Work Text:
5 Years Ago
The sky was covered in heavy clouds as was the usual for the end of the year. Minato Yukina was currently in her second year of middle school. Presently she was trapped in the living room of her home as her parents sat her down for a conversation.
“Yukina, we’re aware that you aren’t the most social person but we want you to challenge yourself and broaden your horizons a little bit. I know that you won’t take well to being sent out and told to talk to people. That would be useless and if anything would make you draw into your shell even more than you are now. Your teacher brought up a new website that a few schools in the area are using. It acts much like a pen pal where one sets up a user ID using their school cards and information as well as some person likes and dislikes to connect to a central hub and choose someone who has different preferences to help connect two students who would not normally interact. It was created by the Education Board to help foster relationships throughout Japan. Your mother and I looked over the website and its security features and decided to sign you up for it. I know it’s not something you would like but we want you to be able to branch out and have more friends than just Lisa-chan.” Her father said.
“I just have to talk to them a few times, right?” I responded. I disliked the idea but I could tell from my parents faces that they wanted me to try it. They had made arrangements for all sorts of singing lessons and more to help me become a musician and I felt like I had to do this to pay them back even just a little bit.
“Try and talk to them for at least 15 minutes a day. Set a time so that you both can be online at the same time.” My mother asked. 15 minutes was a lot of time to dedicate to someone I didn’t want to talk to but it wasn’t too extreme. I was a little afraid that they would ask for half an hour of more, but I could do 15 minutes.
“Ok” I agreed. A little while later we sat down on the couch and father helped me fill in the security information needed to. Prove that I was a student who was currently attending school in the prefecture. Once everything was filled in, he gently placed it in my lap and on the bright screen was one question.
‘Username?’
I wasn’t sure what to put. What kind of name should I put, my real one? I didn’t really have a nickname, not even Lisa had given me one. I usually only went by my real name so what should I do. I looked up to my mother and father. They could probably tell what I was thinking as they just gently smiled and gave a few suggestions. I still wasn’t sure exactly what to put and as looked around for any kind of hint I could find my eyes wandered to the window. Fall had just passed and the trees were already bare and the breeze was only growing colder and colder with every passing day. Winter had arrived, I could see it. Small flakes softly falling from the sky. They brought a name to mind; it would be a decent name, right? Acting both as a shortened version of my own name and a symbol for the day that I started using this website. I didn’t yet know how much this choice would change my life, how it would change me or how attached I would become. Right now, I was just like the myriad snowflakes falling from the sky. Beginning my journey as a blank white canvas to be painted and imprinted upon by the coming experiences.
‘Username?’
‘Yuki’ (Snow)
‘Username?’
Kasumi looked at the question with a troubled expression. Should I go with ‘KiraKira’ or ‘DokiDoki’ or maybe a combined ‘KiraKiraDokiDoki’. Truly a name that would last till the end of time for its complexity and deep meaning. It embodied everything she could want from a name, so it would be perfect right?
“Please choose something other than Kira Kira Doki Doki nee-chan.” I heard Aa-chan say.
“Huh, why?” I asked. On the laptop in front of me was a new site that the teacher recommended to me. She said that since I love to make new friends that this would a perfect fit for me. When mom helped me read through the papers that the teacher, I fell in love the idea of having a friend that I could always talk to morning, afternoon, and evening.
“You should try for something more normal. The reason they made this site is so that you can communicate with other students in the area and get to know someone without meeting them face to face. It’s also to practice a bit of the internet safety that they always teach. Everyone at your school knows your phrase and it’ll be connected to you almost instantly.” I heard Aa-chan lecture me as mom looked over with a smile.
“But that’s boring, I want my name to pop! And what’s better than ‘Kira Kira Doki Doki’!” I told her, getting up and slumping down onto the couch and laying my head on her shoulder.
“Then do the name of a star or something. That would be better right mom?” Aa-chan calls out.
“Kasumi-chan, you love the night sky full of stars, right? So how about something like ‘Hoshizora’ (Starry Sky). That would be a pretty name right Kasumi-chan?” Mom says, her voice wasn’t all that loud but the name rang through my head a few times. It was bright and it made my heart beat a little bit faster.
“I love it! Thanks Mom!” I yelled as I ran back to the laptop.
‘Username?’
‘Hoshizora’
Hoshizora: Hi!!!!
Hoshizira: I’m K
Hoshizora: I’m Hoshizora, nice to meet you!
Yuki: I’m Yuki, nice to meet you.
Hoshizora: So, what kind of things do you like Yuki-chan?
Yuki: Music.
Yuki: I’m going to be a musician in the future.
Hoshizora: REALLY?!
Hoshizora: That’s so cool
Hoshizora: I don’t really know what I wanna do when I grow up
Hoshizora: But I want it to be something to do with the stars
Yuki: Why the stars?
Hoshizora: Because they’re so bright and beautiful and amazing
Hoshizora: I can never get tired of looking at them
Yuki: Do you want to be an astronomer or something similar?
Hoshizora: Astronomer?
Yuki: A scientist that studies the stars.
Hoshizora: Oh!
Hoshizora: That’s cool but I don’t know if I could do it
Hoshizora: I’m not great at science
Yukina looked at the messages filling her screen. ‘Hoshizora’ seemed like someone who was outgoing like Lisa rather than someone similar to her. I guess they were serious about matching you with someone who was different than you. ‘Hoshizora’ was outgoing and strange but they didn’t seem to be a bad person. Then again Yukina had only spoken to them for 15 minutes. She quickly typed a message saying that she would only be available to talk for 15 minutes at this time every day and that she would be busy otherwise. ‘Hoshizora’ responded positively and said that they would be online every day to talk and that they enjoyed the talk.
The two continued talking at that one time for months and Yukina found herself beginning to enjoy and look forward to her daily talks with ‘Hoshizora’. Hoshizora turned out to be different yet similar to what Yukina originally thought. Her pen pal was bright and outgoing yet unusually easy to talk to. Sometimes she even felt like she was talking to Lisa rather than some stranger that she had to speak to online. They learned and adapted to each other quickly and talked about their everyday lives and the things that they learned in class. Yukina would tell stories about Lisa and relayed some things that Lisa had told her. ‘Hoshizora’ was always ready to listen or tell stories of her own. The other person who was revealed to be a girl always talked about her own friend ‘Hagu’ and the wild things that they got up to together. From challenging a full team to basketball game while they just had the two of them to the shenanigans that they got up to in their neighborhood. The chaotic tales never ceased to make Yukina smile and got a few laughs out of her. As the days went by, they got closer and more comfortable together.
7 Months Later
Hoshizora: Ne Yuki-chan
Yuki: Yes Hoshi.
Hoshizora: don’t you have to go offline now?
Hoshizora: I didn’t realize but it’s already been 18 minutes
Hoshizora: You might get late!
As the messages appeared Yukina turned to look at the clock and her eyes widened. She hadn’t realized their time was already up. She wanted to hear how Hoshi’s newest story ended. Then she realized something and turned back to the screen to respond.
Yuki: No it’s fine
Yuki: I only limited our conversations to 15 minutes because that’s the minimum my parents asked me to be online for
Yuki: I didn’t really like the idea of talking to someone I didn’t know so I stuck to the 15-minute minimum back at the start
Yuki: but it’s fine now
Yuki: we don’t have to keep that time limit anymore
Hoshizora: Really!
Yuki: Yeah now tell me what did you and Hagu did with the class pet
Hoshizora: Oh yeah!
Hoshizora: You should have seen the teachers face
Hoshizora: He looked so annoyed and tired at the same time it was hilarious
Yukina smiled. Yes, she was beginning to enjoy these conversations quite a bit.
2 Years Later (Approx. 2 years before Present)
As time went on, they began to confide in each other. When they were happy or sad, sharing their excitement and their tears with each other. They didn’t know each other’s faces, their hair, their eyes, or even their names but they knew who the other was past all of that, who they were at their core.
Hoshizora: … and she just kept going on about how great her boyfriend was and blah blah blah blah
Hoshizora: I mean
Hoshizora: What’s so great about dating someone
Yuki: We can go on a date if you want to know
Hoshizora: YUKI!!!!!
Yuki: :)
Despite the joking tone that she had written it in Yukina realized that she was quite serious. She wanted to go on a date with her Hoshi. They already shared so much of themselves with each other, Hoshi had even begun to help her write song lyrics a few months ago. She decided that she would go through with it and ask Hoshi on a real date tomorrow so that they could meet face to face for the first time.
The Next Day
As the sun began to fall below the horizon, painting the sky with a bright tapestry of colors. Yukina cheered, exams had just finished the previous week and summer vacation was just up ahead. Yukina was looking forward to a break after she realized how difficult high school exams were even if it was just first year. She quickly put away her things and headed to her desk. She flipped open the laptop and opened up the browser application. The pen pal site was the first bookmark she had made on the computer and she clicked on it impatiently. This was the day that she would finally ask Hoshi to meet face to face, the day she would ask Hoshi out on a date. As she put in her ID and password something strange came up.
“We at the Education Board would sincerely like to apologize for the delay in putting the site back up after taking it down last evening. It has been revealed that the security of the platform has been breached by outside parties masquerading as students and thus the site was pulled down for a hotfix. As it is the site has been evaluated as needing heavy editing, we have made the choice to take the site down for the foreseeable future as repairs and improvements are made. The site will be up for the next three days to allow users to say their good byes to each other. As we are still not sure how many breaches were made, we have restricted the user’s ability to convey personal details for the safety of the students on the platform. We ask that users say their goodbyes before the service is taken down. We will most likely not be able to rematch current partners. We sincerely apologize.”
The words were like a bludgeon. Yukina quickly navigated to the chat she had with Hoshi.
Yuki: My Name is XXXXXXXXXX
Yuki: I live in XXXXXX
Yuki: Dammit!
Hoshizora: Yuki?
Hoshizora: Are you ok?
Yuki: ...Yeah, I’m OK
Yuki: I’m just mad at myself and the site
Yuki: you saw the announcement on the front page, right?
Hoshizora: Yeah…
Yuki: To think that this would happen just as I was finally going to ask you to meet face to face.
Yuki: As I was going to ask you to go on a date with me.
Hoshizora: Really?!
Yuki: Yes
Hoshizora: I would have loved the chance to finally see you
Yuki: I still want to
Yuki: I don’t want to give up
Yuki: Maybe we can change to XXXXXXX
Yuki: We can’t even try to move to other sites?
Hoshizora: XXXXXXX
Yuki: What was that?
Hoshizora: I thought if I uploaded a picture you could try to find me based on appearance
Hoshizora: But It doesn’t let you upload anything anymore
Yuki: What do we do?
Hoshizora: … You’re still aiming to be a famous musician, right?
Yuki: Yes??
Hoshizora: Maybe if we write a new song together you could perform it and I would be able to find you that way
Hoshizora: It may take a while but we’ll be able to find each other
Yuki: Then let’s do it
Yuki: Let’s write a song to commemorate our parting and the hope of reuniting in the future.
Yuki: When my songs are able to reach every corner of Japan, I’ll sing it
Yuki: I’ll make sure that you’ll be able to hear it
Hoshizora: Let’s do it!
Present Day - CiRCLE
”Marina-san!” Kasumi yelled excitedly as she pushed her way into the live house’s studio.
“Sorry for being late, the others got distracted by the new pastries available at Yamabuki.” Arisa apologized as she and the other Poppin Party girls followed closely behind.
“WHAT?!” Moca screamed as she jumped up from where she was sitting. “You have new types of bread and buns but you didn’t tell me Saaya! Why have you betrayed me my beautiful bread goddess?” Moca said falling to the floor in tears.
“I saved some for you so stop crying. My parents already said you can stay the night if you want.” Saaya said rolling her eyes at her girlfriend’s dramatics.
“Thank you, my love. You truly are the light of my life.” Moca said dramatically as she tearfully embraced Saaya.
“I believe that we should begin now that everyone is here Marina-san.” Sayo said, raising her voice so that everyone could hear.
“Ah, right you are Sayo-chan.” Marina agreed. “Alright everyone as you know the latest combined show is all but ready and everyone has been working really hard preparing for it. As we were working on it, I was wondering what we could do to spice up the show a little bit. This is going to be the last big show that some of you will do before you graduate high school so I wanted to do something special. I had the idea for themed days.” Marina explained.
“Themed days?” Himari asked.
“Yes, were having two bands preform on every day of the weekend event. So, I decided to do a special theme that every band would have to prepare a song for. I want to challenge you guys so even if a band has a high affinity for a particular day, they might not get chosen. Friday will be slow songs, for which Hello! Happy world and Afterglow will play. Saturday is fast songs for which Pastel*Palettes and Morfonica will play. And on the Sunday, last but not least, we’ll have Roselia and Poppin’ Party play.” Marina said laying out the papers that had the details all written down.
“Hey, Marina-san!” Ako called out.
“Yeah Ako-chan?” Marina inquired.
“What’s our theme? You never said what ours would be.” Ako asked.
“Oh! Sunday’s theme is forbidden songs…” Marina said her voice trailing off.
“Forbidden? What does that mean?” Lisa queried, raising an eyebrow.
“Lots of fans have been asking for another chance to hear LOUDER for the last time especially since most of them didn’t know that they would be losing the chance to hear it if they didn’t attend the previous performance.” Marina explained, her tone milder and more timid than normal.
“So, you tailored this performance so that Roselia would specifically have to play LOUDER again?” Yukina asked, her voice upset.
“I guess it is fair for them to want another performance now that they know that we won’t be playing it again, right Yukina.” Lisa said trying to calm her childhood friend down.
“Fine but even if the theme is targeted at us what kind of song would Toyama-san and Poppin’ Party play?” Yukina asked.
“Ah, right well I guess we can give them a pass- “Marina said before being cut off.
“I… do have one song that wasn’t meant to preformed unless certain conditions were met.” Kasumi said, her voice unusually quiet and meek. The amethyst-eyed girl was also looking down, her figure hunched and timid in a way that no one in the room had ever seen before.
“Really Kasumi-chan? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter if it’s you or Roselia, if either of you are uncomfortable with the theme, I can change it.” Marina said quickly. “I don’t want anyone to be forced to do something that they don’t want.”
“No, it’s fine Marina-san. The time for that song hasn’t come yet but I can still hope that it’ll be able to reach the person it was meant to.” Kasumi whispered; her voice heard clearly despite its quietness due to the tense atmosphere of the room.
“Then I guess everything is ready other than practicing the special theme songs right.” Ran said, trying to distract everyone from the abnormal state of the normally cheerful girl while still sending worried glances over. The rest of the meeting passed uncharacteristically quickly before each band separated to practice on their own.
“Let’s go practice Kasumi.” Saaya said snapping the starry girl out of her trance.
“Yeah, but I want to go to Arisa’s house.” Kasumi specified.
“Huh, why my place?” Arisa inquired.
“I don’t really want anyone to hear this song until it’s preformed. Sorry everyone.” Kasumi apologized while bowing.
“No, it’s ok if it means that much to you.” Arisa said quickly.
“Then, let’s get going everyone.” Saaya said as the band gathered their things and began to make their way out of the live house.
“Kasumi-chan?” Rimi said quietly.
“Yeah Rimi-rin.” Kasumi responded.
“What’s the songs name?” She asked
“Homura.”
“Your sound, overflowing with light”
“With my sound I want to…want to tell you”
“I’m movin’ on with you (movin’ on with you)”
“I want to give you everything”
“I was there because of you”
“No more need to cry, I’m sure”
“Feel alive…”
Yukina closed her eyes as the audience burst in raucous cheers. She felt that it was bittersweet, she didn’t want to perform this song again after she achieved what she wished. But in many ways that achievement would not have been possible without the girl’s band party and it felt this was both a gift to the fans as well as a more personal parting with the song that had defined her goals for so long. She and the rest of Roselia bowed gave their thanks and left the stage, making way for Poppin’ Party. The band had been its normal exuberant self when they were doing the regular setlist before the special themed songs were set to play. However now as they passed the band the others were patiently watching Toyama-san who was calming herself. She noticed that Toyama-san had removed her normal cat-ear/star-shaped hairstyle to let her brown locks fall as they wished.
“Your hair looks so cute Kasumi-chan!” Lisa praised, her words getting a slightly strained smile from Toyama-san.
“Good Luck.” Yukina said, wishing them well in their upcoming performance. Roselia continued walking and came to the area holding the other girl bands in a small sectioned off area near the stage front so that they could watch the show from front row seats. Poppin’ Party walked on to stage with a somber atmosphere, their expressions and actions catching everyone’s attention as they looked at the abnormal situation. What caught Yukina and the other girl band members eyes was that Kasumi wasn’t with her guitar, they all knew how attached she was to her ‘Random Star’ which only made the sight on stage even more bizarre. The audience quieted down as Kasumi grabbed the mic.
“This song is probably the most important song that I’ve ever written. I wrote together with the person I love as a way for us to find each other when all other avenues of meeting were cut off. It symbolizes our bond, our final meeting, and our hope to find each other once again in the future. Please enjoy everyone.” Kasumi said, her tone more tense and lower than normal. As her words reached the audience Yukina felt a strange sense of Déjà vu. She knew those words, felt a usual familiarity that only deepened as the opening notes played. Her frown and expression instantly caught the eye of Lisa.
“Yukina?” Lisa asked quietly, calling the others attention to Yukina’s expression as Kasumi began singing.
“” Goodbye” and “Thank you” At the top of my voice”
“What’s more important than grief”
“Hoping that they reach you as we part”
“In time for the warmth and pain”
“What? How?” Yukina whispered, shocked. Her eyes locked on the stage with many tumultuous emotions visible in her eyes. She remembered when those words were written. A verse dedicated to the painful separation, an attempt to blend the gratitude of being able to know the other with the sorrow of parting.
“I thought it would always be like this”
“I envisioned our days to come”
“Why, when our lights calling to each other”
“Still burn deep in our hearts?”
“Hoshi?” Yukina said, her voice cracking from emotion as her eyes filled with tears still locked onto the one singing on stage. Her voice and tears catching the other girls off guard with wide eyed shock. A second verse devoted the hopes of being able to stay together.
“Yukina, are you alright?” Lisa’s concerned voice asked.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Yukina assured.
“We met amidst a blazing journey”
“coming together, then letting go for the sake of the future”
“every time a dream comes true, I’ll remember you”
“Wishing to become stronger, I cried with my resolve as the parting gift”
Yukina wiped her eyes as she sniffled before looking up at the stage again. This time the only thing visible was her growing smile and her eyes glowing with happiness, relief, love, and so many more unnamable emotions. She thought of when they wrote the third verse to their wishes and remembrance of the impact that they had on each other.
“Held captive by nostalgic memories”
“Wailing at the cruelty of this world”
“There will be even more as I grow older”
“I never want to lose anything ever again”
“You won’t. I won’t let you go again Hoshi.” Yukina said, her tone determined. The section created to mark the sorrow of separation and desire to not part with someone they loved ever again.
“By succumbing to grief”
“I might not feel pain anymore”
“But your words (Your words)”
“Your wishes (Your voice)”
“I swore to protect them to the end”
“With a roar, it’s crumbling down”
“Our one and only, irreplaceable world”
“The bundle of bursting light that I reached out for and held so close”
“Shimmered, the disappeared for the sake of the future”
“Going beyond the happiness and promises I’ve been entrusted”
“I’ll keep moving forward without glancing back”
“Looking straight ahead, I’m going to cry out”
“Lighting the flames in my heart”
“Until I reach that distant future…”
“I’m here Kasumi, I won’t lose you again.” Yukina promised quietly. Countless memories of the conversations they had and the emotions they shared passing through her head as if a movie made to chronicle their relationship. Poppin’ Party played the rest of the instrumental until the final note. Once the last note rang out, the entire venue rang out in screaming cheers, some members of the audience were in tears as they clapped wildly. Kasumi and the rest of Poppin’ Party said their thanks until Marina came up onto the stage, wiping away a few tears.
“That was beautiful Kasumi-chan, let’s get one more cheer for that amazing performance. “Marina said as another wave of applause rang out. Marina waited for everyone to quiet down and them called the other girl bands back onto stage. She asked them to give their feedback on the special songs that they had played. When it came to Poppin Party, Kasumi just said thanks and did not go further into the song than she already had. Last up was Roselia, at which point Yukina walked up to the microphone.
“I was originally opposed to the request to play “LOUDER” as I swore not to preform it again but the events of today have made me glad that I did. Five years ago, my parents felt that I didn’t have enough friends and wanted me socialize more. So, when my teacher brought up a pen-pal-esque site that the education board had created, they signed me up immediately. There I met an amazing girl; we didn’t click immediately but as the days went on, we our relationship grew and grew until I realized that I had fallen in love with her. I didn’t know what she looked like or what her name was but nevertheless I loved her. When the service announced that it would be shutting down, we panicked and scrambled for a way to find each other. We tried everything we could think of to tell each other who we were but nothing passed through, we tried appealing to our school but they told us it wouldn’t be feasible. Eventually we settled on writing a song for me to preform once I successfully made my music career, she swore that she would look for the song every week until she found me. My username was Yuki, both a shortened version of my name and to symbolize the winter night that I met her. The username of the girl I loved was Hoshizora (Starry Sky), she was bright, bold, and amazing in so many ways. The song that we wrote together was named “Homura” to commemorate the bright flame of our bond and our love for each other. I never thought that I would hear that song sung by anyone other than myself. I’m grateful that this prompt allowed me to find my dearest star, my Hoshi. Thank you.” Yukina said, her voice filled with gratitude. She then stepped back away from the microphone. She turned and gazed into the wide, shocked, and tearful eyes of Kasumi.
“I found you my dear.” She whispered softly into the amethyst-eyed girl’s eyes before capturing her lips in a passionate love filled kiss in front of everyone. Everyone on stage’s eyes widened with shock at Yukina’s daring action. She pulled back and smiled before pulling Kasumi with her offstage. After a short moment, Poppin’ Party and Roselia both quickly said their thanks before running offstage after their vocalists, shouting various questions.
“Thanks for the great show everyone, Bye!” Ran yelled as Afterglow sprinted offstage, Hello! Happy World close behind them. Aya, Hina, Eve and Maya quickly said their goodbyes before dashing off with Morfonica near, Rui getting pulled along by Touko. Afterward Chisato was left alone with Marina on stage, she made her way to the mic and said a few words of gratitude, bowed and darted after the others. Together the various girl bands stopped at the door to CiRCLE’s lounge.
“What are you guys waiting for? Open the door already” Tomoe asks impatiently.
“Come on Sayo, open the door.” Lisa agrees, her eyes eagerly sparkling with excitement.
“I feel that it would quite rude for us to interrupt such a…private moment between Minato-san and Toyama-san.” Sayo states.
“Who cares, I want to see Kasumi-chan now that I know she’s Hoshi.” Lisa disagrees.
“Yeah, I wanna meet the ‘Yuki-chan’ that Kaa-kun always talked about.” Hagumi supplements.
“Kasumi-chan talked about Yukina too, huh.” Lisa asked excitedly.
“All the time!” Hagumi said enthusiastically in return. While Sayo got distracted by the conversation between Lisa and Hagumi, Ako snuck around and opened the door and rushed in. The others immediately noticed and funneled into the room regardless of Sayo’s attempts to stop them. Once they enter, they see Yukina and Kasumi cuddling on the couch of the lounge, Kasumi’s face buried in the crook of Yukina’s neck.
“Yukina! Is Kasumi-chan actually Hoshi?” Lisa asks immediately.
“Of course, I had thought that Kasumi resembled my Hoshi but I wasn’t sure before. But I know she’s my Hoshi because that’s the only way she could know ‘Homura’ or some of the other things we talked about before you all came inside.” Yukina explains. “In hindsight, it should have been obvious considering Kasumi’s personality, her likes and dislikes and that fact that she refers to Kitazawa-san as Hagu. Though I must confess that I wasn’t sure whether Hagu was a nickname or not but it seems clearer when I look back at it. There were some differences I noticed that I seem to have focused in on too much. The Hoshizora that I knew was excitable yes but she was also aimless. She wandered from place to place never quite finding something she truly loved and enjoyed. Kasumi is different, she may not have been a skilled musician when we first met face to face but she was determined and passionate about music in a way Hoshi never was. I wish that I could have seen you when you were just starting out Hoshi-chan, I wanted to be able see and support you as you began your journey as musician.” Yukina sighs in regret.
“What about you Kaa-kun? Did you think Yukina-senpai was Yuki too?” Hagumi asks.
“When I first found Ryuuseidou and the Random star, I picked it and wanted to play it because it reminded me of Yuki-chan’s passion for music. When I saw Glitter*Green preform at SPACE, I realized that I could feel the star beat faintly and I thought if I started a band and chased it that it might lead me to Yuki-chan. I knew Yuki-chan was going to be a musician so I thought if I tried to do the same, I might be able to find her easier. I always thought that Yukina-senpai resembled my Yuki-chan more than just the similarity of their names but I wasn't sure and I didn't want to make things weird if I was wrong.” Kasumi describes. “I guess I should have realized when I met Lisa-senpai considering how much I knew about the Lisa that Yuki-chan talked about.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore because we finally found each other.” Yukina states as she embraces the younger girl. “I won’t lose you again.”
“Yeah, Yuki-chan!” Kasumi says as she pushes herself deeper into Yukina’s embrace.
Omake : Clingy Yukina
“Yukina-senpai can you let Kasumi go? We need to start practice.” Saaya says with a bit of exasperation.
“No.”
“Please Yukina-senpai?” Rimi begs.
“No.”
“Minato-san please let go of Toyama-san, we also need to start practice. You do remember that we have a live in another few days, right?” Sayo says unyieldingly.
“You can’t make me.” Yukina disagrees.
“Come on Yukina, Kasumi-chan will still be here after practice ends.” Lisa bargains.
“We can practice together.” Yukina says as a compromise.
“And what exactly will we be able to do together Minato-san?” Sayo asks with an eyebrow raised.
“Sousei no Aquarion?” Yukina throws out.
“That’s a collaboration between you and Poppin’ Party, now let go of Toyama-san or I will ask Toyama-san to avoid you for a week.” Sayo threatens
“How cruel Sayo, is this how you treat your friends?” Yukina asks.
“It is when they refuse to let go of their girlfriends for over an hour and delay practice.”
Omake: Trance
“Imai-san, why is Minato-san staring into the distance like that when we need to clean up the studio?” Sayo asks.
“Kasumi-chan has exams so she hasn’t been able to go on any dates with Yukina for the past few days and Yukina looks like that whenever she misses Kasumi-chan.” Lisa explains.
“Is there a way to snap her out of it?” Sayo questions.
“Yeah, watch.” Lisa says. “LOOK, IT’S KASUMI-CHAN!” Lisa shouts pointing in a random direction.
“Where?!” Yukina yells, whipping her head around to try and find Kasumi before realizing what Lisa did and looking at her with a combination of a glare and a pout.
Omake: Glomp
“YUUUKKKIIII-CHHAAANNN!!!” Yukina hears, the yell beginning to get louder thus displaying its rapid approach.
“Lisa, hold my lunch please.” Yukina says handing over her bento.
“Sure, ok, why though?” Lisa responds with a confused tone.
“You’ll se-“Yukina is cut off by a brown-haired mass flying into her and tackling her off of the bench that she was sat on, directly onto the grass behind.
“Yuki-chan!” Kasumi squeals again as she snuggles deeper into Yukina’s arms.
“How did you see that coming Yukina?” Lisa asks looking at the pile of tangled limbs before her.
“I have Kasumi senses; I know when she’s close to my location.” Yukina says from her place on the grass.
“I’m not sure if I should be jealous of your relationship or concerned that you have such acute knowledge of Kasumi-chan’s whereabouts.” Lisa replies.
“Both probably.” Ran says as she and the rest of Afterglow take in the situation.