After Love Live

A Decision [Honoka]

Kousaka Honoka sat on her bed, clutching the business card Tsubasa had given her. The conversation she had with the other idol replayed in her head. Every moment of it. How Tsubasa and the other girls from A-RISE wanted to continue with being idols, even if they were no longer school idols. How Tsubasa thought that the members of Muse should do the same.

It should have been an easy decision. Honoka loved being an idol, and more than anything, she loved the other members and loved spending time with them, and she knew the other girls did too. She remembered how sad everyone was when they realized that, after the third years graduated, that they would have to disband. Even just thinking about that made Honoka kind of sad.

It wasn't as easy as it should have been, though. The final live had only been a few hours ago, and Honoka actually hadn't yet changed out of the frilly pink costume she had worn during the live. She felt an overwhelming emotional pain every time she had tried to take it off. She couldn't accept that Muse had actually disbanded.

She took another look at the card Tsubasa had given her. Continuing as regular idols didn't seem like a bad idea to her, but she needed to keep in mind everybody else. She needed to remember that the third years might want to go to college, and everybody else might want to just continue on with their high school careers as normal high schoolers.

Then she remembered something. When she had fainted before the first Love Live and had caused the other Muse members to decide it was best to withdraw from the event, when she had decided to quit being a school idol because of it, there were three girls who had decided to carry on being school idols.

Nico, Rin, and Hanayo.

Honoka knew without a doubt that those three, at the very least out of the rest of the Muse members, would definitely want to continue being idols. She felt her spirits rise when she realized that there was hope for Muse. Having those three on her side would make talking to the others much easier.

She shot up out of bed, scrambling around her room, looking for her phone. She had put it down somewhere when she got home, but she couldn't remember where. Her memory was a bit messy like that. When it came to the important things, like her close friends' birthdays or showing up to practice or the dates of live shows, she could remember those easily. But when it came to where she put something or dates of tests or even if she remembered to eat, her memory failed her there constantly.

After spending about ten minutes practically tearing her room apart, she realized her phone was probably not in her room. She sighed deeply, standing up and dusting off her dress. She knew she was going to have to clean her room later because of this, but at that very moment, she didn't care. She needed to find her phone.

She left her room and went to her sister's, knocking on the door before she entered so she wouldn't walk in on anything embarrassing. She heard Yukiho and Alisa talking, so she assumed nothing weird was going on anyway. Although she could never be too sure.

The talking died down as soon as Honoka knocked, so she wondered what she was interrupting. She knew Yukiho and Alisa were planning to be school idols when they entered high school, so she hoped that was all she was interrupting.

"Come in," Yukiho called.

Honoka opened the door to her sister's room, glad to see the two younger girls were doing okay. "Hey, have either of you seen my phone?" She asked, a little embarrassed that she had to even admit she misplaced her phone.

"I think you left it in the bathroom," Yukiho replied with a laugh. "And why are you still in that dress? Aren't you uncomfortable?"

Of course, Honoka thought. I must have left my phone in the bathroom when I was talking off my makeup. She was relieved to know she hadn't completely lost her phone, but her heart sank a little when her sister asked about the dress. "Ah... I just haven't had the time to take it off yet!" She forced a smile and got ready to leave Yukiho and Alisa be. "Thanks for letting me know where my phone is, Yukih--"

"Sis," Yukiho said, cutting Honoka off, "are you sad?"

Honoka let out a nervous chuckle, and her smile faded soon after. "Yeah, just a little... But I'll be okay! Really! Don't worry about it."

"You know..." Alisa chimed in, hoping to be able to help. "... I really love Muse. It's inspired me to do so many things, and... I'll always remember how much it helped me, even if you all disbanded. So maybe... Maybe it'll help if you let your memories of Muse inspire you to do even more great things! After all, you and the other members will continue to be friends, right? This may be the end of Muse, but I don't think that that should mark the end of your friendship!"

Honoka was taken aback by Alisa's words. As always, she was stunned that the middle schooler could be so wise. She felt her eyes watering, as she knew Alisa was right. Even if she couldn't convince the other girls to continue being idols with her, she knew that the nine of them would at least always be friends. And that's all she really needed.

"Thanks, Alisa," Honoka choked out, wiping her eyes . "I think I should look for my phone now... You two take care!" She waved to the two girls before leaving them alone.

She went to the bathroom, hoping Yukiho was right. And sure enough, her phone was resting on the sink. She shook her head with a smile. If her head wasn't attached to her neck, she would probably forget that, too. She took her phone and quickly went back to her room. She had some texts to make.