The Sunshine after the Rain 1

Kuro: Whoa, there. Don’t jump out at me all of a sudden, that’s dangerous. You okay, li’l miss Anzu?

If you run in the halls like that, you’ll have to face the wrath of Hasumi-danna.

Why’re you lettin’ someone who looks like a delinquent lecture you like some teacher’s pet, anyway? That ain’t even the kinda guy I am.

Wait, don’t apologize to me. I know you’re all up in the Tanabata Festival planning and shit, so you’ve got a lot on your plate.

I dunno what the teachers and the student council were thinkin’ when they suddenly put you in charge of a whole damn S1...

Guess I’m too stupid to get it. They prolly have some kinda profound reasoning for it.

Still, there’s a limit to what one person can do. I know I’m like a broken record, but if you need a hand just lemme know.

If you fall down and get hurt while rushin’ around, then all that effort’ll be for nothing.

So slow it down a little and don’t push yourself too hard. As for me, I’mma finish up those costumes you asked for help with.

We’re down to the wide here, but I bet we can get it all done in time for the show.

Speaking of that, though. There’s a lot more units performin’ in the Tanabata Festival than I thought there’d be.

I’mma keep it real with you, I can barely deal with my own workload of costumes.

I even ended up outsourcing some of the work to suppliers and the handicrafts club.

But it’s not very artistic if every unit ends up with the same designs in their costumes.

I wanna design the costumes to fit each unit, but I just don’t have enough time for it...

Akatsuki’s goin’ on, too, so I can’t just skip practice.

Haha. Don’t look at me like that, we’ll figure it out somehow.

This’ll go down in history as your first ever project. So we’ll make it a huge success even if it kills us.

Oh. Sorry I made ya stand around talkin’ to me. I know you’re busy.

I gotta go, too. The handicrafts club’s been laggin’ behind in work, so I’m here to check on their progress.

Mm? Why’re you followin’ me? There somethin’ you forgot to say?

Ah, we’re headin’ to the same place. There’s somethin’ wrong with the club’s—I mean Valkyrie’s application for Tanabata Festival?

Huh, that’s weird. Itsuki ‘n that kid’re performin’?

Well, damn. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have asked his help makin’ the costumes.

Itsuki ain’t so hot at multitaskin’; doesn’t have it in ‘im.

But that was a long time ago... I dunno shit about how he is now.

Kuro: Ossu. Hey, is Itsuki in here? C’mon, show yourself.

Mika: Ngah? Hey, this place is s’posed to be locked. How’d you get in here?

Kuro: Uh? Umm, my bad. I think I broke the lock. I thought it was jammed, so I just turned the knob hard as I could.

Mika: Just how strong are ya...? That’s real freaky... but uhh, you need somethin’ in the handicrafts club, Ryuu-kun-san?

Kuro: The fuck’re you callin’ Ryuu-kun-san?

Mika: Eep! You don’t gotta threaten me! I’m real sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude to someone older’n me... umm, Kiryuu-senpai, right?

Hello! My name is Kagehira, and I’m part of Valkyrie!^[1]

Kuro: I know who you are. You’re a second year, right? The one who’s always takin’ care of Itsuki...

Where is he? I need to talk to him.

Mika: Well, he is here, but... well, he’s in that corner of the room.^[2]

Shu: ......

Kuro: Whoa. The hell’s he doin’ pullin’ that blanket over him? It’s hot as shit today, and humid too...

Yo Itsuki, what’s up? Ain’tcha hot under there? You’re gonna get all moldy.

Mika: Ah, y’might just let him alone... Oshi-san’s tryna concentrate right now.

We’re gonna be in the Tanabata Festival, so he’s thinkin’ all about stage direction an’ sets an’ stuff.

He’ll start movin’ around again once he gets things together, I reckon. This kinda thing happens a lot, so...

When he gets like this, he don’t respond no matter how much you talk to him. So if you’d like, I can pass on the message for you ♪^[3]

Kuro: Yeah, you don’t gotta be all polite. It’s just weird. If you’re homies with Itsuki, you’re basically family.

I just wanted to check on how the costumes were comin’ along. But now I’m wonderin’ if Itsuki’s even okay.

Mika: Oh, yes—yeah, the costumes’re all finished. He told me to give ‘em to ya, Kiryuu-senpai, but I done forgot ♪^[4]

Kuro: Huh, okay. Lemme see ‘em. Hmm... I’ve never been as good as Itsuki at sewin, to be honest.

Especially at cutesy designs.

Mika: Ahaha. Oshi-san’s a perfectionist, but it does make ‘im slow.

He was real excited you asked him to help though, so he even been cuttin’ into his sleep time to get ‘em done ♪

Kuro: Deadass...? Well shit, I guess I owe him big time, then.

Actually—with Itsuki all like that, you prolly got some free time, right?

You wanna do some basic trainin’ with me then? I’ll give you some pointers as thanks for helpin’ with the costumes.

Mika: Ahaha. I ain’t bored though, since I gotta take care of Oshi-san an’ feed him an’ stuff.

‘Sides, he told me it ain’t good to take lesson’s from nobody else ‘cause it’ll give me bad habits... He’s always yellin’ at me for it.

Kuro: I see. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be buttin’ in on another unit’s business, anyway.

...But if you’re havin’ any trouble, just lemme know, okay? I’ll lend you a hand.

Mika: Thank ya kindly. ...Ngah, where’d you come from, Anzu-chan?!

You were all hidden by Kiryuu-senpai’s body, I had no idea you was there. D–did you want somethin’?

Huh? Somethin’ wrong with the paperwork?

Augh... we don’t do Dream Fests none too often, so we ain’t used to all that.

S–so what’s wrong with it? Sorry, can you just point it out to me?