Sumire stood before the door of the Director's office. She was stylish, she was elegant, she was calm. It won't do to show any irritation now. She will show Her Stuck-Upness what kind of person she is actually messing with.

She pushed through the door gently but deliberately, with ceremony... and the tasteful interior revealed itself before her suddenly astonished eyes. What-? There was an elaborately-designed rug on the floor leading right up to the huge desk which looks eerily like a judge's bench. Bookcase to the left, bookcase to the right. It was... It was the same as their clan's main house! Well... Sumire did think she was rich, but she never thought she'd be on her level, she never thought the school could decorate on this level. She was frozen in place for a moment.

"Well?" said Ren from the desk, what are you dithering for?"

Catching herself, and troubled that she actually showed signs of intimidation, she stiffened herself up and walked to the desk with measured step. She handed the letter back to her. "I am expecting the matter we'll discuss to be worthy of this room."

Ren only smiled and did not take the letter.

Sumire laid it down on the desk. "Before you can think to mete out any penalties, let me ask what your position is in this school."

"..."

"Don't tell me you're the chairwoman just because you sit on a schoolmaster's chair."

"Oh, I never claimed anything for myself."

"See? You have no title. So don't presume to send letters with the school seal and summon people."

"But you came, anyways. You acknowledge my authority."

Tch- "I came here to question you. Are you the owner, perhaps? Maybe you're related in some way?"

"..."

"Are you going to make yourself Student Council president?"

"Ah, but I don't think we have to set such a thing up at this point. Not now."

"Then who's running this place? Who is the faculty answering to? You're clearly a student, you even wear the school uniform. Even if you weren't, how can you presume to run an institution at my age?"

"..."

"What can you actually do, miss? What is your real power?"

Ren only kept sizing up this elegant upstart. Intimidation alone won't work on this one.

But then a glint shone on Sumire's eye. "I won't submit to any punishment you lay on me. I won't even believe you have any actual authority. Unless...

"I'll only believe you have the power to hurt me..."

Smirk.

"...if you have the power to do something for me."

At this, Ren's expression brightened up, not much, but noticeably. The abrupt change unsettled Sumire. She didn't quite expect the mysterious lady to agree so soon. What's with her, seriously?

"Mah..." Ren finally said. "Please take a chair and let's have a little talk."

OP Song

Bouken Type A, B, C!

Lyrics: Aki Hata

Composition and Arrangement: Tatsuya Kurauchi

.

#2. A Real School Idol!

"Tadaima- Heh?!"

Kanon was surprised to find at the cafe a group of young ladies, her big sister Chihiro's university classmates, posing with their mother, and Manmosu on her arm. Chihiro saw her and tossed her the camera. "You be a dearie and do the shoot for us, 'K?"

She was about to complain but her sister had already called on the group to say cheese, so there was little else she could do but rush and take pictures. She did about eleven or twelve in all. At the end of it she collapsed onto the bar and wanted to sleep on the spot. "I'm gonna die..."

"Like any good hero would," said Chihiro cheerfully ruffling her hair. "Here, I got a little something for your trouble." She set down next to her a plain loaf of wheat bread and a bowl of... olive oil. Kanon took one look at it and instantly sat up in alarm.

"W-What is this?!"

Her sister dipped a piece of bread into the oil and popped it into her mouth. "Yum..."

"Ew... Who would want to eat grease, yuck..." She was even more grossed out as Chihiro dipped another piece and offered it to her, still dripping. "Ughhhh..."

"Kanon," said Mom, "you shouldn't turn up your nose at a dish your grandmother would love."

"Ahem," she said looking to and fro frantically between mother and bread. "Do I have to go with absolutely everything about Granny?"

"And you, Chihiro, you don't dunk it in like it's coffee. See, Kanon's right, there's too much of it."

Kanon snickered.

"Meh. Kanon's just jealous she doesn't have moi metabolism. Heheh..." Chomp.

"Humph. Just you wait. When I get to uni I'll be even sexier than you."

Ruffle ruffle. "Ah, we can't have that. Grow up? Who'll be the baby of our family?"

"¡Para!" She threw her sister's hand off. "Tell that to Kai!" Her little brother.

"Kai's more mature than you. See? He's only in middle school and he digs Pa's work. He must be able to speak at least two or three other languages by now." True enough, Kanon's brother does spend a lot of time helping out at their half-Spanish father's room; the man is a freelance translator for several newspapers and even some textbooks.

Frustrated groan. "Just because you two are bookish..."

"Kanon," cut in Mom, "you texted me about the supplies. Do you have an event tomorrow?"

"Uhm," she confirmed. "I think we have unsold inventory from yesterday."

"Indeed. Come to the pantry after dinner and pick what you need." And she left for the kitchen.

Chihiro brought Manmosu to her. "He needs a little grooming. Don't show him off, we need him here tomorrow, OK?" And she followed Mom.

"I know that..." she mumbled. She laughed softly at the tickling feathers as Manmosu flapped his wings. "Chill down, will 'ya? Here, I'll give you a nice feather-do."

A soft techno into plays...

"Attension pleease...

Soft techno intro keeps playing...

Playing...

Playing...

"Let's SAGO!"

"Good morning, everyone!" called out Kanon to the droves of students milling about while that techno instrumental kept playing at their shared booth. "Try our sago coolers, please! We got blueberry, bubble-gum, tutti-frutti!"

"Kanon-chan," chided Chisato, "You got the lyrics wrong. It's not 'let's go,' it's 'rock on.' Or something."

Giggle. "I'm just too excited. I already sold, um, forty percent of my store, I think? What about you?"

"Not doing bad, either. In fact, I believe I wouldn't have sold as much if we didn't band together." The two occupied tables next to their booth attested to their sales. "I'll admit your cafe's lineup is more complete, though. Your paella in a cup is just fabulous. Maybe we can add dumpling to our menu next time."

"Heh? That's too much trouble, not worth it, we only have till tomorrow."

"It's OK. There's a huuuuge event in the auditorium at sundown. We'll be super busy taking advantage of the crowds before we close shop."

"Event? It must be super important." Chisato whispered in her ear. "Ehhhh?! They're... They're putting up an ice-skating rink?!"

Chisato pointed at a truck unloading huge cooling fans. "Whoever's performing there is a certified bigshot."

"But there's no brochure to tell who's who."

"Iya. I hear it's gonna be a one-woman performance." She closed her eyes in disdain. Honestly, I don't care about the show, I would be dead beat by then earning my keep. If it's not a normal dance, then it's nothing."

"It must be nice to perform there..."

She opened an eye at her. "Hm?"

"You know, it must be something different to sing to people under bright lights..."

The festive atmosphere was everywhere and among the other booths were some branded stuff even. What can we do to stand out a bit? Chisato wondered.

She saw groups of students just standing all around their booth, singing along and laughing, obviously there to listen to their playlist. "Who needs bright lights?" She pulled along her friend to just outside the booth and fingered the audio, after which she got her and herself a mic. "We're singing now."

"Hueeeehhhh...? Uh, it's embarrassing..."

Back slap. "Stop acting and start cheering 'em up!"

"Ow! Hey..."

To the audience, "Mina-san!" Her admittedly lovely voice enthralled everybody within earshot and drew more people to their booth. At that moment Kanon felt so proud of her in spite of herself. She could only chuckle to herself. "Chi-chan, I think you should be singing more than dancing."

"Nope," she said fingering the audio again. "Both of us will do both."

"I'll be fine singing right now if it's a μ's song."

"Bah, branch out for once, will 'ya?" The non-μ's song came on the air, and it turned out Kanon actually enjoyed this one, too.

JIMO-AI Dash!

Lyrics: Aki Hata; Composition: TAKAROT and Carlos K.; Arrangement: Kazuya Komatsu

At the end of it, the happy noises, both the audience's and theirs, could not be contained.

Right afterwards, they got their customers. Nearly eighty percent of all their inventory were cleared by three in the afternoon, and a number of the other booths even asked to set up next to them for enhanced sales, which they gladly agreed to.

"O-kane, kane! Heeheehee~" grinned Chisato counting all of the bills and coins over and over, whilst Kanon simply counted everything in one go and recorded it all down in her account book. "Uehhhhh... I wished I owned the takoyaki shop right now..." Pleased sigh.

"You don't looked tired at all."

"Heeheehee~ Business is too good for silly things like fatigue. I wonder what I can buy with this?"

"You gotta give it back to Matsuo-san, you know."

"You think boss'll give me a raise for today's pitch?"

"Hah..." she said in exasperation. "Your place is smaller than our cafe and you're asking for a raise?"

"What about you? Always the dutiful little girl, I see."

"Uhm!" she happily affirmed. "Maman's saving up for Onee-chan's uni expenses."

"You're not very ambitious, are you?"

Smile. "Onee-chan's set on being a geologist, and Kai-kun's interested in Papa's translation work, so... I guess there's no one else to run the cafe eventually."

"Humph. You got a future cut out for you already. It must be hard for aspirants like me who must work hard to carve out a place for themselves under the sun."

"Go for it, Chi-chan! You know, I think you're already pro enough to set up a studio."

"Heheh. Not so fast. Business is cutthroat so I must use high school to refine myself further."

"Then I guess you really should see the skating act. You'll be unbeatable if you can master that one."

"I told you. Only real dance matters to me."

"Ahem. You're the one who told me to branch out."

"Ha..." came a voice from outside the booth, "Hallo...?"

スーパースターズ! GO!

They turned to see a shy-looking girl of short hair looking around somewhat confused all over the booth. For a speechless moment they caught each other's eyes until the girl blurted what sounded like a muffled, embarrassed wail followed by "O... O... Osu... Osusume...?"

"..."

Snapping out of it, Kanon quickly handed her the menu, which the girl looked over meticulously before settling on Napolitan in a cup. Taking her the dish she ordered, she brightened up and quickly took a bite. "This is so much better than I thought" they could hear her mumble in slightly accented Japanese. "I think I'll ask for a bigger allowance tomorrow." And in Chinese, "Can't believe I got this close to a real school idol! And I'm having their food. It's like eating an autograph!" Excited giggle. She finished the meal and skipped away highly pleased.

Kanon tried to register that singular presence. "She looks lost..."

Chisato pulled her aside and said, "Didn't you hear her talk?"

"Whut?"

"That's the Shanghai girl."

"Eh? Ch-Chinese? But her Japanese is..."

"It stands out."

"But she's such a cutie!"

"Some of the girls called her Twocent the other day."

Kanon's face fell flat. "And you agree with them?"

"Everybody says her phone's a Huawei. But it's really just an iPhone, too. With pandas."

"And you agree with them? Just because of pandas?"

"It's not my fault she put a panda sticker on her phone," she said drily.

Kanon perked up. "A panda sticker? That's so kawaii! You know, if she becomes buddies with us, she'll be our lovely Chinese leading lady. We can call ourselves F3. Flower 3!"

Three young high school girls on a slow-motion flowery meadow caressed by the wind, a guitar playing, against a background of lovely evening sky bedecked with shooting stars, Chinese scroll credits off to the side, the girl pushing back her hair stylishly while they preen bashfully. And then skip around happily all over the field with wildflower bouquets, which they smell very femininely and scatter in the air, whilst they laugh and hug as the petals fall everywhere.

"You're the one stereotyping people," said Chisato flatly.

"Well, you know what the Yanks say, we're in a Chinese cartoon, you know."

"Bruh..."

"You look like Chun-Li yourself."

"I'm not! Stupid odangos. I'm not Chinese!"

"So you're looking down on her, Chi-chan? Just because she's a foreigner?"

"Wah- er, no, not exactly, I'm just repeating what I heard from my buddies from the other class. Well, she's not exactly a foreigner, her Mom's Japanese..."

"But are you looking down on her because she's hafu?"

"I peeked into her workbook the other day. Her written Japanese is excellent. But she stutters when speaking in public, like when she was introduced by Aya-chan's homeroom teacher. She made herself obvious."

"So she's Aya-chan's classmate..."

"If I were her I'd drill myself on a proper speech before facing the class."

"You can't blame her..."

"Why did she come to Japan, anyway? Here she becomes the nail that sticks out and is hammered down!"

"And what does that make me? I'm almost a hafu myself. My Granny's Spanish, remember?"

"Well..."

"You're gonna whack me on the head to see if it's a piñata?"

"Of course not."

"You telling me to be ashamed of my grandmother?"

"Wha- hey! I didn't say anything like that!" Pretty pouting pose. "Humph!"

Kanon wanted to pout as well, but then seeing her pose like that, thought the better of it and grabbed hold of her friend. She nuzzled the back of Chi-chan's neck sending her into a fit of laughter.

"Wawawah! Ahahahaha! N-Not there... Ahahahaha! My self-destruct button's in that place!"

"Heehee. That's the penalty for being cute." Nuzzle. "Hora, let's clear out the rest of our store."

They have nearly depleted their inventory by around half-past five, so they didn't get around to catering to the gathering crowds bound for the auditorium as Chi-chan had earlier planned. They packed up and put everything in a cart to be later picked up by a mini-truck from Chisato's boss.

Chi-chan was chattering gamely to another friend over the phone as they made their way to the gate, going against the flow of students coming to watch tonight's event. Hanging up, she turned to see Kanon looking quite down again, much to her surprise. "Non-chi, are you alright?"

Inside the auditorium, the cooling systems were in full blast and the huge icy floor was suitably misty, but the seats were packed and it didn't feel that cold at all. As the announcement came on and the lights began to dim everybody started to cheer for the star of the night.

Outside, the two were completely oblivious to the excitement and the music playing from inside the auditorium. "Non-chi, if you're trying to hide something from me, I tell you I won't let you pass through that gate until you tell me."

"N-No, No! Please don't bother." Sigh. "I can manage."

Chisato stared even harder at her and she finally huffed in resignation. "I don't want you to be involved, Chi-chan."

"I've been involved in you the first day we became friends. It's all or nothing."

With a weak smile, Kanon closed her eyes. The lights of the auditorium bracketed her form and veiled her in a shadow that made her look just a bit more beautiful. When she opened them again, she said, "You hear the name of the one skating in there right now?"

Ren executed her moves flawlessly, in time with the dazzling music, keeping the crowd fixated, in a strange and wondrous state of being speechless and yet inwardly uproarious at the same time, the feeling of being in a story and dancing with the princess.

Chisato laughed rubbing her friend's head and ruffling her hair. "So that's why I saw you biking down the street so early in the morning! Is that all? Don't you worry, Kanon-chan. I'll talk to Matsuura-san if I meet her. I hear she's pretty busy, though, so it might take a while."

"Isn't she the Student President?"

"Nuh-uh. Can't confirm. Everybody else is unsure, as well. But she doesn't have to, she's the kid of the school's owner. That alone gives her plenty of clout. So we just call her the Heiress. She looks reasonable if you ask me."

"Hah... I should hope so. But I'll still have to meet with her on Monday with this letter."

"Kanon-chan. Do tell me what happens with your meetup, alright? If I'm free, I'll go with you. Now don't you dare stop me, OK?"

Kanon smiled fondly at her buddy. "Chi-chan..."

"As for that airbag... Heh. I did get some juicy intel. She's from an old family hereabouts, a large clan established here since the Taisho era. But she's an absolute amateur.

"Yazawa started half a dozen YouTube channels each with a different tack. One for fashion, one for travel, one for, um, conspiracy theories? I forgot about the others, but the last one's a school idol channel. A jack of all trades. The 'fashion' channel's just a bunch of kiddie jewelry, for one. The travel one has no videos.

"Heh. She even claimed to be a showbiz expert once, but if you're really confident about yourself, you'll stick out your neck for just one talent you're sure you can rock, right Non-chi?"

Kanon heaved a sigh of relief. "You put me at ease again. Thanks so much, Chi-chan. I wish you didn't become a grapevine, though. You could get in trouble."

"Heh. Tell that to someone who doesn't know how to get in the loop." Laugh. "Don't let that Yazawa pest get to you. She won't go far, I tell you."

Kanon chuckled, as well. "It must be awfully hard to pretend you're someone, eh?"

"It sure is! I wonder what I'll find in her 'school idol' channel?"

They looked at each other for a moment and then laughed together.

Ren has finally finished her performance, and now the crowd was roaring, whilst she waved at them form the middle of the rink. After that, she raised both hands to still them.

"Mina-san," she said in that lovely whisper-like voice, "I am honestly so honored to receive your attention tonight. I hope you have enjoyed my humble performance."

A few cheers came form here and there, but all the rest were at her feet and awaiting her every word.

"Before we call it a lovely night, however, I would like to introduce you all to a good friend of mine. She is a rising star, our very own. I hope you can all lend your utmost support to the newest face of our school, much as you did to me tonight."

Tentative applause mixed in with a general murmuring. Ren smiled knowingly to herself. Soon enough Sumire sated out to the icy floor and parked next to her. The murmuring grew just a wee bit louder.

They nodded at each other, and then Ren skated backwards, announcing the new arrival.

"Everyone, let us welcome, Miss Sumire Yazawa!"

She has scarcely finished speaking when the music from Sumire's song came on the speakers. The murmuring died down. A number of students thought the music was familiar. But soon it very quickly became clear... Everybody was dumbfounded. The soundtrack was the only sound in the entire auditorium. Is she... Is she singing a song... in English?!

My Heart Will Go On

Lyrics: Will Jennings; Composition: James Horner

Kanon and Chisato stood facing the auditorium, shaken to the core and gaping. The lights were blinding. The climax of the song thundered down on them like a massive wave crashing down on a rocky coast.

This can't be.

What is this...? said Kanon to herself. She is...

She is... She is...

She's a real school idol!

ED Song

i-n-g, I TRY!

Lyrics: Aki Hata; Composition and Arrangement: Takeshi Masuda

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Next Time! #3. A Real School Idol Club?