June 1st. Normally, a uneventful day for you, filled with lazing around or studying. However, since Rise Kujikawa started attending your school, you've been thinking about this day a lot. Today is Rise's birthday, so you're thinking about doing something for her. Maybe you can take her out to dinner or something? That should suffice, considering you don't know her well enough to know what else she might enjoy. You did some work around your neighborhood in order to get enough money for this. It wasn't easy, considering you're not too good at physical work, nor do it very often, but it's worth it for her. Once school is over, Rise comes up to you, as you're thinking about how to go about today. "Hey Senpai. What do you wanna do today?" Rise asks, while putting away her books in her bag. "I was thinking... how about we go to Junes? We haven't been there yet. Maybe you could do some shopping or whatever." you say, hoping she would stay long enough so you could get her to have dinner there. "Shopping? Aren't you gonna get bored? Or... maybe you wanna see me in some sexy outfits?" Rise asks, giggling. You've gotten used to her teasing by now, so you decide to do a little bit of your own. "Who knows? Maybe I do." you reply. "You might even make me try some outfits for myself so you can get a good look." you continue, giving her a mischievous smile. You know she's most likely not interested in you, but even so, you do like giving her a taste of her own medicine from time to time. She slightly blushes. "Let's get going already!" she says, standing up, looking very excited.

After a while of walking in silence, you finally decide to say something. "Hey Rise... I've been wondering..." you begin, thinking about how to word the question. It might not be the best time to ask about this, but you've been curious about this for far too long. "Hmm? What is it Senpai?" Rise responds, looking at me in a confused matter. "I should've asked this earlier but... why did you take a break from showbiz?" you finally ask. A slightly sad expression appears on her face. "Well, it was rather stressful, so I thought a break would be nice... but now that I'm here, I don't really wanna go back." she replies. "Why? Do you not enjoy it anymore? Is someone treating you poorly?" you ask, concerned about what caused Rise to be like this. You can see that this is bothering her, so you feel really inclined to help her out. She helped you out a lot, although not directly, when you needed it the most, so it's time to return the favor. "No. It's none of that. I still enjoying being a idol, and everyone at my studio is treating me very nicely but... I get this feeling that everyone just likes the Rise on TV and not the real me." she says, her expression becoming even sadder. "I was bullied when I was little. Nobody liked me. I had no friends. I was always lonely and way too shy. Nobody had any expectations of me. I really was pathetic..." Rise continues. "Rise... I..." you reply, trying to say something, but barely any words escape your mouth due to how shocked you are. Rise? Bullied? There's no way. "Eventually though, a relative of mine submitted my application to a idol competition. I just did it as a joke. But I won. I was unsure of what to do. But then I realized that if I became a idol, I would finally be looked at in a positive light and make friends... so I accepted. Now though... I realized that the "me" everyone admires, isn't actually me. It's Risette. Nobody even cares about the old Rise Kujikawa, just the regular girl from Inaba..." Rise finishes, tears forming in her eyes. That's definitely not something you expected. But she's wrong. "H-Huh? Senpai?" Rise exclaims, as she is very surprised by your sudden embrace. "Rise. For me, it doesn't matter if you're the old Rise or Risette, you're still my friend no matter what. And I'm sure people would think the same if you just showed them your true self. Don't be scared to show who you truly are. People will definitely accept you." you say, trying your best to comfort Rise. You're not that good at stuff like this, considering you never had to do this, but you at least hope that she feels a little better now. "Senpai..." Rise weakly cries out, as she sobs in my clothes. "You're the only one... that truly likes me for who I am..." she says, her words hard to understand due to her sobbing. "It's okay." you say in a soft tone, holding her close to you and gently rubbing her head. Eventually, her crying stops you break the embrace. "Haha... I'm sorry that you had to see me like that." she says, obviously being pretty embarrassed. "Don't worry. You let it all out, right? I'm sure you feel better now. That's all that matters." you reply, giving her a genuine smile. You've definitely come a long way from the stuttering mess you were when she first arrived here. "Thank you Senpai... You help me out so much." she says, wiping her face with a tissue. "But enough of that sad stuff! Let's get going!" she continues, giving you a broad smile and walking ahead. It's impressive how quickly her mood changes from very sad to cherry and full of energy. She sure is impressive.

You finally arrive at Junes. This place really has everything. Food, clothes, electronics, tools and so much more. No wonder everyone from the shopping district hates this place. The manager's son attends your school, and you hear that he is pretty infamous around the shopping district. "Where do you wanna go now, Senpai?" Rise says, looking around. She doesn't seem too impressed with this place. Probably because she's definitely been in shops way bigger than this, which is really hard to imagine. "Wherever you want. I'm fine with anything." you reply. "Well then... to the clothing section!" she exclaims, as if she was a knight going off to battle, and takes off. You chuckle. She's adorable. Once you arrive there, you begin regretting this. You're with Rise, but even so, you're not really a big fan of shopping for clothing. Regardless, you must stay strong and endure in order to make her happy. "Ooh! This is cute. And so is this. And this." you repeatedly hear her say, as she takes a shirt or a skirt and looks at it, before putting it back. Eventually though, she finally finds something that she seems pretty happy about. It's... a swimsuit. "Ooh! I love this color! I just have to try this out! Come on, Senpai!" she says, as she rushes off to the nearest changing room. Your heart begins beating quickly. Sure, you've seen Rise in a swimsuit many times, but seeing her in real life is definitely gonna be something else! You can't help to be excited as you wait for her to exit. Eventually though, after a couple minutes of painful waiting, she finally emerges from the dressing room. She is wearing a orange-ish bikini. She does a little twirl. "Sooo? What do you think?" she asks, with a slightly mischievous tone, but quickly giggles after that. "I think it looks really great on you!" you say, obviously very happy to see her wearing that. She looks even better in real life than on TV, which is hard to imagine. "Are you tempted to look at a place other than my face?" Rise asks in a teasing tone, slightly puffing out her chest. You quickly glance at it, hoping you would not be noticed, but she probably did, seeing as she laughs. "Anyways, I think I'll get this. I'll go change back." she says, going back in the dressing room. While in there, you decide to go and check the price of it. About 3,500 yen. You can afford that. After Rise comes back out, you head to the register to pay. As Rise begins taking out some money, you tell her that you're gonna pay for it. "Really? You don't have to. I have more than enough money to do it." she says, trying to convince you to let her pay. "I insist. Just let me get you this." you reply, going up to the register and paying for the swimsuit. "Thank you so much! I appreciate it." Rise says, taking her bag with the swimsuit in it and smiling. "Oh, it's pretty late. We should go home." she says. You also look at the time. Perfect. It seems she stayed long enough to justify eating here. "Hey, how about we eat here? You must be getting tired of eating just tofu, right?" you ask her. "I mean I guess... Yeah, actually, that's a pretty good idea. I'm pretty hungry." Rise says, seeming a little embarrassed. "Alright then, let's get going to the food court." you say, guiding her there. Now, it's time for part two of your plan to be set in motion.

You get to the food court and ask Rise what she wants and tell her to go sit down. You order the food and decide to sneak out of the food court and go get her some flowers and a small cake with some candles while the food is being prepared. By the time you return, it seems the food is not done, which gives you time to give her everything. You go over to the table, and as she sees you, Rise's eyes widen. "Happy birthday! I hope this is enough." you set the cake on the table and hand her the flowers. Rise's face beams as she gets up and hugs me very tightly. She's stronger than she looks. "Thank you so much! Nobody's ever done this to me! I'm so happy! You're amazing Senpai!" she says, being very excited. "I mean sure, the people at my agency did something similar, but I'm sure it's because they had to, and not because they wanted to. You really are a true friend to me. Thank you!" she says, breaking the embrace, then sitting back down. "No problem. I'm glad you're happy. Oh. The food should be ready by now. Be right back." you say, rushing over to grab the food and bring it back to the table. You return with the food, and come back to see Rise sniffing the bouquet of flowers you gave her. You got her some orange roses, since you thought it would go well with the color of the swimsuit she got, and it seems you didn't make a bad choice. After we finish eating, we clean the table and you set the cake on the table, putting the candles in it and lighting them. You begin softly singing happy birthday to Rise. "Make a wish!" you say once you finish the song. Rise stays quiet for a moment or two, before blowing out the candles. "I really hope my wish comes true!" she says, looking at me and smiling. "Anyways, let's eat!" she continues, cutting a piece for me and a piece for herself. I got her a cake that seems to be made from pink buttercream, with 'Happy Birthday Rise' written on the top of it. "Wow! This is some really good cake. Thank you Senpai!" Rise says, as she slowly eats the cake, seeming to want to enjoy every bite. "I'm glad you enjoy it. I wasn't sure what type of cake to get you but I'm glad I made the right choice." you say, smiling. As you continue eating, you suddenly get a very good idea. "Hey Rise... now that you've had your birthday, how about you get a motorcycle license?" you ask her. This actually could be a great idea. You could go to Okina city, where there's a lot more things to do, and you can go to various other places now that summer vacation is not too far away. "Motorcycle license? I guess I could do that. Do you have yours Senpai?" she asks. "Yeah, I've had mine since early May." you say. Sure, you had your license and scooter, but haven't really been using it that much, only taking a ride occasionally just to relax. "Alright then. I'll try to get mine as soon as possible." Rise says, finishing her slice of cake. You finish yours as well, but Rise seems to stare at your face once you do. This makes you slightly embarrassed. "I-Is something wrong Rise?" you ask. "Oh, it's just that you have a little icing on the side of your mouth. Here, let me get it." she says, as she gets up and puts her fingers dangerously close to your lips, wiping off the icing from your face. She then proceeds to put her finger in her mouth and eat the icing. "Anyways, it's quite late. Let's get going home. Wouldn't want to worry my grandma." she says, throwing away our paper plates.

A couple days later, you're walking back to Rise's house after she took her exam. She passed it on the first try, which didn't surprise you at all, considering how hard she was studying. As we approach the shop, however, we notice that a figure is standing in front of it. "Hey... he seems suspicious." you say. "Do you know that person?" you ask Rise. "Hmmm..." she says, looking at the person carefully. "Oh! It's Inoue-san." she says. "Rise-chan! There you are!" the person says, and starts walking towards us. "I've been looking for you. Where were you?" he asks Rise. You don't feel as though you belong in the conversation so you kinda just step back and let her talk to him. "Oh, well, I just took my motorcycle license test. What brings you here?" she asks. "Oh, well, I'm here to ask when you're returning to Takura Productions." he says. "I already settled everything with the agency. Jeez, do they want me back that badly?" she says, seeming a little annoyed. "They didn't ask me to come here. I came here on my own accords. You know that movie you were supposed to appear in? People are still very excited for that. They would be so disappointed if you didn't make it." he says, seeming pretty sad. "Well... I-I already said that I won't do it! And that's the end of that! You have other idols at the agency that can fill in for me!" she says, almost yelling. She's pretty scary when she's mad. I definitely want to avoid that. "Well, Kanami-chan did actually get a offer... I suppose she'll have to do." he says, sighing. "I guess I should sign up to her manager. With the experience I have because I've worked with you, I can definitely make her the next big idol." he says. "It won't be easy though! She's a lot more... plain than you were so it'll take a lot of work to make her appeal to everyone. I'm sure that once we do, though, she'll sell incredibly well! Maybe even better than you!" he says, chuckling at the end. That was kind of... rude, in your opinion. You glance over at Rise, and you can see that she is both angry and sad. "Well, I suppose I'll be going. Goodbye, Rise-chan." he says, giving a small bow, and briefly smiling at me, before taking off. After that, you and her just sit there in silence. You await for Rise's reaction. Kanami, huh? You're pretty sure you heard that name somewhere. "I'm really glad I'm out of that showbiz world... all they care about is making me sell. They don't care about the real me..." she says, almost crying. "But, I'm happy that I met you, Senpai. You actually appreciate the real me, so, thank you." she says, rubbing her eyes and then smiling at you. "Of course I do, Rise. We're friends. Friends appreciate and care about each other." you reply, smiling back at her. Being a idol must be tough, huh? You never really think about it that way until you hear some stories of what some idols are going through. "Anyways, I have to help my grandma out. I'll see you later Senpai." she says, coming over and giving me a quick hug. She's being doing this every time you say your goodbyes lately. Still, it feels as nice as ever. "Take care Rise." you say, as she breaks the embrace and walks into the store. It's a good opportunity to catch up on your studies. You haven't really fallen that much behind, per se, but still better to be safe than sorry.

After you're just about to get to your house, you see a all too familiar face. It's Kure. He seems to be waiting for you. Crap... what to do... You suppose that you could go down a different route to your house and avoid him altogether. As you start walking though, he spots you, instantly running towards you. Past experiences taught you that it's best to not run if this happens. He'll definitely catch you, considering he's way more athletic than you are and it just angers him and makes him lash out at you more. "Well well, would look at that? Were you trying to run away?" he says, laughing. "It seems you haven't listened to my warning, have you? You still spend time with Rise and I even saw you with her at Junes the other day. It... angered me to no end." he says, clenching his fist. "She saw my love letter that I put in her locker some time ago, right?" he asks. "Y-Yeah. She did. She said she wasn't interested though. Said she already liked someone." you say. You can see that this angers him a lot, so you step back, intending to run away. You have no choice now. Either you stay here and take a beating or you run and have a chance to escape. Before you can do that though, he lands a good punch in on you. It knocks you to the ground. He's definitely gotten stronger since the last time he punched you. "This is your fault, you know? You probably told her all sorts of nasty things about me, didn't you?" he says, spitting on my shirt. "N-No. I actually didn't. I told you before, I never once hated y-" you try saying, but before you can finish your sentence, he kicks you. "Yeah, right! You always hated me ever since you started studying up like a good little boy. Don't give me that shit." he says, obviously very mad by what I said earlier. You really don't hate him, though. He thinks you do, but every time you try and explain that to him, he just gets mad and hits you. He sighs. "I guess I'll confess to her tomorrow in person. You better not get in my way, punk." he says, staring you dead in the eye before walking away. Hahaha... You hope Rise doesn't ever see you like this. Speaking of her, you'll probably have to tell her everything that happened now that Kure will confess to her. That's definitely not good. You're really scared that she'll look at you in a different way because of it. She'll probably see how weak and pathetic you really are. You get back up, and sigh. He really got you good this time, though. I guess there's not much you can do about it. You look at your phone and notice a text from Rise. "3". She does this from time to time, texting me a heart or something when she has a moment or two to spare. This puts a smile on your face, and you feel a lot better. Everything's gonna get a lot more complicated now.