Love Live! Reunite!

Chapter 27: Dress Designs

Hanayo wasn't a person who was open about her problems. She always wanted to deal with her problems on her own. Even when she struggled or suffered, she always did it alone. She knew she had to tell someone, maybe Rin, as they were best friends.

But she couldn't. Hanayo couldn't bring herself to talk about her problems. Rin had lots of problems of her own already, and just hearing about Hanayo's would probably worry her even more.

Hanayo was stood looking in the bathroom mirror. She had lost a lot of weight, and she could see that now, after Umi had told her two days before. But before it had been pointed out to her, Hanayo had no idea...

"I should eat something," Hanayo whispered to herself.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, Hanayo didn't LOOK fat. But maybe she was... Maybe she was overweight, and just couldn't see it herself...

"Kayo-chin! Are you coming?" Rin called from down the stairs.

Hanayo rinsed her mouth out with water, wiped the corners of her mouth and left the bathroom. "Yeah! I'm on my way down!"

Hanayo walked down the stairs, where Rin was waiting for her.

"Is everything okay?" Rin asked.

Hanayo nodded and smiled. "Yes, sorry I took so long."

"That's okay," Rin grinned back. "Kotori-chan's discussing the new designs for our costumes, nya!"

They headed into the sitting room and sat together on the sofa. Everyone was sat down, apart from Kotori. She was stood up in front of her audience, holding a large A3 sketch book.

"I was up quite late finishing these designs," Kotori admitted. "Let me know what you think!"

Kotori turned to the first page, showing her first drawing. There was a short dress just reaching halfway down the thigh, with thin straps decorated with lace. There was a large bow in the centre of the chest area and frills coming down, with a black belt.

"The colour of the dress will be different for everyone," Kotori explained.

"It looks so cute, Kotori-chan!" Honoka cried.

Kotori beamed. "Really? You think so, Honoka-chan?"

"We will look like great idols wearing that!" Nico agreed.

"But, it's really short..." Umi pointed out, nervousness in her voice.

"Yeah, I agree with Umi-chan," Rin said.

"Wel, I can make it longer, if you want," Kotori suggested.

"But if it's too long it won't look like an idol costume," Nico explained, shaking her head.

"It looks alright to me," Maki said, twirling her hair between her fingers. "If we're all wearing the same outfit you won't stand out as much."

"Show us the next design," Eli advised.

Kotori turned the page to her second drawing. This design had a dress slightly longer than the first, and the back of the dress split off into two sections and curled outwards at the tips. The dress pinched in at the waist, and had a bow at either side with a belt. There were buttons going all the way down the dress, and the straps were long and transparent, and there were ribbon bows on both wrists.

"That's so detailed!" Honoka gasped. "How are you so talented?!"

"So intricate!" Nozomi gasped in awe. "I like this one!"

"Again, this one is still short," Umi said. "But it's longer than the other one. I'm more comfortable wearing that dress."

"It is still short..." Rin said slowly and quietly, her voice fading.