It is early in the morning. Mai gets ready to leave her silent and lonely house, tying her shoelaces while humming her favourite anime opening, arranging the sleeves of her clothes.

  Staring at the picture of her mom in her doorway, she lets out a soft reply: "I will get going, Mom!"

  She came springing to my door like a bunny, meeting her friend in Kaito's doorway.

  "Hey! Are you ready?"

  "Yes! I sure am." stated the mysterious character, turned back to Mai, holding on to a confident expression on her face.

  Without any further hesitation, Mai starts banging on my door while calling out my name.

  "Kaitooo! Open up!"

  (Kaito's POV):

  The door was being banged on heavily. I open it and see Mai.

  “Kaito! Emergency!” Her voice echoed through the hallway like a fire alarm. The kind that makes you question your life choices.

  I look at her slightly clueless, still half asleep. “Mai, it’s seven in the morning. What kind of emergency happens at seven?”

  She rushed past me the moment I unlocked the door, as if she owned the place. “A romantic emergency, obviously!”

  “…that’s not a real category.”

  “It is now.” she said, dropping herself on my couch. “Listen carefully. Today, you’re going on a date.”

  I blinked. Twice. Confused. “With who? Myself?”

  “No, with her.”

  “Huh?”

  She pointed toward the doorway.

  I was totally confused. I only saw Mai.

  But then it struck me.

  And that was when the girl stepped inside. Glossy purple hair, purple eyes, perfect posture, white teeth behind her pretty lips. I recognized her instantly.

  Because last year, she was on actual movie posters.

  She hesitated for a second, fixing her voice, a usual practice for her based on her career.

  “Um… good morning,” she said softly. “I’m Mizuki Shinobu. Please take care of me today.”

  A national-level idol was standing in my living room. Me, out of all the people in this world.

  Mizuki was a well-known person from the famous idol group "North Star". Due to her bright personality, charming appearance and her ability to steal the spotlight, she's widely considered as the group's center. She apparently knew Mai, my childhood friend, for some time now.

  And apparently, I was going on a date with her.

  So much for a quiet morning.

  I was completely fazed. The shock was as if truck-kun hit me at full speed. After a few seconds of silence, I let it out.

  “EEEHHHHHHH?!”

  Mizuki took a step back, frightened. Mai got upset with my reaction and started shaking me.

  “You fool! You are going to scare poor little Mizuki there! She mustered up the courage to ask you on a date, and you scream like a Samurai Warlord?!”

  “Of course! One of the prettiest girls in the country is standing in my living room! How could I not be shocked? Even more, she asked me out on a date, suddenly!”

  Mizuki looked at me and went red.

  “I am an…old friend of Mai. She said you’re one of the best guys she knows and that we’d be a perfect match. And I wanted to give it a shot.”

  This whole situation was beyond me.

  I started looking at Mai. She was smiling like an innocent child, saying “heeh, take that”.

  “Come on, drop the fuss and go dress up!”

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  I nodded, went up to my room to get dressed. "Okay..."

  Among the mess in my room, my mind found itself in the same state.

  “W-w-w-what?! This is reality, right?”

  I pinched myself and confirmed I was not sleeping.

  “Okay then, let’s do this. For some reason, an Idol wants to be together with me.”

  Straight to the bathroom. Went and washed my face, picked the nicest clothes I had, and with a bit of hesitation, I headed downstairs, where the girls were waiting for me.

  Mai looked at me teasingly, her eyes screaming, “Yeah, I got you this time, haha”.

  “W-well…let’s go on, Mizuki-chan.”

  “Yes, let’s go.” she said as she clung to my arm.

  I froze in place again, her face burning up with cheerfulness like a kid who goes to his favorite playground. I was embarrassed to the roof.

  I remember something just as we are about to leave, clinging on to it as a last resort.

  “W-wait, actually, don’t we have high school today?”

  Mai looks confused, and then her face starts shining with happiness.

  “Dummy, it’s a free day! We don’t have any classes.”

  I remembered it was some national day…but what could it have been? National Jam Day? Wasn’t that on the 20th of April…I give it up.

  Mizuki, pouting, looks at me a bit angry, revealing her true colors.

  “Come on, I want the two of us to have fun today... ”

  She grabs my hand and takes me on a walk.

  I reach out my hand to Mai. "Help..."

  She smiles at me and brushes me off. "I wonder what she wanted to talk about with him...because that's definetly not a date!"

  As we stagger down the street, she looks happy. Reminds me of Mai. On the other hand, I was still exhausted from yesterday. Dear gods, did I do something wrong?

  Mizuki notices I'm tired and starts reading me.

  "Hey, you look awful. Is something the matter? Or is it possible that you don't want to be here with me?"

  Her face saddened up a bit. Mizuki thought that she was being a pain for him.

  I don't give a response, just continue walking.

  "You've been cold! What is up?"

  I'm still zoned out. “Nothing…”

  "Kaito-san!" said Mizuki in an angry, but cute tone, fixing her voice again.

  “Y-yes?!”

  “Stop avoiding me! Do you know why I brought you out here today?”

  “For a...date?”

  “No! That was a pretext I set up with Mai-chan to get you out of the house. I heard your voice yesterday at the Karaoke Booth! Your voice was so angelic!”

  I stand there confused.

  “Ohh…that’s what it was.”

  I felt relieved for some reason.

  “Yes! And since you’re a match for my voice, I want the two of us to do some kind of project together. Mind rejoining the entertainment industry, possibly as a voice actor?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I quit it a long time ago.”

  “But why? You were one of the two stars of the Z-Generation! You even had a nickname: Kai-star!”

  My face turns gloomy.

  “Please don’t bring up my shameful past…wait, did you research on me?!”

  “Nevermind that, come on, join me! For some while it's been my dream to work alongside you!”

  Dream?! That's a bit of a stretch, I'm an average Joe...

  “But you’re an idol, we can’t work in the same industry.”

  “Indeed, there are no male-idol groups for teenagers. But you can act with me in an upcoming movie! Our idol group is taking a break for now. We’re on hiatus for a while. Meanwhile, I took up some voice acting jobs I received! I will return to being an idol, though.”

  “I will…think about it. Is that all you wanted to discuss?”

  "Part of it."

  I finally let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.

  We stop by a vending machine along our way, and I grab a drink.

  "Mizuki-chan, want anything?"

  "Drop the polite words. Call me Mizuki. And if you can, get me a raspberry tea, please."

  I pay and grab the drinks.

  "Thank you!"

  "No problem."

  I pop the can open and start drinking.

  "The other thing I wanted to talk with you...I want to live with you!"

  I freeze, and then spill all the juice I drank. "WHAT?!"

  "You heard me right!"

  I was in a state of total shock. Acting in a movie with me, sure, that's acceptable, but living together?! Isn't that a bit too sudden?!

  I was all red. Some could've said my face was an oversized tomato in that moment.

  "What's up with the reaction?"

  "Who wouldn't have such a reaction with this being the query?!"

  "I guess you're right...so?"

  "It's not happening."

  Her face saddened up.

  "Oh...I see. Mai told me this would've happened. She told me to tease you with this."

  Damn Mai...

  "But I'm going to live with Mai-chan! We're going to be neighbours."

  "Good for you, I guess..."

  We walk a little further, and I try to open up the conversation again.

  "Want to do something fun? Since we're on a so-called 'date'?"

  "Sure!"

  I can at least act like a man, since she took her time to ask me about rejoining the industry with her.

  I take her to the nearby arcade.

  She felt like a child.

  "Kaito, come here!"

  I saw a claw machine that had a plushie with a cute bunny, revealing Mizuki's childish side.

  "Can you get it for me? Please!"

  "Sure..."

  I put 1000 yen in there. Fail. Fail.

  I fail about 10 times. As I put in 500 more yen, it happens.

  It grabs the plushie easily...and I got it!

  "Yaaay! Thank you! You're the best."

  The expression on her face was worth it.

  She hugged me. I was flustered, heavily. "What are you doing...Mizuki?"

  Mizuki realised what she was doing and pulled back.

  "S-s-sorry, I just got caught in the moment..."

  "No...problem."

  My heart denied my statement.

  "Let's call it a day since we talked about what I planned to."

  "Okay, let's go home."

  We walked back, and Mizuki was happily springing from one foot to the other, holding her plushie.

  "Thank you for today, Kaito. Let's be good friends from now on!"

  I let out a slight smile.

  "Sure, Mizuki."

  She let out a wide smile, looking very happy at me.

  She was not a bad girl. After all the effort, I can at least be her friend, since we're neighbors now. And what hurt could there be since I already have 3 other girls as my best friends? The more, the merrier...I guess.

  We get home, just after noon. Mizuki actually started to live with Mai, whose reaction was priceless. “Yeees, I waited for this day for sooo looong, my dear old friend!”

  I’m back in my room. I lay on my bed like a tired soldier and put my hands over my eyes.

  I spent the rest of the day contemplating what happened earlier. The thought of me going back to the voice acting industry didn’t sound so bad, but with Mizuki-chan? Act in the same movie? Progress into a steamy rom-com scene afterwards and end up together with her?

  Oh, wait…I had these illusions before. It was actually the reason why…I quit voice acting. It was related to that incident, what happened to Marise-chan….I kept blaming myself and got out of the industry on a short notice.

  The surroundings turn all black.