It's a rare treat for you to come down on your own, but I'm really happy you did! You should come hang out more often!

Oh, sorry. You wanted to know why we became school idols, right?

Hmm. I guess because I saw A-RISE sing and it just hit me that this is what I wanna do!

A-RISE is incredible! When they show up, the atmosphere in the room changes instantly! You feel like you're alone with A-RISE there!

So you all started off with admiration for another group as well?

Yup! After we saw A-RISE perform, it looked like so much fun, we wanted to give it a try ourselves.

It looked like fun so you wanted to give it a try… That makes sense. Your motivation may have been simple, but that's what makes it so strong.

What exactly are you hoping to get by asking us that, anyway? Do you really need a reason for everything you try? Just having the interest is more than enough.

*Sigh* Perhaps I'm putting far too much thought into this…

That reminds me. Sorry to suddenly change the topic, but there's something I'd like to ask of you, Shizuku.

Me? What might that be?

Honoka's been signed up to do some acting, but she's in a bit of a pinch. Do you mind giving her some advice?

Oh, yeah! Shizuku's the perfect person to ask!

It would be quite helpful to get advice from someone with real acting experience.

Sorry to spring this on you, but could you help her out?

With acting? Of course! I'll be glad to help in any way I can!

Yay! I'll get straight to the point, then. How do I get into character?

What kind of role is it?

A bird, but I have no idea what goes on in a bird's mind. Actually, what do you think birds think about?

A b-bird?! Wow, a bird…

I wonder what birds think about. How do they feel when they're flying?

Honoka was about to jump off a roof yesterday because she wanted to understand what it's like to be a bird.

What?!

We had quite a hard time getting her to stop. I can't say this enough, Honoka. It's beyond extreme to insist you have to fly in order to understand how a bird feels.

But Umi…!

No buts! Sheesh!

Off a roof…

Shizuku, what's the matter?

Huh? Oh, n-nothing. Nothing at all.

[Fade in/out.]

*Laugh* That's definitely something Honoka would do.

But hearing about Honoka's method for getting into character has made me realize something. I understand the mistake I've been making.

What do you mean?

My approach to acting was to transform myself into the role.

But it'd be more accurate to say all I did was mimic what someone else had already done. I based my performance on other performances.

That's why I don't have my own ways of expressing myself. There was no heart or soul behind what I was doing.

If I was told to play the role of a bird, I'd probably start by copying its movements. I wouldn't have thought to try and understand how a bird feels like Honoka did.

That's also how I approached being a school idol. All I've done is mimic how other school idols act, and never once seriously thought about how to express my true self.

Maybe I'm just a complete failure as both an actor and a school idol.

Well, I disagree. You've started to think about how you wanna change the way you do things from now on, right?

Yes. But I still haven't come up with any ideas.

Normally, someone would consider quitting when things got to that point, but you never even considered it for a second, did you?

Well, I suppose not. Personally, I don't see any of it as a reason to quit.

See? That's why you'll be fine. I'm sure you'll figure out how to express yourself in a way that only you're capable of.

I wonder. Still, I feel like I'm finally starting to see what I need to think about, so I'll do my very best.