Chapter 5

Umm, so it’s like. Well first, one reason is that it looks like Mama and Papa aren’t coming home until the new year.

And that’s fine I guess; I’m not a little kid, so I get it.

I’ve been planning a whole family reunion with them, so I’ve been keeping my plans open.

But now that’s not happening, so I’m free until the end of the year, y’know?

So I feel like I can do like, one more really big thing or something. I have the time and energy for it, anyway.

And the perfect time for that is Star Fes.

SS is being sponsored by Yumenosaki, so it’s gonna get pretty busy for the student council when that rolls around…

But before that, right now, I’ve got nothing else going on.

Hmm… I made a quick glance over my planner. It’s just as you say.

fine’s schedule has been created to accommodate for the chance that President-sama’s health will fail him and he must be hospitalized.

There’s a lot of leeway here.

You got it. I mean, I don’t want the Prez to push himself, either…

He’s pretty weak, and I’d like for him to at least be able to take it easy for the holidays.

We’re doing just fine.

Actually, since he can’t do much right now, the other members should be doing two times—no, three times as muchto show the world that we’re here to stay!

The Prez picked me up when I didn’t know anything at all—when I just thought idols were cool…

He helped me grow, and he stuck me at the top of Yumenosaki Academy. So now I want to repay him for that, Yuzuru.

Well, right now it feels like those obnoxious guys in Trickstar totally stole the top spot from us…

But that’s exactly why I want to show everyone who the real number one is—fine, obviously!

Like, Trickstar’s our representative for SS because they won the DDD, right? Those were the rules, after all.

So that’s why we have to assert our dominance, show everyone we’re the strongest!

If we don’t, no one’s gonna see the truth. Just because we didn’t go to SS… I can’t stand that at all.

Hm. I can’t tell if you’re being ambitious, or if you’re just trying to show off…

Well, I do understand how you feel. It would be undesirable to resign ourselves to play the foil for the protagonist.

As the next head of the Himemiya household, you must not allow yourself to be branded as a loser.

Yeah. But ever since the DDD…

It’s been hard to bring this up to the Prez ‘cause he’s been absorbed in this support role for Trickstar, trying to pick out jobs that won’t clash with them.

It’s been so frustrating… I want to prove we’re stronger, better, and cooler than them.

I wasn’t good enough during the DDD. I held everyone back…

I put so much pressure on the Prez. And thanks to their war tactics of wearing him down, we ended up losing.

But things are different now! I’m all grown up. And I’ll never, ever taste that kind of humiliation again…

I’ll give them SS, but I won’t let Trickstar take anything else from us.

So I wanna show them what fine’s made of at Star Fes! It’s the biggest S1 of the year outside of SS!

If we do that, then no one’ll look down on us anymore!

I don’t think anyone is looking down on us, sir… However, I do see your perspective now.

So you’re writing up a proposal so that fine can take an active role in Star Fes?

Yeah, but it’s so hard. Like, now that I’m here, I realize I’ve never actually made a proposal before.

This whole time… I’ve just been doing what the Prez says, desperately tagging along with my thumb in my mouth and begging him not to abandon me.

That was as far as I ever got; I never thought of doing anything all by myself.

But today, when I saw Hajime working so hard in Starry Night Festival, I thought—That’s not enough anymore…

When he first started school, he was seriously terrible at everything he did.

I got to see him sometimes when out classes did stuff together.

He could sing pretty well, but he can’t deal with it if it’s arranged just a little differently…

He couldn’t sing while he danced—well, he couldn’t even dance at all without falling down.

But today he was a true idol.

Ra*bits is full of inexperienced idols, and they all decided to talk with each other to figure out their course of action—

So they made tons of mistakes. But they overcame those, and they worked so hard—and they got better.

I always figured Hajime couldn’t do anything, but today… Today, he was shining as bright as the Prez.

And when I saw that, I got so frustrated… I’m ashamed of what I’ve been doing up ‘til now.

All I did was obediently listen to the Prez and get praised for being a good kid.

I was spoiled, treated like a kid. But what the Prez needs now is a partner who can stand on equal footing as him.

A strong and independent ally who can fill in for him when he gets sick.

That’s who I want to be. I don’t know how to really put it, but that’s why, even though I still don’t know much of anything…

I want to learn and get stronger by following the example set by Hajime—and even those awful Trickstar guys.

So first, I’m gonna think up a proposal for Star Fes. There’s not a whole lot of time left, so I might not make it in time…

But I’m gonna do everything I can to come up with something. I want to contribute as much as I can to fine.

I’m gonna increase the number of things I can do one at a time, and then I’ll become an idol just like Eichi-sama.

I didn’t come to him just because I’m his fan.

And I finally remembered that… I wanted to sing by Eichi-sama’s side.

I wanted to be one of the people who could stand next to him… No, I wanted to be just like him.

And for that reason, I pushed through Mama and Papa’s resistance and went to Yumenosaki.

They made you go along with me, though… And yet, somehow I still haven’t fulfilled the dream I saw that day.

Eichi-sama smiles at me, and he makes me feel special and loved. And of course that’s enough to make me happy.

But right now, I’m still just a little kid who takes and takes all that love—but can’t give anything in return.