Chapter 9

Hokuto: ......

(Hm. I ended up coming pretty far out while I was wandering.)

(Well, that’s fine. I can concentrate on my thoughts better where it’s quiet. I like spending time with those guys, but we tend to lose our train of thought and get sidetracked often.)

(...Trickstar tends to stick together, but we should look around at our surroundings, too—hmm.)^[1]

(Why did I just remember what the student council president told us? I suppose it’s because we’re still sticking together, despite his advice.)

(But this is different from back then. We’ll have Anzu with us as our producer for Sunflower Live.)

(It irritates me, but what he said was right.)

(Idols can’t exist on their own—They can only shine with the help of people like the producers who produce us.)^[2]

(This won’t be a repeat of Summer Live. Well, we’re not up against any formidable opponents like Eve this time, anyway.)

(I’d be offended if the other performers started thinking that they had a chance to take down Trickstar while we’re depressed from our defeat at Summer Live.)

(We’ll give them a show that’ll make them regret ever thinking that for a second.)

...Gwoh?!

Natsume: Why hello there, Hokke-kun ♪

Fufufu. I suppose it was worth it to come to beach if it meant I got to hear you shout out so stupidly.

Hokuto: Sakasaki, you... What are you doing here?

Natsume: Don’t glare at me. I just happened to see you and decided to call out to you.

We are classmates, after all. It’d be rude of me to ignore you.

Hokuto: Don’t lie to me. Well, it’s true that we are classmates—but you put something cold on my neck, didn’t you? That’s why I shouted.

Natsume: It’s so hot out, and you’ve been talking nonstop to yourself without bothering to rehydrate.

I suspected you might have heat stroke, so I bought you a drink.

I’d prefer if you thank me instead of pushing all the blame on me.

Hokuto: Hmph. You might say that, but I’ll bet the truth is that you bought that for yourself. And then when you saw me, you did all that to scare me, right?

Just recently, that masked pervert did the same thing to me. I doubt it was out of malice, but I do think you were trying to make fun of me.

Natsume: Hmmm, well aren’t you perceptive, Hokke-kun. I didn’t expect to have become a cheap knock-off of Wataru-nii-san—of course you’d see right through me.

Hokuto: Anyway, what are you doing here, Sakasaki? You’re just as bad at swimming as I am, so I doubt you came to the beach to go swimming.^[3]

Natsume: Correct. Wataru-nii-san asked me to come down, so I’m heading there right now.

Hokuto: The masked pervert? I’m almost sorry you have to go through all this, then.

Natsume: I’m sure that’s how you feel, but I’m built different. There’s a possibility that I’ll be able to learn more magic from him.

Hokuto: Some of that guy’s tricks do look real, but you know magic doesn’t actually exist in this world, right?

Natsume: You have no sense of imagination, Hokke-kun. I can’t believe you would say that knowing that Switch is a unit of magicians who cast magic of happiness...

Are you by chance denying our entire selling point?

Hokuto: No, sorry. I didn’t mean it that way, so I hope you aren’t too upset.

Natsume: It doesn’t matter that much. I also upset you, so I suppose we’re even.

I’ll be going now, but let me offer out one last word of advice.

Don’t use your phone while you’re walking around. Keep your eyes straight ahead, and never look down.

No matter your regrets, you can never turn back time... ♪

Hokuto: (...Hm, there he goes. He’s as suspicious as ever.)

(I don’t need him to tell me that, though. I won’t be stuck in the past forever. I’m going to walk side by side with everyone into the future.)

(The wind is getting chilly. I should probably go back to them.)

Subaru: Fufu, I got so many~... ☆

Looks like the Anzu-Daikichi tag team got a bunch too, but I’m totally the winner here. Yayyy!

Hokuto: You look frustrated, Anzu. I understand, though; it’s always frustrating to lose, no matter the situation.

That’s why we won’t lose to any of the idols at Sunflower Live. We’ll be the best.

Subaru: Yeah no. That’s not what we’re talking about here.

But I’m definitely gonna be the best at Sunflower Live too!

No, we’re gonna be the best together! All righty! Let’s start training for Sunflower Live! Hop to it~!

Mao: Wait, it’s so late already. I think we had a little too much fun playing around while we were supposed to be coming up with ideas.

Makoto: Ngh, then should we get together tomorrow to talk about our ideas and make the shirts?

The teachers would definitely get mad if we went back to school right now.

Hokuto: Yeah, let’s meet in a classroom tomorrow morning. Is Class A okay?

Mao: Yep. ...Oh.

Ritsu: Zzz... ♪

Mao: Ahaha, my back’s so sore from carrying Ritsu around this whole time. So I think I should head on home.

Hokuto: Right, then we’ll see you at school tomorrow.

Izumi: Yuu-kun~ ♪

It’s late, so we should go home together. Onii-chan will take you all the way back to your house, okay? We can even hold hands, just like we used to ♪

Makoto: Nope, I’m good.

Look, Narukami-kun’s calling you. Does he need you for something? Don’t worry about me, go see what he wants.

Izumi: Nnn, you’re being so mean to me, Yuu-kun... But next time we’ll definitely go home together, okay? It’s a promise!

Makoto: Ahaha, nope, no promises...

Makoto: Sigh... He’s finally gone. Oh yeah, Suou-kun said he had a curfew, so he left a while ago. What about everyone else?

Subaru: I’m A-okay! I told my mom I’d be out late, so I’m fine for whenever!

Hokuto: No problems here. What about you, Yuuki?

Makoto: Nope, I told my mom I’d be late. Oh, don’t worry Anzu-chan; we’ll take you home.

Subaru: It’s always just one of us taking you home, so I bet it was lonely being all alone.

But now you’ve got the three of us! We’ll have fun the whole way home~ ♪

jp proofing: Mai
eng proofing: Findermao