AKI: *YAWN*

Wow. The sun's already up. Huh.

AYUMU: "Good morning, Aki! You're up pretty early today."

AKI: "Morning Ayu! And I could say the same of you."

AYUMU: "How about Honoka and Chika?"

AKI: "Those two are still asleep. After all, we didn't do much sleeping last night."

AYUMU: "...Huh?!"

AKI: "We were talking until really late last night."

AYUMU: "Ohhh, that's what you meant. *Giggle* We've got to let them rest, then."

AKI: "Yeah! And it sure feels nice to wake up early. The morning sun's really beautiful, and the air's so clear!"

AYUMU: "Looks like someone's in a good mood."

AKI: "You're sharp, Ayu! So I was just checking my messages, right? And I got a response from Kaoruko!"

AYUMU: "W-Wait, from Kaoruko?! How'd you send her a message? I thought we couldn't find her contact info?"

AKI: "Well, about that..."

...

*LAST NIGHT*

AKI: "All right, let's just start with getting into contact with Kaoruko!"

HONOKA: "But didn't the committee member we contacted earlier say it's impossible since her contact info isn't current?"

CHIKA: "Hm, I wonder if someone else knows how to contact her."

AKI: "Then let's split up and search online as much as we can! She created a festival this big, so I'm sure it's got to be left somewhere out there!"

HONOKA: "You're right! The amount of groups she had to contact... She's got to have left traces somewhere!"

CHIKA: "All right, time to think up a term to search with first!"

*ONE HOUR LATER*

CHIKA: "Urgh. I'm not getting anything!"

HONOKA: "Don't give up, Chika! Here, have some snacks to get your power back!"

AKI: "Ah! Girls, look at this!"

CHIKA: "Wh-What, did you find something?!"

HONOKA: "A blog?"

AKI: "Reading through the articles it looks like it's a blog of Kaoruko's activities, but the updates have stopped. Still, there's a contact form here."

CHIKA: "Oh! So we can send a message through that and probably get a response back!"

AKI: "Yeah. That's if the form still connects somewhere, anyway..."

HONOKA: "Let's give it a try! We won't know until we do!"

CHIKA: "You're right, let's send it in!"

HONOKA: "If it doesn't work, we can think of something new tomorrow. All of us."

AKI: "Yeah!"

...

AYUMU: "So her reply came in this morning, huh? Congratulations, that's great news!"

AKI: "Yeah! I'm so happy, it's like our hearts got through to her!"

AYUMU: "I'm curious about the response, but could you tell me what kind of email you sent to her?"

AKI: "Just our feelings. I wrote them all down into a message."

AYUMU: "Feelings?"

AKI: "About how we love school idols, about how I wanted to cheer on school idols just like she does, how I want to support them with everything I have. And how I didn't want to let the School Idol Festival end, so I wanted to see if I could help."

AYUMU: "So, what was her response?"

AKI: "...About that. She can't help us. She said she did what she had to, and that she's working towards something else now."

AYUMU: "Oh, no."

AKI: "BUT she also said that my email made her really see that what she had done wasn't wrong. That it all hasn't been for nothing, and that her efforts have started to blossom.
So even though she can't help us, she'll be cheering us on from afar.
She said that when it comes to things you want to do, it's best to give them a try, and that she's always been like that."

AYUMU: "Sounds like she's really cheering us on, then. Like she's saying 'Keep going! Don't give up!'"

AKI: "Yeah, she's passed the torch to me. I won't let this flame die out! I'm not giving up on this!"

AYUMU: "Can we really revive the School Idol Festival?"

AKI: "Yeah! Like, we've got friends and the committee before us cheering us on! We can't give up!"

AYUMU: "You know, you're right! There's no reason to give up!"

AKI: "And we're going to need EVERYONE'S help. So, Ayu... My loyal best friend, will you help me?"

AYUMU: "Of course I will! No matter what, I'll follow you anywhere, I'll always be by your side, I'll always be there for you!"

AKI: "Thanks, Ayu! And I'm going to tell everyone about this when they wake up.
That the 28 of us are going to be the next School Idol Festival Planning Committee!"

AYUMU: "Yeah, Honoka and Chika will definitely get behind that plan!"

AKI: "We're not giving up on the School Idol Festival! They'll have to break my body and spirit before I back down from this!"