We continued our casual banter until we finally arrived at the studio.
âO-Oh man⌠It feels like weâre visiting an idolâs private residence here.â
âRitsuki, I-I donât look weird or anything, do I? Is it okay for me to meet Shiorin and the others like this?â
Hasumi, who was overly afraid of being disliked by people, brought her face close to mine and frantically asked me.
I couldnât help but turn my face away when I saw her cute, innocent face under her long bangs.
Itâs easy for one to forget given her personality, but Hasumi is an incredibly beautiful girlâŚÂ Crap, that was a close call.
I almost subconsciously confessed to her, which wouldâve lost me one of very few friends.
âDonât worry, weâre both weird no matter what.â
âT-Thatâs right! Weâre a matching couple of weirdos!â
For some reason, Hasumi seemed happy when she heard my comment.
I wasnât complimenting you thoughâŚ?
I pressed the intercom and the gate opened along with Shiorinâs cheerful voice saying, âIâll open it now!â
âââ
As we entered the dance studio, Shiorin and the others gathered around us with happy smiles on their faces.
Normally, being surrounded by my favorite idols wouldâve had me nervous and stiff.
But Iâm not the old me anymore.
Iâm gonna head over to them with a dashing smile on my face, hand them the bag, and ask them how theyâre doing.
âH-H-H-Here y-you g-go.â
âAh! Could this be food for us?! Thank you!â
âYay! Itâs ice cream! Iâm so happy!â
With trembling hands, I held out the bag from the convenience store, which they accepted.
As they took the bag from me, my hand touched theirs a little. Iâm sorry, and thank you.
I took a deep breath to acclimate myself to the surroundings.
Itâs also how I try to calm my nerves when I have concerts and the like.
Iâm okay now. I should be able to speak normally again.
Shiorin immediately opened the ice creamâs packaging as she looked over at us before tilting her head to the side in confusion.
âHuh? Whereâs Rinka-samaâŚ?â
âShe got a bad test score and has to attend some supplementary lessons. It was unfortunate, but she couldnât come with us today.â
âSo Rinka-sama isnât very good at her studies. I find that part of her wonderful as wellâŚ! Even when I called her last night, she told me, âIf you canât sleep, Iâll just keep you company until you can fall asleep.â Haaah~~â
Shiorin squirmed about and her eyes turned to hearts as she eagerly talked about Rinka, to which Akarin and Mihorin let show wry smiles.
To think that Shiorin was already this obsessed with RinkaâŚ
With the way sheâs acting right now, Iâd say sheâs probably been calling Rinka every day where, every time she does, Rinka unintentionally wins her heart over with her classic ikemen-like moves.
I guess Rinka herself just thinks sheâs acting normal though.
ââWait, so isnât Shiorin half the reason why Rinka couldnât study for the test?