Evi glanced around the room when she first walked into class, her gaze dropping as she noticed the empty table two seats away from her, and she slid into her chair with a heavy thud.

"Is Seiun skipping again?" she asked, deciding to turn to Jhorna. After all, the black-haired girl was club members with her friend—maybe she'd know something about where she was. "She hasn't come for the past two days."

The teenager shot her an apologetic smile. "It seems like she is."

"God, that's annoying...does she not want to talk to me or something? I haven't seen her ever since we fought." Evi rested her head on her table. "We're all doomed...won't this affect her grades too? What if she gets expelled or something?"

"The teachers would probably talk to her about this, but they won't expel her if it's just for a few days." Jhorna paused to contemplate what she had said. "I mean, she had a pretty good track record last year and she's still handing up her homework now. Besides, Tengoku's a pretty lax school."

The Incarnation member perked up at that. "How do you know she's still handing in your homework? Does she give it to you or something? Where is she?"

"Eh?" Realising she'd talked herself into a corner, Jhorna had no choice but to feign ignorance. "Did I say something like that? I mean, I'm the class president, so I do see her homework whenever it's collected."

Evi let out a sigh. "So it's like that...I really want to talk everything out with her, but it looks like she's still mad at everyone. If I use my magic while I'm depressed like this, it might backfire since I don't feel very sparkly now either..."

"I don't think this is something that can be resolved using magic." Jhorna's expression softened. "But if you're feeling this way, doesn't it just mean you really love Incarnation? If so, you just need to try to show them how much it means to you. You're you, so they'll definitely listen."

"You think so?" The shorter girl raised an eyebrow. "If Seiun and Haruki continue to be like this, though, then I don't think Incarnation can exist as the four of us."

Her class president shrugged. "Then they'll need to resolve it without turning it into a shouting match. From what you've told me, it seems like they brought up each other's pasts by accident, so maybe that's the cause of the whole thing?"

"Yeah, maybe..." Evi trailed off. "I just don't know what to do to bring them back together."

"Maybe talk it out with Mel or something? The both of you are the only ones who aren't mad at someone right now." Jhorna smiled at her. "Incarnation's a really amazing unit in terms of skill, but you're still new, so maybe you guys haven't really understood each other yet."

"Understand..." Evi continued to stare into the blank wall opposite her. It was true, in a way—Seiun and her were the closest pair in the group, and they'd only started talking to each other at the start of the year. "I guess you're right. Thanks, Jhorna."

Her class president simply chuckled. "It's my pleasure."

—

"Are you still in here? Hey, I brought you lunch. God, can't you at least switch on the light? You look terrible, by the way."

Carin glanced at his fellow club member before smiling. "Are you planning on hiding for the entire day again? It's not very healthy to coop yourself up."

The girl sighed, standing from where she'd been seated in the corner and grudgingly slamming her finger against the light switch. "I didn't ask you two to come here, you know. Don't you have classes or something?"

"It's after school hours now, so your argument is invalid." Jhorna grinned, leaning against the piano as she sat down. "Anyway, you're not going to get anywhere by sulking in here. You should come back to class before Evi goes insane."

"If you're doing this out of responsibility as the class president, don't bother. I don't plan on coming to class until their live is over." Seiun glanced downwards, staring at the sheet music in her hands as she spoke. "There, you can go now."

"Yeah, fat chance." Jhorna frowned at her. "Evi still wants you to be in Incarnation."

The purple-haired girl finally looked at her. "I already made it clear to her that I'm leaving. I'm sure the Student Council President has already filled out the paperwork for my withdrawal."

"Seiun." Carin's voice was soft, and his club member stared at him in irritation. "I'm not sure what your argument was about, but...was it about Stellarium? If Haruki..."

"As much as I hate him, no, it's not completely his fault. I started it." She gripped her papers hard enough for them to crumple between her fingers. "And Stellarium's part of the issue at hand, but it's not the main problem here."

Jhorna looked worried. "You may have come to us after the argument, but you're really not telling us anything. No one knows how to approach you because you don't talk to anyone about yourself—it was that way ever since first year—"

"There's nothing to say about myself," Seiun snapped. "I'm not here for therapy or whatever bullshit you're on, alright?"

Both of her club members looked surprised at her sudden change in tone, and she just deflated, resuming to stare at the floor like it was the most interesting thing on earth.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I just—never mind. I don't want to talk about it."

Carin was about to speak, but Jhorna cut him off. "We have practice now. We'll come back tomorrow morning."

"Don't bother," she replied, but the two of them had already left. She switched off the light once again, hoping that no one would try to find the room in the three minutes that she would use to pack up, and collapsed on the floor, too exhausted at that moment to clean up her sheet music.

It sucked. Her head was filled with too many thoughts for her to even try to sleep at night, and if Carin and Jhorna hadn't dropped by with lunch, she wasn't sure if she would have remembered to eat.

Worst of all, she couldn't even play a single piece without freezing up. She'd try to force herself to do it, to at least get through the melody, but her fingers would always just grace the surface of the ivory keys and shiver too much to press down hard enough.

Get up already, you lazy ass. She forced herself into a sitting position, gathering up the sheets of paper around her and shoving them into her bag.

If she had her way, she wouldn't even have come to school, but her parents had no idea she was ditching in the first place. She stayed in school long enough to make them think she was still attending classes, and she'd curl up in the piano room in the meantime.

She stifled a sigh as she stood up, glancing around to make sure she hadn't left anything behind, and slipped out of the room as quietly as she could.

—

"Evi, you came in a second too late in your solo. Mel, your steps weren't properly synced up with us just now. We'll take this from the top again."

The black-haired girl shared a tired look with his club member before returning to their original positions, and for a moment, he asked himself if he was being too harsh on the two second-years. After all, they'd been practicing for two hours straight and he had to admit that he was getting tired.

Still, they had no time to slack now. He'd pulled an all-nighter trying to reassign solos and choreography, and because of the whole fiasco that had gone down, everyone's singing and dancing had become messy.

He started the music once again, singing the opening line with ease—he'd practiced that part so much he could do the choreography and vocals with his eyes closed—and stepped to the side, making sure every step was perfectly placed.

If he started to falter too, it would really be the end of Incarnation.

Evi's timing was right this time, but she still didn't sing with the same energy that she usually did. Mel's dancing was better, but there was something off about the whole performance that he couldn't put his finger on.

"That's better. Good job." He hit pause on his phone, noticing how worn-out his two unit members looked and deciding that it would be best not to overwork them before the actual live. "We'll take a break for five minutes, practice for another half an hour and call it a day."

The three of them sat in tense silence, no one daring to speak a word, and he took the opportunity to reflect on what they needed to change before the live.

Mel's singing and dancing are both fairly steady. I could use some more practice on the bridge. As for Evi...He glanced at the girl. Without the enthusiasm she puts into her moves, she seems dull. Before this, she was supposed to have a duet with Seiun, but...

He stopped there. Right. She left.

Honestly? He was still pretty pissed about the whole thing. That day had passed by in a flurry of harsh words and arguments, and Seiun had known that bringing up his past would hurt him.

He couldn't get anything. Was Incarnation not good enough for a unit for her? Had he really been that shitty of a leader? What was he doing wrong?

For the first time since his first year, he'd been trying his best to reach his dream too—he'd been struggling and making sure that everything would turn out perfect, that Incarnation's road to success would be ensured from the very beginning, but now—

—it seemed like the heavens didn't want him to do that.

At this rate, Incarnation would end up like his old unit.

That was the one thing he couldn't allow.

The timer on his phone beeped then, and the brooding quiet between them was broken by the sound of him fumbling for the device.

"Haruki?" Mel tried to keep her voice low, aware of how silent the room was then, and Evi glanced at her curiously, wondering what she had to say. "Before we start practice again, can I ask you something? You don't have to answer."

He almost felt bad for Mel then. She'd been roped into joining Incarnation as their outfit-maker, and not long after she'd joined in on practices, they were already having situations like this.

"...keep it quick," he answered.

She continued to stare at him, large eyes holding some kind of unknown feeling that made him feel uncomfortable. "What does Incarnation mean to you?"

He paused, unsure of what to say to that. He'd never really thought of it before.

"As I said, you don't have to answer me." She laughed. "I was just curious. Let's finish up practice quickly, then."

Evi took a sharp breath. "I miss it already."

"Hm?" Her friend glanced at her. "What did you say?"

"Last month, we saw so many flowers and so many stars in the night sky...don't you remember? It was beautiful." Evi's words were tumbling out too fast, and he was barely able to catch them. "I thought that if it was us, then we could do anything. Seiun even agreed to join then."

Haruki blinked. "So what's your point, then?"

"I can't really explain it, but whether we were eating cookies before practice or helping each other out with homework, there was a great vibe to it," the girl muttered before raising her voice once more. "But now...this isn't Incarnation at all..."

He was about to respond before Mel nudged her, looking between the two of them and letting out a sigh. "Evi, stop. I get what you say, but when everyone's already like this..."

He set his phone down. "It's too late for things to go back to the way they were before. We're wasting time like this."

"Right," Mel mumbled. "C'mon, Evi. I'll walk home with you afterwards, alright?"

The two of them dragged themselves to their positions for their first song, and he took a moment to observe them before taking his own position.

He was afraid that everything would come crumbling down again. Evi and Mel were full of dreams and potential, and it reminded him so much of his old unit that it hurt. He was afraid of ruining everything for them, just like how he'd ruined his seniors' future.

You got cocky and landed that leader of yours in the hospital, didn't you?

That was right. He'd been too wrapped up in his own dreams and too carefree in using his own magic, and that had resulted in nothing but disaster. His leader—the one who'd loved them the most—had to give up his dream because of him.

He'd gotten desperate after that and tried to play dirty—even if it meant tripping other units up and sabotaging them during lives. No matter what, he had just wanted to keep the group going, and worst of all, he'd failed.

His seniors had lost interest in practicing after their popularity had declined, and by the time they'd graduated, the unit had become little more than a forgotten relic of the past.

Not many people remembered them. Even if they did, it was only for the accident that happened on the day of the Dream Festival qualifiers.

So, no matter what, he couldn't repeat his mistake again. He'd make sure Evi and Mel had a successful debut live. He couldn't just run away like a coward this time.

"Haruki?" Shit. I dawdled. Evi looked at him in concern, waving a hand in front of his face to get his attention. Mel stood at the side, masking her worry with a cool stare, and he continued to curse inwardly. "Are you OK? You look kinda pale."

"I'm fine," he snapped. "Let's get back to practice."

--

oh no everyones sad alexa play despacito

haruki needs a hug does anyone want to give him one

poll results ™

1. Seiun/Evi/Jhorna (4 votes)

2. Haruki/Aerien/Shoko (3 votes)

3. Mel (2 votes)

poll lincc in inline comment as usual!! including all the characters because there wasn't many characters this chapter

yeet goodebye