Wonder Game - blue bird, red queen 8

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Wonder Game Stage

Natsume: ...In any caSE. The student council and CosPro may be superficially joining hanDS, and appear to be on good terms nOW. But in realiTY, they’re both trying to outwit each othER, and making every effort to be the firstto hoist their flag in the metaphorical new frontiER.

Tsumugi: W-what do you mean...?

Natsume: SenpAI. That ill-natured student council president told me that once you graduaTE… You'll be working at a new agency that formed just recentLY?

Tsumugi: Ah, yes. It happened by some turn of fate.

I was still fretting about my future path until just recently. In fact, until about half a year ago, I was thinking I’d quit being an idol and go into teaching instead.

Then my mother used her expertise from her past profession to introduce me to the higher-ups from that newly established agency.

Since my mother is a disappointment by nature, her business ended up being a massive failure, but she kept her personal connections alive to this day.

Also. She may be bad at doing any kind of work, but for some reason, people still love her. 

Natsume: HmM. She really is your mothER. You may not like hearing thIS, but I can see how you two are related by bloOD.

Tsumugi: Eh~... But I can get my work done, more or less, and I’m well-despised by lots of people, like Natsume-kun for example…

Natsume: ...AnD? After you met with those bigwigs from the new agency thanks to your good-for-nothing mother’s introductioNS, what happened neXT?

We keep getting sidetrackED. There’s just no rectifying that bad habit of youRS, is theRE, SenpAI?

Tsumugi: I-I am sorry. I tend to frantically try to get my point across and end up needlessly blabbering on and on.

The agency in question has only just been born, and still lacks just about everything. It feels like it only got going at all thanks to the fervent enthusiasm of the young founder… They neither have funds nor know-how.

Natsume: The “young” foundER?

Tsumugi: Yeah, apparently the agency was brought into the world by a child our age through willpower alone.

I’ve only met them a few times during my job hunt, so I don’t know them that well, but they seemed like a pleasant person.

I think I will work at that agency after graduation.

This doesn’t mean I’ll quit being an idol and become a normal member of society, though. I will raise the agency while also working as an idol.

That agency is a place where all the unusual idols with nowhere else to go, and ideas that never came to fruition for whatever reason, naturally gather.

And I want to gather up those people and things, love them, and make them bloom.

I don’t want to merely collect them, like the “Mad Hatter” this outfit is based on does, but to realize their potential and make everyone recognize their value in this world.

Even if days where nothing out of the ordinary happens stretch on indefinitely, that might still be a sort of happiness in itself. No, I might have made myself believe that even just that is already happiness.

I had given up already, spending peaceful but dull and tedious days… Until I met the two of you, and I changed, even if just by a bit.

The never-ending tea party is now coming to an end. Like a weight off my shoulders, I’ll switch to a new state of mind and begin a new life.

I don’t want to just leave the seeds buried, I want to stick around and grow them.

And of course, while I continue to be an idol, I want to discover my very own value, too… The value no one noticed in me when I was a young child. 

I was able to find many treasures here at Yumenosaki, as a member of fine and Switch.

But I won’t arbitrarily decide that there’s nothing left inside of me anymore, or that I’m a desolated wasteland just because of that.

Because, even though I fought to the bitter end, wore myself out entirely, burned out and turned to ashes…

Natsume-kun, Sora-kun, thanks to you, I was able to make the flower called Switch blossom from that.

And it’s such a beautiful flower… It may even be considered a rare miracle, but making miracles happen is what magicians are for ♪

Sora: Senpai...♪

Tsumugi: Ahaha. Now I’m embarrassed that I spoke so much, I’m sorry. But I’m glad I finally got to say it.

I really am sorry. The truth is that my employment at that agency was only fairly recently decided. I couldn’t tell you about it any earlier, even if I wanted to.

If possible, I’d have wanted to tell you about my career plans with a smile as soon as they were settled. But trying to act cool like that just ended up causing you unnecessary concern.

In any case, you two… I won’t tell you that I want you to pursue me.

As you know, despite being the oldest among us, I’m unreliable and a complete klutz.

That’s why I can’t act like a high and mighty senpai and tell you to “follow me”.

But, if that day ever comes, I think it’d be like a dream come true. I will always look forward to that moment and prepare for the two of you to finally come meet me while I wait.

The blue bird of happiness dreams of the day you open that door and step inside… And just anticipating it fills me with so much happiness.