[TSSIM] Chapter 497: I Believe Homura-kun Will Always Keep Us Happy

It had to be said that the conversation between Homura and the girls had suddenly turned bizarre. 

It started with a song from Homura, went through a series of topic shifts, and somehow ended up on something called the Thorns' Club—something none of them had ever heard of before. 

If the girls hadn't watched the whole thing unfold, they probably would've been completely lost. 

Luckily, Homura and the girls decided to drop the topic since he also had something else he needed to ask.

[Minamiya Homura: BTW, we're on break now. I already gave you girls the swimsuits I made but what about the extra ones you were planning to buy? When are you gonna get them?]

[Makishima Saori: I wanna go, I wanna go so bad, but it's too far.]

Clearly, Saori really wanted to buy swimsuits with Homura, or else she wouldn't have typed this.

[Kousaka Kirino: Yeah, let's just wait a couple more days.]

Eventually, Kaguya and Mio chimed in, discussing with everyone when to buy swimsuits together, and in the end, some of the girls decided to go in two days.

After confirming everyone's plans in the group chat, Homura looked over at Muse.

"Of course, we'd love to go too." Nozomi nodded with a smile, speaking on Muse's behalf. "But we should probably split into groups, right?" 

Because Muse was quite famous now, they had already agreed beforehand to split into groups to avoid causing a scene. 

"Actually, you all can go together. It's fine." Homura said while shaking his head. 

"Why?" Hanayo asked, looking confused. 

Hadn't they just decided to split up last time? 

Why change? 

"Because the real chaos already happened today in your concert." Homura shrugged. "So if you all go out together this afternoon to relax and do some shopping, it's totally normal. You're students too, so your fans will understand."

Upon hearing this, Maki thought for a moment before speaking up.

"But if we all go together, we're pretty much guaranteed to get recognized, right? It's one thing if it's just us, but if Homura-kun is with us too..."

Although she didn't finish her sentence, everyone understood what she meant.

"I'm with you just for gathering materials and inspiration for the manga, nothing else." Homura grinned. "A special chapter about Muse's daily life on the first day of the holiday... Sounds like a great side story, don't you think?"

Everyone: "..."

Even though Homura's excuse seemed sneaky, there was honestly nothing wrong with it.

"As long as that special chapter actually gets made, then it's fine."

Homura continued while shrugging his shoulders.

"Of course, since it's not a beach episode like how other works usually do, the fans will probably think, 'Wait, this isn't a beach episode? Guess we'll just have to keep waiting for it. Maybe the next one will be, right?'"

"And then… I guess they'll have to keep waiting forever? I mean, I don't plan to have the so-called beach episode in Love Live, after all."

Upon hearing this, the girls were speechless.

"Isn't it kinda cruel not to have a beach episode?" Elf asked, her lips twitching.

"No worries. I'll just write a new chapter where Muse takes on an outside job like performing a concert at a public pool, for example. Of course, everyone will be wearing one-piece sporty swimsuits."

Everyone: "..."

A concert in sporty swimsuits?  

Honoka and the others secretly nodded.  

Sure, swimsuits were meant to be seen, but if they were deliberately drawn in a manga just for fanservice, it felt somewhat uncomfortable.  

However, sporty swimsuits were different.  

Not only did they have a serious, athletic vibe, but if they wore them instead of the normal casual ones, it would feel more like an official event.  

Considering this, it made them a lot easier to accept.

"At the very least, it should be school swimsuits..." Elf muttered.

"School swimsuits? You think it's a swimming class or something?" Homura rolled his eyes. "Well, it's up to Muse to decide, though if you don't want the side story to be about swimming, how about diving?"

Upon hearing this, it was Honoka and the others who rolled their eyes.

Diving?

Didn't that mean they would wear diving suits?

Wasn't that too excessive?

However, now that Homura mentioned it, they had to admit that drawing a special chapter based on it could actually be pretty interesting.

"After all that talk, basically, it just means the whole members of Muse going together today won't be a problem." Homura continued, then glanced at Yukiho and Alisa. "Yukiho, Alisa, you two should come too."

"We're going too?" Yukiho asked in surprise, pointing at herself and then at Alisa.

"You're both part of the manga's casts, so it's totally fine." Homura nodded.

"In that case, we'll go next time." Eriri chimed in casually. "We should split into two groups later—high schoolers and middle schoolers. One group goes in the morning, the other in the afternoon."

"Okay." Homura nodded in agreement.

Eriri had divided them pretty randomly, but it actually worked out well.

Among the two groups, the high school group consisted of Eriri, Utaha, Megumi, Nanami, and Mashiro, while the middle school group had Sagiri, Elf, Muramasa, Izumi, and Nayuta—five people each.

Surprisingly, the two groups were perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

However, if they counted everyone, the number of high schoolers and middle schoolers would be way off.

"We'll head out when you're ready." Homura said, glancing at Muse.

"Honestly, there's nothing much to prepare, really. We can just go now." Umi said while chuckling.

Seeing that no one else objected, Homura knew they all agreed with Umi.

"Okay, let's go!"

===

"Let's just go to whatever shop you girls wanna visit. You've already talked it over, right?"

Homura asked while walking and drawing at the same time, since multitasking like this wasn't really a problem for him anymore.

"Yup! We already decided, so just follow us, Homura-kun." Nozomi replied while glancing at what he was drawing.

She noticed that he was drawing a scene of all nine members of Muse together, discussing where to go next.

Even though this exact moment had never actually happened, the drawing felt incredibly real. It was like a scene that could definitely happen but just hadn't yet, which amazed her.

"You really know us so well, Homura-kun... Everything in the drawing looks like things we'd actually say and do… Amazing..."

Nozomi couldn't help but be impressed by Homura's drawing skills once again.

"Haven't I always aimed for realism ever since I started drawing Love Live?" Homura raised an eyebrow. "Since the alternative story is taking a bit of a rougher path, I'll make the main story more lighthearted."

Upon hearing this, Nozomi looked up at the others before chuckling.

"Yeah, it really does feel like a lighthearted story..."

"Yup." Homura chuckled as well. "Stories filled with both happiness and sadness tend to leave a strong impact, but you know, in reality, I wanna see the people around me just stay happy."

"Mm, I believe Homura-kun will always keep us happy."

Chu~!

"Fufufu~"

Nozomi suddenly gave Homura a quick peck and then let out a joyous chuckle.