Ikuta Erina yawned as she struggled to keep herself awake. Her grades have been slipping all throughout the semester, and she knew she had no choice but to buck up if she were allowed to continue her idol life in Morning Musume. She reached out for the photo-frame containing a picture of a cherished, happier memory: One she had taken with Niigaki Risa on the night when the older had just concluded her graduation ceremony from Morning Musume and Hello Project. Her face carved a small smile..to herself, recalling that bittersweet memory, until the sound of the doorbell ringing jolted her from her reverie.

"Haiiii!" Erina yelled as she raced down the stairs. Panting, she opened the door to find a smiling Michishige Sayumi and Mitsui Aika at her doorway, carrying paper-bags in their arms.

"Konbawa" the senpais greeted in sync.

"Mitsui-san!" Erina cried. "It's so good to see you after so long! We all missed you" Erina hugged her ex-senpai warmly. Breaking away from the hug, she turned towards and acknowledged Sayu.

"Leader!" Erina hugged the bunny. "How have you been? To be honest, I wasn't exactly expecting you to come especially when you've been having a busy schedule all throughout this week"

Sayu smiled sweetly, ruffling the kyuuki's hair "I just thought I'd drop by since I was in the neighbourhood. Plus, I'm a little worried about my little kouhai flunking some of her classes this semester"

"So you're here to check on me?" Erina bowed her head, embarrassed.

"She wouldn't be flunking THIS badly if only she had concentrated on her classes" For a moment, all three were surprised at the blunt comment. They turned to face the stairway where Niigaki Risa's cold eyes met them.

Risa gave the 8-ki and the current Musume leader a small smile. "Welcome back you two..If you'll excuse me, there's something I have to do outside. Help yourselves to the stuff in the fridge ok?"

"Haiii" Sayu replied tentatively, watching the back of her former leader disappear out of the front door. Sayumi glanced quickly, eyebrows furrowed towards Aika, who could only shrugged her shoulders in reply.

Risa took off her hair-band, letting the cool breeze on the beach blow her long tresses. Feeling liberated, she took off her sandals, lowering her feet in the warm warmth of summer was still very much alive, she thought, closing her eyes. She sat down on the log-chair which was a gift from an old friend.

"I see you're enjoying the last of bit of summer?" A familiar voice called out to her.

"Aichan..." Risa opened her mouth as she watched the lithe figure of Takahashi Ai approach her, aided by the dim moonlight. "You should stop surprising me like that"

Ai smiled, and for a moment, Risa swore she missed those dimples on the longest-serving ex-Musume leader's face. She couldnt recall exactly how long ago since she last saw them appear on Ai's face.

"I thought I was the one who hated surprises" Ai chuckled, taking the seat next to the bean on the long log-chair.

"Well, yeah.."Risa scratched her head. "But then again, you've forgotten how much I hated haunted houses. I wasn't that much different from you, Aichan"

"I haven't forgotten, Risa" Ai smiled sweetly, left hand stroking the bean's long hair. "I haven't forgotten everything about you...ESPECIALLY your reactions"

Risa burst into laughter. "You know..." her smile then vanished. "This was just what I needed, Aichan"

"Rough day?" Ai asked, looking at the bean with a concerned look on her face.

"Rough's an understatement" Risa looked down on the sand.

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

"You know what?" Risa suddenly changed the subject. "Maybe me and Eripon should take a vacation...I'm thinking of going to Hawaii after her finals are over..Remember the first time we went there, Aichan?"

Ai's eyes were still trained on her friend. "You were only 14 then"

"And you were 16, as I recalled" Risa looked up, gazing at the waves again. "But that was one of the most memorable trips we've ever been on"

"Yeah" Ai now joined her friend in gazing at the waves. "Probably because it was not only our first DVD as Musumes in Hawaii...it was also the first time we were both late when we overslept in our hotel room"

Risa laughed again, until tears started coming out of her eyes "Ahh...I wished we could turn back time and relive those days again, Aichan"

"So where did Gakisan went off too, Eripon? It's awfully late, ne" Aika asked her ex-kouhai.

"She's always out there on the beach at this time of the night, Mitsui-san" Eripon replied, helping to unload the paper-bags from the arms of her 2 senpais on to the kitchen counter. "I don't exactly know what she's doing there...I guess its that time of the day when she wants to be alone"

Sayu stared at Erina "And you never tried finding out? Was she always like this, Eripon?"

Erina swallowed a lump in her throat, hesitating to answer.

"What is it?" The bunny musume leader squeezed the younger's hand. "If it's bothering you, let me know"

"Leader..." before Erina could say another word, she was interrupted by Sayu's ringing cell-phone.

"Ohh, gimme a break" Sayu groaned, fishing out her phone from her pocket, and answering it. "Moshi-moshi..."

"WHAT? You can't make it?!" Sayu yelled, making Aika and Eripon flinched. "Why the hell are you telling me this now?" Sayu stood up and walked away from the kitchen towards the living room.

When she was finally done with the call, Sayu rejoined the other two at the kitchen, her face contorted in what appears to be a mixture of expressions of anger and frustration.

"Lemme guess... Tanaka-san?" Aika asked in her usual languid voice.

"Ever since she became that badass PUNK rocker, she couldnt even spare one day...ONE ###### DAY..to celebrate a friend's birthday" Sayu ranted, fuming mad. "I can't believe she can just bail out just like that!"

Aika leaned towards Erina, whispering to the younger. "I'm glad I way, I never had to bear the brunt of her poison tongue again"

"Ano..." Eripon said. "Why are you two here today,senpai?"

"You mean you forgot?" Aika asked.

"It's Aichan's birthday tomorrow, silly. That's why we're here to organize the surprise party" Aika slapped the kyuki on the shoulder. "Don't tell me you didn't remember"

Eripon looked down on the table again. "I don't know if we should celebrate Takahashi-san's birthday anymore".

Silence.

"And why not?" Sayu asked, this time, her tone is even, and carried even a hint of kindness at her kouhai.

"I mean..."Erina stuttered, trying to avoid the stare of her senpais. "It's been two years since Takahashi-san's boating accident. And..Niigaki-san...Niigaki-san" The kyuki's eyes were suddenly wet with tears.

"She hasn't been the same, hasn't she?" Sayu asked, tilting her kouhai's head and watching the tears fall freely. She knew now that she need not wait from an answer from the kyuki's mouth, grabbing Erina's back and hugging her Musume member tightly.

"We're here for you,Erina" the tears welled up in Sayu's eyes too. "We're here for you..."