Honoka was always known as the girl who smiles but after forming Muse her happiness started to fade. Lately everyone has been referring her as an extra. They really liked the other members and Honoka appeared to be the least popular out of her friends. Honoka would read the reviews from their live shows and there were a lot of positive comments but there were also some negative comments and most of those negative comments were aimed at her. Everyone seemed to hate her and she didn't understand why. She formed Muse and this was how she was treated by the fans. Honoka's happiness has faded but she pretended to be happy and smiled all the time but all of her smiles were fake.
Honoka didn't know that being hated would hurt so much. She would often cry herself to sleep. Luckily no one has ever caught her crying yet. Honoka was prepared to lie to anyone who spots her crying. She didn't want anyone to know the true reason why she was crying. She didn't want her own feelings to get in the way of her idol activities with her friends. It was only a matter of time before someone discovers the truth. Until that day comes she'll keep pretending. What Honoka doesn't know is that Umi was already suspicious about her behavior.
Honoka was always bullied by online fans because they liked to pair up the other girls and they only saw Honoka as an extra. Honoka tried to ignore the comments but some of them were so cruel that she couldn't ignore them. Honoka would always have red eyes at the end of the day because of all the crying she has been doing. She eventually stopped crying and bottled up all the sadness in her heart. She couldn't keep crying forever and she knew it.
Umi was walking with Honoka to her house because she wanted to hang out with her but that wasn't the only reason. She sensed that there was also something wrong with her childhood friend but she wanted to know what it was. She sensed that there was something wrong with Kotori a while back and made her tell her about her going overseas to study about fashion. Now Umi was going to get the truth out Honoka. The truth is that Umi was sensing that something was wrong with Honoka when they started doing live shows she ignored them because she thought that they were minor problems but now she knew that the problem was a lot bigger than she thought. She walked with Honoka and they eventually reached her house. The two girls went up to Honoka's room and Umi waited in her room while Honoka went to change out of her uniform.
Umi looked around the room and saw that nothing has changed since she was here last time. She saw the tiny computer on Honoka's desk. She noticed that it was open so she went over to the desk and tried to see what was on it but it was protected by a password. Umi mentally cursed since she had no idea what kind of password Honoka would use. She gave up and went back to the center of the room and sat down.
Umi said bye to Honoka and left the room but she didn't go down the stairs. She peeked into Honoka's room and saw that Honoka was on her computer. She saw that she was logged back into her computer. Umi needed to see what Honoka was looking at so she can know what was going on with her childhood friend. Honoka had been attracting danger lately. Just the other day she was ambushed by someone who claimed that he was a muse fan. Honoka managed to knock him out but then there was another on and he took her by surprise. Umi managed to save her and Honoka thanked her. Umi thought that this was strange because Honoka was just attacked and she didn't looked too shaken up about it.
Umi saw that Honoka got up from her desk and was about to come out of her room. Umi rushed out the way and hid in the corner where the door would be when it was open. She knew that Honoka would not think to look there. She saw her enter the bathroom and that was her chance to check out what was going on. Umi entered Honoka's room again and looked on the laptop again and this time she was able to see what Honoka was looking at.
Umi saw that she was looking at the love live website. She had searched up their group name and saw ton videos of them performing. Umi found nothing strange about that but she saw that there was a comment section and decided to check it out. She saw a lot of positive comments but after that she saw some negative comments. What threw her off was that almost all the negative comments were directed at her. She saw comments that would call Honoka an extra and then there were comments that would call her more vulgar words that would be offensive towards women.
Umi couldn't believe that their fans were harassing Honoka like this. She couldn't believe that what she was seeing. This explained why Honoka seemed strange to her. Umi now knew that Honoka's smile was fake and that she was feeling. Umi now knew that Honoka was hiding this from the others for a long time. Umi heard a gasp and she turned around to see that Honoka was there.
"Umi? What are doing here? I thought you left" Honoka said
"I was worried about you so I came back" Umi said
"Well that's was thoughtful of you but I don't think that gives the right to go through my stuff" Honoka said
Umi looked at her and gulped. She needed to confront Honoka about this. It was possible that Honoka was mentally scarred because of the abuse from her fans. Umi needed to be careful with her words. If says something wrong she could lose Honoka as a friend.
"Honoka, I saw the comments that the fans have been leaving you" Umi said
"You did?" Honoka asked
"Yes, I'm sorry that you're being tortured like this" Umi said
"It's okay, I'm used to it" Honoka said
"It's not okay. These are our fans Honoka and if they are treating you like this then you need to tell us so we can do something about it" Umi said
Honoka looked away from Umi and she could tell that Honoka was trying to avoid the subject at hand.
"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Umi asked
"I didn't want my own feelings to get in the way of our idol activities" Honoka said
Umi couldn't believe that Honoka would shut off her own feelings for something like that. Umi stepped forward and hugged Honoka. Honoka was confused from this action.
"You're an idiot. You're feelings are always important no matter what. You took on this torture all by yourself and bottled up all the sadness" Umi said
Honoka was starting to shake. The sad feelings were starting to surface again. Honoka tried to keep it inside herself but she was slowly failing. Honoka tried to push Umi away but she failed to push her away. Umi refused to let her go. She knew that Honoka was starting to doubt herself as an idol because of the rude comments. Honoka had suffered this mental abuse for months and she kept it to herself.
"You don't have to take this on by yourself anymore" Umi said
Honoka felt some tears roll down her face. The sadness was surfacing and Umi's next comment made the dam burst.
"Let it all out Honoka. I'm here for you" Umi said
Honoka finally released all the sadness that she has been bottling up. She was sobbing so much and Umi was rubbing her back to comfort her. Honoka was releasing all the sadness that she has been bottling up inside her heart for months. She would cry a little bit from some of the comments but she didn't break down completely. She eventually stopped her short cries and that bottled up even more sadness. Umi now broke the dam that Honoka built.
"Why? Why do our fans hate me so much?! It's not fair! I just wanted to save the school from closing down and this is the treatment that I get. I want it to stop! Please make it stop!" Honoka cried
Honoka continued her painful crying. Umi didn't saying anything because she didn't know what to say.
"Umi please stay with for tonight, I need you" Honoka cried
"I'll stay with Honoka don't worry" Umi said
Umi stayed over for the night and comforted Honoka.
