Oh, Shioriko…

Good morning.

Morning… Um, Shioriko? I'm sorry about the other day.

I don't believe I am the person you should be apologizing to.

Yeah… But it seems like Ayumu's been absent lately.

I see you have noticed this as well.

Huh?

Nothing. We will leave it at that. So, as the deadline is fast approaching, are your efforts to gather volunteers going smoothly?

Um, well…

You need not answer. In any case, I have no intention of going back on my word.

I'm gonna try and persevere to the very end.

I wish you all the best.

Thanks. Well then…

[Fade in/out.]

…

[Fade in/out. On the phone.]

Uh, thank you for your time.

[Putting phone away.]

*Sigh*

Sounds like it didn't go well.

Yeah… What about you guys?

I've definitely conversed more competently…

Same here…

Me too.

It's not just that we're not getting results. It feels like the more effort we put in, the worse the response is.

You think so, too? I've actually been thinking the same thing myself.

I was thinking… Maybe the idea of asking for volunteers itself is the wrong way to go about it.

What do you mean, Setsuna?

Shouldn't we be selling it like it's this really fun festival they can't miss out on?

Selling it…?

I getcha. You're saying our desperation is turning people off.

Hold up, I don't get it at all!

Like, it's the difference between opening up a cake bakery and asking people to come bake a bunch of cute and delicious cakes together…

Versus begging people for help because your bakery will go out of business without them!

Which request would you accept, Kasukasu?

Obviously the first one! The second one makes it sound like you'll blame me if the bakery goes under! And hey! Don't call me Kasukasu!

That's exactly what I'm saying, Kasumi. People will be more inclined to help if we invite them to join because it'll be fun.

But if we beg them for help, they'll feel too anxious to agree.

I see. I get what you're saying now.

You might be right about that.

It's possible we've forgotten to tell people the most important thing—that the School Idol Festival is going to be incredibly fun.

The School Idol Festival is fun! We can't forget that.

That's right.

It's like when you see someone all excited and hyped up over something, and you get curious and want to join in too if it's that much fun.

That's exactly it. I completely glazed over all of that.

I should've asked everyone to help us create a fun event, but instead, all I could do was just simply ask for their help. It's only natural they didn't feel like joining…

It's normal that you felt under pressure, but that's got nothing to do with the people you're asking.

Maybe we needed to put ourselves in their shoes more.

Yeah… I'd probably be a little reluctant if I were asked like that too.

I wouldn't want to spend time on something that didn't sound fun either.

I was too eager to get results!

Same here, Ai. We should've realized sooner.

We know what we were doing wrong now, but are we too late?

Can we turn things around from here?

I don't know, but I wanna do everything in my power!

I'm gonna do what I can as well, but aren't we fighting a losing battle?

Yeah, we've only got a week left. If only we had another month!

It pains me to say this, but it looks like this time…

This is so disappointing. Everyone was looking forward to it.

But we all gave it our best shot.

Especially you. You worked yourself so hard we couldn't help but worry.

No… It was all just wasted effort in the end. I'm so…so sorry.

Chin up. If you give up when you don't get the results you want, then you won't be able to achieve anything.

The worst thing you can do is not attempt something because you're afraid of failure.

I agree. This hasn't been a waste of time or effort at all. I'm sure we can use what we've learned for next time.

She's right. For us to fail after how hard we've worked this time round just means it was all bad timing! It'll work out next time!

…

(Everyone's being so encouraging, but I really can't forgive myself for all of this!)