Aya: Hi everyone! Welcome to the second chapter of this story. From now on, we will be the ones to greet you, Dear Readers, before jumping into the action. Although… ehehe… I don't really know why they picked me to do the intro. I mean, I have no idea what happened in the previous chapter… they wouldn't let me see…
Kasumi: You too, Aya-Senpai? Arisa wouldn't let me see it either…
Kokoro: Kanon doesn't let any of us read it. Maybe she wants to surprise us with something before that~
Kasumi: Awww that's so nice of her. I bet Arisa is doing that too~
Aya: Huh… is it really because of that?
Arisa: *in the background with Chisato* I really do owe you one for that, Chisato-san.
Chisato: It paid off to hint that towards Kauro-san. *sweatdrops* Though the price was high… just listening to her…
Yukina: We get it, you'll get those cookies we agreed upon.
Chisato: I want double.
Rinko: Sure… you can share them with Maruyama-san~
Chisato: *blushes hard*
Aya: *is unaware of the girls in the background* Please enjoy the chapter and remember that Xdante-san doesn't own me or anything from our franchise because if he did, we would keep referencing Star Wars things in every 3rd second~
Arisa: That guy needs to get out more…
Love Dream Days
Chapter 2: An Exceptional Concert
The members of Poppin' Party, Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, Roselia, and Hello Happy World have just arrived at Galaxy for the Raise A Suilen concert that Chu2 had personally handed them tickets to. Well… technically it was the love-struck girl group that got those straight from her and the others received theirs from them.
"Hey Yukina, you never told us why Chu2 gave you those tickets." Lisa said as she was walking next to her best friend.
Yukina looked at her then answered "All she said was that we will see something new."
"That sounds way too mysterious…" Misaki said with a sweatdrop.
Himari responded "It could be seen as a surprise~"
"Really?! Let's race there then!" Hagumi said and almost sped off. Luckily, Misaki stopped her before she could sprint away.
Rimi laughed a bit and said "Maybe you can do it later, Hagumi-san~"
The girls went inside and Saaya approached the girls at the ticket booth. "Good evening. We have tickets with backstage passes."
The girl behind the desk said "Oh, right! The other bands are here too. You can go to the dressing room." She said after taking everyone's tickets and the girls went to see their RAS friends.
Ako was the first to burst into the room. Like literally burst in and start doing one of her famous monologues "Behold! The Princess of Darkness has descended from her throne among the… the… uh…"
Rinko leaned into her ear a bit and whispered "Forest of Eternity."
"…Forest of Eternity! Witness my-" she interrupted herself as Masuki appeared before her and looking down at Ako with her usual scary face. "Uh… sorry…?"
"You're still cute." The tall drummer said as Rokka tried to pull her back to sit down.
"Masuki-san, please don't scare Ako-san…" the shy girl said as the drummer just smiled at her before going back to prepare.
Rinko felt just a tiny bit of jealousy but she did feel it. Nobody can say that her Ako is cute like that until she confesses her feelings to her. "Easier said than done though…" she thought before sighing.
Ako noticed this and asked "Something wrong, Rin Rin?"
Rinko shook her head with a small smile "No, I'm fine, Ako-chan. Don't worry~"
"If you say so…" the shorter girl replied as she turned back to the members of the band that will be performing in a few minutes.
Chu2 went up to the girls and said "I see you're all here. Very good! Tonight, you all will see something extraordinary!"
Maya asked her "What is it exactly?"
Chu2 pointed up her index finger and shook it before saying "Tsk tsk tsk. No ruining the surprise~" the tiny producer grinned and gave a wink.
"Can we eat the surprise?" Tae asked while looking hopefully at Chu2 who could only look at her as she lost the last of her marbles.
Rei walked up to her and said "Hana-chan, that can't be shown on the stage. Trust me, it'll be awesome~" Tae nodded at her childhood friend, accepting that answer. "You're welcome." She said to Chu2 in a low tone, so Tae couldn't hear it.
"Lend me your dictionary to that girl sometimes…" Chu2 said as she walked back to prepare as well. Before the final discussion with her band, she turned to the other groups "You guys go on ahead to the viewers' section and enjoy the show." She gave a wink before turning back to her band as the others left the room.
At the stage
The girls waited patiently until the concert began. As usual, the show was awesome and they all agreed on that (even Yukina and Ran). The crowd demanded an encore, as almost every single other time this girl band performed "The surprise should be next." Sayo said as the girls with crushes nodded at that.
"I'm really curious about it too." Misaki added as she looked at the band on the stage.
Rei spoke into the mic "Everyone! We have a very special event in store for you!" Loud murmurings can be heard after that but the vocalist continued nonetheless "And the person who's going to announce it is our producer, Chu2!" Loud applause broke out after that as she appeared next to Rei. "There is however one more thing!"
This piqued the interest of the girls from the other bands. They could only guess what Chu2 was up to but it does seem to be something serious. It was also weird that Pareo was just as surprised by that statement. "Did we… talk about this too…?" she thought and while doing so failed to notice that Rei and Rokka went back to where Masuki was sitting and they all started playing a light tune.
Pareo snapped out of it and was about to play something as well but Chu2 stopped her "Pareo, you don't have to join them. You have to come to me up here." The tiny producer said as she gestured for her friend to go next to her.
Her headset was still on and she asked "What's going on Chu2-Sama?" Pareo was starting to feel even more confused than before.
The other groups of girls were also bewildered by all that has been going on now. "I wonder what they're going to do next." Eve thought out loud.
While most of the girls were confused and curious, the love-struck girls started to have a hunch about what may be happening. "She's not going to… is she?" Arisa said while looking at the girls, who looked back at her with shocked gazes.
Yukina was actually starting to get a little bit angry and jealous at the tiny producer. "We were able to perform just as good as RAS and even better than them multiple times, including our time at the Budokan. Why does this feel like it's actually going to sting and annoy me…?"
Chu2 started her speech "Pareo… this last surprise… is mostly for you." She said which got a huge gasp out of most of the fans but they were still very curious about where this was going. "Pareo, you stood by my side through thick and thin. I couldn't be here today without you. You're the person who gives our band color. Literally." This got some laugh from both the audience and Pareo herself.
Actually, she was also tearing up "Awww~ I'm happy to be with all of you too, Chu2-Sama~"
"To be honest with you… I never really admitted it but… I do need you with me, Pareo. Always. When I… hurt your feelings and… said that you don't matter to me… I feel like I've made the greatest mistake in my life… but our friends helped us get back together." Chu2 turned to the rest of her band and said "I owe them big time for that…" Masuki, Rei, and Rokka all smiled as they kept playing their calm background music (rare from Masuki, I know) and the producer turned back to Pareo "…but you're forever my soulmate, Pareo. I love you~"
Pareo started tearing up and smiling like crazy "Chu2-Sama… thank you so much… I love you too!~"
The girls from the other bands cheered and clapped and soon enough, everyone else has joined in too. "That was so beautiful!" Kasumi said while wiping a tear from her eye.
"We just got upstaged…" Ran muttered under her breath. Chisato could hear her and only responded with a soft "Hard…"
Chu2 clapped her hands, cleared her throat, and announced "There is one more thing I want to do." She went down to one knee and presented a tiny box. Pareo was about to faint of what is going to happen in a few seconds and everyone in the audience quickly grabbed their phones to record it.
"Eeeeeeeh?! Why did I have to leave my phone at home today?!" Aya cried, now wishing that she hadn't forgotten it back at her house. And on the charger.
"Don't worry, Aya-san~ Moca-chan has everything covered~" Moca said as she had a camera with her and was filming the event.
Tsugumi asked her "Where did you get that?"
Moca waved her off and replied "The great Moca-chan is full of surprises~" to which Tsugumi simply sweatdropped and decided not to ask anything else. It would have been pointless.
Chu2 asked the question "Pareo, will you marry me?"
"OF COURSE, CHU2-SAMA!~~~" Pareo said as she picked up her friend (I mean girlfriend… uh I mean fiancée) and kissed her there on the stage as everyone happily applauded and even shouted their congratulations. Well, almost everyone.
Many of the fans were dumbstruck and couldn't get over their shock just yet. The lovesick group of girls, however, could only feel complete and utter defeat and jealousy. Yukina even thought "Turning her down as our producer was the best decision I have ever made."
Lisa nudged Yukina in the side and said "Wasn't that beautiful, Yukina?! I'm so glad we were here to witness it!"
The singer of Roselia shared a glance with the other girls and they all nodded. Chu2 has clearly won in this field and she utterly destroyed them.
Backstage, after the event
"Pareo-san, I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" Kasumi said as she and most of the other girls swarmed Pareo back at the dressing room.
The young keyboardist could only blush and smile "Thank you so much, everyone! You're all invited to the wedding of course!~"
"Yay! I'll bring lots of croquettes for the event!" Hagumi said while feeling excited about the occasion.
"Then I'll bring the baked goods~" Saaya said as the other girls wanted to help with the preparations.
Chu2 walked up to the odd group with a VERY smug grin and said "So~? Any questions~?"
"Yeah. You wanna die after or before your wedding?" Ran asked with a mean glare at the tiny producer.
She merely waved off her threat and replied "Yeah, I'd be upset too, if I had troubles confessing. Face it, you all have to do this at one point. The only question is: Will you girls not be too late?"
Tomoe sighed and voiced her opinion "As much as I hate to admit it… she's right…"
"So what should we do then?" Chisato asked.
Yukina looked at the group of excited girls and among them, she could see Lisa being very happy. She only wished it was because of her she was like that. "We'll confess tomorrow." She suddenly said and then continued "We won't be left behind."
"Right!" Arisa nodded determinedly and also added "Plus we do love our crushes a lot…"
"Excellent!" Chu2 exclaimed and said "Come by my place tomorrow and tell me how it went~"
The next day, after school, Chu's apartment
"You're all pathetic." Chu2 said while sitting in Pareo's lap as the group of love-struck girls were sitting in front of her, hanging their heads in shame. "Seriously? Not one of you was able to confess?! I have to call the world record committee because nobody can be this lame!"
Rinko spoke up a bit "I… attend a different school… than Ako-chan though…"
Chu2 looked even more irritated after hearing that and replied "So what?! Do it after school! That's no excuse! I'm starting to doubt you girls actually like your crushes!" Pareo was about to say something but to everyone's surprise Kanon shot up and looked angrily at Chu2.
The drummer of Hello Happy World said "That's not true! I love Kokoro-chan more than anybody else! And I'm sure the others love their love interests just as much! Just watch me because I'm going to make sure Kokoro-chan and I are an item by the end of tomorrow!"
"That's a pretty bold claim, Kanon-san…" Chisato said while being impressed and a bit worried about her friend. "Are you sure you're up for it?"
Kanon looked down but answered "I have to be… Kokoro-chan… once told me to take some of her courage because she had plenty… I want to use it during my confession…"
Pareo smiled and said "I think Matsubara-san is ready, Chu2-chan~"
The producer smirked and looked at the drummer with her arms crossed "Until tomorrow night then. Let's see what you're made of."
"Right!" Kanon nodded. She was nervous but she set her mind on fulfilling her goal and there's no way she's going to fail this time.
The next night
"I'm seriously going to call the people at the World Record Committee…" Chu2 said while rubbing her temples and being extremely annoyed. Apparently, Kanon couldn't keep herself true to her word in the end.
Sayo said "Not like you can judge us."
The producer looked at her and asked "What makes you think that?"
"Your confession on the stage the other day made it obvious that you screwed up too at least once." The guitarist from Roselia replied, which actually got Chu2 to stop talking and just look annoyed instead as she crossed her arms with a pout.
Arisa looked at a photo of Kasumi on her phone before saying "Regardless… we have to confess at some point…"
"Or else we'll lose them…" Yukina ended the thought sadly. Seems the group still needs some time for their confession. Which will hopefully happen…
To be continued
Arisa: That was so crazy…
Ran: I'll say.
Rinko: Maybe we should… look at this… from a different… perspective…
Tomoe: And what would that be?
Rinko: Unfortunately… I have no idea…
Yukina: In any case, we have to make sure the others don't read this chapter either.
Chisato: *sighs* I'll try to convince Kaoru… again…
Sayo: We're sorry for the inconvenience, Shirasagi-san.
Chisato: Another batch of double cookies.
Tomoe: Well, at least she isn't asking for money…
Kanon: Flour is pretty expensive these days…
Arisa: *to the readers* Thanks for reading. We hope to see you in the next chapter. Like and review, please. Bye!