HiMERU Feature Scout: "Past, Present and..." Chapter 1

Location: Café “Cinnamon”

HiMERU: — “Werewolf”?

Rinne: Yeah, dude. It’s a game where, through talkin’ to each other, ya gotta uncover the lyin’ li’l werewolf who’s pretendin’ to be your friend.

The other day, some guys were playin’ it in the common area of the Starmony Dorm and I had ‘em let me join in. It was a blast.

And while we’re all here, let’s make it a competition! The loser’s gotta treat us to lunch!

If I’m the werewolf, I’m gonna eat you up first and foremost, Niki. Get ready for your just deserts, kyahaha ☆

Niki: Don’t make scary declarations like that! I like to eat, but I’d rather not be eaten.

Kohaku: Werewolf, huh? I’ve played that online before. That game needs 8 or more players, so we can’t do it by ourselves, right?

Rinne: No worries, I can just hit up the guys from ASOBI Club on HoldHands —  then we’ll easily get enough peeps in here.

Niki: “Easily”, huh. Not everyone’s got the kinda free time you have, Rinne-kun.

Rinne: Aaahn? Hell are you talkin’ about, I don’t have that much time to spare either. I’ve only got this one life, and livin’ it to the fullest doin’ all kinds of hilarious shit keeps me real busy!

HiMERU: — That’s called “having free time”.

Kohaku: Huh… HiMERU-han, yer leavin’ already?

HiMERU: Yes. It seems like the business talk is over, so there’s no point in staying any longer than this.

Kohaku: Aight. But can ya answer me one question before ya go?

HiMERU: — A question? As long as it’s something HiMERU can answer, do go ahead and ask.

Kohaku: Thank ya kindly. I’m not sure how t’broach this topic, so I’ll just ask ya point-blank: Did ya screw somethin’ up, HiMERU-han?

HiMERU: Screw up? Did HiMERU do something like that?

Kohaku: I mean, I don’t think you’ve been involved in any misdeeds.

Ya see, yesterday Anzu-han asked me to tell her everythin’ I know about ya, HiMERU-han.

Niki: Ah! Oh right, it didn’t happen yesterday, but she asked me about HiMERU-kun, too.

I was hungry back then, so I turned her down with a, “Yeah, some other time.” Still, I wonder what that was all about?

HiMERU: She asked both Oukawa and Shiina? Then, that must mean…

Rinne: ‘Course, she reached out to li’l old me as well. When I said that I’d spill the beans if she beat me in a gamble, she turned tail, though.

So spit it out, Merumeru. What’d you screw up?

HiMERU: ………

Rinne: If ya don’t feel like tellin’ us what’s up, how about we reveal it through a game of Werewolf? Kyahaha ☆

HiMERU: — There’s nothing to reveal in the first place. HiMERU doesn’t have the slightest idea what this could be about.

(Actually, the only thing that comes to mind is “my” secret. Perhaps she suspects something, and that’s why she’s sounding out the people around HiMERU...?)

HiMERU will go meet with Anzu-san in person and ask what it is that she wants to know. Well then, see you.

Location: CosPro Office

HiMERU: (The person standing with their back turned towards HiMERU… As expected, it’s Anzu-san. Finally, HiMERU found her.)

(Seeing as she’s at the CosPro office, perhaps she’s still investigating HiMERU.)

(In that case, HiMERU will return the favor. Time to probe your true intentions…)

— Good day, Anzu-san. Did you come to CosPro for work today?

You’re staring at that computer screen so eagerly… Oh my.

That’s... old footage of a HiMERU performance, isn’t it? How nostalgic.

However, HiMERU believes that the DVDs that contain this footage are no longer being distributed. How did you come by them?

...Hmm, so you borrowed them from vice president Saegusa. He certainly seems like the kind of person who would have this data in his possession.

(So they're not recordings of Crazy:B, but HiMERU’s solo lives? In that case, she really must be investigating HiMERU.)

(But to what end…?)

— Fufu. Even though you’re just looking at old footage, it still feels somewhat embarrassing to be stared at so fervently.

Why are you watching something like that after all this time?

A personalized outfit? Yes, HiMERU knows of them. So you plan to create a new outfit for HiMERU soon.

Interesting. Creating the vice president’s personalized outfit was your cue to start investigating other idols in advance from now on, hm?

(Speaking of which, the vice president’s personalized outfit struck HiMERU as very befitting of him. Well, not that HiMERU knows him all that well...)

(In any case, it appears as though she wasn’t on the hunt for the secret after all.)

Could it be that you’ve been asking around about HiMERU in order to plan this personalized outfit, Anzu-san?

So that’s what it was about. You see, just earlier, Amagi and the others told HiMERU that you were inquiring about him.

Hmm… So you intended to ask HiMERU directly, but he had gone home for the day, so you asked the others instead.

Very well, HiMERU understands the situation. Certainly, he has often been going home early in recent times. Since you’re quite busy yourself, we probably just kept missing each other.

(Still, there was no need for Amagi to use such a loaded phrase like “screw up”... It made HiMERU far too suspicious for no reason.)

You’re sorry for making it seem like you’re sounding HiMERU out? Please, there’s no need to apologize.

...You want to know HiMERU’s request? In other words, what kind of outfit HiMERU would like to wear?

Please don’t concern yourself with what HiMERU wants; feel free to design whatever your heart desires, Anzu-san —

No matter what kind of outfit it will turn out to be, it will look stylish on HiMERU. Please create it as you see fit.

— What’s the matter? Do you have a question for HiMERU?

You want to think of a rough draft at home and consult HiMERU again once you’ve come up with something…?

Understood. Feel free to talk to HiMERU whenever you’d like, Anzu-san.

HiMERU Feature Scout: "Past, Present and..." Chapter 2

Location: CosPro Office

HiMERU: Oh? You’re already taking your leave, Anzu-san?

Ah, so you’ve seen enough of the material that you’re brimming with ideas, huh. Fufu, HiMERU is looking forward to them.

Leave it to HiMERU to tidy up around here. All the DVDs over here just need to be returned to vice president Saegusa, right?

Yes, HiMERU will give him your best regards. Well then, goodbye —

(...A personalized outfit for HiMERU, huh?)

(When observing the trends among the other idols’ personalized outfits so far, it seems that they’re meant to express their individual characteristics.)

(“HiMERU”’s individual characteristics…)

(Even though “I” know more about him than anyone else does, the hopes that “I” might express for an outfit aren’t necessarily the correct choice for HiMERU.)

(That’s why I mustn’t give my own opinion on this. It’s just fine if the outfit turns out bland.)

(If the outfit is something that the producer prepared “the way she pleases”, then HiMERU will be able to keep being HiMERU.)

Location: Café “Cinnamon”

- A few days later -

Rinne: ...So yeah, I reached out to the guys from ASOBI Club and they brought their friends and buddies over. The Werewolf game was a total party!

The one who shone the brightest was Ninja-kun for sure. He came up with a house rule: the “ninja” role! But that guy’s really no good at bein' secretive!

And like, my fellow werewolf Hina distracted everyone so well that I could just keep on gobblin’ up the villagers! It was a real hilarious tragedy, kyahaha ☆

If only you’d stayed behind, Merumeru~. I bet you’d have enjoyed the bloodbath together with me!

HiMERU: — Not particularly, no. HiMERU had to take care of some HiMERU business, you see… Oh?

Good evening, Anzu-san. Are you also having a belated dinner?

So you’ve finished the rough draft for HiMERU’s personalized outfit, huh.

Oh, there’s no need to review it. Since it was Anzu-san who came up with the design, HiMERU has full confidence in it.

...So you’ve made several drafts and want HiMERU to at least choose one of them? However, HiMERU is fine with any of them…

Rinne: Merumeru, what’s with the attitude? She’s goin’ through all that trouble of makin’ an outfit for ya. Poor Onee~san, gettin’ dumped like that~♪

How ‘bout instead of the ice cold Merumeru, li’l old me gets to wear that outfit instead?

...I can’t, ‘cause this outfit is for Merumeru’s exclusive use?

How cold of you. Since you’re already foregoin’ the leader and makin’ Merumeru’s outfit right now, won’tcha make my outfit next? Come on, yeah?

HiMERU: Setting aside Amagi’s teasing attitude… Indeed, HiMERU’s earlier stance was equivalent to impoliteness.

You did say you wanted to consult HiMERU. Very well, HiMERU will hear you out in detail. Amagi?

Rinne: Yeah yeah, you want me to step outside, don’tcha? Oh well.

I already ate my fill anyway. Guess I’ll go hit up the pachinko parlors or something. Smell ya later!

HiMERU: Now, allow HiMERU to take a look at your design drafts, if you please.

...Just as expected, they all appear appropriate for HiMERU.

You worked out some ideas based on the old footage you borrowed from the vice president? Then it’s no wonder that they all hit the mark.

HiMERU: But on the other hand, this makes it difficult for HiMERU to choose just one of them. May HiMERU ask Anzu-san to choose one for him, after— …?

(This one outfit seems familiar somehow…)

Aah, HiMERU apologizes for going quiet all of a sudden. About this design...

Hmm, it’s just a sketch, and not a design draft?

You copied an outfit design that you saw hanging on a dressing room wall on some bonus footage—?

(...Aah, so that’s why HiMERU remembers having seen it before.)

(This design was a contender for the outfit “HiMERU” would wear during his next live.)

(But this “next” live never came, and so it was scrapped…)

— Since you saw the bonus footage on that DVD, it must mean that you also viewed HiMERU’s last performance before he went on hiatus.

What did HiMERU look like, through your eyes?

...Fufu. Please excuse HiMERU for laughing. You kept praising “HiMERU” in rapid succession, so…

Yes, you’re right. The person you were telling me about just now was unmistakably “HiMERU”.

There are many ideas contained in this sketchbook, so while he feels bad about this… HiMERU is going to borrow it for a moment—

(...There were many other outfits “HiMERU” never got to wear. And surely, “HiMERU” can no longer return to those days.)

(But, at the very least, I want to take a step towards expressing the kind of style that “HiMERU” wanted to wear.)

(I want to represent "HiMERU”s original vision…)

— Please allow HiMERU to request that his outfit will be based on this design. Of course, you may make some revisions to it. Fashions trends have changed since this design was made, after all.

...You’ll try to stay as faithful as possible to the original design? Thank you very much for the respect you show HiMERU.

You seem considerably pleased, Anzu-san. Umm, so it’s because you’re happy that you got to listen to HiMERU’s wishes…?

(Ah, right… “I” also have things I want —  things I wish for.)

(Like a ghost that yearns for something they can never again possess… It’s because of this tenacious attachment that it can remain suspended in its place.)

Niki: He~y, HiMERU-ku~n? It’s the last call, do you wanna order something?

...Oh huh, Nee-san’s here too. I didn’t notice ‘cause I’ve been so cooped up in the kitchen all this time, sorry.

Would you like to eat something too, Nee-san? Ah, you’re leaving since you’re done talking about the personalized outfit?

Then I look forward to welcoming you back here next time~.

A personalized outfit, huh? HiMERU-kun, are you next in line for that?

I look forward to seeing what kinda design it’s gonna be ♪

HiMERU: Yes… HiMERU himself looks forward to that as well.