Heya!
How's everyone doing? Good?

Oh, you're all here...

Does this mean your new song's finished...?

No, we just came to take a break.

I see...

Is Mafuyu still not able to come...?

No...
She can't do much in the evening now.

I see...

But you're trying to think of a way to help her, no?

Yes, we are...

We've tried several ideas, but...

Several ideas...? Like what?

So, for example...
We've been trying to find ways to meet her more often when she's out and stuff. That way she can feel a little more at ease.

Also, we've been trying to have meetings at a cafe or a diner when she's coming home from school.

And... You've been trying to compose more songs faster, right, Kanade?

I have. Because I firmly believe that Mafuyu needs the time we use to make songs as N25.

At the same time...

Kanade...?

We haven't been able to solve the core issue.

She hasn't been able to work every day, but she always seems to feel relieved whenever she gets to see us...

But we don't have the power to immediately improve her current situation.

Right...

Ideally, we'd be able to convince Mafuyu's mom to accept what we're doing...

But that sounds impossible based on what you told us, Kanade...

Then, is there anything we can do right now...?

Yes, I believe there is.

What?

I suspect that you've already considered it as an option.

In the end, you'll need to make Mafuyu break herself out of this situation.

...!

I have a feeling that Mafuyu will be able to muster up the courage to fight back once she understands what her mom is doing to her. So, I would tell Mafuyu that straight away...

Yes, Luka, you're right. We've already considered that...

But... We can't do that...

Oh? Why's that?

Because... We'd be asking far too much of Mafuyu... I doubt she'd immediately understand...

Too much?
Oh...

Right.
Mafuyu probably wouldn't be able to process what her mother has said.

Especially since the person who she believes has her best interests in mind simply doesn't care about her happiness.

Unfortunately, if you wish to get her out of this situation, then she will need to deal with the painful truth...

But...

I want to avoid that as much as possible.

Of course, you all have every right to wish for that.

However...

There may come a time when you won't be left with any other choice.

...

(Luka's right...)

(Up until now, we've been able to help Mafuyu feel a little better... But we haven't been able to actually change anything.)

(There probably are better ideas out there, but we're struggling to come up with them...)

(Which sort of means that we'll need to keep Luka's solution in mind moving forward.)

(Also...)

(If we don't act soon, Mafuyu's mom is probably gonna really start trying to keep us away from her daughter...)

(Which is only going to put Mafuyu in an even worse place...)

(At the same time, Kanade's right...
I doubt Mafuyu's in a state right now where she can properly process the truth.)

(What are we supposed to do...?)

<Alright, I'm gonna get back to work...>

We couldn't come up with any good ideas...

Mafuyu...?

<Sorry for not responding sooner, but I won't be able to do anything today. I'll try working on my lyrics tomorrow if I have time.>

...

(She's probably sending us this while her mom's not watching...)

(Even at home, she's a prisoner...
What in the world does that feel like?)

(Home was a place of refuge for me...
I could just be myself here.)

(In or outside of home, Mafuyu's not allowed to be herself. On top of that, her time with us—the one place she could escape—has been taken away from her...)

(She has nowhere to run.)

(If she has to keep enduring this...)

That'd be horrible...

(Seriously, isn't there anything we can do...?)

(It doesn't have to be big.
Just some time that allows Mafuyu to be herself.)

(Time... For her to be herself...)

...

(Isn't there a way to get her family to understand...? Like the way mine did for me...)

(Mom, Dad and Sis all took the time to understand when I really needed a place to run.)

(Because they did, I could just be myself at home.)

(Yeah...
What if we could work with her for little bits at a time...?)

(But her mom's watching her like a hawk...
The only time we could work together would be...)

Oh...!

<K! Enanan!
Sorry, I know you're both working, but can we chat for a second?>

<I just came up with a really good idea!>