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"Everyone did well today!" the group's dance teacher told them and the room broke into applause, "By the way, I was told that there will be an announcement for you guys so I'll leave it to your manager. Rest well when you get home, bye!" he said before exiting the room.
The cheerful aura that surrounded the room suddenly became gloomy as the group's manager stood before them.
"I know this is sudden but I'll be announcing the new formation. If it is some consolation, you won't be having a senbatsu so this is a 22-member formation," their manager said, "But since I took you all by surprise, I'll let you have a breather from your practice. I'll announce the formation in 15 minutes."
The group gathered in one corner as they drank water. Huddled in a circle, the group rarely became as silent as they are right now. With this, the group's mood maker, Suzuka, tried to lift everyone's spirits–especially her genmate who has been feeling the pressure on her shoulders for the last four singles.
"I have an idea," she starts.
"You never think, how would you have an idea?" Manafi comments.
"Before I say it, I need to know who's with me," Suzuka pretends to not hear the rest of Manafi's side comments.
Looking around, no one really agreed to play along with Suzuka; except for Katoshi, who always voluntarily involves herself in the dumbest stuff.
"So is it just me and Katoshi?"
"Kumi and I are a package so that makes it three of us!"
"WHEN did we become a package?"
Katoshi links her arm with Kumi, "Since we did that gag."
A wave of embarrassment fills Kumi's system as she recalls how she and Katoshi shamelessly did the someone-who-becomes-weird-after-getting-bitten-by-an-insect gag. The captain was about to argue to save what was left of her dignity but Katoshi rested her head on the taller girl's shoulder causing her to melt.
"Okay, Suzu, what's on your mind?" Kumi stutters, still uneasy about the added weight on her right shoulder.
"Nao," Suzuka calls out to the center girl who was obviously deep in thought. Manamo had to tap her to get her attention. "If you're still the center in this formation, you have to treat me, Kumi, and Katoshi."
Nao furrows her eyebrows, "And if I'm not?"
All eyes fall on Suzuka as they wait for a response, "Uhm, then don't treat us?"
"The way she didn't think it through," Manafi whispers to herself, but 'accidentally' says out loud.
"No, wait!" Katoshi almost jumped from her seat, taking Kumi by surprise and almost giving the hag captain a heart attack, "I have a better idea!"
"I swear it'll be worse. Nothing good comes out from that mouth," Manafi spits out again and Sarina just nudges her with her elbow.
"How about you use your soulmate camera to take a picture of the group?" Katoshi suggests.
Soulmate Camera, the not-so-fancy name they call the special polaroid camera that only works when one is taking the picture of their soulmate. It's different from the normal polaroid cameras because of its oddly-shaped lens. Its film is also unique as it bears a pattern around the frame that is too complicated to replicate. No one really knows the mechanism behind it but any logical person would know it is not a good idea to gamble on taking a picture of a crowd with it.
"I will NOT involve myself in a bet that I'm guaranteed to lose both ways."
"You think your soulmate is in the group?" Suzuka raised her eyebrow.
"No, but–" Nao stopped trying to explain, "Fine."
Haruyo, one of the new kids, raised her hand, and when everyone turned their attention to her, she spoke, "Wait, can you count me in with the bet and instead of being treated to something, can I just get money?"
After five seconds of silence while trying to process what Haruyo just said, Nao just nodded slowly; while taking a note in her head to talk to Hinano and ask her to check on her genmates if they are still sane (even though Hinano is questionable herself but Nao always sees past that).
"Okay, girls, it's time!" their manager's voice echoed in the dance studio and they went back to their previous positions.
The third row was the first to be announced, followed by the second row.
"For the first row, number 1, Saito Kyoko. Number 5, Kanemura Miku," a gasp escaped some of the members' lips as they realized the universal wings aren't in symmetrical positions anymore.
"Number 2, Kato Shiho. Number 4, Kosaka Nao," a muffled chuckle was heard in the middle of the silent room. Everyone turned their heads towards the left and found Suzuka fake coughing while Konoka hits her back, with a decent amount of force probably to shut her up.
"And the new center for the first album is Sasaki Mirei. Congratulations," their manager awkwardly left the girls to themselves after the announcement.
Mirei burst into tears and the rest of the first generation huddled around her. While their seniors have their moment, Suzuka drags Haruyo by the arm towards the loser of the bet.
"Nao," Suzuka calls out with a sheepish smile on her face, which was completely wiped out when she saw the old center tearing up. "Hey, don't cry, if it would make you feel any better, you can treat me and Haruyo out to ice cream when you stress eat."
"I don't think it's the right time to extort her," Haruyo whispers to Suzuka.
"Shut up, you extorted your dad for years."
The two of them stood like planks in front of Nao as they watched her wipe her tears away. Giving them a bright smile, she talks, "I'm sorry," she giggles, "It's just that I feel relieved. I mean being the center for four straight singles has taken its toll on me. I was honestly scared that I might carry this heavy burden again."
Suzuka, not really cut out to comfort someone, taps Nao's arm, "Happy for you, I guess?"
Before Suzuka could ruin Nao's image of her, Miku suddenly appears out of nowhere and she starts rubbing Nao's back while glaring at Suzuka, "Did this idiot bother you again?"
"You called me WHAT?" Suzuka says while Haruyo purses her lips to keep herself from laughing at her senior.
"No, no, it's not like that. I was just telling them how happy I am that I'm not center anymore."
Miku's face brightened up upon seeing Nao smile again, "I was worried that you might be shocked or something."
"Of course, I am shocked but I don't really want to keep writing emo blogs after every formation announcement so I guess this is a good thing."
In the middle of the conversation, a tall figure that they call captain appeared with another annoying person glued on her right arm. "About the bet," Katoshi starts and Miku interjects, "I don't think it's the right time to–"
"Wait, I'll just get it in my bag," Nao excuses herself and sprints towards her things. She comes back, now with a light blue polaroid camera in hand.
"I'll prove to you all that my soulmate isn't one of you dumbasses," Nao says and she could feel the piercing glare of her best friend, "Except Kage-san and Manamo," she pauses, "And maybe Mikuni, too?"
"EXCUSE ME?" Manafi exclaims, and she wishes some HinaAi captions would randomly appear out of thin air bearing the words [She got 1st place in the written exam.]
In an attempt to calm Manafi down, Sarina brings out her gamelan balls and its sound resonated in the room. Manafi rolls her eyes as she puts her mind around as to why she had to be grouped with a bunch of clowns.
"Anyway, we should all still strike a pose in case, you know," Hina says as she squeezes herself beside Hiyori.
When everyone finished positioning themselves, Nao pointed the camera at her groupmates and when a blinding flash followed the click, everyone was left with their mouths open. The person behind the camera tries to collect her thoughts, fazed by what just transpired.
"Was I temporarily blind or did that thing just work?" Suzuka said as she blinked multiple times trying to regain her normal vision.
"Nao, oh my gosh," Manamo said as she rushed to her best friend's side.
"Does this mean..." Kyoko says with her hand rubbing her chin.
"Nao, is that really the special polaroid? Or is that your OWN polaroid?" Ayaka asks, acting like a smart person.
"Way to go, smartypants! Have you seen the lens?" Manafi sarcastically says and Ayaka puffs her cheeks.
After recovering from the initial shock, the rest of the group flocked around Nao.
"We HAVE to find your soulmate," Katoshi says with conviction.
"Isn't this nice? You lost your center position but you'll be earning a soulmate!" Suzuka says, earning a hit in the head from Konoka.
"How would we find her, though?" Hina asks.
"We take our polaroids and snap a picture of Nao," Hiyori suggests and those who were in the unofficial Operation: Find Nao's Soulmate agenda, scrambled through their belongings to find their cameras.
"For Nao's soulmate!" Katoshi said as she raised her camera in the air.
"For Nao's soulmate!" the rest–who shared a braincell with her–followed, namely: Suzuka, Mirei, Ayaka, Kyoko, Mei, Hiyori, Hina, Hinano, Haruyo, Marii, and Kumi (who was pulled by Katoshi against her will).
The twelve of them stood in a line, "At the count of three, we click," Katoshi instructs and the rest answered with a hum. "One, two, three!" silence followed the clicks.
"Is my camera broken?" Ayaka asks as she shakes her polaroid camera.
"I think you're the one who's broken," Manafi says from behind them and Mei, who was beside Ayaka, laughed louder than she normally would.
"It's not one of us, then?" Mirei said, with disappointment in her voice.
Katoshi looked over the rest of the group who didn't participate, "Your turn."
"I refuse to involve myself in this mess," Manamo says as she raises her hands in front of her.
"It's getting dark. We still have practice tomorrow," Kage tries to change the topic and when the rest looked at the time, they realized it was already late.
"Fine, but tomorrow, you guys would check if you're the soulmate or not," Katoshi squints her eyes to look intimidating (but she just looked dumber).
While fixing her stuff, Miku suddenly felt hot from the events earlier. "You look so red, are you okay?" Akari asked.
"I think it's because of the lack of ventilation," Miku explains and Akari buys it.
-
As soon as Miku got home, she rushed to her room and dived to her bed after dropping her bag on the floor. She feels her heart almost escaping her chest as she recalls everything that happened earlier.
She rolls over her bed to reach her bag. She takes out her wallet and from its not-so-secret pocket, she pulls out a polaroid bearing Nao's smiley face from afar.
It was a few months ago when Miku decided to play around with her special polaroid camera. They were shooting the MV of their 4th single and they were just taking a break before the cameras start rolling again. Unbeknownst to the other members, Miku has been harboring feelings for their center. She does not know when it started nor how it came to be but the admiration she felt from Nao being the consecutive center somehow turned into a big fat crush.
Miku is known to be the photographer in the group so detaching herself from the rest to take some photos of their sets wasn't a new thing. Remembering that she always carries the soulmate camera with her wherever she goes, she pulls it out from her handbag and tries to randomly snap a shot of her surroundings. As expected, it only gives out a clicking sound but not a flash.
She stopped walking and she turns to where the rest of the group are. Her eyes land on Nao, whose bright smile appears to be more blinding than the sun. Miku's lips unconsciously curve into a smile. She brings the camera in front of her face, she looks through the viewfinder and starts admiring Nao's beauty through the lens.
"Here goes nothing..."
Miku mutters under her breath, bracing herself to what might be her first heartbreak. After mentally counting to three, Miku presses the shutter button, and, to her surprise, the polaroid started to come out.
Thankfully, it was broad daylight and they were outdoors; or else, everyone would've made a fuss over the bright flash from the polaroid and the fact that it actually worked. Miku doesn't want to be the center of attention when it comes to this.
Since no one really saw what happened, Miku ran to her belongings and stashed the photo in her wallet for her to stare at once she gets home.
Miku knew all along that Nao was her soulmate and that gave her a little boost of confidence to talk to the center girl from time to time. However, it still bothered her how someone might be your soulmate but you are not theirs.
When she heard Katoshi's suggestion, fear actually enveloped Miku. She was scared to know if Nao's soulmate was in the group or not. If Nao's camera doesn't work, then Miku would instantly get an answer that there is a huge plot hole in this soulmate theory. If Nao's camera works, then it's either: Miku is Nao's soulmate or there's another member who is her soulmate.
After the rest of the group swarmed over Nao, Miku could see her bright red face from the mirror in front of them. But, she reminds herself that it doesn't really confirm anything.
Now, Miku lies on her bed and she takes her phone out to text her best friend, Akari.
Hey...
(Anything wrong?)
Do you think it's possible that your soulmate would be another person's soulmate?
(Wouldn't that be weird and SAD? Why are you asking me that anyway?)
Idk.. Just some random thought. Kind of worried about Nao because when we all take a picture of her and the cameras don't work then what would that mean for her?
(You're overthinking again! I'm pretty sure soulmates are requited.)
You really think so?
(Yes and I hope you find yours soon, too!)
Miku stares at the message. She smiles again as she puts her phone on her side table, "Already did," she replies to Akari as if the wind would deliver her message.
-
The next day, Katoshi made sure that they would find Nao's soulmate before their practice. It was so unlike her to be the first one to arrive at the studio. Katoshi guarded by the door and only let those who were part of the twelve–and what she calls Nao's Disciples–who proved they weren't Nao's soulmates; except for Suzuka who replied to her with "Are you Judas, then?" when she told her about the name.
All of the girls held back by Katoshi stare her down (except for Mikuni because this senior-junior thing is something she takes seriously) since they have been standing there for quite some time; especially Manamo who always arrives early.
"To give a little suspense, you will take turns," Katoshi starts briefing them but her words fall on deaf ears. After what felt like an eternity of nonsense, they finally go in and Nao is seated in the middle of the room with the rest of the members circled her.
"Can I choose who goes first?" Suzuka asks and Katoshi shrugs it off, "Not after you called me Judas."
"Kumi, why don't you choose?" Katoshi says in a voice she only uses when talking to their captain.
"Manamo looks so pissed so I guess she has to go first."
Katoshi positions Manamo in front of Nao and the rest of the group circled behind the photographer instead of the subject.
"If this works then this is like some best friend to lovers trope," Katoshi clasps her hands together and Kumi mentally rolls her eyes.
Crushing Katoshi's fantasy, Manamo's camera didn't work. So did Kage's, Sarina's, Manafi's, Miho's, Akari's, and Mikuni's.
When it was Konoka's turn, someone who kept on throwing side comments suddenly fell silent and Katoshi caught on. Before Konoka could press the shutter, Katoshi intervened, "Do you guys hear something?" she puts one hand on her ear for dramatic effect.
"Nothing?" she asks again in a dramatic tone, disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm. "Of course you don't since someone decided to finally shut up," she said while sparing a glance at Suzuka.
"Carry on, Konoka."
At this moment, two people had their hearts beating so fast: one feared that her soulmate might be another person's soulmate and the other mentally preparing herself from losing the love of her life. Suzuka shuts her eyes, scared of the outcome. When three seconds passed (she counted), Suzuka opened her eyes and when she saw everyone's heads turned towards Miku, she knew she was safe. Konoka made her way towards Suzuka. The latter leaned towards the other girl's ear, "Hanachanzu ain't disbanding after all."
With one person left, the answer was pretty much Miku but Katoshi doesn't want to settle with that. She wanted PROOF.
"Do you want it the easy way or the fun way?" Katoshi asked and Miku felt chills run down her spine.
"Easy way,"
"Wrong answer. The easy way has no meaning," Katoshi said as she stealthily grabbed Miku's bag away from her. Suzuka, being her unofficial right-hand woman, hugged Miku to keep her away from Katoshi.
Nao stared at the chaos brought by her senior and genmate. She looked at Miku, helplessly locked in a tight embrace by Suzuka, and she feels her cheeks flush when her thoughts finally caught up. Her brain finally processed that Miku might be her soulmate–she kind of knows this for sure but she doesn't really want to assume.
Katoshi then puts Miku's bag down, "Wallet!" she said as she raised it using both of her hands.
"Hakuna matata!" Hinano shouts from the other end of the room and she continued to sing the rest of the song for background music.
Accepting defeat, Miku just let Suzuka squeeze her as she watched Katoshi rummage through her wallet. Everyone focused on Katoshi as she pulls out a polaroid picture from Miku's wallet–one whose pattern was that of the soulmate camera's.
The others gathered around to have a closer look.
"Wait," Kumi says upon realizing something, "Wasn't this during our Sonnakotonaiyo MV shoot?" she asks and the rest turns their head towards Miku.
Miku just nods and Katoshi lets out an exaggerated gasp, "Don't tell me..."
"You knew?" Suzuka asked, her tone raised.
"To be fair, I wasn't sure myself," Miku tried defending herself.
"Is that why you asked me about soulmates last night?" Akari took a step closer towards Miku so the latter took a step back.
"We went through all this trouble FOR WHAT?" Manamo approached Miku but the other girl just took another step back.
"PAUSE!" Ayaka shouted amidst the mess, "DOES THIS MEAN MIKU IS NAO'S SOULMATE? AND HOW DID MIKU GET NAO'S PICTURE FROM THE MV SHOOT? IS SHE A TIME TRAVELER OR SOMETHING?"
The rest of the group's attention shifted from Miku keeping the truth to wanting to conspire and play along with Ayaka's dumbness.
"I heard Miku's going to Kyun era this weekend," Katoshi said.
"I wonder if I should revisit Budoukan or Kouhaku," Suzuka tags along.
"Am I the only one who can't time travel, then?" Ayaka crosses her arms across her chest.
Before chaos really falls upon the group, Nao stands up and walks towards Miku.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nao straight-up asks catching Miku by surprise.
"I didn't know how and I wasn't sure."
"Last night. You could've messaged me about it."
"I was too happy that I wasn't able to think of that. Are you mad?"
Nao turns to her, trying to look mad but she only turned out to be more adorable (or it's just Miku being whipped). "What would you do if I am mad?" Nao pouts which makes her less intimidating.
Miku snakes her arms around Nao's waist and traps the other girl in an embrace, "This," she says as she rests her chin on Nao's shoulder. "You still should've told me, dummy," Nao said as she softly hit Miku's back while burying her head on Miku's shoulder.
"I'm really glad you're my soulmate and not them," Nao turned her head to the rest of the group.
"Are you implying that you're happy because I'm the normal one in the bunch?"
"No," Nao smiled again and Miku feels herself do the same, "I'm happy because my wish came true."