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pjsk-story-summaries · 9 months ago

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Leo/need Main Story Summary

TL;DR: Though they all were once close, after Tenma Saki's prolonged hospitalization, Hoshino Ichika, Mochizuki Honami, and Hinomori Shiho had drifted away. Despite Saki's attempts, she can't find a way to get them all back together.

One fateful day, the four stumble upon "Untitled" and the mysterious world of SEKAI. Saki asks if they can reform their childhood band, but Shiho and Honami refuse. In the meantime, Saki and Ichika form their own band with the hopes of inspiring the other two to join.

Shiho says she will consider it if they can play a song of her choosing perfectly within a week, but Saki ends up collapsing from overworking when showing their progress. Shiho recognizes both the hard work they've put in and her own love for her friends and joins the band. She also explains that she abandoned them only to protect her standoffish reputation from rubbing off on them.

Honami, however, still refuses. Saki realizes it's probably for the best to leave Honami be now that she's no longer getting bullied by her classmates. Shiho disagrees and confronts Honami. Ichika realizes her true feelings about wanting to be together with everyone and talks to Honami herself, bringing her to the SEKAI to watch the stars. Honami realizes her love for her true friends is stronger than the fear of her bullies and officially joins the band.

Official English Youtube upload / Song (needLe) / Animation

Chapter 0: Ichika reflects on the band she, Saki, Honami, and Shiho had formed for fun as children. She recalls having been incredibly grateful to the others for joining her, and how they all wished to be together for a long time to come. They go watch the shooting stars from a jungle gym. In the present day, Ichika sees Honami out the classroom window, but the latter reluctantly ignores her. The same happens with Shiho after crossing paths in Scramble Crossing. Back home, Ichika notices her phone flash and is transported to the SEKAI, where Miku and Luka introduce themselves. The duo want to help them find their true feelings again, but Ichika doubts it could ever come true. She's then forced out of the SEKAI. All four childhood friends separately watch the stars.

Chapter 1: Ichika encounters Honami in the courtyard, but Honami leaves as another classmate calls her. She again has another awkward encounter with Shiho. Ichika worries the other two might not consider her to be friends anymore. Her fears are interrupted by Saki's arrival as a new student in her class. Saki is as cheery as ever, but ignorant to the dissolution of the former friend group.

Chapter 2: Ichika is hesitant to tell Saki the truth. All four cross paths in the school hallway, but Honami and Shiho both leave quickly. Saki chalks it up to them being busy. Later, Honami talks to some current classmates about Saki's arrival as Shiho walks by. They discuss Shiho's cold personality, but Honami is too scared to admit they used to be good friends.

Chapter 3: Saki takes Ichika around town with her, excited to catch up on all the life she missed while in the hospital. They end up talking about how fun their childhood band was. Saki realizes it's lonely just being her and Ichika. After parting ways, Ichika wants to find a way to have the four of them together like it used to be, but the thought seems impossible. Miku pops out of the SEKAI and asks for her to visit with friends. Ichika is still confused, but agrees that it would be fun to have a band again. The next day, Saki tries asking Shiho to hang out, but she refuses. Honami gets pulled away by other classmates before Saki can ask her. Saki tries to confront Ichika about their weird behavior, but backs away when she fears there might actually be a problem. She asks about Miku instead and finds a strange song called "Untitled" among the playlist, accidentally transporting them into SEKAI.

Chapter 4: The duo search for the mysterious sound of Miku's guitar. They end up running into both Honami and Shiho doing the same. The four find Miku in an empty classroom, along with all their old instruments. Saki begs to play together again, to which they hesitantly agree.

Chapter 5: Ichika and Saki are starting to have fun playing when Shiho suddenly stops them mid-song. She is frustrated with the current skill level of the other three. Miku asks to join in this time, impressing the others with her skill. Secretly, Ichika hopes Shiho and Honami remembering this song means they also might wish to bring the band back. Saki has the courage to say that out loud. Shiho flat-out refuses, and Honami hesitantly denies, both departing the SEKAI. Miku urges Saki and Ichika to not give up on their feelings.

Chapter 6: Ichika reflects on her SEKAI encounter. She truly hopes that reforming the band might bring things back to how they used to be. The next day, Honami and Shiho cross paths in the hallway. Neither know what to think about the SEKAI. Shiho asks if Honami really does harbor such strong feelings about them all, but she's pulled away by her classmates before she can answer, upsetting Shiho. Her classmates still believe Shiho to be rude and sketchy. Honami tries defending her, but denies ever being friends out of fear of upsetting them. This only makes Shiho angrier. Meanwhile, Saki and Ichika have their own discussion about SEKAI. Saki is excited they all have Untitled on their phones, even though she was shot down. Ichika proposes starting a band, just the two of them. Saki accepts, hopeful Honami and Shiho will follow behind.

Chapter 7: Ichika and Saki head back to SEKAI to thank Miku and tell her the news. Luka pops in to introduce herself as well, and offers to mentor the both of them. The Virtual Singers reassure the two that their wish to be reunited is worthwhile, strengthening their resolve.

Chapter 8: Saki and Ichika walk around, grateful for the Virtual Singer's help. Ichika is grateful for Saki's presence, but again doubts her decision to not tell her why Shiho and Honami are so distant. In a flashback to middle school, it is revealed that one day, Shiho decided to completely isolate herself, declining to give any other reasoning than to practice bass. Back in the present, Ichika accidentally runs into Honami buying apple pies. She tells her that she and Saki had started a band and invites her again, but is turned down. Later that night, Honani questions why she turned down the offer yet again. Ichika thinks about how lonely Honami looked in middle school, despite her insistence everything was fine. The current Ichika berates herself for not helping sooner.

Chapter 9: Saki brings Ichika to a music store after school to help her choose a keyboard. They run into Shiho there. Saki begs Shiho to join their band so they can hang out again. Shiho reveals that she had been invited to join a band in middle school, but after arguing over not taking things seriously, she had been kicked out. Shiho gives Ichika and Saki a song to practice, with the promise to join their band if and only if they can manage to play it perfectly by the next week. Later that night, Shiho begins questioning if keeping her distance truly was the right move.

Chapter 10: Ichika and Saki run to tell Miku and Luka the good news, and to ask for help perfecting the song. While practicing, Saki plays Ichika an original melody. She then talks about Ichika's old love of writing song lyrics, and how she hopes to write with Ichika one day. Miku brings the pair to the rooftop to look at the stars. Ichika and Saki chat about their fond memories of watching the Leonids as kids. They're determined to watch the stars as a unit once again. A few days later, Ichika and Saki are ready to show Shiho the song. Honami sees the three of them talking from afar. She thinks her not joining them is for the best, but begins to wonder why it makes her feel so lonely.

Chapter 11: Shiho is impressed with how much Saki and Ichika had practiced. Suddenly, Saki collapses. Shiho regrets asking her to practice so hard, but Saki reassures her it wasn't her fault. Shiho tells Saki how she had kept refusing making new friends in middle school and turned into an outcast. Shiho had distanced herself from Ichika and Honami to protect their reputations from getting tainted, too. Shiho joins the band.

Chapter 12: The next week, Ichika finds Honami standing outside of her classroom to ask about Saki's recent absence. Ichika is glad Honami talked to her normally again. She then reveals Shiho had joined the band and asked her again if she'd like to join, too. Ichika expresses her guilt over not helping Honami when things got rough, to which Honami immediately shuts down. Honami explains how her middle school classmates had often taken advantage of her kindness to vent, which made others mad about her being a people-pleaser. The girls began bullying her behind her back, which began to spread to Ichika. Honami decided to cut ties to protect her. The current Honami is scared that accepting Ichika's friendship again would make the bullying resume. She runs away.

Chapter 13: Ichika, Saki, and Shiho talk about telling Miku and Luka about the new addition. Saki asks if Honami would want to come, too, but the other two doubt it. They proceed to tell her about what they know of Honami's middle school bullying. Shiho is upset with Honami over how submissive she's being, because she knows the true Honami knows how to stand her ground. She doesn't understand why Honami is giving up like this. Saki realizes it's probably best to give up on getting her to join the band to avoid causing her any trouble with her classmates.

Chapter 14: Luka notices Ichika's worries over the Honami situation. Luka tells Ichika that "there is no right or wrong in music",- there's no one right decision here, and that they should follow their hearts. Saki decides to tell Honami that they'll leave her be and apologizes for the trouble. She returns to Ichika and Shiho, but begins crying. She's sad about leaving her friend, but knows it's the right decision. Later, Ichika and Shiho discuss the matter, to which Shiho reveals how wrong it feels.

Chapter 15: Shiho confronts Honami in the hallway. She questions if this is what Honami really wants, and if she really cares about Saki's feelings at all. She calls Honami out for only caring about herself. Honami knows she hurt Saki, but she's terrified of being bullied again. Later that evening, Shiho runs into Ichika and regrets the harsh things she had said to their friend. Ichika praises Shiho for her determination. Shiho returns the compliment over Ichika's rationality.

Chapter 16: Ichika, Saki, and Shiho walk around after a productive SEKAI session. After Shiho departs, Ichika and Saki talk about how nice it is to have her back. Back home, Ichika reflects on how much she's changed since she was younger, and how powerless she feels when it comes to helping Honami. Suddenly, she finds an old notebook of song lyrics and gets an idea.

Chapter 17: Ichika goes to SEKAI for help. Miku realizes Ichika has found her true feelings: she loves her friends more than anything and wants to play with them again. Ichika realizes the star chart on the chalkboard must represent Honami's true feelings, too. The next day, Ichika asks to meet Honami after class.

Chapter 18: Ichika brings Honami over to the SEKAI's rooftop to show her the stars. They talk about their fond memories of the past, and how the stars always looked brighter because it was the four of them together. Ichika asks if Honami wants to be friends again. Honami is still scared of her bullies, but realizes just how much her true friends matter to her and berates herself for being so selfish. She really does want to be back with them. Saki and Shiho run over with Miku and Luka to congratulate her.

Chapter 19: Honami apologizes for distancing herself because of her lack of courage. She thanks Shiho for what she had said and officially joins the band. Untitled flashes and forms into a song: needLe.

Chapter 20: The next day, Honami tells her classmates about the events of the past few days. They're genuinely happy for her and the new band. It was a lot easier than she had feared. (Saki, Ichika, and Shiho watched from the window.) Later, the four of them discuss their band name. They all come up with the name "Leo/need", after the Leonid constellation, the slash of a shooting star, and how each member is needed in the group. In SEKAI, Miku and Luka watch a shooting star pass overhead.

Card Stories: Ichika / Saki / Honami / Shiho

Virtual Singer Chapter 1 (Pre-Chapter 0): Miku practices guitar on her own, hopeful the others will meet them soon. She wonders if she should start acting more like a senpai would, but isn't sure what exactly that entails. She decides that it means doing what Luka would. Miku tries it out, with little success. Luka comes in and questions what Miku is doing, reassuring her that she's always here to support in whatever way she can. Miku asks Luka what "senpai" means to her. Luka believes it's all dependent on the people around her.

Virtual Singer Chapter 2 (After Chapter 5): Miku waves Ichika and Saki goodbye after the first practice session. She trusts their resolve to bring them back together. Luka enters, having let Miku take the lead to introduce herself as a proper "senpai". She's proud of the hard work Miku had (secretly) been putting in for this day. They reflect on how each member's sound was hiding a piece of their personality within: Ichika's determination, Saki's joy, Shiho's distance, and Honami's fear. They banter a bit about the senpai role before practicing once again.

Virtual Singer Chapter 3 (After Chapter 14): Luka talks to Ichika about the latter's concern over Honami, and Miku Saki's. Miku reassures Saki that she's proud of her for considering Honami's feelings when deciding to leave her be. In the meantime, Luka and Ichika had finished their conversation and came over. Luka talks about how Miku has been working hard to become a proper senpai to the others, much to her embarrassment. They're certain Honami will realize her true feelings eventually.

Virtual Singer Chapter 4 (After Chapter 20): Miku and Luka discuss their feelings over the new Untitled song and the band's formation. Leo/need pop in and ask if they'd like to join a session, to which they happily agree. Saki talks about how they want to start writing their own songs and hands them Ichika's lyrics. Despite Ichika's embarrassment, they find them to be cute and sincere. Luka comments on Miku's excitement to be with the girls as their senpai.