Prologue 2

Subaru: I forgooooooot!

Hokuto: Whoa?! Wh–what’s the matter, Akehoshi? Don’t shout out without warning; that scared me!

Makoto: Gooood morning, Akehoshi-kun... What did you mean by that, anyway?

Mao: Are you still asleep, Subaru?

Subaru: No, I mean, the cherry blossoms! I forgot about the cherry blossoms! I was making a wish!

Hokuto: The cherry blossoms? It’s supposed to be a late bloom this year, so you still have time...?

Subaru: Sorry! I’ll be right back!

Hokuto: Where are you going? Hey, Akehoshi...?

What’s up with him? He isn’t making any sense. I’ll go after him and bring him back.

Can you stay here? When the teachers come back, explain what happened for me.

Mao: Gotcha~

Cherry blossoms, huh... Do you have any idea what this is about, Makoto?

Makoto: Huh? Umm... well, I think last year they bloomed a lot earlier than this year?

I remember watching the buds open right before my eyes, too. It was like magic.

I mean, wasn’t that when all of us came together for the first time? Under the cherry tree, remember?

Mao: Wait, you might be onto something. When did we first meet...?

I was in your class last year, and Subaru and Hokuto were in a class together.

It’s not like we were best buds right off the bat... We hit it off after we did a show together, right?

But I’m pretty sure that was in the fall.

That DreamFest where we were labeled as the first year reps, I think.

Makoto: No, I’m not talking about when we formed our unit; there was another time when we all just ran into each other by accident...

It had a pretty big impact on me, for some reason.

And that was around spring, I’m sure of it... because I remember getting to see the cherry blossoms bloom.

Now that I’m thinking of it, didn’t Akehoshi-kun make a wish back then? Some kind of prayer, he said.

Mao: No idea. Uhh...

Oh yeah, I think it’s coming back.

It was that time when we all came together for the first time, right? Man, I can’t believe I forgot about that.

Makoto: It happens. I mean, you’re insanely busy all the time, so there’s only so much you can keep in your head.

It’s not like anything special happened back then.

Makoto: The cherry blossoms might have already been in bloom, even; they just looked special to me.

But I do remember us all watching the stars in the night sky.

It makes sense if you didn’t really pay attention to it or if you forgot about it.

Mao: Nah, I think that was a pretty important event for us, right? The kind of thing we’d write in our autobiographies after we make it big as idols.

Ahaha, I can’t believe I’m already talking about autobiographies just ‘cause we won the DDD.

We’re still total nobodies, though.

Makoto: Well, that’s fine. It’s good to dream big, and it’s not like we haven’t pulled off something incredible...

We’ve earned the right to get a little cocky, right? ♪

Mao: Ahaha. I’d say you’re way too modest—or more like, it feels like your self-esteem is in the pits... so you should definitely be more cocky.

You’re a lot better now, though. Last year you were so jumpy and nervous about every little thing—it pissed me off, kinda.

When we first met, I kept feeling like I was bullying you.

Makoto: Well, weren’t you, though? I had a pretty bad impression of you because of what happened back then.

Mao: Seriously? It was my job, though. I couldn’t help it. But I’m not saying we should forget about it just because we’re friends now, either.

...Hang on. The new girl doesn’t have a clue what we’re talking about. Sorry.

Makoto: Oops, sorry. We got carried away talking about the past.

But you weren’t here last year, so you wouldn’t know anything about that.

Mao: You guys haven’t talked about last year with her yet?

Well, it’s been a neverending onslaught since she transferred here... Crazy to think it’s only been one month.

I guess we really haven’t had the time to get into it.

But I don’t want to be so closed off, y’know? You really pulled through for us during the DDD. And now you’ve become one of our closest friends, too.

We should share more about ourselves. And I hope you’ll tell us more about your old school too, sometime.

We’re like a family now, so I don’t want us to hide anything from each other.

It’s not like we can start talking with the teachers until Hokuto and Subaru come back, right?

So we’ve got some time. I’ll tell you a bit about what went down back then.

Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m gonna die after how much effort I put into the DDD...

But my mind keeps coming back to those memories, like they’re playing on repeat.