Rocket Start ~Epilogue~ Chapter 1

[nebulancer]

Mao: O~i. Hokuto, Subaru, both of you, what are you doing? Because you definitely weren't going to come back, we came to pick you up.

Without you guys, the talk's not going to start, right? Ugh, jeez.

Makoto: That's right~. The teachers got super snappy and angry, you know?

Hokuto: Aah, my bad... I became rather nostalgic about many things when I saw this sakura tree, so I was conversing with Akehoshi as flowers bloomed¹ about the memories we'd made.

Subaru: But the necessary sakura's flowers haven't bloomed yet, though! Ahaha☆

Mao: Don't be going "Ahaha☆," man. Well, but on our way here we ended up talking with Transfer Student a lot about the past, too.

But we didn't really get older as we talked about the past.

Immediately after overcoming [DDD], I guess we might've gotten a bit overwhelmed by emotion.

Makoto: Fufu. Even now, when I remember it, I still think it's kind of strange. Even though it felt as if we were just strangers who had absolutely no relationship with each other...

By chance, our paths met, and we formed a "unit" together.

And now, saved by our good fortune and the people around us, even if it was for a moment, we stood at the top of Yumenosaki Academy.

It seems to be a miracle, or even a kind of unbelievable lie...♪

Subaru: Ahaha. If it were all just some grand joke, my heart might just stop from the shock~♪

Hokuto: That kind of conversation, Yuuki said something about it before the [S1] this time.

It's all right, this is neither a lie, nor a joke, nor a dream. It's reality, yeah... Someone pinch my cheek.²

Mao: Enough with that, we're going back to the staff room~. Don't be taking up so much time like this, guys.

Subaru: Ahaha. If you call over the teachers here, it's good enough to just have the talk here, isn't it? Even though the sakura haven't bloomed yet, it's kinda got a flower-viewing feel to it~♪

I wonder if they're gonna bloom this year, like they always do. I really want to do a flower viewing♪

Hokuto: Are we even allowed to do so? We did indeed win the [DDD], but nothing's started just yet.

If we don't take care, letting ourselves be overtaken, it'll be a foregone conclusion that we'll lose everything.

Tighten the helmet of victory, my grandma also said. Right now is crucial, so let's focus our energy and put all our might in.

From now on, let's not let our guards down and do our best, everyone.

Mao: That's why, before we do that, what we have to do is adjust ourselves. Let's listen to what the teachers have to say, and then gather up our plans for later.

Makoto: Ahaha. Honestly, I'd rather hurry and clean up the troublesome things and head home to take a rest...♪

It looks like my mom made a feast today for congratulations, apparently.

I've been worrying her a lot, but finally she might be able to put her mind to rest.

It's thanks to everyone. Thank you so much, I'm really, so glad to have met everyone.

Mao: Ahaha. Don't be saying something now like you're about to die, Makoto. I'm repeating what Hokuto's just said, but from here on out's gonna be crucial.

Let's do our best from now on, "Trickstar"...♪

Subaru: ...Nn? Huh, Transfer Student's got some opinion on this! Eeerm, what do you want to tell us?

Aah... Yeah, we as a "unit" formed pretty recently, didn't we.

When we were first years, it was the four of us together standing on the stage of around the [Golden Star Cup] time?

Hokuto: [Golden Star Cup], is it? Just hearing it takes me back.

Right after that, "fine" battled it out with "Valkyrie" in that opportunity, and Yumenosaki Academy was thrown into an era of revolution... All of that was complete chaos.

Pulled along by the situations that surrounded it, the entirety of Yumenosaki Academy became a brutal battlefield...

We were harmed, tired to no end, and lost our dreams and hopes.

Subaru: Yup. After the [Golden Star Cup] ended, we bought our tickets there for Hokke~'s stage in the Theater Club and watched all together...

Almost as if something had been launched-- that was what we thought at that moment.

It seriously shocked me, like someone dropped a bomb somewhere.

"Valkyrie" lost, and that history shook to its core... It was all just messed up, and it toppled down.

Even so. The [Golden Star Cup] still had memories left. Remembering that sparkling stage...

I got even more secluded, even though such tough times were being stirred up around me. That was the only thing that supported my heart.

Everyone, too, was the same. We felt helpless, but our hope didn't disappear.

Each and every one of us, we held close to that tiny light that we kept in our chests... And we became "Trickstar."

That's how, now, this way we're all here.

Fufun. Hokke~ said it was stupid, but the legend of the sakura tree actually was real, you know.

It really was right to make that prayer~, because my dream properly came true.

Hokuto: It's not as if it was thanks to the tree~ at all. We were the ones who made our dream come true ourselves. ...Speaking of which, what kind of prayer did you make?

Something around the lines of, you want to stand on the apex of Yumenosaki Academy?

Subaru: Nope. I wanted to stand on a stage that was just as- or rather, even more brilliant than the one my dad did.

It feels like I'm not good enough to be compared to my dad, because I'm still just a newborn star, though.

Unlike my dad, who was always alone, I got to sing and dance with my important, my beloved friends together on the best stage ever.

That's why, you know, my dream came true.

Hokuto: ...By the way. In order to make a prayer, it was needed that you had to bury something important to you under this tree's roots, right?

What did you bury, Akehoshi?

Did you offer something, that some sacrifice to devote yourself to making that dream come true had enough value?

Subaru: Ah, yeah, I guess my marble was something like that. It caught my fancy since I was a kid, you know~, because I got it from my dad a long time ago I had a lot of memories stored in that thing.

I wonder if it's still buried there, and if I dig it back up I might find it?

Hokuto: Stop that, Akehoshi, don't dig at the dirt. You'll muddy your uniform... We're going back to listen to the teachers' talk in the staff room, so being covered in mud will be rude.

Moreover. You should've already gotten hold of something that's more radiant than that marble, right?

Without doing anything unnecessary, let's hurry up and go. Our story's only just begun.

We'll be in trouble if we're going to be satisfied here, thinking this is our "happily ever after."

Subaru: Alright, alright, I got it, Prince. Take me somewhere really brilliant, okay♪

Hokuto: Somewhere like a ball? Anyways, it's been a while since I've said so, but don't call me a prince.

I'm not a Prince, but the same as you. I've become an idol.


¹-The phrase used here after, in the original text, their conversation about talking about the past, is 花を咲かせていた. At first look, it does indeed simply mean "making flowers bloom," but an alternate meaning is that this is used as "recalling memories." I didn't exactly know how to phrase that well enough, because Subaru does allude to the flower part in the next line, so I tried to combine both.

²-It's a common action to do something if one believes themself to be in a dream; in Japan as well as other cultures, pinching one's cheek is sure to usually jolt someone out of a dream. And pinch my cheek right now, because I'm done with translating Rocket Start! Thanks for the support! ♥