It was an unusual lazy Saturday afternoon as Kirika and Shirabe were in their shared room in the S.O.N.G. sub. Both were lying on their makeshift bed, having pushed together the two single beds in the room to make one larger bed.

Kirika lied on her stomach and she occasionally kicked her foot up in the air as she browsed her phone. Shirabe sat beside Kirika, her legs curled underneath her as she read a book. The two were mostly quiet, as they enjoyed their rare time off in what seemed to be weeks.

"There are a lot of articles about Tsubasa-san and Maria." Kirika hummed excitedly as she looked through several online gossip columns. "I need to catch up on reading them."

"Tell me if there's anything interesting." Shirabe requested conversationally, not even bothered to look at Kirika as she was too busy with her book.

As both girls were friends of the two aforementioned idols, it wasn't really unusual for them to check on articles regarding their friends. What most didn't know however was that Kirika and Shirabe (and Maria) were long time fans of Zwei Wing.

Well, it was a little obvious for Kirika and Shirabe as they did sing Orbital Beat that one time but even after they became friends with Tsubasa, they never really told her or advertised it anyway. To be honest, they were mostly embarrassed to admit it.

"Oh here's an exclusive interview before the GenesiX concert and pictures of the promotional shoot." Kirika announced as she found a suitable article. In response, Shirabe placed a pink ribbon at the page she had just been reading and promptly placed it down on the nearby table. She then mimicked Kirika's position so that she was also on her stomach as the other girl shifted so that they were both comfortable and can see Kirika's phone.

"Maria never mentioned this interview." Shirabe commented with a slightly furrowed brow as she leaned her head on Kirika's shoulder to better see the article. Kirika hummed in agreement as she absently leaned closer to Shirabe as well.

"She didn't even tell us that there was a promotional shoot." Kirika pouted a little as she swiped her thumb down to read more of the article. Not that she could really blame Maria as they hadn't been able to talk about something as mundane as photo shoots when they were being threatened by the Auto-Scorers and Carol. She'll have to ask Maria to tell her the details of this little shoot some other day.

Kirika's eyes practically glittered in excitement as a gallery of the pictures came into view and she enthusiastically jabbed her finger on the phone so that the pictures can be shown in full. There were a dozen pictures in the gallery, all showcasing Maria and Tsubasa in their stage costumes.

"Pretty." Shirabe murmured as her lips quirked into a small smile.

"They look really good together." Kirika squealed in agreement as she nodded several times as if to cement her words as fact. They had to stop for a moment to fawn over a particularly beautiful picture of Maria and Tsubasa standing back to back with a very nice background of the sunset and the sea.

"I wish that they'd really get together." Shirabe sighed softly, almost dreamily. "Maria has been smiling more lately because of Tsubasa-san."

"Yeah, Tsubasa-san is really cool and really good for Maria. They'd be like, the best couple ever!" Kirika enthused as she agreed wholeheartedly.

"Even the tabloids agree with us." Shirabe smiled a bit in smug amusement at the thought. "They talk a lot about their partnership." Even back when the pair sung Fusichou no Flamme way back in the Queens of Music concert, their obvious chemistry onstage was talked about for ages, renewed with more vigor after the release of Seiten Galaxy Cross.

As the two finally got to the end of the article, there were links to more articles to be found at the bottom and a link to go back to the home page. Kirika chose to go back to the home page of the site while Shirabe sat back up to continue her reading of her book.

"Hey, what's this?" Kirika stared down at her phone, brows furrowed

"What's wrong?" Shirabe asked curiously as she glanced back at her.

"There's this new article. Let's see… 'Exclusive! Kazanari Tsubasa caught with a mysterious beau!'." Kirika read aloud. Immediately, both of them paled and looked at each other with comically wide eyes.

"D-D-Dess?!" Kirika yelped in disbelief, finally sitting up properly. "There's no way that should happen! Only Maria could be together with Tsubasa-san!"

"Isn't this what you call being unfaithful?!" Kirika looked a bit like she was about to panic. That couldn't be true right?! There's no way that Tsubasa would get together with someone else when she has someone like Maria!

"They have to actually be together for that to be applicable Kiri-chan." Shirabe responded wisely, being a bit calmer about the news than Kirika. "Although I agree with you. They're the ones that should be together." She frowned thoughtfully at the glaring headline. Neither of them wanted to even think about Maria and Tsubasa not being together.

"Then let's do something about it Shirabe!" Kirika exclaimed in determination as she whipped out her beautiful super spy glasses from nowhere and put them on.

"But what should we do?" Shirabe fretted a little as she put on her spy glasses as well.

"We'll get them together! We'll become matchmakers and we'll call it…" Kirika paused for dramatic effect. "The Operation Love Love Idol Connection DESS!" Kirika then posed with a 'V' for victory sign and Shirabe clapped demurely in response.

"So how are we going to do it?" Shirabe tilted her head in question as Kirika settled back down with a pleased grin.

"Uh, I'm not sure." Kirika deflated a bit as scratched her head sheepishly. She didn't really have an idea on how to bring two people together. "But if the two of us think together, then we'll be able to do it!" Kirika brightened up again as she grinned earnestly at Shirabe.

"Okay. Let's brainstorm on our plan." Shirabe's eyes softened a bit as she watched Kirika be enthusiastic. It was always so heartwarming to see Kirika so determined. It's one of the things that Shirabe loved about the other girl. "So Kiri-chan, what would you do if you want to tell someone that you like them?"

"Eh..? I'm the one that has to answer?" Kirika was caught off-guard at the rather blunt question that Shirabe posed. An answer immediately came to mind however but Kirika blushed brightly as it was a little embarrassing.

Shirabe waited patiently for her answer, her eyes unblinking as she stared at Kirika expectantly. As she was always prone to do when faced with Shirabe's patented stare, Kirika floundered as she stammered her answer.

"I-I just tell them! L-like how I tell you!" Kirika stuttered and blushed deeper at her declaration. Shirabe's own cheeks warmed at the honest answer.

"I… I don't think they're at that stage yet, Kiri-chan." Shirabe said a little unsteadily as she willed her blush away.

"Oh… Right." Kirika laughed nervously as she realized the truth of Shirabe's words. Maybe at the latter stage of the operation they can lock Maria and Tsubasa in a closet and not let them out until they confess but right now, they needed something with a bit more… finesse. Not having any more ideas, Kirika crossed her arms and legs before her eyes closed to better think.

Shirabe was silent for a moment longer as she pondered on how to get Maria and Tsubasa together. Something subtle and private… And then as she looked at Kirika's thinking face, a sudden memory of a folded letter floated in Shirabe's mind and she was struck with an idea.

"That's it." Shirabe announced and Kirika was a little startled as her eyes snapped open.

"What? You thought of something Shirabe?" Kirika asked eagerly.

"Letter." As that one word left Shirabe's lips, Kirika flinched as if struck and her face paled before it turned to a shade of red to rival a tomato.

"W-w-w-what are you saying Shirabe?!" Kirika shook her head frantically as she was vividly reminded of something that she wished with all her heart that never happened.

"Love letters." Shirabe emphasized unerringly.

"Huh?" A little confused and totally flustered, Kirika looked at Shirabe with a slack-jawed expression.

"We can send love letters in their names to each other." Shirabe explained more fully and Kirika gave a relieved sigh as Shirabe made no specific mention to her letter.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea?" Kirika asked with a touch of hesitance. She kind of sucked at writing letters after all…

"Pikan no sora ni shuwashuwa na funsui no shawa…" As the slow words came from Shirabe, Kirika looked like she was about to faint from horror and embarrassment.

"D-DEESS!" Kirika shook her head frantically as she covered her ears with her hands as a futile effort not to hear the rest of Shirabe's words. "Alright already! The idea of love letters is good! Let's do that then!"

As Kirika shouted her defeat, Shirabe smiled smugly and fell silent. Kirika gave a huge sigh of relief as she put her hands down and pouted in defeat. Shirabe can be so mean sometimes!

"So we'll send them love letters to each other?" Kirika asked in confirmation and acceptance as she went back on track. To be fair, Shirabe's idea was kind of good. If only it didn't remind her of THAT. Oh well, she wasn't going to write it as Kirika but as someone else anyway so it should be fine.

"We'll pretend to be them and when they read the letters they'll fall in love! Isn't that how it goes in books and anime?" Shirabe nodded as her thoughts shifted to the possible outcome of the plan. She had seen a few romance stories with love letters and whatnot from books and from the anime that Itaba loaned them before. There's got to be some sort of truth in their depictions right?

"Yeah, but we'll pretend to be them right? And write love letters in their name. How should we do it?" Kirika asked as she felt more comfortable with the plan as time passed.

"Well… What are the characteristics of Maria and Tsubasa-san that are unique to them?" Shirabe pursed her lips in thought. They would need to emulate the pair of idols pretty good if their plan was going to succeed.

"Tsubasa-san is really Japanese-y." Kirika suggested as she briefly thought it over. "I remember that it was mentioned in a magazine that one of her hidden strengths is being knowledgeable in old Japanese poetry." Maybe they can use romantic poetry in the letter.

"Maria's the best at English. She's the one that taught us a lot before." Shirabe then smiled a bit as she fondly remembered that time.

"Then that's it! I'll pretend to be Tsubasa-san and make a letter with lots of old kanji and stuff like that." Kirika grinned triumphantly as they finally have a solid plan. "Shirabe, you're better at English so you can make Maria's letter!"

"Okay, Kiri-chan. I'll try my best." Shirabe nodded with a determined air. With that, the two raided their room for the materials needed for the first step in Operation Love Love Idol Connection. Totally determined, the two completely forgot to even open the troubling article…


Meanwhile…

"Oh, a new article about Tsubasa-san." Miku commented in surprise as she browsed the internet on her phone. A little intrigued at the rather eye-catching headline; she opened the article and skimmed through it. She enlarged the picture that the article was bragging about, only to see Tsubasa with a familiar pink-haired idol that clung to her arm and wore familiar yellow sunglasses.

"Oh, it's just Tsubasa-san with Maria-san." Miku was actually a little disappointed as the one the headline talked about was just Maria. "They made it sound like it's such a big deal."

But then Miku smiled a little at how comfortable those two are with regards to their affections. "Aww, they do look good together. I wonder if they're going to come clean soon…"