Link! Like!: Episode 15 ~ Part 2 - MagiCircles/IdolStoryWiki GitHub Wiki
“That dreamy place felt like it came straight out of a fairy tale. And like a flash of light, like a shooting star, it was all over in an instant…”
Now, then… I was thinking of starting off by talking with Rurino-san, but she isn’t at the dorms, and it seems like she hasn’t submitted an excursion request.
Where could she have gone?
…K-Kozue-senpai!
Haah… one of my friends said she saw her…! She told me that Rurino-chan went to the lake by herself!
By herself?
Yeah. They said she looked really depressed...
I see… that’s worrying. Let’s hurry over, Kaho-san.
Okay!
…
…Look, it’s water. Woo.
Rurino-chan!? Watch out!
Huh?
–Wha–!?
If you space out here, you might fall off!
N-No, hold on! You’re gonna make the both of us fall–!
J-Just in time…
Sorry, Rurino-chan! When I heard that you were depressed and heading to the lake, I kinda panicked…
Nah… Yeah, that probably would’ve made you feel worried, huh… My bad…
But why the lake?
I was thinking that I wanted to be alone… I went on autopilot looking for a quiet place, and before I even noticed, I was here… I guess.
Y’know, I kinda… Guess I was… just really upset…
Because we lost…?
Mmm…
Sorry, Kaho-chan. I’m probably not feeling the same way as everyone else.
…What do you mean?
The Love Live! Finals were so amazing…
I could really feel all the passion coming from the other performing school idols. So I figured I needed to get fired up too.
…I really felt it… Everyone there was completely, 100% serious…
I understood that everyone’d finally arrived at the place that they’d been aiming for all this time.
Because it’s where all school idols aspire to perform, after all.
Yeah. I really felt that everyone there was a “school idol”... I think.
But then I realized, I only noticed that because I was so carefree. I was the only one…
I felt like… I was the only one there just to be there. And I thought that was so inexcusable that I wanted to disappear… and even now I…
N-No, Rurino-chan… That’s not true at all! You worked so hard and did all that practice…
Yeah… But that’s just practice…
If I were alone, I don’t think I could’ve made it to that place…
You might be right.
You’re a first-year that just joined the club last summer. Compared to the other girls there, you have much less experience.
But is what decides who is or isn’t a school idol really just the days spent yearning to be one? Is it truly the months and years of experience?
In my view, you are a splendid school idol. I have no doubt about that.
…Kozue…senpai…
Right now, what you need to do is ask yourself what you aim to do by standing upon that stage.
To listen to that small voice, deep inside your heart.
A voice in my heart… Do I… really have one of those…?
People have a wide variety of hopes and dreams. I’m sure that you have a wish of your own that you cherish.
Perhaps you just can’t see it at the moment, because you’ve been blinded by the bright lights of the stage.
If you don’t, then you wouldn’t have worked so hard to practice. I’m sure you were there for your own reason. Trust me.
How are you so sure?
I’d like to think I have an eye for good school idols.
I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me…
R-Really? It feels like Megumi would say that all the time, though.
Megu-chan said something like that before, and don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to hear it! But Megu-chan loves me, so she exaggerates everything!
I-I agree with Kozue-senpai!
The Rurino-chan I know could perform anywhere in the world and be a fantastic school idol!
I also think you exaggerate things, Kaho-chan...
Huh!? What do you mean!?
But… yeah… Thanks, you two.
Even if I’m sad, knowing that there are people that have my back makes this water flea feel like she provides a pebble’s worth of value.
You’re still down even after Kozue-senpai said all that!?
Hmhm, but it seems Rurino-san’s back to her usual self.
I feel… up ‘til now, there’s been a part of me using “having fun together with Megu-chan” as just an excuse.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to convince myself that I really am a school idol.
I never really liked competitions… But at the end of the day, of course I’d want to win.
I’m sure that being all upset like this because we lost isn’t nearly as fun as how we’d feel if we won.
After all, I became a school idol to have fun!
This feeling you’ve taught me… The voice inside me… I’m gonna work really hard to try and put it into words!
Yeah! That sounds like a great idea!
I agree, that sounds wonderful. But I suppose Megumi would want to hear those words the most, hm?
That reminds me. Where is Megumi-senpai?
Megu-chan’s… ah.
Megu-chan’s mental state… is probably super duper bad!
Huh?