"I feel like I can recognise most of these people," Sou whispered out of the corner of his mouth, making sure he talked out of the corner that was furthest from his microphone. "It kinda defeats the purpose if everyone here is just students from Tengoku, right?"

Aerien tried to keep the same expression on his face as he pulled back, letting Kazura take the spotlight for a moment. "I mean, we are a new group. It's only natural for our audience to be our friends...but I do see some other people, though."

"It's fine, isn't it? People seem to be enjoying themselves!" Kazura grinned as he finished up his solo, glancing at his fellow-third year as they moved to let Sou move to the center. "That's what matters most!"

Sou's voice sung the bridge with ease, and the two seniors smiled at each other—despite being a first-year, the boy was had been performing since middle school, and it was safe to say that he was the strongest member in their unit.

"Are you two done?" The orange-haired idol turned back to glance at them, his words tumbling out in a rushed whisper. "The chorus' starting."

The two of them scrambled to regain their focus just as the instrumental built up to a heart-stilling break.

Sure, it hadn't gone as well as they had hoped for. Sou's middle-school popularity had only managed to get him so far, and Kazura hadn't even managed to give out half of his handmade chocolates, but they felt as if they were having fun.

Aerien's harmonies have improved since our last practice, Sou thought breathlessly as his friend's mellow voice blended in with Kazura's upbeat tone and his own voice. Kazura's singing is great as usual. It was a good thing we made the first song energetic.

They'd done well, regardless of the turnout. The way they'd sung the final chorus had exceeded his expectations.

And as the last few notes of the instrumental faded away, he shot one last smile at the audience and bowed, shouting out the obligatory words of thanks along with his unit members.

There wasn't as much cheering as he'd had before; it was the first performance Tengoku held in the year, after all, but it seemed just as fulfilling when he stepped back and observed the grins on his friends' face.

Telescope had started out as some ragtag group—Kazura and Aerien had only become idols recently—but he felt as if they would go much further than they'd anticipated.

—

"Heey, Haruharu! You went to see Telescope's live, didn't you? I saw you there!"

The white-haired boy sighed as he raised his head to look at the brown-haired boy standing over his table. "I didn't have anything better to do. You guys did so-so."

"Oh, that's pretty good coming from you." Kazura grinned as he took a sip of water. "I knew you'd love it! We'll make sure to come to your unit's debut live too, OK? Isn't that right, Aerien?"

"Thank you for coming to our live, Haruki. We really appreciate it." The other Telescope member was much calmer than his friend, and he shot his classmate a smile. "And yes, we'll definitely try our best to come. Tell us when you have a date."

"If I remember," Haruki mumbled into his desk. "Why are you even here? Don't you belong to 3-B?"

Kazura laughed. "School's over, isn't it? We're free to be in any class now. Besides, you weren't in the student council room yet, so I figured I'd come to remind you to drop by."

"I have unit practice today," the President complained. "Can't you do my paperwork for me...?"

"No can do." The teenager shot him a sympathetic smile. "The rest of the student council is really busy—we're being flooded with work too. I can try to help a little, since Telescope's taking a break from unit activities today, but I won't be able to complete much."

"If it's alright, I can help," Aerien volunteered. "I don't have unit or club practice, so I'm free for the rest of the day."

Haruki collapsed on his desk once again. "Ugh, thanks. I'll come after practice so I don't feel too bad."

"You practice? I'm surprised." A new voice cut into the conversation, and they turned their heads to see Shoko glancing at them from her seat. "Really, though, could all of you get out? I'm on day duty, so I can't leave until I lock up here."

"Sorry, I forgot about that." Aerien hastily slotted the last of his papers into his bag. "We'll get out of your hair, then. Thanks for waiting for us."

Kazura waved at the blonde girl as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "See ya, Shocchan!"

"Right. See you. Your live was enjoyable, by the way." The tall third-year rose from her seat. "You two aren't as polished in skill as that first-year of yours, but your enthusiasm was really good. Telescope's a great unit."

"Thanks so much," Aerien nodded, following the small group out of the door. "By the way, Haruki, how's yours unit going?

The shortest amongst them shrugged. "It's alright. We have the skill, but that's not very helpful when one of our members doesn't get along with me."

"Was her name Seiun or something?" Shoko tilted her head as she walked. "I spoke to her before—she seems closer to the art club than your unit. If she doesn't like you, why is she even performing alongside you in the first place?"

"Don't know," Haruki muttered back. "Evi convinced her to."

"Well, your unit—whatever it's called—seems worth paying attention to, at least." The girl paused before her lips formed a smirk. "I bet you three are aiming to enter this year's Dream Tournament. Masquerade's going to wipe you out, so keep that in mind."

Haruki's tired indifference was almost amusing in comparison to Shoko's enthusiasm. "Maybe we'll beat you in the preliminaries. Seems just as likely, to be honest."

"Hey!"

—

"Want to head down to the river? Kawarau's going and I'd feel bad leaving you in the clubroom by yourself."

Seiun removed her headphones. "No, I'd be fine alone, but why...?"

"We head down there to find inspiration sometimes," Carin pointed out, a small smile gracing his face. "It's very peaceful, and we can get a lot of ideas for our lives. You seemed to have some trouble coming up with something, so..."

"Yeah, you're right." The girl sighed as she stared at her screen. "Evi composed another song and I have to get the lyrics done by the end of this week, but I don't know what to base them on."

Her friend zipped his pencil case shut. "You're not used to having to be in charge of something, right?"

"Sort of." Seiun set her headphones down and glanced at the table. "It seems like Evi and Haruki want to aim for the Dream Tournament, so we have to work hard. I don't really care if we get in or not, but a unit's debut live is important, so..."

"You can't lament over Stellarium forever, you know." Carin's tone was kind. "It seems like you care about this unit somewhat, though. I'm glad."

"That's true, but actually getting over it is harder than just saying you have to." She got to her feet and slid her laptop shut. "I don't really talk to Kawarau, but he seems alright. Besides, getting some fresh air won't hurt."

She shoved the device in her bag, managing to fit it in just as the other art club member switched off the lights.

"Hey, are you ready?" Kawarau poked his head in. "Oh, are you coming along too, Seiun?"

"She needed inspiration too," Carin nodded. "We're all students here, aren't we? It can't hurt to get along when we all have a common goal."

The shorter Zankyou member shrugged. "It's fine with me. We've never talked before, though."

"Right, we were in different classes and I never had the need to interact with you," Seiun yawned. "Still, though, I guess you're alright since Carin likes you so much. Then again, he likes everyone, so it's hard to tell."

"Thank you," Carin replied as he bobbed his head.

"Well, it's not as if we're completely strangers?" Kawarau blinked. "If it's possible, our units could also collaborate some day. There's been a lot of buzz going on concerning the people in your unit."

The girl shrugged. "Well, Shithead Asshole is the President after all—of course he's popular. Evi's well known amongst the school, and I was in Stellarium. Of course there's going to be gossip when we perform together."

Carin hummed in response. "Do you have a unit name yet?"

"Incarnation," she sighed. "It started out as a pun, but I guess it does have some kind of double meaning to it."

"It has a 'powerful' sound to it," her friend pointed out. "All of you are kind of doing something really different than what you're used to...it's like a new incarnation or something?"

The three of them finally remembered that they had to step out of the clubroom, and Seiun lingered at the back as they made their way out of school. "You got way deeper than we even intended it to be...well, you probably just got off topic again, but thanks for your insight."

"The students here are interesting, aren't they?" Kawarau smiled as he glanced back. "We should walk faster. I don't want to be at the river when it's too hot."

With that, they continued to walk in silence.

—

"Wait. That guy's from our school, right?"

Evi blinked at the question, taking a sip of the coffee she was cradling before turning her head to look. "Mm, he's wearing the uniform, so he must be. He looks like a third-year from the colour of his tie. I don't think I've seen him before, though."

The boy next to them concentrated for a while. "I think he's from 3-B! Uh, Sou knows Kazura, who knows Trevor, and I think he's Trevor's unit member!"

"Ooh, he finally found one?" Laurel's eyes lit up. "Let's go say hi to him!"

She bounded over to the mall's cafe without any hesitation, and Evi followed fast enough for her coffee to almost spill. "Hi! You're from Tengoku, aren't you? I don't know your name, but you're from Trevor's unit, right? I'm Laurel from 2-A!"

The black-haired boy startled, almost dropping his food and taking a moment to regain his composure. "Uh. Oh. Yes, I'm Makoto from Milky Way...is there anything I can help you with?"

"Not really!" Evi piped up. "We just saw you and thought we'd say hi. You just formed your unit, right? Haruki was talking about having done the paperwork to approve it!"

"A-Ah, that's nice to hear," he stammered back. "Uh—"

"Come on, say hi to him," Laurel urged, and Makoto could hear a softer I'm bad with new people from behind Evi. A nervous smile danced on his face, because honestly, that statement managed to describe him in five simple words.

The first-year boy stumbled to the front. "I'm Hayato from 1-A! It's nice to meet you!"

"Geez, no need to introduce yourself like it's an interview," Evi laughed. "What are you doing here today?"

"Um, I don't have unit practice, so I decided to come here to do my homework..." Makoto trailed off as he glanced at his juniors. "I heard that Incarnation had practice, though."

"Ah, don't worry about it. We already finished." Evi waved it off. "It started to rain halfway, and the second-years have a test next week, so Haruki decided to call it a day."

Laurel grinned. "See, me and Hayato both have no idea what we're doing, so we decided to explore different malls until we come up with a solid idea or something. Evi's fun to hang out with, so we invited her along."

"Yeah, this is the second time she's here!" Hayato piped up, warming up to the conversation. "Doing fun things with your friends gives us a heck ton of ideas, but we have no idea which one to use! Do you face that problem?"

"Can't agree with that," Makoto replied apologetically. "I usually have problems coming up with themes instead. It's good to see that you're full of energy, though."

The short, black-haired girl laughed in response. "Seiun says that a lot, so I guess I get what you mean—oh, shit, it's getting late!"

"It's stopped raining too," Hayato agreed. "I'll be going, then! See you tomorrow!"

Makoto blinked as he slipped his headphones back on.

"See you tomorrow..."

—

finally updated lmao

telescope is!!! a good pure unit support them

that aside i tried to include some less common character interactions like haruki/shoko, seiun/kawarau, and genki trio/makoto

(can genki trio be a thing i love them)

that aside, last chapter's poll didn't get enough votes to have a proper ranking (there was like a 5 or 6 way tie for 2nd) so i'm releasing a new poll!!!

see you in about 2841 lightyears