Late one night, once the bedlam subsides, Ai and all four of them — Aqua, Ruby, Souta and Happy — are gathered on the couch.
With the exception of the city lights outside, the room is dark.
She speaks softly:
"When I was young, I had lied about it.And so, my children, tell the truth to all the world.You're all brighter than me, that's for sure."
Souta leans on her shoulder.
"Do you think I did the right thing?"
She kisses his forehead.
"You gifted the world with something beautiful.Even if they don't realize it yet — you made it different, with love.That's more than right."
Happy holds Souta's hand.
"And I'm real. I'm here. Just because you let yourself believe in something good."
The world, in its uncertainty, starts to shift.
Happy has interviews — animated ones, for public consumption. "The Teddy Soul" books. A manga spinoff in which he's a hero.
But at home, he's still just the little brother who:
Sleeps in a drawer he refers to as "his den."Eats curry "tripping on the love molecules."And tells Ruby that her singing makes "his stuffing feel fizzy."
So one morning, Ai shuffles into the living room holding three envelopes.
"Figs, you're going to high school."
Ruby: "A normal high school or something?"
Aqua: "Isn't this going a little overboard?"
Ai: laughs "You want the real world. Friends, school events, PE class… the good stuff."
She's got them in Shizuoka International Arts High School — an upstanding, if somewhat low-profile school that offers general and performing arts education.
They will be sitting in the audience under their real names, no disguises, no fanfare.
Ai: "How do the two of you like becoming students instead of stars?"
They slip in — the school has consented to shield the students' identities. But you can only go to lunch.
A girl broadcasts a live stream from the cafeteria.
In the background?Aqua, perfectly composed.Ruby laughing with a classmate.And Souta…
… attempting to exchange a juice box for a rice ball, with a Happy backpack on, while saying, "I AM JUST A NORMAL BOY."
The video goes viral, what, 2 hours in. By day's end, everyone knows:
"The Hoshino Triplets Are At Our School!"
Chaos erupts. Some students are starstruck. Others jealous. A few openly hostile.
But the principal is blunt:
"They're students first. Fans later."
Ruby ends up joining the idol club and immediately becomes its center.
Aqua enrolls in drama, frightening the teachers with his accuracy.
Souta… joins everything.Calligraphy, gardening, cooking, the occult club.
He tells Ai later:
"I want to try it all. I never got to live before."
But he is unnerving.
He knows everything. Learns instantly. And Happy, who is no longer invisible but, rather, visible to anyone who believes, follows him everywhere.
Some students love it.
Others whisper:
"Isn't it creepy?"
"That bear… talks."