45 Miss Abe's Apotheosis

Haruki smiled like a fool for having won a heart from Jun by giving him the key. Moments earlier in the bathroom. And Jun released them from prison with his ability to open locks, learned from the times he lived on the street. He had made the promise that he would tell Haruki a little bit of his story, so he shouldn't be too late at the ball.

The singer found Miyu-chan smiling and still entertained by the company of Hinata-kun who gestured animatedly while they talked, 'They make a beautiful couple.' Haruki found out.

The couple hadn't noticed his return, and they didn't even seem to have noticed his prolonged absence. And he was thinking he was necessary!

The two were so connected to each other that they also forgot the cat. Mimi was playing catching the flowing fabric that hung from the asymmetrical skirt of a hologram woman dancing with her partner.

Haruki knew the entire crowd that filled the place was just holograms. But of course, the kitten didn't care about that detail, since it didn't have its owner's attention.

Haruki inspected around the huge hall, noticing his other companions were missing,

'Hey, where's everyone?' Haruki wondered, only now realizing that he had only seen Jun and Hinata when he arrived in the hall with Miyu-chan. Haruki felt his entire body react, igniting, as he remembered Jun receiving Miyu-chan's heart on his smartwatch.

'Sheesh. I can't be that ridiculous and be jealous of this bullshit!' Restless and uncomfortable with his new feelings, Haruki decided to drink a little, 'Let's find out if some alcohol calms me down.'

And he turned four glasses of champagne in a row.

'Wow, what did I promise Jun?!' he questioned himself more nervously than before. Matter of factly, at that moment, Jun would get any promise from him as he just wanted to continue what they're doing. He felt the blood rush to the wrong head again. 'Damn it! I look like a virgin.'

But… Haruki was terrified of going beyond kissing. He was sweating cold at the thought of fulfilling Jun's request. Shaken with the expectation of what he was going to do soon, the singer went to the young couple.

"Hi, guys. Did you miss me?" he exclaimed happily.

"...!" Miyu opened his eyes, but closed her mouth shut. And then she added, "Not really! Hinata-san was telling me a few things and I, well, I didn't even notice the time passing. It must be great for you to live with Hinata-san! He's super funny. Ah, how lucky you are!"

From the senior student's smartwatch, a heart came out into the air.

"Up!!" The girl shrieked happily, "I finally got one." And she looked up, at nothing. Just like she was when Haruki found her.

At that moment it became clear to Haruki why Miyu sometimes looked at the ceiling as if she were reading. Perhaps she had a bionic lens in her eye, or she saw a screen that was visible only to her. She was seeing the status of the game.

Haruki laughed when he noticed Hinata puffing up his chest, looking like a blowfish. "Yes Miyu-chan, Hinata is hilarious. But have you seen the others?"

"They left right after you started dancing, to get to know the place. But I wanted to stay to meet Miyu-chan," the senior student told with no pause to catch his breath. Miyu laughed.

And as if they had been summoned, the trio entered the hall. And seeing the younger trio, the newcomers came to them.

Haruki took the opportunity to look at the masks his friends had chosen, remembering Daisuke's words. The influencer insisted on the thesis that the choices of how to dress and keep the hair, for instance, revealed a lot about a person's personality, which was why each archetype had a different outfit. Haruki knew it from his trainee experience, but he wanted to see if he could guess what the mask choices would say about their owners.

Daisuke, the most beautiful and elegant of them, wore a black see-through lace mask.

'Um he knows he's handsome, and he doesn't want to hide it,' thought Haruki.

Saito was wearing a golden lion mask that covered only the top of his face. It also matched the climber. He was really noble and undoubtedly a dangerous predator.

And Takashi, the most discreet, but an artist, had chosen a half-mask of black feathers that resembled a swan.

Miyu-chan seemed to be thrilled to see them. And she turned into a soap bubble gun. Only in her case, instead of iridescent soap bubbles were iridescent hearts that flew across the room to land on the smartwatches of the newcomers, lighting them up.

"Ah Miyu-chan, you're too fickle for me!" Haruki protested, remembering that, just a few moments ago, she was sending hearts to the senior student.

"Uhum," Hinata could only agree with his friend. And looking at Miyu-chan, he added, "But today Miyu-chan is forgiven. It's her ball!"

Encouraged by the two, the girl got up and went to Takashi.

"May we dance the waltz, Takashi-san?"

The artist agreed and took her to the middle of the dance hall.

"Haruki, how are you feeling? Is everything okay?" asked the climber, approaching the singer and speaking more quietly than usual.

'Is Saito still worried?' was Haruki's first thought,

"Now I'm fine, just a little tired. And what did you find cool about TMD?" Haruki knew that the climber was showing his concern and several times showed he wished to protect him. But all that attention was being uncomfortable for the singer. He didn't like Saito invading his personal space, he found out.

"DON DON DON ..." the clock rang several times, stopping the music and interrupting the princess's waltz with her crush. Haruki and Saito fell silent too, observing the new events.

The ceiling opened, revealing a neon orange balloon that descended and landed in the middle of the dance floor.

Okami System was the ballooner, and reaching for the girl in Takashi's arms called,

"Princess Niko-chan, time to go," the android announced.

Miyu, visibly sorry to say goodbye to her dance partner and guests, nodded, "Thank you for coming." And after one last look at each of the guests on Princess Island, she went to the basket, departing for the starry sky.

Her departure culminated with a light and music show performed by drones in the sky, simulating fireworks.

It was really fascinating and exciting, and maybe because of all the champagne he drank, Haruki even felt tears of euphoria in his eyes.

They had done the best dance that a girl like Miyu-chan could ever want.

Before they could even have recovered from the beautiful light show in the sky, and the roof closed again, they heard the fateful and well-known tune of important notifications.

Their attention turned to the stage where there was once a big band.

Now, a huge, curved screen appeared, and Akemi System's face smiled at them.