Hello all and welcome to another story with best girl Nico. There will be some changes to the setting: First, this story will focus on Nico, Eli, Maki, and Umi; don't be surprised if you don't see much of the other girls. Also, there will be some changes on how some characters act.

Other than that, enjoy.

"Blah" — Speech

'Blah' — Thoughts

[ Blah ] —Text

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Love Live! School Idol Project.

BANG!

"What is the meaning of this Honoka!?" Umi was standing with her hands on the table and glaring at Honoka.

"Ahh!" Honoka jumped back a little and tries to placate the seething blue-haired girl. "Look, this is just an experiment with you, Eli, and Maki."

Umi rubs her forehead and sighs, "That's not the problem; you just made this decision without talking to any one of us."

"I'm talking about it right now?"

Before Umi could throttle Honoka, Kotori saves the day. "While Honoka has... impeccable timing, are the three of you alright making a single?"

Umi, Maki, and Eli looked at each other in silence before Eli answered, "The schedule is going to be tight with our group event, but we can do it."

Honoka jumps up, "Hooray! Now let's think of a name."

Several minutes gone by as titles are being suggested for this mini group. So far, the trio is not satisfied.

Nico, who was been silent through this conversation, finally opened her mouth. "What about Soldier Game?"

All conversation dies out as they all turned to Nico. Maki was the one to ask her, "Why that one?"

Nico shrugged, "You girls give off a sharp, strict, and professional vibe. And the game part is slang that you're willing to do anything."

After moments of silence, Eli spoke, "We'll go with that name."

. . . . . . .

Rooftop

Some time later...

Honoka clapped her hands, "Alright girls that was good practice today so see all of you next week." The group starts to pack up and leave through the door. With mostly everyone gone, Nico was the last one still packing her clothes. But when she looked up, Umi was still there practicing. Nico walks closer to Umi to look at the routine. She notices that Umi looks stiff and plain on some parts. After Umi was done, Nico asks, "Practicing for Soldier Game?"

Umi turns around to look at Nico, "Oh. Yes; with two events coming up, I want to get this routine down."

"The events are a month apart so you have plenty of time." Nico sighed. "You're rushing things and because of that, you're dancing like a robot."

Umi frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Go through that dance again." Umi dances until Nico points out the first mistake. "Here, you too stiff on this part; be more fluid so you can have a smooth transition for the next part." 2nd mistake, "On this part, try to put more energy into it; if you don't put emotion into it, the audience will notice." And so, Nico continues to critique and correct Umi's routine.

With the sun going down, they decided to wrap it up. Nico picked up her bag and looked at Umi. "Alright, it's getting late so we're going to pick it up next time."

Umi wiped some sweat from her brow, "Thank you Nico; you really helped my form significantly."

"Before we go." Nico walks up to Umi, pressed two fingers at the corner of her lips, and pushed up. "You gotta smile more."

Umi blushed and pushed Nico's fingers away. "How shameless!"

Nico backed off, "Alright, alright. But one more thing." Nico pressed one of her finger on Umi's forehead. "Stop scowling so much; you're putting wrinkles on that cute face."

Umi pressed both hand on her red forehead. "Nico!"

Nico runs to the door, "AHAHAHAHA!"

. . . . . . .

Time goes on...

"~Hmmmm~" Nico was in a great mood today; the vending machine spit out extra cans for her. Now she is on her way home to put them on the fridge. But she slowed down when she hears piano notes coming from the music room. Curious, she walks over there to see who was playing. Just as she was about to open the door, a cacophony of notes rang out and the music stops. 'That's Maki.' Opening the door quietly and sure enough, Maki has her head down on the keyboard.

Nico sneaked her way behind Maki while rummaging in her bag. Picking a random can, she placed it against Maki's neck.

"Eek!" Maki jolted from her seat and looked behind her; Nico was smirking and was holding a can of tomato juice.

"Here, I think you need a break before your head breaks the piano."

Maki huffs and ignores Nico remark, but she still takes the offering and mumbles, "Thanks,"

"No prob." Nico plops down next to Maki. "So what's the problem?"

"I'm fine." Maki twirled a lock of her hair.

"Oh really," Nico smirked. "So you just decided to kiss the piano."

"That's not—" Maki sighs, "Fine; I'm stuck on some parts."

"Alright." Nico stood up and walked to the empty space. "Play it."

Maki sighed, but complied.

Nico taps her foot as the music fills the room. When Maki stops, Nico looks back at her, "It's too slow."

"Hah?"

"You gotta raise the beat and tempo to match your dance routine. Not only that, you girls are not the only ones on stage; the audience is there too. The music has to have a lot of energy that it surges through the crowd and make them want to dance with you."

"I don't understand."

Nico shrugs, "I can't exactly explain in technical terms; it's just a feeling I got." Then Nico posed. "After all, you've got a pro-idol in the making in front of you."

Maki scoffs, but doesn't bite off a remark.

"Oh shiz, I gotta go home." Nico rushes to her bag and picks it up. "See ya! Hope my advice pays off." And Nico is off.

Maki looks at the door for several seconds and shakes her head. "You're incorrigible." But Nico's advice has latched onto Maki's mind and is not planning to let go anytime soon.

. . . . . . .

Time after time...

For a while now, Nico noticed that Eli has been acting slow. Eli would lag behind their dance routines. She would take a second too long to answer questions. And the skin under her eyes is slightly discolored. Nico decided to do something about it before it gets worse.

Nico was walking toward the student council room where Eli was busy with paperwork. Opening the door, she sees Eli staring at the paper on the desk. "Damn Eli, you look like crap."

Eli looks up at Nico, "And hello to you too."

The petite girl walks over to stand behind Eli. Scowling at the paper, she plucks it from the desk and put it on the side.

"Wait, I need to finish that."

Nico looks incredulously back at Eli. "That paper looks like it was going to finish you. Where's Nozi?"

Eli sighs, "I told her to take over practice while I finish things here."

"Dammit." Nico pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right, let's go to the club room 'cause I'm going to work my magic fingers on you." The blonde was too tired to argue so she gets up and follows Nico.

Club Room

Nico cracks her fingers and gets ready to massage Eli. "Sit on the couch."

Eli complies and gets comfortable at the middle seat.

Softly gripping Eli's shoulder, Nico pressed her thumb on a knot on the shoulder. "Ohhh yeaaa." Eli moaned "You're so good."

Nico blushed at the lewd noise, but continued her ministrations. She needs a distraction. "What kept you busy?"

"Mnn?" Eli groaned, "It has been hectic trying to juggle between practice, school, and Soldier Game."

"Seriously Eli, you always do something like this; when a project comes up, you become hyper-focused. You need to take a break once in a while." Nico found another knot.

"I knowwwwww. It's a hard habit to break out of." They both lapse into comfortable silence.

Then Eli's head rolled back. "Eli? Holy crap, you're knocked out." Nico slowly lowered Eli down on the couch and brought her legs up. She starts her walk back to the student council office to bring back Eli's bag and paperwork. She can finish some of the papers here. Pausing at the door, Nico whispered, "Soldiers are in a squad, so rely more on your squad mates."

. . . . . . .

For the next three weeks, Nico has been supporting Soldier Game as much as she can; she would give tips or snacks for them. Not only that, the four of them grew closer to each other.

They performed spectacularly on the day of the event; the crowd went crazy over their performance.

After the event was done, the trio asked for Nico to come to their room.

Nico ran over and hugged all three of them. "Congratulation! That was amazing."

"It was not hard." Maki was the first to answer.

Umi was next, "We couldn't have done this without you."

Eli went last, "We want to thank you for all you've done for us. So let us show our gratitude." Eli holds one of Nico's hands and kissed the back of it.

"Whoa El— Eek!?" Nico jumped when Eli's other hand sneaked up Nico's cute butt and squeezed.

Not to be outdone, Maki gets behind Nico and hugged her.

"Eh?"

Surprised at the sudden action of the other two, Umi reacted and grabbed Nico's other hand. Not thinking clearly, Umi clamped her mouth on the hand and nibbled.

"Eh!?" Nico looks back and forth at all three of them. She starts to sweat and blush as all three of them stare at her like a piece of meat. 'Crap.'

.

And done! Phew! I'm surprised such a story came from a picture. If anyone is wondering what the picture is, it's the trio in their Soldier Game outfit surrounding Nico.

Now for a couple things to elaborate:

First off, I'm not great on music terms like notes, rhythm, and etc.
I can totally see Umi being stiff in her movements because of her background of archer and martial arts.
Maki seems the kind of girl to listen to advice when no one is around because she wants to save face and keep her pride.
Eli was more difficult because she seems to get shit done. But that made me realize that Eli doesn't know when to switch off, so to speak; her strength was a double-edged sword.

That seems to be about it so...

Thank you for reading

Constructive criticisms are appreciated

Bravo Tango out.