[TSSIM] Chapter 443: Two OCD

"You really picked the perfect time for your OCD, didn't you?"

As Eriri quipped at Homura, the others were speechless.

"OCD?"

Mashiro muttered, thought for a moment, and then tugged on Nanami's arm.

"Mashiro? What's up?" Nanami raised her brows.

"What's OCD?"

Nanami: "..."

Even though she understood what it was, she strangely couldn't explain it!

"OCD, huh…"

Still lost in his thoughts, Homura muttered.

"Actually, there are all kinds of OCD, but I mainly have two kinds of it..."

'So, your OCD is double trouble?' Eriri quipped inwardly and rolled her eyes.

"One is getting all tangled up when I can't figure something out—my brain just forces me to understand it no matter what."

Homura continued, describing his OCD.

"As for the other one… twenty groups competing just isn't right! If it were sixteen groups, I wouldn't be so frustrated!"

After saying this, Homura almost shouted in frustration.

"In short, the main question is… did you guys see the tournament bracket on the Love Live's website?" Homura sighed.

"Wait, let me check…" Hanayo quickly pulled out her phone. "...Oh, wait?! Why is it only sixteen groups?!"

Indeed, the bracket actually showed only sixteen groups, but the rules clearly stated there should be twenty groups!

Homura was sure it had been the same in his past life.

As for why was it happening?

It was simply because in the first tournament of Love Live!, Muse, as the anime's main character, didn't show up!

As a result, the ones who worked on the anime could just make up the rules, and the designs could be whatever they wanted.

It was clear that they probably thought no one would really pay attention to background stuff.

Unfortunately, the observant Homura was there.

'Maybe... Muse faced so many bumpy roads because the heavens saw problems with the competition system and tried everything to make them withdraw from the first tournament?'

Homura mused to himself.

'And when Honoka decided to join the second tournament of Love Live and yelled to stop the rain, was that a way to make up for the past?'

'Crap, even though my thought process is a bit out there, it somehow fits this bizarre plot...'

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Homura decided to forget about the original work and focus on the present reality.

'But seriously… I've transmigrated to this mixed anime world and yet we still have this clearly flawed system! Who came up with this nonsense?'

Homura couldn't help but complain.

'Since the competition rules and the tournament bracket don't match at all, they'll have to modify the rules. For example, they could split the twenty groups into four major groups, each with five performing. Next, the audience would vote, and the group with the fewest votes in each major group would be eliminated, reducing the number to sixteen, matching the bracket.'

'After that, two groups would compete each day. Assuming two days are needed to reduce the twenty groups to sixteen, another two days would be needed to cut them down to eight, making it a total of four days.'

'From there, the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals would only take one day each—a full seven days, just perfect for the concert schedule.'

Homura nodded to himself.

'Yeah, that's the general idea… Even though I could just call my dad to find out, asking about stuff like this feels a bit awkward...'

In fact, it wasn't that Homura felt awkward; he just didn't want Muse to discover the yet-to-be-released specific rules through him, thinking it might be considered cheating.

"Why are there only sixteen groups? Didn't the rules say twenty?" Nico couldn't hold back from asking.

"If there's a problem with the rules themselves… wouldn't that make the whole tournament a joke?" Utaha frowned slightly.

"If the competition really turns into a joke, it's kind of ironic considering how long this urban legend has been around…" Eriri also frowned.

"Guys, let me share my guess..."

Homura quickly spoke up, noticing the particularly bad expressions on Honoka and the others, especially Hanayo and Nico. If he didn't say something soon, their hearts would be in turmoil.

He laid out his earlier musing, causing Muse to visibly sigh in relief.

"Homura-kun's guess makes a lot of sense. It's very likely the case." Mafuyu nodded. 

"Let's hope so… Otherwise, it's going to drive my OCD crazy." Homura rolled his eyes.

Upon hearing this, the girls were speechless again.

"By the way... Eli, Maki, you two have an extra task tomorrow, remember?" Homura suddenly recalled and reminded them.

Eli thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yeah, I almost forgot… By the way, the anime Fate/stay night is airing next week, right?"

"So… why are we recording the opening and ending songs so late?" Maki grumbled. "It's airing next week, and we're only recording this week..."

"Yeah, that's on me for pushing it to this point." Homura shook his head. "You guys won't have any energy until after the school festival is over, after all."

"Fine, since you say so..." Maki crossed her arms and pouted a bit.

Homura suddenly remembered something and turned to Eli.

"By the way, I made a few tweaks to the theme song. I felt like if it was exactly like the game, it'd be a bit weird, but it shouldn't affect your singing."

"No problem. After all this time, I believe I can sing it even better than before." Eli nodded with a smile, her expression brightened.

She felt it was necessary to do justice to the song Homura entrusted her with.

It was also a matter of respecting the classics, after all.

"Just do your best. Each of you can definitely hold your own now." Homura nodded with a smile.

"But… it's still the best when all nine of us are together, right?" Nozomi chimed in with a grin.

"Obviously!" Homura replied instantly, but then his lips twitched.

He felt there was another hidden meaning to her words—or was he just overthinking it?

"Speaking of which… the holiday is in five days, and that day is Friday…" Elf spoke up, changing the topic. "And then, the day after is the airing of Fate/stay night… It feels like there's so much going on in July, huh..."

"Honestly, a lot is happening every month…" Megumi chimed in nonchalantly. "Ever since we met Homura-kun, it's been like this every month."

Homura: "…"

He admitted that he really couldn't escape the responsibility.

"Anyway, I think we should take a break!" Elf slammed her palm down, her face beaming. "Since the holiday is coming up and everyone is around, shouldn't we plan where to go?"

Everyone: "…"

"You're right..." Homura nodded, stroking his chin. "However, do we really need to think about where to go? Of course, we have to hit the beach in August!"

Everyone: "…"

"Wait, why August?" Elf quickly interrupted. "Can't we just go this month?"

"We can't."

Homura shook his head.

"First off, the holiday starts on Friday, July 12. After that, Fate/stay night airs on the 13th, and we wrap up the voice-acting work on the 14th. Not to mention, we still have a game to make, remember?"

"Not only will game production take about a week, but Muse has to participate in Love Live for a whole week too…"

"When you add it all up, it looks like our fun time will be pushed to around August."

Homura concluded in a calm tone.

After hearing the explanation, Elf instantly fell silent.