[TSSIM] Chapter 428: Predict the Future?

Upon hearing Homura's words, Maki's lips twitched.

"You know, if Haru ever becomes someone like Makoto... I wouldn't be surprised at all..."

"No." Homura shook his head.

"Why?" Honoka asked curiously.

"Obviously, the price is too high. I don't want the little one to go through that." Homura replied directly.

Upon hearing this, the girls were stunned for a moment, then shook their heads with amused smiles.

Homura was truly Homura.

"Speaking of which... Kotori..."

Umi, with a dark line on her face, looked at Kotori, who was resting on Homura's chest with a lovestruck expression.

"Are you planning to stay there permanently?"

"Huh?"

Kotori snapped out of it, and her face immediately turned bright red as she frantically waved her hands.

"N-No!"

"Umi-chan, why did you interrupt her~" Nozomi said with a smile. "Kotori-chan rarely gets such an opportunity, y'know."

Umi: "..."

Kotori: "..."

With that said, Kotori couldn't stay there any longer. She quickly got up from Homura's embrace and returned to Honoka's side.

Homura subtly clenched his hand, and this action was noticed by Elf.

"Feeling a bit regretful, aren't you?" the elf said, smiling brightly.

To her words, Homura didn't get embarrassed and nodded directly.

"A little, yeah."

Upon hearing this, Kotori, who had just blushed earlier, turned even redder in an instant.

"Uhh..." Elf clasped her hands and gave a bow to Homura. "Seriously, your face is getting thicker by the day."

"My, my, thanks for the compliment!" Homura returned the gesture. 

Girls: "..."

""Hahahaha—""

After a moment of silence, the girls burst out laughing, completely dispelling the earlier sad atmosphere.

Seeing this, Nozomi shook her head with a smile.

She had thought Yui was the one with strong control over people's moods, but it was clear that Homura was the master of this, as he could make everyone laugh or cry whenever he wanted.

As he gently stroked Haru, Homura smiled slightly.

===

A week had passed in the blink of an eye.

During the week, nothing particularly special happened, except for the release of the seventh chapter of 'Love Live!' on Saturday, which sparked a lot of discussion.

After all, this chapter marked the beginning of all nine members of Muse gathering together in the manga, so it was bound to attract the reader's attention. Moreover, Eli, who shone brightly in this chapter, won over many fans with its release.

Of course, the progress of the anime production was also roughly on track. Homura had cranked out about half of it, so the progress was quite rapid.

At the same time, Homura's relationship with the girls was also heating up—everything was progressing smoothly.

===

Monday.

At this moment, Homura was waiting for a phone call.

Today was the day for the lottery of the auditorium's usage rights at Otonokizaka's school festival.

Since Eli had given him a rough idea of the time, he was just waiting as the time approached. They would definitely inform him once there was a result.

Even someone like me… Can transform~

"Rin, how's it going?"

As his phone rang, Homura quickly answered, unsure of how they had arranged things.

Had his manga influenced them at all? Was Nico still drawing the lottery like in the original work?

However, he didn't hear a reply, so Homura just listened to the sounds coming from the other end.

"Calligraphy Club, the auditorium is available for use starting from three in the afternoon for one hour!"

""Great!""

Two members of the Calligraphy Club cheered together.

'Oh? Are they still drawing the lottery?' Homura raised his eyebrows as he listened.

"Uhh, is it just me, or does this feel a bit like deja vu..." Maki murmured.

"By the way, even though I know, I still can't help but wonder... why the heck is the auditorium's usage rights decided by a lottery?" Nico complained, sounding a bit exasperated.

"Well, it's a tradition left over from the past..." Eli answered, her voice sounding a bit awkward.

"Nico-chan, c'mon!"

Honoka spoke up, trying to cheer Nico on.

"How about... someone else draw?" Nico asked hesitantly.

"Eh, but you're the president of the Idol Research Club!"

"Next up is the Idol Research Club!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go!"

Upon hearing her club called, Nico spoke up and stepped forward with determination.

"Wow, Nico-chan is storming over..." Hanayo's voice sounded a bit strange. "Wait... this scene seems very familiar..."

Upon hearing their conversation, Homura rolled his eyes.

Needless to say, this scene was basically identical to his manga. Maki and Hanayo’s familiarity was probably because they had seen it in his manga.

"Nico-chan! Please do your best!"

Honoka continued to encourage Nico.

"Whether we can use the auditorium also affects the publicity of our concert."

Eli's words added quite a bit of pressure, but what could be done?

Homura felt like this was definitely the convergence of the timelines. Unless something unexpected happened, it seemed impossible for Muse to secure the rights for the auditorium.

"So nervous, nyaa~"

Rin's voice even trembled a bit.

A moment later—

"Unfortunately, the Idol Research Club cannot use the auditorium during the school festival!"

'Yeah, just as expected...'

Homura's mouth twitched as he heard the announcement.

"Homura-kun… we didn't win the draw, nyaa…" Rin finally spoke weakly into her phone.

"Yeah, I heard."

Homura wasn't sure what to say and was at a loss for words.

"It's just like the one Homura-kun drew before, nyaa..." Rin sighed.

"Now that Rin-chan just mentioned it... isn't this exactly the same as in the manga?!" Hanayo suddenly looked shocked.

"Nyaa?!" Rin exclaimed in surprise.

"I remember... the one in the manga... Calligraphy Club was also before us, right?" Maki also recalled some details from the manga.

In an instant, there was dead silence.

"Let's go outside first…"

Eli shook her head and was the first to leave the room.

Seeing this, the others looked at each other before following one by one, heading toward the rooftop.

As they arrived, Rin spoke.

"Let's think about the content of the manga Homura-kun drew before, nyaa~"

"Rin, I'll just tell you directly…" Homura said helplessly.

How long were they planning to discuss this?

"Okay, Rin gets it, nyaa~"

Rin nodded and activated the speakerphone on her phone.

"Alright, I'll tell you all…"

Soon, Homura began his impressive performance, using everyone's voices to reenact the scene thoroughly, causing the girls' eyes to nearly pop out!

Even after Homura finished his performance, the girls remained speechless for a long time.

"It was exactly the same as before, including how those two members of the Calligraphy Club reacted..." Nozomi pressed her lips together, feeling like her mouth was a bit dry.

"If we hadn't seen that part of the manga... we would have reacted the same way and said the same things just like in the manga, right...?" Maki twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

"Homura-kun... did you... predict the future?" Kotori's voice trembled a little.

"Anyway, isn't that a good thing?"

Homura's voice came from Rin's phone.

"If the future turns out like it does in my manga, wouldn’t you all be able to handle future troubles more easily?"

Upon hearing this, the girls' eyes brightened.

"Honoka won’t get worn out, and you won’t miss the Love Live tournament." Homura added. "Isn’t that great?” 

With that, the girls' frustration of not getting the auditorium usage rights vanished in an instant.