Interlude Chapter

“Tch… Ow!” It turns out that even though Nezu didn’t really get that injured by the stun bullet, she broke a few ribs in that fight and dislocated her shoulder. That must hurt a lot. Adding to her pain, she hates hospitals. The only good thing is, she changed her hairstyle to only one ponytail, though only she actually cares.

“You want a piece of apple?” I ask her as I eat a piece of the apple that I had peeled and cut.

“…Seriously… Mayu… Why are you eating it if you ask me if I want it?”

“Hey, I’m a bit hungry.” Bluntly putting it, I’m hungry.

“…” She’s silent.

Knock, knock, I hear someone knocking on the door. I’m just guessing, but it’s probably one of the members of AKB. Maeda-san has been helping a lot though Nezu insists on doing everything herself. Even if she’s all cool and mature, she’s not an adult yet. Of course, Yukirin is really nice and let me stay at her place until later.

I open the door. As expected I see a member of AKB, it’s Maeda-san. Yukirin, Takamina, Yuko-san, and Haruna-san are here as well. Maeda-san shows me a sheepish smile and Nezu gives an exasperated look to her. Yuko-san, she has a squirrely mixture of a smile and a serious look all over her face, it looks like she got slapped though.

“Yukirin~” I hug my Yukirin and she hugs me back. Of course Nezu looks away from the scene as acting so close to people is quite new to us.

“So, yeah… what?”

“Well, even though I was just joking…” Maeda-san sheepishly laughs, trying to get what she’s trying to say through as casually as possible. Even after things are finished, it looks like Nezu will have a bit of trouble because of what she negotiated to help me.

“……”

Yuko-san snickers for a moment, but as Nezu sends a piercing glare her way, she pretends that she didn’t do anything. Haruna-san hits the back of Yuko-san’s head for messing around though. Takamina smiles in a friendly manner towards me, even though I refused her invitations before.

“…Sorry, Mayu-chan… Yeah, join AKB…”

“……”

“……”

“......”

“Yeah, that’s how it is.”

“I don’t really have a choice do I?” Nezu nods to my question.

“Sorry, I forgot about that part of the deal because she was jokingly saying it. You don’t think I could get a yakuza to help me without a few things in exchange do you?” She pouts.

Joining AKB seems like something I wouldn’t want to do. Just because I can get along with a few members doesn’t mean I can get along with all of them. It seems uncomfortable being around people all the time. Somehow, it’s kind of how I am, so I can’t get over that part so easily.

“…Anything else?”

Nezu looks away. There is definitely something else. Let’s just hope it isn’t something involving even more people. My personality does not allow such things.

“…Well... If you manage to get into AKB, for school, Akimoto-san said that we could arrange something…”

It turns out that I have to go through the audition. Somehow, failing would seem lame. Sadly, passing would mean I’m surrounded by people. The good thing is, I get more time with my Yukirin, but Yukirin is popular.

“Oh, you mean that A48 Elevator School that was made some time ago, so that the members who are busy or have trouble some schedules can complete their education correctly?” Yuko-san randomly comments like one of those weird NPC characters in RPG games that informs you about the most random of details.

“You sound stupid.” Nezu bluntly points that out. It seems like there’s some kind of antagonism between those two.

“…Do I have to?”

“School is mandatory kiddo. I’m being forced into this too.”

I seriously do not want to go to school. Nezu plus idols would equal a mess, but sadly, thinking about people like Yuko-san, Fresh Lemon, Miyazaki who along with others made me fall into a pool, and other people, this will be horrible.

“Mayuyu~ But then I’ll be able to see you basically everyday~”

“I’ll do my best then.” I smile as I see Yukirin’s smile. Nezu has a ‘what the heck is wrong with you’ look on her face.

Still, I don’t want to do the auditions and stuff. As if reading my mind, Nezu tells me. “Oh, by the way, I somehow managed to get footage of your singing and dancing and because Akimoto-san had requested it, I sent it to her. Not my fault, I didn’t know that they actually took the join AKB thing seriously.”

Yuko and Maeda-san snicker. Takamina tries to avert my attention to someplace else. Yukirin doesn’t really get it and Haruna-san sighs at how childish the two most popular members are.

“Is that all?” They nod.

“Great.” I eat another piece of apple.

“…Hrm… say ‘Ah~’” And feed a piece to Yukirin.

Somehow, Nezu didn’t get any of the apple since Yuko-san and Maeda-san took a piece each. She looks kind of mad. Actually she looks quite irritated. Knowing how getting caught up in her temper is, I take Yukirin’s hand and walk out of the room.

“GET OUT YOU IDIOTS!! And, sorry, Kojima, but you’re definitely an idiot.” The rest of the group got chased out and Haruna-san got called an idiot as an extra.

“Ne~ Yukirin, let’s go somewhere later~” I flash a smile her way.

“Un, where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere is fine, as long as it’s with you~” I guess this is a date? Maybe, or maybe not, only time will tell how our relationship is supposed to be.

A/N :This is somewhat important to the main story, but it's pretty short and simplistic