Chapter Text
Minori was a pretty unlucky person.
For all of her life, she was cursed with insanely bad luck. She always lost at rock-paper-scissors, her shoes would get soaked by a car passing through a puddle, her new hat that she saved up for would fly off her head in an instant. So it was kind of a no-brainer that Minori would get rejected again. I mean, she'd been through 50 auditions now. Minori's bad luck never seemed to leave her alone.
She sighed at the rejection email she'd received. Again and again, no matter how hard she tried, she never got anywhere closer to her dream of becoming an idol. So long ago, Kiritani Haruka, an idol who she admired, had told her (well not directly, she's an idol!) that tomorrow would always be a better day as long as you keep trying, but after years of failing miserably, Minori was almost ready to give up entirely.
But not yet. Minori knows that she still wants to keep trying, so just one more. Just one more audition. Minori would try to get past the first stage of the next audition she tried. And if she didn't... she'd take a break from auditioning until the next semester. Minori kind of needed the time to study, if she was being honest with herself. Despite this being her last try, Minori felt a grin growing on her face. Because she knew that she was going to give it her absolute all. And if she did fail, well more time to study and to hang out with friends. Either way, Minori wouldn't be too sad.
"Minori!" The brunette jumped a few feet in the air, startled by her mother calling her name from outside her room.
"I'm leaving for work. Make sure to lock up behind yourself," her mom finished, the door clicking shut. Minori paused, glancing at her clock. "..."
"IT'S ALREADY 8:30?!"
Minori practically leapt off the ground, changing into her uniform hurriedly. "Geez, what happened to my alarm?" she groaned, tugging her socks on before exiting her room. Minori rushed by Samo's bowl, making sure there was food for him, before rushing back into the entryway, slipping her shoes on and bolting out the door.
Minori was half-way to Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy and she was making great time. "Huff, It's only 8:39?" Minori sighed in relief as she glanced down at her watch. She was never this early! Maybe she should run to school more often. But just as Minori was half a mile away from Miya Girls, She felt something wet land on her nose.
Oh no.
Minori forgot to check the weather this morning.
And just as she remembered what she had forgotten to do, the light droplet that she had felt had quickly turned into a full on rain. Minori rushed to the nearest building, resting under the overhang as she collected her thoughts. The rain wasn't super heavy, but it didn't look like it was going to let up soon. She could either run the rest of the way to school and try not to get too wet or-
"Omg, I love your Haruka pin!" a warm voice interrupted Minori's thoughts. The voice belonged to a cute person, dressed in almost all pink minus their blue skirt, that looked to be about Minori's age. And they liked Haruka too...
"Oh! Thank you!" Minori responded, a bit intimidated by the taller person, despite the difference in their height being only 6 centimeters. Minori had a nervous smile plastered on her face as she looked the person up and down again. Wait, were they holding an umbrella? The cutely dressed person giggled as they noticed Minori staring at their frilly pink umbrella. They held it out to Minori, their features softening as they smiled. "Here, do you need an umbrella?"
Minori gasped, shaking her head. "Oh, that's... no, I'm sure you need it more than me, sorry!" Mizuki just laughed again.
"No, it's fine, really. I live near here, so I can just go back home."
"What about school? Won't you be late?"
"I'll just skip, it's fine, uhh..."
Minori paused, remembering that normal people usually introduce themselves first instead of arguing with a stranger for like 3 minutes. "Oh, right! My name's Hanasato Minori! And I really don't want to cause an inconvenience for you! Besides, where would I return the umbrella?!" Minori half-panicked, about to fully crash out before the taller person waved their hand dismissively. "I'm Akiyama Mizuki, and we can meet up again, Minori-chan! It's all fine with me as long as you're chill too!"
Minori's face flushed slightly. She was surprised at how informal Mizuki was being, but it made her excited that someone really felt this close to her already.
"Y-Yeah, thanks Mizuki-san." Minori replied, grasping onto the umbrella's handle as Mizuki held it out to her. Before Minori left, Mizuki handed her a note that was folded up into a heart. How was everything about this person so cute?
"Take my number too so we can discuss where to meet up so you can give me my umbrella back! We should also totally hang out, since we both like ASRUN~" Mizuki clapped their hands, their eyes practically sparkling. Minori nodded, smiling as she thanked the taller person once more before opening the umbrella and running towards school.
It was only 8:43, Minori still had time before the first bell at 9:00. She ran through the city, all the way to Miya Girls, staying pretty dry, thanks to her new friend's umbrella. She managed to dodge most of the puddles on the sidewalks, but accidentally splashed some water on her socks when she reached the campus. "Aw, beans." Minori muttered, putting Mizuki's umbrella into one of the buckets before walking to her shoe closet and changing her shoes.
She took her socks off as well, switching them out for the extra dry pair that Minori kept with her shoes just in case. As she went towards her classroom she noticed a crowd outside of Class 1-C. The girls were all whispering to themselves and their friends. As Minori pushed through the ocean of people, she tripped over someone's shoe. Minori rubbed her head as she slowly stood back up, now having an unblocked view of the classroom's window. And through it she saw...
KIRITANI HARUKA?!