A few days after Nic's departure, the countless girls who had previously gathered at the UNITY headquarters had finally returned to their own lives, thanks to Emily and her team successfully handling everything.
Now, the UNITY headquarters had become peaceful once again.
Inside the headquarters, Emily was lying on the sofa, completely exhausted now that she could finally relax after dealing with so many people.
"Phew... It's finally over. I almost lost my voice," Emily said, letting out another deep sigh.
Vivi, Leona, Nia, Yui, and Violet were also sitting on the sofa, watching Emily.
Vivi moved closer and asked, "So, what did you tell everyone, Secretary Emily?"
Leona nudged Vivi with a grin. "Wow, you're really calling her 'Secretary Emily'? That's unusual. Haha."
Emily turned toward them and slowly opened her eyes.
"Basically... I told everyone they're free to live their lives as usual. They don't have to participate in UNITY activities or anything related if they don't want to. It's their choice. The important thing is that they'll always remain part of UNITY, and if anything happens, they can always come back here. So, quite a lot of them decided not to come often because they have their own busy lives now. As for those who still want to visit, I told them to come according to the schedule I arranged so things wouldn't become too chaotic."
Yui clapped her hands adorably.
"Secretary Emily really is amazing... Nic definitely made the right choice choosing you. Haha."
Emily simply smiled before asking for permission to take a nap. She was so exhausted that she fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.
Violet gently poked her cheek, but Emily didn't react at all.
"She's really worn out."
Nia clapped once.
"We should let her rest. Come on, let's go welcome anyone who arrives."
Everyone left the room and headed to the courtyard of the UNITY headquarters, where several members were already waiting outside.
While waiting for the new members to arrive, they casually chatted about all sorts of things.
Lily was lying on the grassy lawn again.
"Hmm... I wonder where Nic went..."
Mika, who was eating a burger beside her, looked curious as well.
"Probably off searching for aliens."
Hearing that, Lily was shocked. It wasn't like Mika to say something like that.
"Wait... don't tell me you finally believe aliens exist?"
She immediately sat up and stared at Mika seriously.
Startled, Mika gently pushed Lily's face away.
"I was just joking... You daydream way too much."
Lily immediately puffed out her cheeks, snatched Mika's burger, and ran away.
"Then I'll joke by eating this too!!"
Mika refused to accept that and chased after Lily until he finally managed to get his burger back.
But the two of them ended up crashing into Fanny, who was walking by, causing her to fall, along with Jenny, who was nearby.
"!?!?"
Fanny glared fiercely at the two of them.
Mika and Lily immediately dropped to their knees.
"We're sorry, beautiful Lady Fanny... I didn't see you, hehe," Lily pleaded pitifully.
Meanwhile, Mika somehow still found the time to snatch his burger back from Lily before walking away with a victorious laugh.
But Fanny immediately grabbed him.
"And where do you think you're going?" she asked flatly.
Mika instantly broke into a cold sweat.
Jenny quickly got up and gently pulled Fanny's hand away from Mika.
"Ah, Sister Fanny, please forgive them... You can always take it out on me instead~"
As usual, Jenny's face was bright red.
Fanny clicked her tongue in annoyance before walking away from them. She then sat beside Eliz, who was relaxing after finishing her workout.
"Haha... Still dealing with the usual, huh?" Eliz laughed softly.
Fanny simply clicked her tongue again.
"As always."
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Monica was livestreaming outside together with Belle and the three new idol members who had joined UNITY's agency.
"Our last concert got quite a lot of views, and everyone seemed to love it," Monica said.
Belle clapped excitedly.
"You all were amazing! Thank you, everyone!"
Monica then turned around to look at Isabelle, Nera, and Wendy.
"It was all thanks to the three of them too. That's why it was such a success."
Nera chuckled.
"Come on, don't say it like that... We should be the ones thanking you for giving us a place that accepted us like this."
Isabelle laughed.
"Yeah, that's true. In the end, we all worked hard... and we were lucky."
Wendy nodded.
"Yeah. 'Lucky' really is the perfect word to describe all of us, don't you think, Monica?"
Monica lowered her head and smiled.
"Yeah... I'm... really lucky."
Without realizing it, tears rolled down her cheeks, and everyone immediately hugged her.
From afar, Vivi watched the scene and began thinking about something.
She then noticed Leona staring at the same thing.
Leona glanced at Vivi.
"So... you're thinking about it too?"
Vivi remained silent.
Leona wrapped an arm around her.
"Looks like it's different for you, Vivi..."
"Oh, be quiet. I'm just confused," Vivi replied.
Nia walked over from behind.
"That's because the three of us were the very first ones. Sometimes the beginning just feels... strange, doesn't it?"
Leona and Vivi instinctively turned around.
"Well, that's true. Try remembering how you first fell for Nic," Leona said.
Nia scratched her head.
"Umm... it just kind of happened."
Leona laughed.
"As for me... it was because he understood me."
Vivi still looked confused.
"Huh... Even thinking about it now, it's still confusing."
Just then, Olivia walked over.
"Vivi, I know why you're confused."
Everyone looked at her curiously.
Olivia smiled gently.
"That's because you weren't the first one who was lucky... Nic was. He was the lucky one... because you were the very first person by his side."
Vivi fell silent for a moment.
"Nic... was lucky?"
Nia thought for a moment before realizing something too.
"That might actually be true, Vivi... If it weren't for you, maybe none of this would have happened... Everything started because you accepted him."
Vivi was about to argue, but Violet suddenly covered her mouth from behind.
"Can you all be quiet for a second... Look, someone's here."
Violet pointed toward the gate.
Everyone turned to look.
"Hmm... But Melody and Raina are already welcoming her," Nia said.
Violet let out a sigh.
"They're just standing there welcoming her. They have no idea what to say."
Leona laughed before walking toward the gate, with everyone else following behind.
There, they saw a girl carrying an enormous cake.
"Wooow, that's huge! Mika isn't around, right?" Leona said while looking around nervously, afraid Mika might suddenly pounce on the cake.
Vivi pointed toward Mika, who was currently wrestling with Lily.
Leona then gracefully greeted the girl.
"Welcome to the UNITY headquarters~ So, what made you decide to join besides receiving the invitation?"
"Because I'm your fan, Leona!" the girl replied.
Everyone froze.
"Eh...? EHHH?? MY FAN!? SERIOUSLY!? AHAHAHA! I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING AND I HAVE A FAN!? Vivi... you're at zero, I'm at one!" Leona shouted in disbelief, already acting smug.
Suddenly—
The girl threw the entire cake straight into Leona's face, covering her from head to toe.
"PRANK! AHAHAHA! BYEEE! I'LL COME BACK LATER! RUNNNN!!"
The girl ran away from the UNITY headquarters.
Silence...
Everyone slowly stepped backward while pretending they hadn't seen anything, desperately holding back their laughter.
Meanwhile, Leona quietly wiped the cake off her face.
"Damn it... This is humiliating..."
She gathered the remaining cake in her hands before turning around.
"THEN EVERYONE'S GETTING SOME!!!"
Leona immediately charged forward, throwing cake at every single member she could find.
Yui, who had been peacefully painting, was suddenly hit by a flying cake.
"Eh...? Cake? My painting..."
She turned around and saw Leona wildly throwing cake everywhere.
Yui pouted in frustration before joining the cake fight herself.
In an instant, everything descended into complete chaos.
Everyone started throwing cake at each other, completely forgetting whatever they had been doing just moments earlier.
Then...
The actual new member arrived.
"U-Um... hello? I came according to the schedule as a new member... Huh? What are they doing?"
The girl looked around in confusion at the chaotic scene.
Suddenly—
A cake came flying straight toward her.
"AHHH!!"
Plok!
The cake landed squarely on her face.
The atmosphere that was previously calm suddenly turned chaotic, that is unity.
To be continued...