PPC a la Chii - Track 3

(Uwahh… I’m so nervous. Whether I can convince my sister here today is the first hurdle…!)

It’s almost time…

…! Big sis, over here!

…! Chiichan and… huh, Tao-kun?

Hello. I’m Tao Kinouchi. It’s nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind my being here.

Ohh, so the person you said you wanted to bring along was Tao-kun? Ah, I’m Mitsuki Natsuyaki, his older sister.

I apologize for intruding in your private time, Mitsuki-san. Your brother takes great care of me as well.

Haha, you’re just as serious as you are on stream! He wouldn’t tell me who he was bringing, so I really thought he was going to introduce me to his lover or something, so I’m surprised.

Dating is a biiiig no-no as an idol, big sis! Did you forget?

Oh, right. Chii-chan’s always careful about stuff like this. Did you keep it quiet to surprise me because I said I might be a Tao-kun fan?

Yep! You’re happy you got to meet him, right?

I am~ I’ll keep supporting you, Tao-kun!

Oh, um… Thank you very much.

You’re wearing a dress today… It really suits you.

Huh? Oh, this? Ahaha, I’ve only ever worn pants before so I was a bit nervous, but I’m feeling more confident now that I got a compliment from you.

The lipstick shade you’re wearing is this year’s trendy color too! It’s suuuuper cute!

You’re making me blush~ But thanks. Leaving that aside, you want to talk about your job today, right?

Y-Yeah… Um…

Actually, there’s something we’d like you and your fiancé to work with us on…!

…The wedding photos, huh.

I know you said you weren’t gonna do a ceremony, but the wedding photos aren’t that hard to plan… I’ll be the one in charge of it anyways!

…It’s okay if the regular models take it instead of us, no?

Mhm, but like there’s just something special you can only get when it’s the actual couple… Plus, the company’s covering all of the travel expenses too, and they said it’s okay to invite family!

……

(What should I do… Is she gonna say no after all?!)

Oh… If I may, for us Ev3ns, the topic of love is an important theme that we even incorporate in our lyrics…

Although none of us can truly answer what love is, we’ve decided to face it and cherish it together as a group.

……!

(Tao’s backing me up!)

I’m not sure how to explain it, but marriage is one way to express your love, so for us to have this chance to work on a job with it as the theme is a pretty big deal…

I know this isn’t a nice way to put this, but Ev3ns are all former prisoners, so if Chihiro were to get to celebrate his sister’s wedding…

Let me guess… it’ll be good publicity for the group?

Oh, obviously I wanna celebrate with you more than anything! But if you could help us out with that too, we’d really appreciate it…

(Tao and I talked about it yesterday and decided she might agree to it if we use the excuse that it’ll help boost Ev3ns’ image. It bothers me cuz it’ll look like I’m just using her, though…)

(Honestly, I just want all of us to get together and for my big sis and mom to get along, but there’s no way she’d agree to this if I said that…!)

…Alright, I get it. If it’s to help you guys, we’ll cooperate like you asked.

…! Really?!

If it’s to help you with your work, I’ll do it. Might as well go all in. I’ll go get my fiancé’s permission to appear in it too.

T-Thanks, sis!

Thank you, Mitsuki-san.

But isn’t going all the way to Wakayama a bit luxurious? The plane tickets must be expensive, right?

It’s a perfect place for a photo wedding! Not only that, there’s pandas too. You like pandas, right?

That reminds me… You said you wanted to go see them before, but I didn’t take you with me. You were so little back then, but you still remembered that.

That was the last selfish request I ever made to mom…

Um… So since it’s a good opportunity, let’s bring our younger sisters too. The company’s gonna cover all our expenses after all! If your fiancé has people he wants to invite, that’s okay too!

Really~? Wouldn’t it be too much to cover for that many people?

Oh, don’t worry about it. I think they’ll be blurred in the pictures, or something like that, but if you’re fine with that, you can apply for a few extra travel expenses.

Is that so? Well then, we can go see the pandas with everyone. That might be fun…

I… was planning to invite Mom too. I want her to be in the bridal photos…

That woman won’t come.

……!

Even if the trip was free, she’d never come to take wedding photos with me. That’s just who she is.

B-But inviting her is okay, right? If she comes… we can take the family photo, can’t we? It’s not like we’ll use that one for publicity…

I won’t stop you if that’s what you want… but I won’t be the one to invite her. I don’t even want to talk to her.

Sorry for making you hear all of this when we just met, Tao-kun.

Uhhh… It’s no problem, don’t mind me…

……

Well… All’s well that ends well, huh, Chihiro?

…Yeah. Thanks for saying the hard stuff, Tao. You really saved me there.

Oh, but… Are you okay? You kinda disagreed there at the end.

……

(I can’t be moping around here! There’s still a mountain of stuff to figure out!)

I’m fine! Mom might come around if I talk to her, and I really want the two of them to get along so I haven’t given up yet!

More than anything, this might end up being our first and last family trip, y’know? So like I’ve gotta keep my mood suuuper up and do my best to make sure everyone’s gonna have fun!

Fair enough.

Also, what were you two talking about while I was in the bathroom~!? You two were acting all chummy, weren’t you!?

She’s gonna be a married woman soon, so don’t even think about making a move, okay~!?

Owowow, quit pinching me… Even if we spoke, all we’d talk about would be you…

Oh…

Well, anyway, I’m kinda shocked cause she’s a bit different from how you described her.

For reals!?

You said you don’t look like any of your family members, but I think you and Mitsuki-san are pretty alike. She’s just a bit more mature, though.

Huh…

Like, she’s got a more adult face and you look a bit more like a kid? I think anyone would immediately realize you’re siblings, though.

So I’m like my sister… I didn’t know that.

In any case, I hope you can take some pictures your sister will be happy with. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.

Yep! I’m gonna go full-on planning the photo stuff and coming up with decorations for the venue tomorrow! I’m starting to get really hyped right now!

(There’s no time to stress, we can only move on from here. Right now, it’s all about making this photo project picture-perfect for big sis’s happiest moments!)

……

(Sighs)… I’ve been running alll over the place these past few days…

But Tao taking on the chores all by himself is a huge help~

(During the meeting with the bridal company, Nagipeko taught me how to make the plumeria bouquet…)

(I also got a lot of feedback from To-nya and Kirokkuma, whipped up a totally hype wedding board, and we got Yodachos’ seal of approval for the welcome drinks.)

Nayuuki and Kinyari helped me make the materials for the presentation, and Raitin gave me top-tier negotiation tips for dealing with sponsors! Chiefy spent hours with me picking out decoration ideas too…

(As for Kugurin… Well, he didn’t do too much, but when I started losing steam, he fed me pudding each time, so I’ll take it!)

We’ll have a good photo project with everyone’s help! The next thing to do is…

(The hardest part… Persuading Mom.)

……

(She should be awake right now… before she heads to work…)

(Okay… Just hit that call button!)

≪…What is it?≫

……!

H-How’ve you been, Mom? It’s me, Chihiro.

≪Mhm, yeah… I could tell from the caller ID. So, what is it?≫

(…My heart’s racing. Calm down, relax. It’ll be okay as long as I talk to her like how I practiced countless times.)

So… Um, did you hear about big sis?

≪…About her marriage? I did receive something like that. Hah, so she just sends one quick mail and calls it a day. Honestly, that kid’s so ungrateful.≫

S-She was probably just embarrassed. I’m sure of it.

≪As if! Don’t be ridiculous. Well, whatever. Marriage just leads to misery anyway.≫

(My head’s starting to spin… My heart’s beating so loudly and it hurts… But I have to tell her properly…..)

So, um… big sis’s helping us out by doing the photo wedding for my work. The travel expenses are all gonna be covered, so I want you to come with us…

≪Why me?≫

We might not have another chance to come together as a family, and we never had a family trip before in the first place, right?

Even if it’s just a small gathering…

≪…≫

A-And if the plan succeeds, it’ll boost Ev3ns’ image too… An idol’s image is suuuper important, right!?

You even showed up in the family video for that survival… show…

≪Oh, is that what this is about? You just want us to play happy family? for social media, huh?≫

……

≪So are Mitsuki and I just clickbait to you? You’d use your own family to get more views?!≫

≪What did I expect? Like father, like son. You can’t seem to fight that scum’s blood anyways. That means there’s no doubt you have that scum’s blood in you too–≫

……

≪…Well, I guess I can go. As long as the travel expenses are covered, and if you get me free stuff.≫

Oh… Okay.

What do you… want?

≪Hm… There’s a bag I want.≫

Okay, I got it. I’ll buy it for you.

≪Ah, I’ll choose for myself. Just send a little extra to my account.≫

Okay… Then, I’ll send you the money tomorrow.

≪I’ll be waiting⁠— I’ll send you the amount I want, so just send me the schedule and stuff in your reply.≫

……

(Even though I managed to make a pretty plumeria bouquet…)

(The decorations, the welcome board, and the drinks too… Everything was so…)

(But even then, the colors look like they’ll fade…)

I can’t think that way… Everyone helped come up with that stuff…

(You gotta laugh with that total GAL mindset, Chihiro… Mom’s coming with us, after all. Maybe she and Mitsuki will get along at the venue.)

I can’t cry now. I have to keep moving forward…