The pink snow coming from the trees scattered among the floor as Honoka and her two best friends swish them aside during their commute. It had been a while since their upperclassmen had graduated, and all the tears had been cried out now. Even then, the atmosphere seemed a little dismal. It didn't feel the same without Nico, Eli and Nozomi.
"How long do you think the school's going to last after this?" Kotori asks, using her right foot to play with a stray red pebble. Honoka chuckles, but says nothing.
"Hopefully long enough for everyone to graduate normally. Who knows how long it'll take anyone to get that far again?" Umi admits. It indeed was a long time. They managed to get through it anyways, but they doubt such an amazing feat could be replicated by another group. μ's relied a lot on luck and charm to get their way up the ranks, not that that was always a bad thing. "Think someone's gonna try to claim our throne?" Umi remarks sarcastically. Honoka laughs this time.
"Who knows? That one blonde from the primary school's probably gonna try it out," the redhead comments. She waves at a car as the triad cross an intersection. Umi looks at her, confused.
"Who?"
"You mean Alisa? Eli little sister?" Kotori mentions. The red pebble ricochet's off of a lamp post and back under Kotori's feet, stopping their walk momentarily.
"I doubt she'll gain any traction," Honoka says coldly, glancing at the little pebble for delaying their walk to school.
"Honoka! That's mean!" the brunette berates her friend lightly. Umi was the one to laugh.
"Well, I can't disagree with that," the archer remarks. "It's not like competition's getting lighter."
"It's amazing we got that far in the first place..." Honoka thinks back to the first dance practice she ever had. It was by herself, doing basic rhythmic steps, but they were the first steps to a journey she never imagined undertaking. They could've made a local bakery, or started an e-sports team, or participated in sensha-dou, but this was the one Honoka stuck with. Dying, desperate schools seemed to be common around Japan.
"How do you think those three are doing now?" Honoka says out of nowhere, her thoughts absorbed deep in her own memories of her upperclassmen. "I mean, do you...ever talk to them?" The whole group falls silent as they wait for the green light.
"...I don't know about the other girls, but..." Kotori trails off, hinting at the feared inevitable. The death of μ's was the one thing they have been and continue to bury deep within their minds in hopes of forgetting about it. But somehow, whenever they reach into their memory for an event, or think about anything in the past two years, the gravestone of μ's always resurfaces, one way or another. The three silently continue their walk up to the school gates.
Kotori kicks the rock at an angle and finds its way in the middle of traffic. "Nico's taking it the hardest."
"I would assume so," Umi says. "Maybe after we all graduate we can be idols again." Despite saying that, the atmosphere remained unchanged. There was just something about being a school idol that would have its charm taken away if they were regular idols instead.
The three girls congregate outside during lunch. Without forcibly restraining herself, Honoka bites down happily into her bread. The two around her ask Honoka how she manages to afford that much bread, to which she responds with an indifferent shrug. While the reward for Love Live was nothing impressive, Honoka and the rest of μ's weren't "poor" anymore because of it. Kotori and Umi believe this is Honoka's way of showing that μ's won Love Live, or that Honoka just like's bread.
Before Honoka got a chance to argue her point, the school-wide intercom rang throughout the school. The one behind the microphone was the chairwoman. "Students of Otonokizaka High," she spoke with a stern, emotionless, cold voice. Knowing her, Kotori knew something was up. All previous activity around the school froze. It was eerily punctual, almost as if time suddenly froze with the sound of the intercom.
"I am, saddened to inform you once again, that the school is undergoing the process of consolidation once more." The chairwoman's voice was surprisingly calm given the situation. The presently upperclassmen of μ's were now the center of attention, almost as if the students around them were expecting a violent reaction, with Honoka shaking her fist at the microphone and requiring the rest of the group to restrain her. All they got were expressions of confusion. "I understand that there might be some questions among you that need to be answered. This is why the Student Council will be having a meeting after school in order to discuss this matter. I repeat, the Student Council will be having a meeting after school in order to discuss this matter."
Honoka, being the Student Council President, already had plenty of responsibilities. This would just have to be another one of them. She stared blankly ahead. "What's wrong, Honoka?" Kotori whispers to her friend. Unsurprisingly, Honoka started to tear up. Wiping her eyes with her sleeves, she collects herself.
"It's okay."
The redhead repeats the mangry of denial to herself over and over again. It was hard on the remaining μ's members, and the ones that graduated would most likely be disappointed as well, but they all knew that Honoka would be the most affected of them all. She had worked the hardest, the one that did what the others didn't, and saved the school in numerous desperate struggles. Nevertheless, it all didn't mean anything. It simply prolonged the death of the school, rather than save it.
"Come on, Honoka," Umi says, motioning Kotori to help her take Honoka to the idol research club meeting room.
"Are you gonna be alright, Honoka?" Kotori pats Honoka's back gently as Umi brings her a tin of tea. The shock from the announcement had still gripped Honoka into a frozen state, unable to say or move if she wasn't directed by her friends. They were expecting her to burst out of emotion any moment, but she remained still. Gradually, but eventually, she began to cry.
Her crying led to sobbing, and her sobbing led to bawling. The others around her were beginning to cry as well, but Honoka was growing out of control. "Honoka, please, I know it's hard, but don't-" Umi was cut off by the now raging Honoka.
"And what are they gonna do about it, huh? What can they do? We're powerless, we're nothing. Everything we did was useless, all useless..." Umi stands up.
"Honoka, understand that you aren't the only person angry about this. We don't know, we might be able to fix it!"
"How? How can you just brush off the fact that everything we worked up for until now was just a waste of time?" Kotori joins in, wishing to stop the conversation if it ever turned into an argument. "And now μ's is gone! We can't fix it anymore!"
"Now, we saved the school, even if it was just for a year, we-"
"They don't get it. Two whole years of my life I could have...I could have put to something useful. Something else where I could have made a difference, but I...they...someone..." Honoka realized that she was trying to find someone to blame, something to pin the crime on. "I wasted my own time." Umi's eyes narrowed even further, slamming the table and lightly rattling everything on it. Kotori was taken back with surprise, but Honoka didn't react, knowing that this was going to be the same as when they failed to join Love Live last time.
"Stop feeling bad for yourself, Honoka. How many times do I have to repeat myself? You think you're the only one that worked for this?" Umi yells back, causing Honoka to shrink deeper into her seat. "I can't believe you'd just give up at the drop of a hat. Like last time. Please, Honoka. Get a hold of yourself." Umi walks out the door, leaving the two alone in the club meeting room.
"Honoka..." Kotori began, but stopped herself, realizing that the former needed time alone.
The school bell rang, and the Student Council convened at the meeting room like they had been for the past few months. The Student Council had been the only serious thing Honoka was working towards other than µ's, but now she felt unprepared. Was she going to have to deliver a speech? How come she wasn't notified of the school shutting down so abruptly? Looking out the window, Honoka saw the students leave in confusion. It struck her as odd how none of them were angry, or despondent. 'It's just me, isn't it?' she thinks to herself.
As always, she was about fifteen seconds late. Everyone had already sat down when Honoka entered the room. This time, she didn't force herself to hold a furtive expression. "Honoka," the chairwoman spoke. Honoka bowed in apology.
"I apolo-"
The chairwoman dismisses her with a wave of her hand. By the look of it, the chairwoman didn't look very pleased. Not at Honoka, but at the situation. "Come, sit. There's no time to waste."
'This isn't like her...' Honoka thinks, taking an awkward empty chair in the corner of the room.
"We're here to discuss the closure and consolidation of the school," the chairwoman begins the meeting. "There isn't much time left before the new management comes in and takes my place, but keep in mind that all students are permitted to remain. They will have to re-enroll for the next term, however." A stray hand in the circle flies up.
"Yes?"
"Do we know who the management taking over will be?" The chairwoman sighed miserably.
"Yes. UTX will be taking Otonokizaka property as their own." A low murmur started within the bunch. "Now, keep in mind, this isn't the first time that UTX has done this. They're expanding their territory outside their main complex. This is not a personal move, it's simply business." Everyone reluctantly agreed. Another hand rose from the crowd.
"How much time are we given to move on?" a student asks with anxious eyes.
"Until the end of this term." The murmur rose to a frenzy in a matter of seconds. There was only a month left. How come they weren't given enough time to prepare?
"Mrs. Chairwoman," Honoka says, freezing the frenzy in place. All eyes were on her. "If I remember correctly, this is against school protocol." The chairwoman sighs again, nodding in confirmation.
"Correct. It is against school protocol for this kind of ordeal to take place with only a month in advance. But, please, understand, that this matter is beyond my power." Honoka raised an eyebrow.
"Beyond your power? You run this school. Surely you had a choice of whether or not it was handed over," Honoka replies. The students around her sat down and looked in anticipation at the chairwoman. Honoka sounded peculiarly calm and intelligent under such duress.
"I..." For once, the chairwoman's professional attitude was left in shambles. She looked nervous, her eyes darting back and forth at each student, who returned the same look of anticipation. "W-Well, I can't help the budget if it doesn't cooperate..."
'Stammering, huh?' Honoka thought to herself. She wanted to just roll over and give up, but she wouldn't let herself do it. Everything she had worked for was riding on keeping the school alive, and this moment. "So there was money involved in this as well?" The chairwoman knew that she was in a corner.
"We've always...had this issue, Honoka. UTX will take care of this school...and..." None of the students were buying it. If they wanted to go to UTX, they would have gone there. They knew that the tuition would skyrocket, the culture would change, and all hopes of a quiet, normal, old-fashioned high school would be gone. They wanted this school and this school only.
"Anyways, all clubs will be preparing to conclude their activities and projects as we begin to shut down the school-"
"You can't do this to us!" One of the students shouted across the room. Their sudden voice cracked the tense air, and the room was back into its chaotic state. Everyone yelling over each other, some of them angry, others sad, but most of them confused. Honoka sat there in her seat, waiting for the frenzy to die down. She wasn't done with the chairwoman yet.
"Everyone, please!" The chairwoman's warnings and attempts of recollection were futile. With the world falling apart at the seams, the chairwoman jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Although she couldn't hear her, the chairwoman read Honoka's lips.
"Why?" The chairwoman's expression was blank and unfeeling, as if the stress had finally mentally broken her to the point where emotions no longer exist. Perhaps she was exaggerating. The moment her eyes met Honoka's, her empty eyes were filled with fear. Her pleading expression was confirmed with her,
"I'm very sorry."
The chairwoman stood up, and the entire Student Council froze again. The legs of her chair squeaked noticeably in the silence. Slowly, she walked out the door. "Meeting adjourned."
A funny little idea I came up with one evening and decided to double down on making. I got some other irons in the fire as well, and I'm not forgetting my ongoing stories. Haven't published something in ages, but it's summer vacation here, so, I'll try my best.
Another note: While the story is currently set after the third-years graduate in Otonokizaka, Aqours is also here in the same time as presented in Love Live Sunshine.
Thanks anyways,
-DWalkthroughGuy
