Chapter Text
Chapter 6: “Its so unfair” by Shiloh
It has been a few months since Sayumi left and the twelfth gen joined. Ogata Haruna, a tall pale girl who loved ice skating, who also had an affinity for Riho. Nonaka Miki, a girl who came from the US and wanted to show off her English speaking skills, though she also had a mysterious aura about her. Makino Maria, the most popular, pretty girl who crushed hard on Sayumi and secretly looked up to Kanon. Last but not least, Haga Akane, the new youngest member who is obsessed with Haruka. The four girls seemed to mesh well with some of the older members, but it worried Kanon and Masaki the most since they have more competition for their lovers/crushes.
During dance practice, Kanon sprained her ankle and was not able to perform in the Hello Project Winter concert or dance in any of the new Mv’s, she got scolded harshly for it and was instead replaced with Karin from JJ. Kanon went home to her parents to heal her ankle and recover, which gave her a lot of time to think about what she was going to do next. On a late Tuesday afternoon, she laid on her bed, facing the ceiling, listening to a song Riho sang solo on, when suddenly she got a call from Sakura, she quickly picked up the phone.
“Hey Sakura, what’s up?” “Nothing much, I just wanted to check on you. How are you feeling, have you healed yet?” “Yeah, actually I have, I should be back in two days.” “Oh good! Did you do as planned with your weight as well?” “Oh you know I did, I actually lost fifteen pounds.” Kanon said as she got up to look in the mirror of the new girl she was transforming into. She smiled as a tear shed from her cheek. “Omg! I can’t wait to see you walk into that door for the Sukatto my Heart shooting!” Sakura squealed into the phone. Kanon turned away from the mirror as an evil smirk formed on her lips, “So tell me, what’s going on over there? Did anything change since I left?” “Well….It seems like the Mizuki and Ayumi are planning something for Riho…I overheard them talking during practice about coming onto her or something. Even that Haruna girl is acting a bit flirty with her. Riho is aloof to all of this of course, but honestly Suzuki-san, it won’t matter once you come back, you and I are gonna get together before the shoot and make you up, all Riho will ever be able to look at is you.” Sakura explained. Kanon clenched her fists throughout, but loosened up when she imagined the look on Riho’s face when she spots her new figure, “She will regret ever kissing Mizuki…”.
-time skip-
Even though Ogata Haruna is a beauty, she also was always a shy girl who didn’t make many friends, not until she met Nonaka Miki during the auditions, they became close in no time. Miki found out that Haruna had a big crush on Riho, she talked about her all the time. Haruna found it hard to strike a conversation with Riho while alone, since Riho always seemed swept up between Mizuki and Ayumi, the two most popular girls after Riho in the group. “Haruna...Haruna...snap out of it.” Miki snapped in front of her face, taking Haruna out of her trance on Riho during dance practice. “Sorry…” “At this point, you might as well talk to her.” “HA, like I could just go up to my senpai like that.” “Sayashi-san is actually not that hard to talk to. New friends are always welcome with her.” “We’ll see about that…”
“Okay girls, start from the top,” the dance instructor said. The beginning of Sukatto My Heart played after the girls got in their positions, it wasn’t that long until Haruna couldn’t keep up and ended up tripping over her feet. “Are you okay?” a voice called out to her, a voice so very familiar. She then saw a hand reaching out to her. She quickly looked up and there she was, the girl most precious to her standing there. Her eyes widened as she looked up in awe, quickly taking her hand and standing up, “I’m okay. Thank you so much.”. Riho smirked in a cool way. Ayumi glared at Haruna’s back, instantly picking up on her nervous nature. After all, that’s how Ayumi acted towards Riho in the beginning. “Hey Riho...can we hang today for lunch tomorrow?” Haruna blurted out before covering her mouth. Riho laughed a bit at her sudden question, “Sure, haha.” “O-Okay!” Haruna said in a yessir manner. Sakura took out her phone to snap a shot of them talking, “Bingo.”.
It was almost dusk, all of the girls changed into their regular clothes and started heading out of the dressing room until only Haruka and Masaki were left in there.
“I HATE YOU HARUKA! WE’RE OVER!”
“Are you sure you mean that? This is literally the third time we broke up. After this, there’s no going back.”
“OH I MEAN IT! I’ve stood by too long watching you frolick around with those other girls. Sometimes I even wonder if you still love me.”
“Masaki I can’t be with you all the time. I have friends that I don’t even get to hang out with because you always want my time.”
“Well some of those friends turned into more than that.”
Sakura pressed her ear against the door to listen in, smirking at every word exchanged. She jumped as soon as she heard something break, leading to footsteps running toward the door. She quickly hid around the corner as Masaki ran out, silently sobbing, leaving Haruka standing at the door to watch her run. Sakura quietly slipped from behind the corner, “Kudo-san?”. Haruka let out a deep sigh and turned around, slightly glaring at Sakura. She swore she saw the orange girl’s eyes turn a bit red, putting chills down her spine. “Are you okay?” she slowly approached the older girl, taking her hand without breaking any eye contact. Haruka remained silent, watching the worried young girl in front of her. Sakura held on to her hand tight, leading out of the building.
“Knock Knock…” Erina heard the knock while watching tv and got up to answer the door. “Masaki..?” “Ikuta-san...are you alone right now?” Masaki said in a soft, teary tone. “Yeah, why?” “Can I come in?” “Umm sure…” Erina stepped aside to let her in. Masaki slowly stepped in, looking around silently. “There’s something wrong. Spill.” The older locked the door and crossed her arms, not wanting to waste anymore time. “Haruka and I broke up again.” Masaki sat herself down on the couch. “For what this time?” “We’re drifting apart...she doesn’t like hanging out with me anymore...I can feel it..it’s like I’ve become a burden for her.” “Did you ever stop to think that you can come across as very needy and spoiled, especially to Haruka. You down her when you don’t get what you want.” “No I don’t!” Masaki raised her voice a little bit. Ikuta came back at her louder “YES you do.” “....Well she never talked to me about it until today….and she said it so harshly. I couldn’t help but get so angry...” tears started streaming down the younger’s face “I ended it right then and there...I’m starting to regret it…”. Erina slowly took her into her arms. “I’m sorry I even came here, I’m just rambling and taking my grief out on you.” Masaki pulled away to look into the older’s eyes. Erina was honestly shocked that Masaki would apologize like that. It wasn’t Masaki’s thing at all, in fact, she looked very matured in this moment. “Nah, it’s okay…”. After a long pause, Masaki kissed her lips, unable to stop herself. “No….Masaki stop...we can’t do this…” Erina tried pulling away. “Please….just let me kiss you, I just want to forget about everything...help me forget..before I do something even more dangerous..”. Erina thought about it for a little bit, weighing the pros and cons in her head. Masaki was right though, when she’s angry, she does outlandish stuff just to get attention and the group did not need any more negative attention than they already get. “...Just this once...and then you’re out of here. Okay?” “Promise….” Masaki smirked as she jumped on Erina’s hips, knocking her down.
Riho put closed her notebook of homework inside, letting out a small sigh. She got up and turned on her bluetooth radio and connected her phone to it. She began to play “It’s so unfair” (). The ace then fell back on her bed, looking up at the ceiling as her mind started to drift off. She was started to miss her best friend, Kanon.
“To be able to be unstoppable when together, to only have them on your mind, wanting to be with them all the time, it’s something I truly admire from their relationship…”
Kanon’s face lit up, “I feel the same way Riho-chan….there’s actually something I want to tell you..”.
“Hm? What is it?” Riho locked eyes with her.
“I-..”
---
She was going to confess to me….wasn’t she? Riho widened in her eyes when she realized...all this time she stood by her, not telling her how she really felt, watching Riho getting pursued by other girls. She held her stomach and bit her lip, it was like she felt all of Kanon’s pain. She pulled out her phone and started to text Kanon.
‘I hope all is well. Goodnight.” was all she could muster up to send. Riho set in her mind to talk to Kanon about everything properly when she gets back. She then turned over to go to sleep.
It’s so unfair….the things you do…