"Honoka."

"Happy birthday."

"You will have a really enjoyable party hosted by all of us, right?"

"You better cherish it, it will be the one and only time that you will have this experience throughout your entire life."

"Let's play 'Sweet and Sweet Holiday'."

"Infinity version!"

"How enjoyable!"

"Let's play it! The first one to scream loses!"

Honoka sat up in her bed, panting furiously.

What the hell?

... Right, it was all in her head. Just a dream caused by eating too much sweets, probably. She would have to talk with Kaa-san about adding too much sugar to their bean paste. It just wasn't healthy for her mind.

"Kaa-san? Please don't add-"

Oh, her sister was up. Her mother was running the shop, and Umi was buying manjuu.

Wait, Umi was-

"Hello there, Honoka."

"Huh? The idol business?"

"Ah, we're over it now. It does seem really childish for us to keep harping over that particular matter over and over again, doesn't it?"

The two were sitting in Honoka's room, chatting about current events.

"Really?"

"Yeah, kinda. I mean, Kotori doesn't know, Hanayo's still upset and all… but the rest are fine with this already, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"…"

"Don't worry. However, Eli's birthday is coming up, so would you mind going to her place for a party?"

'Sweet and Sweet Holiday…'

'The first one to scream loses…'

Nah, that was just all a sugar-induced nightmare. What did she have to lose in reality? It wouldn't hurt to go.

"Why not?"

"Thank you," Umi smiled sweetly. However, Honoka noticed that it was fake, a mask over a rotting smile, empty and meaningless. But she didn't want to seem suspicious to Umi, so she didn't voice it out.

Since when had her best friend felt like such a stranger?

"I guarantee the programs hosted will be exciting."

Honoka felt déjà vu all over again, but failed to voice it out.

There was something wrong with them all, Honoka thought when she saw her old friends again.

What was it that was off with them?

Was it their expressions? Their postures, like hungry wolves ready for a meal? Or was it just her brain playing tricks on her because of the twenty manjuus she ate today?

It was probably the latter. They were all over the incident of disbanding, after all.

Pfft, yeah right. Honoka totally believed that that was the case.

Well, nothing too bad would happen. They wouldn't dare. Even if they did, Hanayo would stop them, she was weak-hearted. They'd pity her and-

"Hello there, Honoka." Hanayo greeted her.

"It'd be awesome if you would stay for a while, we'd all be glad."

"See, I developed this fun game out of one of our Printemps solos, 'Sweet&Sweet Holiday'. I'm sure you still remember it, I loved that one."

No, this was ridiculous. Sweet little Hanayo, threatening her? Unheard of. Nozomi or Nico, the devils! They planned this from the start. Nozomi was spiritual after all, she probably read her dreams. Honoka didn't know if this was possible, but it was a logical enough explanation.

Nico, the bitch! She used the name, wrote Hanayo a speech to say to her. Hanayo was probably so terrified, the poor girl, being threatened by Nico like that. Honoka couldn't stand her!

"Hanayo, it's okay now. I will talk to Nico about this, and she will stop threatening you instantly, I promise."

"Huh?" Hanayo looked genuinely confused.

"Don't worry, you can drop the act, I swear Nico won't hurt you any more."

"…" Hanayo still looked confused, but dropped the matter. "Anyway, let's play it! It'll be really, really fun, I designed it with Rin-chan!"

"It was Rin?" Honoka asked.

"Why of course! Rin-chan helped, so did Maki-chan, even though she wouldn't admit it."

"…" Honoka shuddered. Who exactly were behind this? Everyone, ganging up on poor Hanayo. She swore; if she was there, she'd have stopped this from happening a long time ago!

"It's alright, Hanayo! I will stop this!"

"… What?"

"You plan to stop our game?"

Hanayo's bright smile suddenly gave out the same aura as Umi's had. Menacing, fake and a sense of impending doom.

"N-No, no… Not at all!"

"Right!" Hanayo's smile turned warm again, so sudden that Honoka thought that it was a trick of the light.

She sure hoped it was.

"Now up for our contestant~!" Rin cheered as Honoka walked into the tent behind Eli's bungalow.

Contestant?

The word sounded so eerie, like she was participating in a dangerous game show. Maybe she was, she wasn't sure if this was reality or not anymore.

Right, she still hadn't warned Kaa-san about the sweetness level yet.

"Thank you for coming!" Eli beamed. Honoka noticed absolutely no bad intentions under her sweet smile, much unlike Umi's and Hanayo's smiles.

For a second, she thought that everything was going to be alright.

Then, Maki's voice rung out.

"The first stunt will be the Hangman's Gambit!"

There was a strange hint of glee that Honoka caught in Maki's voice.

"If you are able to pass this round, you can win a 'Sweet, Sweet Holiday' pass!"

Cheers rang out as a low dangling rope fell from the ceiling.

"Would you be so kind as to try?"

Honoka gulped.

"… Can I say no?"

"Of course not!"

The rope that had been harmlessly dangling around her shoulder-dangerously close to her neck, however-suddenly coiled itself up around her neck.

She pulled at it. She tried, but the rope seemed to be contracting, tightening with every pull.

She took a fearful look at her friends, sitting on the benches.

They were smiling.

She glanced at Umi, who just winked at her.

She regarded Maki, who had her arms crossed, flipping her hair when she saw Honoka looking at her.

She eyed Rin, who was gleefully beaming.

She gazed at Hanayo, who was giving her a closed eye smile instead of the fear that she expected to be on Hanayo's face.

She looked in the direction of Eli, who had a smug grin on.

She darted at Nozomi, who was smirking.

She focused on Nico. She was laughing. Maniacally.

Honoka blinked twice, trying her best to quell the tears that had welled up in her eyes at the prospect of death, and at the despair she was facing.

She closed her eyes, hoping to avoid their triumphant stares.

What… was this?

Aah, it felt so comfortably warm all of a sudden. Honoka could see a light, a bright one. It was so, so inviting…

No! She couldn't be drawn towards it… When she closed her eyes, it was black. It was always black! Why was it different this time round, then?

So was this a dream? Did this not happen at all?

… Right, it was all a dream. Heh, Kaa-san, the manjuu she made were dangerous to her mental health.

The dream had felt so real, though…

'When I wake up from my dream, Kaa-san, I'm going to tell you I love you… And put less sugar in my manjuu…'

"Sayonara…"

Honoka wasn't sure who had said that. But she didn't need to know either.

She floated into the light, denial about her death filling her brain.