Chapter 1
Mid-November, during the SS Qualifying Rounds in the Chuugoku region—the Great Tottori Desert (tentative name)
Okay. I wake up, and now I’m in a desert.
You have got to be kidding me. That’s not even possible! I feel my poor little heart breaking.1
Nope nope, that’s no good! I won't lose hope! No matter what, I can't let myself get down!
We’re 2wink, yeah! We’re in sync! We’ll take you down before you blink! I’ve always been able to hit any curveballs that come my way!
When Yuuta-kun and I join forces—
Wait, Yuuta-kun isn’t even heeeeere!!! Noooo, this is terrible! There’s no hope left for me, I can’t go on! SS is over, 2wink is dead!
Hey hey—Outta the wayyyyy?!
WAHYAHOO?!
Hang on, that’s super dangerous, Mister Hakaze! Just suddenly riding in on a surfboard like that—
Ah! Uwaaaah, it’s Hakaze-senpaaaaai ☆
I love you, Hakaze-senpai! I love you thiiiiis much!
Uh, what’s up with the weird baby talk? You're talking all kinds of weird, you feeling okay? Maybe you should take some deep breaths.
No way, anyone who got thrown into a desert would be the same way!
So if you think about it, I’m actually pretty calm, right? You could say I’m pretty cool, right? Any other guy’d be all rattled around, right?
Huh? Ummm—Which Aoi are you—uhh, Hinata-kun, right?
Yuppers! Hinata in the house! My likes are Yuuta-kun and Yuuta-kun! I dislike spicy food! That’s my official profile!
Uh, right. Sooo I’m getting the impression no one told you about the situation?
Huh? Is… there something weird about that?
Nah, not exactly what I’d call “weird.” You haven’t met anyone else up to this point, right?
Right! The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was you, Hakaze-senpai! If I were Sleeping Beauty, I’d have fallen in love!
But I didn’t even kiss you?
But huh, yeahhh, I get it now—Makes sense.
I was pretty surprised too when I woke up and found myself in a desert first thing in the morning. But before I saw you, I ran into another idol, y’see.
There’re others? Like, you mean the other idols who were placed in the Chuugoku region?
You got it. But it’s honestly hard to tell whether they’re talking about Chuugoku like Japan or Chuugoku like China—Not that it really matters.
Oh, but SS is supposed to be a domestic event, right? So it’d obviously be the Japan one.
Well, whatever. I’m sure you already know this, Hinata-kun, but there’s lots of really strong idols who got placed here.
Plenty of local idols, and some who took part in SS last year, too. And of course, ES sent a bunch of strong units to compete with those guys.
Right, right…
UNDEAD is a stupid strong unit so you guys still have a chance, but didn’t we get stuck with a total crapshoot here? I’ve been grieving our loss with Yuuta for forever.
We thought we were gonna take the world by storm and make it big at SS. We even piled on the special training! Like, shut ourselves up in the mountains and everything.
Uh? Why the mountains? Never mind, my little Adonis-kun and Souma-kun do that too, sometimes.
Anyway. I got caught up in a fight with some totes strong idol I came across.
I tried laughing it off at first, but the dude wouldn’t even give me the time of day.
Dang, really? That sounds pretty rough. What, did you start a Pokémon battle or something?
Nah, we never even pulled out our Pokéballs. I got super annoyed ‘cause it felt like they had a bone to pick with me or something…
Well, they explained all sorts of things to me—even though I didn’t ask them to in the first place. But thanks to that, I get what’s going on way better now.
At least I’m way more level-headed than you are right now, Hinata-kun.
Ohhh, like a silver lining!
Yep. I’d say I’ve got some bad luck in general… But I guess if you lead an honest life, good things’ll come your way now and then.
Anyway, now that we’ve gotten the exposition out of the waaay—
? Hey Mister Hakaze, why’re you creeping up on me like that? Me no likey that scary face…
It looks like it really is my lucky day… ♪
Huh…? Huh…?
You haven’t figured out all the rules quite yet, so I’ll go ahead and help myself to your Desert Coins… ♪
Huuuh?! The heck’re Desert Coins?
Oh, I dunno. That's just what I’m calling them. They’re coins you find in the desert, so—Desert Coins ♪
Okay but like, why are we even in the desert to begin with?!
Hmmm, I guess you’ll find out soon enough?
Get awayyyyy!!! I totally thought it was my turn to have a nice helpful senpai tell me what the heck is going on, but it’s just one thing after another…!