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“Kohane, have you happened to notice anything different about Minori recently?”
Kohane glanced up from her lunch, a hint of surprise visible on her face as she considered the sudden visitor to their classroom. To be honest, Haruka hadn’t planned on stopping by either, but after glancing in and noticing that Minori was once again absent, as she had been for the past few days, Haruka was a bit worried that something serious had happened (but also mentally chalked it up to Minori’s clumsiness). Having noticed Kohane, Haruka decided to inquire from her, assuming that she might have an idea.
“Well, Minori-chan has seemed a little more stressed lately, but that’s probably because finals are coming up, right?” Kohane tapped her chopsticks against her cheek, seemingly in thought. “Oh right, Haruka-chan, isn’t your anniversary coming up? Maybe she’s doing something for that?”
Yes, but our anniversary is in July and it’s currently June , Haruka thought to herself. What could Minori be planning a month in advance? She voiced these concerns to Kohane, who shrugged.
“Maybe since it’s your guys’ first anniversary, she wants to prepare something really special? You could try asking her yourself, although maybe she’s trying to plan something in secret for you two?”
Haruka considered that option too. She figured that Minori was probably planning something for the two of them, and she had told Minori that she could plan their anniversary and she would go along with whatever plans she cooked up, even if that meant they just stared into each other eyes for hours, but was it really something that required several lunch periods to plan? Regardless, she thanked Kohane for her help and headed back to her class. Minori’s mysteries would be revealed eventually, but for now she had to get back before lunch break was over.
A few weeks before their anniversary, Haruka finally found Minori alone on the rooftop, writing something in a notebook and muttering to herself. She watched Minori write one thing out before crossing it out a few seconds later, shaking her head. Haruka approached as quietly as she could, trying to sneak a peek, but apparently Minori had a Haruka-sense or something, because she immediately turned around, thwarting her silent approach. Upon seeing Haruka, she snapped her notebook shut and hid it behind her back, standing up to greet her. “H-Hey, Haruka-chan! What brings you up here on this fine afternoon?” she laughed nervously, hand behind her head.
“Oh, I just wanted to see how you were doing, Minori. What were you writing in that notebook?” Haruka asked, a sly smile on her face. She knew that it was probably something for their anniversary, but it was fun to tease Minori anyways and see how she would react. As expected, Minori’s face turned red and she instantly began stammering.
“It’s n-nothing, Haruka-chan! I’m just planning some things for our anniversary, but you don’t need to worry about it because I’ve got it all figured out!” Minori rapidly responded, waving her hands as if to wave away Haruka’s concerns. Truth be told, Haruka wasn’t concerned at all about Minori’s plans at all, she just wanted to see a glimpse of what Minori might have been planning.
Smiling, she turned around and headed back down the rooftop stairs. “Well then, I’ll be looking forward to it. Just make sure to not go too overboard, alright?” Really, she wasn’t worried about Minori at all. Despite her lingering curiosities at whatever grand scheme Minori was apparently cooking up in that notebook, Haruka was willing to wait for her surprise, not without a bit of amusement, to see whatever would unfold for their celebration.
Time passed quickly, and before she knew it, it was July 29th, the morning of their anniversary. Haruka awoke at 6 am as she usually did, preparing for her daily morning exercises. Just because today was a special occasion didn’t mean that she was going to change her daily schedule.
After that, she checked her phone, expecting some big congratulatory message from Minori, but to her surprise, there was nothing. Minori had texted her the address of the place they were supposed to meet a few days ago, so that had all been taken care of. Having more time to kill now, Haruka decided to review some of the routines that MMJ had created for their latest songs, but the feeling of something being off still lingered. Shaking off that feeling, she continued, wanting to at least be productive before her meeting with Minori.
At 7 pm, Haruka arrived at the restaurant. She was surprised that it seemed to be a relatively normal place, not particularly fancy or over-the-top. A few minutes later (Haruka discreetly checked her phone, it was 7:10), Minori arrived, a bit out of breath but also wearing a stunning white dress with a flower-like ornament in her hair. It was just a simple combination, yet Haruka noted how the colors highlighted Minori’s beautiful eyes, her soft skin, her- Haruka mentally slapped herself in order to bring herself back to Earth, especially since she realized that Minori was talking to her.
“Hi Haruka-chan sorry for being late I took longer than expected getting ready and then we ran into traffic on the way here-” Minori rapidly explained, firing off words faster than Haruka was able to process. Although she was having her own panic moment (how could Minori look so darn pretty), Haruka forced herself to focus and reached out, steadying Minori with her hands. “Minori, calm down. You were only a few minutes late, I wasn’t waiting long at all. Now, shall we go in?”
Minori took a few deep breaths to seemingly steady herself before nodding, clasping Haruka’s hand as she pushed open the door to the place. After confirming their reservation, they sat down at the table and ordered their food. At this point, Haruka was expecting something wild to happen, like for a stage to suddenly appear for Minori to serenade her or something, but nothing of the sort happened. It was only after they got their food and started digging in that Haruka chose to raise the question.
“Minori, did something happen? After what you did for my birthday one time, I expected… something similar for our anniversary.” Haruka cautiously asked, unsure what to expect as an answer. To be honest, she knew Minori no longer viewed Haruka as a literal idol to worship, but she had been concerned that she would have had something, well, wilder planned. To just have a simple dinner at a nice restaurant felt more… domestic to her.
Minori set down her fork and cleared her throat, something that suddenly made Haruka more self-aware of how quiet the chatter of other people in the restaurant seemed to be. “Haruka-chan, in the year that I’ve been to spend together with you, I’ve done so many things that I never would have believed possible. We performed a one-man live, had a fan meeting, and even went on a TV program, but I was only able to do that since I met you.” Minori began, her face looking strangely serious. “Ever since I met you, my once-horrible luck turned for the better, and I’ve been able to deliver hope to people like you once did to me. Somewhere along the way, after we started dating, something changed for me.”
Feeling a sudden warmth on her hands, Haruka looked up to see Minori’s hands on top of hers tenderly caressing them as if to comfort her. “You were no longer this faraway angel that would be forever out of reach, you were right there next to me, encouraging me and telling me that everything would work out. Haruka-chan, even if our dream keeps getting loftier and loftier, and even after we eventually achieve our goal of a dome concert, I want to keep standing beside you no matter what.”
Haruka felt Minori’s hands leave hers and travel up to her cheeks, wiping away tears Haruka hadn’t even noticed that she had begun to shed. Curse Minori and her touching speeches , she thought to herself, nothing stopping her face from breaking out into a wide grin and even a bit of pink appearing on her cheeks. Thinking back, she was reminded about her early concerns about even starting an idol group with Minori.
It had been a few days after Minori had reached out her hand and invited her to stand on stage once again, and they had decided to form an idol group together with Airi and Shizuku. Haruka had returned to the Sekai (still unconvinced that such a place could exist), and after wandering around a bit, she had stumbled upon a seemingly empty stage. Unlike the others that were furnished and ready for a performance at any time, this one was dusty and unkempt, a condition clearly unfit for an idol’s performance. As she was about to turn and leave, she heard a voice behind her.
“Hey Haruka! Decided to visit us again?” Miku said in a singsong tone, walking up to the blue-haired idol. Ever since their first meeting, Haruka had noticed that Miku never seemed to fail to have a smile on her face and that upbeat attitude, something she wished she could have right now. Miku seemed to notice this, however, and the smile on her face turned more into an expression of worry. “Is something on your mind?”
“Miku, what if I make the same mistake with Minori that I did with Mai?” Haruka finally managed to force out. Having said that, it was like scooping out her insecurities from inside of her and laying them bare in front of Miku. She didn’t want to admit it, but she still feared that as someone Minori idolized both literally and figuratively, she didn’t want to say something that might cause Minori to make the same rash decisions that had once caused Mai to hate her.
Miku nodded as Haruka explained this to her. Then, she gestured at the same stage that Haruka had been looking at earlier. “Haruka, do you know why this stage is here?” Taking the confused expression on her face as a No, she continued. “This stage only showed up recently, a little while before you guys first entered the Sekai. Rin and I wanted to clean it up at first, but then we remembered that this Sekai reflects the state of the creators. If the already furnished, brightly shining stages are meant to represent you, Airi, and Shizuku, who already had practice being idols, then by process of elimination, this stage represents Minori.”
Upon realizing this, Haruka’s eyes widened as Miku continued. “Even if this stage isn’t as fancy as the other stages, it’s still a stage. And Haruka, I’m sure that as long as you’re beside Minori, this stage will flourish and become as grand as the others. Because,” Miku placed her hands on Haruka’s shoulder and looked directly at her, “I believe in you. And I know that with you by her side, Minori will become an idol who can deliver hope just as you have done to her. So don’t worry so much!”
Punctuating that last line with a smile, Miku turned and left, humming a tune to herself. Standing there, still a little surprised at that sudden piece of advice, Haruka sat and pondered. If this stage did really represent Minori, then at least Haruka could be assured that she was doing the right thing by checking in on the stage every so often and ensuring that its condition was improving. Mentally recording that place in her brain, Haruka exited the Sekai, feeling a bit more confident about her budding relationship with the new idol.
Exiting memory lane, Haruka was brought back to the present by an expectant Minori staring at her with those adorable, shining gray eyes. “Thank you, Minori. Really, I don’t think I would be where I am today without you, either.”
“Weh?” Minori suddenly looked surprised, before rapidly covering her ears. “Wait Haruka-chan don’t start getting emotional on me too or else I might start crying and then I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop-”
Haruka laughed softly, and even though Minori was shielding her ears, she could tell that she had heard it nonetheless. “Don’t worry Minori, I won’t get too emotional on you. But really, thank you. I’m glad that I was able to meet you too.” However, there was one last thing Haruka was wondering.
“Minori, what were you working on that one day when I found you on the rooftop? You seemed to be pretty insistent on hiding it from me.”
Hearing that, Minori’s face immediately turned red and she placed her head in her hands. “Um… promise you won’t laugh?” she asked, voice muffled by the obstacles she was hiding her face with. Haruka giggled at the sight.
“Of course not, Minori. I promise.”
“Well…” Minori sighed. “It was a script for what I said to you earlier. I kept revising it and practicing it over and over because I wanted to make it perfect, and I even asked Kohane and Shiho for help…” she trailed off, hiding her face in her hands again. Haruka laughed again, reaching out to gently move Minori’s hands away from her face.
“I’m glad that you worked that hard on it, Minori. Here, a gift from me.” She pressed a light kiss to the hand that she had moved away, causing Minori’s face to turn about ten shades redder. “Happy anniversary, Minori.”
As Minori stammered out a return “Happy anniversary”, Haruka couldn’t suppress a smile from spilling over her features, overwhelmed by the happiness that she had experienced that day. Sure, it was nothing grand, but if every day in the future could be spent with Minori, Haruka was sure that she would cherish each and every moment together.