set theory 7

Makoto: ...Eep?!

Mao: Wh–what’s up? Don’t grab onto me so suddenly, I’m gonna think some perv jumped out at you or something!

Makoto: Sorry, no... I saw a a shadow moving under that cherry tree over there. I–I thought it might be a ghost and got scared!

Mao: A shadow...?

Subaru: ......

Hokuto: ......

Mao: What’s with them? They’re just standing there together...?

Makoto: Oh, it’s Akehoshi-kun! Heyyy ♪

Subaru: Huh? Oh wow, here you are again, Yuuki-kun! Are you on your way home?

Makoto: Yep. What are you doing out here? Taking your puppy for a walk?

Subaru: Nailed it~ I always go through here.

Mao: You know them, Yuuki? Umm, that’d be Akehoshi aaand Hidaka from... Class A? What the hell are you two doing?

Hokuto: We’re not really doing much of anything. We bumped into each other on the way home and started talking.

I’m heading out. I want to make sure I eat dinner and get some rest for tomorrow.

Subaru: Huhhh? C’mon, let’s keep talking! Look! The stars are super pretty tonight!

We could stargaze while we shoot the breeze—it’s like living in the moment, right? ♪^[1]

Here, look! The cherry blossoms haven’t bloomed yet, so it looks like all the twinkling stars are taking their place~ ☆

I heard from my dad once that there’s a story about the cherry tree here in this park...

If you bury something important to you at the base of it, it’ll make your wish come true.

Hokuto: Ah, I heard the same from my father. But it’s a stupid story with no basis in reality.

If you have enough time to be infatuated with fairy tales, you should be using it on muscle training. Dreams aren’t meant to come true; they’re meant to be fulfilled.

Bye, Akehoshi... I’ll see you in class tomorrow.

Subaru: Heyyy, wait, wait! I wanna talk more with you, Prince Charming~ ♪

Hokuto: Don’t call me that.

Mao: Haha. I don’t really get it, but it sure is lively... what a weird group ♪

Makoto: ......

Mao: Mm? What’s wrong, Yuuki?

Makoto: No, it’s probably my imagination. I just thought I saw some of the cherry blossoms start to open up.

One by one, the more we keep talking... like the twinkling stars.

It’s just a coincidence though, or some kind of illusion. We’re still just nobodies, after all.

We can’t make the cherry trees blossom or... well, anything magical like that.

But I’m sure it would be really beautiful if we could ♪

Mao: Let’s bring the tree back to life~ or something? If that’s what you want, we could start digging up the roots of the tree. There’s probably a bunch of valuable stuff buried down there.

Subaru: Huh, seriously? Get digging, Daikichi! Yesss, I’m gonna get rich... ☆

Hokuto: Hey. Stop that, Akehoshi. It’s a breach of public welfare to dig up the park grounds.

You’ll get your uniform dirty, too. If you get mud on it, you’ll end up losing money on the cleaning fee.

Don’t get yourself misled by this dumb story. You’re not a little kid anymore.

Face reality and grow up.

Subaru: Whaaat? But it’s fine to dream! We are still kids!

If we only ever care about reality, we’ll just get bored and worn-down. That’s why we all dream at night, right?

In our dreams, we’re the protagonists! And any kind of miracle can happen, you know? Ahahahahaha ☆