Chapter 1/Episode 8

### You're Not Alone

(Ai joins you in hopes of having some fun and gets her first-year friend Rina to tag along, too. Your next hopeful is former School Idol Club member Kanata, but there’s a reason she left the club.)
 **Player:** We’ve been getting a lot of members since we asked you to join up, Ayumu. I knew you would be a great first pick!
 **Ayumu:** What? I haven’t done anything, but… I’m really glad to hear that.
 **Kasumi:** We can’t rest on our laurels just yet though! It’s time to go try and get back Kanata!
 **Shizuku:** I know where she is, so follow me.
 **Kasumi:** W-Well I have an idea of where she’d be, too!
 **Shizuku:** \*giggle\* We might have the same idea. The infirmary or the garden, right? I checked a while ago, and it looks like she’s in the infirmary today.
 **Kanata:** Urgh… Wh-Who’s there?
 **Shizuku:** It’s Shizuku, Kanata.
 **Kanata:** Shizuku? Oh, hi, it’s been a while. You been doing well?
 **Shizuku:** Mmhm, really well. B-But small talk aside, we’re here to bring you back to the school idol club!
 **Kasumi:** Kanata, the club’s going to be disbanded! Please, you’ve got to come back!
 **Kanata:** Disbanded?! That’s… real sad. We gotta stop that. Still, it’d be a little hard for me to go back now. I do want to, though.
 **Player:** Um, hello, Kanata! Good to meet you. I’ve heard you were a club member before, so I had Shizuku and Kasumi bring me here.
 **Player:** Oh, this is another second year, Ayumu Uehara.
 **Player:** She’s a new member of the club, too. We also have Rina Tennoji, a first year, and Ai Miyashita, a second year.
 **Player:** Like Kasumi said, the club is in big trouble right now. It’s going to be disbanded if we don’t get ten members, so… we want you back, Kanata!
 **Kanata:** Things took a pretty bad turn when I was gone.
 **Kanata:** But I’ve really got a bunch on my plate right now. I like being a school idol, but I can’t right now. I’m in a bind and real busy.
 **Shizuku:** A bind? DId something happen? If there’s anything we can do to help let us know!
 **Kanata:** My grades dropped, and really badly.
 **Shizuku:** Huh?
 **Kanata:** I super tanked my mid-terms. If I don’t get serious for finals, it’ll be really bad, so I’m studying hard, but… mah is getting me. I just don’t get it.
 **Player:** Well, in that case…
 **Player:** Rina and Ai picked a lot of science and math classes, so how about getting them to help you?
 **Kanata:** Wait, really? It’d be that easy?
 **Player:** If they help you with your studies, you can be a school idol at the same time!
 **Kanata:** Hey, that’s a really nice idea. I’ll come back, then. So, not to rush things, but are they in the clubroom?
 **Kasumi:** I think they are.
 **Kanata:** Then let’s get going! It’s been a while since my eye’ve been this open!
 **Kanata:** …Wait, there’s no one here! Kasumi, you lied to me!
 **Kasumi:** Ahh! W-Well, I wanted to kidna- er, captu… N-No, I mean, I wanted to bring you to the clubroom before you changed your mind!
 **Emma:** Hiya, sounds pretty busy in… Huh? Hey, did we get some new members?!
 **Kasumi:** Emma?!
 **Shizuku:** Emma, did you come back after seeing us moving around?!
 **Emma:** Huh? Come back? Oh, yeah, I just got back from Switzerland. Here’s your souvenirs. Oh, there’s plenty to go around, so share them with our new friends, okay?
 **Kasumi:** Uh… Huh?
 **Player:** Kasumi, this is Emma, right?
 **Emma:** Greetings, my name is Emma Verde. Glad to have you onboard.
 **Player:** So, wait… Emma, you came back on your own?
 **Emma:** Huh? Why wouldn’t I? This is the school idol club room, right…?
 **Kasumi:** U-Um, Emma! You haven’t come to the room in a while, right?! You were distancing yourself from the club, r-right?!
 **Emma:** Huh? No, I had to go back to Switzerland for a while. I left a letter, you know.
 **Kasumi:** W-Wait, that… that was a letter you wrote?!
 **Ayumu:** Huh? What’s up, Kasumi?
 **Kasumi:** … So this actually was from Emma? I… I thought it was some weird threat from a rival.
 **Kasumi:** Ahh, I’m so sorry! I jumped to conclusions!
 **Shizuku:** Well, Emma’s back, so it all worked out, right?
 **Ayumu:** Now we have seven people! Let’s keep going until we get ten!
 **Player:** Yeah, let’s go talk to Setsuna Yuki next! We don’t know where she is, but if we all split up…
 **Ayumu:** Huh? Did something just bump into the door?
 **Player:** It might be a hopeful!
 **Player:** Huh?
 **Player:** (I’ve seen that back somewhere before.)
 **Player:** (Could it be…)