Venomous Song

Homura and Yui lay side by side on the backyard lounge chairs.

Feeling the warmth of the sun, Yui squinted her eyes, occasionally taking a sip of tea—of course, it was made by Tsumugi.

"Even though you're in your teens, you're living like elders." Kuroneko rolled her eyes.

"Kuroneko, that's not entirely fair." Homura shifted slightly. "I'm just relaxing occasionally. Besides, not all elders are like this, they frequently do square dancing, y'know."

"Square dancing, huh..." Izumi pondered. "By the way, there should be many people learning to dance at today's concert, right?"

Homura sat up abruptly. "It's not just a 'should be', it's a 'definitely'. I have complete faith in the venomous 'Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss'!"

"What's with this 'venomous' thing?" Eriri quipped.

"Because it's addicting, of course, what else?"

"..."

"Now that you mention it... Why does the mere mention of this song name make the song start playing in my head automatically?!" Kirino vigorously shook her head.

Homura grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"Of course, it's because you're addicted!"

"..." Kirino fell silent.

Sagiri shivered at the thought.

"Is it that easy to get addicted? Thankfully, my resistance is pretty strong..."

'Strong resistance? That doesn't exist!' Homura smirked inwardly and pulled out a tablet. "Come on! Let's see if there are any videos about it already uploaded."

The girls exchanged glances, feeling a bit strange about it, but still gathered behind him.

'By the way... The original song hasn't been released, so people could only record it at the previous concert, right?' Homura shook his head. 'Well, let Muse decide whether to release it or not.'

"...There it is!" Homura smiled. "Oh? It's a guy? He's faster than the girls."

"Maybe he's a professional?" Tsumugi guessed.

"Well, let's see..." Homura clicked play.

A moment of silence.

"Holy, why is he so cute?!" Homura stared at the video in disbelief.

Before, his videos were at least just about the dance movements, but this? Even the guy's expressions in the video were extremely cute!

"Maybe he secretly has a girl's heart..." Saori couldn't help but say.

"Perhaps he is actually a girl? Just a bit... you know, flat..." Kuroneko shook her head and hesitated. 

Everyone rolled their eyes at her statement.

Where in the world did she see a trace of a girl from the guy in the video? Was she making up stories without any basis?

Homura dragged the video's progress bar to the beginning and Nayuta suddenly asked.

"Senpai... do you want to continue watching it?"

"No, this time I'm looking at the comment barrages. I turned it off earlier."

Nayuta nodded, and at the same time, breathed a sigh of relief.

'Thank goodness... I thought Senpai had that kind of interest...'

If he knew what she was thinking, he would definitely scold her harshly!

Without delay, they proceeded to read the comments.

...

[Comment 1: Yo, quick heads up! If you just started watching, do yourself a favor, don't keep going! Seriously, trust me on this one!]

[Comment 2: What the heck is going on?!]

[Comment 3: OMG... it's done, it's done, I'm done for!]

[Comment 4: Dude's a total pro! Like, no doubt, a freaking pro!]

[Comment 5: Can't resist, gonna give it another go! Swear, this is the last time, promise!]

[Comment 6: I'm stuck in a loop with this!]

[Comment 7: My eyes! This nightmare is gonna haunt me forever!]

[Comment 8: Okay, but this guy? Unexpectedly adorable. He's legit making my heart go all doki-doki.]

...

"Pfttt..."

""Hahahaha!""

Eriri, Elf, and Saori burst into laughter.

"What's with these comments?!"

"Hahaha... See, sometimes, the comments can be more entertaining than the content itself." Homura couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Homura... why don't you release your video too?" Eriri nudged him.

"You can't be serious!" Homura nearly jumped. "It would be dangerous if I released it!"

"Right! We can't let Senpai be in danger absolutely!" Nayuta was firmly on his side. This danger was just too much!

Eriri thought for a moment, glanced at the comments, and nodded.

"It really is too risky. Just forget what I said."

Suddenly, Megumi chimed in.

"Chika-chan said earlier that we should all make Homura-kun give up that video of your dancing... Looks like she forgot..."

Hearing that, Homura had a face full of disbelief.

'What the hell? You guys actually did that?'

Just then, his phone rang, and what a coincidence, it was Fujiwara Chika.

"..." Homura was speechless.

Was this just a coincidence? Did she have something urgent to discuss? What should he do? He suddenly didn't want to answer this call!

'...Fuck it, let's answer it!'

"Yo, Chika, what's up? Did you forget something?" Homura tried to divert the conversation.

"Hmm? No, I just remembered something!" Chika replied cheerfully.

"What is it...?" Homura forced a smile. 

"Homura-kun! Show me the video of 'Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss'!"

Of course, he was being too naive. But he wanted to give it one more shot.

"Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? Didn't you watch it at the concert? Plus, there are so many videos of it online now, you can watch any of them anytime."

Without waiting for Chika's response, Homura continued.

"I just watched one recently. There's a guy who dances really well. You should check it out."

The girls all had a face full of disbelief as they watched him spin the story. He hadn't even lied, he was just diverting her attention like crazy!

"Eh? Really? I'll go watch it right now!"

Homura breathed a sigh of relief. But suddenly, he heard her voice on the phone again.

"Wait! I don't think that's what I wanted to ask..."

Homura widened his eyes in shock. He didn't expect the naive Chika could come to a realization this easily.

'Wait, something's not right... Forget it. I don't expect you to be this sly, Chika.' Homura remarked inwardly.

"Oh... right!" Chika suddenly realized. "Homura-kun, I want to see the video you made... Etto, what was it again? Oh yeah, the tutorial video of your dancing! I want to see!"

She said it all in one breath, clearly intending to block all of his escape routes!

Gritting his teeth, Homura wanted to make one last effort.

"...That video, I don't have it on me; it's with Muse..." Homura frantically gestured to Elf, trying to get her phone.

But Elf just smiled and pretended not to understand his gestures.

'Fuck me...' Homura rolled his eyes, scanned the room, and then realized that Tsumugi had a big probability to sympathize with him.

"Why would you give it?" Elf whispered to Tsumugi, intending to stop her.

"Well..." Tsumugi stopped her hand and changed her mind. "I don't think Homura-niisan can escape this one, so whether I lend my phone to you or not won't change the outcome."

"..."

Homura fell silent, and his heart ached. Tsumugi had learned to be mischievous too.

As he was in a dilemma, Chika's reply soon came.

"Is that so? Hmm... Well then, I'll go ask them. After all, Homura-kun already agreed, right? Goodbye!" 

"..."

Homura looked at his phone speechlessly after Chika hung up the call.

'When the heck did I agree?'