"What are you doing so early in the morning?"
"I want to get permission to use the auditorium. It has nothing to do with club activities." Honoka Kosaka and the other two stood before Eli Ayase, and Honoka explained.
"Students are allowed to use the auditorium freely. It says so in the student handbook," Umi Sonoda added from beside Honoka.
"That's for after school on the day of the Welcome Party," Nozomi Tojo reminded them, looking at the application in Eli's hand.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Well..." Umi hesitated, finding it a little difficult to answer directly.
"Put on a live show!" Honoka stated her real goal to the student council president once again. "The three of us have formed a school idol group, so we want to hold our first live show in the auditorium."
"Honoka..." Umi thought Honoka was being a little impulsive.
"We don't even know if we can pull it off," Minami Kotori said, not sounding very confident.
"Of course we can!"
"Wait, we've never even stood on a stage before..." Umi said, sounding a little displeased with Honoka.
"Can you really do this in your current state?" Eli asked, casting them a doubtful look.
"Y-yes, no problem!"
"The Welcome Party isn't something to take lightly."
"They're only applying to use the auditorium." Nozomi stood up and walked over to the window. "Since they're not a club, the student council has no right to interfere too much, does it?"
"That's true, but..."
"We did it!" Honoka happily dashed out of the student council room and raced back to class. The other two followed, smiling helplessly.
"Why did you help them?" Eli asked Nozomi.
"Whoosh."
Nozomi opened the window and closed her eyes. "No matter how many times it happens, it always tells me to do this."
"Hm?" Eli looked at Nozomi in confusion, then seemed to understand and glanced down at the desk.
A deck of tarot cards sat there.
"The cards."
"Whoosh!"
As soon as she spoke, a gust of wind blew several cherry blossom petals in through the window, lifting the cards from the desk.
"W-whoa!" One of the tarot cards flew past Eli's eyes and was pressed against the wall by the wind.
Nozomi, who could see through everything in the darkness, opened her eyes and spread her arms, as if enjoying the strong gust.
"That's what the cards told me!"
—Scene change—
"Whoosh."
"Whoosh!"
In the teachers' office, Senba Gari opened the window beside him. The moment he did, windblown cherry blossom petals smacked him in the face.
"Ptooey, damn it, why's it so windy today?!" He spat out the petal that had gotten into his mouth and grumbled.
"Click."
The sound from the doorway made him panic.
"Damn it! Is Fukagawa-sensei, that perpetual spinster, back?! I've gotta get out of here, or I'll never escape." As he spoke, Senba began grabbing the things on his desk, preparing to leave.
"Hm? Senba-sensei, what are you doing?" A female teacher with shoulder-length hair and half-rim glasses walked in through the doorway. Seeing Senba acting as if he were trying to avoid some ferocious beast, she asked, puzzled.
"Phew, you scared me! So it's you, Yamauchi-sensei. I thought it was Fukagawa-sensei, that old spinster." Seeing who it was, Senba sighed in relief, then picked up a glass of water from his desk and drank.
"Oh? Who. Are. You. Calling. A. Spinster?"
"Pffft!"
A voice that seemed to come from the depths of hell suddenly reached Senba's ears. He spat out the water he'd just swallowed, and with cold sweat beading on his forehead, he stiffly turned toward the doorway.
He saw Yamauchi-sensei trembling as she hid outside the door. The owner of that voice, Fukagawa-sensei, stood behind her, black aura billowing from her back, her eyes hidden beneath her hair.
"H-ha, haha, well, if it isn't Fukagawa-sensei! Th-thanks for the effort! Oh, look at the time—my next class is coming up, so I'd better go!" As he spoke, Senba vanished before the two women in the blink of an eye.
After Senba left, the darkness behind Fukagawa-sensei faded. She stared in the direction he'd gone and said, vexed yet helpless, "Honestly, I just haven't found the right man. Was what he said really that bad? Right, Yamauchi-sensei?" As she spoke, Fukagawa looked over at Yamauchi, who had just sat down to rest.
"Ha, haha..." Yamauchi simply laughed it off, thinking to herself, No, Senba-sensei was right. You really are. But she only thought it. She didn't dare say it aloud.
—Scene change—
In the classroom of Class 2-B, Honoka was excitedly talking to her two childhood friends.
"This is great! It'll be our first step toward becoming idols."
"It's too soon to talk about becoming idols, Honoka," Umi reminded her.
"Umi's right. We don't have any experience, and we don't even know how to make costumes or songs," Kotori added.
"Even if we manage to do it, what comes next? How are we supposed to keep going? We won't have enough money to do all this on our own, so we have to establish a club."
"Ugh, why is becoming an idol so hard?" Honoka said, looking troubled after hearing Umi's words.
"There's no helping it. Being a school idol isn't easy. After all, it's still a kind of idol," Umi said helplessly at the sight of Honoka. "And that's not even getting into the question of club members. What about an advisor? The vice president reminded us that we need one, too."
"That's right, Honoka. My mom told me that ever since Otonokizaka decided to close, a lot of teachers have resigned. The others probably won't agree to it, either," Kotori reminded her as soon as Umi finished speaking.
"Ugh, this..." Honoka was clearly at a loss.
Just then, the bell rang, bringing the three of them back to their senses. They returned to their seats, though Honoka was still thinking about the club.
A few minutes later, Senba walked into the second-year classroom and went up to the podium. He addressed the girls below.
"Hey, ladies! Class is starting, so get your books out."
Below, Honoka had still been worrying about the club. When she saw Senba, a lightbulb went off in her head. She jumped to her feet and pointed excitedly at him.
"I've got it! Senba-sensei, you're the one!"
"Huh?!" Senba stared at Honoka, baffled.
Picking a Name
After class, Senba sat at his desk in the teachers' office, looking at Honoka, who stood awkwardly before him. Kotori and Umi stood beside her. Senba rested one hand against his forehead and said helplessly, "Come on, why are you the one acting awkward? I'm the one who should be embarrassed. Honestly, what are you up to now?"
"Um, well, I want to ask you to be our club advisor and help us put on a Love Live! event, so please!" Honoka pressed her palms together and bowed to Senba.
"Huh?! Honoka, when did you decide that? We didn't know anything about it!"
"Yeah, Honoka, isn't this a little too impulsive?" Kotori and Umi voiced their confusion at the same time.
"...Why me?" Senba lowered his head in thought for a while, then looked up at Honoka.
"Huh?" Honoka tilted her head at him, as if she didn't understand his question.
"I mean, why me? The other teachers could do it, too. Besides, I don't know much about school idols," Senba said, looking at Honoka helplessly.
"No, it's because of what you told me on the rooftop before, Senba-sensei! It made me completely certain that I wanted to become an idol! So please be our club advisor!" Honoka bowed to Senba again.
"If Honoka's asking you, then I'm asking, too! Senba-sensei, please!"
"Me too, Gari! Please!" Umi and Kotori followed Honoka's example and bowed.
"..."
Senba quietly looked at the three girls pleading with him. If he refused, he'd probably despise himself, so he sighed and said, "All right, all right. You win. I'll do it. Get up."
"Really?! Yay! That's great!"
After hearing Senba's answer, Honoka excitedly grabbed Umi and Kotori's hands and jumped up and down with them.
Seeing the expressions on the three girls' faces lifted Senba's mood a little. Then he asked Honoka, "By the way, what's your club called?"
But Honoka's answer made Senba's face go dark at once.
"The club name? We don't have one. We haven't even formed the club yet. We still need two more members to start one."
"..." Senba.
"..." Umi.
"..." Kotori.
After hearing Honoka's answer, the expressions on the other three faces turned strange. Honoka noticed and asked, puzzled, "Hm? What's wrong with you, Umi, Kotori, and Senba-sensei?"
"What's wrong with us? I should be asking you that! Honoka Kosaka, young lady, do you think it's fun to mess with your teacher?" Senba asked with a 'kind' smile.
"Um, Senba-sensei, your expression is really scary right now. And when have I ever messed with you?" Honoka said, cold sweat on her forehead as she unconsciously took a step back.
Kotori quietly moved over to Honoka and whispered into her ear, "Honoka, did you forget? A teacher can only be an advisor after the club has been established."
"...Ah, well, I got so excited that I forgot. But you already agreed to help us, Senba-sensei, so you can't take it back!" Honoka said, sounding a little embarrassed.
"Yes, yes, I won't take it back. Honestly, having students like you is enough to drive me crazy." Senba helplessly covered his forehead, then stood up and ushered the three girls toward the door. "All right, class is about to start. Get back to class now. I'll come find you at lunch."
As he spoke, Senba pushed Honoka and the other two out of the room, then closed the door.
After Senba closed the door, Honoka turned to Umi and Kotori and said, "Hey, Umi, Kotori, class is about to start. Let's hurry."
Then the three of them headed back toward their classroom.
—Time skip—
At lunchtime, Honoka was sitting beneath the old tree at school, enjoying her food as usual. Kotori and Umi sat on either side of her, while Senba sat beside Kotori.
"Didn't I tell you this already?" Umi, who seemed to make a habit of starting their conversations by criticizing Honoka, said, "Forget about forming an idol group for now. Just apply to use the auditorium first."
"Why?" Honoka asked, biting into a Kosaka Bread and giving Umi a baffled look.
"Bread again?"
"My family sells traditional Japanese sweets, so bread is a rare treat for me."
"You'll gain weight!" After teasing Honoka, Umi sat down beside her.
"Are you bragging about how good your usual food is?" Senba looked at the bread in Honoka's mouth and remembered that he'd been eating instant noodles at home for the past few days. He couldn't help covering his face.
"Is that so..." Honoka said, still chewing on her bread.
"Honoka, Umi, Kotori—oh! Senba-sensei's here, too."
"Hm?" Senba and the three girls looked ahead. Hideko, Mika, and Fumika were walking toward them.
"Yeah, I came here to take a break and ran into Honoka and the others, so I joined them. What about you?"
"We saw the notice on the bulletin board," Fumika said. She wore her light brown hair in a braid.
"I heard you were going to start doing school idol activities," Mika added. She had short, earth-brown hair and looked like a boy.
"I never thought you'd join in, too, Umi," Fumika said, sounding surprised.
"Ah..." Umi looked at the three of them in surprise, then lowered her voice and asked Honoka, "Did you put up something on the bulletin board?"
"Yeah! A notice about holding a live show."
"Ugh!" Umi leaned backward in surprise.
"This is too reckless!" Umi strode down the school hallway, furious. "There's only a month left! We haven't even done anything yet. You're being way too optimistic!"
"But Kotori said we could do it~"
Before you continue