Review Responses

rla (Guest): Yeah, it kind of is. I keep wanting to put Honoka and Maki together...

MiloMilkshake: I'll try to get Maki to stop being so clingy. (Maki: No!)

Revengermajestyliberator: It's kind of following the order that the girls join the group.

anto334: I haven't decided which way it will go yet. Tsubasa might just get a date~ or not.

"One, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight!" Umi chanted, clapping along to the rhythm. She was keeping count for Kotori and Honoka as they went through the dance steps for "Start Dash" again for practice. Honoka briefly wondered how shocked the production crew would be if they saw how hard she and the other two second years were working to perfect their routine. The only time all nine girls had practiced together so far was to film the opening sequence, which only needed to be filmed once. In fact, Honoka, Umi, and Kotori weren't required to practice so much for this song. But the three of them had decided they would actually try and match the practice their TV roles were going to do.

Honoka sat down on the towel they had spread nearby when Umi called for a break. Her stamina was still not that good and her breath came in short pants. But she had never been so excited to be exercising in her life and the feeling was exhilarating. It was even better than beating a final boss without casualties or completing the route of the hardest girl on a dating sim. In fact, Honoka had been going home tired every afternoon and, without playing a single game, collapsed on her bed to sleep. The ADHD Kotori was more subdued during the school day and filming thanks to the extra exertion she did on a daily basis, which made it easier on Umi. There seemed to be no downsides to the idea of becoming actual idols themselves. As Honoka thought this over in her mind, a cold something touched her cheeks and she looked up.

"Here." Eri smiled, handing her the cold water bottle she had put against the ginger's face. Honoka accepted it gladly, opening it and taking a swig of the refreshing liquid. "Working hard?"

"Of course. You are too, Eri-senpai?" Honoka asked. She was wondering why the blonde had come down to watch them when she should have been working on paperwork.

"I was, but Nozomi has turned Maki into quite the diligent worker. Now I have more time to rest instead of worrying about school affairs." Eri took off her shoes and sat down next to Honoka. "Or, I can help you become an idol."

"You will?" Honoka asked with a confused tilt of her head. She didn't want to take Eri away from whatever she needed to do. But there was something much more pressing on her mind. "Wait…Nozomi-senpai turned Nishikino-san into a student council member?" She couldn't believe it. Maki seemed to be the type who would refuse to do any sort of work so the fact that she had been doing so much work for the Student Council seemed a bit unbelievable.

"Kind of. Somehow Nozomi got Maki working for the Council. I don't know how, myself." Eri looked around. "There she is now." Honoka looked past Eri to see what the older student was looking at and saw Maki walking between the buildings with scrolls of paper under her right arm while several rolls of tape decorated her left arm, which she was using to carry a small step-ladder. Vaguely, Honoka remembered that opening day was coming soon and the student council would need to start hanging posters that announced events. As they watched, the red-haired first-year started hanging up one of the scrolls without any help from other council members.

"Honoka-chan!" Honoka tore her gaze away from the first-year and focused on Kotori. "Oh, good afternoon, Eri-senpai." Having noticed the older student, Kotori greeted her properly and bowed before turning back to the ginger-haired girl. "Honoka-chan, if you're ready, we're going to start practice again!" Honoka looked at Eri, not quite wanting to leave the blonde alone.

"Go on, Honoka. I'll go help Maki. I think she needs it." Eri waved and headed off in the direction of the person needing her aid. Maki was having trouble hanging the paper, she couldn't hold up both sides of the large paper since she was the only one working on it. Eri met up with her, then hurried off to get another stepladder or something similar.

"Let's do this, Kotori-chan." Honoka put her bottled water down and followed Kotori to where Umi was waiting for them. This time, Umi danced along with them as they had memorized the beat that they needed to dance to. Now they just had to practice singing as they danced, something they hadn't mastered yet. But with each rendition of the song, they got better at it, more confident.

Honoka grew used to the exertion it took to run in the morning and at night, in addition to the practice Umi had put in place. By purposely working harder for a song, they knew they had raised the expectation level of the production crew for their next dance attempt. It was all a part of Honoka's plan to get all of the girls into her idol group, because there was no way any one would be able to perform well on solo practice alone. To dance a group song, all of the members would be required to practice together, and that was what Honoka wanted. It didn't matter if they got mad at her, as long as they were all working harder to dance better.

"So will you two join now?" Honoka asked, being confronted by Rin and Hanayo after a botched dance practice. Thanks to the newly raised bar, the girls weren't quite reaching what the production crew expected of them. All of them had been forced to stay later for the dance practice so that they could film a better opening sequence than the previous one. No doubt that by dancing so well for the performance of Start: Dash had left the production crew wanting something better for their opening theme dance. Rin crossed her arms and Hanayo did the same, simply to mimic Rin's position.

"We'll consider it." Rin finally decided. It was better than outright getting rejected, like before. That was when they didn't need to put in as much work but now they all had to.

"But! You have to get Nishikino-san first or else we're not in!" Hanayo added. Rin shot her friend a look. "What? I thought I'd better make it a challenge."

"Fine. I'll get Nishikino-san into the group. And then you two will join?" Rin and Hanayo nodded and the three girls shook on the deal.

Next Episode: MakiRinPana!