Author's Note: Well, it's been about ten months since I wrapped up Purrfect Partners, which was nice (since it took about a year and a half to finally get that done. And now I'm trying to do this craziness all over again. Since this will be my 100th fic on this site, I decided to do something special for it, which means: sequel! With the sequel, we'll be exploring the world of Aqours this time, and how their guardians try to help them get through trying times in their lives.

Chika was laying down on the beach, her arms above her head as she held her phone aloft. On the screen were three girls dancing on a stage to slickly-produced electro-pop beats. Their outfits were outlandish, yet appealing to the eye. They moved so flawlessly with each other, every step having been carefully coordinated. While the moves themselves were different, she felt a sense of familiarity after all those times she had watched Kanan practicing her own dancing. It was the kind of talent she wished that she had worked on back then. School idols were really something.

The beach was so calm in the evenings. Not a lot of people were there, allowing Chika to relax without interruption. The tinge of salt that arrived on the air from the water was a friend she had long ago gotten used to. She loved everything about her quaint little seaside town. The big city was big and bright, but there was something to be said for a place where everybody knew each other by their first names. That didn't mean she couldn't dream...

Lately she'd been having dreams of dancing on stage in front of huge audiences, just like the girls in the videos she watched. It was the dreams that made her start watching the videos, in fact, and made her really start thinking about school idols. Even when Kanan had been in her own idol group, she'd only given it general appreciation, and that was just because her friend was in it. This was different, though. She no longer felt like sitting on the sidelines, watching and supporting her friends. Now she wanted to make her own idol group.

It just seemed so exciting. Sometimes she'd daydream about dancing next to Kanan's group, Aqours, and being part of the idol experience. That's all it was, though: a dream. Not only had Aqours broken up, but even mentioning idols now made Kanan noticeably annoyed. At this point, Chika knew better than to speak about things like that in her presence. It was kind of frustrating, though. Now that she had finally come around to being super excited about idols, Kanan chose to clam up about the whole enterprise. She understood, but... it was still a little annoying.

When the video ended, Chika sighed and sat up, sand clinging to the back of her shirt. Things just weren't the same anymore, and it sucked. There was always underlying tension, and even if Kanan tried to hide it, she knew it was there. She could feel it in the air, but nobody ever wanted to talk about it. Even You felt it was best to just let sleeping dogs lie. That was the most frustrating thing of all, though! She wanted to wake those sleeping dogs and make something happen!

Speaking of dogs... Chika stood up and tried to wipe the sand off of her back, but stopped when she saw something in her peripheral vision. When she turned to look at it, she saw that it was a big, orange dog. It was just sitting on the beach, staring at her. Or at least staring her way. She tilted her head slightly, and the dog mimicked her action. Confused, she took a step towards it, then another. The dog didn't move. In fact, it didn't do anything but just watch her as she approached. It was sort of creepy. There was almost no movement at all until she got close enough to where she could pet it. Then it jumped up and started padding away from her.

"Hey, wait!" She called out, but the dog didn't stop, so she began to follow it. There didn't seem to be a collar on it, so it might've been a stray. Or perhaps it was someone's pet, but it had slipped out of its collar. Either way, it would be best if she called animal control. Still, she found herself following it, curious about where it was going, and why it hadn't ran away upon her initial approach.

They both ended up by a dock, where someone else was standing without realizing she now had company. Chika found her attention diverted from the dog and towards the strange girl with the pretty red hair. She'd never seen her around before, and she looked to be around her age. Was she new to town? What was she doing there? Then she moved slightly, like she was taking a deep breath, before unbuttoning her skirt. "Wh-What the heck?!"

She was wearing a bathing suit underneath, but that freaked Chika out for a second. Then she realized what the girl was going to do, and she freaked out all over again. "Wait, stop!" Her phone fell from her hands and into the sand due to her shock. Forgetting about the dog, she ran through the sand and towards the dock, trying to stop the girl before she plunged herself into the still-chilled ocean. Before she got there, however, the girl started to run down the dock with a loud shout. "Wait!"

The girl had nearly plunged off the dock before Chika grabbed her hand, pulling back with all her might to keep them both upright. Clearly having not expected to be interrupted, the girl looked back at Chika. Their eyes met, and Chika felt like her breath had been taken away. That momentary lapse caused her footing to loosen, and with a screech both of them plunged into the ocean.

"C-Cold!" The new girl shouted out as soon as she came back up, with Chika right behind her.

"Y-You think?!" Chika had not been wearing a bathing suit, so now her normal clothes were soaked. That made her pout at the redhead, but she was back to being curious once they both swam back to shore and fell upon the sand. "Why did you try to jump into the water?"

"I..." The girl started to blush, embarrassed about her actions. Rather, she was embarrassed that someone caught her, and was surely judging her. "I was trying to find the sound of the ocean." She hadn't meant for the truth - the silly, strange-sounding truth - to spill out, but there it went. Surely this girl wouldn't understand what she was talking about. Still, she leaned in closer, her eyes burning with curiosity.

"The sound of the ocean? Like the waves crashing or something?"

"Not... exactly." She rubbed her arm nervously, avoiding eye contact. It was something that was really difficult to explain. "I wanted to... write a composition about the ocean, but I don't know too much about it since I just moved here. So I wanted to... get up close and personal, I guess?" She was sure that would continue to be confusing, but it seemed to switch a light on in her attempted savior's eyes instead.

"Ooh, you play an instrument? That's cool!" Chika smiled brightly as she got into the girl's personal space, making her back up a bit. "What instrument is it?"

"The piano..."

"Awesome! I can't play any instruments, but it seems tough. You must have a lot of skill!" That seemed to immediately cause a change in the girl, who shrunk down with a suddenly miserable expression on her face. "Woah, is everything alright? Did I say something bad?"

"No, it's... it's nothing." She looked away, leaving an awkward silence between them. "I'm... I'm Riko. Sakurauchi Riko."

"I'm Takami Chika!" Chika was relieved that the sudden awkwardness was gone, and she was happy to get the name of the new girl. "Since you're new here, I can show you around sometime! If you want, that is." She still wasn't looking at Chika, but she could see a small smile forming on her face. "Is that a yes?"

"Well... maybe." Riko giggled, pushing herself onto her feet. "How about when I get settled in? I still need to help my parents unpack."

"Okay!" Her earlier thoughts about idols and the past had been chased out of her mind, replaced by the excitement of meeting a new person. Riko... She was cute! Hopefully they were the same age, so that they could be in the same class together. Wait until You found out! First things first, though: they needed to get home. Riko went over to the dock, grabbing the towel she'd brought with her to dry off. "So are you going to Uranohoshi High?"

"Yes. I'm a second year." When Riko turned to dry off her legs, Chika silently pumped her fist in the air. Same school, same grade. Excellent! Things were looking up today.

Eventually, Riko finished drying herself off and got dressed, the two of them starting to leave the beach together. It was only then that Chika remembered the strange dog. She looked back at the spot she had seen it last, but there was nothing there. Scanning the beach, there was no sign of the dog anywhere. It must've ran off when Chika tried to save Riko. Oh well. It must've gone back to its owner. There were more important things to do, like trying to eye Riko without it being extremely noticeable.

Things had been going a lot faster than Riko had anticipated. She'd only just moved to Uchiura, and already she had befriended a rambunctious girl named Chika. They'd met completely by chance, yet the coincidences kept on coming when it turned out that Riko had moved in right next door. Chika had been irrepressibly excited, and immediately rushed to the balcony so they could both keep talking across the way. It had been fun, since Chika had enough topics to talk about for the both of them, but it had definitely distracted her. Enough to where she nearly forgot to help with the unpacking.

Thankfully she hadn't gotten in any trouble. Her mom was actually happy that she'd found a friend so quickly. It was secretly relieving to Riko as well. She'd dreaded the thought of trying to make new friends in a place where everybody was surely already so tightly bonded, but it seemed that things wouldn't be as difficult as she'd predicted. Chika hadn't even hesitated to call them friends so soon after meeting. The thought brought a smile to Riko's face.

That smile, however, soon disappeared when she returned to her room and found herself staring at her piano. The movers had quite the time getting it in the room, having to maneuver it from the balcony. Now it stood in the corner, almost as if it was taunting Riko. She shuddered, turning away from it, but she felt as if it was still staring at her. Maybe she should've insisted it go in the living room instead. That'd be the perfect place to entertain guests, or never play it ever again.

She'd had this idea of creating a composition based on the ocean. Now that she was living so close to it, maybe it'd help her get better acquainted with her new town, along with returning her to the instrument she used to love so much. It'd been a crazy idea, though. She'd learned nothing from foolishly throwing herself - and Chika - into the water. How did she even think that was a good idea? This was just a waste of time.

Sighing to herself, Riko pulled her glass door aside and stepped onto the balcony, letting the night air chill her. She went over and put her hands on the railing, looking over towards Chika's side. Light was visible through the slit between the curtains, but they were closed. Chika was probably busy. Too busy to come outside randomly to see if her new neighbor was dealing with mental issues. She was glad she didn't say these things out loud. Otherwise she'd be immediately branded as the weirdo from the big city.

Turning away from the balcony, she stared up at the moon, taking a deep breath. She wished that they didn't have to move to Uchiura. Not that it wasn't nice, but Tokyo was nice too. She missed it, with all the familiar places she knew and loved, plus the few friends she'd made at school. They were all left behind, and if she was honest with herself, nobody probably even missed her. Life was going to continue on, even without her being there. That certainly didn't make her feel any better. God, she had issues.

It would've been different if she wasn't such a failure. She knew that to be undisputed fact. Out of all of the things in the world that she could've failed at, it wasn't supposed to be something she was good at. All she had was that one talent, that one skill she'd worked so hard to get better in, and she'd watched all that work blow up in her face. So much for that...

Things could be different now, though. Nobody here knew who she was back in Tokyo, so she could craft a new life for herself. That was one thought that comforted her, at least a little. All of the mistakes she made in the past didn't have to affect her here. She didn't even have to play the piano anymore. It could be given up... if she hadn't told Chika that she played the piano. Why had she done that? Riko banged her fist against the railing in frustration, mentally berating herself.

It was at that low point, glancing down at the street, when she saw a cat staring back at her. Its fur seemed to glow scarlet beneath the streetlamps, and it made Riko feel weird. Had it been watching her the whole time? No, it couldn't have been. It was just a cat. Maybe it was just wandering around looking for food and had just happened to stop there, where Riko just happened to be contemplating her failures. That made the most sense.

They held eye contact - or what Riko assumed was eye contact - until she realized how utterly ridiculous the whole situation was. Sighing again, she looked away and slunk back into her room, shutting the door and shuffling over to her bed. She fell onto it, face first, and decided she might as well wallow in self-pity for the rest of the night. That was now her best skill. Why did she have to mess everything up?

Outside, the cat stood there for a few moments longer, staring up at the now-empty balcony. Then it twitched its left ear and walked away.

Apparently having solemn nighttime contemplation on one's balcony was contagious in Uchiura. Though for You, there weren't any friendly neighbors for her to even consider talking to about her problems. The one person she could talk to above all others, she couldn't even speak to them about this. How could she tell Chika about how she was feeling when the feelings were caused by Chika herself?

She'd spent several years either ignoring the feelings or outright denying them, but she couldn't really deny them any longer. After almost a lifetime of being best friends with Chika, her feelings had grown beyond 'just friends'. There was more that she wanted, things that being just friends wouldn't satisfy. The thought of admitting these things to Chika, however, terrified her. What if she said no? It would damage their friendship, not to mention absolutely crush You. She couldn't do it.

Then she got the texts from Chika earlier that day. She'd met someone on the beach named Riko, and she was in their grade. Apparently she'd sneaked a picture of her, considering that Riko wasn't looking at the camera, to show You. She had to admit that Riko was pretty, just as Chika said. Thinking it was one thing, though. Seeing Chika say it out loud... via text, anyway... that hurt. It made her stomach churn to think about Chika having these thoughts about someone else. Especially a girl she had just met!

It made her feel like now was the time to do something. If she didn't do anything, Chika would surely become obsessed with Riko. That was just what Chika did. When she got fixated on something, she wouldn't let it go and would talk about it constantly. Idols had become her new fixation, but if it became Riko... You didn't know how she'd be able to live with that.

She pounded her fist against the railing, having made up her mind. No matter how scared she was, she needed to tell Chika the truth about how she felt as soon as possible. If she didn't, then it would be too late. She could do this, she could do this... Oh, how was she going to do this? It was the most terrifying thing she'd ever convinced herself to do!

Slumping against the railing, she sighed and looked up at the sky. Around her block, a lone bird flew against the gloom. Funny: she couldn't remember ever seeing a bird like that flying around during the night. It didn't seem interested in leaving the area either. Rather, it just kept to the same block, always in You's sight. Maybe it was a sign. She wasn't sure what kind of sign it might be, but it was something. Maybe it was good, and that this was the right thing to do.

She smiled and adjusted her glasses, curling her hands into fists. This was going to be fine. She could do it. Tomorrow was the first day of school, after all. It would be time for new beginnings. The beginning of a life where she could be dating Chika... That's all she wanted in life.

"Yousoro!" She slapped her cheeks to psyche herself up, then went back inside to get ready for bed. Her entire being was so amped up, though, and sleep didn't come easy for her. It felt like it took forever to finally fall asleep, and her dreams were too chaotic to get a good grip on. She kept feeling like she was being sucked down by quicksand, only to be spit back out into the same terrifying scenario: Chika not returning her feelings.

When she woke up the next morning, she felt exhausted and more unsure than she had the previous night. "What do I do..."