attention without the other. When they came together, however, all sorts of problems that they would otherwise have to face more or less resolved themselves. That was why they’d decided to deliberately frame themselves as a set—to put on an act and bring out as much of that certain precious something that could only be achieved when two girls got along really well with each other as they could.

“We started this ourselves, and we knew that there’d be consequences. I suppose you could say that a few pictures making the rounds is the sort of thing we were prepared for,” said Rinka. “Frankly, I’m just relieved to know that the fan club’s president is a decent person.”

“Speaking as an ordinary girl, the fact that we’ve got a fan club at all’s pretty embarrassing... But, I mean, after getting up onstage and having everyone cheer us on at yesterday’s performance, it kinda feels silly to bother getting all worked up about it anymore,” said Yuna.

“Ha ha ha! True enough,” Rinka agreed.

Neither of them seemed particularly worked up about any of this—their laughter was totally natural and genuine. Maybe that only made sense. Maybe you couldn’t put on a show like theirs and get a reaction like they had without building up the nerve to not be bothered by a little attention. In fact, that performance might very well have been what prompted them to reassess their feelings on the matter. An experience like that had to have had a major impact.

“R-Really...?!” gasped Akksy, who had apparently been resuscitated by their words. “So, you mean... If we ask you to attend an official fan-club event, you’ll give us the go-ahead?!”

“We didn’t say that!”

“We did not say that!”

Oh, wow! One second she’s groveling on the ground, and the next her expectations are rocketing through the stratosphere!

“A-A handshake, then...?” Akksy hopefully asked.

“I guess that’d be fine, sure,” Yuna acquiesced.

I’d heard that the best way to get what you wanted in negotiations was to ask for something better than it, then gradually work your way down to your actual goal. I wasn’t sure that Akksy had been intentionally pulling that trick, but one way or another, it had earned her a handshake from both Yuna and Rinka.

“Bweh heh heh heh... Their hands are so silky... And wait—since my hand just touched both of theirs, that means they basically shook each other’s hands secondhand, right...? That’s crazy...”

“I’m really not sure what’s so crazy about that,” Rinka said as she held a hand out to Yuna.

“There’s nothing weird about us shaking hands firsthand, much less secondhand,” Yuna agreed as she accepted it.

“Gyaaah?!” Akksy shouted, reeling back like she’d been socked in the face by an invisible fist before crumpling to her knees! “That’s...so...lewd...”

“It was a handshake!” said Rinka.

“Maybe you could keep going and move on to a hug...?”

“And now she’s asking for more from us?!” said Yuna.

Akksy had officially and entirely pulled the two of them into her own little conversational vortex. As I tried not to laugh, my gaze wandered, and...

Huh...?

...I glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye, in one of the school’s windows—a silhouette. It was dark, and I wasn’t totally sure, but whoever it was looked familiar.

Was that...? Could it be?!

“Hey, Yuna, Rinka!” I said. “Take care of Akksy for a minute, please!”

“What?!” yelped Yuna.

“Take care of her how, exactly?!” asked Rinka.

“Please! Just one hug! Pleeease!” Akksy pleaded.

I left the two of them to pull her out of whatever state of confusion she’d worked herself into and sprinted off for the school’s main building.

◇◇◇

Nighttime. A schoolhouse. The exact sort of place where countless ghost stories had been set since time immemorial. Rumors about music rooms and nurse’s offices were particularly prone to center around spooky supernatural happenings...and for people like me—which is to say, chicken-hearted cowards who ended up unable to sleep after just watching the trailer for a horror film—they were, without exaggeration, tremendously difficult places to be at night, even under the best of circumstances.

The cultural festival’s after-party was still in full swing, so access to the schoolhouse wasn’t currently restricted. I probably wasn’t the only one inside—a few people would be loitering here and there in the hallways and classrooms, most likely gazing out the windows at the bonfire. Some of them would be taking advantage of the dark of night to, er...spend a few intimate moments with each other, let’s say. I, however, was desperately, frantically praying that just for now, just while I was passing by, nobody would make any sounds or reveal any hints that they were around whatsoever!

“Please, no ghosts... No ghosts...” I muttered under my breath as I timidly braved the school’s hallways with only my cell phone’s light to guide me.

Crash!

“Hyeeek?!”

What was that?! I definitely just heard something! Was that one of those ghost sounds?! I know for a fact that when you hear a weird sound in a place like this when nobody else is around, it’s basically guaranteed to be a ghost thing! They’re, like, those weird sounds that you hear when you’re home alone!

Okay, so maybe they’re not supernatural happenings after all, and the truth is just that when you’re not alone the people around you make enough noise to drown out all sorts of little pops and creaks that happen all the time but you can totally hear then when you’re the only one around, and they’re really caused by changes in atmospheric pressure and humidity and gradually deteriorating furniture and stuff and have nothing to do with ghosts or anything supernatural at all, so it’s all totally natural and has nothing to do with departed humans doing their best to contact the living and absolutely not curse or haunt them, nope, not any sort of threat whatsoever, and anyway schools like this get used for decades on end so of course little bits and pieces would be worn out all over the place and of course they’d just naturally make sounds from time to time which of course have nothing to do with ghosts since ghosts don’t exist in the first place, so everything’s totally fine and no matter how many times you look you won’t see anything ghosty and you’ll be just fine because everything’s fine and—

Clunk!

“Gyaaah?!”

Nope! Whatever that noise was, “the gradual degradation of the building” and “spontaneous noises brought about by ambient conditions” absolutely cannot explain it!!!

“It’s all right, Yotsuba!”

My inner angel!

“Didn’t your little monologue already cover this crap? You know there’s people watching the bonfire from in here—you said it yourself!”

And my inner devil! I actually got so scared that my inner angel and devil were dispatched to reassure me! I can always count on them!

Crack!

“Bwaugh?!” my inner angel and my inner devil yelped in unison as they flinched away from yet another inexplicable sound! And since both of them were imaginary beings born from my own mind, it goes without saying that I did the same. I was, after all, extremely timid and easily startled by ghos—I mean, by perfectly ordinary noises brought about by a building’s gradual degradation and other natural factors!

“Yotsuba? The school rules are very specific about not running in the hallways, but it’s nighttime, and that means that the rules do not currently apply. Run away as fast as possible, right this instant.”

Is that really how this works, inner angel?!

“If anything gets in your way, bowl it over and keep running!”

What do you mean “anything,” inner devil?! There’s nothing here to get in my way at all! I can’t see anything, anyway! B-But then again, just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about, does it...?!

“...uch.”

“!!!”

A-A voice?!

“Y-Yotsuba!”

“Haul ass!”

Spurred by the terrified voices of my inner angel and devil, I took off down the corridor at an all-out sprint.

◇◇◇

The bonfire glimmered in the distance, its flickering light illuminating the students gathered in jubilant celebration around it. The girl who watched them through the window, in contrast, seemed lonesome—and yet at the same time, her solitude seemed self-imposed, as if she were dedicated to rejecting anyone and everyone who might try to approach her. At any other moment, I might have hesitated to try.

“MAKINAAAAAAAAA!!!”

“Wha—?!”

At that particular moment, however—a moment in which a ghost was surely breathing down my neck—I didn’t have anything even remotely close to the mental leeway to register any of that. Kinda the opposite, actually: The second I saw a familiar face (well, a familiar back), I mustered up the last of my stamina to shoot forward in one final burst of speed and hug her—no, tackle her!

“Thank...goodness...” I wheezed as I gasped for breath. “I’m so glad it was you, Makina...”

“Y-Yotsy?!” Makina yelped.

“Halfway here, I started wondering if maybe the silhouette I saw in the window wasn’t you after all, and was actually a ghost instead, and I got so worried, and... Wait. You are Makina, right? You’re not a ghost in disguise, right?!”

“I-It’s me, really! I’m the one and only Makina Oda.”

“Thank goodneeeeeess!!!” I practically wailed. Relief hit hard as the adrenaline rush faded, leaving me more or less dangling from her shoulders.

I’m saved... There’s no doubt about it—a ghost would never be this warm! Everyone knows that ghosts are cold!

Against all odds, I’d managed to make it to class 2-A’s room. I had no idea what Makina was doing here, or why she hadn’t bothered to turn the lights on, but I’d made it and I could finally rest easy, in more ways than one.

“Yotsy...? What are you doing here?” Makina asked.

“What do you mean? I’m here because you are, obviously,” I replied.

Makina hesitated. “That’s not true,” she finally said, shaking her head as she gently pushed me away from her. “There’s no way you could have recognized me from outside—not when it’s this dark. You said it yourself, didn’t you? You were worried that I might have been a ghost.”

“Well, yeah... But it’s still true that I thought it was you! Why else would I have come here?”

If I’d given myself the time to actually think about it, I might have stopped or turned around. The truth was, however, that “thinking” had never entered the picture. The moment I saw a figure in the window, my intuition had told me it was Makina, and I’d run off without doubting that hunch for a second. There wasn’t much else that could’ve driven me into the pitch-black, utterly terrifying schoolhouse...and in the end, I really had managed to meet with her. The process that brought me there didn’t really matter—or at least, it wouldn’t change the fact that I was glad I’d found her.

Makina’s expression, however, was as glum as ever. Glum enough to make me wonder if she hadn’t wanted to see me at all.

“Did I, umm...do something wrong?” I asked.

“Ah!” Makina gasped. “N-No, that’s—”

“Wait, what am I saying? I’ve done so many things wrong! Like sneaking Mio into school without telling you, for one thing, or how you told me how you felt about me and I still haven’t...”

“No! That’s not it! That’s not it at all...” Makina said. She reached out to grab my sleeve, clinging to it like it was her only lifeline. She was trying to communicate that she didn’t want to drive me away...but even more than that, it made me realize just how unlike herself she was behaving. There was a frailty to her bearing that reminded me of the old Makina—of how she’d behaved when we first met.

We’ve both changed. We’re nothing like the people we were back then... But that doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with acting the way we used to every once in a while, does it?

“Makimaki?”

“Ah...”

I went out of my way to use my old nickname for her as I grabbed onto her wrist. It wasn’t a big gesture at all—just a single word—but that was all it took for Makina’s eyes to widen with shock and transparent emotion.

“Let’s sit down and talk, okay?” I suggested. Our desks were right next to each other, and I’d shared textbooks with her a bunch of times, but we hadn’t had the chance to talk face-to-face since she’d transferred into my class.

The classroom felt nothing like it did during the daytime. It was just about pitch black, but my eyes had started adjusting to the darkness and just enough light was filtering in from the courtyard outside for me to see Makina’s face. Her expression was totally clear to me.

“Okay, go ahead!” I said. “Say whatever you want to me!”

“Umm...” Makina hesitated.

“Lay it on me, Makimaki! Anything at all! If you want to gripe about me, then that’s fine, and if you want to talk about something else, that’s totally okay too. I mean it—you can say anything at all...like you used to.”

“Like...I used to...” Makina repeated.

“Oh, but first things first—let’s work on your tone, okay?”

“Huh?”

“What’s with all the hesitating? I know that being polite and proper and thinking everything through really carefully before you say it is just what’s normal for you these days...but honestly, it makes me feel like we’re not really connecting. It feels like you’re putting up walls and keeping me at a distance.”

“Th-That’s not what I was trying to—”

“Yeah, I know. I’m reading too much into it. But still...just give it a try, okay? Try to loosen up and tell me what’s really on your mind, for me,” I said. I was doing my best to do the same—to tell her exactly how I felt, slowly but surely, looking her in the eye with her hand still in mine.

Makina didn’t try to escape, but she also couldn’t quite seem to return my gaze. Her eyes were wavering anxiously in a way that didn’t seem to be entirely under her control. The natural response when someone was acting in a really intense manner was to lower your own intensity level, but the opposite was also true: When faced with someone who was far more depressed and distressed than I was, it just felt natural to be there for them in as gentle of a manner as I possibly could.

“Makimaki?”

Makina hesitated for just a moment longer. “All right,” she finally said with a nod that was both clearly unintentional and just a little too exaggerated to come across as natural. She returned my grasp on her hand, squeezing mine back...as a tear rolled its way down her cheek.

“I... I challenged Yuna and Rinka to a contest.”

“Wait, what?”

“The stakes were that if I won, neither of them would get in my way when I tried to flirt with you.” She spoke slowly, forcing the words out one after another.

I’d been confused this whole time about why Yuna and Rinka had ended up joining the performance. Now I was finally learning the truth.

“And if I lost...I would promise to never, ever approach you in that sort of way again...”

It had all been about me. All of it—for Yuna, for Rinka...and for Makina as well. Everything they did, they did for my sake.

“When you got up in front of the class and said all those things about what I wanted...that whole time, I was thinking about how you were wrong. About how I’m not the sort of pure and perfect person you think I am. And that’s why...”

“Oh...” I said. “That’s why you’ve felt a little distant ever since then.”

Makina looked away from me. It wasn’t exactly a direct confirmation, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well have been.

“After I heard what you said about me, I started questioning everything. What if you were right, and that really was how I felt? What if I just hadn’t understood my own feelings...? I couldn’t stop wondering and worrying, and I still hadn’t figured anything out by the time the performance started...and in the end, Mio saw right through me.”

“Oooh...”

I’d had no idea that the circumstances behind Mio’s outburst were so involved...but I had suspected that Makina’s less-than-perfect performance was my fault, and on that front, I’d been completely correct. There was no way for me to turn a blind eye to how massive my influence was on her anymore.

“Getting up on that stage...was harder than it’d ever been before. I had to put on a good show. I’d lose you if I didn’t. But Yuna and Rinka had both improved so much, and they looked so confident in the moment that I just panicked...and then it hit me.”

“What did?”

“The truth. About my own feelings... About why I decided to propose that contest in the first place, and why I decided to perform at the festival.”

Makina’s voice was so feeble, it seemed like she might break down in tears at any second. I squeezed her hand tightly and did my best to keep a straight face, even though I knew that some of my own nervousness was probably showing through regardless. I had plenty of things that I wanted to ask and say to her, but compared to her troubles—compared to the sheer courage and trepidation that laced each and every word she forced herself to speak—everything I could’ve brought up seemed trivial.

“You mean...you figured out why you decided to make your contest with Yuna and Rinka be about the performance, even though you knew there were a ton of other ways you could’ve done it?” I asked.

“Right...” said Makina.

I’d learned a lesson from my bet with Mio: Using an idol show as the subject of a contest was a lot harder than you’d think it’d be. It wasn’t like you could put a clear point value on everyone’s performances to figure out who had won and who had lost. It was all about subjective impressions, in the end, and even if you managed to come up with some sort of answer, the odds were good that it wouldn’t come across as particularly compelling. I was, by the way, shocked to learn that the three of them had had a bet of their own going on at the same time I had, but I decided to put my surprise on hold for the time being. That could wait till later.

“The truth is... The real reason I wanted to perform was...” Makina began, tears once again overflowing as she grasped my hand. “I did it...because I wanted you to see me. I wanted you to know that I’d become one of the idols we watched and looked up to back in the day. I wanted to prove that I was the real thing...”

A memory resurfaced of the words I’d casually, carelessly spoken to Makina on the day we reunited: “You really did become an idol in the end, huh, Makimaki?” Maybe that was the moment she’d realized I barely knew about her achievements as Maki Amagi at all. She’d been working her hardest for years, all for my sake, and yet I’d let all her efforts fly over my head. I hadn’t watched her—or even noticed her.

She hadn’t gotten angry at me in a way that I could tell. She’d responded to my clueless layman’s remark with a smile. That, I knew with certainty, had been an act of kindness on her part. She was forgiving enough to overlook my complete lack of tact. But...that didn’t mean that my words hadn’t had an effect on her. It didn’t mean they hadn’t bothered her at all.

“I wanted to sing in front of you, and I wanted you to praise me for it. I wanted you to say that I’d worked hard—that I was talented and amazing. More than anyone else, you’re the one I’ve always wanted to acknowledge me now that I’m an idol.”

Each word drove a blade into my chest. My thoughtlessness had hurt her deeply, and that pain was directly linked to her current suffering. I felt like an idiot for thinking that I could comfort her—that there was something I could do to support her. How could I, when I’d been the one causing her all that pain in the first place? Wasn’t all of this my fault, from start to finish?

“No...”

“Huh?” I grunted.

Makina shook her head. “I didn’t mean to say any of this to you. I didn’t mean to whine to you like a stupid, selfish, embarrassing little brat.”

“But if you didn’t tell me, how would we—”

“No, no—you don’t get it. It’s already over. You already saved me.”

“I... What?”

A smile spread across Makina’s tearstained face. A warm, contented smile.

“You cheered for me, didn’t you...? You called my name.”

Of course I had. It was the least I could have done. After everything that had happened between us...

“That’s all I needed. It made me so happy, nothing else seemed to matter anymore. It’s actually ridiculous how stupidly happy it made me... Just like that, the most painful performance I’d ever been a part of became the happiest moment of my lifetime.”

“Makina...”

“And that’s why...I was finally able to put it all to rest.”

“Put it to rest”...?

“After everything was over—I guess I can just say ‘last night,’ actually—I talked with Mio again. She told me that she’d wait for me. She’d never really complimented me to my face like that before, you know? Not even once. Neither of us could ever be honest with each other...but it feels like, for the first time, she finally saw me for who I am.”

Makina’s voice was bright and clear. I, meanwhile, was bewildered. I was the one who’d made her suffer...but at the same time, she claimed that I was the one who’d freed her from that suffering. Nothing about how she’d said it seemed fake—not her words, and not the smile she’d worn as she said them.

But if all that was true...then why had she looked so sad when I first arrived in the classroom? Why had she been avoiding me?

“Put what to rest...?” I asked.

The smile on her face felt feeble. It was the sort of kindhearted smile that you’d wear to cover up the pain you were feeling—in other words, a smile that proved she was still in pain.

“I love you, Yotsy,” said Makina, her smile never shifting. “To me, you’ve always been light itself. I always believed that if you went away, I wouldn’t be able to live on...but that wasn’t the half of it. Performing for you made me realize that I love you even more than I ever knew. And so...”

Makina paused to wipe away her tears.

“And so, I had to put it all to rest. I had to take some time to sort out my feelings before I could give up on you.”

With that, she let go of my hand.

“Wha... What are you...?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I made a bet with Yuna and Rinka, with my feelings for you on the line. And once it was all over...there was no question whatsoever who had won. Those two believed in you from the very start to the very end. They love you in an even deeper, more profound way than I do. I let my doubts get the better of me and put on a pathetic excuse for a performance until the moment you called my name—and that means I lost.”

Makina admitted her defeat with grace and dignity. She spoke so plainly, it felt like she was reciting words from a script she’d read so many times, she’d memorized it by rote.

“I went around the festival with some people from our class today,” Makina continued. “They invited me. I would’ve preferred to look around with you, really... Hee hee! Of course, I couldn’t, right? But in the end, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was so preoccupied that I can’t even remember any of the things I saw and did.”

A change had come over Makina. She was almost acting like she had when we first reunited near the end of summer...but no, that wasn’t quite right. The polite, affable, but entirely forced smile on her face was like nothing I’d seen from her before. It was like she’d turned into a totally different person.

“Thanks to that, I ended up dragging things out until now without ever really accepting how it had to be...but it’s the strangest thing. Now that I’ve told you everything, I feel so much...lighter. Who knew? At long last, it feels like I can finally give up on you. Thank you for everything.”

Those, it seemed, were meant to be her parting words. Her smile never slipped as she stood up from her desk.

“Goodbye, Yotsy. Whatever happens, I hope you’ll be happy.”

And then she walked away. I was certain that once she passed by me, she’d keep going without ever looking back.

“I love you, Yotsy.”

Barely a moment had passed since she’d said those words to me. Was this really how she meant for it to end? Would she really put a lid on those feelings and stow them away for good?

Maybe that was the right thing for her to do. Those feelings were where all of this had started. I hadn’t known about them, and by the time we were reunited, I was already taken. Keeping her feelings for me alive and well, even when she knew I loved someone else, couldn’t possibly have been easy. Maybe it would have been better for everyone if she’d given up and gone out to look for some other fish in the sea.

I had no right to say anything to her. I was in no position to criticize her at all, and I knew it very well.

And yet...!

“Makina!” I shouted. “Let me ask just one thing.”

By the time I raised my voice, Makina’s hand was already resting on the classroom’s door. I thought she’d open it up and walk away...but she didn’t. She stopped, standing stock-still.

“What is it?” Makina asked. Her hand was still on the door, and she didn’t turn to look back at me. There wasn’t a trace of emotion to be heard in her voice, but I was just happy that she hadn’t ignored me entirely. Maybe that happiness was part of why I suddenly felt much more positive than when I’d first spoken up...and why I was able to ask her the worst, most unfair question possible.

“Will this make you happy, Makina?”

“What...?”

I heard a clatter as the door shuddered. There could hardly have been a clearer sign of how shaken she was.

“Why would...you even ask that?” Makina asked.

“Because you’re lying to me,” I said.

“N-No, I am not!”

“Then look me in the eye and say it again. Say that you don’t love me anymore. Say that you’ve given up on me!”

I really was the worst. I was toying with her feelings, and I knew it—but I still had to ask. I had to be sure. I knew that if I didn’t—if I kicked the problem down the road again, taking refuge in ambiguity...it would mean the end for us. We’d no longer be anything to each other—not even childhood friends.

I walked over to Makina and took her hand in mine once again. Makina’s shoulders shuddered, but she didn’t shake me off. Instead, she slowly turned to face me.

“Yotsy...”

Our gazes met—and instantly, the mask she’d been wearing fell away from her face, revealing the Makina I knew once more.

“Why won’t you let me go...? Don’t you understand? You won’t ever love me, so...so why?!”

“It’s not like that,” I said. “You have it all wrong.”

“Do I?! How?! You’re not— You won’t...!”

“I do love you, Makina! Maybe not in exactly the way you wished I would...but that doesn’t mean you’re not important to me! It doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy, from the bottom of my heart!”

I was an idiot. What was right and what was wrong were just two of the many, many things I didn’t understand. There was one thing, however, that I understood with absolute clarity: If I let Makina leave, both of us would come to regret it.

“Yes, I’m already in a relationship. I may be a dirty cheater, but I still can’t bring myself to betray Yuna and Rinka,” I said.

“So then—”

“But I know we don’t have to be dating to stay together! There has to be a way!” I shouted. My emotions were overflowing...and before I knew it, I’d thrown my arms around her. “We can still love each other in our own ways, and still be happy. It may take time, but someday, it’ll happen... I’m sure of it. It has to be true. It’d be just...way too sad if it wasn’t.”

“What do you mean ‘sad’...?”

“Well, come on! We just reunited, didn’t we?! Back when you went away, I thought I’d never see you again, but you came to find me... And okay, yes, I was pretty confused for all sorts of reasons, but I was still really happy, and it’s been just as fun as it’s been a problem to have you around! I’ve never, ever, even for a second wished that you hadn’t shown up again, and I’d be lonely if you left! I don’t want that! It’d be sad, and painful...just like it was the first time.”

I was distraught when Makina moved away, but I was also a completely helpless little kid. There hadn’t been anything at all I could do about it...and since her absence was so heart-wrenchingly painful, I’d fallen back on the only solution I could find: forgetting about her. Looking back, I didn’t think that had been the right decision by any means. I’d made the wrong choice once, and I never wanted to make it again.

“What about you, Makina...?” I said. “Do you hate me now? Would you be happy if you never saw me again?”

“Of course...not...!” Makina just barely managed to choke out.

“Well...then don’t go! If neither of us wants the other to go away—if it’d make both of us sad—then why do it? Why not stay together instead?”

I couldn’t be the lover that Makina wanted me to be. I’d agonized over it ever since the day she opened up about her feelings for me, and that was the decision I’d reached...but did my inability to return her feelings really have to mean we couldn’t be around each other anymore? Then again, ignoring her feelings and acting like we were friends in the same way we’d always been wasn’t tenable either. Things couldn’t be that easy.

I’d thought, and thought, and thought...and while I couldn’t quite say with confidence that the conclusion I’d landed on was a real answer to the problem, it was all I had.

“I don’t know how our feelings will change from now on,” I said, “but as long as we’re together, we’ll always be something to each other. Maybe not lovers, or friends, or even childhood friends...but something else. We could be something special, just for the two of us—no, we would be! I’m sure of it! I don’t know what I’d call it, but I’m sure... All I want is for me to keep being someone special for you, and for you to keep being someone special for me.”

“Someone special...just for us...?”

“That’s right. Something even deeper than just being childhood friends, I’d bet!”

I couldn’t rule out the possibility that Makina would get sick of me someday, of course. It was very possible that we’d end up living in completely different worlds in the long term. In that moment, however, I didn’t have the time for that sort of pessimism. In that moment, at the very least—a moment in which we still loved each other—I had confidence that the future could never possibly be so bleak.

When all was said and done, I was just being selfish. Maybe Makina could go on to lead a perfectly happy, fulfilled life without me. I sure as heck could never be stuck-up enough to think that she couldn’t live a happy life without me! But that didn’t change the fact that I wanted to stay with her. I didn’t want to have to go through another tearful parting. Even if we did say our goodbyes someday, I wanted it to be in a mutual sort of way that both of us could accept.

That was the answer I’d settled on. It was the conclusion of the long, long train of thought I’d been traveling along ever since the day I learned how Makina felt about me. I knew painfully well how hopelessly naive a conclusion it was to expect, but I also knew that not being true to your feelings about the things that were really important to you would always lead to regrets. No matter how much it made you look like an idiot, no matter how ashamed it left you, you had to be honest—to make it perfectly clear exactly how you felt.

After all...she’d done it as well. Makina had worked up more courage than I could ever even imagine, all to tell me that she loved me.

Makina and I stood there hugging for quite some time. I’m not really sure how long, exactly—long enough that by the time she said, “Thank you, Yotsy,” and pulled away, the only evidence left that she’d been crying was the wet spot where she’d used my uniform as an impromptu handkerchief. Well, that and the fact that her eyelids were slightly swollen, probably from when she’d rubbed them.

“But still,” Makina continued, “I just can’t...”

“Huh?”

“I made a promise with those two. I told them I wouldn’t act like this with you anymore if I lost...and I know that if I’m around you, I won’t be able to control myself. I’ll just end up wanting you all over again...” Makina flashed me a slightly awkward smile. Not the fake smile she’d used to hide her feelings—this time, it was genuine. “Staying with you would mean that I lied to the people who’re most important to you. I just know you’d get hurt in the end... And so...”

“Who said anything about you losing?”

“...What?” I grunted.

That hadn’t been my voice, or Makina’s either. I jerked my head over to look in the direction it had come from—and saw an eye peering into the classroom through the cracked door!

“Hyeeeeeek?!”

“Wh-What the— Yotsy?!” Makina yelped as I reeled back, tripped, and fell flat on my butt, pulling her down with me in the process!

“Excuse me, Yotsuba! What sort of person falls over from seeing their girlfriend’s face?” the voice rang out again.

“Honestly, I can’t blame her this time. The look on your face is a little scary right now, Yuna,” a second voice interjected.

“It so is not!”

The door slid open with a clatter, revealing Yuna and Rinka! B-But wait—why are they here...?

“Did you really think we wouldn’t worry after you ran off like that?” Yuna said, answering my question before I could ask it.

“It would have been much harder to follow you if Koganezaki hadn’t happened to pass by right after you left. We were able to foist the president on her,” Rinka explained.

Saved by a passing Koganezaki! I wonder if she realized that Akksy had gone on a rampage and went to search for her? Thanks, Koganezaki, for so many things... Wait, no! Not the time!

“H-How much did you hear?!” I asked.

“Hmm...” Yuna broke eye contact.

“You know, that’s a good question...” Rinka also broke eye contact.

Eye contact broken! Twice!!! That definitely means they were listening from the very start, or at least caught all the juicy bits!

“Just for the record, it’s not like we think eavesdropping’s A-okay or anything,” Yuna quickly added in a flustered mutter. “But it really didn’t feel like the right moment for us to come in either...”

“And leaving didn’t feel much better,” Rinka noted as well. “Someone had to be here to intervene in case things took a turn for the worse—not that that was likely, of course.”

Apparently, my horrified stare had freaked them out so much they’d felt the need to offer excuses to me. They were acting a lot like I usually did, actually! I hadn’t been planning on blaming them to begin with—after all, I knew that I would’ve done the same thing if I’d been in their position—but I was curious about why they’d decided to make their entrance now in particular.

“So anyway, Makina,” said Yuna, “who said anything about you losing? Since when was that a done deal?”

“Well...it was obvious. I conceded defeat myself,” Makina replied.

“But that wasn’t our arrangement, was it?” said Rinka. “We agreed that we’d determine who won from the surveys that we’d have the audience fill out. I don’t recall anyone ever saying that our personal opinions would be weighed in the final outcome. Do you?”

O-Oh! Is that how it was supposed to work? That makes so much more sense than how we did our bet!

“And our classmates were nice enough to get those survey results all compiled before the festival was even over,” said Yuna. “It’s all up in our group chat—though considering how you’ve been acting so far, I think I can hazard a guess that you haven’t seen it yet.”

“Everyone took the time to fill those surveys out for us. It’d be a shame to not at least take a glance at them before you decide that you’ve lost, wouldn’t it?” said Rinka.

Makina seemed bewildered, but she gave Yuna and Rinka a nod, then pulled out her phone. I assumed she was looking at the class chat, and I checked my own phone to follow her example.

“Wait...does this mean...?” I muttered. Our class rep had read and summarized all of the surveys from the performance, and the moment I read her summary, I found myself reflexively looking over at Makina. She was standing in total silence, eyes wide as she stared at her phone’s screen. I had to look back and reread the message myself, just to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding something.

In short: Basically nobody at all had written about which performer they thought had put on the best show. Somehow, astonishingly, there were almost no submissions that only talked about how great the Sacrosanct were or how amazing it had been to see a real idol. The overwhelming majority of the surveys had given the show rave reviews and said that all three performers were incredible. Some of them singled out the band and the organizing staff for praise too, of course. Overall, the compliments couldn’t have been more universal.

“Turns out we were all thinking about this in the wrong way,” said Yuna.

“What...?” said Makina.

“This was a performance, not a contest. Performances aren’t supposed to have a winner, are they? Of course the audience wouldn’t think they needed to pick one of us to single out as being the best. They thought that all of us were good, and that’s good enough for me.”

“And, looking at it from another perspective, this feels like a pretty clear sign that none of our performances stood head and shoulders above the others,” Rinka added. “Maybe the fact that a professional idol like you didn’t manage to overwhelm a pair of amateurs like us feels like a failing from your perspective, but when you consider that the audience was made up exclusively of our teachers and classmates—people who’ve known us on a personal level for over a year longer than they’ve known you—I would say it starts feeling like we were the ones with a leg up, actually. Which means...”

Rinka paused for a moment to glance at Yuna. Yuna flashed her a rather confident smile and nodded.

“...our ‘see who can get the most positive reviews from the audience’ contest...has ended in a draw.”

The way Rinka delivered the news couldn’t have been more different from how Makina had announced her loss to me moments before. She spoke so perfectly casually and matter-of-factly, you would’ve thought it didn’t matter to her at all.

“A...draw...?” Makina repeated. “But...why? I already conceded my loss...”

“Rules are rules, right? That’s just how it goes,” said Yuna. “Oh, and you can’t concede after the results are already out! That’s definitely not something the rules allow.”

Makina had admitted defeat—only for Yuna and Rinka to reject it. The match was a draw. No winners, no losers.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Makina. “Why would you help your own enemy...?”

“Maybe because we don’t see you as an enemy in the first place?” said Yuna.

“Huh?”

“Right,” said Rinka. “You’re our fellow performer...but I guess the show’s over now, so that doesn’t exactly apply anymore. A friend in the making, maybe? Definitely not an enemy, in any case.”

“But—”

“No buts!” Yuna snapped, jabbing a finger into the tip of Makina’s nose. “And for the record, we’re not saying we lost either, okay?! It was a draw, meaning we’re back to square one! We’re still Yotsuba’s girlfriends, and we’re still never gonna give that spot up to you!”

“If you have a problem with that, you can always challenge us again—” Rinka said before pausing for a beat. “On second thought, maybe not. I think I’ve had enough of those. Performing with you was fun, sure, but it was just as hard and exhausting...”

“Wha— Rinka?!” Yuna yelped. “You could’ve kept that to yourself! This was wrapping up so nicely, and you totally ruined the vibe!”

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it? You remember how weirdly tense the stress made us back in the beginning, don’t you? It was bad enough to make Yotsuba worry about us! I think one experience like that per year is plenty.”

“Okay, when you put it that way, once a year actually sounds a little too much for my liking... Yeah, I’m on board. Peace and quiet’s the better option for sure!”

Yuna and Rinka had bantered their way right through what would’ve been the appropriate moment for Makina to respond to them. She just stood there in a daze, staring at them with a blank, uncomprehending look on her face.

This, I imagined, was a sort of logic that Makina was totally unfamiliar with. The way Yuna and Rinka saw it, everyone involved had wagered something important to them, everyone involved had done their best, and they’d all managed to make something great together as a result. The actual contest had become an afterthought, at most. That probably seemed unthinkable to Makina.

All that said, not being too bothered about the contest was by no means a sign that Yuna and Rinka weren’t taking this seriously in their own right. I still wasn’t exactly sure of how or why they’d ended up playing along with it all in the first place...but as long as they were satisfied with these results, I wasn’t about to question them.

“Well, you heard them, Makina,” I cheerfully chimed in, giving Makina a pat on the shoulder for good measure.

“Yotsy...” Makina replied. The look on her face was conflicted. From what I could tell, it wasn’t that she couldn’t accept the challenge’s lack of an outcome or Yuna and Rinka’s refusal to acknowledge her concession—it was that she couldn’t understand their mindset, period.

I, on the other hand, instantly understood both the feelings of the audience members who’d filled out the surveys and Yuna and Rinka’s ultimate decision. They all just made sense to me. At the very least, it felt like a much less tragic outcome than Makina having to live with her loss on her own.

“Ah, look! Look!” Yuna suddenly shouted as she glanced out the window.

“Oh! Fireworks,” Rinka observed.

I could see them as well. A number of students had started lighting up fireworks around the bonfire. Not, like, big rockets that burst in the air, of course. They were playing with the smaller sort of fireworks that you held in your hand or that stayed mostly on the ground.

“They’re so pretty...” I said. “A little hard to see well from here, though.”

“Should we go outside to watch?” asked Makina.

“Nah... I think I’m fine here, actually,” I replied, shaking my head as I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. If we went outside, then she, Yuna, and Rinka would all attract a ton of attention. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to keep this moment just for the four of us. That way, all three of them would hopefully be able to be their normal, natural selves.

“Yotsy...is it really okay for me to stay with you?” asked Makina.

“Yeah,” I said. “Of course it is.”

“Not as her girlfriend, though! Those seats are already taken!” Yuna interjected.

“And knowing Yotsuba, if we let her pull any more seats up to the table she’d never stop,” Rinka noted.

“Does nobody have any faith in me?!” I wailed. And is that why they’ve been bringing this up so much recently?! Sure, I’ve really expanded my social circle lately, but that’s just because I’m finally making friends! There’s nothing deeper to it than that...right?

“Heh heh...” Makina chuckled, a smile finally spreading across her face. “When you put it that way, it does seem like being her girlfriend isn’t the easiest thing in the world.”

Had Rinka’s words seemed just that convincing to her? The face-value meaning of Makina’s statement was hardly any different from what she’d said moments before about giving up on me...but this time, it somehow came across as far, far more positive.

“But, no...I’ll be trying to build up a relationship with Yotsy that’s just for the two of us,” Makina added, squeezing my hand back. The smile on her face wasn’t like anything I’d seen from her—or at least, not recently. It was an innocent sort of smile. Almost childish.

The way I understood it, Makina was simply reaffirming the words I’d spoken to her earlier. Buuut...

“Was that supposed to be some sort of shot at us?” Yuna commented.

“Hee hee hee! I wonder?” Makina replied.

...Yuna and Rinka clearly hadn’t taken it in quite the same way I had. For a moment, an almost electrical tension crackled in the air...but it vanished away again just as quickly.

“Ah, look! They lit up a big one!” I shouted. Someone had set up one of those fireworks that shoots a big, colorful burst of sparks up from the ground, which was now shining away in the courtyard.

“Oh, wow!” said Yuna.

“Oooh...” Rinka cooed.

“It really is pretty...isn’t it?” said Makina.

For a moment, we were captivated. It wasn’t exactly the same sort of festive atmosphere that the students frolicking in the courtyard had going, but on the other hand, there was something sort of classy about silently watching fireworks from off in the distance.

And that was exactly what we did. Past that point, none of us said a word as we gazed out through the window, watching the festival’s final hurrah unfold.

Looking back over the past two months—the span of time since Makina transferred into our school—it felt like my relationships with the three of them hadn’t really changed all that much, in the end. Yuna, Rinka, and I were still in the same three-way, two-timing relationship as ever, and Makina was still my childhood friend, her feelings for me kept in a state of unanswered limbo.

That said, it wasn’t like there hadn’t been any changes. The three of them had grown a little closer over the course of their preparations for the idol show, for one thing. I’d befriended Mukai and Akksy, seen a new side of Koganezaki, reaffirmed the fact that Emma was a certifiable angel, gotten a few chances to dote on Sakura and Aoi, and had Mio lead me around by the nose. Looking back, it’d all been, well... How to put it...?

“Haaaaaah...”

In such perfect unison you’d think we’d planned it in advance, all four of us let out a long, synchronized sigh. Normally that would’ve probably surprised me, but at that particular moment, the wave of exhaustion rolling over me dulled whatever shock I might’ve felt. And, before I knew it, we’d all burst into a fit of tired, listless laughter.

“This has all been a lot, huh?” said Yuna.

“No kidding,” Rinka agreed.

“And now the cultural festival is over,” said Makina.

I just quietly listened...and thought to myself about how I’d sleep more soundly tonight than I had in a very, very long time.

Epilogue

Eichou High’s cultural festival took place on Saturday and Sunday. Seeing as that meant we had to go to school on the weekend, everyone was given Monday and Tuesday off in exchange.

I saw off my little sisters, who made a very firm point of making sure I knew exactly how unfair it was that they still had to go to school when I didn’t, and also my parents, who let me know how much of a relief it was to not have to do the laundry or clean up the kitchen after breakfast, since they knew I’d be around to handle it. Then all that was left for me was to enjoy my weekday off in blissful idleness!

For this brief, shining moment, I reign supreme over the whole Hazama household! Bwa hah hah!

Okay...so the truth was that, actually, I had been thinking about taking advantage of the weekday off to go out and do stuff without having to deal with weekend crowds for once. I had been thinking about it, past tense, because everyone who I’d asked to hang out had turned me down. It just made sense, really—everyone was either so worn out that they wanted to relax instead or had already booked up their break before I got to them.

Huh? That’s weird. I thought I’d made a bunch more friends lately, but maybe I was just imagining it? Maybe everyone’s going out to have some sort of cultural-festival after-party whatchamajigger sans me?!

Which was exactly what I asked Mukai in a text, to which she responded: “nope (lol)”. Sorry for the pointless ping, Mukai.

Speaking of Mukai, her creative drive had gotten kicked into overdrive in the festival’s aftermath, and she’d be using her days off to shut herself up in her room and draw like no tomorrow. She had a sort of self-discipline when it came to her art that I really admired.

Oh—and I also eventually learned that there would be an after-party, but that the plan was to put it off for a while so everyone could rest and recover beforehand. My classmates were so considerate, it was actually a little scary. You’d almost think that I was totally thoughtless in comparison! Right?!

And so, I ended up with so much free time on my hands that I soon found myself sprawled out on the couch in the otherwise abandoned living room, watching TV. My parents subscribed to a streaming service—one of the ones that let you watch all the old movies and TV shows you wanted—from which I’d picked something out more or less at random.

“These services sure are handy,” I said to myself. My parents were the ones who paid the subscription fee, so I got to watch all I wanted without having to put any strain on my own wallet at all.

Not too long ago, most people would’ve gone to rental shops instead of streaming stuff online...and, in fact, I actually remembered begging my parents to rent movies for me when I was little. That was where the idol-show recordings that Makina and I had watched back in the day came from, mostly. She owned a few of her own, but the bulk of them, we’d had to borrow. You could see recordings like that even easier these days—of the famous groups, anyway—and there were even sometimes concert recordings that were exclusive to streaming services, apparently.

Not that Makina watches that sort of thing anymore, most likely, I thought to myself as I munched on snack foods and flipped through the movie listings. I’d started with a movie that I’d been interested in but hadn’t quite gotten around to seeing while it was still in theaters, then moved right onto another film without missing a beat. Just as that was wrapping up and I was considering a third—seriously, I could’ve killed infinite time like that if I’d had the chance—my phone rang.

“Hello? Yotsuba?” said the girl who’d called me.

“Hey! Did you need something, Mio?” I replied.

“Not really. I had a free moment, and started wondering what you were up to.”

Y-You mean she called me on the phone even though she didn’t have any real reason to?! Extroverts are amazing!

“I just wrapped up lunch, and since I’ve got work this afternoon, I was about to leave school for the day. You?” Mio asked.

She had a high school idol’s schedule, all right. Just the thought of it was exhausting. I wasn’t sure what sort of whim had led her to call me at that particular moment, but my circumstances were almost laughably lax compared to hers, and so...

“I’m, uhh...g-going over my notes from the class I just took, basically?” I said, lying on reflex. Actually, maybe “posturing” would be the better word in this case?

“Huh? I thought you had the day off ’cause of your cultural festival?”

“H-How’d you know?!”

“Maki mentioned it when I called her earlier. But, wait—you have classes anyway, so... Oh. Are you taking makeup lessons right now, Yotsuba? Heh heh! Yeah, that sounds like you for sure.”

I’d tried to show off, and where did it get me? Buried neck-deep in a misunderstanding that actually made me look worse than the reality of the situation would’ve! And it really did sound just like me, when she put it that way!

“N-No, I’m not! I’m actually...well, lazing around watching movies at home, more or less,” I admitted.

“What, really? Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?”

“Ugh... It sounds like you’re really busy with work, so I thought you might get annoyed if you knew I was slacking off.”

“Why would that annoy me?” Mio asked with a sharp laugh. The sounds in the background made me think she was probably walking somewhere while she talked to me, but she didn’t seem like she was tense or in any particular hurry.

I guess that’s a real celebrity for you. She’s incredible...

“Yotsuba? Are you listening?”

“Ah—yeah! I, umm... Sorry, what did you just say?”

“So you weren’t listening. Great. I was just asking what movie you were watching.”

“Oooh. Umm...”

I took a moment to tell her about the two films I’d watched. Both of them had come out in the past two or three years.

“Hmm... Hey, Yotsuba—ever heard of a movie called The Ladies’ Academy Case Files?”

“The name rings a bell, I think...?”

“Well, if you don’t have anything better to do, watch that next. It’s not bad at all.”

“‘Not bad’...?” I repeated. It wasn’t exactly the most glowing review for a movie she was actively recommending. I searched for it on the streaming service, and...

O-Oh!

“Wait, Makina stars in it?!”

“Yup! And I’m a supporting actress.”

“Hold on—is everyone from Shooting Star in this movie?!”

“That’s right. A lot of people treated it as a B-tier idol commercial as a result...which, I mean, it was, don’t get me wrong, but it also turned out pretty darn well, considering. It got a good reception among insiders, you could say.”

“Huuuh...”

That explained a lot. No wonder I’d heard about it in passing—with a cast like that, Sakura and Aoi had almost certainly gone to see it, and they’d likely mentioned it to me.

“The elevator pitch is that there’s a murder in an all girls’ boarding school for the upper crust that’s located deep in the mountains. Maki’s the detective who gets called in to solve the mystery, and I’m her assistant,” Mio explained.

“Oooh...?”

“Maki said you hadn’t touched any of the stuff that our group’s done. I figured it wouldn’t kill you to watch a single movie that we were in, right?”

“Ugh... Sorry,” I said with a wince. “But also, thanks! I’ll watch it for sure!”

“Great, you do that. Oh, and this won’t be for a little while, but the four of us—like, all our members except Maki—are gonna be having a concert! It’ll be a little smaller scale than our usual shows, but we’re making sure all the music and stuff meshes with the small-scale vibe. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’ll power up something major by the time Maki comes back!” Mio declared in a very spirited tone. “Some of our fans’ll probably pitch a fit about us carrying on without her, I guess, but we don’t have time to spin our wheels. If she’s not coming back right away, we’ll just have to see what we can do without her—and there’s plenty of stuff we’ll only be able to try out while she’s away, so this is our moment to throw all that at the wall and see what sticks!”

“Bwuuuh...”

“What’s that groan supposed to mean, doofus?”

“Wha—?! Nothing! I mean, I was just thinking, ‘Wow, that’s amazing,’ and couldn’t quite figure out how to put it into words just right...” I said.

I realize that this might come across as being pretty backhanded in a condescending sort of way, but I was shocked, honestly. There I was, completely occupied with choosing whether I should even try to get into college, and meanwhile Mio was out there grabbing life itself by the horns.

“You know, you’re really cool, Mio...”

“Huh? O-Oh, you think? Can’t say I disagree,” said Mio. The way she’d barely hesitated before agreeing was just like her, somehow, but that ever so slight moment of bashfulness that had preceded her boast also nearly made me crack up. “But, like...I wasn’t telling you all this to show off, for the record! Anyway, do you wanna come watch?”

“Wait, watch what?”

“Our show! I can get you an invite, so you wouldn’t need to buy a ticket. Think of it as thanks for showing me your cultural-festival performance.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say I showed it to you...”

“Plus, I’m the sort of idol who likes making sure her friends all get the chance to see what I’m really made of.”

H-Her friends! She just called me a friend just now, didn’t she?! There’s that extroversion in action again! I can’t believe she’s accepting enough to call someone like me a friend!

“I mean...probably,” Mio added a second later.

“Probably?!”

“The thing is, looking back, I haven’t really had all that many real friend-friends...? I always had to prioritize work and practice when I was a kid, so I never got to go out to play or hang out much.”

Wait. Does that mean...?

“S-So when they told me I could invite people to the show if I wanted to, you were the first person who came to mind, and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I’m the shows-off-to-her-friends type, it turns out!’ That’s all! You don’t even have to come, if you don’t—”

“Of course I’ll come!” I exclaimed. “I’d love to! For sure!”

Mio’s not the ultra-social extrovert I took her for after all! It turns out...I really am just friends with her, plain and simple! Sorry, Mio! I’ve totally been assuming that I was just one of a bunch of friends for you this whole time!

“Oh? Well, good,” said Mio. “I’ll send you all the deets later.”

“Great!”

“Oh, and also...” Mio continued, her voice fading into a slight mumble. “Tell Maki that the four of us are moving on ahead. If she wants to come reclaim her spot with us, she’s gonna have to earn it, or there might not be a spot left anymore!”

“Wait, why me?! Didn’t you say you talked with her on the phone just a minute ago?! Why didn’t you just say all that to her?!”

“Ugh... It wasn’t that sort of phone call, okay? We were just chatting, basically.”

“Oh. Really?”

“We’ve never done the ‘just chatting’ thing before, you know? It’s always been all about work for us, which is probably why our relationship’s been so weirdly tense for so long... So I decided that it’s about time I tried to learn more about her, you know? Like, Maki herself,” Mio muttered in a way that really made it sound like she was making up excuses for herself. In a weird sort of way, the contrast that cut with her usual straight-to-the-point persona made it easier to take her words at face value.

Considering how the two of them had come across during their confrontation at the cultural festival, I saw them trying to get to know each other more personally as a step in the right direction. After all, I was positive that Shooting Star was just as important to Makina as it was to Mio. It was a place where she belonged, in her own sort of way.

“So saying that sorta stuff myself would be, well... It can wait for a little longer, that’s all. It’s not that I’m too scared to say it to her face, okay?!”

“Ha ha ha! Yeah, I know. I get the picture—especially the part where you made sure to say there only might not be a spot for her at the end,” I said.

Mio let out a strangled gasp. Knowing how she tended to act, it would’ve been incredibly in character for her to flat out say that there wouldn’t be a spot left for Makina, period. The fact that she’d gone out of her way to phrase around that implication almost felt like it was asserting the opposite—like she was saying that when Makina finally came back to the group, Mio would make a spot for her, no matter what it took.

“Wh-Whatever! Not my problem how you read into it,” said Mio.

She hadn’t even been able to bring herself to deny it, so obviously, I was onto something. Hee hee! You know, she’s actually surprisingly easy to read now that I know her a little better.

“Anyway,” Mio said after a pause, “I’m getting pretty close to the place I’m heading, so I’m gonna hang up now.”

“Got it,” I replied. “Oh! Hey, Mio?”

“What?”

“Good luck with your work!”

“Oh... Come on, as if I’d need luck! But also...thanks!”

With that, Mio hung up.

I slumped onto the couch, flopping listlessly onto my back. Talking about Makina with Mio...well, it hadn’t made me nervous, per se, but it did prompt all sorts of questions for me. Mio had still seemed a little awkward and stuff during that part of our conversation, but if sneaking her into the cultural festival had helped the two of them get at least a little closer to each other, then I liked to think that my efforts hadn’t been in vain. Or Mukai’s, Koganezaki’s, and everyone else’s efforts, of course!

“I’m kind of excited to see Mio’s show...but I hope I get to see them all together someday. The whole group, Makina included,” I muttered to myself. When the opportunity arose, I wanted to earn the money for tickets and pay my own way into one of their concerts. Which would be pretty hard, considering how tough it would probably be to get tickets and how I’d first have to find a part-time job I could actually succeed at, but it would be nice if I could manage it. “Guess I’ll start by watching that movie Mio recommended.”

A frighteningly believable image of myself failing to deal with a customer at a convenience store’s counter was beginning to form in my mind, and I escaped it—along with reality—by hitting the “play” button.

◇◇◇

Wednesday arrived, and our oddly timed pseudo-weekend came to a close.

“Good morning, Yotsy!”

“M-Morning...Makina...”

“Huh...? Yotsy?”

I’d promised Makina that I’d walk to school with her, and we met up in the morning, just as planned...but I couldn’t bring myself to look directly at her. Why? Because the movie that Mio had recommended to me, The Ladies’ Academy Case Files...had turned out to be really, really good! Not only was the movie’s story just plain interesting, Makina and Mio’s chemistry had been ridiculously perfect. If I hadn’t had a handkerchief handy, I never would’ve made it through the climax!

Thanks to that experience, my internal image of Makina had gone through a rather dramatic revision. I just couldn’t stop myself from seeing her as a big-name actress now, and looking directly at her felt...I dunno, a little presumptuous, I guess? Like, this was a girl who’d won the Yotsuba Academy Award for Best Starring Actress, in a manner of speaking...and it definitely didn’t help that afterward, I’d gone on to watch as many episodes of this one TV show that Makina and Mio were both in as I could access from that streaming service. Even its theme song was great! After all this time, I was finally turning into a Shooting Star fan—or, from another perspective, I’d finally fallen into the Shooting Star pit trap.

“Heeey, Yotsy?”

“Bwaugh?!” I yelped. While I’d been lost in thought, Makina had leaned in to peer at my face! Her eyelashes were so long! And her eyes were so shapely! Her chin too! She was so pretty!

“You’re a little spacey today,” said Makina. “Did you not get enough sleep?”

“N-Nope!” I yelped. “Nope, nah, not at all! I’m the same as ever! T-Totally normal!”

“Oh, really?”

Makina was walking by my side, as if it were perfectly normal for us to be together. I’d always known how incredible of a thing that was, of course, but as time passed by, it was like I was becoming more and more aware of it on some deeper level... And aaaah, it feels like my face is on fire!

“Yotsy...?”

“Y-Yeah? What is it, Maki—”

Smch!

The next thing I knew, Makina had leaned in so close I could almost see her pores...and I felt the softness of her lips. We were on a public street—an abandoned public street in a quiet residential area, sure, but still a public street—in the middle of the morning, and she’d kissed me out of the blue?!

“M-Makina?!” I shouted.

“Hee hee! You made it so easy, I couldn’t resist,” she replied.

“You couldn’t resist...? D-Don’t you know how risky that was?! What if this ends up in the tabloids?!”

“Oh? Are you paying me back for the fib I told back when we met in the summer?”

No! I mean, okay, I guess she did lie to me about being followed around by paparazzi back then...but just because that wasn’t true doesn’t mean it couldn’t actually happen, and if it did, she might not even know about it!

“But you know, if someone did take a picture of us...that might not be so bad. It’d be nice to show our relationship off to the whole world,” said Makina. Not only was she not cowed by my warning at all, she actually got even closer and wrapped her arms around one of mine?!

“U-Uh, excuse me, Makina...?!” I said. “I sort of remember you saying a bunch of stuff about giving up on becoming my girlfriend? Does that ring a bell...?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve given up on that,” Makina replied. “That’s why my current plan’s to be your mistress instead.”

“M-My mistress?!”

“Exactly! In the ‘person you’re cheating with’ sense, just in case that wasn’t clear. We’ll have something deeper, more sensual than plain old bittersweet love,” she whispered straight into my ear, her voice breathy in just the right way to scramble my brain like an egg! “Yuna and Rinka have a lead on me now, maybe, but that’s just fine with me. Oh, and I don’t mind at all if your relationship with them stays the same as ever, of course. I just thought it’d be nice to make sure you can’t live without me on the side.”

That was a really cute way to tell me something that isn’t the slightest bit cute, content-wise! Makina had polished a powerful, adultlike sort of appeal in her time in the entertainment industry, and now she was turning the full brunt of all of it directly on me!

“Don’t worry. We have plenty of time. But then again, how about we skip school today and get a head start?”

“Bwuh, ahbwuguwaugh...”

“If you want, the two of us can head right back to my place. We’ll be nice and alone, and we can take all the time we need to—”

“Nooope!!!”

Wha—?! That was Yuna’s voice!

“Tch!”

And now Makina’s clicking her tongue?!

“Good morning, Yuna,” Makina said after a particularly pregnant pause. “And Rinka as well. I’m quite sure I remember arranging for us to meet up several blocks away from here?”

“And then I had a bad feeling and changed those plans,” said Yuna.

“A bad feeling that was clearly right on the money,” noted Rinka.

“Remarkable,” said Makina. “You have the finely honed instincts of a wild animal.”

H-Hmm? That’s weird. All three of them are smiling, but the atmosphere’s so tense I can actually hear the strain in the air...?!

“You should be more careful, Yotsuba,” said Rinka. “Even the loveliest roses have their thorns.”

“Thorns? I have no such thing,” said Makina. “I might have my fair share of sweet, sweet nectar, though.”

“You mean poison!” snapped Yuna.

Rinka peeled me and Makina apart while Yuna interposed herself between us as a human shield. Meanwhile, Makina was still smiling away as happily as ever...which was really scary! It feels like they might start duking it out at any second! What is happening here?!

“No need to be so on guard, you two,” said Makina. “I’ve settled on just being Yotsy’s mistress, after all.”

“Her mistress?!” Yuna and Rinka shouted.

“Precisely! The two of you can have your sweet little high school romances with her, and meanwhile, I’ll be taking a step ahead and leading her up the stairs to adulthood. Hee hee—that way I won’t be getting in your way at all anymore, will I?”

“You’ll be doing something way worse!” said Yuna.

“I can’t think of a more distasteful way you could’ve bounced back,” Rinka commented.

I thought the three of them were getting along way better than they used to! Did something happen over those two days off to make their relationship backslide in a major way...? None of them said anything about meeting up...so maybe this is one of those things where their mindsets naturally changed over the course of time? Or maybe they can be this openly at each other’s throats specifically because they get along well now?

One way or another...

“I think it’s clear we have to set the record straight again, Makina,” Rinka said in a very firm tone.

“We’re never, eeeeeever giving Yotsuba up to you!” declared Yuna.

“Of course. I’d expect nothing less,” Makina replied with such a bright, spirited look on her face, you would’ve thought that every doubt she’d ever felt in her life had been cleared away.

Yeah, okay, this is a sign of how well they’re getting along! Thank goodness! All’s well that ends well! I thought, reassuring myself with the power of pure, undiluted denial as the three of them more or less played tug-of-war with my arms.

All I ask is for none of this to actually end up on the front page of some tabloid!

Side Story: Our Own After-Party!

“Okay, everyone has a drink, right?” asked Yuna. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Rinka repeated.

“Ch-Cheers!” I sort of stiffly followed up as we all raised our glasses.

A few days had passed since the cultural festival came to an end, and Yuna, Rinka, and I had all gotten together to have our own three-person after-party in advance of the full-blown one our class would be throwing. The venue: a yakiniku joint by the local station! It was part of a chain with branches scattered all across the country, and it happened to offer a student discount that made it a very easy-on-the-wallet sort of place for people like us to frequent! Which was, of course, all news to me!

The total price for today’s two-hour course, including all-you-can-drink soda: two thousand yen each! Which was cheap! Probably! I’d never been to an after-party before and had no clue what the usual price for something like this was, so I wasn’t in any position to judge!!!

“Hee hee!” Yuna giggled as she looked over at me. “You can go ahead and stuff yourself until you’re sick today, Yotsuba! Eat as much as you want!”

“I will!” I said.

“Hold on. It’s already all-you-can-eat, for one thing, and for another, you’re not even treating her,” Rinka chimed in with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, lighten up! It’s an atmosphere thing,” Yuna declared with a cocky grin before grabbing a nearby pair of tongs and loading the grill up with thinly sliced beef, which had arrived with our drinks. “Gotta go with rib meat first! It’s the only right choice!”

“I’m more of a skirt steak person, myself,” Rinka said as she filled the unoccupied portions of the grill with her own choice of meat.

Before I knew it, the grill on our table had transformed into a barbecue battlefield! We were seated at a four-person booth, and after a very strict discussion of the possible arrangements, Yuna and Rinka had ended up on one side of the table while I sat alone on the other. That meant there wasn’t much I could do to intervene—I just had to sit still and watch their struggle play out!

“Don’t worry, Yotsuba,” said Yuna. “I’ll grill up plenty of rib meat for both of us!”

“I have her portion under control, actually,” Rinka chimed in. “I’m pretty confident when it comes to cooking skirt steak.”

“Excuse me? What’s your deal?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“H-Hey, guys...?!” I anxiously interjected. Yuna and Rinka were giving each other very pointed looks, and the festive after-party atmosphere I’d been enjoying just seconds ago had been overwritten by something a lot less peaceful!

“Who goes to a yakiniku joint and doesn’t order rib meat?!” snapped Yuna.

“People who aren’t hopelessly behind the times and know that skirt steak’s better, maybe?!” countered Rinka.

“I, umm, I like both of them, actually,” I stammered. “Oh! Hey, who wants rice?! I don’t know about you, but I don’t think any trip to a yakiniku place is complete without a big bowl of—”

“Get me a large!” Yuna and Rinka said in perfect unison!

“Did you two rehearse that in advance or what?!”

One second they were taking hard-line stances in the rib meat versus skirt steak debate, and the next, they were placing the same order with pinpoint precision! I was overwhelmed—and a little exasperated, honestly—as I grabbed the menu tablet and placed an order for three bowls of rice, two large and one medium. Then I added in a salad and some soup too, on a whim. It was all-you-can-eat, so why not?

“Okay, rib meat’s done!” said Yuna.

“The skirt steak’s cooked just right as well!” said Rinka.

“Th-Thanks!” I said as they piled my plate high with lightly browned meat in the blink of an eye.

Hmm? Is it just me, or am I not going to have to cook my own meat at all tonight...? I wondered. The two of them were reigning over the grill like a pair of feuding feudal lords, after all. I usually ended up doing most of the cooking when my family went to this sort of restaurant, so being fed like this made me feel a little restless.

“Okay, let’s eat!” I said. Our rice hadn’t arrived yet, but it would’ve been a shame to let the first round of meat go cold. The question was: Which to start with?

Eeny, meeny, miney...this one!

“I’ll start with a piece of skirt steak... Mmmh, this is so good!”

“Heh heh!” Rinka triumphantly chuckled.

“Grr... I never said skirt steak was bad,” grumbled Yuna.

The meat was soft, but had just enough chew to be satisfying—exactly how skirt steak should be. Rinka had talked a big game about knowing how to cook it just right, and she’d lived up to her own hype. I wonder if she’d cook skirt steak like this for me every day if I asked...?

Rinka was giving Yuna a How do you like that? sort of look, and Yuna seemed a little frustrated...b-but I wasn’t trying to take a side in the great meat debate or anything, for the record! “Okay, time to try the rib meat next!” I quickly continued. “Mmh, yeah, this is great too!”

“Of course it is,” Yuna huffed.

“I guess...that makes this a draw?” said Rinka.

The rib meat was ridiculously tasty in a super in-your-face sort of way. It came drenched in sauce that matched its meaty flavor really nicely, and Yuna had done an incredible job cooking it to perfection! I had absolute confidence that I was, at that very moment, eating the tastiest grilled rib meat in the world.

Love really is the ultimate seasoning! This is bliss!

“You sure can make a piece of meat look like it tastes amazing,” said Yuna.

“That’s because the two of you cooked it for me!” I replied. “Oh, but don’t mind me—you should eat up too, okay?! We’re on a time limit!”

“Naturally,” said Rinka.

Yuna and Rinka grinned at me, then got to work on their own helpings of meat. To my surprise, they both ended up grabbing equal portions of each cut.

Eh, they’re both delicious, so no wonder. Enjoying both of them is the right move for sure!

The rice that I’d ordered arrived soon after, and the salad and soup came out just a moment later. Seeing as I wasn’t on grilling duty, I took it upon myself to portion them all out to everyone. Grilled meat tasted even better when you’d done something to earn it, after all!

“So, which is your favorite in the end, Yotsuba?” asked Yuna.

“Skirt steak, right? Right?” said Rinka.

“Hmm... Well,” I began before resting my chin in the palm of my hand and pausing to ponder. Had I preferred the ultra-savory flavor bomb that was the rib meat, or the soft, exquisitely meaty skirt steak? “If I had to pick a favorite, it’d have to be...intestine, I guess.”

“Intestine?!” Yuna and Rinka exclaimed in unison.

Awww, come on! It’s really tasty!

◇◇◇

To make a long story short, all three of us kept ordering plate after plate of food, grilling and sharing away as our after-party carried on. I’d been really set on getting my money’s worth at first, but the thing about two-hour all-you-can-eat deals is that you always seem to end up feeling pretty stuffed just half an hour to an hour in.

Around the time our grilling and ordering speeds had slowed to a leisurely crawl, a thought seemed to strike Rinka. “By the way,” she said, “you met up with Mio Kuruma again after the first day of the festival ended, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” I replied. “We had to so she could give my uniform back.”

“I figured,” said Yuna. “You smelled like her afterward, you know?”

“W-We didn’t do anything weird, if that’s what you’re thinking!”

I hadn’t noticed any lingering scents on my uniform at all the next time I put it on, honestly...but Yuna and Rinka, it seemed, were a little more sensitive on that front. Mio had given it back to me on the night after she snuck into the festival...

◆ ◆ ◆

The night after the cultural festival’s first day, Mio called me out to the same park where she and I had ended up talking the first time we met.

“My, Yotsuba! Good evening to you.”

“Whahuh? Uhh, g-good evening?!”

“Ha ha ha! C’mon, I’m just messing with you,” Mio said with a grin as she plopped down on a nearby bench and beckoned me over to her. She’d ditched the wig she wore to the cultural festival in favor of her hat, and she’d left her sunglasses and mask off this time, leaving her in sort of a casual half disguise. “What? It’d be weird to wear a disguise when I’m going out to meet a friend, right?”

“You read my mind again...?!”

“Haven’t I told you you’re easy to read? You’re the sort of person who always gets voted out on Night One when you play Werewolf.”

“‘Werewolf’?”

“Oh, uhh... You know what, never mind,” Mio said, awkwardly glancing away from me.

That more or less told me all I needed to know: “Werewolf” was probably one of those games that you needed a bunch of people to play. Information about games like that barely ever made its way to me, considering I had almost no friends...or, well, considering that my group of friends was still a pretty small community even these days. One might go so far as to say that I was chronically shut out from that sort of social interaction!

“Why’re you still standing, anyway? This bench is big enough for two,” said Mio.

“Oh, sure. Thanks, Mio,” I said, then hesitated. “It’s not a problem for me to call you that or anything, right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. It’s my real name, so whatever. I just write it differently for the stage-name version. My real name’s written, uhh—here.” Mio grabbed my hand and started to write on it with her index finger.

“Hyeeek?!”

“Ha ha ha! Quit squirming, sheesh.”

She definitely knew that this would really, really tickle! She’s doing it on purpose!

Mio took her time to sloooooowly trace her name onto my palm. It tickled so much, it felt like it was going to drive me crazy...but I at least had enough presence of mind left to figure out that she was writing a character for “waterway.” At least, I couldn’t think of any other characters that could be read “Mio” and had that number of strokes, so that was probably the one.

“Wait...you definitely only decided to write it on my hand because you knew it had a ton of strokes! You bully!” I yelped.

“Bully? That’s going a little far, isn’t it? If that’s the attitude you’re gonna take, I think I’ll go ahead and show you how I write my signature while I’m at it!”

“Gyaaah! Cut it ooout!”

One tiny complaint was all it took to line me up for a brutal counterattack! Mio made good on her threat, by the way, and really did write her signature on my palm, this time with a pen. She turned out to be a genuine celebrity: Her signature was completely illegible.

Anyway, once those shenanigans were over and done with, we settled back down on the bench. All that squirming had made me work up a pretty serious sweat.

“Ahh, I actually tired myself out laughing that much,” said Mio. “You’re the most ticklish person I’ve ever met, Yotsuba.”

“I’m not happy about that at all, just so you know!”

“Aww, and here I meant it as a compliment. Oh, right! I should give this back before I forget,” Mio said, pivoting on a conversational dime and handing me my uniform. She’d carefully folded it up and carried it around in a rather sturdy paper bag.

She sure made that seem like an afterthought, but wasn’t this the whole reason she called me out here in the first place...?

“You sure you don’t want me to get it cleaned, though? I could do that, no problem,” Mio added.

“That would take time and cost money, though, right?” I countered. “And it’s not like you did anything that’d get it dirty.”

“Doesn’t it bother you, though? Like, just the thought of wearing clothes someone else had on...?”

“Not really. You’re kind of a neat freak, aren’t you?”

“Ugh... I don’t think I like you calling me any sort of freak,” Mio said, pursing her lips with a wince. She might have been an active member of the working world thanks to her idol career, but she was also my age, and every once in a while she actually acted like it. Those little moments of childishness were kinda cute. “Oh, and you don’t have to worry about the money part. I’m loaded.”

“That wasn’t cute at all!”

“I took a taxi here, and I’ll be taking one home too. And it’s late enough they’ll be charging the night rate!”

“You sound really proud about that and I have no clue why!”

Even a little kid like me knew that taxis were pretty darn expensive! I wasn’t totally sure what a night rate entailed, but it seemed safe to assume that it’d mean you’d have to pay a decent percentage more than they cost during the day. If I ended up in a position where my choices were to pay a rate like that out of my allowance or walk home, I’d lace up my shoes and hit the road for sure.

“You really don’t have to worry about it, though,” I continued. “I mean, it’s not like I got it cleaned before I loaned it to you.”

“I couldn’t have asked you to when you were the one doing me a favor, could I...? But, well, if you don’t mind, then I guess that’s that,” Mio said with a nod. She leaned way back onto the bench and heaved a heavy, languid sigh.

Huh? I sort of thought we’d split up and go home right after she gave it back, I thought...but I didn’t move either. I sat there for a moment, just watching her.

“Man,” said Mio, “it’s like I can still hear it, even now.”

“Hear it...? You mean today’s concert?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s been a pretty long time since a performance left that much of an impression on me. Makes me wanna jump right into practice, here and now...or, really, it makes me want to put on a show of my own.”

The flames of motivation burning in Mio’s eyes were so distinct, even I could see them. To me, performances were something to watch. Once you’d seen one, that was all there was to it. Mio, however, was a performer. For her, seeing a show was only the start.

Something about that felt really impressive to me. I’d been super pessimistic about this whole endeavor from the start, and if I could turn back the clock and do it all over again, I still wouldn’t have actively wanted to go through with something so risky, but now that it was all over, I could at least say that I was glad I’d managed to give her the chance to see the show for herself.

“Hey, Yotsuba?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s, well... There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to talk about...but I’m honestly still a little worked up after everything that happened today, so this probably isn’t the right time. I’ll just leave it at this for now.”

She smiled at me. I had a feeling that it was the best smile that Mio—not Mio the idol, but plain old Mio Kuruma—could offer.

“Thanks, Yotsuba!”

◆ ◆ ◆

...And that was basically all there was to say about it. Nope! Nothing weird (in the sense of things that most people would consider to be cheating) happened between us whatsoever! I reaffirmed to myself.

Yuna and Rinka, meanwhile, just looked at me.

“Why are those stares so frigid?!” I wailed. I really, actually didn’t even do anything weird this time! All I told them was the plain and simple truth: I met up with her to get my uniform back! No funny business whatsoever!

“Well...whatever,” Yuna sighed. “There’s no point worrying about you cheating—we’d never run out of reasons to keep questioning it, after all.”

“I really wasn’t, though!”

“We know, we know. You wouldn’t do anything like that intentionally,” said Rinka. “We can’t, however, rule out the possibility that you did something accidentally.”

“Wait, so you believe me, but you’re still doubting me anyway?!”

Just how little faith do they have in me? I wondered...but on the other hand, I did recognize that I’d earned that skepticism. After all, who even knew how many times I’d bragged about my adorable little sisters in casual conversation before all that stuff happened. Not to mention that all it’d taken was a reunion with a childhood friend to send things in that sort of direction all over again...

That said, it really does bear repeating that up until this year, I’d been very high up in the running for the title of “the world’s least popular loner”! That had been my whole life! The fact that—disregarding Yuna, Rinka, and Makina for a second—I’d been blessed with friends in the form of Koganezaki, Emma, Mukai, Akksy, and Mio since I got into high school was nothing short of a miracle! Questioning whether they might have romantically inclined ulterior motives for getting close to me would be super rude to all of them!

I mean, sure, Koganezaki had gone out of her way to ask if the Mio Kuruma incident had ended decently even though it had basically nothing to do with the Sacrosanct, and sure, I’d promised Emma that we could hang out again sometime next week, and sure, the “good work” message Mukai had sent me after the festival included an invitation to have an after-party for just the two of us at some point, and sure, Akksy had recommended a few of her favorite anime for me to watch, and sure, Mio had invited me to come see her concert...but that was just them being friendly, that’s all!

“Eh, it’s fine,” said Yuna. “Cheat all you want—we’ll drag you back to us in the end every time, no matter what it takes.”

“Whahuh?!”

“At the end of the day, we’re your formal and official girlfriends, after all,” said Rinka.

“S-So cool...!”

They were both just so dang confident—and maybe a little embarrassed, considering the slight flush creeping across their cheeks...which was super cute! I really had to wonder how I could be dating a pair of adorably cool girls like them. Maybe all of this really was just a dream? This would be the fifth time I’d questioned that this week alone...

“Honestly, I’m more concerned about how you’ll definitely get scammed by someone someday, at this rate,” said Yuna.

“Definitely?! Not ‘might’?!”

“Yeah, not much question left at this point,” Yuna very bluntly confirmed.

Rinka, busy chewing a piece of meat, nodded as well. Cute!

I mean...if they’re both sure about it, then maybe they have a point...?

“Okay, but a scam...? What would that even look like?” I asked.

“Imagine, like... Ahem! ‘Hello, Yotsuba? It’s me,’” Yuna said, clearing her throat before pitching her voice down ever so slightly and speaking in a sort of theatrical tone.

Wait—that voice...!

“Are you...doing an impression of me?” asked Rinka.

“That’s right—it’s the Rin-Rin Scam!”

Oh! Like those scams where people call up old folks and pretend to be their grandchildren, only she pretends to be Rinka instead! And the name’s probably, like, a play on “Rinka” and “ring-ring,” or something! But seriously, what sort of actual monster would impersonate Rinka just to scam someone (read: me) out of their—

“‘Yotsuba...I ate too much at a yakiniku place and can’t cover the bill. Could you wire me some money to bail me out?’”

“Sure! Right away!”

Rinka gave me a look. “Yotsuba?” she sighed.

“Ah?!” I yelped. I said yes! I didn’t even hesitate! And I only snapped out of it when Rinka sighed at me...b-but these were super extenuating circumstances! “I couldn’t help it! Yuna was being so cute, I just couldn’t resist!”

“Wait, I sold you on it? Not the act?” said Yuna.

“I mean, you nailed her mannerisms...but no matter how good of an impression it was, there’s just no way I’d ever mix up your voice with Rinka’s,” I said.

I was sure of that because this wasn’t the first time I’d considered it. Rinka had borrowed Yuna’s phone to call me once, and I’d known it was her instantly, even though my phone had claimed that the call was from Yuna. I couldn’t remember precisely when it had happened, but the point is, I’d given some real thought in the past to how well I could tell their voices apart.

“But you doing an impression of Rinka is just the cutest thing ever, especially when I get to see it in person! Like, how you were trying so hard to mimic her tone of voice, or how you were focusing so hard on her vocal mannerisms that you ended up scrunching up your brow in the funniest way, or how you didn’t even realize that your shoulders were all clenched and stiff!”

“Wha...?! Wait, was I really doing all that?!” Yuna exclaimed. If that hadn’t been enough to tell me that she hadn’t realized it at all, the blush that flashed across her face certainly would have. I couldn’t help but grin—not that it was anything to be embarrassed over—and apparently that just made it worse than ever for her. Her response: lashing out by swiping a piece of skirt steak that Rinka had been carefully cooking, right off the grill!

“Hey!” shouted Rinka.

“I-I’m not blushing! I’m just flushed because I’m so hungry, that’s all!”

Wow, that was a terrible excuse! Yuna’s never that bad at thinking on her feet!

It was over in a flash. Before Rinka could stop her, Yuna had practically inhaled the piece of meat. She’d been prioritizing talking over eating for quite a while, and apparently she hadn’t been totally making up the part about being hungry—the next thing I knew, she was filling the grill with rib meat again!

“Honestly... Not that I really mind, I guess,” grumbled Rinka.

“Ha ha ha...” I awkwardly chuckled. “Oh, right—hey, Rinka?”

“Hmm? Yes?”

“You should try doing an impression of Yuna too!”

“Wha—?!” Rinka said in a strangled half gasp, dropping the towelette she’d been wiping her hands on. She definitely hadn’t seen that request coming. “Wait, but—why?!”

“I just wanna see it! I’m curious!”

“She’s got a point, actually,” said Yuna. “I did you, so fair’s fair, right?”

“Nobody asked you to mimic me!” Rinka snapped back.

What would it look like if Rinka did her best Yuna impression...? Adorable as all get-out, obviously! Which wasn’t to say that Rinka wasn’t cute as herself, of course. That was a given! But the thing about Yuna and Rinka was that they generally made sure that their personalities—as they chose to portray themselves, anyway—didn’t have too much overlap. I wasn’t totally sure if it was something they’d learned to do unconsciously over the course of their close, long-standing friendship, or if it was something that they’d done on purpose to help prop up the Sacrosanct image, but I sort of suspected that the truth was a little bit of both. That was why seeing Yuna emulate Rinka’s mannerisms on purpose was such a rare treat...and why I was really sad that I hadn’t been quick on the draw enough to record it! Which, in turn, was why I pulled out my phone and booted up its voice recorder app!

“Wait, you’re recording me?!” said Rinka.

“Of course! Don’t worry—I’ll have Yuna do hers again at some point over the next few days so I can save it too...”

“Mmgphgh?! Agh, haugh!”

Yuna choked on her food! Please, though? It’d be the perfect thing for me to listen to every night before bed...

“Oh, but come to think of it, maybe it’d be better to give you some time too, Rinka? That way you can think a little harder about your lines,” I mused.

“N-No, thank you! I’d rather get it over with now!” said Rinka. “It feels like the longer I put it off, the higher I’ll be raising the bar for myself... We’ll do mine now, and Yuna can handle hers later!”

“I never said I’d do it again at all, actually?!” Yuna exclaimed.

“Huh? You don’t want to, Yuna...? I mean...if you really hate the idea, I won’t force you or anything...”

“Ugh... I-I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it either...!”

“Woo-hoo!”

“You made that way too easy. Not that I’m any better...” Rinka groaned.

Heh heh heh! Sometimes it pays to be needy!

With that settled, I turned my phone’s microphone in Rinka’s direction. “Okay, the stage is yours!”

“Umm... I’m supposed to act like I’m Yuna talking on the phone, right? Okay, then,” said Rinka. “‘Hey, Yotsuba? It’s me...wh-what’cha up to?’”

“Squee! Not much! Doing great!”

“Hold on a second, Rinka—you’re not even trying to fool her!” Yuna cut in. “This is a Rin-Rin Scam, remember? There’s no point if you don’t put in the effort to make it convincing!”

“It’s not a ‘Rin-Rin’ Scam if I’m imitating you, is it?” Rinka countered. “Actually, can we drop that name altogether? It’s vaguely humiliating.”

“Okay, okay! You’re pretending to be me, so it can be a Yu-Yu— No, scratch that. I see your point now. Saying it myself makes it feel like I’m being super attention-hoggy.”

“But ‘Rin-Rin Scam’ and ‘Yu-Yu Scam’ both sound so cute!” I said. “And actually, I think Rinka had your voice down pretty darn well! It was the cutest thing ever!!!”

“W-Was it...?” Rinka muttered. It seemed like she couldn’t quite decide whether she was happy about that or not, and chose to snag a piece of Yuna’s rib meat instead of pressing the issue any further.

“I get you. Should we be happy or upset right now? I have no clue,” Yuna said with a deep, understanding nod. I noted that she hadn’t protested the meat theft at all.

I mean, look—even I could tell that Rinka wasn’t totally on board with this, okay? The thing is...I just couldn’t help myself. And can you blame me? This is the very first after-party I’ve ever been to in my whole life! People always get just a little bit more assertive when they’re thrown into open, unreserved situations like this! I think it’s called getting drunk on the atmosphere, or something? I never thought the day would come when I, Yotsuba Hazama, would experience that particular brand of intoxication... If you’d told me a year ago that this would happen, I probably would’ve bought one of those page-a-day calendars just to count down the days until the moment arrived!

But, anyway...I should probably apologize, shouldn’t I? Good manners are important, after all, even with the people you’re closest to.

“Sorry, Rinka,” I said. “But, umm, I really meant what I said about it being cute, and I know I’ll never forget it for as long as I live...a-and all that stuff about recording it was just a joke! I was just kidding about recording you later too, Yuna!”

“Why’re you acting so timid all of a sudden?” asked Yuna.

“Well...I might’ve been having fun, but I didn’t want to make you two have a bad time for my sake. If I did, I’d end up going home and spending all night regretting it for sure,” I mumbled.

“I could say the same about wanting you to have fun,” said Rinka. “It’s not that it really bothered me...embarrassment aside, I mean. Making sure you enjoy yourself is my—is our highest priority.”

“And in that sense, I guess we hit it out of the park tonight,” Yuna said with a slightly tired chuckle.

A moment later...

“Okay, here’s your order! One plate of intestine and another helping of rice!”

“Oh, that’s mine! Thank you!” I said. The waiter set my food down in front of me and I started moving the intestine over to the grill right away...only to notice that Yuna and Rinka were both giving me the same sort of strained-but-amused looks.

“Yotsuba...you’re a pretty heavy eater, aren’t you?” said Yuna.

“Right? She hasn’t stopped for a moment since we got here,” Rinka noted.

“Wha— Really?! I thought I was really slowing down,” I said.

“Slowing down, maybe, but you haven’t stopped at all,” said Yuna.

“You’ve been grilling and eating the whole time, even while we were talking. Also, how many bowls of rice does that make?” asked Rinka.

“Umm...” I said, pausing to try to remember...and giving up. I might not seem like the sort of person who’d stress about her weight, but there were some realities not even I was prepared to confront. “I-I don’t eat this much every night, just so you know! It’s just that we’re at an all-you-can-eat place, and this one has really good intestine, and I’m a little worked up about being at my first after-party, and on top of all that, I’m sitting in front of a pair of super pretty, incredible girls! The atmosphere’s making the food taste so good, I just can’t stop!”

“It’s incredible how effective your casual flirting can be,” said Rinka.

“And the fact that she doesn’t have any ulterior motives when she compliments us makes it so much worse,” added Yuna.

My impassioned appeal didn’t seem to have resonated with them. They were watching me like a pair of parents would watch over their child.

Ugh... Well, fine! I wasn’t kidding about how much fun I’m having, or about how the food’s so tasty I could keep eating forever! I thought before defiantly placing yet another order with the table’s tablet. Time was a-wasting, after all!

◇◇◇

Some time later, when our two-hour limit had run its course...

“Blugh... I ate way too much. Think I’m gonna be sick...” I groaned.

“What did we tell you?” Yuna sighed. “I knew you were pushing your luck.”

“Are you all right? Do you need to sit down for a moment?” asked Rinka.

“Sure, thanks... Sorry for the hassle...”

I’d filled my stomach with meat, then kept going until I was right on the verge of bursting. The unsurprising result: intense nausea. Yuna and Rinka ended up having to hold me upright as we walked along.

Ugh... I feel terrible, in more ways than one. Had the restaurant cast some sort of yakiniku magic on me? Or had I just been too hyped up on first-ever-after-party adrenaline to regulate myself? Or maybe the meat that I’d eaten had swollen inside my stomach postconsumption?! One way or another, I felt ill in the same sort of way I always felt when I got carsick...and the fact that all the meat had been a lot fattier than I’d given it credit for in the moment probably wasn’t helping. My first-ever after-party and I dropped the ball at the last second...

“I see an open bench just in front of the station,” said Rinka. “Should we stop there, Yotsuba?”

“Sure...” I groaned. “Oh, but it’s pretty late. Maybe you two should just go home...?”

“Dummy,” said Yuna.

“Of course we won’t leave you alone,” added Rinka.

Ugh... Of course they’d say no, and of course they’d scold me for suggesting otherwise.

I sat down, and Yuna and Rinka sat on either side of me. Rinka gently stroked my back, while Yuna pulled a plastic bottle of water from her bag and offered it to me. Their nursing had me feeling a little better already...and the relieved sighs they let out made it clear that they could tell.

“This is the most you thing you could’ve possibly done, honestly,” said Yuna.

“Isn’t it just?” Rinka agreed. “And when there’s still so much left to do this evening.”

“Huh...?” I grunted. I wasn’t quite picking up on what Rinka had meant to imply with that. I’d been under the impression that we’d be having a meal, then going home...

“Hey, Yotsuba. What day is it tomorrow?” asked Yuna.

“Umm... It’ll be, uh, November 2nd...?”

“Right. And what’s November 2nd?”

At that, the free-spinning gears in my boiled brain finally clicked together. They only managed to produce one answer, mind you, but it seemed like a pretty likely one.

“It’s...my birthday?”

“Exactly!” Yuna and Rinka said in excited unison.

It was true. November 2nd was indeed the one and only birthday of one Yotsuba Hazama. You might think that this would be the part where I pathetically groused about how gloomy loners like me didn’t deserve birthdays—it would be pretty in character—but my family always made a point of celebrating with me every year, and last year Yuna and Rinka had done so as well. It was one of the most special days of the year for me, no question about it. Was it really special enough to make a big deal out of it the evening before, though...?

“And your birthday this year will be a first for us,” Yuna continued.

“A first? How?” I asked.

“Our birthdays are both in April,” said Rinka, “and back then, we weren’t in this relationship yet, were we?”

“Oh...” I instantly realized what they were trying to say. Tomorrow would mark the first time one of us had had a birthday since I started dating the two of them.

“We know that you’ve always celebrated with Sakura, Aoi, and the rest of your family,” said Yuna. “They’re the ones who’ve always made the biggest deal out of your birthday. But the thing is—and maybe this is just a little selfish of us, but still...it’ll be our first birthday with you as your girlfriends. This year, we want to be the ones who make the biggest splash, you know?”

“So we decided to cheat the system a little,” said Rinka. “We made plans to celebrate before your birthday technically arrived.”

“You...did? Is that what this was? I had no idea...”

“Because we were careful to make sure you wouldn’t notice,” Rinka said with a slightly bashful grin.

“But considering the state you ended up in, and that we really don’t want to make it worse, it looks like we’re gonna have to stick to giving you your present and calling it a day,” said Yuna.

“Ugh... Sorry...”

“Look, we’re saying you don’t have to apologize! We got to watch you have a blast today, and we had plenty of fun too! Right, Rinka?”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself. If we’re with you and you’re having a good time, we’re guaranteed to have just as good of a time too.”

Yuna clung to one of my arms, while Rinka took my other hand in both of hers, cradling it in front of her. I felt incredibly loved, which was both wonderful and a little embarrassing. And, more importantly...

“I-I don’t stink right now, do I?!” I yelped. “Oh, jeez, I just know I smell like a barbecue pit...!”

“No, you don’t,” said Yuna.

“And even if you did, we would too. Does the way we smell right now bother you?” asked Rinka.

“N-No, not at all...”

“Then it’s all good!” said Yuna.

There was no way I could ever think that the two of them smelled bad (on account of the fact that my brain had never been equipped with the capacity to see either of them in a bad light to begin with), so all I could do was accept that they’d won this round. What was all that stuff they were saying about celebrating my birthday early, though...?

“I think it’s time for us to cut to the chase, Yuna,” said Rinka.

“Oh, right! We didn’t get to cuddle at the restaurant, so I couldn’t help myself for a minute there,” Yuna agreed.

She spent a moment fishing around in her bag, then pulled out a gift-wrapped package. I couldn’t tell what was inside, of course—gift wrap does that—but it did look like it had to be expensive, judging by how carefully packaged it was. It had, like...an elegance to it, I guess?

“Here you go, Yotsuba,” said Yuna.

“We’re still a little early...but happy birthday,” said Rinka.

Yuna held the gift out to me, and Rinka guided my hands toward it. It was physically light enough to easily hold in one hand, but the weight of the feelings that had clearly been poured into it was so great that I was a little worried about whether or not I could bear it. I could feel my fingers trembling, and I knew that Yuna and Rinka had noticed too, but neither of them said a word about it. All they did was wait and watch over me.

“Can I open it?” I asked.

“Sure!” said Yuna.

“Of course,” said Rinka.

I slowly, carefully peeled off the wrapping paper. I wanted to see what was inside as soon as possible, but it had been wrapped so beautifully that it would’ve felt wrong to just tear it open. I was also still pretty worn out, so it took quite a while for me to get it all opened up, but when the package was finally free from its paper, I found myself holding a very classy-looking box. I’d opened one package to reveal another, like some sort of present matryoshka doll—y’know, those little dolls with littler dolls inside them? My anticipation was building. My real present would be inside that box...!

“O-Okay, I’m opening it,” I said before timidly cracking the box open to reveal...a necklace. Its design was fairly understated—the sort of jewelry you could easily wear on an everyday basis—but I knew for a fact that its price tag had been anything but. I recognized the logo inside the box, after all. It was famous enough that even someone totally unacquainted with fashion like me knew it on sight. “Wh-Where did you get this?!” I yelped.

“Oh, y’know! We splurged a little,” said Yuna.

“M-More than a little! This must’ve been so expensive...”

“It took a chunk out of our savings...but that’s fine with us,” said Rinka. “We’ll only get one chance to celebrate our girlfriend’s birthday for the first time, after all.”

“We can just get part-time jobs and save up again,” Yuna added.

They were making it sound like no big deal, but I was convinced they’d really had to push themselves to get ahold of my gift. For a moment, I felt bad about it...but then I shook my head. Apologies weren’t in order this time.

“Thank you... I love it!” I said. I still felt a little bad, but my gratitude outweighed the guilt tenfold.

“We were thinking about getting you rings at first, but they would’ve stood out too much to wear at school, and you just know we would’ve ended up fighting over whose would go on which finger,” said Yuna. “Getting one from each of us would’ve probably been hard for you to deal with too, and we didn’t exactly have the money to—”

“I thought we agreed we’d be keeping all of that to ourselves, Yuna,” Rinka interjected.

“Ah... R-Right, my bad. She just looked so happy, I started blabbing without thinking...”

She was right that getting two rings would’ve been a little hard for me to deal with in the long term...but on the other hand, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t have thought about that at all the moment they gave them to me. I would’ve just been ecstatic.

“So the two of you worked together to pick this out for me...?” I asked.

“Oh, umm... Yes,” said Rinka. “I guess the group gift does raise some questions, huh? I was thinking of getting you something on my own, at first, but I knew that Yuna wouldn’t be happy if I cut in line to give it to you first, and I wouldn’t have wanted her to do it to me either. Then when I decided to talk to her about it, it turned out that she’d been thinking the exact same thing, much to my—”

“Now you’re oversharing, Rinka,” Yuna sighed.

“Oh! Sorry,” said Rinka. She’d scolded Yuna less than a minute ago, only to get scolded right back.

The sheer length and depth of their friendship was on full display again. There was definitely something special there—something truly precious that nobody, me included, could ever intrude on. I’d felt it when I watched them up on the stage too...and the fact that they were using that perfect synchrony to tell me they loved me was far more than I could have ever dreamed of asking for.

“What...?” said Yuna. “Why’re you smirking at us?”

“I was just thinking about how lucky I am, that’s all,” I said.

“Because we could only buy you one present...?” asked Rinka.

“J-Just so you know, we didn’t go in on it together because we were cheaping out on you!” Yuna insisted. “And we’re planning on celebrating one-on-one with you later on too...but, umm, it’ll have to be a celebration that doesn’t cost very much...”

“You’re going off the rails again, Yuna.”

“Ugh...! Like you’re not just as broke as I am right now, Rinka!”

“Wh-What does that have to do with you running your mouth?!”

“H-Hey, come on, you two! Let’s all calm down, okay?!” I said. It took seconds for them to get all prickly with each other out of nowhere!

I tried to play peacekeeper, but the sparks just kept flying until finally...

“Hey, Yotsuba!”

“Yotsuba!”

...both of them wheeled around at the same time to face me!

“I swear I’ll make you happier than Rinka! Just wait!”

“I’ll make you happier than Yuna ever could, I promise!”

They made their declarations like they were reciting lines from a script, in such stunningly perfect harmony that nobody who witnessed it could ever have disputed the fact that they’d earned their Sacrosanct title. I was so overwhelmed, all I could do was nod vigorously. I guess I really am the villainous interloper who stepped in to ruin the Sacrosanct, I thought as I stowed the necklace away in its box, clenched it tightly in my hands, and made a promise to myself.

One way or another, I’ll be doing something even crazier to celebrate both of their birthdays next year!!!

There wasn’t a moment to waste. April 8th and 16th would be here before I knew it, and I had so much allowance to save up and so many preparations to make! And I’d burned through my savings ages ago by spending freely while I hung out with the two of them!

Oh, but wait—even before their birthdays, I have Christmas and Valentine’s Day to think about...! I-Is my allowance going to be up to the task...? Especially considering I’ll have to get birthday presents for Sakura and Aoi, and for Makina, and I guess Koganezaki and Emma too... I have to celebrate my friends too, right...?

“All right—I’ve decided!” I shouted as I shot to my feet!

“Huh?” said Rinka.

“D-Decided what?!” yelped Yuna.

Their fight (if you could even call it a fight, which honestly, you really couldn’t) had been momentarily forgotten. I turned to look at them...and declared my intentions at the top of my lungs!

“I’m gonna get a part-time job!!!”

Silence. Wide-eyed, gaping stares. Expressions that practically screamed, Where on earth did that come from? then quickly faded away, replaced by something more openly apprehensive.

“I’d, umm, really like to say that you should go for it, and that we’ll be cheering you on,” Yuna somewhat uncomfortably began.

“But I don’t really think you’re very suited for that sort of thing,” Rinka said, stepping in to finish the thought.

“Whaaat?!”

That was a really calm, gentle way to completely shut me down! Granted: I can’t actually picture myself doing well at a part-time job either!

“And more importantly, you know that finals are right around the corner, don’t you?” asked Yuna. “Have you been studying? We don’t have midterms in the second semester, but that’s no good reason to let your guard down! It means that finals are weighed more heavily in our final grades, actually!”

“And now we’re jumping straight into a super serious reality check?!”

“There’s also the school marathon to worry about,” noted Rinka. “You really trailed behind the pack last year, and I’m worried it’ll make it hard for you to enjoy the school trip if you repeat that performance this time. It’s right after the marathon, after all.”

“I totally forgot that that hell on earth was even a thing, and now you’re telling me it’s coming up any day now?!”

My moment-of-excitement declaration had already been put on ice. This was no time to think about getting a job! A very unpleasant dose of reality had just come knocking! Seriously, why are high schoolers this busy?! There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to get ready for all this stuff at once! They say that blessings don’t come in pairs, so why do trials get to come in sets of who even knows how many?!

“It’s fine, Yotsuba! I’ll help you study! Your goal this year’s to not fail any of your finals!” said Yuna.

“And I’ll help you get in shape,” Rinka chimed in. “It’ll be hard to build up much stamina in the time between now and the marathon, but we can at least work on controlling your pace and polishing your running form. That should make a huge difference.”

They’re so helpful, their goodwill is blinding me...! Can I really handle preparing for the tests and the marathon at the same time, though...? There’s only one of me to go around, you know...?

“And now that that’s decided, this is no time for us to be fighting!” said Yuna.

“Agreed. It’s our duty as Yotsuba’s girlfriends to make sure she overcomes all the challenges in her path!” said Rinka.

Is it just me...or are they super fired up now?! Weren’t we celebrating my birthday just a minute ago?! And giving the cultural festival a send-off before that...? We’re moving through topics at light speed, here! Can’t we stop and enjoy the moment?! Like, just take it nice and easy for a little...?

“Don’t worry, Yotsuba! I’ll make you the perfect study schedule—you’ll see!”

“And I’ll put together a perfect training regimen!”

“H-Ha ha ha... Yaaay...”

Yup, I’m sure they will. That schedule and that regimen will be as perfect as they come, except for one tiny little problem: I’ll be the one who has to put them into practice...

Flanked by my hypermotivated girlfriends, I finally realized that the end of the cultural festival had not, in fact, marked the finish line for my troubles and tribulations. No, it was just the starting line to a whole new set—a fact that I grimly accepted as I held back the urge to cry.

If only I had a few extra mes to help, maybe I could... Actually, no. On second thought, no number of mes would be able to pull this off!

Afterword

Thank you very much for reading Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta The Fifth!

With this volume, the childhood-friend-centric storyline that began in The Third has reached its end. What did you think of it?! I’m sure plenty of readers will react with something along the lines of “That’s what she settled on?! Really?!”—but Yotsuba Hazama is, by her very nature, a girl who always takes the most direct path to the outcome she desires. Have mercy on her, please!

Now then, there were all sorts of twists and turns along the path that led us to this point, but I’m truly glad that The Fifth managed to make it to publication in the end. It feels like I’ve really accomplished something—I wrote all sorts of scenes that I’d been wanting to put on paper for a long time, and got to enjoy plenty of Kuro Shina’s illustrations while I was at it. There are still plenty of sides to all of the characters that I’d like to show more of, but on the other hand, I do feel like I’ve been able to depict all of them as at least a little more than their most basic selves, hopefully.

In all likelihood, this volume will mark a stopping point for this series. That is not, I assure you, because I decided that here is where the story should end. Rather, it’s because of the fact that unless the series manages to make some sort of dramatic, status-quo-upending breakthrough, a variety of practical considerations make its further continuation unrealistic. If you’re wondering why I didn’t decide to bring it to a clear and formal conclusion...well, just think of it as a show of stubbornness on the part of me and everyone who’s helped make this series a reality. I do have (some) ideas for what a continuation could look like, after all!

The tragic reality—if that’s the right wording for it—is that I’m grateful just to have been able to keep this story going for as long as it has. In light of this likely being the final opportunity to do so, I also themed the bonus short stories available by purchasing this volume at particular retailers around a “What if?” sort of theme, setting each of them several years down the road from the point at which the story ends. (They are all just what-ifs, of course, and should be viewed as purely hypothetical thought experiments for what might happen in parallel universes that might not even necessarily totally stick to the continuity as established in volumes one through five. I hope you’ll be able to enjoy them with that caveat in mind!) All in all, I’m glad that I was able to bring this story to a conclusion that I enjoyed.

Needless to say, I most certainly did not make that happen on my own! To start, the illustrator who’s been providing incredible artwork for the series since its very inception, Kuro Shina, deserves tremendous credit for everything from the initial character designs to the stunning illustrations that made all of those characters more lovable than ever. I also owe it to my initial editor, who found the short story that this series was initially based on rolling around on the internet and made its long-form publication into a reality, inspiring all sorts of new characters and plot developments along the way, and to my second editor, who facilitated the publication of the fourth and fifth volumes despite the year-and-a-half-long gap between them and the third. If even one of them had been missing, this story could never have turned out the way it did.

Finally, this story could never have reached this point if it weren’t for all the readers who’ve followed it. If it had been canceled after the first volume, then Makina would never have appeared at all, and Koganezaki would never have gotten to be anything more than a member of the fan club. It’s all thanks to you that that didn’t happen, and from time to time I still go back to read the reviews you’ve left for it—they never fail to encourage me!

I deeply regret that I can’t satisfy the readers who’ve made it clear that they want the story to keep going...but fear not! As of 2024, the moment at which this volume was initially published, the world has begun to enter an unprecedented yuri boom!!! Yuri-themed novels and manga are being adapted into anime form one after another, and new series are coming out in droves as well! There’ve been all sorts of developments throughout the light novel industry, and the possibilities for what could come next are genuinely exciting. I’m positive that all sorts of new and compelling series will be coming your way soon enough!

One of the most fun things about books is that you can never know when a reader will encounter a volume for the first time. Some of you likely eagerly awaited this volume’s release, bought it on that very first day—Christmas Day, 2024—and read it immediately, while others probably waited for the New Year, waited for another New Year on top of that, or even picked it out from the old-books shelf at a used book store. If that sounds like you, and if you read this afterword and find yourself thinking, “Too bad...I wish I could have read more,” I encourage you to not stay trapped in the past. Instead, face forward and channel that energy into cheering on all the wonderful series you’re sure to encounter from here on out! That’s the best possible way to play your part in supporting them. That’s a fact that has always been true and will never change! Speaking personally as a fan of the yuri genre, I look forward to watching it grow and mature from here on out, and I can’t wait to find whatever new series happens to become my next favorite!

So...that probably would have been a mildly sad but stylish way to wrap this afterword up, but the truth is that even as I write these very words, I’ve been working on a brand-new series. Its name: My Older Stepsister Wants to Be My Little Sister (Final Title Pending)!!! I’ve only written a plot outline so far, but the plan is for it to be just as fun, wild, and slightly morally dubious as Yuri Tama. Speaking as a self-proclaimed member of the Make Overlap Overlap with Yuri Culture Committee (current membership: just me), I fully intend to continue to be an active participant in the yuri boom! I hope you’ll look forward to it!

And with that, thank you very much! Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite!