This is most likely going to be the last chapter for January. Don't ask me why, I just feel like this is a good place to take a break so I can finish the upcoming next few chapters as well, to an extent anyway.

Anyhow, last chapter, we discovered the impostors don't actually know their real identities. How will Muse deal with this revelation?

Let's find out... now!

Back where we left off, the present members of Muse-and the principal-were caught off-guard by what Kotori and the principal had recently discovered: Not only were the impostors not who they said they were, neither Rin and Hanayo or Dia and Chika, but they legitimately had no idea of who they were.

Something that naturally frustrated the girls, especially Kotori.

"So, now we found out the impostors don't know who they are, and seem to be in a state of lost identity? I thought bringing them here and confirming they were fakes would be the end of all of this!"

"Well, of course this is far from done, nya!" Rin remarked. "This is the part of the mystery where we get a clue that something much bigger is happening!"

"And here I was thinking we could relax once we had dealt with the impostors," Nozomi said as she rubbed her forehead. "Anyway, Kotori, Principal Minami, you said these girls don't know who they are: Did you find anything else?"

"Nothing significant, no, but for now, let's focus on what we do know," the principal folded her arms. "One way or another, these girls lost their memories of who they are, and were then given the idea to impersonate the girls known as Dia Kurosakawa and Chika Takami, then impersonate Rin and Hanayo."

"And like I said before," Rin scratched her chin and her eyes turned into stars. "Impostorception, nya!"

"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Hanayo asked. "We can't just keep the girls trapped in here, people are going to think we kidnapped them or something worse, and that'll ruin Muse's reputation!"

"But we can't really let them go, either," Eli said. "There's no way to tell how easy it'll be for them to get right back into their agressively violent selves. Not to mention-"

"Wait, their "agressively violent" selves?!" Not-Rin exclaimed. "What the heck did we do?!"

"Well, how do I say this without saying anything explicit?" Hanayo pondered out loud as she tried her hardest to avoid eye contact with the impostors.

"You two tricked one of our friends into going into a warehouse, where you beat her up so badly, you even broke one of her arms," Nozomi sternly explained while giving the impostors a disapproving look. "And that's just what you did on the surface, I can tell you the other, more subtle things you did to her if you want."

"Good lord, no, we get it!" Not-Hanayo answered. "B-But, it's so hard to believe we'd do something like that. I'd never do it if I had the choice!"

"Neither would I!" Not-Rin added.

"So, you weren't exactly conscious when you did all those things to Mrs. Nishikino?" the principal asked. "What's the last thing you remember?"

The fakers exchanged looks, then looked at the ceiling as they tried to remember, first Not-Hanayo:

"I was watching one of Muse's performances live last night, and I went to sleep shortly after I finished watching it."

Then Not-Rin:

"I was taking my dog out for a walk-"

"You have a dog and not a cat!?" Rin suddenly snapped. "And you dare be my impostor, nya?!"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who decided to impersonate you!" Not-Rin replied with a puty face. "And besides, some people just prefer dogs over cats, ever thought about that?"

"Now that I think about it, Rin," Honoya said, getting the cat-like girl's attention. "Aren't you allergic to cats, despite the fact you love them?"

The girl flinched as she realized what her best friend said, and she twiddled her fingers and looked elsewhere as she said, "Y-You got a point there, nya."

"Whatever, we're getting off-topic!" the principal stated. "What else do you remember, Not-Mrs. Hoshizora?"

"Well, once I finished walking the dog, I got back home, went to sleep... and then, I don't think I ever woke up."

Kotori raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that me going to sleep is literally the last thing I remember before I wound up here," Not-Rin answered. "I can't remember anything else."

"Me neither," Not-Hanayo added.

"So, the last thing they remember is them going to bed," Eli scratched her chin. "Perhaps they were kidnapped while they were fast asleep?"

"Then they'd have to be pretty heavy sleepers if they were kidnapped and they didn't notice," Nozomi stated. "I mean sure, the kidnappers could've been careful, but I just can't see somebody sleeping through their own kidnapping."

"I guess she has a point there..." Not-Hanayo remarked, with Not-Rin somberly nodding in agreement. "Still, we're being honest with you, we don't remember anything else!"

"And for now, we'll believe you, but that doesn't mean you're not under suspicion anymore," the principal stated. "Anyway, while we try to figure out more about the current situation, we can't let you stay here."

"So, you're going to untie us?!" Not-Rin chirped.

"But under one condition!" the principal snapped at the duo, sending chills down their spines. "What's that condition, however, I haven't quite figured out yet."

"How about we make them take care of Maki until she's fully recovered?" Kotori suggested.

"Force the ones who sent Maki to the hospital to help her recover?" Nozomi repeated with a tone of disbelief. "I'm sorry, but as cathartic as that would be, I don't feel comfortable at all with the idea that these two-"

Nozomi paused and took a look around, with the concerned looks everybody were giving her prompting her to say:

"Girls, stay anywhere near Maki after what they did to her, willingly or not."

"Me neither, especially with the idea that they could relapse and put Maki through that pain all over again," Eli added. "And besides, isn't she heading for the hospital as we speak?"

"Oh right, I think it's already been over 20 minutes since we arrived here!" Rin remarked. "I wonder how she's doing, nya?"

Speaking of Maki...

The girl sat on a bed in a hospital room, where she looked around the room as a doctor entered the room with a clipboard in hand.

"Alright, Mrs. Nishikino, we've finished analyzing the results of the tests," the doctor said as she checked the clipboard. "Besides your broken arm, you also have several stun gun burns all over your body, but as we checked to see if the stun gun struck any important organs, we discovered something interesting."

"W-What is it?" Maki asked.

"Well, it seems that, going by the stun gun injury locations, no major organs were hit, but what was struck was a serious of nerve points," the doctor explained, sending a chill down Maki's spine. "Indeed, it seems that whoever hit you with the stun gun, was trying to paralyze you."

"What? That can't be true!" Maki stated with a tone of disbelief. "It definitely felt like they were trying to kill me; An odd pattern for the injuries shouldn't be enough proof the were trying to paralyze me!"

"Calm down, Mrs. Nishikino, we're not saying that that was definitely your assaulter's plan," the doctor clarified. "Rather, we're theorizing that that's the most logical route your assaulters were trying to take."

"Okay, so, assuming that's true, then they got Nico hospitalized, and were trying to take me out of commission as well," Maki thought as used her good arm to scratch her chin. "Going by that, whoever those impostors are, they're probably trying to take Muse out of commission for whatever reason."

"Anyhow, about your broken arm," the doctor spoke, getting the redhead's attention. "We've deduced that the bare minimum time it'll take for it to heal will be six weeks, provided no further damage is done to it during this time."

Maki nodded. "I understand, doctor."

"Well, alright then," the doctor smiled. "Rest here for a while, and then after some more tests, we'll let you if you have to stay here or go home-"

"Wait, before you go," Maki blurted. "Could I pay someone a visit?"

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Uh, who, exactly?"

The redhead smiled, and a short while later, she was taken to Nico's room, surprising the girl.

"Maki!" Nico exclaimed, with a mixed sense of joy and disbelief. "W-W-What are you doing here?!"

"Well, it's a long story," Maki smiled weakly as she got on the bed. "Do you have time to hear it?"

Nico's frown turned into a smile, and she nodded with a concerned look, which prompted Maki to start her explanation:

"I just finished walking with Eli to the train station..."

Meanwhile, at Honoka's House...

The girl and Umi were being told the story of the impostors by Rin, Hanayo, and Kotori, the last one looking rather concerned.

"So, let me get this straight: The impostors not only tried to say they were other people, but in the end you found out they don't even know their real identities anymore?" Honoka recapped. "How does that work? Did they impersonate Rin and Hanayo, or those Chika and Dia girls so much, that they eventually forgot their real identities?"

"I highly doubt it: After all, it's only been over a year since Muse was formed, and I don't think that's enough time for someone to completely forget their previous identity," Umi said, shaking her head. "Even in the unlikely case that a single year would be enough for them to forget their real identities, how could somebody impersonate any of us and not get on the news, or heck, not be noticed until now?"

"Maybe they were hiding until these last few days?" Kotori suggested, only to take it back once she thought about it. "But then again, that would imply they waited a whole year to try hurt us, and that... doesn't sound logical."

"Well, what matters is that there's clearly something else going on," Honoka remarked, getting nods of agreement from the rest. "Somebody sent those impostors, and also made sure to make finding their real identities much harder than it should be."

"Speaking of them, where are those impostors now?" Umi inquired, only to flinch when she got an idea. "You didn't let them go free, did you?"

"Of course not, at least, not for a while," Eli answered, crossing her arms as she remembered the event. "It took us a while to think of a proper punishment for them since they hurt Maki, but eventually we came to an agreement, and we let them go on one condition."

Umi raised an eyebrow. "What's that condition?"

Nishikino Household...

The impostors, wearing an apron over their Rin and Hanayo personas, cleaned the floors and organized the house while Maki's Mom, Mrs. Nishikino, sternly watched them.

"That's right, keep cleaning!" Mrs. Nishikino stated with an authoritarian tone. "I want every inch of this house clean when my sweet little Maki returns home, you hear!?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the impostors exclaimed with terrified tones.

Mrs. Nishikino clenched her fists and yelled, "Ma'am!?"

"Miss!" the impostors quickly corrected.

The woman nodded with a stern glare, then went to prepare some food, allowing the impostors to talk with each other.

"Good lord, what a terrifying woman," Not-Rin said. "If I had known our victim had such an agressive mother, I never would've hurt her!"

"Heck, if I had known that I'd get kidnapped and turned into an impostor against my will, I would've," Not-Hanayo sighed. "I just wanna go back home, but I don't even remember where I live!"

Not-Rin shed a tear. "Me neither."

The impostors exchanged saddened looks, and continued the cleaning, lest they summon Maki's Mom's wrath.

Back with the girls...

"So, both Nico and Maki are at the hospital, and it's probably a matter of time before another one of us go down," Honoka recapped with a slightly concerned tone. "What are we supposed to do now? We can't just stand here and do nothing, and going to train without another member doesn't feel right!"

Hanayo took a deep breath and lowered. "I don't know."

The other members lowered their heads and frowned until Honoka suggested:

"Maybe... we could rest for now and discuss a plan tomorrow?"

Seeing no other option, the girls nodded and most of them went back home, except for Umi and Kotori.

"Umi?" Kotori asked.

"Yes, Kotori?" Umi replied with a concerned tone.

"I know this might be a dumb question, but, when do you think we'll be able to move on from this "impersonator" plot and go back to just being regular idols?" Kotori inquired with a nervous tone. "I mean, I thought it would be over when we found out the identities of the impostors, but that wound up not being the case."

Umi frowned and lowered her head. "Kotori-"

"And I'm not saying that I want this all to end because I'm not excited to try something different, quite the contrary; In any other situation, I'd be excited over the fact we're doing something other than being idols for once," Kotori added hastily, her tone and look growing worried as she continued. "But, people impersonating us? Being tricked by those same impostors, and being beaten up by them as well? This is quite possibly the worst case scenario!"

"No, I can imagine several worse scenarios than this-" the blue-haired girl stopped herself when she saw Kotori's face turning blue. "But that's not something you want to hear right now."

Kotori turned back to normal, and Umi took a deep breath and gave her answer:

"Quite honestly, I don't think we'll be done with this for a while."

"It won't?!" Kotori exclaimed, her panic intensifying as she grabbed her hair and added, "Just how much worse could this possibly get, then?! We already got Nico and Maki hospitalized, who the heck could be the next target?!"

Umi took a deep breath. "Calm down, Kotori-"

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down!?" Kotori snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, there are people impersonating Muse, and two of our nine-group team are out of commission! How am I supposed to stay calm?!"

Umi promptly put a hand on Kotori's head and started petting her as she answered:

"Things might be looking bad right now, but that doesn't mean things won't get better eventually. Just stay calm and be patient, like Nozomi."

"Wait, that's it! Nozomi!" Kotori chirped up. "W-We could ask her to see our future in her cards! I mean, I'm not sure if I'd believe her, but it's still worth a try, right?"

Umi brushed Kotori's hair once again. "That's the spirit! Come on, let's go see Nozomi."

The duo held hands and exchanged smiles before they looked for Nozomi together.

Speaking of Nozomi...

The girl was at the park, right around the same spot where Maki's phone was found. She hesitantly looked at the trash cans for any signs of another phone, as to see if somebody else had suffered the same fate as Eli and Maki.

"Well, so far, there doesn't seem to be any phones in the trash," Nozomi sighed. "The only other way to find out would leave me queasy for at least a day."

"Nozomi!"

The motherly idol flinched and turned around to see Kotori and Umi running up to her.

"Geez, don't scare me like that, please," she requested while she clutched her chest and took a deep breath.

"Sorry," Kotori sheepishly said.

"What are you doing here?" Umi asked.

"Well, remember how we found Maki's phone in the garbage after Nico collapsed?" Nozomi asked, earning a nod from Umi. "I was looking through the trashcans to see if there were any new phones, to see if the impostors struck again."

"Well, can you stop that for a minute and give us a reading?" Umi requested. "Of tarot cards, to be precise."

"Luckily for you," Nozomi reached for her back and took out a deck of cards. "I never go out without my cards."

Nozomi sat down, shuffled her deck, then took out three cards, which she placed face-down before she flipped them up, one by one.

The cards she took out were an Upright Tower, Upright Judgement, and Reversed Death.

"The cards, so far, seem to point that change is coming, and the change might be,"

"If the, why is the Death card mong them?" Kotori asked, only to guess, "Is somebody going to die?!"

"No, Kotori, don't worry, the Death card doesn't really mean somebody's going to die; That's an erroneous myth fiction made up for ominousness," "No, what the Death card means is change, although what type of change, and the circumstances behind it, depend on whether it's upright or reversed."

"The Death card's reversed," Umi blurted, earning a nod from the girl. "What does that mean?"

"It means that someone, or maybe even all of us, are on the verge of change, but we're resisting it somehow," Nozomi answered with a concerned tone. "Perhaps, the card's reversed because we don't know what to change in order to deal with our current situation more effectively."

"Well, Rin's been watching mystery shows lately, so we could ask her for suggestions," Kotori suggested with a shrug. "It's not a guarantee, though."

"It's better than sitting down and waiting for the next member of Muse to wind up being impersonated," Nozomi replied with a shrug.

Umi and Kotori exchanged looks, then looked at Nozomi, who flinched and leaned back as she asked, "I-Is something the matter?"

"You're a lot calmer than you were a couple days ago," Umi remarked, crossing her arms as Kotori nodded in agreement. "In fact, you're acting more like yourself today than you did back then, Nozomi."

"Oh, well, I've had enough time to take a deep breath, calm down, and go back to how I usually acted," Nozomi explained, clasping her hands. "And besides, the principal became concerned with how I was acting, so she gave me something for stress relief."

"Pills?" Kotori asked.

"Nope," Nozomi reached for her back and took out a ball. "A squeaky ball."

Nozomi pressed the ball a couple times, causing it to squeak as Umi and Kotori looked at it, the latter cheering up as she looked.

"I don't know why, but squishing it until it starts squeaking is so cathartic and relaxing," Nozomi extended the ball towards Kotori. "Would you like to try it? I've heard you've been stressed out lately."

Kotir took the ball, squeezed it once, and smiled as she started squeezing repeatedly. "Wow, it really works! Can I take it with me?"

"Sure, you need it more than I do right now," Nozomi nodded with a reassuring smile.

And with that, Kotori cheerfully strolled back home while repeatedly squeezing the ball, with Umi nodding to Nozomi and thanking her for the reading before she left as well.

Now all alone, Nozomi looked at her deck, shuffled it, then took out a card.

The card she took out? The Reversed Justice.

But rather than be horrified at the card she got, Nozomi looked sad, with small hints of lamentable acceptance.

"I guess it's to be expected that someone like me would get this kind of card," Nozomi sighed sadly. "I just hope my fortune can change soon."

Nozomi took a deep breath, and looked at the sky as she added:

"For everybody's sake..."