??? ??????? - ?????? | ?????????

Previously~

"Yeah. I'm happy, guys. I'm so happy. I'm so happy to be here with you now." Ittoki smiled brightly as everyone smiled as well.

Kato was glad that Ittoki was being himself again.

"Nothing beats your smile, Otoya." Kurusu grinned.

"It's truly the smile of an idol." Ichinose added.

"Yeah." Aijima agreed, "It's a smile that puts a smile on everyone's face."

"Ah! I can't sit still anymore!"

"Yeah! I'm feeling restless!"

"Yeah! I feel like running!"

"Well, you guys better start running." Kato said out loud which surprised them, "If you don't want to miss the Song Festa, that is." She grinned.

And so they started running. Kato just sweatdropped at them before turning to look towards the sun again.

"At least they're alright... That's all that matters."

CONTINUE

Later that night, STARISH and Nanami were in the common room.

"By the way, Ikki. We heard your duet project song." Jinguji said.

"It was amazing."

"I had no idea you could sing like that."

"I didn't know, either. It was a little too intense for me. But... I like that song. Now, I'm genuinely glad I was able to sing it. Kotone is really amazing."

"Speaking of Kotone, where is she?" Aijima asked.

But everyone didn't know as well. All of a sudden they heard a loud crash which startled them.

"W-what was that?!" Kurusu shrieked.

"D-didn't that came from Koto-chan's room?!" Once Shinomiya said that, everyone headed to where Kato was.

As soon as they got closer, they heard lots of screaming and crashing which worried them even more.

"Let's hurry!"

Once they arrived, the noise stopped.

"Kotone-chan?" Nanami knocked on the door but there was no answer. She continued to knock again but it was still silent.

She looked at the others in worry.

"We're coming in, Kotone." said Hijirikawa as he went for the knob. However, it was locked.

"What? Kotone? Are you in there? Please open the door." Hijirikawa begged as he continued to knock on the door, a little louder this time, but there was still no answer.

Then, they heard a loud thud which horrified them.

"Move aside." Once they made space for him, Kurusu kicked down the door and was shocked to see the state of the room.

It was messy as hell and all Kato's guitars were broken, probably from throwing it to the floor harshly.

"What..."

"Kotone-chan!" Nanami shouted when she saw Kato was lying on the floor.

They rushed inside as Shinomiya held Kato up.

"Koto-chan? Koto-chan! Wake up!" But the girl kept her eyes closed. Ichinose then saw her hands were slightly bruised due to thrashing her room. And Hijirikawa placed his hand on her forehead but retracted fast.