Under the Rain [Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]

S3-54✩ Storming Into the Show!

"As I remember it, Mi-chan's piano was very... energetic!"

Just like Miyu said, a fast-paced melody resounded from Mirai's keyboard and was joined by the drum beat, bass guitar, and saxophone. The festival organizing committee member pulled the gymnasium door open, revealing Mizuno behind it and allowing him to have his dramatic entrance as he sang the lyrics.

While singing, Mizuno performed a solo pantomime and some magic tricks for the audience to gawk at, then changed his costume in the middle of the song by simply opening an umbrella above his head and letting golden glitters that were stored in it rain him from head to toes. He spread out his arms, showing off his new navy suit that had replaced his committee t-shirt in a blink of an eye and receiving a round of excited applause from the audience. After that, he knelt in front of Aoi as he suddenly called her name with the lyric. He showed her some cards, motioning for her to pick one among them, then pulled out a large bucket of fresh flowers from the card she picked. He gave the flower bucket to her and also handed over the toy flower that adorned his pocket to Miyu, conjuring wide smiles on their faces. Then he went back to sing and dance at the stage, pulled Igarashi to play his saxophone in the spotlight, and finally closed the performance with a graceful bow after sneaking out while everyone's attention was on Igarashi then returning with a new type duel disk around his wrist and using it to activate a spell card that rained colorful confetti in the gymnasium.

Yusaku would have missed Mizuno's entire performance if it weren't for Takeru tugging on his sleeve and excitedly pointing at the stage, because unlike everyone, he was immersed in watching Mirai's keyboard playing instead. Those slender fingers of hers meticulously danced on the keys as she led the performance with her cheerful melody. Her silky silver hair strands swayed to both sides of her face, brushing against her rosy-red cheeks as she slowly relaxed her tense shoulders and nodded along the rhythm, and only then did he notice her new haircut. He wondered when did she cut her long hair before quickly frowning in sadness. After being overstimulated by the festival today, he was certain he didn't mind missing out, but now that he had seen the subtle changes in Mirai that she made while he shut himself in, he realized he might be lonelier than he thought he was. Even now, when he was surrounded by many people, he couldn't stop the growing emptiness in his heart.

"Fellow duelists and spectators! Welcome to Den City High School Festival!" Mizuno's energetic voice greeted everyone from the loudspeakers, distracting Yusaku from his pondering for now, "I'm Mizuno Takuya, your MC for today. The show that you just watched was performed by the Student Council, in collaboration with the Theater and Musical Club. Thanks for watching us! We also would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to SOL Technologies' Executive Director, Zaizen Akira-san, for sponsoring our festival. Although he cannot join us here, the Student Council still would like to express our gratitude to him through Zaizen Aoi-san, being his younger sister. We hope you like the flowers we arranged for you, Zaizen-san!"

Aoi nodded slightly as she sheepishly hid her blushing face behind her flowers. She seemed to love her gift, making Mizuno's smile widen. "And now, a few words from our festival organizing committee leader and our Student Council president. Please welcome: Igarashi Ken-kaicho!"

A boisterous round of applause and cheers escorted the red-haired boy as he walked up to the front and received a mic from a fellow committee member. His smile was thin, but everyone there could see how proud he was when he began his speech. "Hello everyone, I hope all of you are having a good time. Our school festival won't happen without everyone's joint effort and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Igarashi paused for a moment, a straight line replacing his smile. "It's my greatest honor to lead the planning for this year's school festival, but I realize I still have a lot to learn as a leader. As you know, our main event had to be delayed for more than an hour and moved here from its initial venue, the school auditorium. For that, I'd like to apologize to the organizers, performers, and spectators... as it was the consequence of my bad decision-making. A few weeks ago I was made aware of a certain rumor that had circulated among our students, but I decided it wasn't worth the Student Council's concern and just let it be, thinking no one would believe in such a baseless rumor and it would fade on its own soon. Unfortunately, I was wrong; instead, that rumor escalated and thanks to the recent scandal, it even attracted the mass media's attention. Reporters flooded our school this morning as a result and the teachers are currently still 'entertaining' them at the auditorium."