[Yumenosaki Academy: a prestigious school with a large performing arts department, a lovely campus overlooking the ocean, and a rather high tuition rate. The school rose to fame thanks to its idol program, which has produced countless big-name talents. Thanks to the success of those glittering idols, the "Yumenosaki" name carries great renown. Why, practically anyone is guaranteed a successful career in show biz, just so long as their diploma has "Yumenosaki" stamped somewhere. A place where dreams come true—that's the kind of school Yumenosaki is.
Or used to be.
In reality, things aren't like that at all anymore. He's not sure how the current situation came to pass, but somewhere along the line, it seems that everyone decided, "as long as we can say we attended Yumenosaki, we don't need to do any work," and things deteriorated from there. Most of the student body isn't doing any idol work, and the whole school is overrun with delinquents. As a result, the Yumenosaki name has depreciated in value, and those few motivated students are finding it harder and harder to get jobs. Both teachers and student council members are powerless to help; you'd need something like a revolution to whip this student body into shape.
Which is exactly where fine comes in.
"Putting an end to the old era and creating a new world"—that's the purpose of fine, at least according to their magazine interview. (When was the last time a Yumenosaki unit gave a magazine interview? Not recently, since Valkyrie's stoic leader seems to hate talking about his craft.) Although it might be unclear what was meant by this ambiguous statement, in private, Eichi made his intentions quite clear: their purpose is to reform the school. They're going to restore Yumenosaki's former glory, changing it from a wasteland into a place where dreams can flourish again. And they're going to do this fair and square: by working hard, singing their hearts out onstage, and winning battles through the new DreamFes system.
And destroying those problem children who Eichi deemed the "villains" of this story.
The reception to fine's debut was lukewarm, which only makes sense, because it was rather rushed. But they still came off looking good in comparison to the "Eccentrics," who couldn't even be bothered to show up. They've been practicing and practicing since then, putting on other small Lives, and steadily gaining more influence. And now, with the Venus Cup approaching in two weeks, it's almost time to strike against their toughest opponent of all: Itsuki Shu from Valkyrie himself. They're going to take his work, his dreams, and his hard-earned reputation, and throw it all in the incinerator.
But Hiyori isn't preparing for that right now. As a matter of fact, he's not even at practice.
Instead, Hiyori is strolling through the downtown, browsing shops a few blocks away from their school. It's been a few weeks since he's done this—things really have been busy—but as far as he's concerned, too much work and no play isn't good for anyone, least of all him. He doesn't answer to anyone's orders, especially not Eichi's or Tsumugi's, so when one of his fans told him that she and the other girls had been feeling awfully lonely, he went ahead and ditched practice to take them out on a date. Something like this is far more enjoyable, after all, even if there's a lingering feeling of emptiness left behind once everything's said and done.
They start at a store that sells lotions and bath products, before hitting up a sweets shop, and then a trendy boutique. All the money is courtesy of Eichi Tenshouin: it's supposed to be used for "unit activities," or something like that, but Hiyori doesn't really care. Eichi has plenty more money where that came from, so he shouldn't cry if some of it disappears into cash registers at luxury stores.
His willingness to spend money makes him even more popular with the girls, of course, who giggle and fawn and hang off his arm. It's not a very large group today—he started out with four, but two of them had to leave due to some commitment, so now there's only two left. Since he's not surrounded on all sides, he's more aware of his environment than usual. Perhaps that's why he notices the onlooker.
When he was at the sweets shop, he noticed someone else from Yumenosaki sitting alone at a nearby table. They were a first-year, judging from their tie, and he'd never spoken to them before in his life, so he didn't think they were worth noticing. Now, however, as he moves through the boutique, looking at clothes and accessories with the girls, he gets this feeling creeping up his neck, like he's being watched. He glances over his shoulder, and sure enough, it's the same student from the sweets café: same uniform, same shaggy blond haircut, same small frame.
A coincidence? Or is he being followed? Does this person want an autograph, or what?
He turns back to the girls.]
Hmm, this is a really good brand, so a 20% off sale is not something we want to miss out on. Why don't you both select something you like and let me foot the bill? In the meantime, I'll be checking out that display case back there.
[Both girls seem perfectly happy with this proposal, so Hiyori leaves them and heads to the back of the store, where that student seemed to be standing behind some clothes racks. He steps right up to them—or rather, to him, since it is a boy's uniform the student is wearing, although the boy does have a cute and androgynous look about him—and cuts right to the chase, armed with a lovely smile.]
Can I help you? It seemed like you were staring, for some reason.
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Or used to be.
In reality, things aren't like that at all anymore. He's not sure how the current situation came to pass, but somewhere along the line, it seems that everyone decided, "as long as we can say we attended Yumenosaki, we don't need to do any work," and things deteriorated from there. Most of the student body isn't doing any idol work, and the whole school is overrun with delinquents. As a result, the Yumenosaki name has depreciated in value, and those few motivated students are finding it harder and harder to get jobs. Both teachers and student council members are powerless to help; you'd need something like a revolution to whip this student body into shape.
Which is exactly where fine comes in.
"Putting an end to the old era and creating a new world"—that's the purpose of fine, at least according to their magazine interview. (When was the last time a Yumenosaki unit gave a magazine interview? Not recently, since Valkyrie's stoic leader seems to hate talking about his craft.) Although it might be unclear what was meant by this ambiguous statement, in private, Eichi made his intentions quite clear: their purpose is to reform the school. They're going to restore Yumenosaki's former glory, changing it from a wasteland into a place where dreams can flourish again. And they're going to do this fair and square: by working hard, singing their hearts out onstage, and winning battles through the new DreamFes system.
And destroying those problem children who Eichi deemed the "villains" of this story.
The reception to fine's debut was lukewarm, which only makes sense, because it was rather rushed. But they still came off looking good in comparison to the "Eccentrics," who couldn't even be bothered to show up. They've been practicing and practicing since then, putting on other small Lives, and steadily gaining more influence. And now, with the Venus Cup approaching in two weeks, it's almost time to strike against their toughest opponent of all: Itsuki Shu from Valkyrie himself. They're going to take his work, his dreams, and his hard-earned reputation, and throw it all in the incinerator.
But Hiyori isn't preparing for that right now. As a matter of fact, he's not even at practice.
Instead, Hiyori is strolling through the downtown, browsing shops a few blocks away from their school. It's been a few weeks since he's done this—things really have been busy—but as far as he's concerned, too much work and no play isn't good for anyone, least of all him. He doesn't answer to anyone's orders, especially not Eichi's or Tsumugi's, so when one of his fans told him that she and the other girls had been feeling awfully lonely, he went ahead and ditched practice to take them out on a date. Something like this is far more enjoyable, after all, even if there's a lingering feeling of emptiness left behind once everything's said and done.
They start at a store that sells lotions and bath products, before hitting up a sweets shop, and then a trendy boutique. All the money is courtesy of Eichi Tenshouin: it's supposed to be used for "unit activities," or something like that, but Hiyori doesn't really care. Eichi has plenty more money where that came from, so he shouldn't cry if some of it disappears into cash registers at luxury stores.
His willingness to spend money makes him even more popular with the girls, of course, who giggle and fawn and hang off his arm. It's not a very large group today—he started out with four, but two of them had to leave due to some commitment, so now there's only two left. Since he's not surrounded on all sides, he's more aware of his environment than usual. Perhaps that's why he notices the onlooker.
When he was at the sweets shop, he noticed someone else from Yumenosaki sitting alone at a nearby table. They were a first-year, judging from their tie, and he'd never spoken to them before in his life, so he didn't think they were worth noticing. Now, however, as he moves through the boutique, looking at clothes and accessories with the girls, he gets this feeling creeping up his neck, like he's being watched. He glances over his shoulder, and sure enough, it's the same student from the sweets café: same uniform, same shaggy blond haircut, same small frame.
A coincidence? Or is he being followed? Does this person want an autograph, or what?
He turns back to the girls.]
Hmm, this is a really good brand, so a 20% off sale is not something we want to miss out on. Why don't you both select something you like and let me foot the bill? In the meantime, I'll be checking out that display case back there.
[Both girls seem perfectly happy with this proposal, so Hiyori leaves them and heads to the back of the store, where that student seemed to be standing behind some clothes racks. He steps right up to them—or rather, to him, since it is a boy's uniform the student is wearing, although the boy does have a cute and androgynous look about him—and cuts right to the chase, armed with a lovely smile.]
Can I help you? It seemed like you were staring, for some reason.
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1/3...
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done
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