"Italicized" - signed

"Regular" - spoken

Italicized - Yō typing

- someone else typing

…

Yō's POV:

Things were going well. The first years had some fun helping Leah out. They were back from that trip now.

The deadline was closing in on us. We barely had any time left to get more applicants. Things weren't looking good. We still didn't have enough to keep the school open.

Mari could only get the deadline pushed back so far. We couldn't change it anymore. This was it. Only a few days until our fates were sealed.

It was really stressing Chika out. She was frantically trying to figure out anything that we could do to try and get more applicants. Unfortunately with the little time we had, there was nothing we could do. We just had to wait and hope for the best.

It was the weekend. I decided I would spend the day with Chika. When Monday came, we would know the fate of our school. Until then, I knew she was just going to keep worrying and stressing herself out. I need to help her. What good of a girlfriend would I be if I didn't?

So, late morning I was knocking at the door to Chika's house. I hope she's up by now, but then again, she could still be asleep. This is Chika we're talking about.

Her mother answered the door. She smiled and welcomed me in. I made my way to Chika's room. I knocked and then entered. Chika was laying on her bed. She was awake and just staring at the ceiling.

She sat up when I entered. I smiled and greeted her. She smiled back, but I can see it's forced. Is this really getting to her that much?

"You okay?" I asked her.

Chika sighed. That was her response apparently. I sat down next to her and held her hands. I'll do my best to reassure her that it'll be okay no matter what the outcome is. Even if we have to leave that school, we'll still all be together.

"Chika, I know it's hard. We've done more than anyone could've asked. Be proud of that no matter what the outcome is." I told her and then kissed her on the forehead.

"But what if we could've done more? What if we could've done so much more and we didn't realize?" Chika replied.

"The school itself did nothing. We did more than they could have ever done. We shouldn't think about the what ifs now." I responded.

This might be a tough conversation. I have to choose my words carefully or else things can go wrong. It wouldn't take much to interpret something wrong and ruin everything.

"I just… can't stop wondering if we did enough." Chika frowned.

"We did more than enough. This wasn't our responsibility to begin with. We had no goal to reach. We did whatever we felt was needed."

Chika still looked upset. I hugged her. She hugged me back.

I really hope we get enough students. If we don't, I'm worried about how she'll be. It's obvious Chika feels the pressure of this because she is the leader. I need to relieve this stress she's feeling somehow. But… what can I do?

"Do you want to go take a walk with me?" I asked her. Maybe some fresh air would help?

She nodded. I stood up and held out a hand to her. She took it and let me lead her. We exited the house and I started walking. I don't know where we're going. I'm just going to walk until I feel it's enough.

We walked side-by-side in silence. Chika held my hand quite tightly. I wish I knew what to say to her to help, but I have nothing I can think of. I'm not that good at comforting people, am I?

There has to be something I can say to her. I just don't know what it is. I need to think. Gah, I'm stressing myself out now with this. I need to relax. This shouldn't be this hard.

Somehow, we ended up on the beach. We stood on the sand, staring out into the ocean. It was a little breezy. Hair was all over the place. I hate the wind sometimes.

I turned to look at Chika. She still looks down. Maybe a kiss will work? I mean, it's worth a shot, right?

I tapped her on the shoulder. Chika turned and looked at me. I leaned closer and kissed her. She stood frozen for a moment, before she hugged me and returned the kiss. I wrapped my arms around her as well.

We pulled away soon enough. I looked at Chika, hoping she would look happier now. She didn't though. She started crying and then hugged me again.

I don't know what to do. I held her close. That was all I could really do right now. What happened, though? Why did she start crying? Did I make things worse?

She looked up at me, "I'm scared… I don't want to leave this school."

"Everyone will still be with you. It's just a new school then." I replied.

She stepped back, "I… need to be alone…"

Chika left. I'm worried about her. She's not acting good. This behavior is scaring me. I really hope we get enough applicants.

…

Monday afternoon we were all gathered in Mari's office. The computer was open with the number of applications. 99. We need one more. We have five minutes. Five minutes until it's over.

Everyone was anxious and tense. We were all pretty much frozen in place with our eyes glued to the computer.

Please… just one more person… that's all we need. Please… for Chika…

Five minutes passed. The screen changed. No more applicants were allowed. We… failed…

Our school was going to be shut down. I worriedly looked at Chika. How is she going to take this?

She looked disappointed. She seemed better though. I honestly thought she'd break down into tears the moment it closed if this happened.

"We… lost our school. But, we did all we could. I'm happy we got this far. So, let's make the best of our last year here and… let's win Love Live!" Chika signed.

So, she came to terms with it. I'm proud of her. This was such a big struggle and she managed to make peace with it.

And she's right. We should be happy with how far we came from the start. I'm ready for Love Live. I'm ready to win it and show the world who Aqours is. We aren't giving up just because we lost our school. That's not our style.

Love Live, here we come.