CHAPTER 5

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UnivHunterXD : Thank you always for your review. Knowing there is somebody who enjoys this story means a lot to writers like me. I will try not to disappoint.

NYK Stella Polaris,
Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Prefecture,
January 27

The dining cabin was alive with joy. The ship's crews brought out more variety of food and drinks from every part of the world. People gathered around the table, eating and mingling with raucous conversation and laughter. Soft music added to the relaxing atmosphere, augmented by Aqours' own slow-tempo numbers like Yume de Yozora O Terasitai and Mijuku Dreamers.

Yet strangely enough, Mari Ohara was absent from everything.

Kanan had noticed Mari's lukewarm reaction to the cruise since the beginning. It was not like she was an introverted recluse like Ruby. On the contrary, Mari was quite rambunctious and did not shy away from strangers. She was always upbeat and rarely missed festivities like this. And she loved food as well, although not in the same ground as Hanamaru. But Mari could be quite emotional, and that was what bothered Kanan the most.

Noticing that Mari was not in the crowd, Kanan took a stroll on the main deck. When she couldn't find her best friend, she proceeded to the bridge for a better vantage point. But instead she spotted Mari sitting alone at the top of the bridge, gazing at the stars alone. Again, Mari liked sparkling stuffs, but stars were not one of them.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" Kanan said as she took the empty space next to Mari. "It's January night. You'll catch pneumonia doing this for too long."

"Shiny," Mari smiled without taking her eyes off the stars. "Do you believe in wish upon a star, Kanan? I do. I'm wishing upon the stars."

"For what?"

"For us… to be together forever."

Kanan inched closer to Mari. "Mari, I know you are burdened with something. Your mind is troubled. You have been keeping it to yourself, but whatever it is you don't have to do it alone. I'm here for you."

"I am fine," Mari flashed a soothing smile, but Kanan could see the lie straight through it.

"I have known you since you are little. I know when you are happy and when you are distraught. Please, don't brush me off. I'm bringing my ears and my shoulders for you, if you want to use them to cry on. That's what friends are for."

Mari dipped her head, and for the first time since the cruise brouhaha started two weeks ago, her eyes bogged down with tears. The light from the stars bounced off the globules of tears in her eyes like shards of icicles. Her breath became deeper and heavier, as if life had been sucked out of her.

"Do you want to know the reason why we are in this ship?" she sighed. "I'm marrying Murakami's son."

Kanan didn't respond for a full minute. Her joints locked up, and her brain struggled to process what her ears just picked up. It took her a while until she could formulate words, and even then she didn't know if it was the appropriate response. "Well, then, why are you acting like this? Isn't it supposed to be great? You, marrying the son of a member of National Diet?"

"I don't want to marry him!" Mari blurted. "This is not the life I choose. Councilman Murakami and his son regularly stay at Awashima Hotel, and apparently the son takes a favor of me. I told them that I am an idol singer and I have no interest in marriage as long as I can sing, but for some reason my parents think I am better off marrying the younger Murakami than being a singer. They never support my singing career anyway."

"An arranged marriage?" Kanan puffed. "What year is this, Sengoku period?"

"I know, right?" Mari chuckled bitterly. "I hate to think that my parents get some kind of patronage from the politicians if I marry the younger Murakami, but all things seem to point that way. I'm still a high school student. I am an idol singer. There's no sense in this arrangement."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kanan bemoaned.

"Because I knew you were going to cancel Aqours' involvement in this cruise."

"Hell yeah I'm going to cancel this trip! This isn't right! We can't let you take the fall, not at this magnitude!"

"But look at them. Look how their confidence soar. Look at the fire in their eyes. This is the break Aqours need. For so long Aqours have been crawling in the shadow of bad luck. Do you remember Aqours' first concert? Do you remember the first festival? It's only a miracle Chika, You, Riko, Ruby, Maru, and Yoshiko have not given up. They need something to boost their morale. A sense of accomplishment. A sense of dignity. Coming into Love Live Finals in March, they need to believe that they can actually do it."

"But not at the expense of your future," Kanan looked straight into Mari's eyes.

"I'll deal with it later," Mari leaned her head on a ship's structure. "For now, I want to give something for Aqours. I want to give it a means to fight."

"Aw, Mari," Kanan wrapped her arms around Mari's shoulder. "What do you think will happen if everybody knows about this? Are they going to keep chasing dreams, pretending this is not a big deal? Do you think our dreams are bigger than your life?"

"They will not know, because you will not tell them," Mari rested her head on Kanan shoulder. "Promise me, Kanan. Promise me that you will not say anything."

"I can't promise that!" Kanan pushed Mari away. "Are you nuts? How can I promise something that make my best friend miserable?"

"If you tell them, then my pain is for nothing," Mari turned to look at Kanan. "Please, do it for me. Give them something to believe in. Give them the confidence to go out and sing to their hearts' content. It's the least I could do as a member of Aqours. Please, Aqours means the world to me. I want to see us fly as high as we can go. Wouldn't you?"

"Well, yes, but…"

"Then promise me. Promise me you will keep this for yourself."

"Alright, I promise, for now," Kanan relented. "I will see how far we can go at Love Live Finals. But after that, I'm going back to this. If this is not what you want, then we'll fight this thing together."

"I'll take that deal," Mari smiled. "Thank you, Kanan. You are the best friend I can ever ask for."

"Now do me a favor. Get your butt inside. You'll freeze to death out here, and if you get sick, everything you build will come to waste."

"Alright, I'm going in," Mari chuckled, sincerely this time, as if a big boulder had been lifted off her back. "I'm kinda hungry."

"Good. I'll make sure you're stuffed with quality food." Kanan pulled Mari up. "If you don't want others to know, then you have to act like nothing happens. Get in there and show your shiny self."

Mari replied with a long, loud laugh.

As the evening slipped into night, the passengers retired to their rooms. The decks became quieter and quieter with only a handful of passengers and ship crews getting the decks ready for the next day. Only the light from the stars and the sound of the ship crashing against the waves lightened up deck, a far cry from the colorful spotlights and heart-pumping techno when Aqours took the stage a few hours earlier.

A man in dark outfit walked through the promenade, listening to the sound coming from behind those closed doors. Most were quiet, but he could hear random noises from TV and light conversation . He stopped in front of a particular door with rather noisy occupants, checking on their passionate moans and cries, clearly enjoying themselves, then moved on in steady gaits.

As the man reached the upper deck, he walked past some lifeboats. He turned his head around, making sure nobody was around, then pulled up a plastic bag from under his coat and tossed it inside the boat. He moved on to the next boat and repeated the process. A couple of ship crewmembers approached his position, talking in ignorant fashion. The man slipped in between two lifeboats. His dark outfit helped him blended in the surrounding as the ship crews walked by him, completely oblivious of his existence.

The man waited until the crews disappeared around the bend, then continued going toward a row of intakes for the boat's engines. But the sound of loud chatters stopped him dead on his track. He jumped back behind a lifeboat, just as three teenage girls arrived and occupied the hallway he was going to take.

"Hello Aqours fans, this is Yoshiko a.k.a. Fallen Angel Yohane with Ruby-chan and Maru-chan at the twilight of our first day in this marine escapade!" Yoshiko talked to the camcorder. "So far everything has been beyond expectation. The food is spectacular, and fans' reaction to our new song is better than expected. If you have not seen our performance of the new song Fantastic Departure, please scroll up and click on the video. You will not be disappointed, it is so good!

"As you can see, it is getting cold and dark here aboard Stella Polaris, and it is time to recap our first day!" Yoshiko pointed the camera at Ruby's face. "Ruby-chan, what is your best experience so far?"

"It's uh… good," Ruby replied sheepishly. She tried to hide her face from the camera, but Yoshiko was persistent. "Like Yoshiko-chan said, the food is good, and people here are very nice."

"Would you return if there is another invitation?"

"Yes, yes, most definitely."

"Have you met somebody interesting in this cruise?"

"Uh… n-n-no, not meet anybody yet…" Ruby's face turned red. "Why are you asking embarrassing questions, Yoshiko-chan?"

"These are questions from fans who wants to know about our private lives. Like this one from AngryNeeson51… 'Ruby-chan, R-U C-ing anybody atm?' We all know you hooked up with one of the Pro Heroes during our visit to UA High School last year. Whatever happens to that guy?"

"Pigiiii!" Ruby jumped behind a lifeboat to hide from Yoshiko's intrusions. "I did not hook up with anybody, Yoshiko-chan! Please stop the embarrassing questions!"

The man with the dark clothes wondered why Ruby hadn't spotted him, considering she hid in the same vicinity as him, a mere 2-meters away. He could only guess that Ruby was too engrossed dodging Yoshiko's intrusive questions that she didn't see him hiding in the same spot as her.

"How about you Maru-chan?" Yoshiko turned to Hanamaru, who started walking away from her. "You're bringing in a handsome guy to this cruise. Can you tell our fans a little about the lucky guy, and the nature of your relationship with him?"

"We are just friends, zura!" Hanamaru blurted, clearly annoyed at Yoshiko. "He is studying to be a chef, and I just thought he can learn a thing or two about international food, zura!"

"Well that's very kind of you, doing a big favor for a friend," Yoshiko kept trucking down with her nosy questions. "How did you meet him? At his school? What school does he attend to? What is your favorite of his cooking?"

"I don't know, zura! Maybe anko or noppo bread, but any food is good because he is just a good chef, zura."

"You have a lot of fans on the web, Maru-chan! You'll break a lot of hearts by hooking up with him."

"I am not hooking up with anybody, zura! He is just a friend, zura! Can we talk about something else?"

"Aqours fans, what do you think?" Yoshiko turned the camera toward herself. "Maru-chan is bringing a handsome friend to accompany her in this cruise. He is a student in a culinary academy, and by Maru-chan's own word, he can cook and satisfy her need for quality food…"

"I did not say that, zura!" Hanamaru complained.

"What do you think about Maru-chan's situation? Should she continue seeing this guy?" Yoshiko ignored Hanamaru's gripes. "Post your comment on the comment box below. And don't forget to like and subscribe! We love you, Aqours fans!"

As the three girls continued arguing on camera, the man decided it was not worth waiting. He inched away from Ruby and slipped into darkness, long before the three Aqours girls called it quit and returned to their rooms to sleep.