White Star Fan Club

"White Star Fan Club" is the third episode of StarLight. It was written and published as part of Project 20:15, and later published to FictionPress and SparkaTale in weekly instalments between 13 July and 17 August 2015. "White Star Fan Club" introduces the eponymous club, led by Hitomi Murasakime, which Sanae is roped into joining.

Plot
After the events of "Dusk", the White Star phenomenon only grows bigger, much to Amaya's chagrin. The following Monday, having been kept awake by her mother's incessant gaming, she is extremely tired and irritable and attacks Sanae for insulting her weight. At lunchtime, while Amaya takes a nap, Sanae heads off to lunch and spots a poster advertising a "White Star Fan Club". Hitomi suddenly appears and claims ownership of the club, before inviting Sanae to meet with her fellow members.

When they arrive at the club room, Hitomi introduces Sanae as the club's newest member, in spite of her protests, and introduces her to the other three members: Nagisa Tezuka, Mio Natsume, and Hinata Morishita. Unable to object, Sanae reluctantly accepts her membership, and goes along with Hitomi to persuade Inaba-sensei to become the club's supervisor. Sanae spends the rest of lunchtime with the White Star Fan Club, discussing the other members' motivations for joining.

At the end of lunch, Sanae returns with a cup of coffee for Amaya, but laments that she can't drink it during class. Thinking quickly, Amaya distracts the class before turning into Black Star and stopping time, giving her ample time to drink her coffee. Once classes are over, a refreshed Amaya heads home, passing a card game battle on the way, while Sanae remains behind to attend the White Star Fan Club's first proper meeting. However, when a monster appears in the industrial district, Sanae is forced to make her excuses and dash off to fight it.

Upon arriving in the industrial district, White Star is dismayed to discover that the monster is a pug-like creature barely a foot tall. She dismisses it as harmless, only for it to attack her and maul her leg; she swiftly counter-attacks, only to find that she cannot bring herself to finish the dog-like monster off. At Kousen's suggestion, she pictures the monster proclaiming "Kirino is best girl!", giving her enough motivation to destroy the creature. At the following day's Fan Club meeting, all five members express their regret that they failed to reach the battle in time, while looking forward to the next one.

Cultural references

 * Sanae recalls an online poster asking "Isn't Black Star a character from Soul Eater?"
 * The game Amaya's mother is playing is referred to as "the new Bat-Dude game", referring to Batman: Arkham Knight. During her time-stop, Amaya replaces the game with Road to Hell: Retribution, a game considered one of the worst of all-time.
 * Sanae at one point refers to Sailor Moon as having an "annoying whiny baby voice".
 * Hitomi blackmailing Inaba-sensei into becoming their club supervisor is a reference to both K-On! and Free!.
 * In a cutaway sequence, Sanae is shown playing "Mall of Duty", and using a "360 No-Scope" spell to kill all her opponents. She then excitedly yells, "Kousen, get the camera!", referring to another Internet meme. This scene was cut from the official Amazon release.
 * The spell Amaya uses to stop time is named "Za Warudo", a reference to Dio Brando's Stand "The World" from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In a further reference, she slams a road roller into the ground outside her mother's house while screaming "WRRRYYYYYYYY!", imitating one of Dio's most famous attacks.
 * The card game battle that Amaya witnesses is a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!, particularly its exuberant voice acting and complex rules. The "Pit of Eternal Darkness" parodies the 4Kidz dub's use of the "Shadow Realm" to avoid references to death. At one point Card Game Guy uses Billy Mays' catchphrase, "But wait, there's more!", before promising his opponent a free toaster.
 * The dog monster proclaiming "Kirino is best girl", and White Star's outraged reaction, is a reference to the anime My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute and the backlash resulting from its ending.
 * After flying into a wall, a dazed White Star says, "Kyon, the phone's ringing...", referring to an infamous line from the "Endless Eight" arc of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.