Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.

I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy

Chapter 79: - Lovers, Fool, Sun

Ann looked at the message that Shiho had sent her earlier this day, it contained everything Shiho had learned in her meeting with Natsumi yesterday when Ann had told Shiho that she intended to see Natsumi that day. Ann knew that Shiho was deeply worried about what had become of their friend and it had only ended up feeding Ann's own worry, so Ann switched over to her contact list and called up her friend.

"Natsumi, I was wondering if you wanted to do some cooking today?" Ann asked. She knew that she needed some reason to meet up with Natsumi and that using the cooking, which she had started to get invested in, was the best way to see Natsumi and know if it really was as bad as Shiho had warned her that Natsumi's condition was.

"Sure, I'm not against it," Natsumi agreed. There seemed to be something different in her tone that put Ann on edge in a way that she hadn't expected to be made by hearing her friend's tone, she quickly hung up and took off toward Natsumi's place which only gave Ann ample opportunity to panic over what had changed between when she met Natsumi only a few days ago and now that could have caused such a shift.

The walk up to Natsumi's house was tense for Ann and she was filled with a jittery energy as she moved ever closer, Ann needed to find some way to get Natsumi to open up and possibly find some way for her to help with whatever was going on in the dark haired girl's head. Ann soon arrived at the house and Natsumi opened the door and Ann followed over to the kitchen which already had a few tools set out.

"What did you want to make?" Natsumi asked. The tools set out were the more basic ones of bowls, knives, weighing scales and a couple of cutting boards; Natsumi already had a moss green apron on over her outfit so Ann quickly pulled out her own pink apron and slipped it over her while thinking of an answer to give. They'd already made some sweets, plus the hot pot, but Ann wanted to try something else this time around.

"How about we try some bentō ingredients?" Ann suggested. Natsumi didn't respond with words, instead she simply moved about to retrieve several of the ingredients that they would need along with a bentō box to put it in; it surprised Ann that she had the exact things they needed to make such a meal and easily knew where to find them which meant she must have used them a fair bit.

They set to work with Ann focusing on making the rice while Natsumi was cutting up pieces of chicken into bite sized chunks that could easily be held by chopsticks. Ann was trying to figure out the best way to actually start this conversation, but it seemed to be trickier than she anticipated, talking with Natsumi was normally much easier than this, but there was a significant difference this time around. Whatever was bothering Natsumi was so much more than any other issue, it almost had a physical presence with how it weighed her down.

"How have you been?" Natsumi asked. The suddenness of the question made Ann jump a little, but she gathered her wits about her and turned to look at Natsumi properly, the other girl was glancing over her shoulder at Ann but keeping them primarily focused on the meat so that she didn't accidentally cut a finger off.

"Okay, Shiho explained that you managed to find some massages for her legs," Ann admitted. She had been intending to visit Shiho today until she got the call yesterday that explained something was going on Natsumi. "I'm really glad because it has made Shiho so much happier," Ann explained. Ann wanted to make sure that Natsumi was cheered up a little, because that might allow her to open up about whatever could be bothering her.

"Really?" Natsumi wondered. She sounded genuinely surprised at hearing those words which confused Ann a bit as she had never sounded so disbelieving that anything she had done ended not helping; whatever was bothering her must have been serious then and it was only making Ann even more worried about what was going on with her friend.

"Yeah, she doesn't feel so dragged down by how sore her legs are any more after the physio sessions," Ann explained. She hoped that the more information that Natsumi knew about how much the things she had done managed to help might hopefully cheer her up; that failed unfortunately when all Natsumi did was give a firm nod as if this was all that was needed to be said.

"I'm glad that they managed to help so soon," Natsumi admitted. Ann wanted to fidget in some way due to the building anxiety that was coming from the lacklustre responses that were coming from Natsumi; the only thing that held her back was the fact that such actions were absolutely going to draw Natsumi's attention and she'd start asking questions… or she would if Natsumi was acting normally, which she most decidedly wasn't this time around.

"Shiho seems to be drawing a lot of strength from us coming to watch her efforts," Ann added on. Ann still needed to figure out the right thing to say that would encourage Natsumi to open up about her burden, so maybe reminding her of how other people were drawing strength from her would remind Natsumi that she should lean on others to fight whatever demons were plaguing her own mind.

"We need to keep going Ann," Natsumi insisted. There was something in Natsumi's voice that made Ann pause in her preparation of the vegetables as she waited for the rice to finish; looking over Ann saw the strained expression that rested on Natsumi's face. "Shiho told me something, I think she had a Shadow," Natsumi revealed. Ann's grip on the knife loosened and it clattered against the chopping board with a very loud sound.

"What?" Ann breathed. Ann knew her entire body was trembling at the terrible information that was just passed along, she could scarcely believe that Shiho had ended up manifesting a Shadow, but if she thought about Aino who had a Shadow born of sadness then it didn't surprise her in the least that the emotions Shiho must have been enduring because of Kamoshida had to have been enough to cause one to manifest.

"Shiho told me how a dark voice, her own voice, pushed her to attempt to commit suicide," Natsumi answered. Ann stepped back and could feel her legs buckling, before she dropped thought, Natsumi was there and holding her upright so that she couldn't collapse from her weak legs. "It's gone for now, but we should just make sure nothing causes Shiho to backslide," Natsumi insisted.

"Oh gods, I can't believe that happened," Ann cried. Ann was horrified, but she was also angry, so very angry that she ended up striking the countertop with enough force to feel something reverberate through her arm. "Damnit! How did I miss what Shiho was going through?!" Ann yelled. Again! It had happened again! Shiho had been suffering and Ann hadn't seen what was happening to her best friend!

"Because you didn't want to think that your efforts were for nothing," Natsumi reassured. Ann looked at Natsumi and tried to figure out what she was saying, Natsumi moved over to the sink and cleaned Ann's hand since she had ended up splitting a knuckle from her punch. "You believed yourself alone and the only one capable of protecting Shiho. You weren't wrong, but at the same time Shiho was trying to protect you just as much as you were trying to protect her," Natsumi remined. She dried the hand Ann had wounded and quickly stuck a plaster over it.

"I know, it's just so hard, learning these kinds of things were happening to my best friend and I was blind to it," Ann admitted. Ann had thought she was over being oblivious to the pain Shiho was enduring, Shiho was looking so much brighter and happier with each visit even in spite of the sandbag feeling that her legs would take on. To know there had been something like a Shadow, no matter that it was gone now, haunting her… it made Ann feel like she had let Shiho down once again.

"It can be terrible carrying a heavy burden and not feeling like there is anyone in the world who can help you with those issues," Natsumi commented. That was it! Ann finally had a in to get Natsumi to open up with her own issues, all she had to do was try and get Natsumi to listen to the words she said, so Ann gripped Natsumi's shoulder which caused the girl to look at her with haunted eyes.

"Well, I've learned to lean on my friends with my issues," Ann stated. She hoped the words would do something to Natsumi, but Ann could tell that it didn't really sink in for Natsumi. The dark haired girl walked away to keep working on the food by throwing the chicken into a frying pan. Ann frowned heavily, because whatever Shiho had worried about was now worrying Ann, but she had no idea what to do.

*Persona 5 Royal*

Ren was waiting with his foot rapidly tapping as he waited for Natsumi to show up, Ryūji had warned him that something seemed to be weighing upon their weapons master, but she didn't want to talk about it with him, apparently Ann had the same situation. Ren could only hope that he'd be able to get Natsumi to tell him something about whatever it was that had to be affecting her so much.

"Hi Ren," Natsumi greeted. Ren turned to look at her and immediately took notice of her appearance and came to a very quick solution, she was tired, just like Ryūji had warned which caused Ren to feel intense worry at her condition as she slipped down to sit beside him. Now that she was closer to eye level, Ren realised that her eyes were surrounded by rather dark circles and she seemed almost drain of her energy.

"Hi Natsumi," Ren returned. Whatever worry he had felt at being told that that Natsumi was clearly not well only ended up increasing even more when he took in her clearly more dishevelled appearance than she normally was. "Do you still want to talk about your family today?" Ren chanced. Ren hoped that he would be able to get her to keep talking and take her mind off whatever must have been bothering.

"Um… I'd rather not. Now isn't a good time for me," Natsumi answered. That gave a hint to what was bothering Natsumi, but Ren wasn't sure how to figure out the best method to coax it out of Natsumi. "You can still talk about yours', if you want to," Natsumi suggested. That surprised Ren, knowing that Natsumi was still willing to listen to him about his family.

"Are you sure?" Ren asked. Natsumi nodded, clearly she needed to hear this topic to try and distract herself from whatever was wrong. "Alright, I'll keep it just to one since you seem kind of tired," Ren decided. A grim smile came on Natsumi's lips and Ren didn't like it but focused on the story to tell. "Alright, I guess I'll start with Kanji. He was actually the closest to my sister before the murders started," Ren decided.

"That's a weird timestamp," Natsumi acknowledged. Her eyebrows were furrowed to show just how little she actually thought this made sense, but Ren could understand better because he knew the things his sister had gone through before she somehow ended up changing which he mainly attributed to her new friends.

"My sister didn't like getting close to others, but things changed by the time the murders started and that's when she made all the friends she now has," Ren explained. Natsumi let out a hum to show she had taken on the words. "Kanji often acted like a bit of a delinquent punk, sometimes like Ryūji, but at the same time he was only doing it to try and look after people. The truth is that Kanji was actually pretty sensitive underneath his gruff exterior," Ren explained.

"Still sounding like Ryūji," Natsumi commented. Ren laughed lightly at hearing those words because that was quite true actually, Ryūji and Kanji did have a lot more similarities than he expected which just added even more to his confusion when he identified what made Ryūji feel so familiar to him and who reminded him of Kanji.

"Yeah, but the weird thing is he feels more like Yusuke for some reason, despite those two being so different to each other," Ren admitted. However, that seemed to catch Natsumi's attention a little bit more than he anticipated happening as she shifted her position to properly face him with a curious expression on her face.

"He feels like Yusuke?" Natsumi asked. Now how was he going to word this? The feelings he got were a little bit confusing and he was worried that even if he managed to explain it in a way that made sense to him that it might end up just confusing Natsumi despite the fact that she clearly knew better than the others how to take on this type of information.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I just have the sensation that some of the people I've met here in Tokyo remind me of people in my hometown. Even though they aren't similar at all or only very lightly," Ren explained. Natsumi frowned, as if contemplating something but that was much preferred to the almost dead expression that had been on her face when she first arrived for this meet-up.

"Is there anything about Kanji that might explain why he feels similar to Yusuke?" Natsumi wondered. It seemed like she was trying to figure out how to explain the unusual connection between the two individuals who were not really all that similar, Ren thought about what he knew about Kanji that might be similar to Yusuke.

"Well, he's actually pretty creative, though his interests are more… feminine than one might expect. It used to be embarrassing for him, but he seems to have embraced it a lot more now. He's helping out at his mum's textile shop and is likely to take it over some day," Ren explained. A small hum escaped from Natsumi.

"Then Kanji's a bit of an artist, that might be why," Natsumi suggested. Ren thought about the things Kanji had made, the items he made were typically much more practical than they were beautiful which made sense; but they weren't ugly or anything, each item was made with a great amount of loving care and attention to detail, so there must have been something artistic within his creations.

"Maybe, but I'd say that of the two, Ryūji is much closer than Yusuke is to resembling Kanji in personality," Ren stated. Natsumi nodded her head in understanding, there wasn't really much more for them to talk about, so Ren stood to his feet and helped Natsumi get up when she seemed a little wobbly in doing so, as if he needed anymore reasons to be worried but there they were.

On the journey back, Ren kept focusing on Natsumi, seeing how despite their talk having brought some life back to her, it was fading once again as they journeyed closer and closer to Yongen. There had to be something that Ren could do instead of simply remaining silent about this situation, when they reached the intersection that they normally split up at, instead of walking away, Ren moved around to position himself in front of Natsumi who had been distracted by her phone temporarily before focusing on him again.

"Natsumi, are you okay?" Ren asked. He needed to speak up about it now, but apparently that might have been the wrong question to ask because he heard a sigh be hissed out from Natsumi's teeth as she raised a hand to rub at the bridge of her nose, as if she was annoyed that he was worried about her. Ren didn't understand why she was acting this way and it caused a pit to open in his stomach.

"Fine," Natsumi answered. But her tone was off, that was pretty obvious to the people who had managed to know Natsumi enough to recognise it and he wasn't about to let this go; he needed to make sure that Natsumi understood that whatever was burdening her did not have to be kept a secret from the rest of them, despite her seeming insistence that it absolutely had to be kept from them.

"I'm serious Natsumi," Ren insisted. He took a hold of Natsumi's shoulders to force her to look at him. "I'm not going to believe anything you say about being fine, something is clearly weighing on you and I'm starting to worry," Ren argued. Natsumi pulled back a little, but Ren figured it was merely to show that she wasn't particularly happy about being confronted about this fact, since she didn't put enough force to break free of his grip.

"You guys all need to stop worrying about me, I'll be fine in a few days. Once we're passed with Tanabata, I'll be okay," Natsumi fired back. But she gave up some evidence at least, Tanabata, the seventh, but why was that so important? Ren was about to demand more when something he never anticipated happening proceeded to cut through the air.

"Ren!" A familiar voice called. Ren pulled back from Natsumi and turned to see who it was, seeing a heavily breathing and shimmering eyed Rise. He was convinced that the idol was going to break down crying, but he was stunned to see her here in Yongen of all places… how did she even know that he was here at this exact time? Or was it just chance that she managed to find him right now.

"Rise-chan?" Ren questioned. He really needed to confirm that it was the person he was seeing and that his longing to see any members of his family had not just conjured up a hallucination of someone, though the fact that it was Rise of all people seemed to lean more towards this person being real since it was such an odd choice.

"About time Rise-san, I was getting worried," Natsumi stated. Upon hearing those words, Ren snapped his head to look at her with wide eyes, which caused Natsumi to focus on him. "We ended up meeting up with each other one day and we've been chatting about my voice," Natsumi revealed. Ren's eyes widened at those words, not only had she met with one of his family but to know that Rise had managed to coax Natsumi to open up about something she preferred not to speak about was something incredible to Ren.

"When Natsu-kun told me of a friend who came from Inaba, we arranged this little meeting since I've been trying to find you," Rise explained. Ren turned his attention back to Rise and immediately felt a pulse of fear run through him as he recalled the limits of his probation; Rise couldn't be here, not if it was going to get her in that much trouble, it would ruin her career even if she wasn't imprisoned and Ren didn't want his family to suffer anymore because of him.

"But I thought that-," Ren began to argue. He was trying to force the words out as fast as possible so that Rise would understand he shouldn't be anywhere near him just in case someone from that messed up system saw them. But suddenly, Rise moved in closer and quickly grabbed a hold of his arms which ended up halting his words as Rise fixed Ren with a heavy look.

"It doesn't apply to me, Naoto or Yu. We're not residents of Inaba so they can't enforce it," Rise explained. Ren paused for a few moments, letting the information sink in, before tears quickly gathered in his eyes – or maybe he'd just been holding them back all this time – and Ren immediately slumped against the idol, filled to bursting with relief upon hearing that the two of them weren't going to get into trouble for seeing each other.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you," Ren expressed. He quickly wrapped his arms around Rise to pull her into a hug and Rise returned it; she was not the one he was particularly close to out of all of them, but she was the best alternative he could have at the moment. He could ask Rise how everyone was doing and soothe the worries that he carried about the people he'd been forced to leave behind.

"Same here," Rise admitted. A slight shuffled to the side reminded Ren that Natsumi was still with them and Rise seemed to remember it as well since she gently pulled back from the hug. "Look, I'd love to talk some more now that I know you're here and I'm not losing it, but I also want to keep helping Natsu-kun," Rise stated. Ren wasn't even a little bothered by her decision, he was actually quite relieved to know Natsumi had someone she trusted to help her.

"Rise-san, we don't have to do that tonight, you've just managed to find Ren," Natsumi insisted. Both of them turned to look at Natsumi but honestly, he wasn't about to listen to this, Natsumi was getting better since she was finding ways to talk about her voice. He didn't want her to put that on hold just for him, no matter how kind he thought the suggestion was.

"And if being with Rise-chan is helping you with your voice, I'd rather you keep focusing on that. I can chat with Rise-chan anytime now," Ren insisted. He caught Rise smiling at those words in the corner of his eye, but he kept most of his focus upon the girl in front of him; Natsumi allowed an audible groan to escape from her as she hung her head, apparently not finding a response that satisfied her.

"Great, I'm getting ganged up on," Natsumi grumbled. Rise giggled while Ren chuckled at the words that escaped from Natsumi who lifted her head up to look at them. "Alright, I'll go with you Rise-san," Natsumi agreed. Ren practically beamed at hearing Natsumi relent to what he wanted her to do, perhaps if she found a way to appreciate singing again that would help out with her understanding how she still had a heart.

"Great! Let's go!" Rise cheered. She quickly hooked her arm with one of Natsumi's own, surprising the young girl, but the idol did not stop there; instead, Rise proceeded to start a quick march away from Ren, which resulted in Natsumi tripping slightly. "Talk to you later Ren," Rise called. Ren was waving the two of them away and hoping that Rise would be able to help Natsumi with whatever had to be burdening her.

*Persona 5 Royal*

Rise and Natsumi made the quick trip to Takura Productions so that Natsumi could keep watching them perform, Rise felt extra energetic today now that she could tell the others that not only was Ren alright and he had found at least one good friend. Rise knew it was a bit odd that Ren had become friends with a Betwixt but she hoped he was like one of Izumi's and Yu's other friends instead of a Persona User… she could just imagine Izumi's terrified fury if that was true.

"Hi Natsu-chan!" Kanami cried. They had entered the training room and the other Kanamin Kitchen members also greeted Natsumi, Natsumi returned the greetings of her own and Rise noted she was using their first names now, even if she used the san suffix for each of them; there would be a slight change in what they were doing today, but Rise didn't think that warranted the tension present in the other idols.

"What's happening today?" Natsumi wondered. There wasn't much of a difference just that they were going to actually be singing in time with their movements since they had the shows coming up shortly after the release of the albums which meant they needed to get everything matched in time for the performances; Rise was already looking forward to the time off that she'd be able to have soon.

"Well, you see-," Sumomo began to explain. However, the girl was cut off by the door suddenly swinging open and causing all of them to face it and Rise immediately went pale; she had forgotten, in her excitement of getting to see Ren again, that Ochimizu was going to be watching their performances today in order to critique them. Rise had been intending for Natsumi to be hidden somewhere while they got through the routines and then bring the girl in to avoid the intimidating woman.

"What's going on here?" Ochimizu questioned. Her sharp eyes cut across the group before landing on Natsumi and narrowing quite intently, but Rise didn't know what to make of it. "Who is this girl?" Ochimizu questioned. She seemed to be analysing Natsumi and Rise was getting a little fidgety the longer it went on.

"This is Chiba Natsumi, she's a friend of Rise-senpai's," Tamami answered. The girl had been a little more uncertain than normal when she said those words and Rise couldn't blame her; even though Ochimizu had improved since the Midnight Stage, she was still rather intimidating and didn't suffer fools even now. Rise could only hope that things went a little better than when her friends had encountered the domineering woman.

"I see, are you recruiting her to be an idol?" Ochimizu questioned. Her sharp eyes had moved to focus on Rise and she couldn't help but tense up despite the question being rather innocent, Rise still found it a bit difficult to talk to Ochimizu about some things; Rise tried to work her tongue into something that could actually form proper words when a hand rested on her arm.

"No ma'am," Natsumi answered. Ochimizu looked at her instead and Rise actually found the ability to breathe properly had returned now. "I suffered because of my voice and Rise-san believed meeting everyone here would help me recover better," Natsumi explained. Rise couldn't believe how calmly Natsumi was taking having Ochimizu Kyoka staring her down.

"We don't want another Osada Yuko, Ochimizu-san, if we can help Natsumi-san then isn't that better," Tomoe insisted. It might have been a low blow, but if there was anything that would convince Ochimizu to keep letting Natsumi hang around then it was best to bring up Osada Yuko, the pain she had endured was another thing that motived Ochimizu to keep fighting to improve the conditions that idols endured.

"I see… so long as her presence doesn't distract you from your work," Ochimizu decided. There was an audible breath escaping all of the idols when the producer expressed an agreement to the young girl's continued presence. "Let me see how far along you are," Ochimizu insisted. It looks like they were diving right into their performances now.

"Yes ma'am," Kanamin Kitchen agreed. Everyone quickly got into their places, the idol group assembled in the centre as Ochimizu gathered with Natsumi and Rise off to the side, Natsumi got the chair since Ochimizu preferred to stand when watching them while Rise when through her warming up session. Ochimizu began the music and Kanamin Kitchen started to perform, unfortunately by the end of the song, Ochimizu was looking rather annoyed.

"No! No!" You're not getting the spirit of this number!" Ochimizu snapped. Rise was bracing herself for one of Ochimizu's weird similes as to how the song was meant to be performed; but a single soft humming sound prevented anyone from hearing what it might be as Rise turned to look at Natsumi who had a contemplative look upon her face.

"It looks like you're not moving properly for some of the moves," Natsumi stated. Everyone looked at her, while Rise blinked in surprise, she hadn't expected the girl to say anything since she had watched them in total silence last time, which meant this admission was a little unusual; the idol group proceeded to look at each other in confusion before Nozomi focused on the girl.

"What do you mean Natsumi-san?" Nozomi wondered. It was quite the interesting thing for her to say all of a sudden especially when she had done nothing like it before, Rise was a little interested to see what Natsumi would end up saying in response to the question that had been posed to her. Natsumi seemed a little surprised by the sudden amount of attention she was receiving, but not enough to unnerve her.

"Well…," Natsumi spoke. Instead of launching into a full explanation, Natsumi rose to her feet and walked over to the Kanamin Kitchen and began to explain to them how the movements could be done, Rise watched as Natsumi spoke to them individually and even proceeded to show them how she thought the movements would be performed better. Once Natsumi was done, she returned to her seat and the song was restarted.

Rise immediately saw that what Natsumi had shown to the group had been a success. The movements were much better than they had been before, smoother and more fluid as they seemed to easily lead into each subsequent movement, Rise thought it was pretty amazing that she had been able to accomplish this. When the girls stopped performing, they all had massive smiles on their faces and rushed Natsumi to eagerly thanks her with some hugging her as others rapidly shook her hands.

"You have quite the eye," Ochimizu complimented. Rise was certain she lost her jaw upon hearing those words, because for Ochimizu to compliment someone who had never performed before meant she had been really impressed. "How did you develop such a skill?" Ochimizu wondered. Rise could admit to being impressed as well, especially with how effortlessly she helped the girls improve their movements. Kanamin Kitchen pulled back so that she could see Ochimizu.

"I'm helping a gymnastic friend of mine with her routines and I suppose my training came in handy as well," Natsumi answered. While the first part was a little interesting but did explain how Natsumi had managed to help them; Rise could not deny the small pulse of fear that swept over her upon hearing her use the word training.

"Training?" Everyone asked. There was a tinge of concern in the voices of Rise's fellow idols and their expressions seemed unsettled, not that Rise didn't understand their worry; because Rise had the same thought that was no doubt rampaging through their minds. That the training Natsumi had endured because of Ouvrard, had forced her to develop this skillset just as much as it had her voice… and that they might be ruined.

"Oh, it's not anything to do with my voice. My dad had me learn how to handle a naginata," Natsumi revealed. The revelation caused Rise's eyes to widen in surprise as she focused on Natsumi who didn't seem all that overly muscular like Kanji and she wasn't really that exposed to determine any muscular structure like Chie, so it was quite the surprise to hear. Although Rise did recall how rugged Natsumi's hands were.

"That's crazy!" Tamami exclaimed. It did sound a little odd but given the fact that she had several friends who could use weapons – albeit in the art of kicking Shadows' butts – so it wasn't that unusual for her to hear it being mentioned; although the rest of the group also seemed surprised by what Natsumi had admitted to being capable of doing.

"But I'm kind of curious," Sumomo admitted. Everyone proceeded to look at Sumomo with raised eyebrows which caused the petite girl to look between them with wide eyes. "What? I just want to know how that helped," Sumomo explained. Well, that did actually make some sense since Rise could admit to being curious herself about how this ability allowed her to know how to help with dancing.

"Why don't you show us Natsu-chan," Kanami pleaded. She had big eyes as she stared at Natsumi with a pleading expression on her face, clearly hoping that they would be able to actually see something, Natsumi looked a little uncertain when faced with Kanami's almost doe eyed pleas. Natsumi proceeded to look at the one person who might be the only one to speak up and shut this thing down before things got too far.

"Is that okay Ochimizu-san?" Natsumi asked. Her voice didn't give anything else away as she focused upon the producer who was staring at the scene with a raised eyebrow as if she was intrigued by everything that was happening; Ochimizu simply lifted her shoulders as if mostly unconcerned by what was happening in front of her which Rise knew to be a blatant lie.

"Since they seem so invested, but what about the weapon?" Ochimizu agreed. Tomoe seemed to have an idea from the way she suddenly perked up and took off running out of the room, they waited in silence to see what the girl would come up with; when Tomoe returned, she was carrying an umbrella and held it out to Natsumi with a shy expression on her face.

"Will this do?" Tomoe offered. Natsumi took the umbrella and twirled it around for a few moments before sharply nodding her head, Natsumi stepped out into the centre of the room so that she could do what the others wanted to see. Ochimizu proceeded to play some music, causing Natsumi to briefly pause with a raised eyebrow, but she apparently decided to dismiss it when the music began to build its' momentum and she began to move.

Her movements were sharp, precise and clearly showing her training was meant for combat, but there was more to it than that. Natsumi would move with such an incredible grace as she twisted and mimicked blocking attacks before moving back onto the attack on her imaginary opponent. Natsumi was able to match her movements to the music quite well before eventually coming to a stop as the song petered out.

"Oh, that was beautiful!" Nozomi exclaimed. There was no lie or exaggeration to be found here, because Nozomi was completely right, it had been quite the captivating sight that they'd just been allowed to witness; Natsumi was blushing slightly as she handed the umbrella back to Tomoe who seemed completely stunned by what she had seen.

"Natsu-kun, you were incredible. I wish I could move like that," Rise admitted. She wanted to reassure Natsumi that they weren't overstating anything, it was genuinely how the group of them felt with the other idols eagerly nodding, but that just caused Natsumi's blush to become more intense; Rise wondered why the girl was seemingly so embarrassed by such compliments.

"It's a shame your voice was ruined before we could find you. You possess a natural grace," Ochimizu stated. Everyone sobered up a little at hearing those words, Ochimizu approached Natsumi and inclined her head slightly. "I have no issues with you continuing to come here if it ensures they can perform better," Ochimizu decided. With that she turned and marched towards the door which surprised Rise since she hadn't performed yet. "Take care of each other girls," Ochimizu insisted before closing the door. Was she giving them time to spend peacefully with Natsumi?

"Alright, let's keep going!" Rise encouraged. She wanted to keep the energy going and try to help Natsumi a little bit more especially when she had helped them so much; Rise went through her routine with Natsumi helping her to do better until they finally finished up. "How do you feel?" Rise wondered. They were leaving the building when Rise asked that question.

"A lot better actually. Everyone's really supportive and encouraging," Natsumi answered. Rise hoped that it was enough for her, she had noticed Natsumi seemed a little off compared to her usual demeanour.