A/N: This story is set in an actual city in Japan called Niigata. I've done a lot of research and tried to be as geographically accurate as possible. All buildings, businesses, and city areas that are mentioned in this story do exist in real life.

To all who read these lines, my thanks. To all who enjoy these lines, my happiness.

Chapter 4 - Equilateral

Day 3 in Niigata - 6:55 pm

"Alright, so we've really exhausted our options in the area south of the station, haven't we?" Honoka looked a little concerned as she stared at the map that Yukiho, Arisa, and she surrounded. "What about these areas… Abuminishi and Horinouchi Minami?"

Yukiho shook her head. "I walked around there for a while, but most everything for rent in that area is overpriced because there's a good high school nearby."

Honoka looked a bit upset about that and scratched her chin for a moment.

"Maybe that's a blessing in disguise, though." Yukiho motioned towards the area surrounding the high school. "There's a lot of housing in this area, but that's the thing - there's a lot of housing. Jobs in an area like this - a primarily residential area - will be pretty hard to come by."

Arisa nodded. "I see what you're saying. Maybe we should focus a bit more on finding sections of the city that have a lot of businesses and then kind of spiral our way while looking for apartments."

Arisa turned the map towards herself and analyzed it briefly. She put a few coins down on the map to use as markers and centered them on a pair of locations.

"Clearly we need to look around the station, but rent is pretty rough. So why not look at a business area right outside - here, this area called Bandai. It's near a couple of department stores and a mall but far enough from the station that rents might be reasonable enough. Also, here, in Furumachi there seems to be a high concentration of businesses; although that name doesn't sound promising for finding anything that's been built in the Heisei era." (A/N: Furumachi literally translates to 'old town')

Yukiho looked at her sister with a smile. "Well that's two good areas to focus on tomorrow! How about I stay near our hotel and go to Bandai? That way I can be near Arisa and check on her frequently without sacrificing transit time. You can go to Furumachi and-"

Honoka gently put a hand on her sister's leg, causing Yukiho to stop suddenly. Honoka looked at her and smiled a loving smile before turning to Arisa. "I want you to stay in the hotel with Arisa tomorrow. I'll start in Bandai tomorrow and whatever I don't accomplish Arisa can finish for me the next day. She'll need a light day to ease herself back into physical health anyway."

"Why can't Yukiho go out tomorrow?" Arisa looked slightly uncomfortable with the idea of Yukiho being in the room with her all day but she could really explain why, even to herself.

Honoka stood up from the bed and stretched a bit before answering. "Who shared a bath with me this evening?"

Arisa blushed and raised her hand slightly.

"And who, in that bathtub, said they got really bored during the day?"

Arisa kept her hand up. "I mean, I was basically here for 8 hours alone with 8 channels to keep me company..."

Honoka turned and faced away from the bed with an innocent smile. "And who admitted that she began looking forward to Yukiho checking in on her eve-"

"OKAY WE CAN STOP RIGHT THERE THANK YOU." Arisa sulked a bit, blushing even more.

Yukiho looked amused and a little surprised by the exchange that just happened. She reached over and gave Arisa a head pat which only caused the blonde haired girl to blush even more furiously.

"But seriously Yukiho," Honoka turned back around and addressed her sister, "I want you to stay here and be with Arisa. Morale is as important as health, and it'd be nice for you to take a half day off to help out Arisa. It'll allow you to rest and Arisa to heal."

Honoka moved over to the other bed in the room and got under the covers. "Just make sure you don't get a noise complaint from our neighbors. I know how you can get when you're really excited, Yukiho. And with Arisa just lying there helpless and forlorn..." Honoka winked at her sister, who was now rapidly closing the distance between the two with a pillow in-hand.

Yukiho raised the pillow like a mace and began to swing downwards only to have her sister roll over and grab her wrist with both hands, pulling Yukiho onto the bed on top of Honoka. Yukiho landed face down on her sister's lap and immediately realized the compromising position she was in.

But it was too late, as Honoka's hands immediately went for her sister's ribcage and began to tickle Yukiho mercilessly. Yukiho writhed, trying hopelessly to fight back but failing miserably. She giggled, cackled, and laughed hysterically while Honoka exacted her will upon Yukiho, who was now kicking wildly and generally attempting movement in all directions at the same time.

After a dozen seconds or so, Honoka relented and allowed Yukiho the pleasure of measured breathing once again. Arisa smiled and shook her head. "I wonder what the hotel staff would do if they got a noise complaint for a beached whale."

Yukiho looked far from pleased and calmly, while smoothing her hair, sat up and looked at the blonde. "Just remember who's going to have you locked in this room all day tomorrow…"

Arisa suddenly realized the lack of foresight she'd had when making her comments and began to move underneath the blankets.

"Alright girls, let's go to bed. We have a plan, so let's get some rest and do our best again tomorrow." Honoka rubbed her sister's back and welcomed her into the bed.

"It's lonely and cold over here. I'm… I'm kinda jealous of you two." Arisa admitted, uncharacteristically. Yukiho and Honoka both looked over at their girlfriend with caring eyes.

"I'll sleep with you tomorrow night, I promise," Honoka said, "but you need one more night without one of us running the risk of kicking your ankle accidentally."

Arisa knew she was right, but still felt a little lonely being left alone two nights in a row. When they first arrived in the hotel, they had decided to shuffle their sleeping arrangements every night so as to allow each other a night with someone else two out of every three nights. The first night had Honoka sleeping alone and Yukiho with Arisa. Now, in their third night in Niigata, Arisa still had yet to sleep beside Honoka and it bothered her a bit.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'll hold you to it then. Goodnight Honoka, Yukiho."

"Goodnight!" rang through the hotel room as three girls slowly moved towards their own individual dreamscapes.

Niigata Day 4 - 2:57pm

Honoka was walking south along the main road leading towards the central station. She'd looked around the Bandai area, just as the girls had decided together the night before. Truth be told, this one day of searching was much more fruitful than the two previous days combined with everyone looking together. Having planned out where to go and why they should look there, she found herself much more focused and productive.

She approached a large intersection and climbed the stairs of the overpass that would take her across the street. She stopped for a moment at the top of the stairs and leaned on the railing, looking east down a wide street. A large factory was billowing steam in the distance and she could see the central ward post office and-

Animate. A large chain of anime and manga book stores in Japan. A very easy to spot building with its characteristic blue walls and bright anime advertising in each of the display windows.

Here was a temptation. It's times like this that Honoka was tested. What was her true self? How would she respond to such an invitation?

Honoka sighed to herself as she found herself crossing the overpass and going down the east stairs towards the store. I guess I'll buy the girls something to read while I'm in there. They deserve a small comfort anyway. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself. I just want to go in!

As she strode towards the front door she noticed a sign hanging in the front entrance.

Help Wanted!

Do you like manga? Want to be part of a team of people with the same interests as you?

We're hiring! Part time, full time, and seasonal positions available. Inquire with the manager!

Honoka stared in disbelief for a moment. She finally came to her senses and began to climb the stairs to the second floor, which housed the manga shelves.

She perused for about a half hour, picking out a couple of books that fit the tastes of both Arisa (mostly romance stories with lots of angst but always a happy ending) and Yukiho (magical girls, usually scantily clad, occasionally several at a time). Before checking out she grabbed the latest copy of Comic Yuri Hime for herself. Mmm… it's been too long since I've read stuff like Yuru Yuri and Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san. I need some fluff in my life.

When she made her way to the checkout counter she was greeted by the cashier and a smile. "Welcome! You can step this way if you're ready to checkout."

She's kinda cute… Mentally shaking herself from that weird thought, Honoka got down to business.

"Thank you." She looked at the cashier who was scanning her items and operating the computer at a surprising pace. "Um… this is kind of sudden, but I saw the sign on the front door saying you were hiring. Is there any way I could talk to the manager about the open positions? My name is Kousaka Honoka. I recently moved here and I'm looking for a job. I previously worked at an anime shop in Tokyo as a general manager, so I was hoping to stay in the industry here."

The cashier looked straight at her with a slightly analytical glance that faded quickly into a soft smile. "The manager is working on something at the moment, but she'll be free tomorrow between 10am and noon." The cashier looked down at Honoka's hands which were now searching her backpack for something.

Honoka extracted her memo pad from her bag and wrote the information down with fervor. "May I have the name of the manager, please?" Honoka looked up with a face of determination and addressed the cashier once more.

The cashier thought for just a moment before saying "Satou. Her name is Satou. When you get here tomorrow please look for me and I'd be happy to take you to the manager's office!" She gave a sincere smile and gave Honoka the bag that contained books she'd just paid for.

"Kousaka-san, may I ask why you moved here to Niigata?" The cashier's smile stayed right in place.

"It's a long story, but basically I'm supporting my little sister and a significant other as well. We couldn't make it in Tokyo with how expensive the area was, so after she graduated from high school we moved here!" Honoka seemed chipper as ever and she explained everything to the cashier.

The cashier seemed to think deeply about something briefly and then responded, "I see. That's a lot of responsibility for someone your age… I'm presuming you're around 20?"

"Exactly, yes. Our parents have passed on so we do what we can. But! It's not all bad. We have quite a loving family with just the three of us!" Honoka was collecting her things as she chatted, getting ready to endeavor back out into the apartment wilderness that awaited her.

Wow, even given all that she looks really happy thinking about her situation. "Well, I'd say you might have a good chance of getting a job here. We're looking for someone with experience to be a shift leader… but I didn't tell you that." She winked at Honoka and gave a knowing smile.

Honoka looked pleased and gave a perfectly formal bow to the cashier. "Thank you very much! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!"

The cashier bowed in return. "As do I. Until then, have a nice day!"

Honoka turned to walk out of the store but doubled back briefly.

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know of any apartments nearby that are accepting new tenants, would you?"

"I'm sorry, you're looking for an apartment?" The cashier was now thoroughly confused.

Honoka rubbed her head bashfully. "Yeah, we kinda moved here abruptly and we've been living in a hotel for the last four days until we can find an apartment. The other two are at the hotel right now because my significant other twisted their ankle the day after we got here. So I'm out apartment hunting! And I can't stop until we've found a home!" Honoka gave a fist pump and a big smile.

The cashier looked completely amazed at what she'd just heard and after thinking for a moment, shook her head and smiled.

Niigata Day 4 - 12:41pm

Arisa was naked.

She lay prostrate on the bed and was on the verge of sweating.

Yukiho, sweat dripping from her brow onto the bare skin below, moved her hands slowly and methodically over the skin of her girlfriend, who she was currently straddling.

Yukiho's heavy breaths betrayed her. Arisa could sense her girlfriend's stamina waning and broke the silence that had been in the room for the last ten minutes.

"Yukiho… if you want to stop I won't be upset. I know it's only been ten minutes but… it's felt so… amazing."

Yukiho wiped sweat from her brow and continued moving her hands.

"I won't get better at this if I don't practice. And I want to practice on you." Arisa suddenly let out a groan from the positioning of Yukiho's hands. She was hitting all the right spots, that's for sure.

Arisa turned her head to the left and tried to look at her girlfriend while saying "You know I love you even if you give short, good massages."

Yukiho dismounted and wiped her face on her shirt. "Yeah, but that TV show made me want to try. And there you were, in all your glory, just asking for it." Yukiho smiled a bit and went to the bathroom to grab a towel. "It's not my fault I really got into it and wore myself out fast. Just shows I need more practice if I want to get good at it!" Her voice came from the bathroom where water had now begun to run from the faucet.

Arisa put her shirt and shorts on and lay back down on the bed with her foot slightly elevated. She'd tried to do her best to take care of her ankle, always keeping it up and occasionally icing it, even two days after the initial event that led to her demise. She had been relieved to discover the day after the accident that her injury wasn't as bad as it'd appeared at first. Even now, two days after, if she all of a sudden needed to escape from a burning building, she would be able to do so with only minimal pain.

Regardless, she was happy to take an extra day to heal and get ready to help the next day. And it was strangely nice to be able to spend time with Yukiho.

But what do we talk about? TV is boring this time of day. The truth is that she and Yukiho hadn't really talked a whole lot by themselves ever since the three of them got together. It's not like they avoided each other or anything, they just didn't really act the same way they did back when they were best friends who were dating.

It's almost like the month between their breakup and the beginning of their polyamorous relationship had stripped them of their ability to conduct friendly conversation. Topics between the two were always fairly serious or were relevant only to the current situation. Conversation for the sake of conversation seemed to have disappeared.

Arisa became curious. Morbidly curious.

"Hey Yukiho… tell me about you and Honoka before you and I started dating. How did that all come about?"

The water stopped running and there was silence for a moment before Yukiho emerged from the bathroom and slowly walked towards the bed, sitting down next to Arisa and crossing her legs without saying a word.

For a moment Arisa wondered if she'd crossed a line she didn't know existed.

"It wasn't at all like how you and I started out. You were pretty direct and just flat out confessed to me while we were walking home from school one day. With Honoka and I it took several long nights of conversation and feeling each other out emotionally before we finally realized what we were looking for with each other. After I confessed I was in love with her we just slid into a comfortable relationship. Of course, even then I don't know if I was really sure about her feelings for me until after we'd been… together for a few weeks."

Yukiho pulled her legs up to her chest and set her chin down on her knees. "I knew I loved her more than just like a sister loves a sister. And I think I knew that she felt a lot for me. But it wasn't until a few weeks into the relationship that I understood everything completely. The way she gave me her first kiss and took my own… it was something I'll cherish for the rest of my life."

"Though I do wish I could have somehow given you another first kiss."

Arisa suddenly gasped and looked at Yukiho, who was now resting her head on her knees and looking at her while smiling. The look of care and love in Yukiho's eyes was entrancing.

"You were- no, you are so special, Arisa. Honoka may have introduced me to love, but you showed me what it was to be attracted to someone. All I ever wanted to do was spend time with you. Heh, so much so that Honoka began to notice."

Arisa moved around uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for breaking up your sisterly fling."

Yukiho giggled and shook her head. "Don't be. I'm not. You and I became best friends so naturally, it made me really happy when you confessed to me. The only reason I asked you to give me the weekend to think about it was for the sake of Honoka."

"Incidentally, that was the most difficult weekend of my life, Yukiho." Arisa pouted only half seriously. "You can't do that to a girl in her last year of junior high school. I was of fragile emotional stability."

Yukiho reached out and took the hand of her girlfriend. "For which I'm truly sorry. But I did it because I wanted to be with you. I wanted to jump into your arms with a force like your friendship had hit me months before. But I owed it to Honoka to tell her why I wanted to stop being her girlfriend."

"Actually, we'd talked about this shortly after getting together. We acknowledged that if there was ever a girl, or boy for that matter, that we fell for, we'd support the other. We'll always be sisters, so why not spread the love?" Yukiho smiled a bright smile and stood up to turn off the TV.

Arisa adjusted her seating arrangement and asked Yukiho to grab her a glass of tea. With two glasses of cold tea poured for the two of them and a small bag of dried mango to share, Yukiho returned to the bed.

"You filled a need I didn't know I had, Arisa. Desire, lust, comfort, fun, even love - those things can be fulfilled by anyone. But you chose me. You sought me out. You didn't have to love me, but you did. It was such an attractive thing.

Yukiho put down her tea and looked straight at Arisa. "Honoka, for all that I love her, will always be my sister. But you have always given yourself by choice, of your own free will. That will always be special to me. That, I will always cherish."

Arisa was completely engaged in Yukiho's story. She hadn't expected such a gush of honesty and storytelling from Yukiho, the girl who often guards her true heart and emotions. I guess I still don't completely understand her, even after dating her twice. She smiled to herself inside.

"Why did you break up with me?"

Any tea that had lingered in Arisa's mouth made a quick, vaporous exit as she expelled air faster than a sneeze. "I beg your pardon?" She didn't mishear Yukiho, but that was the only thing she could think of to buy herself some time to think about the rather direct question.

"When you broke up with me I didn't completely understand, but I accepted it. I had a feeling you were interested in someone else and because of that I think I just told myself 'it can't be helped'. It was a very difficult time for me, but I think I grew a lot because of it. I decided that if I tried my best to be your friend that you'd see me as better than whoever it was you were going to eventually confess to."

Yukiho chuckled heartily. "But boy was I surprised when it was Honoka."

"Well I feel like a jerk now," said Arisa, raising the glass to her mouth and taking a sip of tea. "I guess I broke up with you because I found myself simultaneously attracted to two people. I mean, you two are certainly different people, but there's something underneath your personalities that's strangely similar, almost familiar. So in my head, it made sense to be attracted to two sisters."

"But it was confusing. Was I in love with you just because you were so kind to this transfer student who couldn't speak Japanese all that well? Was I in love with Honoka just because she was the leader of a super successful idol group? It was all… geez, I was a mess. You didn't deserve me doing all that to you. So I did what I thought was best - I separated myself from the issues so I could think about it from a neutral standpoint."

Arisa leaned back, her hands behind her head. Yukiho curled up on the bed next to Arisa and started to stroke her leg supportively.

"I… I don't know. Maybe a year wasn't enough to truly know who I was and what we could become. Maybe I should have-"

Yukiho gently pinched Arisa's leg. "I don't care. You did what your heart needed. How is looking out for your own feelings a bad thing? The whole experience over those next few months taught me a lot about learning to take life's ups and downs and about my own feelings. It also taught me that I really can love two people. Equally."

Arisa looked at Yukiho inquisitively, as if expecting an explanation.

"Ever since you accepted me as part of your relationship I've just wanted to be supportive to the both of you. There's two things I realized I wanted: from Honoka, I wanted to support her and have her rely on me; if she could do that it would make me feel needed."

"On the other hand, from you…" Yukiho hesitated and looked down, suddenly unconfident. "I know the way Honoka looks at you with desire and complete conviction... and a small part of me wants that. But I know I'll never get it from her because she can't give it to me. Our relationship is too different. In the beginning that bothered me, but as we all were together for a while I began to understand what I really wanted was from you. I wanted that same look to come from your eyes and to be directed at me."

Grabbing the bedsheets in her fists, Yukiho pressed on. "That's why I do everything I can to support you two. I may get 99% of the way there, but I know I'll never be completely your equals."

Arisa shot up from her resting position at hearing this, slamming her hands down on the bed. "But I want you to be!"

The reaction took Yukiho by surprise as Arisa continued, with a little more evenness in her voice.

"I don't know how to explain all of this. I mean look there's a big part of me that… I... I want Honoka all to myself and I don't want to share her at all - for a while I was even jealous of the two of you being sisters, something I can never become with either of you. And then I thought about the way you made me feel for so long as my first love. Then the struggle I had when I realized I loved you both… those feelings made wanting you and Honoka both… well, it was impossible to get through. I felt like a terrible person for wanting Honoka so badly after I'd committed myself to you."

"Commitment is so important to me, and when I felt that I wasn't keeping that promise of commitment to you, it hurt. It hurt because I knew I would hurt you even more than I would hurt myself. How could I do that to someone? Tell them I love them but also want to say the same words to someone else. And mean it to both people."

Arisa looked at Yukiho through suddenly watery eyes and extended her hand towards the auburn haired girl. "You're special to me. I never denied it then and I still can't now. I won't now. You'll always be equal in my mind."

Yukiho was also close to tears as she accepted the outstretched hand of her girlfriend. "I want to believe that because the truth is that I fell even more in love with you after we broke up. Seeing you being so committed to Honoka made me want to experience all of those feelings as well. If possible, I wanted you even more after we weren't together."

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Arisa asked while caressing the back of Yukiho's hand.

"And hurt my sister? And potentially lose you as the friend I already had? The risk was too great."

"But you still did things with your sister despite that…" Arisa made sure to grin slightly to show Yukiho that she wasn't angry about those happenings in the slightest.

Yukiho sighed. "That wasn't the best decision Honoka and I ever made."

Arisa chuckled. "I mean, I can't blame you. She's sexy as hell. I'm just glad Honoka was so forthright with me about the whole situation. I'll never forget how serious she was when she accepted responsibility for everything. 'I care for you Arisa, but I also care for my sister. And I can't change who I am because of who I'm dating. So you need to know: I love my sister as more than just a sister.' Ahh, she was so handsome in that moment."

"Oh my gosh, Arisa, I've never seen you so dumbfounded as you were then." Yukiho held back a small giggle.

"I've also never seen you so ashamed of something." Arisa looked less entertained by these thoughts. "I was so confused… I don't know, maybe hurt, maybe not. I broke up with you and didn't tell you why. Then a month later I confessed to the sister of the girl I broke up with. Then I found out from her that the both of you did a few naughty things and… well… that happened. How was I to know that in one month you two would become lovers? Let alone for a second time."

Yukiho blushed slightly but didn't back down. "Hey, it's not like we'd never done anything before. We had done a few... things occasionally in the past, but it was mostly emotional. Though when I met you and became friends with you, those things became less frequent. And of course after you confessed to me, well you know we stopped everything then."

"Of course, I understand that. But when I saw how much you meant to her and how ashamed you looked, I couldn't help but feel sorry that I even got in the way." Arisa looked out of the window of their hotel room and thought back with a pensive look on her face. "That's part of why I agreed to be a part of all of this - the three of us. The girl that was and is your girlfriend was heartbroken seeing you look so dejected. So I decided that day that I never wanted to see that face again."

Yukiho was nearly in tears by this point. She reached over and embraced her girlfriend with both hands, giving all of the love she could possibly convey with a simple hug.

"No matter what's happened to this point, know I love you, Yukiho. You've given me so much.. Sometimes I may be jealous and monopolizing, but believe me - I feel like that towards you as often as I do towards Honoka. I just haven't figured out how to let those feelings out yet." The girls unwrapped themselves and shared a few sniffs as they both tried to recover as best they could.

Yukiho let out a short laugh after realizing something. "Ya know, we never really went through anything special to start our relationship with the three of us. We just all agreed that we liked each other and we should start being together. Maybe…"

Yukiho looked Arisa in the eyes and hopped off the bed. She got onto her knees next to the bed and put her hands on her legs. "Arisa, Honoka and I have been sisters but we became lovers. I want to be your lover, so much that you would choose me over Honoka. And at the same time, I want to become your sister that you to look to for support. This is my confession. Stay with me forever. I love you. Will you go out with me?"

Arisa finally let go of the tears she'd been holding back to this point. Nodding an affirmative answer to Yukiho, she leaned down and kissed her girlfriend for a long time.

Withdrawing and trying to collect herself, Arisa looked over to a Yukiho still kneeling on the floor.

Yukiho spoke up, "So that's a yes, right?"

Arisa laughed a cheerful, genuine laugh and threw a pillow in Yukiho's general direction.

"Of course."

Niigata Day 4 - 7:19pm

"Honoka's never been this late before, I wonder if she's okay." Arisa was kneeling on the bed next to the window and looking outside at the street front. Honoka was usually back around 6:30, their standard end-of-day meeting time. For her to be more than 10 or 20 minutes late was unusual at best.

Yukiho looked calm on the outside, though the same could not be said for the commentary going through her head. "It's not that late yet. Just give her some time."

All at once the hotel door flew open and there stood the girl of the hour in all her sweaty, heavily breathing glory.

"I'm home!" She trod through the hotel room dragging an only slightly mortified looking girl behind her. "Oh good, everyone has clothes on."

"HONOKA" two girls yelled simultaneously. They'd had the sense to get somewhat properly dressed in time for Honoka's arrival home, just in case she decided to go out to a cafe for dinner or something.

The last thing they expected was to see a fourth girl in the room.

She had slightly longer than shoulder length, straight black hair. While her complexion was quite pale, it didn't seem too unbecoming. In fact, the look she sported was all in all quite Japanese. She stood next to Honoka, just slightly taller than her, and gave off an air of responsibility and cool kindness - all this despite being dragged into the hotel room, not by force, but certainly by surprise.

"Everyone, this is Satou Ayako. Ayako, this is Yukiho and Arisa." Honoka thrust her hands in the general direction of the girl while doing some light jazz hands.

Ayako looked briefly between the two girls sitting on the bed and did a small bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

The two younger girls looked uneasily between each other. Finally, Arisa asked the question.

"Nice to meet you too. Um… Honoka, who, may I ask, is Satou-san... exactly?"

Honoka looked quite pleased with herself, as if she was expecting the question. She responded right away.

"She checked me out at the manga store."

Three girls donned three different expressions; embarrassment, protectiveness, and jealousy.

"Ahh- that is, she was working the register! So yeah, I went to a manga store and now she's here!"

This perplexed all present company. Honoka continued.

"And, she's my new boss."

It took a second for those words to be processed by the younger girls, but once they had filtered through, the realization of what Honoka had meant brought unbridled joy. Both girls let forth a loud squee and hugged each other mightily. Yukiho then bounded up to her sister and gave her an equally intense hug.

After Yukiho released herself, Honoka moved over to the bed next to Arisa and gave her a tender hug.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Honoka?" Ayako chimed in from across the room after shaking the hand of Yukiho who was standing next to her.

"Oh yeah!" She grabbed the hand of Arisa and looked towards Ayako.

"She's also our new upstairs neighbor."

A few more seconds of processing time.

Followed by pandemonium.

A cafe near Otonokizaka Academy

The day after Honoka, Yukiho, and Arisa left Tokyo

"In the middle of the night? Where do they think they're going?"

Clearly not to Akihabara.

"Let's all settle down until everyone - oh good, Hanayo and Rin are here. Over here girls!"

"They can't be gone forever, this is clearly a cry for attention or help or something. We just have to figure out what they want from the clues."

Right, like Honoka would let that happen.

"What clues, exactly? They left their phones and a lot of belongings behind. There's nothing we can do to track them, especially if they left by train. If only they'd gone by plane…"

"No way, that's too expensive for them. They can't have saved up so much that they're able to move somewhere, so we just have to figure out where they're going to an extended stay."

"What about friends in nearby towns? They probably got in contact with some friends who've moved out of town so they could crash some place for a while."

She wouldn't do that either. If she doesn't want to be found, she'd go on her own. She'd lead them to their goal, just like before. Just like she did with us.

"Some of us should go to Eli's house and look around for what we can find. Others should go to Honoka's old job and Yukiho's part time job as well."

"Wait, Yukiho had a part time job?"

Yup. And so did Arisa. But they don't need to know that.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What about Arisa?"

"No way she'd put up with one. She's too direct and confrontational."

"She came home late pretty often, but I always figured she was with her girlfriend and Honoka. They hung out a lot. I guess she never got over the whole Honoka and Yukiho thing..."

You're still denying the fact that all three of them are together? This is just special…

"Regardless, we need to figure this out fast."

"Do we? If they're just doing this to get away from life for a while, why not just let them?"

"How do we know they'll come back?"

"Oh come on, they have to."

I wouldn't blame them if they didn't.

"I don't know… Honoka was always so serious."

"And spontaneous and impulsive. She's seriously random, even with big decisions."

"I suppose you're right. I suppose we should do what she wants and go looking for her."

I suppose I'm a bad friend. To Honoka and to you guys. In the end, I'm not going to help either you or her. At least this time I think I'm making the right choice.

"That's the best choice, I think."

"Yeah , me too."

"Okay ladies, let's get some answers! Go to a location they frequented and do some detective work! Keep in touch and report everything!"

Seven girls stood up from the table and began talking about how they'd tackle their investigation into the overnight disappearance of three people - two sisters, and the sister of someone in the group. Seven girls walked closer to the door before on realized that someone hadn't stood up yet.

"Hey, are you coming?"

I can't do this. I won't do this. Not again.

"No."

Seven girls stopped very suddenly and looked back at the table.

"Why not?"

It's complicated.

A/N: I couldn't conceivably own Love Live!