Arc-2 Ep-07

 August ended, and the calendar flipped to September. For me—a middle school girl—summer vacation was over, and the second semester had begun.

Bathed in sunlight as hot as midsummer, I left home just in time to barely make it to class and headed toward school.

My school was an ordinary public middle school, less than a five-minute walk from home. As I drew closer, the number of stares I got on the way increased. Of course—after all, I was the school-famous beauty who’d now become an idol.

There was this atmosphere of wanting to talk to me but not quite daring to. Ignoring it, I stepped into the building and headed straight for my classroom. I wondered how my classmates would react.

“Morning.”

I greeted as I opened the classroom door and stepped inside.

“Ah…”

“… …Oh.”

The classmates already there went silent the moment they saw me. Ignoring the sudden hush, I went to my seat and sat down. The girl sitting to my right—someone I was on decent terms with—spoke up first.

“Morning, Kayanuma-san… So you really became an idol.”

“Morning… Yeah. I had to keep it secret, so I couldn’t tell anyone. Sorry.”

“I see. I saw you on TV—it was such a shock.”

That one comment broke the ice, and the others quickly followed.

“Yeah, I was watching late-night TV and suddenly saw a familiar face.”

“You were so cute, Kayanuma-san.”

“Joining the popular Systema Solare—that’s amazing.”

“Kayonuma-san? Not surprising, honestly.”

As latecomers arrived, the crowd around my desk thickened.

“Thanks.”

“If work gets busy, can you still come to school?”

“Hmm… For about a year, I don’t think it’ll get that busy.”

“But with you, Kayanuma-san, you’ll blow up fast.”

“That’d be nice if it happens.”

The top- to mid-tier caste boys and girls kept bombarding me with questions. I’d been ready for it, but even so—it was kind of annoying.

“…By the way, could you get Rina-chan’s autograph?”

“I want Tomomi-san’s!”

“I-I want Suzuka-sama’s…”

The last one—Suzuka-sama—was Suzuka Kiyota, a short-haired second-gen member with high female popularity. She’d been part of Sistema Solare since the very first Grand Festival.

Nickname: Saturnus. Ranked seventh in last month’s popularity poll. She played the cool, princely role in the group, though surprisingly, she actually had a pretty nice figure.

“Sorry… Autographs within Sistema Solare are banned.”

“Ehh… What a bummer.”

“Why though?”

“Because popular members got buried in autograph requests—it became too much work.”

Unpopular ones, on the other hand, had zero demand… probably caused jealousy and drama.

“No helping it, then. Don’t wanna trouble Kayanuma-san. I’ll give up on the autograph.”

“…Yeah. Rules are rules…”

Some looked like they wanted to protest, but once the top-caste boy and girl accepted it, the rest fell in line. Almost at the same time, the bell rang and the classroom door opened as our homeroom teacher walked in.

“…Alright, time’s up. Everyone, to your seats~”

“Yeees.”

Students scattered from around me and returned to their desks.

“Now then, summer break’s over, but what kind of—”

Today, the first day after summer break, was just the opening ceremony. But I was the only one called in afterward—for idol-related reasons. Nothing serious, though. I’d already reported everything back when I was accepted from the audition.

It was just about what to do if my idol activities ever started interfering with school. That would probably become a real concern after next year’s Reiteisai. Joining the top-tier internal group Sistema Solare would mean a huge increase in workload.

And it’d hit right in the second semester of third year—during high school entrance exams. Still, the agency had plenty of experience handling things like that.

Academically, thanks to my past life, I could easily stay at the top of my class, so regular exams weren’t a problem.

But I was planning to aim for a private high school with an entertainment course.