*TWO DAYS LATER*
*SHIORIKO'S ROOM - MIFUNE MANOR - AOYAMA - TOKYO*
SHIORIKO: "You didn't have to take time off work for me."
KAORUKO: "But I did. I wasn't going to leave you here alone."
SHIORIKO: "Students rely on you, Kaoruko. Please don't abandon them for my sake."
KAORUKO: "There is always a time to be selfish. I believe now is that time for me. Would you like some hot chocolate?"
SHIORIKO: "No thanks."
KAORUKO: "Our private doctors said your condition is stabilizing, are you okay with having guests over?"
SHIORIKO: "Yes, I am fine with that."
KAORUKO: "Well, you just so happen to have a visitor."
SHIORIKO: "Huh?"
AKI: "..."
KAORUKO: "Thank you for coming here, Suzuki-son. I hope you can keep Shioriko company for a while."
AKI: "Thanks, Kaoruko."
Kaoruko left, leaving me and Shioriko alone in her bedroom...
AKI: "How are you feeling?"
SHIORIKO: *Cough* "I'm getting better."
AKI: "That's good..."
SHIORIKO: "..."
AKI: *Sob*
SHIORIKO: "Akihiko...?"
AKI: "I'm really sorry..."
SHIORIKO: "Huh?"
AKI: "This is all my fault!"
SHIORIKO: "N-No it isn't!"
AKI: "I've seen this all happen before. It happened to Lanzhu, and it happened to me.
You overworked yourself...
You've been taking on everything in Student Council by yourself!
When I, your Vice-President should have been there for you!"
SHIORIKO: "You yourself were busy, please do not take the blame for this!"
AKI: "It was all for nothing..."
SHIORIKO: "What?"
AKI: "Everything I worked hard for, to get Nijigasaki their own campaign. Only for us to fail in the School Idol Showcase...
All that time was wasted, when I should have been helping you."
SHIORIKO: "Don't be ridiculous. Look how successful the School Idol Fansite has become thanks to your campaign articles."
AKI: "Sure, but that doesn't mean anything to me when the School Idol Club's popularity is in the ground..."
SHIORIKO: "...Because of our P.V and our most recent live show, correct?"
AKI: "...Wh-What? Of course no-"
SHIORIKO: "I heard everything."
AKI: "...?!"
SHIORIKO: "My apologies for eavesdropping. That night in the minibus, you told Kaoruko everything that was bothering you."
AKI: "I-I..."
SHIORIKO: "Why did you keep silent?"
AKI: "..."
SHIORIKO: "If the promo video was bothering you so much, why didn't you say anything?
As our Club President, why didn't you speak up about our live show's flaws?"
AKI: "...Because I don't want to be like them."
SHIORIKO: "Like who?"
AKI: "Idol producers. Those who micromanage every little thing about their clients' lives.
Back on Kōzushima, I realized that I was driving myself downhill in that direction."
SHIORIKO: "Kōzushima... Is this to do with what happened with Shiro?"
AKI: "Yes. But this goes back further than that, from the start of last month.
The Nijigasaki Film Festival.
Suddenly, the School Idol Club wasn't our number one priority, and instead we were helping out the other clubs at our school.
But something felt off...
When you told me that the Club Presidents had each made personal requests for each girl, and then I met them, it all began to make sense.
The reason why they requested assistance from our Club members was to get close to them. So that they could later recruit them."
SHIORIKO: "Are you sure that you weren't just paranoid?"
AKI: "No. Because after the results of the Film Festival were revealed, I bumped into them all backstage.
They themselves said that if they recruited the girls, they could help improve the popularity of their clubs."
SHIORIKO: "They really said that?"
AKI: "It's true, all of it. It's why I hold a hostile resentment for them all."
SHIORIKO: "Even Shiro Kosaka?"
AKI: "Especially him."
SHIORIKO: "Then what happened... D-Did you-?"
AKI: "Let me stop you there. What happened was purely an accident.
Before the trip, I agreed to become the lead interviewer for the School Idol Fansite on one condition.
That Ayu wasn't permitted to join the Computer Club."
SHIORIKO: "...?!"
AKI: "Shiro wanted to take advantage of her, but I wasn't going to let him do that.
But he couldn't stay away, he had to drag all the other Club Presidents to Kōzushima with him.
Then the whole baseball thing happened, and I was made out to be a villain.
As some method of damage control I retracted the stipulation to our deal, and soon everyone joined the other Clubs.
Had I protested against this, I would have looked like a corrupt producer who wants to control his clients' lives.
My thoughts kept telling me that this was all for the right decision, and that I should allow the girls to make every one of their choices, without my influence."
SHIORIKO: "What you're saying is that you stopped being a leader."
AKI: "...Yes. I stopped leading you all, and I instead retreated into a cheerleader role.
Someone who didn't influence your choices, but rather encouraged the path you chose."
SHIORIKO: "Akihiko..."
AKI: "But if I protested, if I contributed... I would only become a villain.
No different from the corrupt producers and their micromanagement."
SHIORIKO: "I recall that it was not your idea for our promotional video to feature the other clubs singing and dancing.
But rather for them to appear in the video as fans."
AKI: "Yes..."
SHIORIKO: "However, the other members had been influenced by their respective clubs to allow that to happen."
AKI: "Forcing the School Idol Club members to take a backseat, while the other clubs hijacked our promo video for their own promotional showcase."
SHIORIKO: "..."
AKI: "Now do you see why I am so hostile towards them?"
SHIORIKO: "Even so... I do not believe that their intentions were malicious."
AKI: "What...?"
SHIORIKO: "In the School Idol Club, we have accomplished so much in such little time.
We have so much fun on a daily basis.
In a school that promotes freedom of choice, who wouldn't choose to be a part of that?
Look at the inspiration we gave them, and how they've accomplished their goals."
AKI: "In exchange for our own. Don't you see that we have been used?"
SHIORIKO: "Then surely it should be our responsibility as the School Idol Club to improve upon our failures!"
AKI: "How can we improve when everyone is spending all their time at their other clubs?!"
SHIORIKO: "..."
AKI: "Exactly. The moment I tell the other Club Presidents to back off is the day we have another Kōzushima conflict.
I will NOT let myself be referred to as a villain."
SHIORIKO: "Your problem also lies with everyone calling themselves school idols."
AKI: "...Did Kaoruko ever tell you about what began her interest in school idols?"
SHIORIKO: "Yes. It began when she met Hana Hazuki, the first school idol."
AKI: "You would think that as the first school idol, she created the term.
But she's not.
It was a concept created by Aiko Takasaki."
SHIORIKO: "Aiko Takasaki? You mean...?"
AKI: "Aiko Suzuki. My mother."
SHIORIKO: "I... I don't know what to say..."
AKI: "Do you know how it feels to see your mother's creation become bastardized?
Nijigasaki's school idols are the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.
It's not just a term that everyone can put on and take off like a pair of slippers.
We've dedicated so much to this, they haven't!"
SHIORIKO: "...You're worried that it will take away our credibility. As our President, you want to protect us."
AKI: "..."
SHIORIKO: "Listen, Akihiko... You think that you are doing this to protect us.
But you're just fine with sitting back and watching everyone make the wrong decisions?
Yet you don't want to speak up about that because you fear it will make you look like a bad person."
AKI: "..."
SHIORIKO: "Who you're really trying to protect, is yourself."
AKI: "...Excuse me?"
SHIORIKO: "If you want to protect us more than yourself, then clearly you would not care about what everyone would see you as, and you would tell us the truth.
But instead, you choose to keep it all inside out of the fear of what everyone will perceive you to be."
AKI: "..."
SHIORIKO: "With the way your father treated you, I can see why you developed such a tough shell."
AKI: "...We're done here."
SHIORIKO: "You're going to walk away?
Why?
Because you want to protect yourself?
You're worried about someone seeing you for who you truly are?!
So you'll keep everything a secret from the School Idol Club because you're worried how we'll judge you?!
I thought you were better than that..."
AKI: "...Goodbye, Shioriko."