This morning, we had the absolute displeasure to wake up to the news that petit pas! was going to dissolve in September, with very little detail provided by the group or management. A few hours later, though, there’s plenty of information:

Schedule:

【お知らせ】9/25 プティパ -petit pas!-解散のお知らせ https://t.co/ujdY5VgKy9 8/27・28ラストワンマン・9/24～25 @JAM×ナタリーEXPO 2016でのラストステージ含む全てのスケジュールはこちらをご覧ください。 #プティパ

— プティパ -petit pas!- (@petitpas_pmr) August 8, 2016

Their final one-man will be a two-parter, held the weekend of Aug. 27-28, and the final appearance will be as part of JAMxNatalie Expo on September 25. That’s right after they join Tsubasa Fly’s farewell — I am in no way exaggerating when I say that you might want to be in Tokyo that week.

Next steps:

【お知らせ】新グループオーディションのお知らせ https://t.co/VSofNXl0wg 9/25 プティパ -petit pas!-解散に伴い、新グループを立ち上げます。オーディション概要については、こちらをご覧ください。 #プティパ

— プティパ -petit pas!- (@petitpas_pmr) August 8, 2016

Beginning Oct. 1, Mave-Ricks will be holding auditions for a new group. New petit pas!, or something else? Regardless, while (see below) the decision here seems to lie with Kokoro and not management, petit pas! itself is dead, (also see below) Suzu and Nozomi now having uncertain futures. The thing is, petit pas! has had a longish and rather troubled history, and the release of their (very good) album back in May was the culmination of a lot of hard work and tears; I hate the idea of a group finally getting its legs and then falling apart.

Suzu has a long note that I beg anybody with the language skills to translate:

今思うことです。読んで欲しいです。宜しくお願いします。 pic.twitter.com/84q7sSzJWc

— 日向すず (@sz_hnt) August 8, 2016

Nozomi added her thoughts to this blog post. She sounds sad and maybe even regretful, but I love this line:

I want to end with a complete combustion, thank you to the end

Kokoro, the leader and only original member left standing, who was in danger of becoming the closest thing to an oshi I’d ever have (silly, I know), shared her thoughts:

思う事、言いたいこと、あると思います
私も言い出したらキリがない位、プティパには全てかけてきました。
でも悔いなく終われると感じたからこそ今、決断すべきで、しなければいけないと思いました。
決して後ろ向きではない解散です！最後までプティパを見届けてくれると嬉しいです。
篠崎こころ

— 篠崎こころ (@kokoro777pp) August 8, 2016

Translated:

A rough English translation of @kokoro777pp's tweet about the recent Petit Pas announcement. pic.twitter.com/iZ1OLtCdlw

— ぽんちゃん (@Iccz) August 8, 2016

I legitimately didn’t expect to see something like this happen; Kokoro was very adamant in that recent interview that she was all in on petit pas!, that it was her baby and she was determined to make it succeed.

So then what will be Kokoro’s next move?

Jesting aside, we’ll at least always have a bunch of pretty great music. All the best to everybody in the future.