Operetta - Birthday 1

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Studio

- The next day during lunch break -

Arashi: ...So, what happened after that?

Ritsu: Nothing happened, really…

“Operetta” is a job Anija accepted as an individual, so I have neither a duty nor the qualifications to poke my nose into his business.

As for that annoying rumour, and the strange uproar people made about me being Anija’s little brother…

Anija said he’ll take responsibility for that and take care of it, and well, I guess if I leave it to him it’ll all get resolved once some time has passed.

I’m sure that thing won’t break a “promise” to me a second time. If he says he’ll do something about it, I believe that something will really be done about it.

From what he told me, he’s gonna do all he can to deal with this, and as a finishing blow he’ll hold a press conference to settle this uproar entirely.

Though I think that’s overdoing it. It seems like at the end of this month, Anija is gonna perform in a big live with Kaoru-san overseas.

And I guess he plans to make some time after that to give his comments and such to the mass media.

A wonder lasts but nine days. So I think, well, by next month or so everything should have calmed down again.

Arashi: Hm~... Ritsu-chan, are you really okay with this? You’re looking ki~nda dissatisfied, you know?

Ritsu: Am I? Actually, I wanna be the one asking you what you think about all this, Nacchan.

Arashi: You’re asking me? Oh my, miracles do happen… Maybe it’ll rain tomorrow?

To think that Ritsu-chan would ask for someone else’s opinion, even though he’s usually so self-centered ♪ 

Ritsu: Eh~. That’s Knights in general you’re talking about, aren’t we supposed to be a gathering of individualists?

Well, at least that’s our official stance… But oddly, it doesn’t seem to match our actual state. 

Arashi: Yeah. I guess you could say that bit by bit, things have changed for us. I suppose that’s only natural, since we’re living and changing beings.

Ritsu: Mhm. It can’t be helped, since we’re humans. 

Take this studio for instance. Just last year it was something like our hang-out spot, but since we’ve gotten too many newcomers in Knights it can’t accommodate all of us anymore--

Now it’s just a place for me and Nacchan, and also Suu~chan to do independent training during lunch breaks sometimes.

Arashi: Right. And Tsukasa-chan is busy with his family business again today, and so his attendance has been unusually low...

But rather than Knights, this place has basically become a hangout-spot for just the three of us.

Ufufu. It’s nice just to have a place where we belong, but I guess it’s kind of lonely when the number of people who come to this hangout-spot dwindles.

There’s nothing we can really do about that though… Knights has become a top class, veteran unit here at Yumenosaki by now, so we can't cozy up under a small kotatsu and chat together like before.

And the number of our members just keeps going up… At this rate we might end up with the amount of members that Chess used to have back in the day. 

Well, this is all the result of how hard we worked to desperately crawl our way back up from rock bottom last year-- I guess it’s something to be pleased about.

This is thanks to us racking up accomplishments. Because of that, a lot of newcomers hope to join our circle.

Ritsu: ...But. It’s scary because it feels like history might repeat itself, right?

Arashi: Oh my, Ritsu-chan understands my feelings well.

Of course, we are Knights. We’re not Chess, or Othello, or Backgammon. 

However. What if the number of members keeps increasing until we lose sight of the big picture, and slowly start to decay… 

If we repeat the same mistake again, what will everything we did last year have been for?

We cried a lot, got angry, and struggled to death in our fights, sometimes even hurting one another…

And yet we kept running, hand in hand, side by side, along the path we’ve taken…

I’m scared of all of that coming to nothing. Of course, I intend to do everything in my power to prevent such “unpleasant” events from unfolding--

I’m sure you of all people understand my anxiety, Ritsu-chan. Because back then, we both weren’t able to protect it.

We couldn’t stop the collapse of Chess and Knights… Only thanks to Tsukasa-chan, who sparkled so brightly it was like a miracle, were we able to barely take shape at all.

Miracles are only called that because they happen seldomly.

Ritsu: Fufu. How unlike Nacchan to speak so negatively, maybe it really is gonna rain tomorrow ♪

Arashi: Sheesh. Please don’t poke fun at me, I’m seriously worried about this.

Ritsu: I know. Your “Onii-chan” can see through it all~, Nacchan. If anything, I’m happy to hear your worries and feeble complaints.

Arashi: O-oh dear. I’m so sorry for going on and on, even though you’re the one who’s in a troublesome situation right now...

I shouldn’t make you listen to my grumbles- I mean, worries, right?

Ritsu: It’s fine. If anything, thanks to Nacchan the gloomy feeling inside of me has cleared up a bit. 

Right, that’s how it is… The hands on the clock are in motion, we can’t let history repeat itself.

Arashi: ? What are you talking about?

Ritsu: …”Operetta” is like the “Resurrection Sunday” from last year--

Meaning, under the guise of a glorious live show, the ceremony of our family will be carried out.

Last year… When I found out about that after the fact, that Anija took on that heavy burden all by himself, I got angry at him and voiced my complaints.

But this year is different. This time I know in advance that the ceremony is gonna take place.

Arashi: Yeah. That’s true… So what are you going to do?

Are you going to let your Onii-chan do it all on his own again while you watch from afar-- Just to grumble about it later?

Ritsu: Of course not. My pride wouldn’t allow that.

Nacchan. I’m sorry, I’m going to be absent from independent training for a while. And depending on the situation, I may not be able to take part in Knights’ activities on some days either.

Arashi: That’s fine. In fact, if you find yourself needing support, let me help you out. Let’s not be distant… We’re something like family, right?

Ritsu: Not just “something like”, Nacchan. 

Well, I’m off. I guess I’ll stop by the student council room first, since Maa~kun is probably there day after day… working hard.

He’s always doing the best he can, just like my Anija.

Seems like I can’t endure just being spoiled by people like them anymore.