“Actually, the rumors about her leaving didn’t start with us.”
Koharu Miura held her breath and pricked up her ears.
“It was a while back,” Maki continued.
“An anonymous post appeared on the Starry Sound Board, an unofficial forum dedicated to discussing underground idols.”
“A post?”
“Yeah. The title was a real eye-catcher. It was something like, ‘Stop waiting, the Center is already planning to leave; she’ll graduate right after the final performance’.”
As Maki spoke, a bitter smile touched the corners of her mouth.
“The poster claimed to be an insider and even listed several of our internal rehearsal schedules. They said ALISA had been frequently missing rehearsals and was out of sync with our formations lately. They claimed it wasn’t because she was in trouble, but because she had already privately signed a contract with a certain talent agency.”
Koharu Miura’s heart gave a sudden leap.
This was indeed a high match for the gossip she had heard on the street earlier.
‘So, these two must share the same source?’
But then something wasn’t right.
‘Leaking news of a graduation could be seen as hype. But the internal training schedule for sugar starlight? If that was true, then the source… could it be?’
“The anonymous user also said…”
Yuu, standing to the side, couldn’t help but chime in.
She looked quite unhappy — so much so that she had completely abandoned her previous idea of “not talking too much.”
“They said the only reason ALISA is still in the group is to use the hype from this anniversary to build momentum for her final solo debut. The poster claimed everyone knows that in ALISA’s eyes, her current teammates are nothing but stumbling blocks dragging her down — trash that can be discarded at any moment.”
“How could that be…” Koharu murmured. ” — She isn’t that kind of person.”
Koharu’s evaluation was based on her impression of Arisa Kiyono from the game.
‘How could that girl, who was like a little sun, say such things to the teammates she valued most behind their backs?’
“We didn’t believe it at first!”
The twin-tailed girl who had been standing at the door and had initially let Koharu in suddenly raised her voice, her tone filled with undeniable resentment.
“But do you know what hurt us the most?”
“When we took that post to her and asked her to deny it personally, she just sat there in a daze.”
“She didn’t explain, she didn’t argue, she didn’t even look at us.”
“She just faced us with that… that cold look, as if she were looking at strangers, and then said ‘Think whatever you want’.”
“We’re teammates!”
“Alright… Mayumi, there’s really no need to tell Koharu all this,” Maki sighed, her eyes clouding with complex emotions.
“I’m not sure if you saw it before, but there were hundreds of replies under that forum post.”
“In the end, we were only alerted by a kind fan and quickly contacted the moderator to delete the thread.”
Even so, the news had already spread.
Maki said, “While it hasn’t reached the point where everyone knows, many people have indeed heard the contents of that post.”
“Our activities have been affected quite a bit as well. Many people come and ask us about what’s going on between ALISA and us,” Yuu added.
“…”
After hearing this, Koharu’s fingers trembled slightly.
‘I see.’
‘All the malice Arisa Kiyono encountered, all the misunderstandings she suffered, and all the fear she showed — while the full reasons couldn’t be clarified yet, it was at least certain that a portion of it originated from that inflammatory forum post.’
‘A rumor that was almost impossible to clear up; it could only be proven true when Arisa Kiyono actually left, but it couldn’t be proven false at any other time.’
‘Of course, this is all assuming that Arisa Kiyono herself truly had no intention of leaving the group.’
“So, do you all think ALISA is really going to leave now?” Following her train of thought, Koharu asked softly.
“…”
Maki didn’t answer immediately. She turned around and looked at the slightly yellowed poster on the wall. In the poster, more than ten girls stood side by side. Though they looked naive, their eyes were bright and clear.
” — We don’t want to believe it,” Maki’s voice was very soft. “But Arisa’s behavior… it truly leaves us uneasy. Trust is something that is gradually consumed in daily life and then snaps completely at a critical moment.”
“When trust is worn down to the point of breaking, even the slightest disturbance can utterly destroy the connection between us.”
“The anniversary is only three weeks away. If she maintains this state, or if she truly announces her graduation in three weeks, then the rest of us will have nothing more to say.”
“The only difference is whether she will give sugar starlight a proper final performance.”
“So, the one my friends and I ran into yesterday was…?”
Hearing Koharu ask this, Maki paused, her tone becoming stiff once again.
“We had a fight with her. We told her that if her heart isn’t here, there’s no need to waste our other friends’ time — don’t drag everyone’s future down on stage.”
The backstage fell into a dead silence once again. Only the faint, rhythmic sound of instruments being tuned drifted in from the distance, sounding like a funeral bell for this crumbling group.
Koharu kept her head down, but in her mind, she was already tracing a clear map of clues.
‘The anonymous user is likely someone very close to sugar starlight.’
‘They possessed internal information and chose to strike right before the most sensitive time — the anniversary. Their goal was likely to use the fans’ frenzy and the members’ anxiety to create a delusion, guiding Arisa Kiyono toward considering retirement.’
‘And Arisa? For some unknown reason, Arisa Kiyono refused to talk about switching agencies or the rumors.’
‘That was also very strange. If it really had nothing to do with her and was entirely made up, why does she refuse to argue back?’
‘Since it has nothing to do with her, she should have just made it clear to her teammates — ‘
It was no wonder that in the eyes of Maki and the others, Arisa’s silence was seen as an admission, while in the eyes of the fans, it was seen as arrogance.
Koharu let out a soft sigh in her heart.
“Alright, you’ve heard the truth,” Yuu said, waving her hand as if trying to chase away the heavy topic. “Go do what you need to do. Remember the oath you took and keep your promise to the Captain.”
Koharu looked up and bowed deeply to them once more.
“Thank you. I’ll remember.”
The members of sugar starlight didn’t come to see her out. Koharu could hear the sound of the door closing and the muffled voices behind it.
She turned and walked toward the narrow exit passage. With every step, she felt the weight on her shoulders increasing. It was no longer just the pressure of survival.
An emotion called anger was quietly taking root in her chest.
‘Even though I consider myself a selfish supporting character who just wants to stay alive, and even though Arisa’s current personality isn’t exactly straightforward… witnessing a girl with such a beautiful voice being dragged into the abyss by such despicable, underhanded methods is simply intolerable.’
“An anonymous user, huh…”
Koharu stepped out of the back door and stood once again on the streets of Sakuragicho.
She pulled out her mobile phone, her slender fingers scrolling incessantly across the screen.