Hanamaru blinks at the piece of paper in front of her. Despite the number of books she's read, no combination of words can truly describe the amount of surprise she's feeling right now. All she can ask is, "How?" The piece of paper, being an inanimate object, doesn't respond.
The cause of her surprise is lounging on the floor with an idol magazine in her hand, reading it with an intense expression. Not ten minutes after Hanamaru made the deal with Chika, she's already written down the title, two verses, two choruses, ending, and even detailed who should sing which parts. And the lyrics are amazing! Just how did she do this?
Although Hanamaru probably spent more time trying to decipher Chika's handwriting that Chika did writing it. There are even times where she mistakes Chika's writing of her name with the number nine.
So as Chika enjoys her well-deserved reward, Hanamaru spends some time rewriting her lyrics into a more readable form. Luckily, she's experienced in calligraphy, so her handwriting is much better. Whenever she's not sure what a character is, she asks Chika about it who seems guilty for having such an indecipherable handwriting. Even so, Hanamaru finishes rewriting the lyrics not long after. She hands it to Chika who takes a picture of it and sends it to the Aqours group chat. The group now has all the members of Aqours except for Hanamaru, who relies on Ruby texting her information to know anything, but the loudest members are still the three original ones.
"Well, we finished our job," Chika says, pocketing her phone before returning to the magazine. "You heading home soon?"
"I think I'll stay here for a bit. Do you mind if I read that with you?" Chika shakes her head, and Hanamaru sits down next to her.
"Do you like school idols too?"
"Not really," Hanamaru admits. "I'm really only into it because of Ruby-chan. Her favorite is, uhh...Koizumi Hanayo."
"Hanayo's great! She's my second favorite, just behind Honoka." Chika smiles, waiting for Hanamaru to finish reading before flipping to the next page. "What about you? Who's your favorite?"
"...Hoshizora Rin."
Chika nods, seeming to approve of Hanamaru's choice. "She's also great! Why do you like her?"
"Because...she's Hanayo's friend, zura." Chika stares at Hanamaru for a few seconds, dumbfounded, before suddenly laughing. "W-why are you laughing?"
"It's cute! That's...kind of a funny reason to like a character," Chika says, calming down after a few seconds. "So hypothetically, if Ruby liked Eli, would you like Nozomi?"
"Maybe?"
"Well that's no good!" Chika frowns. "I have to teach you about idols! Then you can make up your mind about who you like the most. When are you going home, by the way?"
"I got time." That seems like what Chika wanted to hear, as she hands Hanamaru the magazine.
"Study this," she orders. "I'll bring you some things from my own collection so you can learn more about them."
Hanamaru, confused, responds with a nod.
Hours pass as the trio of Dia, You, and Riko remain in the student council room. Dia continues to busy herself with whatever paperwork she can get her hands on, while You and Riko continue to stare at her awkwardly. Eventually Dia's had enough, putting down her pen before looking at the clock hanging on the wall. "It's quite late, you two should head home. Especially you, You. You live in Numazu, correct?" You nods. "The last bus should be leaving soon. Also, can you stop by Yoshiko's and see how Ruby is doing? Tell her not to come home too late."
"Y-yes, Ma'am!"
"But what about you, Dia?" Riko asks, concern showing on her face. "Shouldn't you be heading home as well? The sun's going to set soon."
"I'll be fine," Dia says, paying no heed to her concern. "I just have to finish these sets of paperwork and I'll be home after that." She places her hand on a stack of papers, which will easily take another hour if you're rushing it, or two, maybe three if you're as meticulous as Dia.
"What are you working on anyway?" You asks, leaning forward to get a better view of them. Dia flips the papers over, covering them from You's line of vision while glaring at the younger girl.
"It's just something Mar- the chairwoman has given me to do. The other members are already done, so I'm just going over them one more time and doing some finishing touches."
You's eyes go towards the pile of papers, still unfinished. "Those don't look like 'finishing touches' to me."
"I'm used to it," Dia says with a hint of finality. "Now then, you'll miss your bus. Riko, you too." And just like that, she shoos the two away, locking the door once they're both out of the room.
"What's up with her?" You directs the question towards Riko, hoping that she would know because they're in the same class together. Unfortunately, she replies to the question with a shrug.
"I'm not sure. But Dia's definitely a bit weird...even Chika and Yoshiko told me that she's different from her usual self. Maybe she's just having a bad day?"
"Well, it seems like every day I've seen her she's been having a bad day, so maybe it has something to do with me?" Riko giggles at You's statement, both of them smiling at the little joke.
"Me too! Maybe it's both of us that's stressing her out?"
"Maybe." The two walk away from the student council room, heading towards the bus stop in front of Uranohoshi.
When she sees the two silhouettes behind the door leaving, Dia lets out a tired sigh. Her eyes go down towards the paper in front of her, the words "School Closure" staring back mockingly.
A knock on the door interrupts Ruby and Yoshiko from their current task. The redhead puts down the fabric and needle in her hands. "Who could that be?" Yoshiko shrugs. Her mom usually isn't home this early, and she'd tell her if she is. Yoshiko stands up, leaving Ruby to work alone. Despite the shaky beginning, they make a good team once they got into the rhythm of things. They've sketched out the costumes for everyone, along with the colors everyone will wear. Although the planning stage is arguably the easiest part, they should be able to finish the seven costumes soon, especially with two people working on them.
She hears some talking coming from the front door, followed by someone entering the apartment. Yoshiko re-enters the room with a smiling You in tow. "Ruby-chan!" She greets cheerfully. Ruby returns the greeting, albeit with less enthusiasm. "How's it going with the costumes? Everything going okay?"
"Y-yes. We'll probably go buy the materials tomorrow and start making it. I don't think it'll take us longer than a few days."
"That's great! Great." You breathes a sigh of relief. "I don't know what'll happen with Dia if you miss the deadline again."
"Me neither," Yoshiko says. "Oh, can we borrow your sewing stuff? Or can we sew at your house and hang out?"
"I don't mind. It might be a pain carrying all that stuff, so feel free to drop by at my place."
"Thaaanks." Yoshiko smiles. "Here, check out the costumes Ruby drew. Aren't they cute?" She hands You the paper Ruby drew in.
"You're right! These are super cute."
"I-it's nothing," Ruby says bashfully, not used to being praised by someone other than her sister. "I just wanted to make a dress, so that's what I drew."
"It's so cool though...no wonder Dia asked you to make the flyers. Speaking of Dia, she asked you to not to come home too late."
"I-is it really that late already?" Ruby checks her phone for the time, her eyes widening when she realizes that she'll miss the bus back to her home. "I have to get back. I'm so sorry, Yoshiko."
"Don't worry about it," Yoshiko assures, helping Ruby pack up her stuff. "Tell Dia 'hi' for me, okay?"
"I will. I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, and you too, You. I'll see you at school tomorrow." She bows before running towards the entrance, putting on her shoes. The sound of the door opening and closing follows soon after, leaving You and Yoshiko alone.
You looks around the room, noticing the not-small amount of stuff everywhere. Her eyes find a camera and a tripod pushed to the corner of the room. She walks over to it while Yoshiko is distracted tidying up from their assignment. "Is this what you use to stream?"
Yoshiko looks up at You's direction, noticing the camera she's holding. "Yeah. I haven't done one in a while since we're so busy with Aqours and everything. I promised my followers a stream later this weekend, though."
"That's neat," You says, placing the camera back on the tripod. "Is it hard?"
"Kinda." She shrugs, putting the leftover materials back in the plastic bag. "But it's not bad if you really like it. Like how we are with Aqours. It's mostly fun. Plus...the money isn't bad. It cost a lot to get started, but after a while I'm making some money back."
"You get paid? That's so cool!" You looks baffled, but Yoshiko expected that to be honest. That's how Chika and Dia reacted when she told them that as well. "What do you do with it?"
"It's not a lot...I just buy whatever stuff I need for the next stream and give the rest to my mom."
"Woah...you really are a good girl."
"Shut up! I am no such thing, I'm the Fallen Angel Yohane!"
"Whatever you say, Yoshiko-chan~"
"It's Yohane! Yo-ha-ne! You messed it up on purpose!" Yoshiko's accusation was left unanswered by You. As the sun begins dipping below the horizon, Yoshiko turns on the lights in her room, sighing under her breath. "I hope Ruby gets home safely. Dia's gonna murder me if she doesn't."
"You're a lot more responsible than I thought you were," You says suddenly, putting her hands in front of her when Yoshiko gives her a curious look. "I-I don't mean that in an offending way. But..."
"I know, I get it," Yoshiko says. "I'm not as air-headed as Dia might make you think."
And there it is again. Dia. With a nervous tone, she asks, "Is something going on with Dia?"
"So you noticed it, too?" She lets out a humorless chuckle. "She's been like this ever since the year started. It's weird, but...it's happened before in our first-year, so I hope things go back to normal soon."
"I hope so, too," You says, attempting to cheer her up. Just then, she feels her phone buzzing. Checking it, she sees a message from Dia. "...looks like Chika's done with the lyrics. Dia wants us to get to work tonight."
"You're with Riko, right? I feel bad for you two." She gives her a pat on the back as a sort of comfort. "Good luck. I really want this next song to be good."
"Thanks, Yohane-chan." You says, getting ready to leave. "Just come over whenever you need to borrow my stuff."
And so, began the week of hell for You. She didn't expect to have to work at ungodly hours in the middle of the night to work on their choreography for their next song, but Dia doesn't see anything wrong in that.
The chat with her, Dia, and Riko is mostly Dia doing frequent progress checks, offering tips and dividing work between the three of them, which would be helpful if she was struggling with making the choreography, but does nothing to help her stay awake.
Riko hasn't said anything in the past thirty minutes. You doesn't know if she's concentrating on playing the piano or if she's already asleep. It could be either at this point.
'It's quite late now. Tomorrow's a weekday. You should go to sleep.' Dia's latest text reads. 'We'll continue this again tomorrow.'
The green dot marking that Dia's online turns off, and for the second time today, You breathes out a sigh of relief. She plugs her phone into the charger before jumping into bed, making use of the hours she still has left to sleep.
Elsewhere, Riko closes the lid on her piano, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she prepares her book and uniform for tomorrow-or rather today, she realizes after looking at the clock. She's happy, elated that the old passion she had for her piano is returning. A feeling of nostalgia hits her with every key played, reminding her of all the memories she made. She can't help but let out the occasional tear of joy while playing.
Now, she has another chance. To make more memories with her piano, with the rest of Aqours. It's a thrilling prospect.
As she checks her phone, she can't help but frown at seeing all of the messages she's missed. Dia has been acting weirder recently, for reasons unknown even to her closest friends. It doesn't help that certain 'rumors' have been spreading. Could the rumors that some students quit from the student council be true? That might explain Dia's current mood. She'll have to ask around, but definitely not to Dia. That would just make her even angrier.
Once she's done getting ready for school, she looks out of her balcony window. The light to Chika's room is off, so she's already asleep. She should too; she doesn't want to wake her up by playing the piano.
Picking up her latest doujin, she lays down on her bed and reads until she falls asleep.
"Holy shit you're a fucking mess."
That's the first thing Yoshiko says to You when they meet at the bus stop the next morning. And for good reason. The first sign that something's wrong is that You is late.
"Thanks, Yohane-chan, I wouldn't have known," she says sarcastically. "Don't worry, I'm not sick or anything. Just tired."
"Well, yeah. I can see that." Yoshiko rolls her eyes, although behind the hard exterior You knows that she's genuinely worried about her. The bus arrives, and when they both sit down Yoshiko gives her a surprising offer. "You can use my shoulder if you want to sleep."
You stares at Yoshiko like she had just said something insane. Which is saying something considering everything she says on a daily basis. "Are you...making a move on me?"
"No! Don't get the wrong idea. I don't like you in that way. This kind of thing isn't awkward if it's just between friends."
"I don't think that's how it works."
Yoshiko shakes her head. "Look, you need to sleep. Should you overwork yourself without rest you'll get sick like me, and it would be much, much worse if one of my little demons got sick," Yoshiko says. "And you also lent me your shoulder when...when I cried, so it's only fair. A shoulder for a shoulder."
"You're weird."
"You're mean!" Yoshiko huffs. "Whatever, it's not like I'm looking out for you or anything."
"I'm not saying being weird is a bad thing." You laughs. "Well, if you're offering then."
Yoshiko tenses up as a weight settles on her shoulder. "...I'm already regretting this."
"Too bad."
The Aqours meeting after school that day was pretty much the same as the one from the day before. Hanamaru and Chika going to the library, while Ruby and Yoshiko go to her apartment. Today, however, Dia explicitly said that there's a student council meeting, and You and Riko should go home immediately.
Right now, You, Yoshiko, and Ruby are on the bus, heading towards the shopping center at Numazu. Ruby's prepared enough money for them to buy anything they need (the other two balked when she pulled out a few ten-thousand yen bills), and they've already thought about what colors they want and how much of each, although they decide to buy extra, just in case.
With all that in mind, they begin shopping for fabric and accessories alike. Ruby asked if they should buy another sewing machine that they can keep in the clubroom, but eventually decided that it wasn't needed yet.
After an hour, they paid for their stuff before heading to You's house, where they began working on the costumes.
A calm before the storm.