Muse! Music! Start! (I)

Homura approached them with a smile.

"Why did I get included?"

"How could we not? You're part of this too." Nozomi smiled back and replied. 

"From the beginning until now, everyone knows how much help Homura-kun has been to us." Kotori smiled. "Today is our official debut, how could we do without you, Homura-kun?"

The crowd also heard this and initially thought that Minamiya-sensei was just helping them with their manga, who knew there was more to it?

"I have an idea..." Honoka suggested. "Why not let Homura-kun shout the slogan this time?"

"No way, that's your job." Homura shook his head.

"Since it's our first official debut, let Homura-kun as the one who helped us the most shout it, what's wrong with that?"

Exactly because it was their first debut, they needed the captain acknowledged by every member to lead, which was Honoka.

But suddenly, Homura burst into laughter!

"Hahaha... Since it's like this..."

Seeing his expression, everyone was surprised. Was he really about to steal the captain's task? The girls looked at his expression and suddenly had a bad feeling.

Homura was about to speak, and Eriri was even thinking of stopping him.

"Wait a second! Homura—"

"Alrighty then, young padawans, prepare yourselves for some epic training!"

Eriri nearly collapsed on the ground!

Everyone fell silent.

'What the hell is that absurd slogan? What does that even mean?'

However, due to the absurdities, some people burst into laughter without knowing why!

"Hahaha! Minamiya-sensei is such a clown!"

Instantly, a wave of people followed along.

"The hell! Minamiya-sensei is bizarre as always!"

"Hahaha! A little mischief is good for your health!"

Even though they didn't know why they laughed, Homura's bizarreness made their hearts tickle.

His friends were even happier than them, especially Kaguya. Yes, at this moment, she crouched down, clutching her stomach, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably, her face turning red from stifling her laughter!

Chika, who had intended to laugh, witnessed this bizarre scene and had to hold back her laughter.

Seeing Kaguya struggle like this, Chika crouched down too, watching her with a curious glint in her eyes.

"Young padawans, prepare yourselves for some epic training!"

"Pfttt~! Hahaha!" Kaguya couldn't hold back any longer!

Even Moeha was almost dumbfounded by her sister's antics!

"Hehehe... Finally!"

Her dream of seeing Kaguya laugh had come true! Chika was now smiling with utmost joy.

"Young padawans, prepare yourselves for some epic training!"

"Pfttt, pfttt, pfttt..." Kaguya's stomach was practically hurting from laughter. "Fu-Fujiwara-san, please stop..."

But Chika hadn't had enough fun—how could she stop?

So whenever she saw Kaguya's smile fading, she'd say the line again and again, repeating this process several times until Kaguya was almost immune to it.

While everyone was joyfully laughing on this side, every Muse member had a mix of amusement and exasperation! It was supposed to be a straightforward situation, and yet Homura had managed to twist it in his own quirky way!

"Homura-kun... You're something else..." Eli said, her mouth hanging open, not knowing quite what to say.

"That's why, you guys should take the spotlight for the slogan. I'm just here to join the fun. If I took over, I'd make you train for sure." Homura chuckled.

"No! Spare us, please!" Honoka wiped a bead of sweat. "Let us handle it ourselves."

"Though Homura-kun threw in a little mischief, it actually helped us relax a lot..." Kotori spoke after taking a deep breath and looked at Homura suspiciously. "Could it be that Homura-kun did this on purpose?"

"Who knows~" Homura shrugged. 

Alright, they understood now.

Homura definitely did it on purpose. Otherwise, at most, he would have declined and tried to persuade them. So why did he speak that absurd line?

Extending her hand, Honoka looked at everyone.

With smiles on their faces, one after another, they stacked their hands together, then turned to Homura.

Homura was also quite content, placing his hand on top.

Honoka: "One!"

Kotori: "Two!"

Umi: "Three!"

Maki: "Four!"

Rin: "Five!"

Hanayo: "Six!"

Nico: "Seven!"

Nozomi: "Eight!"

Eli: "Nine!"

Finally, they all looked at Homura.

"Ten!" Homura didn't pull any tricks this time, because there was no need.

"Muse! Music! Start!" Honoka yelled.

""Ohhh!!!""

Homura took a deep breath, then shouted to the crowd. "Everyone! Please step back and clear the way! It's their stage!"

The crowd cooperated quite well. They were all Otaku, as well as fans of Homura and the Another Dimension after all.

They stepped back while recording with their phones as if they had practiced it a million times.

Homura jumped onto the sound truck, and both the costume truck and sound truck started up.

Ayano stood on the side, directing them to clear a path in one direction, creating a U-shaped formation for everyone to surround Muse.

Once they were in position, Homura tapped lightly, and the accompaniment immediately began.

"I say~"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! START:DASH!!~"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! START:DASH!!~"

The nine of them started dancing! Since it was a wandering performance, Eli had arranged more steps moving backward. As for why it was backward and not forward? They had to face the following crowd behind them after all.

The crowd also understood the performance style, but they had no objections. The entire group moved forward with the music and dance. More and more people joined from different directions, but what everyone naturally did was avoid standing in Muse's path.

Quite a few people even started dancing along.

Homura noticed several girls watching Muse's dance, mimicking their moves. Even one or two grown men were doing the same! It seemed like the influence of their previous videos.

And within this circle of crowd, there were a few muscular men occasionally joining in the dance. Were those the security personnel Ayano had arranged beforehand? They were truly professional, perfectly fulfilling his initial request.

Though most people might not have known the dance, it was still easy to sway along with the rhythm. The scene was truly lively and high-spirited!

Homura looked at the scene with a satisfied expression.

Muse, they could finally soar high.

===

Soon, the song ended.

"Wohoo~!"

"Ooooh~~!"

"Fantastic!"

"Go, Muse, Go!"

Cheers rose and fell as Honoka and the others caught their breath, smiling as they bowed to everyone.

"This is the first song of Muse. We didn't even tell Minamiya-sensei which song to play, but he still went ahead and played it first. He totally understands us!" Honoka said, grinning at everyone.

"If Minamiya-sensei doesn't understand you guys, how can he draw your manga!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

""Hahaha~!""

Laughter filled the crowd, a good-natured chuckle spreading through the air.

"Hehe! That's right!" Honoka laughed again. "Since we're Akihabara, the theme of the next song is, of course, this place! Kotori-chan wrote this song specifically for Akihabara!"

Everyone's anticipation suddenly rose.