Chapter 1

“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”

(Ah—)

(I’m having that dream again.)

“Hey everyone, let’s all be happy! I’ve got the results of SS—the biggest festival in the whooole idol industry! And the winner is—”

“Cuteness is justice! Cuteness is unbeatable! Everyone’s favorite Ra*bits takes the crown!”

“~… ♪”

(Ahaha, did we seriously just win SS? There’s no way that could happen, even if hell froze over.)

(Actually—Nii~chan is part of Ra*bits too, so why’s he acting like he has nothing to do with this? He looks more like he’s the one hosting the event. I know it’s just a dream, but that’s way too out there.)

“Congrats~! I always believed in you guys! I always knew you’d be just fine without me!”

(Without you…? What’re you saying? But you came back to us, right?)

(You thought long and hard about your future and ended up taking a detour, all to just live a normal life.)

(And then you took a break from college, put your life on hold, and came back to stand right next to us.)

“Seriously, congratulations! I’m so proud of you guys~ ♪”

(…Nii~chan.)

(Why do you always act like a total bystander? You’re in Ra*bits, too—We’re only where we are because of you, Nii~chan.)

(No, we would’ve fallen flat on our faces at the very beginning. We’d have gotten lost trying to run every which way—We would never have made any progress at all.)

(We are who we are because of you.)

“I love you guys~! You’re my most precious Ra*bits in the whole wide world!”

(Me too. Because I—We—)

“… ♪”

(…? Huh? Why are you just walking right past me?)

(Can’t you see me, Nii~chan?)

Nii~chan!

……

…Hey, you.

Why are you even here?

Huh? Uh…?

—All of this, every single thing, is your fault.

…!

Gah, hah…!

(Oh, thank god! It was just a dream! Right, right, a dream! I knew that!)

(But what did it mean?! When Nii~chan gave me that cold look—)

(I’ve heard something about dreams having to do with your subconscious, but what kinda desires or fears was that supposed to represent?)

Urgh… No, stop! Forget about it! Dreams are just dreams, they have nothing to do with reality!

W–wait, where am I? What is this place?

Shiiit! Did you mess with me again—you Masked Pervert! Come on out where I can see you!

I’m not gonna let you get away with this today! Besides, you should know by now that using real people as your toys is definitely against the law!

(Gh, I’ve gotta calm down! He did all kinds of stuff to me last year, but nowadays Hibiki-senpai has really turned over a new leaf!)

(Actually, he’s been so busy lately that he hasn’t had any time at all to pay attention to me, right? So there’s no way he could be behind this! Probably!)

(But when I woke up I was in this nasty-looking back alley! This is totally the kind of incomprehensible thing Hibiki-senpai would do!)

(What the hell—this is crazy, right? Yesterday, I was at the ryokan they rented out for ES idols with everyone else in Ra*bits—)

(Most everyone placed in Kanto barely has any motivation, but we were seriously gonna give it our all.)

(Even if we can’t win, we were gonna do our best to entertain and soothe all the people that came to see us.)

(We made our pact and lined up our pillows all in a row to be closer, then went to bed.)

(So why did I wake up in some weird place like this?! Maybe I’m still asleep…?)

(I’ve heard rumors about some pretty crazy stuff happening in other regions, though.)

(But things have been relatively normal, peaceful even, where we are in Kanto.)

……

(O–okay, let’s calm down! This isn’t the time to be panicking or overthinking things! I just gotta, y’know, keep calm and carry on! No worrying allowed!)

(First I’ll umm, I’ll call someone to come get me—Wait, where’s my phone?! Actually, I went to bed in a yukata last night—When the hell did I change clothes?!)

(Ugh… What is going on? Even for one of those hidden camera shows, this is way too weird. And I’ve heard you essentially have to get consent from the actor in the first place.)

(…Not that I know how much of that old-fashioned common sense is actually applicable in this day and age, but.)

…Hn?

(What? I see something sparkling over there!)

(Is it like a glint of moonlight or something? It’s silver, and really pretty—)

……

Oh, it’s just you, Masked Pervert. That was dumb of me, thinking your hair was something mystical and mysterious!

So c’mon, what is it this time? What were you trying to do here? What kinda prank are you trying to pull?

I get that fine’s basically got the Kanto Qualifiers in the bag, so you guys have too much free time on your hands.

But that doesn’t mean you can just mess around with me to kill time—

……

? Hellooo? Are you gonna answer me…? Cut it out, are you trying to jumpscare me by suddenly shooting up and screaming “peek-a-boo” at me?

I’m not naive enough to fall for that—It’s basically child’s play at this point, y’know?

……

…Hey. Seriously, quit joking around.

……

……

…No way.

Did… No, is Hibiki-senpai dead…?