Original Summary: The legend of the Happy Pulse was found in STARISH's Maji Love Songs. It had affected even the most cold-hearted ones, creating a stir in the world. However, only one person is destined to be unaffected, who happened to be a girl of seventeen named Hirano Aoi, a hostile and cold one who grew up alone. Saotome had reached her and hired her in the Shining Agency as a critic and co-composer for his bands STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT, along with cooperating with Raging Agency's HEAVENS. Hirano was somehow connected to every one of them, especially Nanami Haruka... but how? (OC/?)
Original A/N: I am obsessed with this anime, honestly. I don't completely know of Camus' route, along with Hijirikawa's and some others, but from wikia and the anime, I had tried my best of the accuracy of each character's personalities and such! I hope you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: The Uta no Prince-sama games and anime series do not belong to me. I do however own this plot and my OC. :)
Chapter One: Who Is That Girl?
It had been over a week since STARISH had won the UtaPri Award against HEAVENS. They celebrated their victory by having two weeks of a break, one already passing by like freedom couldn't run fast enough from life. STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT had several ways to celebrate, but they had argued all of the time on what to do.
Mikaze Ai and Camus hadn't really cared about any type of party, since they would just decline the invitation anyway. Kurosaki Ranmaru would come if there were really well described food in the invitation, and Kotobuki Reiji would always come because he was quite friendly in his own way and liked to socialize.
Nanami Haruka took a break on composing and songwriting as well, having time to meet up with STARISH and the others. After all, Shibuya Tomochika hid all of her unfinished music pieces for her to worry about in the future (though that didn't stop Haruka from hearing new tunes in her mind, envisioning them on sheets and secretly writing them down).
Shining Saotome, however, wasn't free to do what his singing group pleased temporarily. He was very busy speaking with a girl he was quite interested in and wished to hire. After their private meeting, he hired her without much paperwork needed. After all, according to her, only he had learned her darkest secrets.
However, she had more that she kept deep inside. She knew a lot about the people she was about to work with and wanted them to not know as much about her.
"Oh ho! Look out below!" Saotome bellowed in the skies, apparently skydiving and landed in a comfy parachute on the bottom grounds next to the master course building he owned.
"Eh - Saotome!" Haruka exclaimed in surprise, seeing the principal through the window of her room. She rushed by the window, struggling to lift it up.
"Miss Haruka! Summon the others!" His loud lion-like roar reached the redhead's ears, as she listened with wide eyes and open ears, her hair flying wildly around her face from the wind. The secret music sheets she was previously looking over scattered on the ground and on her bed by the rush. She hastily shut the window to prevent excessive mess and glanced anxiously around, taking a deep breath and shutting the door behind her as she quickened her fast pace.
Running through the halls, she bumped into Ranmaru. "Kurosaki-senpai!" she called instinctively. "I need you to help me gather everyone up! Saotome wishes to speak with us!" Her yellowish-orange eyes practically pleaded to the dual-eyed man, who sighed tiredly. His own dual-colored eyes, silver and violet, glanced over at her shaky form, clad in a flowing cream dress with a thin gray cardigan and a small jewel necklace. Her feet seemed sore as she wore navy heels. Her legs looked as if they'd collapse, but Haruka didn't seem to notice.
"On our break?" he mumbled, tearing his gaze and scowling deeper than usual. "Right, where do we meet?"
"Outside, where the fountain with the angel statue is at the front doors," Nanami replied breathlessly as she was already in the other hall. Ranmaru ran a hand in his short choppy grayish-white hair, his other hand on his hip that had a flannel wrapped around his waist, a band tee resting on his shoulders. He turned the ball of his heel, adorned in casual boots, and walked away to gather the juniors he "mentored," which were Jingugi Ren and Hijirikawa Masato.
Meanwhile, the room closest to Nanami's was where STARISH members Kurusu Syo and Shinomiya Natsuki lived in, along with their senior Mikaze. She knocked at the door with urgent but delicate bangs, hoping that they were inside. "Who is it?" asked a voice whom the rose-haired composer knew all too well.
"It's Nanami Haruka! I need you guys to come with me because Saotome wants us to come outside!" she exclaimed in response. The door swung open, and out came Natsuki and Syo.
Syo groaned. "I wonder what he wants now."
"Maybe it's something important, Syo-chan," Natsuki suggested in hopes that it would lighten up the smaller blonde's mood.
The blue-eyed boy just shrugged with a tired face; they headed to get the rest of the group. Mikaze wasn't in their room, so they moved on to Aijima Cecil's room where he and Camus were assumedly at.
Gathering them along, the two men left to meet them outside. Syo and Natsuki still stayed at Nanami's side, rushing to Ittoki Otoya and Ichinose Tokiya's room, with their senior Reiji conveniently inside.
Ranmaru and his juniors were outside, waiting as well with Mikaze in tow. Nanami and her company heard the helicopter whirring and the loud, booming laugh Saotome had. They all dashed outside and to everyone's surprise, Saotome was holding firmly onto a squirming rag sack. Struggling and shouts were emitting from the bag. When it stopped, it left a dark aura.
Frozen chibi faces.
"Hey! Don't tell me that you kidnapped whoever's inside!" Syo indignantly yelled (and yet he was strangely unsurprised at Saotome's action).
"What are you saying, Mistar Kurusu?" Saotome chuckled loudly. "I'm just dropping off a package! Your vacation is cut short due to necessities and life, and so this package is given to you early! Say hello to your harsh critic, Hirano Aoi!"
He dropped to the ground with a thud, his feet planted onto the ground. He slumped the sack and the body inside wriggled relentlessly. "This is not how you treat new employees," warned the sack. "Get me out."
"I'll let the others take care of that," Shining replied with a snicker, frolicking around the bag. "It looks like my own time is cut short. She will be both of your critic and co-composer for STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT, right Miz Hirano Aoi?"
The sack stirred. Hirano Aoi, the sack narrowly thought. I need to remember that.
"Critic?"
"Co-composer?"
The words echoed. Everyone stumped on Saotome's words, as he waved goodbye and held onto the floating ladder reaching up from the hovering helicopter. The helicopter then flew off, and the headmaster of the high-class music academy was out of sight.
The people then turned to the bag, which didn't move anymore. Haruka was the first to rush to the bag, untying it. She gasped at the sight.
Blue hair?
"Are you okay?" she asked as she held out a hand for the girl to grab on to.
The girl stood up without the redhead's help, her mouth drawing a thin line in annoyance, as she dusted off her gray jeans. "I thank you for your consideration, but there's no need for that," the stuffed girl said, fixing the hoodie on her head. Black gloves adorned her hands, with a variety of necklaces around her collar. What was mostly distinctive about her character was her hair and her dark tinted sunglasses resting on her nose, her identity basically covered.
"So, your name is Hirano Aoi-san?" Nanami asked with a sweet relieved smile plastered on her face.
"Yeah, Hitomi," Hirano replied, which made the girl blink.
"H-Hitomi?" Of course, Hitomi could be a name that meant 'beautiful-eyed,' which in Nanami's appearance seemed fit. Since then, Hirano had called Haruka 'Hitomi' because of her mysterious yet bright eyes that seemed to reflect off her innocent thoughts.
Hirano nodded. "'Hitomi Izumi' is my name for you, since your eyes reflect a fountain," she said with a confirmed expression. The boys in the background seemed lost in the dust, watching the two already conversing about something somewhat friendly yet not understandable in the slightest.
Once she named the girl based off her first impression, her face ran cold and turned her attention to the boys. "My name is Hirano Aoi," she addressed them with a monotonous tone. "Shining wasn't very specific as to who I am. Disgusting man."
"Huh?"
Hirano ignored their breath of confusion. "Shuffling me into an uncomfortable sack was inconvenient and unreasonable. But other than that, I hope we keep things professional and cooperative." She adjusted her glasses and huffed, "Anyway. I will be your critic, and Saotome was right for saying that I won't be nice about it. I will also be co-composing with Hitomi once I relearn how to play my past instruments. Lastly, Saotome wishes for me to take turns in everyone's bedroom, starting with Mikaze Ai and co. I wouldn't question why if I were you... once again, that man is just, well."
All that was heard after that was her boots clanking, heading inside the building. "Oh, and," she halted, looking over her shoulder, "I'd like some time to myself. I'll be in the nearest living room, so I ask of you but one thing. Don't disturb me."
Hirano was gone with the wind. Everyone's faces faded to fifty shades of grey.
Reiji burst out laughing, and that was all that was heard afterwards until everyone else's voices began working again, as if they've just been choked.
"She's obviously a woman dwelling only on words to look threatening," Ren noted while smirking, though he appeared breathless. "Young lady's very - interesting."
"But... isn't Hirano-san strange? I mean, I've never met anyone like her," Ittoki added with a frown. "Why would she want to act mean when she obviously doesn't look like the kind? She's just - what's the word - oh, I don't know."
Cecil entered the conversation, managing to say, "Aoi-chan's unstable. Either that, or she doesn't like us. But... why?"
"From the looks of it, she knows about your uncanny ability to know someone's personality from their eyes," Masato commented, referring to when Cecil did that with the STARISH members. That triggered everyone to thinking about her glasses.
"Could it be the glasses are just for style, or that Hira-chan has something on her face?" Natsuki questioned, attempting for the mystery to be logically solved.
Syo shook his head deliberately. "No, she's definitely onto us, whatever it is."
"She's just anti-social. There's nothing overly odd about that," Tokiya deadpanned, "so stop it with this pointless topic. Her case is just barely normal and let's just hope that her personality won't be much of a problem with our everyday life."
Nanami looked over at the pop stars, frowning at this. "Ichinose-san's… somewhat right. She's probably just nervous so let's give her a good time and make her smile," she added while beaming herself.
This caused the STARISH boys to lighten their hearts. "Haru-chan's right," Shinomiya agreed with a wide grin, "though we can't talk to her anytime soon..."
Reiji continued laughing hard in the background - at what, no one really bothered to continuously wonder - causing Nanami and the boys to turn their attention to the Pioneer Prince. "You guys are too funny!" he chuckled while clutching his sides. "She can't be so serious with that cute face."
Camus cut in, "Fool, don't give them a risky idea. Mikaze, do you know anything?"
"According to my research," Ai responded instantly, "Hirano's hair color is light blue, her eye color is seen by witnesses as either orange, green, or yellow - "
Reiji chortled, "Are witnesses high on something to see those many colors - "
" - her height is 158 cm, and her age is seventeen. Her background and history are unknown, her birthdate is unknown, and so are her tendencies. However…" he trailed off, slowly shutting his mouth.
"However what?" Ranmaru grunted, his body tingling to leave. "I'm not getting any younger here."
Mikaze's eyes wavered, replying, "Her hands are seemingly gloved to hide her deep scars on her skin, according to eyewitnesses. However, it could be discoloration."
"Does your source say if that was from abuse?" Camus asked.
"No, it doesn't," the levelheaded boy answered. "She's now my new test subject of the matter. I'll be sure to tell you if I have a confirmed answer." With that, he sought his chance to leave.
"Ai-Ai! Where are you going?" Kotobuki called out.
"To my room," he swiftly replied, walking faster inside.
"I'm leaving as well," Masato said after a long period of silence. One by one, the boys left, leaving Haruka staring at the sack.
The rose-haired woman mumbled, "Hirano-san left something…" She picked up an orange bottle of pills, with Hirano's name and other medical information on it. "This must be important. I need to give it back to her."
And so Nanami left to go inside, the bottle of pills held gently in her hand.
"Hey, Nanami-san!" Ittoki called, the shorthaired girl stopping to turn her head around. Otoya, the positive super red-haired red-eyed boy was waving at her, running towards her. He tried to smile brightly, about to say something, but instead pointing to her closed hand. "Uh, what's that?"
"Hirano-san left something in the sack she was in," Haruka quickly explained. "I'm going to give it to her now. She said that she would be in the closest living room she would find, and I know where that is - "
"Nanami-san," Ittoki interrupted, causing her to stop in mid-sentence and lift her head up to him. "I don't think she wants to be bothered..." His body was anxious and jumpy, which the girl easily noticed.
Nanami's eyes faltered, but she kept her lips curled upward. She rubbed her arm and said, "I know you're worried that I might get hurt, but she's as much of a girl as I am. I don't think she'll hurt me."
"I suggest that I come with you," the redhead insisted.
That's not necessary, thought Haruka, but didn't say aloud. She merely shook her head and walked to the door where she felt in her gut that Hirano was in.
She knocked on the door quietly, and she heard the sound of a sigh. Hirano huffed on the other side, glancing at the door before standing up from the light green couch chair and pulling the doorknob downward.
Hirano blinked through her sunglasses. It was then that Haruka realized that she was the exact same height as she was. "Hitomi Izumi? The likes of you attempting to stand up to me after what I said…" Her words wandered off into the distance, leaving the two in an uncomfortable silence.
"I came here to give you something you accidentally dropped," Haruka muttered frankly as she held the familiar white-capped bottle out to her.
Hirano Aoi immediately grabbed the object from the pale-skinned girl's hand. "You shouldn't have seen this," she mumbled. She tapped the hard plastic, hearing the sound echo through the silent hall. "Well, now you know one."
"One what?" Haruka repeated dubiously with innocent eyes.
"You see, I have many secrets," Hirano whispered, leaning in closer, "and you just found out one. Every time you learn a secret, you figure out the real puzzle." A corner of the blue-haired girl's mouth curled upward, and she stepped back.
"I'll be looking forward for you to figure out what's laid out in front of you."
"Nanami-san!" Otoya cried through the hallway. "Don't open the—ah, Hirano-san…"
Hirano sighed silently. "Thank you for giving me this, Nanami Haruka," she thanked before shutting the door promptly in front of the orange-haired girl's nose. She rubbed the tender spot, turning around to face Otoya.
"She wasn't bad at all," she remarked in front of the scarlet-haired boy, who stared at her blankly. "She was actually very kind. She just needs to trust us… that's all."
I wonder what that secret thing Hirano-san was talking about, Haruka thought with a troubled look. Hirano-san's sick…she needs someone to watch over her, to take care of her.
She lifted her head to bear her orangish yellow-green eyes at Ittoki. "Ittoki-kun, we must take care of Hirano-san. She's sick, but insists that she takes care of it herself. I just can't watch her push us away like this."
Ittoki stared at the door. "Who is Hirano-san?" he mumbled, ruffling his flyaway, tousled red locks. They both turned to the door, their eyes full of curiosity and concern at who Hirano was.
Originally written on: February 24, 2014
Rewritten on: May 10, 2016