“Pardon my intrusion,” Reina said as she opened the door to the teachers’ lounge. “Excuse me, Mister Sakamoto.”

The mid-30’s science instructor was currently sitting next to a mountain of homework that he was in the middle of grading. A half-empty mug of coffee was dangerously close to his writing hand. “One moment, Fukuyama-san.”

“I’m going to be missing school on Thursday and Friday, so I’d like to request my homework in advance.”

Mister Sakamoto looked away from his work, turning to greet Reina with a confused expression. His sleeves were hastily rolled up, which essentially ruined the effort he put in to iron the light-blue dress shirt.  “What day of the week is it?”

“Monday, why?”

Her teacher gave a sigh of relief. “I thought I lost track of the day of the week.”

Reina wanted to question his current mental state, but it would’ve taken her too much time to do so. She was just here to get her homework. “Isn’t it preferable to ask for alternative work well over a day in advance?” she asked instead.

“It is, but some people don’t think that courteously,” Mister Sakamoto sifted through his stack of papers to take out over a dozen sheets. “Like your friend Ryoma. He really thought he wouldn’t get a grade reduction if he handed in this many papers over a week late! And then he asked me earlier today to give him tomorrow’s homework. I don’t even know what tomorrow’s homework is.”

“He’s not my friend,” Reina tried to correct him quickly. ”I actually wouldn’t even consider him to have been my coworker.”

“Either way, it’s hard enough to come up with alternate schedules for people like the two of you,” her teacher rubbed the back of his head. “The odds I’d have one person who would almost always be out of class, let alone three or how many of you go to this school, I still can’t believe it.”

“So, may I receive my homework?” Reina asked him again.

“Er, right. I’ll get it to you tomorrow,” Sakamoto said. He had one more thing to say before she left. “I was working on your test earlier today, by the way. So far, you’ve got perfect marks.”

“Thank you for teaching me so well,” Reina said to him, bowing.

She briskly walked out of the teachers’ lounge and towards her school's entrance as her teacher went back to the pile of papers on his desk. 

With how much time she spent practicing at the office, she had to spend even less time at her school after classes ended. As usual, she had finished her cleaning duties rapidly, and surprisingly without getting her school uniform dirty. Since it was the middle of summer, none of her classmates had to wear their usual cream blazers. Her white shirt stayed untouched while her tie and charcoal-colored skirt remained perfectly unwrinkled. 

She quickly replaced her school shoes with a pair of black flats in her locker and walked from the school’s doors to its main gate. Usually, she would have immediately been found by Chiyoko and would have been on her way to the office, but today it seemed like her housemaid was running a little late.

That left Reina standing outside in the summer heat while her classmates and other people in her school passed her and went along with their lives. Checking her phone, she didn’t have any new messages that she usually would have received when the housemaid was still running errands or was stuck in traffic. 

While she was still using it, Reina figured she could pass the time by informing Hana about how she wouldn’t be early to practice today.

Surprisingly, she found a new notification telling her about someone wanting to connect with her. She hadn’t checked her notifications until now, but she saw that this was dated from yesterday evening.

Watanabe Akari would like to follow you.

Reina hesitated in accepting the request. She still didn’t like the red-haired girl’s work ethic, and the two of them frequently clashed during and outside of practices. They may have been the same age, but their level of experience was different. Even then, Akari never listened to the advice that Reina gave her about how to be a better idol. 

The golden-haired idol guessed that it was simply because Akari didn’t know failure like Hana did. Despite her rough start, her bubblegum-haired unit member readily accepted her suggestions. She had a far way to go, but she at least was steadily improving.

“What’s this, the ice princess is waiting for her car ride?” an incredibly-cocky voice said from behind her. 

Reina didn’t even have to turn around to recognize who was talking to her, something she wished she wasn’t able to do. “What do you want this time, Ryoma?”

“I’m just here to have a quick talk while I’m waiting for someone,” the 18-year old band leader responded. He moved in front of her to obstruct her view of the street, his tall frame even blocking out the sun in front of them. “You could at least face me, y’know.”

Reina looked away without making eye contact with him. Instead, she stared at the road to the side, her eyes trying to follow the cars passing by. “I thought you graduated by now. Did I forget about you getting held back?”

“You know that I’m only a year above you,” Ryoma responded. 

“My apologies. It’s hard to tell when you act like you’re at least a year below.”

“You’re always so mean,” the dirty blonde said to her. “We used to be great friends at SuperSound.”

“I seem to remember our time there quite differently,” Reina responded quickly. She had known him from his first day in the company to the formation of his boy band, and hardly enjoyed any of that time working with him. “Either way. I’d rather not entertain you while you wait for… Aoi, I’m assuming?”

“Sakura, actually. I stopped seeing Aoi last month.”

“Is she popular, or something?” 

“She’s co-captain of the cheerleading team,” the bandleader responded. “Always laughs at my jokes, easy on the eyes.” 

The idol failed to see what made countless other teen girls constantly fawn over Ryoma. The ring hanging from his left ear was tacky, while the way his tie was hanging haphazardly out of his pocket made him look careless. Even the way that he carelessly held his school bag over his shoulder irked her. 

“How nice for you two. Unfortunately, I’ve never met her.” 

“She’s in your class, ReiRei.”

“Never call me that again.” The mention of that old nickname disgusted her. “Secondly, I don’t really care to learn about everyone else in my class.” 

“Why are you still in school then?” Ryoma asked her. “Just be a full-time idol like you want to be in the long run if you don’t enjoy this.”

“My mother wants me to finish school. It’s the least that I can do for her.”

“You’re missing out on enjoying your youth and popularity. You need to relax more.”

That wasn’t the first time someone had told Reina something similar to this, but she took the statement less seriously when it was coming from Ryoma. People like him couldn’t understand why she was an idol, or why she was always working as hard as she did. 

“You wouldn’t get it,“ she said to him. “Some of us aren’t satisfied with being mediocre, just taking advantage of their fame and stardom so they can attract the attention of-“

“There you are!” A new, energetic voice entered their conversation, belonging to a pretty girl with orange hair pinned in the back by a big bow. She was much shorter than both of them, the top of her head only coming up to Ryoma’s chest. She had on the same uniform as Reina, but with white knee socks and a black sweater tied at her waist despite the hot day. 

She came up to Ryoma, pinching the back of his arm. “You’re not trying to cheat on me again, are you?” she pouted. 

“Of course not, babe,” Ryoma responded, wincing while she pinched him. “You know that you’re the only girl for me.” 

“Good!” she responded happily. She turned to Reina, her face in deep thought as she tried to think of what to say. “I know you! You’re who’s always absent. Fukuyama Reina… right?”

“Nice to meet you,” Reina responded. “Did you know we’re in the same class?”

“I saw you on TV with Ryoma-kun!” her cheerfulness was slightly nauseating. “Reina-san, have you known him before?”

Reina looked at her phone. There was still no message from Chiyoko telling her where she was, so she would be stuck in this conversation for the time being. “We used to work together,” she said. 

“Did you two ever date?”

“What?” Reina asked. She finally looked up to see Ryoma’s expression, who looked back at her with a stupid grin. 

“You two seem awfully familiar with each other. Since you’re both in the industry and go to the same school, it sounds like it’d be a really juicy celebrity relationship to follow.” 

“I think I’d rather die first.”

“Harsh,” Ryoma said to her. 

“Besides,” Reina said. “I think he prefers his girls a little more vapid than myself.”

“Huh?” the cheerleader asked. “Vapid?”

“Someone like you,” Reina explained. “I mean to say that I think you’re his type.” 

“Me too!” Sakura responded. “That’s too bad, though. You missed out on a really nice guy.” 

A car honked, interrupting their conversation. Turning around, Reina found a familiar black sports car stopped right in front of her. Chiyoko had finally arrived at the scene. 

“It’s so shiny,” Sakura said.

“I’ll be going now,” Reina responded, opening the car door. She gave one last look at the rockstar and his latest girlfriend. “Try not to get your hopes up with him. I switch companies less than he switches attention on someone.” 

She closed the door before letting anyone respond. Chiyoko took a second to make sure Reina had her seatbelt on before driving off.

“You usually tell me when you aren’t coming here on time,” Reina said to her housemaid. “Are you okay?”

“My apologies,” her housemaid responded, keeping her eyes on the road. As usual, her brown hair was tired in a low ponytail hanging over her shoulder, while she wore modest, slightly unappealing clothing. “There was some business with your father that I had to attend to before this.”

“I’m assuming it must have been important then, to not even be told you’d be coming late,” Reina said. After a few seconds, she added another comment. “I was worried something might have happened to you.”

A slight smile appeared on Chiyoko’s face. “There’s nothing to worry about, you should just focus on your idol career.”

“Do you think we can still make it to the office on time?”

“Maybe not per your definition, but we should be there before your practice starts,” the housemaid responded. She looked over to Reina for a quick second. “Would you like me to speed so we might arrive there sooner?”

Reina couldn’t help but shudder when she thought of the last time she asked someone to do so. Even though she trusted Chiyoko, she would still rather not feel like she could die at any moment. “No need,” she said. “We don’t have to make it there early this time.”

“Understood.”

Since she’d be arriving later than usual, Reina took out her phone to send a message informing Hana about it. 

I’ll be arriving at the office later than usual, my apologies, the message read. There wasn’t a need to say anything extra about the situation. 

“I saw you speaking with Kageyama-kun,” Chiyoko said to her about Ryoma. “I didn’t know you were on speaking terms again.”

“We’re not,” Reina responded. “He’s just been approaching me lately for conversation. First the live show, and now he’s been trying to find me at school.” 

“Any other times?”

“I wouldn’t know, I blocked him online.”

“I see…” her housemaid responded. “Maybe he’s just interested in how you’re doing, now that you’re with a new company?”

“Hardly,” Reina scoffed. “I have a feeling he’s just trying to measure his successes against mine, or showing off his latest girlfriend.” 

“He could just be trying to be friends again, since you used to work together and now you both go to the same school.”

“Unfortunately, I doubt it.”

Reina’s phone buzzed with a new notification. 

“Work?” Chiyoko asked her.

Checking her messages, she had just received a response from Hana. “It’s from one of my coworkers,” Reina said. She opened up her messenger to see what the pink-haired girl had to say. 

That’s fine! I’m actually going to be a little late myself… ε=┏( >_<)┛ the text read. 

A few seconds later, Reina also received a picture of a bush filled with purple, bulb-like flowers, along with a new question. 

How lovely, she responded. 

“Those are pretty,” her housemaid said to her. “Are those hyacinths?”

Reina turned her phone away so only she could see the screen. “Please pay attention to the road.” 

“It was just a quick look,” Chiyoko laughed. “They look lovely, though.”

“One of my coworkers sent this to me,” Reina said. She looked down when her phone buzzed again. 

I saw these passing by a flower shop. Hana wrote to her. It’s out of season, but these ones are still blooming!

“Although, I might be having a few choice words with them…”

You better not be late because you were looking at flowers. Reina texted back.

Hana only responded with another emoticon. ε=┏( >_<)┛ 

Reina sighed. She would have typed something about time management to the other girl if she hadn’t been running late herself. 

“Have you been making any friends at 765?” Chiyoko asked.

You know I’m not here to make friends.”

“I do, but I think you wouldn’t be losing anything in doing so. Besides, I think that having friends might even help you in the long run.”

“They’re all rivals in the end. Not making friendships will hurt them less in the long run, once I pass them up.” 

“If you say so.”

Chiyoko had nothing else to say for the rest of the car ride, which only lasted a few more minutes. Once they made it to the office building, Reina exited the car and gave her housemaid a quick bow. “Thank you for the car ride.”

She ran inside to make a quick turn into the first floor’s changing room as she changed out of her school uniform and into her practice clothing. The outfit consisted of a black pair of athletic pants and a white shirt, both labeled with 765 Productions and featuring the blue Moon symbol that a third of the NeoStar girls were categorized into. 

Reina made her way to her unit’s usual room. She could already hear music playing as she opened the door. “I’m here now, this won’t happen again.”

Looking up, she made eye contact with a red-haired girl, although one that wasn’t in her unit. Her hair was a brighter red than Akari’s, being closer to a bright cherry color. She was taller than both Reina and Akari, and filled out her training outfit more than either of them, too. Her outfit was nearly the same as Reina’s, but had pink accents instead to indicate that she was in Supernova’s Star group. 

“I think you’re in the wrong room,” Reina said to her. The door closed behind them.

“Reina-san, I’m sorry!” the girl responded, bowing in apology. “There wasn’t anyone on the schedule for this room today, and I just wanted a place to practice.” 

Playing on the room’s speaker was an instrumental that Reina quickly recognized as one of the group songs that was sung at the mini-live two months ago. Despite that, she didn’t recognize this girl from either of the performing groups. From the looks of it, shel had been practicing for at least half an hour now. Some of her hair was matted to her forehead from sweat, and her breathing was a little heavy when she wasn’t speaking. 

“You haven’t had your debut yet, have you?” Reina asked her.

The other girl shook her head, her yellow eyes looking away from the girl in front of her.

“And you’re not in any of the units set to debut soon, correct?” Reina followed up with another question. “Shouldn’t you be at a training lesson, then?” 

“The Producer said that I still need to get better before I can be on stage,” the new girl responded. “Remedial lessons start late today, so I wanted to find somewhere else to practice before then.” 

“What’s your name?”

“Nakasawa Mae,” the redhead said quietly.

The door opened behind Reina. “There you are,” Akari said to her. She was already dressed in her training attire. Unlike the other two girls in the room, hers had yellow accents with a stylized Sun symbol.

“Where were you?” Reina responded.

“We’re in practice room E today, remember?”

“I don’t actually.”

“That’s weird, I told Hana-chan to text you about it.”

“She never did,” Reina responded. Their third unit member must have been too busy taking pictures of those flowers to remember the more important things to say.  

“That’s fine, at least you’re here,” Akari shrugged. She opened the door to the room for Reina. “Come on, let’s go to practice.”

Reina grabbed the door as Akari walked away. She wanted to say one last thing before she left. “Nakasawa-san.”

The redhead had already started going back to practicing, but she turned to look back at her. “Yes?”

“Keep practicing, your efforts will pay off eventually.” 

“Okay!” 

With nothing left to say, Reina left the idol to continue her solo practice. She caught up to Akari waiting for her at the end of the hall. “Do you know her?”

“Not at all. This was the first time we’ve spoken.”

“You’re here awfully late, by the way,” her unit member said to her.

“Practice doesn’t start for another few minutes,” Reina responded.

“Yeah, that’s late for you. Did something happen? You’re never late. Your definition of late, I mean.”

“I’m fine,” Reina responded. “My ride was just late to get me today.” 

“You couldn’t have taken the subway?”

“They were on the way, so finding an alternative route would have been a waste of fuel. Also, I didn’t think of that at the time.”

Akari smirked. “Is it because you’ve never taken the train before?” 

Reina opened the door to the Training Room E. “Nonsense. I just never need to take it when I already have a chauffeur to drive me.” 

This was the largest training room in the office, one of two rooms able to fit an entire company’s worth of girls in it. Although, the fact that there were only five people in the room at the time made the area look even bigger. As usual, the walls were lined with mirrors and had a springy wooden floor like the other rooms, along with a TV monitor, sound system, and soundproofing. 

All three members of Reina’s unit were present and dressed for today’s lesson while her Producer waited in the middle of the room. The final guest for today was the 765 Productions All Star that was a guest host for the live show two weeks ago, Amami Haruka.

“What’s the occasion for this practice room?” Reina asked her Producer. “We haven’t been here since the mini-live.” 

“Wasn’t Kanagawa-san supposed to tell you?” the Producer responded. Currently, the older woman looked out of place. She was the only one not wearing any practice clothes, instead wearing her usual business clothes. 

“Sorry!” Hana said. “I was trying to make it here on time that I forgot to mention it.” 

“Surprisingly, you made it here before Fukuyama-san.” 

“It won’t happen again,” Reina said quickly.

“Don’t worry about it,” their Producer responded. “With your next mini-live happening in three weeks, you’re going to start having half of your practice with your unit in this room.”

“What about the second half?” Reina asked.

“Since the two of you will be performing together, Triple Point will start practicing their group songs with Almandite.” 

“Of course. That makes sense.” Reina looked over at the All-Star in the room. “What about Amami-san?”

“I’m still on break from my tour before we start moving around Japan,” the 17-year-old explained. “It’s nice to see you three again! Let’s have a good time today.”

Reina started stretching her arms as she waited for the music to start. She was going to give this practice her all, just like any other practice.