NOVEL WEB Chapter 362
[Year-End Star’s Flow! Welcome New Year! 【#WelcomeNewStar’sFlow】]
[Among Star’s Flow members, who do you want to get closer to?]
[1st place. Izumi Kainoh 45% 14 votes out of 31]
…Huh?
“Why?!”
─ Haha
─ Bursting with laughter the moment I saw it
─ Is Mei-chan perhaps a loner?
─ Almost a majority, huh…
─ This isn’t about Mei-chan being a loner; I think Star’s Flow is ignoring Mei-chan.
No, this is definitely strange.
Why am I in 1st place?
This is absolutely unacceptable.
Star’s Flow must have manipulated the votes to tease me.
“Kuh… How is it that Izumi-san always exceeds my expectations…?”
“Hehe… Ah, wait a minute. I’m in pain from laughing…”
Hikari Kurokami held her breath while Natsune was banging on the table, laughing.
“I, I object…! I can’t understand why I’m in 1st place…?!”
My communication impairment has definitely improved a lot.
No kidding, it’s really improved a lot.
Of course, due to my innate personality, I rarely initiate conversations or plan outings with anyone… but still, it’s never to the extent where I can’t communicate at all.
In other words, whether the other person is a senior or junior, having a conversation is definitely possible…!
But for me to be the overwhelming No. 1 among those I want to get closer to?
Aren’t I already close enough to the members of Star’s Flow?!
This makes no sense.
Something must have gone wrong in the voting process.
Maybe the survey questions were different for each person! Yes, that must be it! It’s definitely a mistake Star’s Flow could make!
“I can’t accept this result…! There must have been a mistake…!”
“…Yes. I anticipated that Izumi-san would react like this.”
And M-chan answered with a smile to my protest.
Why is she so confidently smiling…?
It’s making me anxious….
“If it’s Izumi-san, I thought you wouldn’t be able to accept the results of this vote! So our staff prepared something in advance, would that be okay? Of course, we obtained all the necessary permissions from the involved parties.”
“…I didn’t authorize anything!”
“No, the parties I’m referring to are not Izumi-san but the members who voted for you in this survey. Just in case, we told them, ‘You might have to reveal that voting for Izumi-san was your decision.’ They all agreed.”
…Wait a second.
“We were intentionally trying to protect Izumi-san’s mental state by keeping this hidden, but seeing how distraught you are and how you’ve claimed we made a mistake… we have no choice but to reveal the truth.”
What is going on?
Could it be that there really is something going on?
Did I make some kind of mistake…?
That can’t be true.
I haven’t even used Yeo-sang recently…
“First off! The 14 people who elected Izumi-san are… all of the 4th-year students except Iro Hibana. And all of the 5th and 6th-year students.”
“…Huh?”
“Pfft?!”
“Hehe…! Honestly, I thought that could happen with Izumi, ha-ha…!”
Huh?
─ Mei-chan…
─ Indeed, the juniors said she was scary on the broadcast…
─ This is purely her fault, isn’t it???
─ The communication impairment is better, but human relationships aren’t improving.
─ The Young Lady and Natsune really like each other, lol
─ Honestly, it’s impossible not to laugh at this, lol
─ At this point, isn’t Atlas being kind?
─ No one voted for Mei-chan in Atlas… how kind…
─ Atlas has long since turned into a Mei-chan appreciation society.
“Now, if we talk about why Izumi-san was chosen…”
“Wait, wait, wait a minute?!”
─ Aren’t you being too flustered? LOL
─ The essence of Mei-chan’s initial charm is bursting out, haha
“W-was it really necessary to relate that?!”
“Of course! If we don’t explain this, Izumi-san wouldn’t be able to accept it!”
“A, no…! I feel like everything has been cleared up just now…?! I’m sure I’ve accepted everything! All misunderstandings are resolved…!”
“Pfft…! Hehe…. Ah, sigh…”
Hikari Kurokami, could you please stop laughing and help me out a little?
You’re my mama, after all.
Shouldn’t you help out when your daughter is in trouble?
“Even if Izumi-san claims to have understood everything, if we leave it like this, it’ll spread that we made a mistake, which could mislead the Izutomo fans. That can’t happen, right? Seeing their favorite in distress because of the company’s error… If I were one of the Izutomo, I wouldn’t be able to endure it…”
“No, no, no…! The Izutomo would never believe it unless I explain it myself, they are such good kids, so it’ll definitely be fine…! Surely, all the Izutomo watching right now wouldn’t misunderstand…!”
Right, everyone?!
─ Right now, there are suspicions that Star’s Flow is bullying Mei-chan…
─ I don’t understand that at all, please help LOL
─ Is it possible that Star’s Flow is mistreating Mei-chan?
─ Since the misunderstandings haven’t been cleared up, please help Star’s Flow.
─ This whole situation is just too funny LOL
Now that I think about it, these guys are all abuse enthusiasts?!
“The chatroom is also asking for our explanation, so I guess we have no choice…”
Don’t lie, M-chan…
You’re smiling right now…
“Is it okay to reveal this, Izumi-san?”
“…Yes.”
Why is the world throwing such trials at me?
What exactly did I do wrong…?
“First, according to one of the 4th-year students…”
As M-chan said that and pressed a button on the remote, text appeared over the survey on the screen.
[1. I want to meet and talk, but we hardly ever gather as members]
“…Ah.”
“It seems that’s the case. Do you have anything to say?”
“…Nothing.”
It’s true that I dislike going out… yes.
I feel a bit sorry about this.
─ Since my communication ability has improved, I said there was no need to go out, LOL
─ This is just reaping what I sow…
No, that’s not quite the same.
The reason I went out a lot after graduating is because I wanted to fix my communication impairment.
But since I’ve improved it to a certain extent, there’s no reason to go out, right?
I already go out regularly for dance training and such.
Isn’t that a perfect logic?
I really hope so…
“Then the second reason… One of the 5th-year students shared.”
[2. It’s hard to meet, and even if we do, there are too many people around, making it impossible to insert myself. The relationships are too good. Escaping hell is easier. For someone like me, it’s absolutely impossible.]
─ I have a feeling I know who said this.
─ A girl who loves hell too much.
─ Manaka-chan…
─ Mei-chan has already built a wall of charm…
“…It’s honestly hard to say this is entirely Izumi-san’s fault.”
“R-right?”
It’s not my fault that I have good relationships with the others!
But that said about Himekawa?
Wasn’t she a bit more lively?
No, wasn’t she completely sociable?
Of course, if I saw the 5th-year members of Aster getting along closely, I definitely wouldn’t plan to intrude.
“Now, let’s move on to the third point.”
“Shouldn’t we just end it here…?”
“We’re moving on to the third point. This time, it was also a response from one of the 5th-year students.”
[3. Sometimes it feels too cold when talking, I feel pressured, LOL It’s scary, LOL]
“…Eh?”
─ Could it be that Mei-chan is a scary senior?!
─ Did all her previous appearances have been lies?
─ The illusions I had of Mei-chan are being shattered.
“No, no, no. Am I not outright laughing right now?!”
“That’s correct.”
Is it even possible for me to give off pressure?
Everyone says when I give off pressure, ‘This isn’t something Mei-chan would do.’?
Ah, I suddenly feel sad…
“Lastly, there’s a response from one of the 6th-year students.”
[4. I said hi, but didn’t get a response, so I felt a bit sad….]
─ This is serious.
─ This is really something to apologize for.
─ Mei-chan, that’s too harsh.
…Huh?
“Ah, no?! I replied saying ‘Nice to meet you, please treat me well later’! With cute emoticons!”
Of course, if the ensuing conversation was the issue, then that’s another matter, right?!
“This is weird, isn’t it?!”
Could there be someone among the 6th-year members of Starlet who dislikes me?!
“Yes, that’s definitely strange. It’s all a prank.”
“Of course, that’s it! Something feels weird… Huh?”
“Hahaha!”
“Hehehe!”
─ LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
─ Enjoying the flustered Mei-chan…
─ Mei-chan is cutest when she’s like this.
“Ah? Huh? W-what are you talking about?”
“Everything until now was a prank. We never conducted such a survey, and those responses were just made up by us.”
A prank?
So I was tricked…?
Before I knew it, Natsune and Hikari Kurokami were holding up a sign that said ‘Prank Successful!’
“AHHHHHHHHH?!”
“…Honestly, we thought you’d catch on by the second question.”
“Right, right! Manaka-chan has the strongest positive energy! There’s no way she would say such things! After all, Izumi met up with her pretty often, right? The three of us even had takoyaki together. So I thought you’d catch on right away~.”
“Exactly. You said you liked Izumi because she felt similar to Ayaka, right?”
“3 and 4 are outright nonsense.”
I definitely thought it was strange! I thought it was strange!
But the first answer was so plausible?! So I couldn’t help but fall for it!!!
“By the way, all the fans watching the broadcast right now are aware. It’s written in large letters that it’s a prank at the top left. What you’re looking at is a screen we’re streaming separately. We already explained everything beforehand.”
“Why are you all so natural about this??!!!”
─ Been laughing since midway LOL
─ I wanted to see this reaction from Mei-chan…
“…Above all, Izumi-san. We clearly mentioned there would be a prank earlier this year, right? So we expected you to catch on right away…”
“…Huh?”
‘Izuami-san. We plan to conduct a prank this year, could you help us?’
That definitely happened.
But you know what?
“That was over 2 months ago, right?! And above all, I genuinely thought I would be the one deceiving you!!!”
“We clearly said we plan to do it this year and it’s not even the end of the year yet. And we asked for your help, but we never said you would be the one deceiving.”
…That’s true.
You didn’t lie.
─ I like Mei-chan because of this reaction.
─ So cute.
They’re expanding their abuse faction at the agency….
Someone help me….
★
[【Major Announcement】Izumi’s biggest live announcement ever!!! #Star’sFlow #KainohIzumi]
“I, Kainoh Izumi… will have a solo live in February…!”