Nova Cluster ☆ Shining Big Bang! | Start Up - 3

[kumakuma]

〈Location: Dance room〉
〈About 10 minutes later〉

Mao: O~i, Subaru~? Sorry for springing this on you suddenly, but I guess I’ll be doing some self-training after a―

(―h-huh? I checked on ‘Whole Hands’ and it said Subaru had reserved this room for a lesson but……)

(He’s not here, and there’s no music playing or anything.)

(Maybe I got the wrong room. No, that can’t be right, ES automatically locks the doors to unused rooms…… It looks like Subaru’s bag is there, so he should be here somewhere.)


Subaru: ~...... ♪


Mao: (Oh. Subaru’s here after all. That guy, what’s he doing in the corner over there…… I couldn’t see him since he was hidden by the curtains. Guess I didn’t notice him.)


Subaru: ――――


Mao: (......even though he’s alone, he still looks so picturesque, that guy. Normally he’s the one cracking jokes, but when he’s alone he seems almost intangible― it’s pretty scary.)

(With the light reflecting off him, he’s sparkling, huh.)

(Wait, that sounds a little distant. …...Haha, I guess I fell right back into that inferiority complex of mine back when I used to call myself things like ‘only a flashlight’.)

Subaru~! Come on, can’t you hear me? Don’t ignore me, it’s lonely~ ♪


Subaru: ―Uwah? Oh~ it’s Sari~! He~ey ☆

What’s up? Didn’t you say you were going to finish up the work that’s been piling up at the Student Council?


Mao: Yeah. Well, stuff happened here and there, so it’s fine for me to come to the lesson now. Is it alright if I join you?

Since we’re in the same ‘unit’ and all, if we each borrow different rooms, it’ll cost us a lot, right?


Subaru: Of course, of course, I welcome you with open arms! In any case, I was getting lonely by myself, so I’m happy~. So what did you want to do? Tell me what you want to do, Sari~! I’ll do it with you!


Mao: Ahaha. Since you’re that excited, you must have been really lonely huh…… Sorry Subaru, we haven’t been able to meet up with everybody recently.


Subaru: Nah, it can’t be helped. Sari~ doesn’t have anything to apologise for. I believe that one of these days, we’ll surely get together again― standing on the same stage.

So I’m fine.


Mao: I see? Then what was with the whole ennui thing you had going on recently huh~, you little trickster?

If you have something on your mind, or something’s bothering you, then you have to say it. You tend to explode suddenly, but every time we all get caught up in it― then it becomes a really big inconvenience.


Subaru: Mm~...... I didn’t know that.


Mao: So you didn’t know~


Subaru: Yeah. But really, there’s nothing that I’ve been dissatisfied with or worried about recently. I’m shining alongside everyone in a sparkling place I couldn’t even imagine this time last year.

I get to introduce the idols and ES that I love for the job this time.

It seems like a good project that’ll make everyone smile, and I don’t have all that much experience with this sort of thing, so I think it’ll be interesting.


Mao: Mm. No matter if it's the unknown or the sorts of challenges that nobody else wants to do, we’ve always overcome it. The revolution at Yumenosaki, winning the ‘SS’―

Since we’re so used to doing such high-profile jobs, will we still do a good job when it comes to a simple job this time?

It feels like we’re being used by Tenshouin-senpai- we who’ve been against the system all this time, it’s not like us, is it?


Subaru: No….... Rebelling against the system, against the adults like that, that was mainly for Hokke~, wasn’t it?

Revolution is just a means to achieve what we want, it’s not our end goal, and it’s not what we were built on.

I understand it a lot better now, Tenshouin-senpai’s dreams are our dreams. For us to shine even brighter, I’ll wholeheartedly cooperate.

If we’re talking about introducing ES, there are many other idols who are more qualified than we are~

I can see the logic behind getting us, whose popularity has skyrocketed thanks to the ‘SS’, to do it.

But…… Somehow~ it doesn’t feel right. I’m not excited at all. It feels like I’m walking around in another person’s body.


Mao: Ah~ I sort of get it. At school, I only get called by my titles of ‘president’ or ‘club leader’.

At home, my little sister called me by name when she said “Mao~, clean the bath.” and I almost didn’t react for a second.


Subaru: Ahaha. Sari~ as always, your little sister treats you too harshly.


Mao: Noo, it’s better to not ignore her, and anyway, recently, I’m starting to think her prickly attitude is sort of cute.

She’s usually pretty bad-tempered but on the odd occasion where she’s being sweet, it makes me a hundred times happier….... Mm, but now I’m just rambling.

Perhaps since all we’ve been doing has just been blindly forging ahead, immersed in the middle of the climax of our story, we now have to stop and take a good look at ourselves.

Just what kind of idol is ‘Trickstar’? Before, we were nobodies, but now, we’re somebody.

What is it that makes us who we are?

After we’ve made sure of what it is, we should come to an agreement and do something that is ‘us’.

I’m sure Subaru’s lack of enthusiasm will disappear, because we’re starting to walk the path of ‘our life’.

It’s perfect that Anzu’s said she’ll be joining us from now on. Let’s get everyone to sit down properly and have a heart-to-heart.

The stars are drawn together by gravity, but will eventually be washed away by a strong enough current.

We are ‘Trickstar’. Our way forward can’t be predicted by anyone, but we can draw our own paths. Together with everyone, while we shine.



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