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Thanks to the humiliation hell of a training, I think Kotone and I improved by a lot. It still wasn’t enough to pass Shirose’s standards, her passing line lies far beyond the horizon.　

“I get back to my room, and it’s straight into training. Kotone takes the night sessions, and I take the morning ones, leaving me with no free time at all.”
“You’ve been living a hard life, huh.”

Upon arriving at the auditorium, I find myself with plenty of free time, so I explain the situation to Kaori. My morning jogs have been replaced by voice training. There’s a deeper reason for this.

Compared to before, the side effects of switching with Kotone have been greatly alleviated. However, my body still feels heavy and awkward to move afterwards, so I’m actually avoiding physical activities.

“What were you doing, even dragging her into that?”
“I’d rather not be a lone victim, you see.”

Kaori asked with a disappointed tone, but I was right in dragging Kotone along. Because instead of focusing on me, Shirose’s focus was shifted to Kotone. She’s as happy as when she has new material to work with.

“I never would have thought that she’d be such an excellent scapegoat.”
“Poor girl.”
‘I knew it!’

Kotone must have had her suspicions about it. Somehow, it feels like she’s become the mainstay bulliable character. Maybe that’s why Shirose, one of the rogue’s den funseekers, got hooked on her. If there are more of them, Kotone will likely be seeing hell.

“Since it was only Shirose, I was able to limit it to music-related requests. If others were included, then things would have spun out of control.”
“Each demanding something related to their specialization; that’d be hell.”
‘I’d rather that not happen either. I already have my hands full with Shirose alone.’

I don’t plan on calling any of the others either. For this time’s plan, only Shirose is necessary. The others would only get in the way. To be honest, I’m surprised that the others haven’t come barging in yet. I genuinely thought that they would have sniffed out what I was planning somehow.

“I didn’t have any leeway, so I didn’t take unexpected situations into consideration.”
“Don’t say something so ominous.”
“No need to worry. We’ll likely be the only ones affected by it.”
‘That’s still extremely ominous for me!’

Only in the worst-case scenario. If I think about it positively, perhaps Shirose is keeping them in check so they won’t get in the way. When it comes to music, Shirose can get scary if her fun is interrupted. If I think pessimistically, the uninformed Sherry might end up unwittingly hiring someone from the den.

“Seems like it’s about to start. This innocuous graduation ceremony, sprinkled with just a little surprise.”
“Not that it’s any surprise for us, since we already know what’s going to happen.”

To be ready in case of any emergencies, I’ve told Kaori about the whole plan. I have the assistance of the twelve families, so I don’t think there would be trouble, but it’s better to be overprepared. I don’t want any situation that the fools would enjoy to occur.

“Now then, it should happen any time now.”

The graduation ceremony progressed as normal and was nearing its end. As expected with how many people there are, the handing of diplomas felt really long, but it was quite uneventful. At most, there are a few people who are crying a bit early.

“Everyone, sing the school anthem!”

Oi, wait a minute. Why did I just hear Sherry’s voice? It’s still too early for you to appear. Moreover, Shirose is already sitting on the piano. It isn’t their damn time yet. Was the students’ emotional graduation ceremony taking just a bit too long for them?

“This is absurd.”
“Still, there doesn’t seem to be any confusion yet. Maybe no one has noticed it?”

It’d be bad if people noticed. And it seems like approximately one person just did. I see Aya from afar, restlessly looking around before glaring at me as our eyes meet. Yeah, there was no way she’d mistake her own mother’s voice.

“Damn those impatient fools.”
“Still, they’re going through the program normally, so it should be alright.”

It’s nerve-wracking on my end, so please just stop. Why do my plans never go as initially planned? I mean, I’m already used to it, but still. I guess I should be happy that there isn’t anyone else joining their ad-lib. Still, this just ruined the whole surprise. For Aya, at least.

“Hmm, it’s not like I can take any action either. I guess I’ll just leave it be.”
“Considering what’s coming up next, it’d be best for you to not move around.”

If I do anything conspicuous, it’ll affect the latter part of the plan. The wise choice is to shut up and stay in my seat. They’ll just continue without my input anyway. Since this is just a sideshow, they likely won’t do anything ridiculous.

“We’ve finished singing the school anthem; would this be enough for my song?”
“Kotori is sending a no sign, you know.”

Why does Kotori know what I’m thinking when she’s so far away? But as expected, being a graduate, Hadzuki isn’t making any moves. I’m currently behind the graduates, so he can’t see me unless he turns around. In Aya’s case, I can’t blame her reaction.
“Alrigh~t. But isn’t it a bit tasteless to end it this way?”
“After waiting for her time, Sherry appears. Everything is going as planned so far.”
“Hasn’t the plan been ruined already?”

Don’t worry about the details. Sherry’s appearance got the graduates and all the other students excited; meanwhile, I’m here nervous whether she’d do anything unplanned. Like with the rogue’s den, there’s no anticipating her movements.

“I understand everyone’s confusion. But there’s only one thing I can say. A friend asked me for this surprise.”
“She probably has a lot of friends.”
“Including one that’s been a hot topic lately.”

I guess it’s good enough that she didn’t give a name. Aya and Hadzuki probably realized that I organized this, though. They’re not slow. And what happens next will surely be anticlimactic to them.

“Still, for this event, it isn’t quite adequate to have me sing by myself. Let’s have someone else with me on stage, and then have everyone sing together. Hi, you over there. Come up on stage.”

She naturally pointed to Aya. Mysteriously, Sherry has been hiding the fact that Aya is her daughter. To the point of shutting down the media. She’s probably doing it all for her daughter’s sake. And she’s not wrong for that.

“No emotional scenes at all. Felt like I was glared at just now.”
“Isn’t it because you aren’t with them?”

I don’t want to humiliate myself. While Aya might want the three of us to sing, that can’t happen this time. This is just a sideshow, and I can’t stand out. The real show happens later.

“It’s so weird. This is supposed to be the main highlight.”
“Considering them, roping you into trouble feels like their main highlight.”

That’s Sherry and Shirose alright. Still, Sherry, this is your daughter’s graduation, you know? Normally, mothers should prioritize their own daughters, but she’s completely prioritizing her own desires. Even though graduations only happen once in a lifetime.

“There’s a lot of people crying, huh.”
“It’s normally unthinkable to have a big time singer be at your graduation ceremony. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed.”

As the segment where everyone was singing wrapped up, Sherry high-fived Aya and took her leave. The whole auditorium sees her retreating figure off with applause, but she only answers with a wave before vanishing.

“Now then, time to prepare for the main highlight.”
“Be careful, alright? Especially in the last part.”
“I’ve gone through a proper rehearsal, so it’ll be fine.”

While everyone was heading back to their classrooms, I quietly sneaked out. My destination is the rooftop. That’s where this graduation’s real surprise is going to be held. Time to prepare myself and get excited.