Handsome and Cool

It was already past eight, and the final group should be arriving soon.

Soon, from the direction where Fumino's group had come earlier, nine figures wearing masks and sunglasses appeared, sneaking into Homura's line of sight.

As he watched their appearances, he was stunned!

'What's going on here? Doesn't this make things even more suspicious?!'

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Homura was convinced that this had to be Nico's idea!

"Wait up!" Homura exclaimed, rushing over and snatching all their sunglasses off while they stood dumbfounded.

"Homura-kun?!" Honoka exclaimed in disbelief. "How did you spot us?!"

He remained silent for a moment.

"Because you guys were acting way too suspicious!" Homura said with a hint of annoyance. "Don't you think this draws more attention? Pay closer attention to the passersby... they can't help but stare at you!"

Honoka sighed.

"But, this was Nico-chan's suggestion! She said we should be aware of being recognized as idols and be ready for it at all times!"

"I actually think this makes us more noticeable..." Umi shook her head.

"Ahh, I suddenly feel so dumb..." Maki mumbled while pulling down her face mask.

"You need endurance! It's the path every idol must go through!" Nico emphasized.

"Nico-senpai..." Homura said with a bewildered look. "These situations are actually quite rare; they're more common in TV dramas."

"Phew~ Looks like Nico-chan's been watching too many TV dramas, nyaa~" Rin couldn't hold back any longer after hearing his explanation and removed all her disguises.

One by one, the rest began to free themselves from their disguise.

"Nico-chan, I told you, it's completely unnecessary." Nozomi remarked with a smile. 

"Yeah, even if we're to dress casually like this, no one would recognize us, right?" Eli chimed in.

"Why?!" Nico stood frozen in shock, while Maki promptly removed Nico's mask.

Nico's level of eccentricity was really something else.

Looking around, Homura let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness I spot you all early. Otherwise, it would've been troublesome if someone reported you all to the police."

Muse remained silent. What on earth did they do?! Reporting them to the police?!

"Just kidding. Let's go, everyone's here now. There are a few people you haven't met yet; I'll introduce you to them." Homura said with a smile.

Ignoring their resigned expressions, he led them towards the main group.

===

After a simple self-introduction, it was easy for everyone to remember each other's names.

Muse and Another Dimension were actually already known to everyone. The main focus was on Fumino's group and Kaguya's group, who were still unfamiliar.

"So, this is the main character from Homura-kun's manga?" Chika looked at Muse's nine members with keen interest. She had already read his manga yesterday.

On the other hand, Kaguya, who knew nothing, looked bewildered as she watched Chika surrounding them.

"These nine are today's main characters. I've drawn manga with them as the protagonists. Chika should have seen it yesterday." Homura explained to Kaguya.

"Other manga?" Kaguya's information in this area was quite limited. "Minamiya-kun, how many manga have you actually drawn?"

"Hmm... Three ongoing series, and I've already finished one of them which is 'Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun', so I'm working on a replacement. The rest is for the upcoming new work." Homura thought momentarily and answered.

As she heard his answer, Kaguya had a puzzled expression.

"That many? Is drawing manga really that easy?"

"It's not like that, Shinomiya-san." Ayano spoke up. "Most Mangaka can't even handle drawing two series at once. For someone like Homura who juggles three or even four series, there's probably no one else like him in this world."

"Wow, Minamiya-nii is amazing!" Moeha couldn't help but exclaim.

"Speaking of which..." Ayano glanced at the people chatting among themselves. "Doesn't this feel like a whole class of girls coming out to hang out?"

"What about me?" Homura glanced at her.

"The class teacher?" Ayano tentatively suggested.

"…"

Even Kaguya couldn't hold back a snicker and then struggled to suppress her laughter.

Homura didn't have the heart to say that Ayano was actually more like the class teacher. But saying that would imply that she was older, and he, who was strongly inclined toward survival, didn't plan to go down that path.

Coming back to Muse's group, Homura asked. "So, are you all ready?"

After a moment of silence, Eli answered for everyone.

"It's not possible to say we're truly ready, but no matter what, this is something we should do. So... We don't need to prepare, just doing it is enough."

The nine of Muse exchanged smiles.

This smile left everyone feeling sentimental, and Homura nodded in agreement. This was the best mindset!

"Umu, let's go! Everyone, change into your costumes, and I'll handle the accompaniment."

"The accompaniments are all in there." Maki handed over the laptop to Homura. She looked at him with a bit of hesitation, until Rin called her. In the end, she didn't say anything.

Homura watched Maki's figure thoughtfully. Could it be that she wanted to thank him? Otherwise, she wouldn't find it so difficult to speak up.

He turned on the laptop and even put on a pair of headphones. He ran the accompaniment one by one to check for any issues.

After the check, he nodded at Ayano and the others, then lightly jumped onto the sound car. After she told the sound crew to power up, he began connecting the laptop and familiarizing himself with the equipment.

Ayano crossed her hands on her chest, watching Homura manipulate the rather complex-looking equipment with ease.

"Every time I see Homura in this condition, I can't help but think he's unexpectedly handsome and cool..."

Her words caught everyone's attention. Looking at Homura's serious expression, they couldn't help but admit that her words were true.

Sagiri, Eriri, and Tsumugi were even more amazed.

"Homura-kun knows so many things!" Chika covered her mouth in surprise.

"Chika, there should be some information about Homura on his blog, right? Didn't you look?" Eriri was quite surprised.

"I did, but it's precisely because I looked that I find it even more incredible."

Utaha nodded. "Exactly. When you see him like that, it's hard not to overestimate. But when you face Homura-kun directly, you realize it's not an overestimation at all. In fact, there might even be some underestimation."

They were all deeply moved. Everyone present knew Homura to some extent, so hearing Utaha's statement wasn't unexpected.

The only one who seemed a bit lost was...

"What are you all talking about?"

Kaguya wore a puzzled expression on her face.