'Shipping' was a common practice on the Internet.

Natsume knew that all too well.

Before, when little Natsume-chan was in middle school, his only friend used to be his phone.

He had quit the dance school where he studied, without telling his stupid mother, so he threw away his only friend.

So, he grew up far too early, he thought as he mindlessly scrolled through his phone, looking for something, anything, to keep himself entertained.

He stopped at a certain page, it was an idol group.

Fine?

It was one of the great idol schools Yumenosaki's most prominent units, fine.

Consisting of a potato, a cabbage, an onion, and a.. blueberry?

Wait,

isn't that Tsumugi-nii-san..?

Huh?

It was only a few months since he had left the dance school, and he was already such a bigshot?

He smiled to himself.

I wonder if he would remember me.

Shaking my head, I realized he probably had hundreds of kouhais like me. I was noone special, after all.

Just another stuck-up kid.

Sighing, he thumbed the image of him in his recommendations page.

"I know you'll never hear this, but.."

I miss you, senpai.

I'm sorry.

For leaving.

He knew the potato too, it was Eichi Tenshouin.

He had read about him on a Reddit page, seemed like he was a spoiled brat — they went as far as to call him an asshole.

Reminded him a bit of himself.

It's funny, how most kids' highschool experiences were pretty shitty, and then you have Yumenosaki students. And Reimei too, I guess.

You become someone big when you become an idol— you become famous, your life would then start being monitored every day, every second.

Sigh.

He found myself wondering, how would he be as an idol?

Probably shitty.

He smiled, closing all his tabs.

Maybe in a dream, he too, would be an idol. On a stage, lit up by an ocean of glow sticks, maybe, he would be by Tsumugi's side. Maybe.

But of course, that would only be true in a dream.

He sighed, looking longingly at the picture of Tsumugi smiling on his phone one last time, and closed his phone, locking it and putting it into his pocket, tuning out all his thoughts as he clicked 'play' on his iPod.

He spaced out his outer surroundings, melting into the melody of fine, as he began walking to his class.

Chewing on his lollipop stick, he remembered how Tsumugi-nii-san had mistook it for a cigarette the first time they met, and gave him a small lecture on how kids shouldn't be doing that.

And getting as red as a tomato after Natsume had told him it was just a lollipop, yelling at how and why he hadn't stopped him during his lecturing, and Natsume had told him he would never tell him why.

"—Its because you're cute senpai,"

But could he ever say that out loud?

Never.

He looked around, trying to distract himself, as he found himself even slightly interested in a certain conversation some NPCs(students) in his life were having.

"Hey, you're going to enroll to Yumenosaki, right? I will too!" "If we get in, haha. I'm glad I'll have you by side, Ha-chin." "Wait, applications are already in?!" "Mhm, just started today. You're gonna apply?" "Heck yeah! I wanna get out this hellhole."

Oh?

Yumenosaki.. applications start today?

I found myself keeping from immediately reaching for my phone, but eventually gave in because, why the hell not?

I googled 'Yumenosaki', the application page coming up first link, as I lightly chuckled to myself.

Famous, aren't we?

I clicked on it, it leading me to a page that looked like.. a Google docs file??

It just basically asked me for normal info, like my email, name, etc. until I reached a certain question.

'Why would you like to get into Yumenosaki Academy?'

..

'To reunite with a certain close friend of mine.'

..Submit.

Closing the page with an immediate sigh falling from my lips, I pressed on the play icon one more time, turning the volume up to 100 to drown out all nearby life as I changed my destination, heading for the cafeteria, deciding to just fuck school.

—

Angrily sipping on his frappé(crappé now, because he felt terrible but still had a horrible sense of humor let in his head) because he was set up by the music club, he opened his phone and aggressively scrolled through his emails, seeking comfort.

Rolling around in his little Starbucks chair, he refreshed the page, loudly sipping on his straw, as he saw a new email in full formal letters pop up.

The heck is this?

He opened it, only to almost drop his drink entirely, his mouth agape as he reread the first few sentences again and again.

'Dear Natsume Sakasaki,

You have been accepted by our council of directors, and you are free to join our school at your earliest convenience.

Kindly print this in print-paper, or bring facial and/or proof of legal identity for the identity check we will be holding next month.'

"WHAT?!"

He yelled out, everyone around him including the barista turned to face him, as he completely ignored them, his eyes lighting up as he saw his expression in the mirror-wall.

"Sir?

You alright?"

He internally groaned as the worker ruined his little celebration, yet not affecting the goofy big smile on his face, as he replied;

"I got accepted."

"To...?"

"Yumenosaki Academy."

"HOLY SHIT"

To which everyone now turned to the barista, as he scratched his cheek, apologizing for the inconvenience.

"You got accepted?"

"I got accepted!"

"No way!"

Me and the barista were just in our own happy world now, as everyone went back to their drinks, I, tuning out the small 'they're insane' remarks.

"I wanna get into Yumenosaki too one day,"

His lips curved into a smile, and I liked this guy, so I supported him.

"I'm sure you will. No, I promise you will."

"Really?"

"Really."

He had extremely distinctive features, his light brownish-hair fell at his shoulders, a small pink streak showed in the middle whenever he flicked his hair to the side to see better, being one of his charming traits.

"Thank yo~u!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're a complete stranger to me, but you seem really nice."

His voice slightly slurred at times, but that might be due to his slightly-foreign accent.

His face was perfectly round, capturing his smile in all its whole as his piercing purple eyes shone talking.

"Thank you. You seem really nice aswell."

Finishing what was left of my half-spilled drink, I looked at my watch and spoke;

"Anyway, I have to go home now, but it was really nice meeting you. Really."

"Haha! Its alright.

I enjoyed my time a lot talking to you, so I won't even charge you for that big puddle of frappé you have on the ground!~ Have a great day,..?"

"Natsume.

Natsume Sakasaki."

"It was lovely meeting ya, Nat!"

"Farewell~"

I got up, grabbing my things from the counter as I walked through the door, bell chiming, face smiling, ready to start a new chapter in my life.