Innocent and Pure

"Yahoo~ Congratulations, Homura-shi!"

From the way of speaking alone, it was clear that the person who had called him was none other than Saori.

"After hearing the news, I called you right after school!"

"Haha, thanks!"

Homura chuckled happily, which somewhat lessened the frustration of forgetting the song's title.

"I was just about to call you too, but you beat me to it!"

"Oh? Is there something you want from me, Homura-shi?" Saori asked with curiosity.

"Just a while ago, Mugi called me to congratulate me and shared some news." Homura explained.

"Don't keep me in suspense, Homura-shi! Spill the beans already!" Saori urged impatiently.

"Their song is ready, and they plan to perform it at my place this Sunday."

Homura didn't tease Saori and just shared the news right away.

"Ohh! That's indeed great news!" Saori couldn't contain her excitement. "I still vividly remember their first performance!"

"Don't worry! This Sunday, both Kiririn-shi and Kuroneko-shi will be joining me, de gozaru!" Saori said with enthusiasm but as if remembering something, she suddenly asked, "By the way, Homura-shi, what's the name of the song?"

"..."

In just one sentence, Homura was frustrated again.

"I forgot to ask..."

He awkwardly explained to her the reason why he forgot.

"I see..." Saori understood. "Emm, Kaguya's problem is indeed tricky..."

"We'll discuss it together later." Homura ended the topic. "I assume you have class soon?"

"Yep, you're right. Okay, Homura-shi, get back to your busy schedule. We'll talk later."

After ending the call, Homura waited to see if anyone else would call him. He thought that maybe Fumino and Chika might call, but he was overthinking it, as the rest of them would probably call after school.

With all of this settled, Homura prepared dinner for everyone tonight.

===

When Homura arrived at the recording studio, he received expected phone calls from several friends. After receiving their congratulations, the thirteen members of the voice acting group gathered at the studio.

Even though most of the tasks had already been taken care of, it didn't hurt for them to continue coming. After all, there would always be some imperfections or mistakes with the voices, and Homura's explanations were also a source of learning for everyone.

"By the way, you guys probably don't know yet, do you? Mugi and the others already have their song ready."

Homura seemed to repeat this sentence several times today.

"Really?!" Honoka's eyes lit up first. "What's the song's title?"

"..."

Homura sighed inwardly and then decided to tell a lie.

"I didn't ask... keeping some mystery would be nice, right?"

"Is that so..." Honoka nodded. "Um, you're right! This makes it even more exciting!"

"..."

As he observed Honoka's innocent reaction, Homura fell silent and suddenly felt guilty.

In the end, he decided to come clean.

"I'm sorry, actually... I forgot to ask."

"Eh? Why?!" Honoka asked in surprise.

Homura had to explain the reason again, deepening his resentment toward the head of the Shinomiya family.

"What?!" Nico exclaimed in surprise. "How can a father like that exist?"

After saying this, she touched her chin and seemed to be in deep thought.

A moment later, she blurted out her speculation.

"Could it be... a stepfather?"

"..."

An awkward silence followed.

"Are you serious? Even though his actions seem that way, we can't just throw that idea around, especially if it gets out." Homura cautioned.

"Ahaha... just joking." Nico said with a sheepish smile. 

"Don't joke like that. He is not someone to mess with, or I wouldn't be so troubled by this..." Homura sighed.

"Okay, I get it. I won't say stuff like that again." Nico nodded, looking obedient.

As everyone saw this, they rolled their eyes.

How had she mastered the art of changing her demeanor so quickly?

Eli and Nozomi chuckled as they watched Nico's antic, hoping she would be more honest in the future.

"I see..." Kotori nodded in understanding. "But why did Homura-kun need to explain the truth? Your first statement didn't seem wrong, did it?"

Homura nodded.

"You're right, but it was just my way of consoling myself... You know, Honoka is kind of... innocent and... pure? I couldn't help but feel guilty."

"Pfttt..."

Yukiho stifled a laugh, surprised that her sister could make him relent.

"Hmm, Homura-kun really has no clue how to deal with someone like Honoka-chan." Megumi remarked. "If it were Eriri or Elf, Homura-kun would easily tease them without guilt—or rather, he'd enjoy it."

"Ahahaha..." Homura chuckled awkwardly.

Indeed, for many people, being looked at with such innocence in their eyes was a form of emotional torment!

"Isn't that a special ability in itself?" Umi smiled wryly. "I'm the same way. I can't resist Honoka's innocence, and she always ends up pulling me into all sorts of things."

"Eh? Is that so?"

Honoka wore an 'I've never heard of this' expression.

"Right?" Maki twirled a lock of her hair around her finger. "When you first asked me to help with composing a song, weren't you always looking at me like that? Not just looking, but you kept on pestering me…"

"In the manga, Kayo-chin seems to be looked at like that too, nyaa..."

Rin recalled a scene from the manga of 'Love Live!'.

"Mou! Does that even count? That's from the manga, y'know!" Honoka shook her head adamantly. "I never did that to Hanayo-chan!"

"Fufufu..." Nozomi chuckled. "But you absolutely would if the situation in the manga really happened to you, right, Ho~no~ka~chan~?"

"..."

Honoka sighed, unsure of what to say.

"By the way, Kotori seems to have this special ability too, doesn't she?" Homura quipped. "Although her gaze is more like a pitiful one rather than innocent."

It was a similarly hard-to-resist 'eye technique', and people rarely objected when someone looked at them with these 'eyes'.

"Um, you're right..."

Umi nodded in agreement, making Kotori look at her with a pout that caused Umi to retreat in defeat.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's start recording now." Eli chimed in. "Remember, the game is coming out on Saturday, and we need to finish everything by tomorrow at the latest."

"Yeah..." Homura agreed. "Recording and distribution will take some time, so we need to get everything done by tomorrow... By the way, Eli-senpai, did you finish the theme song?"

"Don't worry."

Maki, speaking with her left eye closed and flashing a smile at Homura, answered instead of Eli.

"It's not a problem."