The Day Subaru Oozora Searches for the Brightest Star
Everyone in Hololive, let's become astronauts! When Subaru Oozora suddenly announces this, a strangely hilarious 'Best Item Arrangement' tournament begins. Its a contest where you can supposedly receive a star from the universe. But Subaru is actually hiding a deeply sad secret. Without knowing it, everyone's small acts of kindness end up hurting Subaru... Yet she keeps acting cheerful. But when the biggest crisis arrives, Subaru realizes she isn't alone! It's a comfy daily life story that will
The Day Subaru Oozora Searches for the Brightest Star - Korone's Mischief and a True Thank You
The four of them raced down the stairs of Soranoki Building.
Footsteps echoed. The clock on the wall pointed to midnight.
"Wait, Korone-senpai! Did you seriously open it without asking?!"
Subaru's voice still trembled with tears. But there was a strength in her tone that hadn't been there moments before.
"Just how far did that little prankster go...?"
Fubuki frowned as she bounded down the stairs two steps at a time. Her platinum short bob bounced with each leap.
"When I find her, she's getting punished!"
Noel's long silver hair billowed behind her. Her voice, usually so composed, now carried a hint of genuine anger.
"Furea's mad too! You can't just open things without permission!"
Furea's pink hair swayed as she nearly tripped on the stairs, grabbing the handrail to steady herself.
The door to Komorebi Hall stood half-open.
Light spilled through the gap.
Subaru was the first to burst inside.
"Korone-senpai!!"
In the center of the hall.
On the long table sat a familiar duck-shaped piggy bank.
Its lid was open.
All around it, countless colorful origami cranes lay scattered. Pink, blue, yellow, green. The tiny paper birds spread out like flower petals.
And behind them—
Inugami Korone stood waiting.
Brown bobbed hair. A tuft that sprang up like a dog's ear on the top of her head. Round, golden eyes. Usually they sparkled as if she were plotting some mischief, but not now.
In her hand, she held a letter.
She seemed to have finished reading it; the fingers gripping the paper were trembling.
"...Korone... senpai?"
Subaru's voice grew small.
The cranes. The origami cranes she had folded with her grandmother. Every day since last autumn, when her grandmother was hospitalized, she had folded them little by little. One hundred in total. So that her wish might come true.
But the wish never did.
Even after that, she kept folding. As if folding her grief into each crease. As if sealing away feelings she couldn't show anyone, trapping them inside the paper.
And every single one of those cranes had been opened by Korone's hands.
"...Subaru."
Korone lifted her head.
Her usual "uhihi" laugh, the "wan" she tacked onto her sentences—both were gone.
Her golden eyes were wet.
"I read... all of them."
She placed the letter gently on the table.
"'Grandma, I'm still so sad after all'... that's what you wrote."
Subaru's breath caught.
"'I don't want everyone to worry, so I keep smiling. But honestly, I feel like crying every day'... 'I can't tell anyone. I'm scared and alone'..."
Korone's voice was shaking.
"'Grandma, I miss you'..."
Silence filled the hall.
Subaru couldn't move.
She had hidden it all this time. Never showed anyone. Secretly tucked letters inside the origami cranes, sealed them in the piggy bank. She thought no one would ever open it.
And Korone had opened them. All of them.
"What the hell were we saying all this time?"
Korone looked down.
"'Subaru's always so energetic.' 'Must be nice not having any worries.'... I said that stuff too. Said it so many times. I was trying to cheer you up, but I was just hurting you instead."
Noel placed a hand on Subaru's shoulder. Fubuki bit her lip. Furea pressed both hands over her mouth.
"Korone!"
Noel stepped forward. Her voice was tight with restrained anger.
"You had no right to do something like that without—"
"I know, I know!"
Suddenly, Korone's voice bounced upward.
She lifted her head. Her golden eyes were still wet, but her lips now wore that familiar prankster's grin.
"I was wrong! Super wrong! So to make up for it, fight me!"
"...Huh?"
Fubuki let out a baffled yelp.
"Subaru! You're way too much of a crybaby! If you keep crying like that, your makeup's gonna run! You've got panda eyes going on!"
Korone pointed straight at Subaru.
"More importantly, we're competing to see who finds the brightest star first! You're the one who brought it up, so I'm gonna win this thing!"
Noel stared at Korone, utterly dumbfounded.
"Hold on, Korone. This is hardly the atmosphere to be saying things like—"
"Noel. This is fine."
Fubuki cut Noel off. Her blue eyes were fixed on Subaru's face.
Subaru stood frozen.
The shock of seeing her cranes scattered everywhere. The embarrassment of having her letters read. Everything swirled chaotically in her head.
But.
Korone's voice was the same as always.
"Subaru the crybaby!"—teasing her just like always.
"It's a competition!"—challenging her just like always.
And somehow, because of that—
The knot that had been lodged deep in her chest suddenly felt lighter.
(Korone-senpai is the same as always.)
(Even when I'm crying. Even after reading my letters. She still treats me the same.)
Subaru's fists clenched tight.
She lifted her head.
Her face was still a mess of tears, but strength had returned to her eyes.
"There's no way I'm losing to you!!"
She shouted at the top of her lungs.
Noel's eyes went wide. Fubuki let out a small breath. Furea's face lit up like the sun.
"Uhihi! You said it! Then let's start the competition right—"
"Wait, please."
Subaru cut Korone off.
"Before the competition, there's something I want to say."
Subaru turned to face Noel.
Noel's gray eyes gazed down at her gently. Her silver hair caught the hall's light, glowing like the moon.
"Noel-senpai. Earlier on the terrace, you told me this whole tournament was for my sake."
"Yes, that's right."
Noel nodded quietly.
"That morning, in the Hidamari Room, I saw you sitting by the window with your head down. And I thought—this girl needs someone to help her right now. But asking directly, 'What's wrong?'—that would be tactless, wouldn't it?"
Noel's tone shifted, a little embarrassed now.
"So I set up that rock-paper-scissors match. I figured if I won, I could make you do anything I asked."
"Then... that match really was—"
"Yes, I fully intended to win. Subaru-san, you're terrible at rock-paper-scissors, after all."
Fubuki let out a small snort.
"I see. So it was all Noel-san's scheme."
"I'm sorry to Fubuki-san, but when you pressed Subaru-san so hard, it moved the plan forward in one go."
Noel bowed her head toward Fubuki.
"Thank you. If things had stayed as they were, I wouldn't have known how to get Subaru-san to speak her true feelings either."
Fubuki rubbed her nose, looking embarrassed.
"...It's nothing. I just... couldn't stand it anymore, that's all."
"Furea too! Furea helped too!"
Furea bounced up and down. Her large ribbon swayed, and her pink hair fanned out softly.
"I said the music box sounded sad! And then Subaru-chan cried for us!"
"Furea, I don't think that counts as helping."
"Huh? It doesn't?"
Furea blinked in confusion.
Korone burst out laughing.
"Ahaha! Furea really is the best! But hey, I knew about it too, y'know!"
"Huh? You knew?"
"Nope, I just found out! Right now!"
Korone puffed out her chest.
"So you didn't actually know."
Fubuki immediately shot back with the retort.
"Uhihi, busted-wan!"
Laughter spread through the hall.
Subaru, her face still streaked with tears, laughed.
From the bottom of her heart, she laughed.
"...Everyone... for my sake."
Her voice trembled. But it wasn't the tremor of sadness.
"Noel-senpai, Fubuki-senpai, Furea-senpai. Korone-senpai too. Everyone, in your own ways... you were all trying to help me, weren't you?"
She gazed at the table covered in scattered cranes.
The cranes she had folded with her grandmother. The letters where she had sealed away her sorrow.
Now, they were all open.
But that was okay.
Everyone had found the feelings she had locked away.
"Thank you... so much..."
Tears spilled over.
But this time, they were different.
Tears of joy.
Subaru bowed deeply. The star-shaped earring on her left ear glinted faintly.
"Thank you. Really... thank you."
She lifted her head.
Her face was wet with tears. But her lips were unmistakably smiling.
The first genuine smile she had worn all day.
Noel gently wiped Subaru's tears away with her fingers.
"...Heh heh. You've finally managed to smile properly, haven't you?"
Fubuki nodded.
"Yeah. That's the face. That's the Subaru I know."
Furea threw her arms around Subaru.
"Subaru-chaaan! Furea's happy too!"
Wrapped in Furea's flower-like scent, Subaru's tears flowed even more.
"Furea-senpai, I can't breathe!"
Just then.
CLANG!
A loud noise rang out.
Everyone spun around.
Korone was clutching the duck piggy bank.
"Alright, the touching scene is over!"
Her golden eyes sparkled with mischief.
"I'm still taking the winner's prize! I'm gonna modify this duck piggy bank! I'll enter it as my 'Crazy Item'!"
Noel's eyes nearly popped out of her head.
"Hold on, Korone! That's something precious to Subaru-san, isn't it?!"
"It's fine, it's fine! I'll make it even cooler and give it back! I'll give it wings and attach a projector that shows the stars!"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."
"Uhihi! You never know till you try!"
At that, Noel strode briskly toward the wall.
In the corner of Komorebi Hall sat a massive astronomical model.
A handmade contraption covered in rubber bands. The very item Noel had brought in so confidently that morning.
"Heh heh heh... I won't lose! I'll modify this astronomical model and turn it into an impromptu planetarium!"
Noel hoisted the model up with both hands.
"Wha— Noel-senpai, what are you even saying?!"
"Give me back that emotional moment on the terrace!"
Fubuki shouted.
Furea let go of Subaru and trotted over to Noel.
"Oh, um, Furea wants to do it too!"
"Even Furea-san?!"
"Furea wants to listen to her music box together with Subaru-chan. So I'm gonna make the sound even more sparkly."
Furea beamed.
Subaru looked around at the four of them, utterly bewildered.
Noel clutching the astronomical model. Korone clutching the duck piggy bank. Furea clutching her music box to her chest.
Fubuki clutched her head.
"You guys—what the hell are you saying in the middle of all this chaos?!"
"Just do whatever you want!!"
Subaru yelled.
But her voice was laughing.
With the tear-tracks drying on her cheeks, she laughed from the heart.
Noel set the astronomical model on the table. Korone began laying out tools next to the duck piggy bank. Furea wound the music box's spring.
Fubuki sighed.
"...Fine. I'll help too. If you're all going to run wild, the least I can do is supervise so no one gets hurt."
"Fubuki-senpai, you're joining in after all!"
"Without someone to play the straight man, this'll just spiral into total chaos."
Outside the large windows of Komorebi Hall—
There was still no sign of dawn.
But inside, the room was lively.
Noel shouted as she removed rubber bands.
"First, I'll install a motor to replicate the celestial sphere's movement!"
"I'm gonna make star images project out of the duck's mouth! Help me out, Fubuki!"
"Why do I have to..."
"Furea's gonna make lots of star-shaped holes. Then the light will go all sparkly."
Standing a little apart from the others, Subaru watched them all.
(Grandma.)
She murmured in her heart.
(It looks like I wasn't alone after all.)
(I had friends this ridiculous... and this kind.)
She touched the star earring on her left ear with her fingertip.
The cold metal felt just a little warmer now.
"Subaru! Don't just stand there watching—help out!"
"Huh, me too?!"
"Obviously! This tournament's for you, so you should be working the hardest!"
Korone tossed a wrench her way.
Subaru caught it.
The wrench was cool to the touch.
But somehow, that felt comforting.
"Got it! Then I'll make lots of star-shaped stickers!"
"Huh, is that really modifying anything?"
"It's fine! This is my 'Crazy Item'!"
Subaru picked up one of the origami crane papers.
A pink sheet, still unfolded.
She began folding it carefully.
The way to fold a star—something her grandmother had taught her.
"Watch over me, Grandma."
She murmured quietly.
"Starting today, I'll really be okay. I won't force myself to smile anymore. I'll smile for real...
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.