rubestie

Season: Spring, ES! timeline

Location: 2-A Classroom

Characters: Makoto, Hokuto, Subaru, Anzu

hokuto

Hokuto: Well then, our conversation got derailed, but let’s get back to our main topic.

For now, we’re planning to look for members who can join Project-Saga.

As the document says, the ideal situation would be to find one representative from each grade.

Since I’ll be participating for the second year, we’ll need one first year and one third year.

However, I haven’t had many interactions with students from outside my own grade… Not only can I not think of any suggestions, I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look.

Makoto: Huh… So you’ll be recruiting one representative from each grade, or something like that.

What about asking the light music club? They helped us out during the revolution, so wouldn’t they be easy to approach?

Hokuto: Yeah… that’s exactly why I feel like I shouldn’t take any more advantage of them.

I’ll have no choice but to ask them if I can’t think of any other options, but it would be better to work with someone new for a change.

And following that same reasoning, I’m loath to ask the only other third- or first years I know of in the Theater club. And because of this selfish wish of mine, I ran out of options I could think of.

I did invite Sena-senpai, whom I happened to find in this classroom earlier this morning.

Makoto: Eh? What exactly was Izumi-san doing in a different grade’s classroom? I don’t really get it, but that’s super scary!

Hokuto: Hm… It seems Knights have been doing volunteer work to redeem their reputation after what went down during DDD.*

I think he was cleaning inside the school or something.

Also, he was sitting at the desk next to yours, Yuuki, playing around and saying stuff like “Uhuhu~ I’m in the same class as Yuu-kun♪”.

Makoto: What the-, that’s disgusting…! He’s reached a new level of scary! I don’t understand!

Hey, did you see him touch my desk or something? I need to check if he installed some sort of bugging device or something…!

Hokuto: Hm. I don’t think you need to be so worried. When I talked to him, I got the impression he was a good person with a proper way of thinking. I guess his actions sometimes tend towards the criminal, though.

Makoto: That’s the problem though!

Uhii, he casually wrote his contact information in my notebook that I left here~!

A, are you gonna invite him to join Project-Saga? You probably shouldn’t, you know…? That guy has a history of causing trouble and getting into fights with magazines and stuff!

This project is centered around magazines, right? Inviting him would be like inviting a ticking time bomb~?
hokuto+makoto

Hokuto: Yeah, he said so himself. But he also said if I had no other choice, he would agree to participate in exchange for me giving him some of your personal belongings, Yuuki. I felt he had a positive attitude to the proposal.

Subaru: Yup! Which is why I tried to steal Ukki~’s glasses earlier!

All of the clues came together just now! Doesn’t it feel refreshing, Ukki~♪?

Makoto: Nope, no way, I’m just getting more and more confused over here!

Hokuto: Hm. Though to be honest, I still feel somewhat suspicious of Sena-senpai… or rather, of Knights in general.

Plus, I feel like he rejected me nicely, so there might be little hope of him joining.

Makoto: No, you should really hope he doesn’t~?

If Izumi-san was to join Project-Saga, there’s a chance he could start spending a lot of time around you in order to “accidentally” run into me, right?

I’ll stop showing up to school, you know?

Hokuto: That would be a problem. H~m… But I really can’t think of anyone else who would be willing to help. Maybe I really will have to ask Sakuma-senpai and one of the twins from the light music club for help?

Subaru: Hey, by the way, this Project-Saga is centered around Sagami-chan, right?

Then why not ask Chi~chan-senpai to join? That person often mentions how he’s a big fan of Sagami-chan even when no one asks him about it.

In Project-Saga, he would be able to both help Sagami-chan out, plus learn directly from him as his student, right?

I think he’d be overjoyed to join, probably ♪

Hokuto: Hm? Chi~chan, senpai… who exactly is that?

Subaru: The red and annoying one from Ryuseitai, Chiaki Morisawa-senpai.

Hokuto: Ooh, that one. I’ve barely ever interacted with him so I’m not very familiar with him. So he is a fan of Sagami-sensei as well, huh.

Subaru: Yup. Seems Sagami-chan starred in some Tokusatsu shows in the past, you see…

Chi~chan-senpai is a real dork for those things, so apparently he became a huge fan ever since those shows first aired.

Hokuto: Hm. I see. Hearing that he does seem like the ideal member. If I remember correctly, he is the leader of Ryuseitai, so he might be pretty busy, though.

I’d still like to ask him, just to make sure. Can you give me his contact information, Akehoshi?

Subaru: Eh, I don’t think I know his phone number… I’m pretty sure he’d just show up out of nowhere if you call out to him loudly?

He’s that kind of person, after all. Just call out: “I’m in trouble! Please help me, hero!”
subaru

-

TL note:
* If you don't know what this is referring to, it's about the time Izumi kidnapped Makoto during DDD in the main ! story.

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Season: Spring of ES! timeline

Location: 2-A Classroom

Characters: Makoto, Subaru, Hokuto, Anzu

<Early morning the day after>
Makoto+Subaru

Makoto: Good morning~♪

Subaru: Ah, good morning Ukki~☆

…Oh? Ukki~, there’s some dirt stuck to the back of your uniform?

Makoto: Eh, no way! Where is it? This is bad, I usually try to make sure my appearance is clean though…?

Subaru: You’re wide open~!

Makoto: Uhhyah!?

Eh, what is it all of a sudden, Akehoshi-kun? Why did you steal my glasses?

Subaru: Hokke~, what was my time today!?

Hokuto: About 16.7 seconds.

Too bad, that’s not enough for a new record. While it was clever to call out to Yuuki to avert his attention, this ultimately led to a loss of time.

Subaru: Tch~, my plan failed! Ukki~ is usually distracted in the morning, so I thought he wouldn’t be able to react if I suddenly went in for his glasses?
makoto+subaru

Makoto: Uhm, sorry! What kind of game are you playing right now? This isn’t bullying or something, is it!?

Subaru: No, no, it’s not. Sorry about that, Ukki~, there’s a reason behind this-

…Oopsie?

Makoto: While I do want an explanation from you, give me back my glasses first! I need them to live normally, so please don’t treat them as toys~?

Aah, I can see clearly again.

Oh? Akehoshi-kun, Hidaka-kun, transfer student… What are you huddling together for?

Are you holding a strategy meeting for our next job as Trickstar?

Hokuto: No, this is about me and the transfer student’s personal business... or rather, how exactly should I put it? Yesterday, Sagami-sensei invited us to join this thing called Project-Saga.

After we went home I talked it over with the transfer student on the phone, and we agreed to participate to the best of our ability, but…

The details are a bit strange, so it’s hard to figure out what exactly we should be doing.

As the two of us were looking over the proposal together, discussing what would be our best course of action, Akehoshi came over and it turned into this.

Now this is basically like a work document, so don’t disturb us… Akehoshi.

Subaru: Eh~? Don’t leave me out like that, it makes me lonely! I promise I’ll be useful, so don’t throw me aside, master~!

Hokuto: Who are you calling master. You only ever say unnecessary things, so even if we asked your opinion it would just confuse us.

Subaru: Ooooh, how cold! Iced Hokke~! Ukki~, warm me up~!

Makoto: Woah? Ahaha, you shouldn’t bully Akehoshi-kun too much… Hidaka-kun?

Hokuto: I’m not bullying him. It’s just that Project-Saga is strictly my own personal business…

If all of Trickstar were to get involved, I’m afraid that we would forget all about the original purpose of the project.

Though I’ll admit I might have been too short with him just now. Here, Akehoshi. I’ll give you a 10-yen coin so cheer up.

Subaru: Yayy, I love you, Hokke~! Today’s shining object has been acquired~☆
subaru+hokuto

Makoto: Fufu. I can’t tell if you get along well or badly.

Anyways. I think I’ve heard of this Project-Saga before. It’s that magazine project, right? The one about reviving retired idols, or something?

Hokuto: So you know about it, Yuuki. As expected, you’re well-informed.

Makoto: No, it’s just a coincidence. Since I used to be a kid model, we sometimes still get magazine advertisements sent to our house.

Before, just seeing those things would make my skin crawl, but recently it’s become easy for me to look through them at least.

I sometimes read through them casually while waiting for my games to load and stuff.

Project-Saga is supposed to be this low-budget, small project, but I saw quite a few of the big names within the magazine industry in the staff.

Hokuto: Yeah, it seems like it. Like Sagami-sensei’s acquaintance for example.

Even that lazy guy is actually trying to put in serious effort for once…

I’m unfortunately indebted to that thing, so I’d like to help out however I’m able to.

Subaru: That reminds me, Hokke~, you’ve known Sagami-chan for a long time, haven’t you?

Hokuto: ? You haven’t, Akehoshi?

Subaru: Eh? Why would you think I have known Sagami-chan for a long time?

Hokuto: You call him “Sagami-chan” and act overly familiar with him, don’t you… I figured you were in a similar situation as me and came to know Sagami-sensei through your parents.

Subaru: Hm~. My dad was never the type to bring his work home, after all.

He never brought any of his colleagues home, and whenever he was on break he would only spend it with the family.

Hokuto: I see, that’s the exact opposite of my parents… Whenever they were home they would still be working, and they often brought their colleagues around for after-work parties.

Makoto: Ahaha. And those parties were broadcast on TV, weren’t they?

I got curious once and looked into it. Baby Hidaka was super cute…♪

Hokuto: Don’t look into that. It doesn’t feel good when people go looking into my past.
hokuto+makoto

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Saga * Rushing up Rainbow Stage

"Jin is picked for a 'grand plan' intended to bring back a retired idol. He starts a lesson together with the students for the first time in a long time, but...?"

This is the first part of Project Saga which was released near the end of the ES! timeline. The entire story is fully voiced and available to read for free in the Basic enstars app so I encourage you to read the translation while tapping through the story since the voice acting is very good and helps the experience! Also feel free to give Rainbow Stairway a listen while reading, since that song is sung by AkiJin and is related to the story ^^.

Writer: Akira

Season: From spring through winter of ES! timeline

Characters: Jin, Akiomi, Hokuto, Anzu, Tori, Chiaki, Mika, Sora, Madara, Shu, Subaru, Yuta, Makoto, Hinata, Yuzuru, Hiyori and Jun.

Chapters: