[TSSIM] Chapter 477: 107%?

Seeing Nozomi fall silent, Rin, Maki, and Hanayo quickly understood why she looked so conflicted.

At this, Homura sighed with a smile before turning to Rin, Maki, and Hanayo.

"What do you girls think? If you don't clear this up, Nozomi will really start feeling guilty, y'know."

At this question, the three girls exchanged glances.

"Of course not, nyaa~!"

Rin was the first to speak up, though her face gradually reddened.

"Rin was the first to be confessed to by Homura-kun, so there's no way I'd get closer to Homura-kun just because of Nozomi-chan, nyaa~!"

"You're an exception..." Nozomi muttered under her breath.

"In that case, Honoka and the others aren't exceptions, right?" Maki followed up. "It was always them who had the strongest feelings for Homura-kun. It's you and Rin who surprised us! I mean, your feelings for Homura-kun grew so quickly."

"Um, feelings can't be forced, Nozomi-chan..." Hanayo chimed in, her voice was soft but firm. "Like means like—doesn't like means doesn't like! It's not something you can change alone. If everyone really doesn't like Homura-kun, then no matter how hard you try to make us like him, it will be useless."

"Heard that?" Homura shrugged and smiled slightly. "You're just overthinking things, Nozomi."

"Hahh..." Nozomi let out a breath, feeling a little relieved. "So, Homura-kun, what do you think?"

"Me?" Homura blinked his eyes, then grinned. "Hey, you're not underestimating my charm, are you?"

Girls: "…"

"Pfft..."

Nozomi covered her mouth and giggled.

"You're such a shameless guy, but well... you do have a point. If it really were because of me, Nico-chan wouldn't have been able to surpass me. Honestly, her move earlier could’ve only come from her own will..."

Remembering Nico's bold move earlier, Rin and the others blushed.

"So, as I was saying, if you think about it carefully, you'll realize that you were overthinking things." Homura said with a slight smile.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, my thought earlier really was pretty arrogant..." Nozomi shook her head. "Why would I think I could affect everyone's feelings?"

"Nah, that wasn't arrogance…"

Homura disagreed, shaking his head.

"You know very well that Muse is almost united as one. Apart from feelings, which last a lifetime, in everything else, each of you is influencing the others."  

"By the way, is that what led to the complicated emotions you felt earlier?"  

"...Maybe." Nozomi nodded after a brief silence.  

"Almost united as one..." Hanayo murmured. "Does that mean Homura-kun thinks we're not truly one yet?"

"Your fusion rate is 107%, just missing that last 3%—just a little more." Homura replied, pinching the air with his thumb and index finger.

"Nyaa~? Isn't it already over 100%? Why still say it's missing 3%?" Rin asked curiously.

"I'm a little curious... Why is it 107% and not some other number?" Nozomi asked, joining in the conversation.

"You really don't know?" Homura asked, with a hint of meaning.

"Homura-kun, are you implying that I should know?" Nozomi asked back, raising her eyebrows. 

"Well, the reason it goes beyond 100% is that it doesn't really affect the overall situation that much." Homura replied, speaking as if to himself. "Whether you all know each other well or not won't cause any discord. If it does... then it wouldn't have gone beyond 100% in the first place."

Nozomi: "..."

"If the combination of Muse alone amounted to 90%, and through spending time together it grew to 99%, then... when you truly become one, that's a full 100%!”

"However, Muse is special... I'm saying all of you as a miracle is not without reason."

At this point, Homura chuckled.

"After all, there are plenty of combinations that reach 100%, but those that go beyond it are few and rare."

"You know, there's a bond among the nine of you that transcends everything, and this is the foundation for you to surpass 100%. As soon as that bond is formed, it's already 101%."

"Afterward, every time everyone fully understands one of you, it goes up by 1%. Got it?"

Got it?

How could anyone not get it?

Homura explained it so clearly—if anyone still didn't understand, they were just pretending to be clueless.

"I see, so that's how your calculation works..." Maki nodded thoughtfully. "Then, if there's a discord, how do you calculate that, Homura-kun?"

"It's simple. A discord or a major problem of a member drops it by 10%."

Upon hearing this, Hanayo immediately began calculating.

"Kotori-chan's problem has already been solved, and everyone understands her well. Honoka-chan's problem was getting lost in the moment, but that's fixed now…"

"Umi-chan's shyness is no longer a problem, nyaa~!" Rin added. "And Kayo-chin isn't shy anymore, showing her love for idols all the time!"

"In that case, Rin's problem is solved too, right?" Maki chimed in with a smile. "You can now wear pretty dresses naturally."

"Ehehe..." Rin giggled and scratched the back of her head.

"Lastly, Eli-chi... her cold and indifferent camouflage has melted away..." Nozomi said with a sigh.

Hearing this, Rin and Hanayo exchanged looks.

"So, that leaves Nozomi-chan, Maki-chan, and Nico-chan!" Rin exclaimed with a smile.

"I see, so that's the last 3%, huh..." Maki said, her expression a little complicated. "Now that I think about it, I only told Hanayo that I decided to major in medicine in college. My music career is pretty much over..."

"Ahh! Isn't that in the manga?!" Rin exclaimed in surprise. "Maki-chan! Did you really decide to go that route?"

"Well, that was before I joined Muse... I probably never opposed my parents, just like Kaguya, but... joining Muse was probably my first rebellion..."

Maki smiled as she said this, not bitter but with the firm realization that rebelling against her parents had been a great decision.

"107.4%..." Homura muttered.

Girls: "..."

"Homura-kun..." Nozomi's lips twitched. "Do you know something we don't know?"

Indeed.

Otherwise, how did he change the number as soon as Maki said those words?

Whistle~

Homura whistled, deliberately looking away and acting ignorant.

Seeing this, Nozomi's temples throbbed, but she eventually sighed and decided not to do anything about it.

"Eli-chi knows about my situation, but Nico-chan's... I'm sure no one among us knows much about her situation... I really don't know how Homura-kun knew..."

"What about you? You don't plan on telling everyone?" Homura asked with a smile. "From the very beginning, when I said that the name of Muse was given by you, you should've known I know a lot more than you think... Are you sure you're not going to tell your most important friends about all this?"

"...I'll tell everyone once they're all here." Nozomi replied after a pause, then broke into a bright smile. "Actually, Maki-chan and I don't have anything big going on, just a small knot in our hearts. But Nico-chan... we really don't know anything about her."

"If you're gonna solve it, you better do it quickly."

Saying this, Homura smiled, took out his phone, and started fiddling with it.