Not everyone is thrilled.
Footage of the performance spreads, passing from screen to screen, feeding whispers in the corners of online forums. Someone watches, rewinds, watches again.
"Look at the shadows. Look at the curtain—it moved, but not the way it should. That wasn't normal. That wasn't human."
The conspiracy circles flare to life, questions swirling into speculation.
Who is Souta, really?
What is Happy?
Are the Hoshino triplets… human?
A new name surfaces again and again in the threads: TheOtherGod.
Souta starts feeling it—an unease, like the world is leaning in too close. Not sick. Not tired. Just... watched.
One afternoon, after school, he finds a note tucked into his locker. The paper is creased, handled too many times before reaching him.
"We were gods once. You shouldn't have chosen this life."
He looks up, pulse quickening. No one is there. But at the end of the hallway, a shadow hesitates—just a second too long—before vanishing.
After the play's success, every school club wants a Hoshino triplet.
Aqua is courted by the film club, offered the lead role in their next indie project.
Ruby is pulled into planning the school idol showcase.
Souta—somehow—ends up recruited by seven different clubs.
He tries to decline, politely at first. But one teacher smiles, pressing him just a little too hard.
"We've never had someone as versatile as you, Souta. Consider it a gift to your classmates."
Souta doesn't want to say no. He feels guilty when people believe in him. When they look at him with expectation, with trust.
Until, inevitably, exhaustion wins. His body gives up, and he collapses in the hallway.
Happy, grumpy as ever, hovers beside him, arms crossed.
"Even the sun sets, idiot."
Ruby finds him curled up in the nurse's office, tucked into a borrowed blanket. She takes his hand, her grip gentle but firm.
"You don't have to prove anything to us."
After that, Souta quits all but two clubs—
The Occult Club (for Happy)
And the Calligraphy Club, because he once said, "Brushing ink feels like exhaling sadness."
Valentine's Day arrives.
Aqua receives a neatly stacked pile of chocolates—thoughtful gifts from girls who admire his quiet charm.
Ruby's haul is overwhelming, chocolates spilling over from admirers of all kinds—boys, girls, club members alike.
Souta receives… nothing.
At first.
Then, just before the final bell rings, Hana—his quiet friend—approaches him, her hands trembling as she holds out a small, crushed box.
"I… I didn't know if I should. But you said once that love is something we build, right?"
Souta opens it carefully.
Inside is a bear-shaped chocolate. One ear slightly melted, imperfect but earnest.
His throat tightens.
"Happy… has a girlfriend now."
Cooking practice day. Souta insists on making curry. But no shortcuts—no powers.
He follows the recipe with meticulous precision. Too much precision.
The result? The most over-chopped, medicinal-tasting curry the teacher has ever encountered.
One brave classmate takes a bite.
"It tastes like… guilt. But good guilt?"
Happy rates it a 6/10. Ruby calls it cursed.
Aqua says nothing—just quietly finishes the whole bowl.
A silent show of brotherly love.