[TSSIM] Chapter 483: Super Idol Yazawa Nico

"Rin-chan! Where's Nico-chan?"

Honoka quickly asked as she approached Rin.

"Over there!" Rin pointed in the direction where Nico had run off.

Honoka and the other six quickly followed Rin's gesture and immediately spotted a fleeing figure.

"Quick, after her!"

With a loud commotion, the whole group rushed after Nico, leaving passersby utterly baffled.

Nico glanced back for a split second, her face turning pale.

"Ugh, so persistent..." Nico muttered under her breath before taking a sharp turn.

When the eight girls chasing her reached the intersection, Nico was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's spread out and search! Nico-chi can't have gotten far—she's probably hiding somewhere!" Nozomi said, glancing around at the others.

""Yeah!""

Replying in unison, the group then spread out.

As Nozomi scanned the nearby crowd carefully, an inspiration suddenly struck her mind. Observing the direction people occasionally glanced toward, she decided to head that way.

However, when she just walked several steps and hadn't gone far, she noticed something odd.

Turning her head, she locked eyes with Nico, disguised as an advertisement board.

"..."

One with a dazed expression, one with a stiff expression—the atmosphere grew awkward.

"Nico Nico Nii~"

Nico spoke her unique catchphrase while striking her unique pose before turning and running away.

"AHH!"

It took Nozomi a moment to process what she was seeing before she yelled and pointed at the fleeing Nico with a look of disbelief.

"Don't run!"

Realizing Nico had run away again, Nozomi quickly ran after her.

Nozomi's shout served as a signal for the others, who rushed to join the chase.

Meanwhile, Nico soon spotted two cars parked between two buildings, and without hesitation, she slipped through the narrow gap between them.

Unfortunately, when it was Nozomi's turn, her chest was a bit too big to fit through, though it was honestly almost something to be proud of.

Just then, the others finally caught up, and Nozomi, who had already squeezed one leg into the gap between the two cars, had to pull it back out awkwardly.

Nozomi then turned around and watched the others slip through the narrow gap between the two cars.

"Nyaa, this feels unacceptable!" Rin grumbled, squeezing herself through the narrow space between the two cars.

It was truly a tragic scene.

Honoka and the others didn't know what to say—they could only offer awkward smiles.

As for Nozomi?

She seemed to find the whole thing hilarious.

"Seriously... NICO-CHAAAN—!!!"

Rin's exasperated yell echoed through the sky.

In the end, they failed to catch Nico.

===

"Mou... she got away again…"

As Honoka and the others stood by a bridge, Honoka spoke with a sigh of resignation.

"Seriously! It's like we can never catch Nico-chan, nyaa!" Rin puffed her cheeks, still feeling frustrated.

"Even in Homura-kun's manga, didn't we fail to catch her?" Maki twirled a strand of her hair. "In the end, it was Nico-chan crashing into the alpaca pen that got her caught… Looks like even Homura-kun figured we wouldn't be able to catch her."

Everyone: "…"

After a brief silence, Rin muttered in frustration.

"If only Nico-chan hadn't spotted us earlier, nyaa..."

"Still, the more she runs, the more it proves she's definitely hiding something, right?" Eli chimed in. "And it's probably something related to us. Otherwise, she wouldn't keep avoiding us excessively like this."

"By the way, this should be near Nico-chi's place, right?" Nozomi scanned the surroundings. "Hmm... I pass by here almost every night. What do you think? Should we check it out?"

"Let's go!" Honoka nodded with a serious expression. "If we don't, Nico-chan probably won't tell us anything anyway."

Everyone patted the dust off their clothes and got ready to move.

"Hm? Eh?!" Hanayo suddenly gasped and pointed in a certain direction. "Everyone, look over there!"

"What's up?" Rin followed Hanayo's gaze, then made a surprised expression.

In the direction Hanayo was pointing, two figures were slowly walking in their direction.

"Nico-chan?!" Rin exclaimed in surprise.

"Who's the little girl next to her? Is that her sister?" Eli asked, furrowing her brows.

"Nico-chan has a sister?!" Hanayo nearly shrieked in surprise.

"Wait! Let's hide first!" Nozomi gestured for everyone to crouch down. "When they walk past, we'll jump out and stop Nico-chi from running away again."

"Good idea." Maki nodded with a smile. "Even if she escapes, we can grab her sister so she doesn't dare escape."

Upon hearing this, everyone wore a speechless expression.

Since when did Maki's personality turn dark?

Nonetheless, no one objected to Maki's suggestion since Nico was just too good at running away.

Quietly, Honoka and the others crouched and waited for Nico to approach.

Moments later, as Nico finally came into view, they all immediately sprang out at once!

"What the—!"

Nico instinctively tried to run away, but unfortunately—

"Nico-chan, is this your little sister?" Maki asked, her tone eerily calm.

Nico: "…"

"If you've got something to say, come at me!" Nico puffed out her chest. "Leave Cocoro out of this!"

"Cocoro?" Kotori muttered, tilting her head. "I see... so this is Cocoro-chan..."

"Wait, are you all Muse?" Cocoro, standing behind Nico, asked curiously.

Hearing her little sister's question, Nico's face stiffened, and she wanted to say something, but—

"Wow, she knows us, nyaa~!" Rin smiled cheerfully.

"Hello, I'm her younger sister, Yazawa Cocoro!"

As Cocoro introduced herself, her smile was absolutely adorable, radiating pure cuteness!

"Onee-sama always talks about you. All of you are Super Idol Yazawa Nico's backup dancers, Muse, right?"

"Backup... dancers...?"

Honoka and the other seven wore confused expressions.

Nico covered her face, feeling betrayed by her own sister.

Although there were so many questions everyone wanted to ask, they held back thanks to Nico desperately signaling them with her eyes.

===

On the way to Nico's home.

"Nico-chan actually has a younger sister…"

"And she's so well-mannered too..."

"Totally the opposite of Nico-chan, nyaa~"

"Quiet..." Cocoro whispered like a spy sneaking into enemy territory, cautiously scanning her surroundings. "Hey, there's no one around, right?"

Clearly, this kind of dramatic behavior was exclusive to Cocoro since the others didn't play along, not even a little bit—except for Nico, who was doing her best to cooperate, though she seemed a bit stiff.

Aside from Nico, every member of Muse exchanged strange glances as Cocoro carried out her battle of wits with the empty air.

After what felt like ages, they finally reached Nico's apartment.

"What's going on, honestly?" Umi asked, her face full of confusion.

"Paparazzi!" Cocoro explained seriously. "Since you're all Onee-sama's backup dancers, they know what you look like! It's dangerous!"

"Backup dancers, huh?" Nozomi chuckled mischievously. "So I wasn't hearing things earlier…"

Maki sighed helplessly, then glanced at Nico, feeling like she had already discovered the truth.

"Onee-sama talks about you all the time." Cocoro said matter-of-factly, though her words sounded odd to everyone else. "She's been mentoring you, right? I mean, you're aiming to become idols, after all!"

"I see..." Eli said, her right eye twitching.

"I think I get it now." Umi smirked knowingly.

"Well, it's Nico-chan, after all." Maki muttered, barely holding back a laugh.

"But… Cocoro-chan, have you ever read manga?" Kotori couldn't help but ask.

"Manga? Oh, I've read tons of manga." Cocoro nodded with a smile.

"Then… have you ever read anything from Manke Weekly?" Kotori avoided naming the exact title.

"Manke Weekly? What's that?" Cocoro tilted her head, looking confused.

Everyone: "..."

"As expected of Nico-chan…" Honoka furrowed her brows in frustration. "Not a single crack in her story…"

Eli's eye twitched again before she spoke with a smile yet not a smile.

"Well then, it's time for our super idol to give us a proper explanation, isn't it?"