Chapter 13
Airi came back from school, someone there having recognised her for her former Happy Everyday persona.
She fell to her bed, completely exhausted.
She was going to do some things with another ex-idol in Miyamasuzaka, Shizuku disappearing right before it with no trace or clue of where she was.
After Haruka had died sometime after starting school again, they were the only former idols in the school.
She scrolled through her conversations with Haruka, the latter had texted her, worried about a fan she was having problems with.
She put her phone down, before being messaged by Ena.
Ena
Hey Airi!
Wanna hang out at that bakery we went to a couple months ago?
Airi did like that bakery a lot.
Airi
Sure, why not?
See you there, Ena!
She went out, billboards filled with ads and the occasional missing idol posters.
Airi really never understood why idols were more important when they disappeared.
And many colleagues of hers over the years had been supposedly "missing", when in reality they had just retired.
Ena was already there when she arrived, being sat at a table already.
"Airi! Hi!"
She sat down in front of her.
"Crazy how many idols are missing nowadays."
Airi said sarcastically, Ena looking slightly worried.
"Yeah, and it's not just idols either."
Wait what
"Turns out some of my friends and Akito disappeared too."
Airi's eyes widened.
"What?!"
Ena nodded.
"We're looking for them with his teammates. Turns out there's at least 10 people missing from both your school and mine combined."
Ena explained, Airi recalling how she hadn't seen some students at school for a while.
"Kinda like what happened to your older brother, right?"
Ena nodded again, this time quickly chewing on a breadstick.
"I guess so, but that time my parents didn't even call him, now they're at a police station once a day."
Airi sighed, grabbing a breadstick herself.
"Yeah… What happened to Fuuta anyway? He was found, wasn't he?"
Airi asked, Ena looking elsewhere.
"Yeah, he came back after a couple of months, he's blind in one eye now though."
Airi almost passed through that comment, before realizing what Ena had said so normally.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S BLIND IN ONE EYE?"
She screamed, getting a couple looks from the other tables.
"Yeah, that's what I said. Plus, Akito's smart, he can survive for as long as it takes for us to find him."
Ena frowned as she said that.
"Yeah… Hopefully we do…"