🌸SAI F@NTASTIC COMBINATION LIVE

The story began with Sai and Alte discussing on the theme for their combination live. Followed suit in how BRAINPOWER team (Drasta and SEM) settled their theme for the previous combination live, Sai and Alte decided for the theme to be something that both units have in common. They struggled to find the common point until…kyupipiin~ Kirio pointed that their common ground is the focus on "tradition" —— since Sai's members are consist of former traditional art performers and Alte's members are former classical musician, both units focused in preserving old art forms by presenting them to the present world! (and thus we're witnessing the birth of one of the best SideM song ever released).

During the combination live preparation period, Sai members experienced various setbacks, such as Shoma encountered an old fan that prefer him when he was a kabuki actor over the current idol him, Kiyosumi jiji still disapproved Kuro's idol activities, Kirio's growing uncomfortable feelings that Kirio himself struggled to understand at first, and the difficulty in practicing Alte's song since the style and choreography differs from Sai's.

Shoma met this unpleasant fan (is it even okay to call her a fan at this point?) during a fan meeting and the fan immediately ranted to him about how shallow idols and their fans are and begged him to return being a kabuki actor to the point of being dragged by the event staffs, which was unfortunate because before this, we're shown cute interactions of Sai members with their respective fan (Kirio with an enthusiastic elementary schooler that frequently watches his performances, Kuro with a guy that became interested in tea ceremony because of him, and Shoma with a high schooler that dressed and did her makeup nicely because she's so excited in meeting him to the point of saying that he won't lose to her lmao). Because of this, Shoma acted like what happened at the fan meeting didn't bother him but it's pretty clear that wasn't the case, as pointed by Kuro, Shoma was stricter and even more enthusiastic during their lesson than usual. Shoma admitted that while he was happy that people still appreciate him as a kabuki actor even after being an idol for a long time, he was frustrated by what his old fan told him. He decided to turn these feelings into a determination in proving to people doubting him that his decision to become idols with Sai, the best teammates to him is the right choice.

As for Kuro, he felt his skills were lacking compared to his unit mates even with the experiences he has gained as idol for years and his grandpa still didn't approve him being an idol, as he thought it was unnecessary for promoting tea ceremony (which was funny since the fan meeting scene proved otherwise). Despite these he was also quick to reassure himself to not be easily discouraged, seeing Shoma's determination even after receiving harsh comments from his old fan being one of the biggest factors in motivating him to work harder and proved himself as well. When he finally understand the meaning of Alte's song, he realized that like the song, he has a desire of being an idol for the sake of his friends, Sai and himself and feel the joy of singing together as idols. This made him able to convey his true feelings while singing the song. The scene when he refused to be underestimated when Shoma was worried that he was leaving him and Kirio behind then declared both of them should be the ones working hard to stand beside him instead is so awesome, sasuga Kiyosumi.

Regarding Kirio, quite a lot of…interesting things happened to him over the course of the story (heck I was interested in reading this story because of the CG that showed him crying lol). Early on, he was shown to observe his schoolmates chatting about doing youthful things together (going out, watching movies, etc.) though he could notice their actual feelings (the female and male student that talked about hanging out together actually like each other but weren't in relationship and a female student that was quietly annoyed by two male students that talked loudly beside her) though these seemed to be not really interesting to him as he immediately decided to join Shoma and Kuro in watching Alte's past performances when he received their LINK about their impressions of said performances. When Kirio left the restaurant, one of those schoolmates was revealed to be his huge, huge, huge fanboy but didn't have the actual gut to approach him. There was also a cute scene when Kirio met a sleeping Kei in the park, with both of them sharing their difficulties when practicing each other unit's song.

As stated above, Kirio also struggled in practicing Alte's song like his unit mates but this especially hit him hard as unlike him, Shoma and Kuro quickly got on their feet. Seeing them improved their abilities in performing Alte's song, Kirio became even more desperate to catch up with them, which resulted in him trying way too hard in imitating Alte and lost his usual cheery style as Rei and Kei pointed out during Sai and Alte joint lesson. After that, Rei asked Kirio about his school lessons since Rei was wondering the difference of school lessons between music school and regular school though Kirio gave a half-hearted answer and looked not as joyful as usual which made Shoma and Kuro worried of him.

His blunders during the practice eventually keep haunted him as he couldn't stop thinking about it even during PE class in school. While he was still in the middle of lamenting, one of Kirio's schoolmate but-secretly-a-very-very-dedicated-fanboy that appeared in earlier part of the story timidly invited him to play card game together with his friend group as per one of the schoolmate's friend suggestion, though Kirio declined the invitation by saying that his mind was occupied about the live performance. The friend group sympathize with the rejection but one of them suddenly outed the fanboy to Kirio so the fanboy eventually confessed about his admiration to Kirio and Sai, which made Kirio delighted and promised to him to deliver a performance that will make everyone happy. After that, Kirio noted to himself that he usually didn't get along with his schoolmates but that's alright for him since he's content with just Shoma and Kuro…though he suddenly felt a strange, painful feeling in his chest…is it really alright?

In the next scene, Sai were participating in a variety show that featured them playing with various baby animals…until the host suddenly asked Kirio to do an animal impersonation since he heard that Kirio is good at that kind of things. Kirio slightly messed up his cat impersonation, however to his relief, Shoma and Kuro noticed this on sight and immediately played along to cover him up. Kirio expressed his gratefulness for their aid, and they replied that it's not a big deal since they're friends 🥹 Then, Shoma and Kuro finally spoke out their concern regarding Kirio's weird behaviors lately, but Kirio shrugged off their concern by leaving early because he claimed he had some business he need to attend to.

Since they were unable to make Kirio disclose his feelings, Shoma and Kuro asked Producer for help to reach out to Kirio as he's the type to joke around but tend to hide his feelings from them and works hard in secret. P then went to talk with Kirio, told him that he wasn't his usual self and asked if they need to adjust his schedule. Eventually, Kirio gave in and revealed his feelings to P; he seemed to unable to sing as comfortably as Shoma and Kuro and recently he always felt something cloudy and heavy inside him whenever they're with him which made him uncomfortable but he didn't know what to do about it. These feelings has emerged since Shoma became extremely motivated and improved himself thanks to his old fan's words and Kuro's sudden improvement. Kirio was so close on figuring what these uncomfortable feelings are, but refused to acknowledge them and ran away from P.

Later, Sai practiced performing Alte's song again and Kirio was making the same mistakes again, while his fear of failing Shoma and Kuro grew stronger inside him. Because of this, he planned to practice even after their practice time was over but Shoma and Kuro told him to not pushed himself too far, which made Kirio upset and went away instead. Shoma and Kuro then decided to follow Kirio and found him lamenting his mistakes during practice. Both of them immediately rushed in and comforted him but Kirio kept self deprecating himself, claiming he is the only one who hasn't change at all…to the point of him bursting into tears which surprised Shoma and Kuro (as I said above, I decided to read this story because of Kirio crying in the CG but I was as surprised as Shoma and Kuro when he actually started crying lol).

As Shoma and Kuro comforted him, Kirio finally revealed to the both of them about the heavy feelings that was bothering him all this time! Watching both of them improved a lot make him afraid of won't be able to stand beside them. While his family love him a lot, Shoma and Kuro were his first friends he ever had so he loved and cherished them so much. Both of them affirmed to Kirio that they considered him as an important friend and they also have the fear of being left behind, that's why they worked hard and aimed even higher to be better so all of them can stand beside each other. Shoma told Kirio to not shoulder the burden all by himself while Kuro said he wants Kirio to tell his feelings more. After that, Shoma scolded Kirio for being overly anxious and imitating Alte way too much to the point of losing his own charms followed with Kuro that stated it would be better for Kirio to perform with his usual style. Kirio became motivated again after hearing their advices, with three of them then vowed to bring an even better live performance than before.

Overall, this is quite a neat and an enjoyable read. While there are a lot of things going on for the characters, the end wrapped them all up into a nice conclusion. When Kirio was convinced that he is the only one stagnating to the point of bursting into tears, I was like nooo boy, the fact that you experience those heavy feelings was already the prove you are starting to change yourself. It's like watching a cat alien becoming more human(?). Tbh, I think Kirio and Kuro are lucky to have Shoma as a unit member and as an older figure, he can be strict and constantly strive to improve while also prove to be a warm and reliable source of comfort whenever you need it, motivating the two to improve themselves as well . I have said on the above, but man, I love how determined Kuro is. After quickly realizing what he should do he is literally unstoppable, awesome. I'm looking forward to read Sai's COD story and 10th Anni story too…maybe after finishing Transcendent Tales and Alte's Fancom story.