(Hehe. That was a nice morning workout.)

(We're all coming along nicely with that dance routine, so it might be time for us to start practicing singing while we dance.)

(Wait, stop... Quit thinking so much about practice. I have to focus on classes now!)

Oh, Airi, good morning!

Oh, Ayumi! Morning!

Did your morning practice just finish?

Yup.

Dancing felt great since it's so nice out today.

Dance practice first thing in the morning... How do you do it? I'm still barely half awake...

Oh, that reminds me! I saw your stream yesterday! That “What's In Our Bags?!” segment was so much fun!

It was?! Can you tell me more about what you thought? What stood out to you the most?!

Sure! Hmm, well...

The contents of your bag definitely stood out to me the most, Airi.

Your pink pencil case and the pouch with kittens all over it really made it obvious that it was your bag!

The heart-shaped keychain you had on that pouch was also really cute. And so sparkly!

Oh, that? I got it at one of the shops on Main Street after falling in love with it at first sight!

Wait, really?!

What was that shop called?

Umm... I wanna say it had “jewelry” in its name, or something like it...

Oh, are you talking about Jeweller TOY BOX?

Yeah, that's it! You know about it too, Ayumi?

Yup! I went one time after a friend tipped me off to it.

Do you know why they chose that name? It's a really great reason!

No, I don't!

Tell me!

Hehe. They wanted their shop to be “A toy box filled with shiny gems just for you”!

Really?! Yeah, it definitely works with their theme!

Right? They had so much nice stuff too.

It'd be great if we could go together sometime, Airi...

Oh...

Wait, no... I'm sorry!

I couldn't help myself... Uhh...

Thanks, Ayumi.

I'm all booked up this month, so I won't be able to anytime soon...

But I also really, really wanna go check it out with you, Ayumi.

Airi...

Wait, hang on!

If we're going after school, I might actually be able to next week!

We're taking a day off from practice to give ourselves time to recover. I also don't have work that day, so I think we can go.

Really?! I'd be totally okay with us just stopping by after school since it's not a very big shop.

Oh, but...

Are you sure? It's supposed to be your day off, right?

Of course. I'll let you know once I've had a chance to take another look at our schedule.

I'm really looking forward to going with you, Ayumi!

...!

Yeah... Me too...!

Thank you so much, Airi!

I can't wait either! This is so exciting!

Oh no...! Homeroom's about to start.

Yeah, we gotta get to our classrooms!

I'll be waiting to hear back from you, Airi!

Sure thing! I'll try to message you as soon as I can!

We made plans to hang out together. Just like old times...

(Well, things aren't completely the same as they were back then...)

(But we still clearly want to talk and hang out with each other. That hasn't changed at all.)

(I need to keep treasuring that connection.)