A Singer's Comeback

The Masked Boy in a Black Hoodie

The car ride took a while, but in the airport, the process was longer. They had to check-in, go through security, wait through a delayed flight, eat a second batch of breakfast, and nearly missing their flight as they had waited. The plane flight took about 4 hours, with the flight having to be temporarily stopped because a passenger was causing a commotion.

Stumbling off the flight, the three left the airport. They took a taxi to a hotel to book into a 3-bed bedroom (Yes, those exist). After unpacking, Musume instantly started looking out onto the view, "Wow! I can already tell we'll have a great time here!" Mondai just leaned over onto his own bed, "So tired..."

"The usual Mondai!", Musume teased, "The little grumpy boy laying down despite sleeping the entire flight!" Mondai let out an annoyed moan. Yashiro just giggled, taking off her mask, "What can I say? Musume-chan is quite accurate!" "That does NOT help.", Mondai sat on the bed.

"Anyways, we should head to Kamome Timesquare! I wanna get some souvenirs!", Musume squealed, "And I can't wait for tomorrow as well! Aoi's theatre act! Eek! Oh, and who knows! We might even see Natsuhiko!" "Musume-san, the usual fangirl who idolizes Aoi.", Mondai smirked, "And simps for Natsuhiko." "Hey!", Musume pouted, slapping the back of his head, "Don't expose me like that!" "Hey, at least it's fair!", Mondai laughed.

Yashiro laughed at the two, "Such lovebirds!" "Hey!", they both shouted, throwing pillows at her, "We don't like each other that way! Wait, STOP COPYING ME!" They started to tackle each other, with pillows. "TAKE THAT!", they both shouted. Yashiro, holding the pillows they threw, took off the pillow covers and yanked it over their heads, quickly stopping the tussling.

"You guys wouldn't want to look beat up in public, do you?", Yashiro giggled. "You sly, sly daikon...", Mondai groaned. "Haha~! Yashiro-chan, such one clever daikon indeed~", Musume stared at Yashiro, leaving an intimidating feeling in the room, lifting the pillowcase off her head, "Pillow Fight!" Musume yanked it onto Yashiro, before bombarding her with pillows.

Laughing, Yashiro threw them back.

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After cleaning up the mess they have made, they decided to go out to the time square, buy souvenirs, and eat at a restaurant for dinner. Walking through the time square, Musume was already carrying about four bags full of souvenirs and arcade machine prizes she wanted to take home. Mondai didn't buy much, and Yashiro only bought Strawberry rice cakes and only one souvenir.

As the group spoke, Yashiro accidentally bumped into a group of girls without knowing, "What the hell!?" "Oh, I-I'm sorry!", Yashiro apologized, bowing, "I wasn't looking where I was going-" "You better be!", one of them pulled her up by her hair, "Who do you think you are?!" Musume slapped the girl's hand away, before pulling Yashiro back, "Hey! Don't touch her! What do you think you're doing?!"

"We just thought it we could give her a good lesson of manners!", another girl smirked, "That bitch needs to know how to be more careful!" "Sheesh! Just accept the apology and get moving already!", Musume pushed them away, "My bestie doesn't need to have your 'lEsSoN'!" "That's YOUR bestie? You could've done better!", a girl spat.

"Ahem, I'd like to point out you girls don't even know us, and Yashiro-san here accidentally bumped into you. We also knew her longer than you girls know her, and I doubt we would need to do better, you're just acting like complete assholes to a stranger who already apologized.", Mondai scoffed, "Are you seriously too confident and full of yourselves? I assume you're the 'arrogant' type of people."

"And who gave YOU the right to talk?", a girl pointed at him. "I don't know, maybe freedom of speech? Free will? It appears you four are out of insults. Please, kindly, fuck off.", Mondai flipped a middle finger, "You're wasting our time." "Well-" "Enough!", Yashiro snapped, "I apologized already and you're still going?! What kind of people are you?!"

"Hey, what's going on here?", a person in a black hoodie approached them, "I heard yelling." "Well, uhm, you see sir. These fatass ankles here had bumped into us! We're trying to teach her a lesson, but her 'friends' won't let us!", a girl proudly said. "Don't call her that, you skank. She apologized.", Musume glared down onto them.

"I'm pretty sure she didn't mean it. As a person in the right mind, shouldn't you four just accept the apology and let it go? Or is it that hard?", the boy questioned, "I also can judge from your attire, you are a major fan of the popstar 'Hanako', correct? I doubt he'd appreciate having rude fans like you."

"U-Uhm...", one of the girls froze. "Yeah, just accept the apology and go away.", the boy tapped his feet, tugging on his face-mask, glaring, "C'mon, we don't have much time. Or do I have to make you do it by force?" "U-Uhm, we accept your apology, We'll go away now...", the girls stepped backward before running off into the distance. "And, are you okay?", he asked Yashiro. "Yes, erm, thank you sir.", Yashiro nodded. "Okay, just know to watch where you're going next time. People like them are quite common nowadays.", the boy's amber eyes shone through his hood. "Yes sir, I will, thank you again.", Yashiro nodded. "You're welcome.", the boy waved, before walking into a crowd.

They continued walking towards a nearby restaurant. "Oddly, that boy sounded familiar, and it was as if his eyes were similar to some sort of start...", Musume pointed out, "Sort of just like Hanako." "Maybe just some coincidental lookalike.", Mondai responded, "He barely goes out in public, even in disguise." "Can we just go now? I'm hungry...", Yashiro patted her stomach as it rumbled.

"Yeah, those girls wasted our time. See you there.", Mondai waved, rushing down the road. "Hey! Wait for me!", Musume shouted. Yashiro ran behind them, "Guys! Slow down!"

That boy...
Who was he...?

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