Nico was standing on a stage with 2 other people. All of them were standing side by side with smiles on their faces. She was waving her hands to everyone in the crowd as she gave her thanks to everyone who supported them. She gave her opening remarks before the three of them started their performance.
They danced gracefully whilst singing. Nico was the center while the other two were at the side. Both had difficult in dancing, the whole audience can tell that. Nico was the only one who danced gracefully.
"Thank you everyone!" one of the dancers said once the performance was over. "Let us hand it over to Nico-chan for her closing remarks."
"I don't really have anything to say…" Nico said nervously. But then she thought of something. "Thank you for watching us! Nico nico nii~!"
"And that is Otonokizaka's school idol group!" the announcer declared, clapping his hands. "Let's give a round of applause to 'Leveled!' We will now take a short break! Please stay tuned to 'School Idol Madness!' See you later!"
"We were awesome!" Nico complimented, her friends smiled slightly. "I know right?! You agree as well right?!"
"We do…" one of them, named Ichida Haya, nodded slightly. "We agree….right? Fukumi-chan?"
The girl mentioned smiled as well. "You're right Haya-chan."
"Amano Fukumi and Ichida Haya," Nico called, putting her arms around both of her peers. "You two did great!"
"Yeah, we did," Fukumi said, panting slightly. "But that was tiring."
"Indeed it is," Haya added, Nico laughed. "Why are you laughing?"
"Nothings wrong," Nico replied, but the two eyed her suspiciously. "I'm serious. I'm just happy."
"That we're tired?" Fukumi asked, Nico looked shocked. "Sorry."
"AND FOR THE LAST CONTESTANT 'LEVELED' FROM OTONOKIZAKA HIGH!"
"Didn't we already perform?" Haya pointed out, Fukumi went to her and pointed at Nico. "She made us perform one more time didn't she?"
"I think so," Fukumi answered. "Is that even allowed?"
"I bet it is," Haya said, shaking her head. "We're already tired for goodness sake!"
"Let's perform just one last time," Fukumi promised, holding her friend's hand. "Then we leave."
"Leave?!" Haya looked surprised. "Wouldn't Nico-chan get mad? It's her dream to become an idol."
"But her standards are too high and she keeps entering every single contest that is with related with school idols," Fukumi argued, tightening her grip around her friend's hand. "She doesn't even think about us! She doesn't even lower her standards no matter how much we complain. Besides, that group, I think it's called A-RISE. They'll win anyways. Nico would understand that."
"Fine…." Haya gave in and considered Fukumi's plan. "I am getting tired anyways…"
—
Nico was so happy. She was dancing with two of her friends on a stage she thought she'll never dance on. But here she is, dancing and singing a song she came up with.
Amano and Ichida on the other hand, they were exhausted but they gave it their all. After all, this was their last performance, their last live, their last time being an idol.
"AWESOME PERFORMANCE!" the host claps along with the audience. "BUT UNFORTUNATELY, A-RISE WINS!"
"What?!" Nico said in anger as the three of them were escorted off the stage.
—
It's been a week after 'Leveled' lost the competition. Nico was upset.
"We'll do this in three, two, one," Fukumi counted down. "Nico-chan, we have something to tell you."
"What?" Nico asked grumpily, using the computer she put in the club room. "What do you want?"
Haya mouthed a 'sorry' as she and Fukumi handed her a slip which made Nico's heart tear into pieces.
"You want to what?!" Nico yelled, slamming her hand on the table nearby. "After everything we've been through you two will just quit?! Our fans will be displeased when they hear about this."
"Fans? Fans?!" Fukumi said, rivaling Nico's voice. "Your standards are too high! Do you even care about us?! We're tired from dancing almost every time! You just drag us around joining every school idol related competition! Give us a break!"
"B-But I thought….." Nico looked at Haya and she looked similar to Fukumi, she just had more sympathy. "I though y-you two were o-okay with it."
"Obviously not!" Fukumi admitted, Nico held her head down in shame. "While you were happily looking at the crowd, we were panting. We were tired! But you did nothing, NOTHING. If you did something about it, we might have reconsidered our choice. But no, this is final."
"Fukumi-chan…." Haya said, fearing that both will fight. "Don't get too mad please…."
"I'm sorry that you had to endure hardships while I had fun; I'm sorry," Nico apologized, bowing afterwards. "Please leave if you wish to do so. Have a good day."
Fukumi and Haya pitied their friend and went up to them and hugged her tightly. Nico was surprised but returned the hug despite them leaving her soon.
"You'll find your place soon Nico-chan," Haya assured, Nico looked up and smiled. "This just isn't our place. Good luck Nico-chan."
—
Nico was doodling on paper. She sighed as she wrote something but then crossed it out. She shed some tears, enough for Eli and Nozomi to notice but Nico didn't mind.
"What's that Nico-chi?" Nozomi asked, looking at the paper and some…..stick figures. "I can't read it."
"You're not supposed to," Nico quietly replied, Eli though, took time in reading it. "Eli-chan?"
"Leveled? What's that?" Eli asked, two of their classmates, looked around and turned to Nico, smiling. "Oh..."
"I get it now," Nozomi said, smiling at Nico. "Don't worry. We won't leave you."
"I'll be counting on that," Nico replied, returning the smile. "I'll be counting on that.."
—
Umm…hi. If you read 'She's Changed' then you know the two characters I just used. I don't own Love Live! I tried to make it sad but I couldn't just do that so yeah. You know, I'm really thankful for the ones who liked 'Broken System' and 'Tripod.' ESPECIALLY 'Tripod', it was sooo short and..…weird. So yeah thanks and bye. See you next time! ;)