Chapter 25

Scene 25 is the fourth chapter included in Volume 5 of Urakata!!

Summary
Maasa is bummed about being just a side character. But when she gains a friend named Mineri from the Rank S tier of popularity, she is excited by the prospect of being able to attend singles parties with her. However, when Maasa finds out that Mineri is skipping an event to meet her favourite band to take Maasa to a singles party, Maasa helps her to prepare for the event instead. Mineri ends up voluntarily dropping out of Rank S popularity to express her passion freely and Maasa is unable to attend the singles party anymore. Maasa is somewhat cheered up by Tomu in the end.

Plot
Maasa, who has recently been interested in observing people has noticed that Ranmaru has a crush on Ruka and is struggling with his emotions whenever he sees Ryuuji and Ruka together. After likening their situation to common zombie movie trends, she also notices that Soh has a crush on Izumi. Maasa quickly concludes that she must be nothing more than an extra since she is not involved in the romantic drama at all.

Suddenly, a girl named Mineri Bisedo, who is also a 2nd year in Marketing, approaches Maasa. Mineri is regarded by Maasa as a Rank S in popularity. Maasa brings Mineri over to her house to show her her zombie movie collection. Mineri reveals that she is actually a hard-core fan of goth rock bands but she hid that side of her once she got to university because she wanted to be popular with guys. Maasa relates to wanting or needing to hide a somewhat weird side of herself in order to appeal to guys but cannot relate to actually attaining that popularity. They quickly become friends and Maasa gets excited about going to singles parties/mixers with Mineri. Maasa brags about her new bestie to the rest of the Art Squad.

When Mineri and Maasa meet to have lunch together, Mineri tells Maasa about a handshake event for her favourite band that is happening the same day as the singles party that they were supposed to go to together. But Mineri assures Maasa that she will still take her to the singles party. Maasa internally struggles for a while, wanting to go to the "elite" singles party with Mineri but also not wanting to rob the chance of meeting her idols from her.

In the end, Maasa takes Mineri to her house and gives her a complete makeover. She lends her a full costume/disguise and decorates her nails very prettily. Maasa encourages Mineri, saying that she is the heroine of her own life and shouldn't hold back.

When Mineri comes back the the event, however, she decides that she does not want to keep concealing her true passions and Maasa is left without a ticket to the elite singes party she wanted to attend so badly. While sulking on a bench, Maasa is visited by Tomu who ends up cheering her up a bit in his own goofy way, calling Maasa a star in his eyes (and in the eyes of everyone else in the Art Squad). Maasa regains a hope to be a heroine for someone special one day.

Characters

 * Maasa Rokubu
 * Ranmaru Kurisu
 * Ruka Enjoji
 * Ryuuji Gouda
 * Izumi Samura
 * Tomu Tenba