Note: Obon is an annual Buddhist event in Japan that traditionally takes place in mid-August in Japan (though it's mid-July for select parts of Japan and internationally.) It's not required to take a holiday for Obon, though it's usually customary to do so.

Chapter 1: After the End

The Phone Call

Friday afternoon, June the 14th, 2024.

In the mild, cloudless Sapporo heat of June, a middle-aged woman with a blonde ponytail and a rolled-up blue flannel shirt stood in her garden watering a bed of purple lilies, humming an undefined tune to herself. Without a break, she continued improvising her hummed tune as she finished watering the lilies to move to the next bed of flowers - a row of blue hydrangeas. With perfect form, she moved delicately yet precisely between flowers and rows, a series of motions she had clearly mastered; she had the motion and grace of a dancer and the precision of an expert gardener, though for a florist, it was expected. It was her passion - her speciality lied in her ability to cultivate a garden full of flowers both domestic and exotic, using natural means to grow them in specific colours and even dabbling in crossbreeding. It was an elegant garden: tiers of flowers placed on a rock outline around the edges of the garden at the fences, a stone path leading through grass patches enclosing shingle patches enclosing bonsai trees, and a stone basin collecting the water from a bamboo fountain in the corner. This was her world; Eli Ayase's passion lied in horticulture and floristry.

Eli had just gotten to the hard work of carefully pruning the bonsai in the middle of the garden when she heard the phone ringing on the opposite end of the two-storey house through the crack in the ever so slightly open sliding doors.

"Nozomi, could you answer that? I've got my gardening gloves on." She shouted upwards to the open bedroom window on the top floor.

"Can't answer right now, honey", Nozomi replied from her room out the window, "I'm comfortable here in bed on my laptop. Can't you answer it?"

Eli smiled, sighed and slowly removed her gloves. She put down the shears and walked towards the source of the ringing - she was in no hurry to get to the phone; it was probably one of Nozomi's clients or associates, and if Nozomi wasn't feeling like walking to the phone then they could wait. The phone was still ringing by the time Eli got there, which was somewhat surprising. Most people would have hung up and maybe left a voicemail by now - whatever Nozomi's associate had to say could be serious. Eli picked up the phone; from the other end came a voice she would never have expected; a voice that sounded like sunlight.

"Hello? Nozomi?"

"Honoka...Honoka, is that you?"

"Oh, it's Eli! Hi! It is! Are you surprised to hear from me?"

Eli's eyes started to tear up, her hands started to tremble and her heartbeat sped up until she could both feel and hear it. She hadn't parted with Honoka on bad terms, but it was a shock to hear from someone so close after 11 years. That decade of mixed feelings had caught up: 3 years of guilt for not inviting any of them to the wedding, 11 years of regret for not keeping in touch with any of them, 11 years of sadness for not seeing her at all in that time, even chance meetings; a burst of those feelings in that moment was all it took to send it crashing over her like a wave, overwhelming her completely. Eli looked to the ground, clutched the phone to her chest and let out a few involuntary high-pitched sobs, barely holding together. After a sharp breath in and a sniffle, she regained her composure and put the phone back to her ear.

"...lo? Are you there?"

"Yes, Honoka, I'm still here. I'm so sorry for everything. I don't know why I kept in touch, I just..."

Eli started to fall apart again and put her hand over the mouthpiece.

"Sorry? For what? I'm just happy to talk to you after so long, so don't feel bad about it!" Honoka replied, without any regret or sorrow in her voice at all in her voice. After so long, she was carefree as ever.

A pair of arms wrapped around Eli's waist and a head rested on her shoulder, eyes towards the answering machine.

"Put it on loudspeaker", Nozomi said, "I want to speak to Honoka too." Eli obliged, and pressed the loudspeaker button on the machine.

"Is that you, Nozomi?" said Honoka.

"Hello, Honoka", Nozomi replied, "I'm glad to hear from you after so long. What's up? This is a surprise."

"Hey, Nozomi...!"

At the other end of the phone, Honoka cleared a throat and a faint, airy "hmm..." could be heard, as if she hadn't planned what to say at all, even on a call to someone she hadn't talked to in 11 years. Nozomi gave Eli a smile that said "She's the same old Honoka, isn't she?" and wiped the tears out of her eyes before holding Eli in her arms again.

A brief pause followed before Honoka breathed in.

"Well...I don't know how to say this, but I want to get µ's back together. Maki-ch...Maki's allowed me to let everyone to stay at her house in Tokyo for around a week in August, for the Obon festival holidays. I haven't seen anyone in...well, a long time, and I really wanted to see everyone! I know I should have done more myself, but...it didn't really occur to me until Dr Maki was in the news last week, ehehe...I just miss you guys. Is it something you're okay with?"

Eli and Nozomi looked at each other with expressions of surprise; though it was something they could definitely do, it seemed almost unreal to make a decision; whatever they said next would change something big, forever.

"Are we doing anything for Obon, Eli?" Nozomi asked.

"Not that I know of", Eli said, her voice and muscles almost steady now. "And wouldn't this be a fun way to spend it?"

"Oh, it would be very fun! So do we agree? I'm putting my vote forward for yes. It's only fate that we'd come together once more like this...it was in the cards, after all." Nozomi replied, her voice warm as the heat of a chochin lantern.

"We'll go." Eli decided.

Honoka gasped on the other end, and Eli and Nozomi could feel the smile she was probably radiating over the phone. "Thank you so much! Be sure to remember this: Um...August the 10th! Let's meet at Akihabara Station at 2pm!"

Nozomi noted it down swiftly on her smartphone, and kissed Eli on the cheek.

"Hang on, Honoka." Nozomi interjected.

"I want to meet you first myself, before we go stay at Maki's house. Well, we want to meet you first, don't you agree, Eli?"

"Definitely!" Eli said, looking at the calendar on the wall above the phone. "How about..." Eli hesitated as she took her reading glasses from the desk, put them on and hovered her hand over the last few days of June on the calendar, pen in hand, before Nozomi took hold of her hand and moved it towards the 22nd.

"The 22nd of June at Kanda Myojin Shrine, at 1pm." Nozomi said, letting go of Eli's hand to let her mark the date herself.

"So it's done", Eli said, sniffling once more. "We meet at Kanda Myojin Shrine at 1pm on the 22nd. I'm so happy to hear from you again, Honoka. I'll see you then."

"It was nice to talk! I'll see you later, Honoka." Nozomi added.

"Ah! Thank you! I'll see you then!" Honoka replied.

Nozomi put the phone down for Eli and put both her hands on Eli's shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "Why so sad? You were crying, but I didn't hear her say anything that might make you feel that way."

Eli laughed sheepishly and looked down, to the side. "Ah...I guess I was just overwhelmed to hear from someone after 11 years...do you think we should have invited them to the wedding?"

Maki Nishikino, Doctor

Monday evening, June the 10th.

Bright red medium-long hair tied in a bun, a lone woman exited the clinic, having finished work for the day. She rifled through her shoulder purse for something and pulled out a bottle of water, uncapping it to take a sip from it before recapping it and putting it in her purse again. Work at an eye clinic rarely ever got truly intense or interesting for her; as expected, it was just, well...another day of checking up on people's eyes. Myopia and cataract referrals were most of today's work; it wasn't a busy life, but until she inherited her parents' hospital back in Tokyo, this was a comfortable living for Maki Nishikino, PhD.

Bottle of water back in purse, purse closed, Maki looked back up to see bright blue eyes and cascading orange hair staring back at her with a sunbeam expression.

"Hello, Maki! I hope this isn't a bad time!"

Maki froze for a solid five seconds with her hand on her purse strap, 50% sure she was seeing a ghost. She wasn't intent on becoming one of her own patients any time soon, but she wasn't particularly believing her eyes either.

"H-Honoka?"

Honoka's face sunk for a moment, realising that she had, in fact, chosen a bad time. She also realised that she was in Kyoto and probably couldn't reschedule something that had taken an hours-long journey, and so soldiered on - she had intended on meeting Maki in person.

"Ah...Sorry for startling you, ehehe...I'm just happy to see you again, so I couldn't help smiling." Honoka said sheepishly.

"It's just that I saw you on the news a few days ago and it was really surprising. I didn't understand what they were talking about the news, it was something about a new medical technique, but I figured I'd drop by and see you." She continued.

Still receiving a stunned silence, Honoka talked even more in the hopes of a response: "Ah, um, well...I guess I also missed you a bit. I haven't done a good job keeping up with all of you a-"

"Honoka." Maki interrupted kindly but firmly, placing her hand on Honoka's lips lightly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad to see you too." Maki said, taking her hand off Honoka's lips and placing it back on the purse strap over her shoulder. "Come on, let's walk. What's on your mind?"

Honoka discreetly stared into Maki's eyes for a few seconds as she looked ahead to determine her route. The edge from her teenage years was gone; no expectation of a sudden rejection, no rude comment at the ready, no spiny mental exterior, no desire for Honoka to be gone. She'd had a full day of work, but she looked more like Maki's mother the last time Honoka met her. Her eyes seemed so kind to Honoka now...Maki was a new woman, and Honoka was doubly curious about her now.

"Uh-uhm, well, I just wanted to know how you've been getting on since, uhm...the last 10...years?" Honoka stammered.

"Ah, so you want to know what I've been doing." Maki observed from seemingly a thousand miles away, "Well, I'm a doctor with a PhD now. I went to university, and I got a job here...and then I'll inherit my family's hospital soon."

"I see..." Although Honoka was glad to get an answer, it wasn't really what she was hoping for; she wanted more.

"Have you seen anyone else?" Honoka asked, hopeful for updates on anyone else.

"Well...I do meet Umi for coffee every few years to catch up. The last time I saw her was around...2018, 2019? We're probably overdue."

Honoka still wasn't satisfied, given that she still lived in the same town as Umi and saw her on a regular basis anyway. She felt somewhat put out now, but reminded herself that she'd probably feel even worse if everyone else had been keeping contact without her.

"Just Umi? You haven't met anyone else?"

"I haven't, I'm afraid. I've been too busy most of the time to keep up with people."

Honoka looked up to the sky then back to Maki, lost in a moment of thought. "I wonder where they are, too...ah...I miss µ's."

"I'm sure we all miss µ's, Honoka. I should catch up with the rest of them myself...hmm..."

The new Maki was still a mystery to Honoka. She stared into Maki's royal purple eyes while she was distracted yet again to try to see something, but she couldn't. Maybe she didn't know Maki well enough anymore.

"Well, why can't we?" Said Honoka, bringing Maki back down to Earth.

Maki slowly came to a stop and noticed Honoka trying to stare into her soul again, wondering if Honoka had something on her mind that she was having trouble saying. Realising what was going on, Maki's eyes brightened up a little, the gears in her mind starting to turn again despite having come to a halt after the work day's close. Something about Honoka had made her feel alive again, like time had stopped around her, like she'd only just learned of the outside world all over again. Like she had a whole new world of decisions and possibilities. She wasn't sure if it was because Honoka had overwhelmed her or because Honoka had opened up her eyes to a world she'd forgotten, but Maki felt empowered; she hadn't felt this way since first joining µ's. What she said next didn't feel like her saying it, but she felt awakened:

"...If it's what you so well want, what if I brought all of you over to my home in Tokyo for the week for Obon? My parents will be away for that holiday. Come on, Honoka. You're so easy to read."

Honoka suppressed the urge to squeal, even the suppression of her reaction easily visible. "All of µ's?" She said. "All 9 of us again? I don't even know how to start! I'll be sure to see everyone again first!"

Honoka couldn't contain it anymore, and with a burst of excitement, she suddenly leapt at Maki for a full-throttle hug, pinning both her arms to her sides. Maki screamed for a moment before cutting herself off, startled by the unexpected move on Honoka's part.

"I'm so glad, thank you so so so much, Maki, thank you, thank you, thank you! How does August the 10th sound?"

Maki almost felt like laughing at the scare she'd just been given, and at the fact that Honoka was still the live wire she always was. "You can't let go of µ's, can you? That sounds good, Honoka."

In another unexpected move, Honoka took both of Maki's hands in hers and raised them midway into the air on level with their shoulders, still unable to contain her joy. "I won't let you down, I promise."

"Hey, this wasn't all my idea!" Maki blurted out, flustered. Honoka let go of her hands, realising she'd let herself get carried away.

"I'm sorry, Maki! I'll try not to get carried away like that again."

Maki simply looked at Honoka, still slightly shocked, unsure of how to react.

"Don't you worry, Maki. I've got this all under control."

"Faito dayo..." Maki murmured under her breath, laughing to herself; that was what Honoka always used to say when she'd commit to something.

Maki took a notepad out of a side pocket in her purse along with a pen, and hastily scribbled a series of digits on the top of the pad. She tore it out, and handed it to Honoka.

"Here's my number. Feel free to call me if you need anything...or even if you just want to talk. I'm free to talk on my mobile after 5pm on work days, and all day on the weekend and Thursday."

Honoka didn't even put it in her pocket, and simply entered the number into her phone with lightning speed and accuracy.

"Now for the other 7, right? Ehehe." Honoka joked, that same hopeful smile still on her face, and they walked onward.

(RinPana)

Saturday morning, June the 15th.

In the pale blue of the Chiba-ken weekend morning, two women sat at a table outside of a café with a glass jug of coffee resting on the table. The seating area overlooked a popular area for morning walks, a green area directly across bisected by a stone path leading away from the cafe, past the green and into the streets, while the path leading parallel wound around the park at the edges.

One with short, smart orange hair, Rin Hoshizora, took a sip of her coffee and spoke.

"Is Yoshiro Sato in your class, Kayochin? I think he could really make it far. He's really good at basketball already, and he's amazing at baseball. Is he in your class?"
The second woman with long light brown hair, Hanayo Koizumi, sat directly across from Rin Hoshizora with both hands clasped around her cup of coffee, listening very intently to what the other woman is saying.

"Ah, he isn't, I'm afraid...I'm an assistant teacher for the 3rd year children, and he isn't in the third year as far as I know. And anyway, I don't help out with P.E. lessons, only the ones in the classroom."

"Aw, that's a shame...what about Yuki Hoshida? Are you an assistant in her class?" Rin asked, taking another large sip of coffee before filling her cup again.

"Yes, I know Yuki-chan! She's adorable! I helped her out when her class was sewing little pillows...aww, it was the cutest thing ever! I wish you were there, Rin..." Hanayo exclaimed.

Rin stretched out her arms in the air. "Ahhhh, I see. She really loves it when we bring out the rainbow parachute for them. She is really adorable when she's having fun."

"Did you meet her parents as well?" Hanayo asked.

Rin cocked her head inquisitively. "I actually haven't, now that you mention it, Kayochin", she said as she went to top off her half-full cup of coffee, "They drop her off at the activity centre in the car with the money for the session, but I've never really seen them up close before."

Hanayo lowered Rin's arm gently. "I think that's enough coffee for now, Rin. You don't want heart problems, do you?"

"Awww, but I love coffee! Come on, Kayochin, just this cup more?" she complained, holding her arm in place.

"Fine...but just this last one. You're my best friend, Rin, and I don't want anything bad happening to you, okay?"

They smiled at each other, and Rin set down the glass jug of coffee gently, making the smallest of noises as it made contact with the table.

Hanayo took a chunk out of her red velvet cake with her fork. "Rin, would you like to try this cake instead? It's delicious!"

"Ahh, I'm sorry but no thank you, Kayochin. I'm not hungry right now." Rin replied, making a small "no, thank you" gesture with her hand.

Hanayo moved the fork closer to Rin's mouth. "Are you sure, Rin? I'm not sure if I can finish this much cake myself."

"Ahh...Kayochin, that cake looks so good...but I'm not hungry...but that cake looks so good..."

Rin trained both eyes on the cake like a precision laser, weighing her choices before her eyes, then snapped to her left and her head snapped ever so slightly to the left as well, her nose raising periodically as she sniffed, smelling...something.

"I smell bread, Kayochin. It's a very familiar bread, but I don't remember where it's from, and it's behind me." She whispered to Hanayo.

Rin slowly turned around and stood up, investigating the source of the smell; it was originating from a woman with long straight orange hair and a yellow headband. Her face was buried in a newspaper and she wasn't moving at all, as if she'd been found out. Slowly, the mystery woman started to turn around to see if she'd been rumbled, cautiously lowering her newspaper.

At the same time, their eyes met and they froze for a few seconds in some bizarre standoff, their faces showing pure curiosity.

They identified each other, and within that moment it felt like a new universe was born.

"Rin?"

"Honoka?"

After another pause, Rin was the first to draw.

"HONOKA!"

Rin launched at Honoka with the same crushing hug Honoka had given Maki days earlier.

"Hello, Honoka." Hanayo waved politely to Honoka from the end of the next table, seemingly unfazed by Honoka's sudden appearance after ten years. "Would you like to join us?"

"I would, thanks!" Honoka replied, taking a few deep, gasping breaths to recover before taking a chair from the table she was just sitting at to Rin and Hanayo's table, as well as her cup of tea.

As soon as Honoka sat down, Rin leaned over and inspected her from top to bottom intently; her clothes, her hair, her eyes and her personality all went under the microscope as Rin got so close to Honoka to look into her eyes that their noses touched, if only for a brief second or two.

"She thinks you smell of bread, Honoka." Hanayo remarked softly.

"Ehehe, sorry. I made some bread for the bakery this morning and put it all out in the window, so that's probably why." Honoka said, relaxing her shoulders as Rin finished her inspection.

"You smell wonderful, Honoka! I can also smell lots of other things, like red bean paste, and matcha...like a bakery..." Rin said, reconsidering if she was hungry or not, absentmindedly reaching for the coffee pot again.

"It's been a very long time. What can we do for you, Honoka?" Hanayo said, absentmindedly lifting Rin's hand away from the coffee pot and placing it back on the table. "Aww, okay. I'll get some hot chocolate then." Rin whined quietly, excusing herself from the table.

"Um, well...I think I'll wait until Rin comes back to explain properly, but I want everyone in µ's to meet again in the Obon holidays."

"You want to reunite µ's?!" Hanayo exclaimed. She felt her heartbeat double, unsure as to the meaning of what Honoka was trying, especially after so long. Her breaths became shallow and panicked, her body struggling with the shock: "You come back after none of us have talked for 10 years and you suddenly want to reunite the group?!"

Honoka felt her blood run cold; if Hanayo was mad at her, she could well give up here and now, as she was feeling particularly delicate right about now. "N-no! I just want everyone to meet up again and catch up, I swear!"

Hanayo relaxed herself and took a few deep breaths, unaware that she'd been that harsh, guilty that she'd unintentionally terrified Honoka. "Sorry, Honoka, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you properly."

"It's okay." Honoka said, hands no longer shaking. "It's just...I miss everyone. I saw Maki on the news and...I suddenly realised how much I missed everyone, and I realised how bad I felt that we never stayed in contact for long after you left school. I don't want to be a bother, but even if everyone has their own life right now, I want them to realise that there's nothing stopping them from meeting each other again."

"So you have another vision you want to make true", Hanayo replied, "You're just like before."

"Ehe. That's what Eli, Nozomi and Maki said."

Rin placed a cup of hot chocolate onto the table, sat down and pulled her chair in.

"That was fast! How did you get that hot chocolate so quickly, Rin?" Hanayo asked, to which Rin simply smiled ear-to-ear, tapped her nose and took a large gulp of hot chocolate.

Honoka continued: "Anyway, as I was saying, I want to get together everyone in µ's for a week starting in the Obon period. Maki offered to let us all stay at her family house in Tokyo, on the 10th of August. Everyone I've talked to so far has agreed to stay, and I was hoping that, uhm...that you two would come too."

Rin and Hanayo looked at each other for three seconds, conveying an entire conversation's worth of information. Honoka was unable to tell what it meant, but hoped it meant something good, and simply looked on.

"We'll do it!" Rin and Hanayo said in unison, decisively nodding their heads once. After a second's pause, Rin discreetly moved her hand over to the coffee pot and slowly and silently poured some coffee into her hot chocolate, unnoticed by Hanayo this time.

"We have no plans for Obon, so this sounds like great fun", Hanayo said, "And it'd be super fun to meet everyone else too!" Rin said, finishing her sentence.

"R-really?" Honoka found herself seemingly surprised by this; she wasn't sure why, but she felt like it would be a lot harder to get Rin and Hanayo on board with the idea. It all almost felt like it was too easy. She remembered what Nozomi said, that it was fate; Honoka wasn't one to question fate, even if it was one she'd created herself.

"Okay! I'm glad! I can't wa-"

"Rin!"

"What? What did I do?"

Hanayo held up the coffee pot to eye level, emptier than it was before Rin had gone to get hot chocolate. "I know what you're doing, Rin."

Rin smiled and looked down like a child who didn't know what to do while being scolded. "I guess you found out..."

Honoka couldn't help but laugh, even though she knew she shouldn't have been laughing; maybe she wasn't the only one who had stayed the same.

Belleville Rendezvous

Sunday late night/early morning, June the 16th.

Bathed in the dim light of the lamp in the nearby corner, caressed by the Parisian summer night breeze coming from the open window on the other side of the apartment's living room, a delicate woman with her silvery brown hair in a single ponytail braid embroidered the night away, her tired eyes focused on the intricate patterns she stitched into the fabric; her hands were no longer in her control, but they continued to dive in and out of folds, over and under the fabric, back and forth around the outline of the white dress on the table. She felt like her body and herself were two separate entities, as if she were watching her physical body do the work from a few inches to the left. For a moment, she looked at a post-it note on the wall above the table; she didn't remember writing it, but there it was in her handwriting: "travail á 7h45 lundi". She knew what it meant, but...it didn't really register, and so she looked back down, the hands of Kotori Minami never having stopped working their magic.

Out of the blue, Kotori's smartphone rang, its vibration making a sharp noise against the table it rested on, causing Kotori to jump several inches out of her chair and narrowly miss slashing her own hand with her needle. She clutched her heart, slowly rested against her chair and sighed in both relief, recovery and exasperation, wondering why anyone would be calling her at this time, especially when they knew she had to get up early for work. Taking another few seconds to express her annoyance to nobody in particular by running her hands through her hair dramatically and sighing, Kotori finally tapped her phone to answer.

"Hello...?" She murmured sleepily.

"Kotori!" Came the response, so loudly it clipped, and Kotori nearly dropped her phone in shock again, fumbling around for a second before catching it and putting it back to her ear, her eyes wide open now.

"Don't shout, Honoka, she can hear you just fine." Said...someone on the other end, or so Kotori thought.

"Umi...?" Kotori asked the other end, her tired mind shifting gears to accommodate the change in language Kotori was expecting. She felt...something. She felt a vague burst of emotions that was probably overwhelming joy. She wasn't any wider awake, but she felt warm.

"No, it's me, Honoka!" the other end said. "Sorry if I shouted...I can't help it, ehehe..."

Kotori attempted to wake herself up a little to deal with the reappearance of someone a decade in her past, to limited success. She took a gulp of the lukewarm mug of coffee on her desk instead, hoping she was still in a state to talk.

"Ah, it's fine, Honoka...I'm just a little tired over here. I might sound tired, but I'm unbelievably happy to see you, I promise." Kotori almost murmured.

"She's tired...?" Honoka said to someone else, likely Umi.

"I told you it was late over there!" Another, more proper voice said in the background, scolding Honoka.

"Ah, I forgot about timezones, forgive me, Umi!"

Kotori sat there with a blank expression, waiting for the bickering to finish.

"Honoka, give me the phone." The voice in the background said.

"Ah-!"

A brief scrabbling followed by some unclear vocalisations came from the other end of the line before Umi's calming voice came in. Kotori was so happy to hear Umi's voice after so long; if she wasn't so intent on talking to the both of them, and if it wasn't rude to go to sleep mid-phone call, it was a voice Kotori could sleep to.

"I am so very sorry, Kotori. Honoka didn't think before calling you. It must be very late and you must be very tired, so we'll let you sleep. Honoka will call you later at a better time."

"No, please, stay on the line! I really want to talk to you both!" Kotori shouted, finally awake, her eyes welling up. "Please stay on the line."

Umi stayed on the line, shocked at the response - she couldn't understand why anybody would want to be bothered so late.

"Do you want to switch to video chat?" Kotori continued, the tone in her voice hopeful for a yes.

"That would be wonderful, Kotori." Umi replied as Kotori took the phone from her ear and placed it in front of her face, taking the time to draw in her alpaca plushie closer.

Kotori tapped "Yes" on the video messaging request on her phone, and the feed turned on; she saw a waving Honoka with long straight orange hair, a yellow hairband, a somewhat tight-fitting orange shirt and high-voltage blue eyes, cute as ever, sitting on a sofa Kotori didn't recognise, and to the left was Umi, holding the phone at arm's length; she had the same blue hairstyle as before, but slightly neater and curling slightly inwards, as well as a sharp white business casual shirt with a collar. She looked almost like she'd dressed for the occasion...she looked beautiful. The both of them were a sight worth staying up for in Kotori's tired eyes...

Kotori was fatigued, and she'd just seen two of her favourite people in the world looking radiant in the Japanese morning; those distant emotions she'd felt a few minutes ago had come closer, and she welled up. Not out of any fear - tears of happiness.

Umi looked worried and Honoka looked surprised.

"Are you okay, Kotori?" Umi asked, Honoka leaning forward slightly. Umi moved the phone slightly away from Honoka instinctively, but only slightly.

"I'm fine, Umi!", Kotori replied, smiling reflexively and wiping away the tears that threatened to continue, "I'm just happy that I can see you both again."

Umi and Honoka smiled in response. "You look lovely with your alpaca plushie, Kotori", Umi said, Honoka nodding in response as she looked at Umi then back to the phone screen, "Where are you now?"

Kotori paused for a few seconds; she wasn't sure how to tell them she'd moved abroad, especially after last time in 2010.

"Um..."

"Well..."

"I live in Paris now." Umi and Honoka looked at each other in surprise, and made wordless sounds of wonder to each other and Kotori as they looked back to the phone screen, impressed rather than angry. Kotori sighed internally in relief and tried to forget her fear.

Honoka leaned towards the camera, her expression of wonder still present: "Paris? What do you do there? Do you ALL eat croissants for breakfast every day? Have you been to the Eiffel Tower?"

Kotori saw the image on her screen shake slightly with Umi's attempt to hide her incredulous laughter; it was such a Honoka question to be asking.

She knew they were stereotypical questions to ask, but Kotori couldn't deny it; she had been to the Eiffel Tower, and she did eat croissants often for breakfast (they were SO good when heated up with cheese and tomatoes.)

"Yes, I have been to the Eiffel Tower, I sometimes eat croissants and...I work in a café!" Kotori beamed as she sniffled again, silently praying she wasn't portraying a stereotypical image of France to Honoka.

Honoka and Umi noticed the white frills of the dress in the bottom of their screen and looked at each other once more, their silent message asking one question: A maid café, or a normal café? They both couldn't help but envision Legendary Maid Minalinsky in her frilly maid dress, serving Parisians with her idol's smile and her cute charm.

"What? What did I say?"

Umi's smile vanished suddenly and she turned to Honoka to try to stop her saying what she said: "A maid café? Or is it just a normal café?"

Kotori didn't seem embarrassed, to Umi's surprise. She simply adjusted her head slightly, moved it back and gave an answer - "A normal café! Umi, don't worry about it, I'm not embarrassed. I work in a Parisian café, and it's amazing! The food is wonderful..."

"What's that on your table, then?" Umi asked, pointing downwards.

"Oh, this?" Kotori brought up a fold delicately, careful not to disrupt the half-finished embroidery on the bottom. "I still like to work on clothes in my spare time. I'm embroidering a pattern in this one right now..."

Kotori yawned, and she realised how late it was. "Anyway, Honoka, what did you call for?"

Umi looked at Honoka in a silent go-ahead to explain, as Honoka looked back, cleared her throat and steeled her expression.

"Maki's let me invite everyone in µ's to her family home for a week in Tokyo for the Obon holidays. Do you want to come?"

Kotori nodded, accompanied by a second-long tired blink. "Even if I have to fly halfway across the world, it will be worth it to see you and the others again. You're coming too, right, Umi?"

Umi looked at Honoka, and Honoka looked back at her with a smile so wide she could only have been teasing Umi. Umi sighed. "I had no choice either way." Honoka poked Umi's cheek with a small "hey!" as Umi lightly swatted Honoka's hand away.

"But of course I want to come. There's no doubt about it. I can definitely take a week off."

Kotori yawned again, and took one last look at Umi and Honoka's eyes.

"I think we'll finally leave you to sleep, Kotori. You need some sleep right now." Umi said, noticing Kotori's red-rimmed eyes getting heavier and heavier.

"Goodnight, Kotori." Umi said. "Sleep well." Honoka added.

And with that, Kotori ended the call and set down her phone.

With the last of her energy, Kotori walked to the other side of the room to close the window and made her last few steps back towards the table. She moved the embroidering needle to a safer place on the dress, moved the dress to the side and finally, fell asleep at the table, arms tightly around her alpaca plushie, a content smile on her face, having been reunited with two of her favourite people.

NICO YAZAWA

Tuesday afternoon, June the 11th.

Feeling invigorated after her last successful encounter, Honoka had spent many an hour searching for a very specific person online, and so had taken to the streets of Shibuya to hunt down someone she was very curious about: Super Idol Nico Yazawa.

Getting off the train, Honoka noticed that she was attracting just as many glances and stares as in Akihabara; she wasn't paying particular attention to who was looking, but she saw every glance in the corner of her eye, from every direction. She wondered if her influence as a former idol and co-manager of a long-running bakery extended even here, and wondered again if she was being naive as she tensed up slightly. Shibuya was bright lights and tourist attractions for a while, but past a certain point, the endless streak of daylight neon from arcades and shops trying to catch people's attention just...stopped. Past this point, there were no bright lights, nobody handing out flyers for their new shop, no shopping bag in the hand of every second person, and Honoka started to feel like a stranger in this city - this part of Shibuya didn't seem like it was trying to draw people in, no, it was like it was trying to warn them away.

Honoka felt like she'd reached a point of no return; it wasn't anywhere she'd expect to see a Yakuza presence, but it was no place for strangers.

She wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Holding her phone closer to her chest, taking it out of her pocket with as much sleight of hand as she could manage, Honoka checked the map on her phone again to make sure she was going in the right direction. The arrow on the maps app showed her in the right direction, and showed her exactly on the junction she was about to cross; this was the correct area, her phone said she had 500 metres to go, and Nico had poor judgement to have chosen to move into one of the worst places outside of Roppongi. Honoka took a discreet look behind her as she crossed the road and slipped her phone back into her jean pocket fast as a gunslinger holstering her revolver, speeding up her walking pace ever so slightly.

Honoka could see the building from a mile away; the building's plain shape was fairly identifiable in the neighbourhood's skyline alongside its clones dotted around the city. Constructed around the turn of the century, the apartment buildings stood at 15 storeys tall, though they had since eclipsed by the recently built Shibuya Stream tower block and the multitude of other skyscrapers constructed as part of the Shibuya regeneration scheme around the heart of Shibuya. Combined with the burst of regeneration in the area from the 2020 Olympics and the new disparity between the neighbourhood and the areas of Shibuya redeveloped and constructed to impress the world during the 2020 Olympics, this left only those with no money to move away, those forced out by the rise in rent in houses in the area, and those with little money, but enough to take advantage of the neighbourhood's lower prices.

She thought this neighbourhood looked ugly and grey compared to her own.

It was just that part of Shibuya, Honoka thought to herself...

A tense 500 metres later, Honoka arrived at the building; there was an intercom on the front door with a keypad, a button and a camera on the top of the panel, though the security was rendered useless by the rock wedged in the bottom of the door. Honoka took out a folded, crinkled piece of paper with Nico's address written on it. She looked at the apartment number, input it into the intercom and waited for 10 seconds.

No response. Honoka punched the numbers in again.

No response.

Honoka shrugged, and entered the building through the open door.

It was fairly unremarkable; white tile floor, a square space where she stood, and ahead of her was a glass entrance through which she could see the door to the stairwell and the elevator. Honoka took the elevator to the fourth floor, and with the entrance into the elevator, Honoka felt herself being sucked deeper into the unnerving void of this neighbourhood. It was only a few floors up, but that one elevator ride felt like purgatory. Honoka made a note to herself to use the stairs on her way down.

Exiting the elevator and walking down the hall, Honoka checked the door number. She was here: Apartment 4-03. She took a deep breath in, and knocked firmly.

1 second.

2 seconds.

3 seconds.

4 seconds.

4.5 seconds.

5.00 seconds.

5.25 seconds.

5.50 seconds elapsed, and the door started to open.

Honoka saw Nico there, her stance purposefully blocking the doorway, and inspected her in the space of a second: black jinbei, long, black, straight but messy hair reaching down to her bust, red eyes...

Her eyes. They seemed so tired and lifeless; Honoka couldn't tell if this was her resting face or if she'd come at the wrong time. The spark of a super idol just wasn't there. All Honoka saw was the dull red of someone who was running on low power - caught unaware, it looked like something resembling the glare a teenage Nico would have given her.

"Honoka." Nico said, slowly and deliberately, looking directly into Honoka's eyes.

Honoka stood there, speechless at the poison she felt from someone saying her own name.

"What do you want?" Nico said.

Nico's glare didn't go away; she didn't seem too happy to see Honoka.

Honoka tried to formulate something that wouldn't set Nico off: "Uhm..."

"Uhm, what? What do you want? What could you possibly want that's worth coming to this place after 11 years? I wanted to be left alone for a reason."

"Nico, please..."

"You're not going to leave, are you. Fine. Take off your shoes on the genkan and get inside. The neighbours can hear you."

Honoka aligned herself with the door and slid her shoes off her feet before turning around to face into the apartment. Nico closed the door behind her with a single swing and walked slowly into the apartment, turning around at the point where the entryway expanded into a living room, blocking half of Honoka's view. Honoka could see the window on the far wall, and the corner of a kotatsu in the centre of the room, as well as a TV in the corner, but not much else. There was a white robe on the floor closer to her, as well as an unidentified wrapper. Honoka tore her eyes off the living room to avoid appearing rude, and focused them back on Nico before Nico could see her snooping.

Nico was short as ever, but even so, her stance still made an impression on Honoka.

"Tell me why you came here and how you found me. You better have a damn good reason for coming here."

"U-uhm-"

"Actually, don't tell me how you found me. I don't even want to know. Just tell me why you're here."

Honoka felt her legs start shaking and her heart beat against her chest.. She tried her best to control it, but to no avail. She wasn't comfortable in this place, and she wasn't comfortable with the idea of another confrontation with Nico.

"I wish I could go home already." She thought to herself. Honoka started up to speak again.

"Well, I thought I'd...see how everyone was doing..."

Nico leaned forward in Honoka's direction slightly and shot her an irritated expression.

"Really? And it took you ten whole years to do it? So you were just in the area and had some time to kill?"

Honoka started to feel anger burn in herself as well; she didn't have time to kill. She'd come all the way to this awful neighbourhood specifically to track down Nico first above all the others after Maki, she was hungry, and she was having it thrown back in her face. Honoka very discreetly moved her body into a stance she thought would be better equipped to deal with the possibility of being attacked by Nico; she didn't intend on a fight, but she wasn't happy with the way this was panning out either.

"What's wrong with you, Nico? Why are you being so mean? I came here specifically for you, and you're throwing it back in my face."

Nico's expression wasn't getting any better.

"Me? Are you sure you came here for me? What the hell are you really doing here? You came here for something, and I can't say I trust your intentions very much. You didn't care about me back then, and I doubt you care about me right now."

Stood in stunned silence again, Honoka started to tear up, in anger this time. She'd done nothing, and didn't come here looking for a conflict. Her eyes wet and her voice shaking, she continued arguing.

"Nico, I came here for you. What's going on?"

"What's going on...is that you actually don't even know why you're here, do you? The moment you walk out this door, you're just going to forget about me all over again. Why couldn't you just leave it alone?"

"Nico, why are you acting like this? What have I done? What did I ever do to you?"

Reacting to Honoka, Nico too started to tear up in anger ever so slightly, stepping back to put distance between her and Honoka, her face twisting in a bitter grimace that could have been to hide her pain, arms folded tighter.

"It's not about what you did, Honoka. It's what you didn't do after we disbanded. Yeah, we all still talked. Yeah, we-"

"NICO, LISTEN TO ME. I CAME HERE FOR YOU AND YOU ONLY."

Nico's expression was wiped clean with an expression of shock at Honoka's uncharacteristic outburst as she continued, her gesturing becoming insistent and desperate, pointing to her heart with both hands with every sentence as she took a single step towards Nico, her tears flowing freely down her face from her now red eyes. Putting her all into being able to form coherent sentences through her tears, Honoka went on.

"Listen to me, Nico. I wanted to see you. I

wanted

to find you."

Honoka took a breath in.

"I'm finding all of µ's. The people I left behind. The people we left behind. I know it's been a long time, and that's why I want to see everyone again, Nico. I'm sorry if we didn't talk to you. Sometimes, life gets in the way and people just drift apart. You can't stop it from happening. And that's just what happened. I'm sad it happened, Nico. We probably all are. But if you don't want to see me...then I accept that, and I'll leave."

Honoka looked down, and turned around slowly to make the walk towards the door. The back of her throat ached, her eyes stung and her body felt weak.

"Honoka...wait."

Honoka turned around. Nico stood there at the entrance of the living room, arms folded tightly; her eyes were full of sorrow, and her firm facial expression told Honoka that she was also trying her hardest not to break. Her eyes shifted towards Honoka and the floor, blinking twice every time they did so.

Five seconds of silence followed, during which Nico mustered up enough composure to speak.

"I-I'm sorry...for-for leaving you all."

Nico paused again, looking back at the ground then at Honoka's bloodshot eyes, who looked on with a blank expression. She'd just let the tears fall down, leaving a colourless but visible streak down her face.

"I thought none of you cared about me. After Rin, Maki and Hanayo graduated, it seemed like you all just went back to being in your own groups again."

"It felt like I was being left out. It felt like things went back to the way they were before I met you all. You, Kotori and Umi. Eli and Nozomi. Maki, Hanayo and Rin. And just me."

Nico walked over to the white robe on the floor, and hung it up on a hanger on a nearby wall, picking up the unidentified wrapper as she did so, sniffling several times as she cleaned up. Honoka could see the room now; there was no idol memorabilia, but there was a pile of clothes in the corner of the room, a few movie posters on the wall and an unfinished bowl of miso soup on the kotatsu. It still seemed like it was in disarray, but Honoka couldn't put her finger on it, and so stopped passing judgement. It was a modest apartment, but good enough for somebody with little enough money that they'd move here.

"Do you want to sit down, Honoka?" Nico offered as she motioned towards two cushions on the tatami floor, on opposite sides of the kotatsu.

Honoka shuffled towards the closest seat to her without a word and slowly knelt down as Nico brought over two glass cups and a still warm glass pot of green tea, kneeling down on the opposite side of the kotatsu.

Nico reached over to set down a cup on Honoka's side of the table before pouring green tea into it, moving the cold bowl of soup over to herself.

"Honoka. What...what did you need?"

Honoka took a sip of her green tea, first, taking the time to look down in sorrow and let her tears dry out. Her answers were punctuated by sips of green tea and thousand-yard stares. Nico did the same, still feeling vulnerable.

"Maki let me invite everyone to her family house in Tokyo for the Obon holidays."

A sip of green tea.

"I wanted to invite everyone over for another week together, just like old times."

Another, smaller sip. Honoka looked at Nico briefly to maintain some quota of eye contact.

"It's fine if you don't want to come."

Nico rubbed her eyes, and set down her cup of tea to answer.

"I'll go. I don't have anywhere else to be for Obon anyway."

Honoka smiled weakly, set down her tea, chuckled once and rubbed her eyes in kind. "Thank you, Nico."

Nico chimed in with an addendum: "But first...can I have your number?"
Honoka nodded, taking out her phone from her jean pocket and tapping a few times before bringing up the directory. "Put your number in, Nico. I'll call you."

Nico input her number and gave it back, but kept her arms outstretched, motioning Honoka to come around the table.

"Come here, Honoka."

Honoka stood up, moved forward two steps and knelt back down, in front of Nico. Without a word, they embraced each other in an emotionally charged hug without a defined end. Letting each other dry the other's tears on their shoulders, occasionally letting out sobs to get it out of their systems, they knelt there together for 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 seconds in silence. To Honoka, it felt like the world stopped for her. Maybe purgatory wasn't so bad.

"Thank you, Honoka."