Got it?

You see, SANCTUARY is an amusement park where anyone can become an idol!

To be more precise, it's an amusement park in which anyone can experience the joy of being an idol.

The joy...of being an idol...?

If you need something more concrete, let me show you an example! Come over here⁠♪

Sure! Dash da⁠—

Not dashin', I won't dash! I didn't dash at all!

Oh, right! Because that's your Order, isn't it?

Auugh! Not runnin' is making my stress pent up! Swooosh! Swowowosh!

Ahh, please stop moving your arms so much, Mitsuru-kun! You could hit someone!

Indeed. Currently, it's undergoing a beta test, and as such, regular customers aren't allowed inside the park at the moment.

Still, there is a crowd gathered, so we would appreciate it if you avoided causing a commotion.

Tenma-sama, you too would be unhappy if you injured someone, wouldn't you?

Alrighty! Goootcha, Yuzu-chan-senpai!⁠1 I'll behave!

Hehe. You're correct, there are some people walking around. But somehow I feel I have seen all of them before. Could it be...?

Yep. All these people walking around SANCTUARY right now are idols from Kanto.

Indeed. They've given up on their chance of ruling over us, and so they're now drifters.

Ahh, so that's how it is. There weren't any active idols other than us, so I was wondering what happened to them.

Right. They might be trying to cut their monetary losses—or rather, they could be trying to avoid more matches they might lose. That's not a bad call.

To appear on stage as idols, they need money.

And all the money earned in the qualifiers is SSL$, so it will disappear once it's over.

Oh, there's a rule like that?

Yes. If you perform well in the qualifying rounds, ES will view you favorably; this opens more opportunities to earn money.

Thanks to the presence of one of the Big Three units, fine, in this region, everyone retired early because there wouldn't be many chances to stand out.

They decided it'd be wiser to step back and wait for a better moment than to take on a very unfavorable bet.

So basically, all we'll see is wimps around here.

If it were Trickstar, it wouldn't matter that all odds were against them—they'd still run in without hesitation.

Yes. At the very least, I think that the idols I respect so much wouldn't give up so easily.

Not only that, they'd do it to bring happiness to everyone, not for money. It's not about winning or losing but—aahhh?

Calm down, Hajime-chan! Gather your thoughts! Breathe in, breathe out!

Breathe in... Breathe out...! Ugh, sorry for being so bad at speaking!

Usually, Nii~chan or Tomoya-kun would talk and say everything that I'd want to, so I could just smile and nod.

But right now it's just me and Mitsuru-kun. Mitsuru-kun's always honest, but it's a little difficult to understand him sometimes, so I should step up too.

Do your best, Hajime-chan! I'm always here cheerin' for ya!

Yes! I will do my best!

Huh? Uhm... What was I talking about again...?

You two are just adorable, y'know?

Ehh? Thank you very much! You're cute too, Tori-kun⁠♪