Be Cautious

The day the results will finally be revealed has finally come. To say that all of us are nervous would be a big understatement. More so than me, the girls seem to be unable to think straight, even before they go to sleep last night.

Me? Of course I am nervous as well.

But the only thing we can do is wait. Because we already did our best in the qualifications. The girls, despite their best efforts to stay calm and go on their typical day, are clearly struggling to keep their anxiety in check.

Umi, who is usually very calm is now shaking her legs in anticipation and nervousness. Maki hasn't stopped playing with her hair since morning. Rin is unusually quite, and at her side, Hanayo kept eating a comically-large Onigiri.

I won't go into details to the others, but they are having an equally anxious appearance.

The clock eventually hits 12:00, midday. The time that the results will be announced.

Hanayo quickly finished her onigiri and head over to her laptop. She opened the website and clicked on the qualification results hesitantly. The girls are also looking at the same screen from behing Hanayo.

"Okay, here I go."

Hanayo started scrolling down the list. There are thousands of groups that qualified to enter, but amongst them, one stood up.

A-RISE.

They are the previous year's champion of Love Live, and this year they decided to compete once again to defend their title. Some groups expressed disdain at the fact that they'll probably get an easy win.

Hanayo kept scrolling down until they eventually reached their name on the table.

Though she moved her cursor to their name, Hanayo hesitated to click on it to show their results. Feeling anxious, Nico exclaimed, "Just get on with it, already!" and clicked the name.

All of them simultaneously yelped and some averted their gaze in a combination of fear and nervousness.

"We..."

"We?"

"We..."

Hanayo stammered.

"W-We PASSED!"

She showed the screen and pointed at the results, which says PASSED in bright green colors.

It took quite a while for them to process it, they even asked to double-check and make sure.

When they realized it's the real deal...

"ALL RIGHT!"

The girls all exclaimed in unison and celebrated.

I sighed in relief and smiled at them, "I guess we're going to be very busy for the next couple of months."

"Bring them on!" Rin, who regained her confidence and cheerfulness said to me.

I looked back at my laptop screen and continued my work, oblivious that someone is staring at me intensely.