Part 10: In which "The Cutest Idol in the Universe" faces reality.
In which “The Cutest Idol in the Universe” faces reality.Let’s proceed.
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Keeping one’s fingers crossed is a wish for good fortune, but it can also mean that one is lying.
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It’s you!
MUSIC: A SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUAL, NICO
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Obviously, you don’t need to banter with yourself. Don’t be silly!
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It’s the Nico Sliime! (or should it be the Nico Nico Nliime?)
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It needs a little bit more love and stings a bit,
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but it’s no less deserving than anyone else of a bright smile!
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With a 2/2/2 stat cost spread, we’re a triple threat!
Mirrors might cost a bit more each time, but money being a bit tight is nothing unusual.
You’ve got to cook for three younger siblings on only one income, after all!
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Oh, chilled noodles are on sale!
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A few little additions to the pot here and there…
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And even a 500 yen noodle set can be a hearty meal for the whole family!
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Did you know? The japanese verb for stewing is ‘niko mu’! Doesn’t that just make your heart go ‘Nico’?
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No? Not at all?
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I understand. I’ll try harder next time.
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What’s the World Renowned IDOL’s favourite animal? A uNICOrn! Eh? eh?
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No? Still not good enough? Not good enough at all?
I understand. I just have to try harder for next time.
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See? Just a little bit more polishing on my dancing skills and they smiled!
That’s all that really matters, in the end!
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”Coming home is terrible
whether the dogs lick your face or not;
whether you have a wife
or just a wife-shaped loneliness waiting for you.
Coming home is terribly lonely,
so that you think
of the oppressive barometric pressure
back where you have just come from
with fondness,
because everything's worse
once you're home.”
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I need to work harder…
Hey, think you can stay longer for practice?.png)
The stairs on floor 5 come up right away, and it’s best to take them!
After all, the only encounter on this floor is a bossy, demanding challenge that would require you to sharpen and hone your skills to impossible, self-destructive standards to even come close to properly addressing.
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I’m sure we’ll catch up to them soon if we do so!Hey, what do you think is the most important thing about working in a group?
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Is it prestige and exclusivity?
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Similar, but not quite.
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Is it fame and publicity?
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As if.
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Self-awareness? Not that either.
I’d say the single most important thing about working with others is finding people with similar motivation to you.
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...I see, it’s fine..png)
I mean, it was obvious from the start.
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Asking members of the go-home club for that much dedication?
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Even a child would know that’s an unfair ask.
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Pfft, I guess that makes us stupider than a child, then?
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It’s okay, I can do this on my own..png)
The rise of Nico, the solo charismatic school idol!.png)
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”You think of the vermin
clinging to the grass stalks,
long hours on the road,
roadside assistance and ice creams,
and the peculiar shapes of
certain clouds and silences
with longing because you did not want to return.
Coming home is
just awful.”
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The other straws we grasp at don’t feed into our loop of “self-improvement” well,
But struggling in vain against the unceasing flow of time does rather nicely.
At least, until we find an easier target.
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Enter the Lonely Idol.
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She’s our up-and-comer and is a lovely stepping-stone for our progression.
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She talks a big game but the gains from taking her down outweigh the cost in mirrors.
See, she’s even thanking us for sparing the time for her.
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「That's an idol, an idiot dances
Not realizing this, I dance inside
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the cage」
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Almost finished.
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Wouldn’t you like to become a school idol?.png)
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This floor introduces the Symbol of the Summit, everything you grasped for and imitated only to come up short.
What do they have that you don’t? Everything, really. It would be shorter to list the ways they don’t.
But if I had to say, the biggest thing would be that the three of them have each other?
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Regardless, all you can do against them is run away with your tail between your legs.
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It’s easier to face the facsimile of yourself made of straw than anything in reality, isn’t it?
Then again, any encounter must be herculean to a “World Renowned IDOL” that can’t even look at her own name.
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Just a few more steps, now.
The music cuts.
You can hear the sound of your footsteps on the ceramic echo loudly in the hallway.
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「When I opened my eyes,
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I was walking all alone
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It seems that we've eaten our way to the very end of this dream.」