[TSSIM] Chapter 488: Growing and Evolving

"I say..."

"Hey, hey, hey, START:DASH!!~"

"Hey, hey, hey, START:DASH!!~"

As the music began and the curtains drew back, the nine members of Muse made their entrance by singing STAR:DASH!!.

Homura, as expected, somehow pulled out a huge pile of glow sticks from who-knows-where and started cheering like crazy for them, leaving Eriri and the others who saw this speechless.

Seeing Homura completely absorbed in waving the glow sticks, Eriri huffed and snatched a handful right out of one of his hands.

Utaha and the others quickly followed suit, leaving Homura with nothing but empty hands in just seconds.

Homura: "..."

On stage, Kotori and Hanayo almost burst out laughing upon seeing Homura's antics, while the others turned away, avoiding looking at him to stop themselves from breaking character.

Nevertheless, Homura just shrugged, and then—swish—another pile of glow sticks appeared in his hands!

Seeing this, the girls stared in disbelief as Homura pulled out yet another pile of glow sticks.

Of course, the girls didn't let him down, as after just two swings, his glow sticks were gone again, snatched away without hesitation. After grabbing them, the girls even kept their eyes on him, clearly wondering if he had more hidden somewhere.

"Even baby birds swaddled in down!"

Homura, ignoring the girls' gazes, sang out the lyrics of STAR:DASH!! together with Muse while waving his empty arms.

Seeing this, the girls sighed helplessly and finally turned back to the stage, waving their glow sticks to cheer for Muse.

Swish!

Girls: "?!!!"

Hearing a whistling sound, the girls were surprised to find that Homura's hands already held a pile of glow sticks again!

Did he buy out an entire store of glow sticks?!

Moreover, where was he pulling them from?!

Seeing such a bizarre scene, even Sayumi couldn't stand it anymore.

How was he drawing more attention than Muse on stage?!

Ultimately, she ran over to Homura, grabbed a few glow sticks herself, and cheered for her daughter.

Nonetheless, she couldn't help but confirm something in her heart—if Homura wasn't genuinely like those girls, there was no way he would pull off such funny antics.

Some unfamiliar girls even showed up from behind, clearly Honoka's schoolmates judging by their uniforms, looking to grab a glow stick or two from Homura. 

"Oy, oy, make sure you leave me one, okay?" Homura said helplessly, his lips twitching. "Seriously, these are the last ones I've got! No more after this!"

""Hahaha...""

Hearing Homura's words, the girls next to him burst into laughter.

If Honoka and the others on stage hadn't deliberately avoided looking in his direction, the chaos would've been even bigger.

Once Homura finally stopped his goofy antics, everyone refocused their attention on the stage.

However, Homura glanced back at the audience, only to see an ocean of people packed together, with glow sticks waving in perfect unison above their heads.

At this moment, it wasn't just Homura or the members of Muse, but even fans who had read the manga of Love Live! now stood here together, overwhelmed with emotion.

It couldn't be helped.

Honoka's passionate words from two months ago still echoed in their minds, making today's packed, even over-capacity crowd carry so much meaning!

Needless to say, the synchronized waving of glow sticks alone was like a spiritual cleansing for Muse—their movements and singing reflected their transformation.

At this moment, Muse wasn't just performing—they were still growing and evolving.

===

As the song was nearing its end, Homura reminded Yukiho to keep an eye on her father.

Several seconds later, the song finally came to an end, and the crowd erupted into applause!

"HONOKA-CHAN—!"

"KOTORI-CHAN—!"

"OOOHHHHHH—!!!!"

"AMAZING—!!!"

As the crowd yelled one after another toward Muse on stage, Yukiho spaced out for a moment.

When she looked back at her father, she was shocked to see him actually crying!

'Wait, what?! I only lost focus for a second and Dad is suddenly crying?!'

Yukiho thought bewilderedly, unable to believe her eyes.

'And Dad's face didn't change at all? Is this what Minamiya-senpai meant by macho tears?'

Yukiho stood in place, her mouth agape, not knowing what to say, which made the other girls follow her gaze and notice the scene.

They could only sigh, thinking how emotional the father of Honoka and Yukiho really was.

Honoka hadn't even said anything yet, yet he was already in tears—imagine what would happen if she actually said something?

Homura, however, felt that no matter what Honoka said now, her father wouldn't shed another tear.

Why?

It was simply because he had already seen his daughter grow up.

Homura understood that the growth of their children was what truly moved parents, while everything else did not matter as much.

===

At this moment, the song that Muse had just finished singing turned into background music.

Filled with excitement, the other members of Muse were all looking to Honoka to speak on their behalf.

"Etto... First of all, thank you for coming and watching our concert!"

With a warm and happy expression on her face, Honoka spoke to the audience, making them cheer.

"You know, our first concert was held in this auditorium too. At that time, I made a promise to myself that one day, I'd fill this place to the brim! Maybe you all already know, but when the curtain opened and I, along with Umi-chan and Kotori-chan, looked at this completely empty auditorium, we were so sad..."

"We thought we'd be happy when we saw Minamiya-sensei, thinking at least we had someone here watching us. But then... Minamiya-sensei suddenly pulled out a paper and pen, then sat there, focusing on drawing... Honestly, we almost cried then..."

Upon hearing this, some of the audience felt a pang in their hearts.

"I hope he stays single forever..."

Someone in the audience suddenly muttered, causing Homura's right eyebrow to twitch as his sharp hearing caught their voice.

Nevertheless, some people sensed that something was off.

They had seen all the videos Homura posted, so how could the always cheerful, dancing Minamiya-sensei be the same as what Honoka was describing?

"Well, in the end, we decided that no matter what, we were going to keep going! But when we turned to get into position for the next move, Minamiya-sensei suddenly changed, like a completely different person, cheering us on like crazy."

Honoka glanced at Homura with a warm expression.

"Looking back now, Minamiya-sensei probably wanted us to break through that mental barrier on our own. At first, he acted like he was just a mere observer, but once we actually crossed that line, he became our first audience, marking the first transformation of Muse."

Hearing this, the audience nodded in understanding, feeling that there was much more to it than they had thought.

"You really can be tough on girls, huh, Minamiya-sensei?"

Someone in the audience couldn't help but tease Homura.

Homura: "…"

Honestly, being tough was necessary, or else Muse wouldn't have been anything more than a regular idol group, not a miracle.

Now that he thought about it, without that spiritual transformation, would Honoka have been able to say those powerful, passionate words?

If not, would the other six girls, who hadn't yet joined Muse, have been moved by her words?

One wrong step, and Homura could have destroyed the miracle known as Muse.

"After going through so much, we're finally standing here today, sharing my thoughts with all of you! Now, this dream has come true, and now we're about to head toward a new stage and set off again!"

Honoka continued with a cheerful tone, her face adorned with a big smile.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Applause began to rise, filled with encouragement, expectations, and all sorts of positive emotions.

Needless to say, it was a blessing from everyone for the words that Honoka had just spoken.

"Thank you, everyone! And yeah, that's the end of our performance for today!" Honoka declared with a big smile.

""EHHH—?!!!""

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, causing the entire place to erupt into chaos.

"Well, our performance definitely ended, but what about someone else's show? Doesn't anyone expect anything from it?"

Saying this, Honoka winked with her left eye and smiled happily.

Homura: "..."

He suddenly had a bad feeling.