Time to wrap up for the day.

You're Amazing

We were now in Honoka's room after school.

After the mildly embarrassing practice session from earlier, everyone decided to call it a day and leave school behind. Honoka suggested that her friends come over to her place to hang out some more while Umi thought it would be a great idea to continue their brainstorming. So, it felt like we were going to part ways at the school gate. But before they could say goodbye to me, I muttered, "It's normal for any female friends of mine to invite me over to their home to hang out after school."

"Hey, Naoki-kun. Did you also want to come over?" Honoka asked almost immediately. She was smiling her usual bright smile at me. Her cheeks had a faint dusting of red.

"That's a great idea, Honoka." Umi interjected before I could reply. "That means we can get started on your studying sooner." She was saying with a smug grin.

"Eeh? Ah... ahahaha. Yeah... I guess." Said a slightly dejected Honoka. Kotori giggled into her hand at her response.

I smiled to myself. I was really liking these three. Honoka with her volatile cheerfulness, strict Umi who meant well and Kotori... Well, I didn't really see much of Kotori's personality outside of her cute puppy dog voice and quiet demeanour. But I guess that would come with time.

Anyway, I really didn't want to leave their company just yet.

"Sure. I'd love to come over, Honoka." I told her with my best smile. Her face brightened at my response. "I hope you have your text books ready."

Her face faltered a little. "Uh, Un. They're on my desk..." She gave a little sigh. Perhaps she was wondering if she regretted making the offer.

Kotori giggled some more while Umi nodded in approval.

Along the way Umi said that she had a couple things to do at home and that she would come by later. With some of her text books too.

"Hai, hai..." Honoka sigh as she waved her off.

They lived in the same neighbourhood so it probably wouldn't take very long.

Honoka, Kotori and I continued on and came to a stop in front of a Japanese confectionary store. It looked like a decent looking place, but I was wondering why they stopped. Did they maybe want to buy some sweets on the way home?

The place was situated at the corner of the road intersecting with another road halfway down the street. It was a two-storied building with healthy looking plants and bushes to either side of the entrance. The sign above the entrance said, "Japanese Sweets Homura" in Kanji calligraphy on a wooden board.

"This is my house, Naoki-kun." Honoka said, turning to me.

I blinked a few times. "You live in a sweet shop?"

"Ehehe, yeah... My family makes Japanese sweets for a living." She explained.

"That's pretty cool. Does that mean you can have sweets whenever you want?"

"Well, maybe not whenever. But we still get a lot, which means it gets boring after a while." She said, not sounding very enthusiastic about having to eat Japanese sweets all the time.

"She still eats them, though." Kotori said, giving a bright and cheeky smile.

Honoka gave her a half-hearted frown.

Girls and their sweets, huh.

We stepped inside and were met by a woman who I presumed was Honoka's mother. She had short brown hair and had a lot of resemblance to Honoka. Just a bit more motherly, if that's even a good description. She was kinda hot too. She had on a white shirt and a green apron and was standing behind a counter with a cash register and a bunch of tempting sweets.

I might actually "buy" some later.

"Welco- Ah, Honoka, welcome home." Honoka's mother greeted, almost thinking we were customers.

"I'm home!" Honoka called out, sounding like her cheerful self.

"Welcome Kotori and..." Kousaka-san looked at me in confusion before turning back to Honoka. "And who might this be?"

"That's Nakano Naoki-kun. He's that transfer student I told you about. Remember?" Honoka told her mother.

"Ah! That's right." She said, suddenly remembering. However, her face turned sly with a knowing smile as she addressed Honoka. "And you invited him over, did you? My, what a good friend."

Once again, I had the pleasure of witnessing Honoka's face falter due to teasing. I could get used to this.

"It's nice to meet you." I said as I bowed, before Honoka could give a retort.

"My, how polite!" Kousaka-san exclaimed, giving Honoka meaningful looks. I felt a tug on my arm and found myself being dragged further into the house by a furiously blushing Honoka. "It was really nice meeting you too, Nakano-kun!"

I could have sworn I heard both Kotori and Honoka's mother giggling behind us.

Honoka dragged me past what looked to be the living area. I briefly looked inside before Honoka's hold on me led me away. It had a pretty traditional look to it with a low table and cushions to sit on. There were a few chests of draws and cabinets along the walls too. But the thing that caught my eye was the girl that stood up and was looking towards the sliding doors where I was.

I think I can safely assume that she was Honoka's little sister, what with the way she also resembled her. Her hair was darker and shorter though. She was also very cute too. A white top and blue shorts showed off my favourite part of a girl. Those legs drew my eyes before Honoka pulled me up some stairs.

"Was that a boy?" I heard a new voice asked. Probably the little sister.

"Yep!" Kotori told her, still giggling to herself.

"Ehhh." The little sister's sound of mild disbelief was the last thing I heard before Honoka and I made it to her room.

Now, Honoka, Kotori and I were sitting around the low table that Honoka had in the middle of her room. Kotori had come up with a plate of dango, courtesy of Honoka's mother. Now we were just chewing away and chatting as we waited for Umi to arrive.

I say chat, but it was mostly the two girls talking while I just looked around the room. The carpet was various shades of orange with yellow diamonds in a pattern. The curtains were light orange with darker orange polka dots. The bed's duvet had squares of cream, soft pink and... orange.

Dear lord.

Thankfully that’s where all the orange stopped. There was a brown desk with white draws in the corner. A bookshelf with textbooks and a few volumes of manga sat next to the desk. The bed's frame was a light brown and the walls were white. The table we were sitting around was also white. Thank the gods. In another corner was a smaller desk with a mirror, presumably for make-up.

Oh, and there was a little yellow trash can by the side of her bed.

On the table was the plate of dango but I had barely eaten my share. Not only because I was looking around, but also because I couldn't get over the fact that I was in a girl's room. This was another new thing for me. For the longest time I've fantasised about hanging out in a girl's room, whether it was just with a friend or a girlfriend. Just a few days ago, having that kind of closeness with members of the female species would have been awesome but would never have happened.

And now I'm just chilling with two girls in one of their rooms.

I reached up and felt at the N shaped earring at my lobe. The one that allowed me to change social norms. Both this and the other one had done so much for me. Without them I'd still be hanging out with other average male friends that couldn't, for the life of them, get a girl.

Now here I was, planning out the acquisition of a harem.

That's just nuts. And I'm going to have so much fun.

A knock came at the door before it opened to reveal Honoka's little sister with a pot of tea on a tray. "Mom said to bring you some tea."

"Yukiho," Honoka said, surprised to see her sister delivering tea. She smiled at her little sister. "Thank you."

The now named Yukiho came into the room glancing at me curiously as she placed the tray on the table. Once she set it down she straightened up, gave me another glance and turned to leave.

"Yukiho-chan, thank you." Kotori said.

"Thanks again." Honoka repeated.

"Thank you very much." I said to round it off.

Yukiho nodded at us, gave me another look that I couldn't read, and left. And I'm pretty sure I could guess what she was thinking.

"Sorry Naoki-kun, if she seemed standoffish. She's usually a bit more talkative." Honoka apologised.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind." I told her.

"It's probably because she can't believe her sister would ever bring a boy home." Kotori said with a sweet smile that could just as well be a smirk.

"Kotori-chan!" Honoka moaned, once again mortified at all the teasing.

It really seemed to be Tease Honoka Night at the Kousaka household.

After that we went back to talking and chewing on our dango. Well, they ate the dango. I sipped at the tea. After a moment I heard someone walking down the hallway outside Honoka's door before it opened a second time. This time revealing the one and only Umi-tan.

She stopped at the door and frowned a little.

"Good work!" Both Honoka and Kotori greeted, with dango half-way to their mouths.

"Would you like some dango?" Honoka asked, not noticing Umi's eyebrow twitch.

"I'll pour you some tea." Kotori offered.

As Kotori poured out a cup for her, Umi sat down with a very dissatisfied expression.

"What about your diet?" Umi asked in a slow careful tone.

The change from happily chewing away to gasping at the horror of their decision was immediate. The look of embarrassment Honoka and Kotori had upon realising that they broke their earlier promise was hilarious to see. I almost choked on my tea and had to cough into my hand to clear my throat, only to laugh again when I looked back up.

"Naoki-kun, you could have reminded them also." She said, reprimanding me too.

"Uh, sorry Sonoda-san. I also forgot about that." I apologised, scratching my head.

She gave a great big sigh. She then turned back to the other two girls. "You don't seem to have any intention of working hard..." Umi then perked up, trying to focus on other things. "So, what about our song?"

Both girls leaned in with interest now that they got back to talking about their idol business. Honoka already had something to say, too. "There's a first-year who's really good at singing. She's great at piano, too, so I'm thinking she can probably compose, as well..." Honoka sat back a bit before continuing. "I'm thinking of asking her about it tomorrow!"

"We were just saying if she can compose a song for us, we can do something about the lyrics!" Kotori piped in.

When did they mention a student who played the piano? Huh, I guess I wasn't paying attention.

"Something... you say?" Umi asked.

"Yeah." Honoka looked at Kotori. "Right?"

"Right!" Kotori answered, nodding emphatically.

Both girls then suddenly leaned over the table in front of Umi, startling her. The knowing smiles just made it seem just a tad creepy.

"Wh-What is it?" Umi asked, her eyes wide.

"Umi-chan, in middle school, you wrote some poems and stuff, right?" Honoka asked with that knowing smirk.

"What?" Umi choked out. Her face was the face of someone whose dark secret was being revealed to the world. She briefly looked at me before her eyes snapped back to the two sleazy looking girls in front of her. The mortification plain in her eyes.

"You read them to us once, too, right?" Kotori asked, her almost sickly-sweet smile making even me move back a little.

As intriguing (and funny) as it was to hear of Umi's dark past, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Umi. And now she was inching away from the table, her face in a rictus image of fear and shame. Poor girl.

Don't laugh, me.

Umi got up and ran.

She bolted for the door, slammed it open and got the hell outta here. Both Honoka and Kotori tried to get her at the door but Umi was too fast.

"She ran for it!" Honoka shouted. Both her and Kotori gave chase.

That just left me sitting here in Honoka's room. With some dango and tea.

"What?" Was all I could say.

"Please, no! I'm leaving!"

I could hear the commotion from here. And it sounded like she just about made it outside, too.

"Come on, come on!"

"Umi-chan!"

"No, no!"

Wow. Terrifying.

I ate some dango.

"I refuse!" Umi declared.

All three eventually came back after apologising to Honoka's parents and a neighbour or two. Once I realised that both her parents were home I quickly made a normality that had all parents trust me with their daughters. Couldn't be too cautious.

The girls also apologised to me but I just brushed it off. I was more concerned (amused) about Umi. She still looked angry at having her buried secret uncovered after all these years.

"What?! Why, why?" Asked Honoka, once again leaning on the table.

"What?" Kotori moaned.

"I refuse to do it!" Umi declared again. "The poems I wrote in middle school are so embarrassing I don't want to think about them!"

She glanced at me as she said that and I realised that it must be even more embarrassing to have that revealed in front of a boy. A boy that she might like, too.

Honoka sidled up to Umi's side. "They say idols have to throw away their shame."

Keep some shame, please.

"No, they don't!" Umi growled at Honoka, making her shrink back with a nervous giggle.

"But I have my hands full making outfits..." Kotori lamented.

"There's always Honoka." Umi said stubbornly. "You're the one who suggested we do this."

Tis true, that.

"Yeah, but I..." Honoka began sheepishly. "Remember the poems we had to make in elementary school?"

"Yes..." Umi said, thinking back.

"Remember my one?"

"Yeah..." Umi brows started to twitch again.

Both girls blushed at the memory of Honoka's elementary school poem. My guess is that it was pretty bad.

"You don't really think she can do it, do you?" Kotori asked.

"Well..." No, she didn't. That was plain to see from her face. That poem must have been something else.

"Please. You're the only one who can do it, Umi-chan!" Kotori pleaded.

"We'll even help you!" Honoka offered. "At least write something we can work with!"

For just a moment Umi looked like she might be swayed, but turned to look at Kotori and her eyes turned wide.

Wondering what she saw I also turned to look.

Kotori was sitting there with her hand gripping at the shirt covering her chest while breathing slightly hard. Her eyes looked a little wet like she might go ahead and cry.

"Umi-chan..." Her voice came out sweetly.

She then looked up, her hair shifting back with the movement. Her expression one of great need as she pleaded, "Onegai!"

The word seemed to echo throughout the room and deep in my mind. My heart clenched and I instinctively leaned away as if the brightest of lights, the light of an angel shone past me and hit Umi straight in the face.

I could see that she felt it too. Umi looked as if struck by the most heart-wrenching of blows. Her hands raised as if they might ward off the light... before they were lowered and Umi sagged.

"That's not fair, Kotori..."

And just like that the atmosphere of the room went back to normal...

I sat there blinking for a moment. What the hell was that? A weapon?

Pretty dangerous if it was.

"Great!" Honoka and Kotori celebrated, having won Umi over with the might of heaven on their side.

"I thought you might say that." Honoka said happily.

"However..." Umi said, standing up. Her voice going back to its normal strictness.

"Huh?"

"I will decide our practice schedule until the concert." Boom, and just like that Umi took back control.

"Practice schedule?" Both Honoka and Kotori repeated. As if they didn't know what that meant.

Apparently Honoka had a laptop, which was now on the table playing a video from some idol group called A-RISE. There were three girls dancing in the video and if I'm being honest, I'd go back stage with them any day. If you know what I mean.

Honoka, Kotori and I were sitting in front of the screen watching intently while Umi was behind us.

"Idols seem to have fun when they sing, but they're moving the whole time." She was saying. "Despite that, they're able to keep smiling without losing their breath. It requires a great amount of stamina."

All that made a great deal of sense to me but looking at the other girls' faces it seemed like they didn't have a clue.

"Honoka, could you please do some push-ups?" Umi suddenly asked.

Ah, I see where she's going with this.

"Huh?" And Honoka didn't.

"Please?" Umi insisted.

"Okay, I guess." Honoka agreed. She got up from the seat in front of the laptop and moved to an open space in the room. She knelt down and got into position.

Looking back up at Umi she asked, "Like this?"

"Now, try smiling."

Honoka smiled. "Like this?"

"Can you keep doing push-ups like that?" Umi asked her.

I decided to just stare at Honoka's ass as she tried to lower herself with a smile. I couldn't see the smile but I imagined it would be funny to see. But that ass was calling to my eyes. And those legs. Those legs!

But then she started shaking and flopped onto the floor with a small yell.

"Ow!" She yelled again, holding onto her nose. She rolled over and started swinging her legs in the air, giving me a nice view up her skirt. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"I've trained myself through the archery club, but Honoka and Kotori, you need to at least gain enough stamina to look happy while you sing."

Honoka finally sat up, still holding onto her nose. Small tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes.

"Oh, right. Being an idol is hard work." Kotori realised.

Honoka managed to let go of her face, showing off the angry red skin on her nose.

"Yes, so..." Umi intoned. "Tomorrow begins our training schedule."

The rest of the evening was spent studying for a couple subjects, however, we didn't exactly leave enough time for it. So, we decided to study another time.

And it was getting late.

Japanese Sweets Homura had flipped its open sign to closed a while ago. And the Kousaka family would have their dinner soon. Both Umi and Kotori were taking their leave right now.

We were all standing outside at the entrance to Honoka's home saying our goodbyes.

"Remember Honoka, I want you up early and ready tomorrow." Umi was reminding her.

"I know, I know Umi-chan. I'll be up at eight." Honoka assured her.

"You need to be ready at eight!" Umi chided. She sighed before shaking her head. "We'll come around to pick you up, anyway."

Honoka laughed sheepishly at that.

"And Naoki-kun?" Umi suddenly looked to me.

"Yes, Sonoda-san?" I asked.

"Umi."

I blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"If you want us to call you by your name then it's only fair for you to call us by ours. So, call me Umi, please." Umi said, trying to keep a straight face but the small blush gave her away.

"Un! Exactly Naoki-kun. Call me Honoka!" Honoka said excitedly, though she too had a blush blooming. Her one was much more evident, though. "Right, Kotori-chan?"

Dumbfounded by all of this, I looked at Kotori.

"Yep! Naoki-kun, call me Kotori, okay?" She said. Ugh, her cute puppy dog voice tugged at my heart.

I wasn't expecting this to happen. Or, rather, not this soon. I looked from face to face to confirm what they were saying, and they all smiled at me.

"Uh, okay... Umi-chan, Honoka-chan, Kotori-chan." I said, slowly and deliberately.

They all smiled wider.

"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I was going to ask if you also wanted come tomorrow." She said.

"What? You mean to train with you?" I didn't want to be no idol.

"Well, no. Not unless you wanted to. I meant that perhaps you'd like to help motivate us? Encourage us?" That last one was said as she gave a smirk in Honoka's direction.

Honoka stiffened at that. Her blush bloomed across her face before she returned a smouldering glare.

Honoka and glares don't really go well together. They end up looking too cute to be seen as much of a threat.

"Um, sure. I'll email you in the morning to let you know when I'm coming" I told them, forgetting that I didn't have their numbers yet. Fortunately, Umi realised this error.

"We haven't gotten your number yet." She got her phone out, and not to be outdone Honoka also got hers out. Kotori followed suit.

We huddled up with our phones, exchanging info via Bluetooth. I got their contacts and they got mine. It was then that I remembered my normality about girls sending me sexy pictures of themselves and I mentally cheered for this development.

Once that was over with we each said our goodbyes.

"Good night!"

"See you tomorrow!"

"Up and early, remember?"

"Hai, hai! I get it!"

"Good night girls!"

"Good night!" Three girls called out.

Umi and Kotori began walking off to their respective homes. I, however, wasn't finished. I waited for those two to walk off a little further.

"Honoka-chan?" I called out before she closed her front door.

"Hm?" She looked back to see me still standing there.

"There was something I wanted to say to you." I started off. " Do you mind hearing me out?"

She looked a little confused but decided to hear what I had to say. She stood back outside in front of me.

"What is it?" She asked with an inviting smile.

"I just wanted to say that I think you're amazing." She blinked in surprise at that. She started to blush once again and was about to respond but I beat her to it. "You found out that your school was going to close, but instead of sitting back and letting that happen you decided to step up. You decided to try and stop it from closing, even while others said that it couldn't be helped."

She stood there speechless and staring as I stepped closer.

"Even when your friends doubted you at first, you won them over. And now they're helping you to achieve your goal. Even when the student council president shot down your proposal you decided to go around her." I stepped closer again.

"And even tonight when you learned just how much effort is involved with all this, you haven't backed down. I can see it in your eyes." She gulped a little. "Once you've decided on something, you don't let go. You keep going. And at the end of the day you don't let those things keep you from smiling that amazing smile." By now her whole face was crimson, but she couldn't utter a word.

"You're stubborn, you're funny, you're... well, a little dumb," I said with a smile. She laughed a little at that. "And you're amazing."

The smile faded away again as she paid close attention to what I was saying. I'm not even sure if she could speak right now.

"And I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I want to let you know that I'm on your side. You want to save the school? I'll support you. You want to make an idol group? I'll be your first and biggest fan. You want to get into the best university? I'll cram whole libraries into that dumb head of yours." She laughed again, her lips shaking a little.

Man, if I wasn't such a pervert this would be the coolest thing I've ever done.

"I'll have your back, if that's okay with you?" I asked. Bringing my speech to a close.

She looked down, not showing me her face. But I waited.

She brought her sleeve up to her face and wiped something away. I still waited.

I could hear the Tokyo traffic roaring in the distance. I waited some more.

She wiped her eyes again and finally lifted her face up. She was smiling as brilliantly as ever but for a slight redness about the eyes. That smile warmed me up from the inside.

"Thank you, Nao-"

I interrupted her by placing my mouth over hers. I also brought my left hand up to hold the back of her neck gently. She was too shocked to do anything and simply stood there.

I didn't stay long and parted from her lips soon after. She was just staring at me with a world full of confusion in her eyes. The reality of what just happened having not settled in just yet.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I said, smiling my brightest smile to match her brightest.

Then I turned around and left.

Dinner was ready and Yukiho went to find her sister. Leaving the dining area, she moved to go upstairs but stopped when she saw movement at the corner of her eye.

Her sister was just now walking in through the front door. Yukiho went to greet her and to tell her that dinner was ready.

"Onee-chan, dinner's ready." She told her.

"...un."

Honoka kept on walking as if she didn't really hear her.

"Oi, Onee-chan! You forgot to close the door." Yukiho exclaimed.

"...un."

Honoka stepped into the hallway towards the stairs.

"And I said dinner's ready!"

"...un."

Yukiho blinked a few times. What was wrong with her?

Their mother poked her head out from the dining area just as Honoka began to climb the stairs slowly.

"Honoka! Dinner's ready."