Koharu Miura remembered this girl.
She was the young woman she had seen in the rest room before, holding a coffee and appearing slightly younger than the girl leading the group or the one who opened the door for her.
If she recalled correctly, her name was Yuu.
However, Koharu Miura could not think about anything beyond that right now.
A chill rising from the soles of her feet quickly eroded her entire body.
Today, she had mustered the courage to test the extent of the distortion in the system and whether it could be corrected using her hypothesis.
But if Arisa Kiyono, the core target, was not even here, could she still attempt to fix the distortion?
Would such an opportunity and space even exist?
“Huh? How could this be…”
As Koharu Miura pondered, Yui Hori’s voice of disappointment broke the awkward silence. “Is it really such bad luck?”
“Yui, don’t be like that, it’s probably troubling for them too.”
Mio Sato tugged on Yui’s sleeve, her eyes filled with a hint of apology as she looked at the young woman.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing really…”
Voices of her friends and the idol chatting filled her ears, but Koharu Miura’s brain did not process the information.
She stood in place, head bowed, her bangs hanging down to shadow her eyes, which glimmered with anxiety.
Calm down.
Even though Arisa Kiyono was not here, it did not mean there was nothing she could do.
Since her teammates were here, she would ask them—the companions Arisa Kiyono valued and spent her time with—about her whereabouts.
“Um… excuse me.”
When she heard this, Yuu turned to look at the shy girl she had met once before.
She had mentioned previously that she was a fan of sugar starlight.
“Is something wrong?”
When Koharu Miura looked up, she already had that weak, fragile smile back on her face.
She asked in a soft voice: “ALISA isn’t here today… is she busy with something?”
“Rehearsal… we were all quite looking forward to it.”
As Koharu Miura spoke, she calmly observed the expression on the other girl’s face.
“Hmm… she just told us she wasn’t feeling well—that’s not the first or second time, either.”
Yuu’s tone suddenly betrayed an unmistakable weariness. “I just wish she would come up with a more creative excuse.”
Koharu Miura felt a tighten in her chest for no reason.
But Yui Hori and the others, who did not know the inside story, immediately perked up upon hearing this attitude.
‘There is gossip here!’
Yui Hori quickly pressed, “What’s wrong? Is there someone who often doesn’t show up?”
“More than that, calling it ‘occasionally’ would be more accurate.”
Yuu smiled helplessly. “She used to at least take rehearsals seriously. Now, not only does she show up late and leave early for no reason, but she even skips out on major dress rehearsals where the whole group is needed.”
“Everyone has been doing their best to match her pace, but she doesn’t seem to appreciate it at all.”
Yuu leaned against the doorframe, a flash of powerlessness in her eyes. “Forget it, it’s all over the place outside anyway… they say she’s already found a new place to go. Once the anniversary performance ends and this group dissolves, she’s going solo to a bigger group. Since her heart isn’t here anymore, why bother with rehearsals?”
Listening to these words, Koharu Miura felt an inexplicable sense of irritation welling up from her chest.
She almost wanted to refute Yuu’s words.
But the words surging in her heart were things Koharu Miura could not speak a word of.
These were matters unrelated to these ordinary idol girls who lived in this world with their own consciousness and identities.
Furthermore, Koharu Miura understood—even from the exhausted faces of the members—that in their eyes, Arisa Kiyono’s behavior was incomprehensible.
They had no way to understand the deeper connections; they could only perceive that Arisa Kiyono was pushing them away, step by step.
The silence and compromise Arisa Kiyono made to protect this relationship had instead become the shovel that buried it.
Koharu Miura felt a profound sense of helplessness.
Just then, a voice she had heard once before came from behind her.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Yuu, just saying anything that comes to mind.”
Immediately following this, a group of girls in various styles of clothing approached from the corridor, causing a flurry of footsteps outside the rest room.
Her friends, who had been gathered at the door, were forced to move to both sides.
“What’s going on? Why are so many people gathered at the door?”
Koharu Miura turned her head and saw the other two girls she had seen in the rest room before.
They seemed to have just finished washing up, with water droplets still clinging to their hair.
Some had casual clothes draped over their arms and small bags in their hands, looking as if they were prepared to pack up and leave.
Koharu Miura squeezed her palms in frustration.
“Ah, it’s you—Miura-chan, if I remember correctly?”
Maki, who led the group that day, had not changed clothes and was still wearing the same hoodie. She paused for a moment, then showed a somewhat apologetic smile. “Are you here to look for ALISA? It’s a stroke of bad luck, she’s absent today.”
“Hello.”
Koharu Miura nodded obediently, then immediately thought that if the other girl was the leader, she might know Arisa Kiyono’s movements today. She quickly asked, “We wanted to see the rehearsal. Is ALISA really not here today? Will she not be coming?”
“Is she off doing something?”
“She isn’t here, she isn’t here. As for the reason, of course, we don’t know.”
A girl next to Maki, whom she hadn’t met before, sighed and handed a canned coffee to the members who were currently complaining. “It’s been like this since this morning, right? She’s becoming more and more self-indulgent. Though I can understand it—she’s planning to leave, right? With the members incomplete like this and ALISA missing, the rehearsal is meaningless—”
“Alright, stop saying that in front of a fan.”
Maki whispered a warning.
Koharu Miura gritted her teeth.
No, is this topic not leading anywhere?
If she couldn’t find a breakthrough today, she had to take this opportunity to guide the conversation to “yesterday.”
If Arisa Kiyono had encountered something yesterday, then asking about yesterday might…?
“I’m a little curious—when you were rehearsing here yesterday… did you encounter any strange people? Or, did ALISA show any unusual behavior?”
The girl who had just passed out the coffee stopped and turned to look at Koharu Miura. She took a sip of her coffee and frowned in thought.
“Yesterday…” She looked at her two other companions. “Do you remember? Yesterday afternoon.”
“If I had to say, after we came back from lunch yesterday, ALISA was a bit absent-minded.”
A girl with long hair who had been scrolling through her phone looked up, her tone as casual as if she were gossiping.
“Right, we had agreed to gather at one o’clock to go over the flow, and she was almost a few minutes late.”
Someone chimed in.
“Yeah, yeah, I remember that too.” Another girl added. “When she came back, her complexion didn’t look good. That absent-minded look was impossible to hide. When we asked her what happened, she only said she was walking too fast on the way and got a headache from the wind.”
She was almost late from the gathering time when she got back?
…Did she meet someone?
Where?
Lunch, coming back… outside? Sakuragicho?
Koharu Miura mentally organized everyone’s statements in a flash.