-IMPORTANT-
This is a disclaimer.
We started this Fic project on August/ September 2017, With the first Chapter of Masquerade being published on September.
We really TRY to be read as the real as possible so we do a lot of research for this Fic (And "Feelings Under a Mask" and "Lies Under a Mask" for that matter).
Last year in December a special broadcast, Shibuya Note, was presented as "Aqours Road to Tokyo Dome" where they published some unseen footage of their first meeting.
Of course, at the time we wrote this chapter (August 2017) we didn't (we couldn't) know about it more than with the information we got at the time, such as interviews or comments the girls did on the radio broadcast, so we filled the blanks.
Of course, it's not our intention to change the chapter to try to match reality as we usually try to do, but to make sure that we are aware about that footage and that we wrote this chapter before Shubuya Note, that's why the setting is NOT consequent with reality.
Said that, you are ready to go!
Thanks for reading!
Masquerade intends to tell the story and development of Aqours in the "Idol world", some facts are maybe not that accurate, but we tried to match reality while doing some research...
Something to have in mind;
-o0o- (Skip in year)
-*oo*- ( Skip in days)
-0oo0- (End of chapter)
Masquerade.
Chapter 1.
This was confusing, how had this even happened? How did this situation become so damn stressing? She was puzzled. Suwa Nanaka was troubled; she had a deep attraction to two different people.
-o0o (Skip in year, 2015)-
Not so long ago, she received this huge opportunity from her agency to audition for the second generation of the Love Live! Franchise, Love Live! Sunshine was its name.
Paper in hand, and feeling a little awkward about how she had dressed, she tried for it.
She was auditioning for the role of "Matsuura Kanan"; a teenage girl aiming to become a school idol with her high-school friends. Being a fan of the franchise, she was no stranger to almost anything, she was actually excited. Even if the role she was auditioning for, was quite opposite to her; a cheerful girl, with lots of stamina and "muscles to show off".
She wasn't any of that.
Suwa Nanaka was a quiet girl, in her early 20s, thin, calm and almost s sleepy girl, really into female fashion with simple frilly blouses, however, after discussing with her manager over this unique role, she decided to attend the audition in a simple, and slightly boyish outfit, (here the awkward feeling).
Even imitating her character's ponytail in her hairstyle, she really, really wanted this role, more than the other 8 roles to her disposal.
She tried in her calm and carefree way to audition. Actually, she didn't pay any mind of her surroundings, she never did anyway, not because she was nervous or freaking out, it was just because she lived in her own world.
A calm and slow world.
So, even if she felt awkward, even if she felt nervous, well, no one could tell.
She tried so hard to memorize the script given for the role of Kanan, but her mind just went blank, somehow, she had managed to go through it, and passed the audition with shining colors.
Suwa Nanaka had the role of Matsuura Kanan.
-*o( Skip in days) o*-
Why was this role so important?
Well, she indeed had had a few minor seiyuu roles in some countless video games series, and she was also a radio personality; this wasn't her debut in the animation industry either, but it was her debut in something as big as the Love Live! franchise. And this meant her first major role in an anime.
C'mon! This was huge.
Paper in hand once again, she was trying to convince herself again that this was big, important and a very exciting opportunity to kick off her career.
Nanaka was walking through a hallway, serenely at her own pace, today was the very first time she was going to meet her new fellow coworkers, and future friends on this new project.
Being the fan she was of the franchise, she knew her predecessor were 9 girls who had gone from coworkers, to very close friends; 5 whole years stuck together with each other, performing, singing, and dancing.
This thought made her heart skip a beat. How would her new teammates be?
Was she going to fit in well?
She couldn't ask herself more questions about it, she was already there.
She entered into a conference room; it was a quiet room, she could hear some low chitchat, she thought she was the first one coming in, but she was wrong, there were 6 other girls already inside, sitting at a big table.
She smiled sweetly towards the girls, who just give a glanced at her, she muttered a sweet "good morning" to her fellow teammates to be, but no one gave her anything but a small bow, they quickly went back to their respective chitchat.
Even if everyone looked shy about the situation, it seemed to be lively in a way, and that was natural, it was their first time meeting each other.
Nanaka took a seat.
In front of her, there was a tall girl, who seemed to be really excited, talking with a short one, who kept taking estrange glances to the girls at the end of the table, it seemed she had a high-pitched voice, and tended to smile a lot.
Maybe she was someone really easy going?
Nanaka set her papers on the table in front of her, and quickly scanned across the table to her right.
There were two other girls chitchatting more calmly; the one at the end of the table had really big expressive eyes, looked tall, and a bit serious, her chitchat companion was a girl, not that tall and seemed to have an easy smile.
At Nanaka's right, where the remaining two girls, one of them was really into the conversation that was happening in front of her, while the last one, the one who was at the end of the table, was too focused looking at the "big expressive eyes" girl.
But for Nanaka it was a bit difficult to distinguish her, she was just too short for Nanaka to see clearly.
It was a 30-second glimpse of these girls, and she returned to her papers in front of her, her attention snapped by a cute voice on her left.
"I didn't recognize you without your boyish outfit..." she heard.
Nanaka turned her attention to her left; a cute girl with puffy cheeks, long black hair and a sweet smile, was just standing there beside her.
"...But I would like to say that this outfit looks better on ya'." Said this girl, and then smiled even wider at her.
Nanaka opened her eyes wide and lifted her eyebrows; she tried to say something clever, but she was overwhelmed, instead, she blinked not once, nor twice, but three times.
"What?" She managed to say.
The girl just smiled even wider, she looked over at the other girls.
"Good morning everyone!" she said with a sweet tone.
Then she just dropped her folder on the table in front of her, all the girls said a weak "good morning". She took a seat at Nanaka's left.
This girl was just wearing jeans, boots, a leather jacket and her hair down with a cap, very "boyish".
Nanaka just looked at her with a blank expression, trying to figure out if she actually knew this girl. Maybe this girl had noticed her because of how she had dressed for the audition. And of course she had caught this girl's attention today, because now she was wearing her girly style, as always.
"I'm Saito Shuka, nice to meet ya'."
The girl spoke again with a lot of energy, looking right into Nanaka's eyes, and giving her a wide smile again.
Nanaka blinked once again, but managed to return a smile.
"Suwa Nanaka, nice to meet you."
Nanaka did a small bow; Shuka smiled even wider, showing her teeth and bowing as well.
"I saw you on the day of the audition, I'm really happy to see you passed…" Saito-san added quickly, turning her gaze away from Nanaka "…I heard you drew a blank on the script reading section, but you nailed it on the sing and dance part."
Ok, who is this girl?
Nanaka thought.
"Well, I'm not a great dancer, but I like it, I'm happy to have passed the audition too." said Nanaka, and then added a tiny smile. "Who's your character?"
"Watanabe You." Saito-san smiled again, wider.
Nanaka remembered this character quite well; in fact, she dismissed auditioning for that role, because it was really out of character, a girl full of energy, really energetic.
For her, Kanan was a character that, even if enthusiastic, looked so calm, so gentle, and maybe a bit like her.
Anyways, the conversation came to an end when the 8 girls had to turn back to the door, where another girl made her entrance with a few older members, whom you can presume, were the staff for the project.
The girl sat at Shuka's left, dropped her papers on the table, gave a small bow and smiled to the 8 girls, and quietly took her seat.
The 9 girls looked forward to the staff.
They were 3 people, two women and a man. One of the women had a lot of paper sheets in her hands, while the other had something like a notebook and pen in hand. The man had nothing to him, just a big smile.
"Congratulations everyone! And welcome to the Love Live! Sunshine project," the man started speaking in a high and clear voice, almost as if he was shouting. "...I'm the Chief of Staff, and they are my assistants, and maybe your new best friends. Any question, or doubt, please refer to them, don't hesitate to ask."
He paused for the women to introduce themselves, and then he said his name, all the girls bowed.
"Here, this are your schedules for the next 6 months, we don't have time to waste"
The woman with the papers started to hand some more to each girl, everyone said a shy "thank you" in return.
Basically, the man wasn't smooth about it.
Love Live!, μ's, (their predecessors) was going to end next year, on a final Live in March/April, and they were the ones to follow their legacy, to start a new group, and do everything μ's did, but better.
It seemed that they were all really young, and full of potential, and now that μ's had made the franchise grow this big, someone had to profit from it.
For Nanaka, someone who goes at her own pace, it was quite a speech. She picked up her new schedule while the Chief of Staff was explaining why they were there, and almost fainted when she took a look at it; for the next 6 month she was full of rehearsals, song recordings, radio broadcasts, niconamas, fan meetings, meetings in general, events around Japan and heavy training.
She snapped out of the sheets of papers to catch the chief saying.
"... And this is the beginning, we will print your schedules for the rest of the year on another occasion, but trust me, we have big plans for all of you."
The hell they had.
Nanaka took a glimpse to her fellow companions. It seemed that everyone was in quite a shock.
Maybe it was a little too much?
She hadn't noticed before, but the woman with the notebook had started writing and taking notes about everything that was happening.
All gazes returned to the Chief, who started explaining again that they couldn't take another 6 years to take it easy.
It was understandable, μ's took that long because the concept of "school idols" was quite new, the fans, the industry was hard to penetrate, and they had taken 2 years to have their first Live, it had been a process of trial and error. And of course, it was a project that no one had put much faith on.
But it had succeeded, it had grown, and now they were there, in a way, taking advantage of the fame and glory that somebody else had built. But now, they were kind of too old to keep at it, so they needed new blood to make it grow even bigger, and enjoy the profits and benefits from those who had made this happened.
Nanaka shrank and frowned at that.
The assistants handed more papers to the girls, they all answered again with a shy "thank you" and a bow.
The man continued.
"So, in order to prepare all of you quickly enough, we planned a special training camp for you for August..."
Nanaka looked at the newer papers, she was overwhelmed again, it was a 3 day, 4 night training camp. It seemed that everything was really figured it out; heavy training, recording, dance classes, vocal classes, and at the end, some kind of mini live at an event in January, 2016.
Almost a year from now.
Oh, my God.
" ... Of course, before the training camp, we want you to follow your respective schedules, such as recording the drama CDs, and learning more about the project. You will have interviews and insights with the creators and character designers; we want you to be one with your characters, and the 9 of you to become a whole group." The Chief of Staff said, and then had smiled smugly and proudly.
Nanaka believed she had heard some heads exploding (including hers), and felt some killer instinct against that smile in particular.
μ's final live and goodbye event was going to be a year from then, but they were preparing them from now on to be the idols they needed to be, to receive the legacy they would have to keep and improve?
This wasn't going to be easy, and maybe they all knew that.
"Well…" The Chief continued "... If there's nothing left for me to say, please follow the schedule at every word, never be late, and please do your best. Now I will let you introduce yourselves to your fellow companions..."
He took a step back and let the woman with the notebook speak.
"I'll call you by your last name, please stand up, introduce yourself; last name, name, age, and role, thank you."
The woman took a breath and started reading; the first call was for "Inami Anju".
Surprised, the girl who had entered last with the staff, stood up.
She wasn't very tall; had long hair, big eyes, and a shy smile.
She looked at every girl at the table and gave them a shy nod.
"Hi~, my name is Inami Anju, I'm 19 years old, and my role is Takami Chika."
Her way of talk was kind of slow, a little shy maybe? And her tone was kind of cute, after hearing her role in the project, everyone followed with a low "oh"
Chika was the designated leader for the Sunshine project, which meant, Inami-san was the 'would be' leader of the group.
"Nice to meet you, everyone, I'm looking forward to working with all of you, please take care of me."
Inami-san took her seat, followed by some applause from the girls and the staff.
The woman called for the next.
"Aida Rikako".
The girl sitting in front of Nanaka, the girl with an easy smile, who had been talking with the very "expressive eyed" girl, stood up.
She wasn't tall or short, she had long hair, and of course, she showed her characteristic smile.
"Hi, I'm Aida Rikako, 22 years old, and I'll be playing Sakurauchi Riko." Her tone was sweet and calm. "Please let's get along"
She bowed and everyone clapped, then she took her seat.
Nanaka was next, so she stood up, and took her time to have the best look of all the girls, in particular, the short one at the end of the table; the girl answered that look with a goofy smile.
Cute
Nanaka looked at her left and saw a smiling Saito-san.
Cute too... My, I'm surrounded by cute girls...
Nanaka cleared her throat.
"Hi, I'm Suwa Nanaka, I'm 20 years old, and my role is Matsuura Kanan, nice to meet you all"
She bowed, gave them a faint smile and sat again.
To her surprise, Saito-san was next; she stood up and almost pushed her chair over.
Her voice was full of energy; also, she displayed her pure and wide smile.
"Hi~! I'm Saito Shuka, you can call me Shu-chan, and I'm 18 years old! And I play the role of Watanabe You!"
She ended with her hand doing a salute, just like a sailor would.
Nanaka recognized that pose to be the one that Saito-san's character was doing in the character design sheet they were given on the audition.
Nanaka opened her eyes. Wide.
Just how much energy does this girl have?
She wasn't the only one; she could see an "o" drawn on almost every girl's face.
Nanaka smiled at Saito-san, who took a seat and gave her a big smile in return.
"There!" the Chief of Staff shouted, making all the girls jump a bit in their seats. "That's what I was looking for; you should say your nicknames in your introduction, which will give you an extra charm point with the audience!"
Nanaka did a double take.
They hadn't even started yet and he is looking for that now?
A nickname? Charm points with the audience?
Really?
Nanaka sure believed him now with this "no time to waste" thing; she blinked and noticed the short girl in front of her again, the one with the assumed high pitch, she kept giving strange glances to the girls at the end of the table. Somehow the girl, with big expressive eyes looked troubled.
She returned her gaze to her papers and schedule.
Oh sweet buttery pancakes, how was she going to do all of this? What about her Radio broadcast? Her other seiyuu activities? How on earth was she going to survive all that practice and stuff?
She snapped out from her world when everybody clapped, she gave a little jump in her seat; then saw the big expressive eyed girl taking a seat; it seemed she had missed her presentation.
"Were you daydreaming or something? " Saito-san asked Nanaka in a whisper, she felt her cheeks turning red; Shuka smiled.
"Her name is Komiya Arisa, she likes to be called Arisha, and she is 21."
Nanaka looked over at Komiya-san; she really looked mature, and somehow serious.
"She has the Role of Kurosawa Dia." Saito-san finished, Nanaka nodded in response.
Later on, they learned that the tall girl who had been talking with the high-pitched one, was called Takatsuki Kanako, and her nickname was "Takatsuking" or "Kyanako", 21 years and the voice of Kunikida Hanamaru.
The one seated on Nanaka's right was called Kobayashi Aika, people called her Aikyan, also 21 years old; and the high-pitched girl was called Furihata Ai, 20 years old, and liked to be called "Aiai or Furirin", and God she was so short.
And finally, the last girl at the end of the table stood up. She had been quiet all that time, staring at Komiya-san in awe this whole time, Nanaka shook her head and moved her body a bit back, she really wanted to see her clearly. If Furihata-san was short, well this girl was the shortest.
The girl smiled, and it was really sweet, she had big eyes, black and straight hair, puffy cheeks. She noticed Nanaka's curious eyes, and once again gave her a goofy smile, Nanaka was in awe.
"Hi~"
The girl said in a high pitch. Everyone opened their eyes wide at her in surprise. Nanaka thought she would have a soft voice, not this high pitch.
The girl seemed nervous, so she started to play with her hands.
"I'm Suzuki Aina, please call me Ainya, I'm 19 years old, and I'll be voicing Ohara Mari~" this sentence was in a normal tone, people opened their eyes even wider this time.
"Let's get along…"
The last sentence was in a soft tone.
That was interesting.
How many voices and tones does this girl have?
Suzuki-san took a seat, everybody clapped again.
The Chief of Staff stepped to the front once again and cleared his throat.
"The project will officially start on Dengeki G's Magazine's website, which will correspond to April's edition. It will begin with a key visual..."
April?! That means it will come out in February.
Nanaka lifted her eyebrows.
"…The edition will be out on Thursday 26" said the Chief of Staff.
Man! That's like in two weeks!
"... So we will start as soon as possible, welcome aboard, and please do your best."
With that, he bowed, the girls bowed and the assistants bowed.
Then the three of them went out of the room, leaving the girls on their own.
Silence hung thick in the air.
"There are times like that, aren't there?" said Furihata-san suddenly, in a totally different pitch, everyone looked at her with funny faces, some of them even giggled.
"So it seems." finished Takatsuki-san, who started clearing all her papers and collecting them in her folder.
"Is it me, or this feels a little bit rushed?" said Inami-san with a shy smile.
"What do you mean?" Saito-san asked with a sweet and naive tone, almost innocent. Nanaka became uneasy in her seat and looked for her folder in her bag to put her papers away.
"It seems like we are a replacement for μ's." sentenced Kobayashi-san with a bit of a sad tone.
Nanaka put her folder on top of the table and started collecting all her papers inside.
Of course, we ARE their replacement...
"I mean, they finished their last Live a week ago…" Said Inami-san again "...And a movie was announced, if they are going to say goodbye next year, they still have this year to keep doing things, Why would they start a new project so soon?"
They all started to speak at the same time, with different theories, and in different tones. It seems that the shy environment was cracking.
Nanaka didn't say anything; did it matter if it was this early anyway?
She finished putting everything away and took a look at her new companions.
She opened her eyes wide.
God, they were so…
Loud.
To her left, Inami-san and Saito-san were talking really vividly with Takatsuki-san and Furihata-san, while to her right, Aida-san, Kobayashi-san, and Suzuki-San were discussing other things. Komiya-san seemed annoyed; maybe she also thought they were too loud? She stood up suddenly.
"Ok girls…"She said loud and clear, all of them fell silent, looking at her.
"... I think it doesn't matter that… In fact, I believe they are being really considerate of us, they are giving us a year to prepare ourselves."Nanaka nodded almost naturally "…μ's is not something we should take lightly, and we need to be at their level."
"This can backfire so badly."
Every pair of eyes landed on Nanaka's words; she was surprised to have said that out loud. She brought her hand to her mouth, her cheeks turning red.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh my, you are right!"
Suzuki-san snapped with a high pitch, making them jump in their seats, Nanaka removed her hands and looked over at Suzuki-san; she gave her a concerned look, but later smiled sweetly.
Now, all looks were on Suzuki-san.
"Care to explain?" Said Inami-san.
"μ's is something big, and they are going to end, we ARE their replacement, there's this big chance that our acceptance by the fans is going to be equal to zero, they may see us as a cheap imitation of them."
Nanaka nodded at Suzuki-san, they shared a smile.
It seemed that behind that goofy smile, and those big and shiny eyes, there was someone serious.
"Well…we can't take that chance…" said Inami-San "…you are right, this can backfire in a very bad way at us, but!…" she took a few seconds for drama"… We will go thru it! I believe in us. The nine of us."
Nanaka didn't know if that speech was because she was playing Chika-chan, the meant to be the leader of the group, or because she really believe in them, 8 people that she had just met, but everyone smiled at her or nodded at her in response.
"It's on us to make that happen." Komiya-san added.
"Good!" Saito-san stood up abruptly, and every eye was on her.
"Now that we finally have met, I think we should share our phone numbers!"
Saito-san brought her phone out, smiling.
"Oh~ that's a nice move!"
Furihata-san said standing up and also bringing her phone out. She suddenly turned her sigh to Takatsuki-san.
"You know, I think your nickname is just too long, how about "King"?"
Takatsuki-san smiled and looked up for everyone's approval; seeing that everybody nodded for the new nickname, she cheerfully spoke.
"You are right! King it is then, now let's make a Line Chat group!"
She stood up following Furihata-san and Saito-san.
Nanaka looked at King; she indeed was the tallest of them all.
It made a funny picture to see Furihata-san and King standing beside each other.
Then she stood up like everybody else and saw all of them bringing out their phones.
A Line chat group huh?
Well, that makes sense; they would be stuck together for a few years from now on.
Furihata-san was the one in charge of making the chat group and collecting the phone numbers; everybody seemed to recover their vivid mood and started to chitchat again.
"Ne...ne..."
Called Saito-san on Nanaka's left, she just had her phone returned to her by Furihata-san. There was something so cute about Saito-san's tone, this made Nanaka's heart skip a beat. She felt her sugar levels go above her head, her cheeks becoming bright red. She turned to Saito-san's attention.
"...Suwa-san... How, er… eto, er..."
She felt really frustrated, but the smile on Saito-san's face never disappeared, Nanaka smiled, she really thought that she could die right there.
"Excuse me!..."
A high tone interrupted the moment, everybody looking towards little Suzuki-san, who manage to make herself noticed with her high pitched range; phone in hand, she walked towards them.
" ... There are some of you that didn't say their nicknames, or how you want to be called, I would like to save you with that name on my contact list if that's ok?"
Suzuki-san gave them a cute smile.
" Right!" Shouted Inami-San "We didn't have the chance because it was Shuka-chan's idea!
"Shuka-chan?" murmured Saito-san, Nanaka giggled.
"Well you can call me Anju, but if you like, it can be Anchan too! Since I'm one of the youngest among us, I just turned 19 last week..."
That was followed with an "oh~" from everybody, and a quick "congratulations" and "happy belated birthday".
They learned that Furihata-San was next in line for her birthday, and that Komiya-san's had also been the previous week.
"I think we can call you Rikyako!." said Kobayashi-san pointing at Aida-San, she smiled and agreed to that.
"And what about "Shukashuu"? Said Kobayashi-san towards Saito-san, she just smiled, and everybody agreed with that nickname.
"I think it's cute" quoted Nanaka by her side, Saito-san smiled wider.
"Then Shukashuu it is!" said proudly Saito-san.
Everybody finished typing on their phones.
Soon all gazes were on Nanaka.
"Suwa-San?" Suzuki-san called.
"Eh, a nickname..."
She hesitated to speak, she wasn't that confident with the nickname she had received some time ago.
"Suwawa." She finally said.
"Suwawa~!" high pitched Suzuki-San repeated with a wide smile and enthusiasm.
"So cute~!"
Saito-san said bringing her phone out again.
She started typing and saving the number; Nanaka peeked at Saito-san's typing, she wasn't typing "Suwawa" at all, instead, she wrote "Osuwa".
Nanaka giggle.
"What's with that?"
"Well, everybody here will save you as "Suwawa", I'll be different,"
Shuka said closing her phone and putting it away, giving her a grin.
"Then I'll save you as Shuka" said Nanaka.
They shared a smile with each other.
Soon everybody had left the dense topic of work and their schedules, and started talking about anything else, about themselves and how they came to this job. The shy environment was already gone, and everyone was more calm and relaxed.
Soon Nanaka had to leave, so she stood up and excused herself.
Shuka gave her a sad look and stood too.
Nanaka bowed and said goodbye to them. Some of them stood too when they realized that it was late and some of them had other jobs or things to do, rather than being there "wasting" time.
She quietly left the conference room at her normal peace. Shuka was fast enough to catch up with her at the end of the hall.
"Suwa -san!"
Nanaka turned and smiled at her.
"What's the hurry?!" asked Shuka.
She could see a genuine sad smile on Shuka's face, it melted her heart.
"Got to work on my broadcast today." she said in her easy tone, and she started walking again, Shuka followed through.
"Oh~ so do you have another job?"
"Yes, I do... I work on a radio show, and I had some minor role as a seiyuu..."
They were heading to the building's main entrance, Shuka just hummed.
"Does Shuka have another job?" Nanaka asked with a singsong voice.
"Oh, no, this is my first job in the animation industry and as a Seiyuu..." Her tone was kind of sad.
Nanaka noticed it, her smile faded.
"It's ok." said Nanaka, taking Shuka's right hand in hers, not really understanding why. She gave her a little squeeze.
"This is gonna be huge for all of us, and we will be fine, you will see, this is just the first step."
Nanaka left her hand and gave her a sweet smile and wave.
"See you Shukashuu~."
With that, Nanaka left the building, heading at her own pace and in her own world, to her broadcast appointment, leaving an astonished Saito Shuka by the building door.
"She sure is something, don't you think?"
Shuka looked to her right; Suzuki Aina was standing at her side, looking at how Suwawa swung her hips while walking at her own pace.
Shuka just returned her sight to Nanaka.
"How can she be so quiet I wonder?!~" Suzuki-san added.
Shuka just snorted about that last line because of the high-pitched tone of Suzuki-san.
"You know, Suzuki San…" Shuka smiled with her teeth, still looking through the glass door. "...You sure sound like an old man when you laugh."
"Ehh~! No way, no way, whatyousayin~" Suzuki-san stomped her own words, Shuka just giggle.
Later that night, Nanaka was in the radio station, minutes before starting her broadcast. Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket; she looked at it, she had received a new text message in her Line app, she just gave it a quick glimpse, but it was enough for her heart to stop.
"Osuwa san~! Have a great broadcast today! I'll be listening to you~ do your best! (づ￣³)づ"
The message was from Shuka, she couldn't help but get a goofy smile on her face.
"Good news?" Her co-worker asked, grinning.
"Maybe, I don't know yet" said Nanaka, putting her phone away.
That broadcast was the best show she had had in months.
-*o ( Skip in days) o*-
Once again, papers in hand, but this time in some kind of a rush, Nanaka was jogging (slowly) through the halls of the Lantis building (the recording company) to get to her appointment.
The previous night, her recording session for one of her minor roles had been until late, so she had been able to sleep in that morning, and now she was in a rush - kind of- to meet everybody.
To her surprise, it seemed that everybody was late, the only one in was Anchan, who greeted her with a wide smile and a loud good morning.
"Morning~…" replied Nanaka with a singsong voice "I thought I was late..." she sat across from Anchan at the table and put her papers down.
"You know, you can use a folder... Those are a lot of papers." said Anchan.
Nanaka just replied with a quiet "uhm". She had a folder in her bag, but had been in such a rush, that she hadn't had time to put them in it. Anchan just smiled and continued. "I made a mistake with the hours..." she said kind of embarrassed "…And I came one hour early, I believe you did too."
"What?" said Nanaka opening her eyes wide, like two fried eggs.
"Yeah, I misunderstood the time in the schedule, and I wrote the wrong time on the chat group..." she scratched the back of her neck, while Nanaka moved her papers over and over to see the actual schedule for today. Indeed, Anchan was right, and she had come in 30 minutes early, when she thought she was already too late.
After the first meeting, the 9 members had started a chat group on the Line App. For Nanaka, it was a non-stop spam chat that never slept.
Aiai, Aikyan, and King were full of energy all the time, sending pictures, videos and talking about whatever nonsense they were doing.
Shukashuu and Anchan were some kinds of a dorky pair, along with Aina's weird sounds and stickers. It seemed that the only normal people were Arisha, Rikyako and herself.
Her interactions were just sharp, precise and only when needed.
She actually loved to sleep, so her sleeping hours had always been gold to her, so after a certain hour, she just silenced her phone and the world could end for all she cared.
Last night hadn't been an exception, she silenced her phone just before she saw Anchan's message that the meeting was at 8 am.
She woke up with that in mind, and seeing the time, she just rushed to the Lantis building, even forgetting her contacts, so she was wearing her glasses.
She simply sighed and gave Inami-San a tired smile.
"Sorry..." said Anchan with a shy smiled.
Nanaka just took the folder out of her bag and put her papers inside.
"Don't worry." said Nanaka in her monotone.
Just what kind of leader is she gonna be, acting like that?
"Oh~! Morning!" said Aiai in her high-pitched tone, as she came in the door. "I thought I was going to be the first one in!"
"Morning Furihata-San" said Nanaka, maybe too politely.
Even if they used their nicknames and names, this was her second meeting. For her, it was a little bit awkward to not be polite. At least with most of them, she had some kind of special treatment with Shuka, and maybe Ainya?
"Morning Furirin~!" said Inami-San with a smile. "You didn't mix up the time, did you?"
"No, I like to be early." she blinked, then took a seat at Anchan's right.
"Oh my, don't say! Both of you misunderstood the time!" she said in awe, Nanaka just rolled her eyes, she didn't get enough sleep. She was actually tired at this time in the morning, Anchan just giggled.
"Nice glasses Suwawa~" said Aiai in the end.
"Yeah, nice glasses Suwa-San, now we can't see your eyes," said Anchan with a mocking smile.
"I forgot my contacts..."
"Please call me Furirin, or Aiai." she said to Nanaka; who just nodded. "So, what do you think are we going to do today?"
"I believe today we will have some insight into the characters." said Anchan.
"My, I was reading my audition script last night, it seems my character is a crybaby." said Aiai a little bit annoyed. "You know, high-pitched, slow-talking crybaby."
"Well, it suits you right" Said Anchan with her mocking face.
Nanaka decided she had enough, even if she hadn't; it was just so damn early! She didn't have any breakfast, and she knew well that when everybody was in that room, it would become loud as hell. So she stood up.
"Excuse me, I'm going to the vending machine."
With that said, she left the two of them chitchatting about how stupid the 'Chika' character of was.
The vending machine was in the hall, not far from the conference room. She took her time to decide what to buy. She decided on some orange juice and a pack of cookies. Not healthy, not in the mood for healthy anyways.
She was taking her cookies out when she heard her name being almost shouted across the hall. That was enough to snap her out of her morning slumber.
"Suwawa~!"
Suzuki Aina was there, happy as always, and to Nanaka's surprise, Shuka was with her.
"Suwawa," Shuka repeated, her cheeks becoming a little bit red.
Nanaka smiled at the two of them.
"Morning, Shukashuu, Ainya." Shuka smiled wide, while Aina gave her a goofy grin.
"Aren't you cute?!~ " said Aina loudly again, "I almost didn't recognize you with your glasses!"
Nanaka shrugged, was that really weird?!
"I forgot my contacts" she hurried to say, almost shaking her snacks in her hands, Aina just walked by her to the room, laughing like an old man. Nanaka could hear her saying good morning to the girls inside.
"I think you look cute." she heard Shuka say; Nanaka turned around and saw Shuka was still smiling at her, with her sweet smile, and sweet cheeks, and her glowing eyes...
...Ok. Stop!
She couldn't help but smile back at her with a stupid grin and said again, "I forgot my contacts"
"I know." Shuka answered, not taking her eyes away from her.
Both shared a smile.
"I recognized you because of your cute outfit, but it looks cuter with your glasses. I think you look like a doll."
"Thank you, you look nice too" said Nanaka shyly. That wasn't a lie, she really looked cute, nice and beautiful...
Something was wrong. Nanaka stopped herself.
"Want some?" she offered her snacks to Shuka, in a way to take Shuka's attention away from her. And being with her cool and peaceful 'Suwa face', she hid the fact that she was fangirling on the inside.
"Sure! I love cookies!" said Shuka with energy.
Nanaka's cheek became wild red
Stop it Nanaka! Get yourself together!
She handed her the pack of cookies, sharing some smiles and glances.
"Hey! Shuka-chan!" said Anchan, both of them snapped, while she emerged from the room's door, "Ainya told me you were here too, come inside to play! What's taking you so long?!~"
It was almost a whine, Shuka just smiled at Anchan.
Nanaka just had her poker face on.
"Morning An-chan! Just grabbing some cookies~" Shuka took a few cookies and winked Suwawa. Then entered the room.
Nanaka was left in awe. It took her almost a full minute to recover from that.
She was snapped out of her world by greetings from Arisa and King, whom after saying their "good mornings" made some compliments about her glasses.
She drank her juice and ate some of the cookies outside the room. Taking a special mental note that no matter what, from now on, she COULDN'T forget her contacts again.
She entered the room, and as she had thought, it was loud as hell. The only one that wasn't making loud noises was Arisa.
Nanaka took her seat and put her cookies away.
Later on, Aikyan and Rikyako entered the room, followed by the well-known Chief of staff and his assistants.
Again there was that woman loaded with folders and papers, while the other one took a seat at the back of the conference room, pen in hand, and started writing stuff in her notebook.
Creep.
"Morning ladies~!" greeted the Chief of staff, "Glad to see everybody on time, good."
Nanaka could hear some giggles and complicit glances towards each other, most of them over Anchan.
"Today we will learn more about the project and the characters…" continued the Chief, while the woman with the papers started handing a folder to each girl, "If you recall, Love Live girls have their own personality, faculties and color image."
Nanaka received a green folder. Shuka, who was seated to her right, had a light blue folder; she lifted her eyebrows.
Green? I thought her color image was gonna be blue...
"Your predecessor figured this out with time, polls and maybe by mistake, but this is not going to be your case, you will become your characters, your characters will be an extension of yourselves." his tone was kind of harsh. "So please open your folders…"
Everybody did what they were told, Nanaka was greeted by a picture of Kanan, her character.
"For all of you, everything has been sorted out, your image color, your personality, even the way you look, has to be like your character."
Suzuki Aina lifted her right hand asking permission to speak, the Chief nodded.
"My character is blonde! That means I have to change my hair color?!" she asked a little bit afraid, the girls giggled, and Nanaka shared a smile with her.
Kanan's hair was blue, and Nanaka was just thinking about returning to her natural black color after she dyed it brown.
"Oh my God, Ruby's is a furious red!" whined Aiai, everybody laughed at her high-pitched tone.
"Of course you don't have to dye your hair, 'Ayase Eli's' VA didn't dye her hair, she just stuck with the hairstyle, if you want to get close to the tone of the character's hair, that's fine too" the Chief finally said.
Nanaka sighted relieved, she would just have to put do ponytail and that was it.
"That means I'll have to cut my hair…" Nanaka could hear Shuka mumbling on her seat.
"In the folder, you can find your character's background, preferences, hobbies and a short introduction, that you will finally be able to learn it by heart."
Everybody started to look at some of the pages.
"… We will start a poll on Dengeki G's Magazine about the girl's personality, but of course, it will be limited to some alternatives based on what we saw in your auditions, we didn't pick you just for your dance or singing abilities only, we saw something in your personalities and physical characteristics that should fit with the character."
With that said, Nanaka looked at a special phrase on her character profile: "Kanan is proud of her nice body".
She frowned; she knew she wasn't the typical energetic Seiyuu, but clearly, she had not been chosen for her "nice body". Even if she was doing a strict diet for the sake of the audition, but still, she didn't have that "nice body".
"For example, despite all the amazing attributes and skills, Komiya-san fits perfectly with the character of Kurosawa Dia, physically speaking, while Suzuki-san has an amazing voice, she has that irreverent humor we are looking for Ohara Mari"
Arisha nodded, it seemed like she knew that, while Ainya just made a sound of surprise.
"At the end, we want that every fan who thinks about your character, also thinks about you."
Everyone in the room nodded.
Suddenly the door opened and two more people entered, the Chief of the staff introduced them as the art director-character designer and the screenwriter, basically the master minds behind these characters.
After some strenuous hours of intense insight into the project, every girl practically knew her role in the Love Live! franchise. Or at least, the basics.
They learned that the story would be centered first on the 2nd years' girls, just like their predecessors, in Shizuoka province, in Numazu.
And the plot would be, "9 girls saving their school from merging in with another, and avoid its closing." (Just like their predecessors) and in time, the leader, Takami Chika, would recruit the 8 other girls in order to save this "Uranohoshi Girls High School".
So far, nothing really new for them.
They learned that 'Takami Chika' is a second year student, bored of being a normal girl and obsessed with school idols, tried to get her friends to form a group of their own following what μ's had done.
She would recruit 'Watanabe You', her childhood friend, also a second year, who is really energetic and athletic. On the other hand, a second year, 'Sakurauchi Riko', a piano prodigy, would be a transfer student from no other school than "Otonokizaka High School" (where their predecessors had studied), who thought of herself as a plain person.
Soon the first years would be following Chika's crazy idea, with 'Kurosawa Ruby', a crybaby, fan of idols (and μ's of course), with her childhood friend 'Kunikida Hanamaru', a nerdy library mouse, fan of books and old fashion style, that ended her sentences with the word "zura", and with a weird girl with Chuunibyou issues, called 'Tsushima Yoshiko', but refered to herself as 'Yohane', "The Fallen Angel".
So far, this also looked very, very familiar.
Of course, this project had a 3rd years group too, 'Matsuura Kanan', a childhood friend of Chika and You, who worked and help in her family's diving shop, the strict Student Council President 'Kurosawa Dia' and Ruby's old sister. And 'Ohara Mari', an American-Italian girl with a twisted sense of humor.
No more details about poor 3rd years.
For Nanaka, Arisa and Aina were a little bit disappointed.
For them, just some charm points for their characters; Kanan was obsessed with diving and her muscles, but was a very straightforward girl, and caring to her friends. Dia was a strict and serious person, but a loving big sister, and Mari spoke bad English between sentences. (Aina laughed like an old man about that)
By the end, the Chief of staff spoke to the girls about what was next. Of course, their first song was already written, and their next meeting would be in the studio with the producer and sound producer (and maybe with more people from the staff), to finally give the right tone to the characters.
Also, they would be dividing them into 'years groups'. It's difficult to work with the 9 of them at the same time, so they would be splitting them into groups of three according to their character's school years. For some reasons, Nanaka was a little bit sad about this.
He revealed that they would be holding a nationwide shop campaign, to promote the release of their first single in October. (A single that they hadn't even heard or recorded yet)
And lastly…
"Well, I believe that's for the project's future, let's focus on 'the now'…." he said, every girl focused on him. "…We want this to be a project that can be felt as a "very close project to the fans". We couldn't do it right with your predecessor, because we didn't know how it would end, and at that time, social media wasn't something that trendy. But now we will do it right from the very beginning; we want for each of you to create a Twitter account, that's mandatory, if you want you can create another account on other social media, but Twitter is a must." he stopped to see something in his notes. "…Yes, Takatsuki-San…"
King opened her eyes and said a soft "yes".
"…We need you to close your current account once your role on this project is revealed, and that's for all of you".
Everybody nodded.
" Well, remember, you are going to be "Idols" now, you don't have private lives anymore, once you are revealed to the world you will lose that, you will have to act and perform as the idols the fans want to see, you will have to act as your characters demand you to act.
If you have any questions about this issue, please read your contract agreement, I believe it's in those papers you have over there, read it carefully, if you want to quit, or you are not ok with the agreement, this is your chance to go, for those of you that agree with it, please come to our next meeting with the contract signed. Please do your best."
With all the information that was required to be reviewed, the Chief said goodbye and left the room with the woman of the folders, the art director-character designer, and the screenwriter.
" WAAAA….." said Anchan after they had left, "I feel so drained out!" she dropped herself on the table.
"There are times like that, aren't there?" said Aiai with a tired but funny tone.
"You say that quite a lot, haven't you?" Shuka mocked Aiai's phrase with a grin while putting away her papers in her light blue folder.
Aiai just whined something that Nanaka couldn't hear; her attention was in what Anchan was mumbling about.
"I have serious doubts about being the leader…" said Anchan, sitting up straight once again while massaging her temples. "… How am I supposed to act? I think this is too much…"
Nanaka just wore a worried expression. If the "leader" was troubled, then what was left for the rest of them. Yes, it was a lot of information to take in, but this was their job, and everybody signed up for it. Maybe the staff had been wrong by choosing someone that young for the role?
"Man, I think that nothing on this project is brand new, just 'us', and that bothers me." said an annoyed Arisa looking at Rikyako, she shared a concerned look with her.
"You are right, how are we supposed to step out of μ's shadow, if almost everything it's similar…" said Rikyako with a sad smile while standing up to go where Anchan was.
Nanaka actually agreed with their thoughts, almost everything they had learned today was really familiar; the plot, the 9 characters. The only thing that was new to them was the location, and themselves.
"...Maybe I should ask the fans about the nickname, what do you think Osuwa-san?"
Nanaka blinked out her thoughts and saw a smiling Shuka by her side, with a wide grin.
"Sorry, what?" she said opening her eyes and rising her eyebrows. She wasn't listening at all. Shuka just giggled and smiled again.
"I wonder if I should ask the fans to pick my nickname, you know, for social media"
"What's wrong with "Shukashuu"? You don't like it?"
"Oh, I like it, but I want to be more in touch with the fans, as the Chief of staff said, we have to be closer... But…" suddenly her smile faded away, "…actually, no one knows me, so it doesn't matter."
Shuka faked a smile, but she didn't fool Nanaka.
"Yet." said Nanaka with a sweet smile. Shuka looked at her in awe. "No one knows you yet, but that's about to change"
Nanaka stood up with her papers and folder in hand and took a look at the table, the room, her fellow cast members. Anchan was being comforted by Rikako, King was vividly talking with Arisa and Aiai. On the other side of the room, Aina was laughing with Aikyan, and then she returned to Shuka and smiled.
Took a deep breath and with a sweet tone in her voice said...
"Maybe no one knows any of us yet, but they will, we are all young and inexperienced, that's why they are preparing us for all this ahead of time, even if μ's hasn't finished their activities, even if maybe this "fans" you are talking about might hate us in the beginning, because they will, we all are fans of μ's after all, and it's gonna be hard for them to see their lovely idols say goodbye and be replaced by a bunch of inexperienced girls. Everything is a big "if", and it's ok to have doubts about it, we all are, but this is "us" now. We have to focus on what we want to be as a group in the future, the "us" of the future, and that's a "yet", no one knows "us" yet, and believe me when they will get to know you, they will love you."
Nanaka gave Shuka a sweet smile; she could see some tears gathering in the corner of her eyes, trying so hard not to let them fall down her cheeks. Then she realized that the room had become silent.
"Ahhh Suwawa~!" Aina whined breaking the silence, also tearing up and coming closer to them, she grabbed Nanaka's left arm, "That's…that's so sweet!"
Nanaka blinked. Seeing Aina so close, and so emotional. Shuka grabbed her right arm; she blinked again.
What was happening here?
She could feel her cheeks turning red. She turned her head to see the rest of the quiet room. Everybody was staring at them, mostly in awe, but with smiles on their faces.
"What you said…makes total sense," Arisa said.
"I think you are right." said Aikyan with a serious tone, weird for Nanaka to hear from her.
"That's what a leader should sound like…" said Aiai in a mocking tone looking at Anchan with a grin.
"Hey!" Anchan pouted.
Everybody giggled. Nanaka opened her eyes wide, she released herself from the two girls grabbing her arms, then turned to Anchan; her cheeks red as a tomato.
"I'm sorry Ann-chan, I didn't mean that!"
"Mou!" said Anchan pouting and looking at Aiai who was laughing, and then turned to Nanaka and gave her a smile, "Don't worry, you were right. Thank you"
Nanaka was about to speak, but a voice that none of them had ever heard spoke at the back of the room.
"That was beautiful girls"
The woman with the notebook, the one who had been long forgotten from the beginning of the meeting, stood up from her chair and walked towards them with a big smile on her face, notebook, and pen in hand, everybody was silently watching her.
"I think I have everything I needed to see for today, thank you very much, and do your best!"
With that, she left the room.
Creep
For a long full minute, everybody looked each other in silence.
Suddenly they all broke into a wide and noisy laughter.
For the next minutes, everybody enjoyed just being there, like normal girls laughing with friends.
As for Nanaka, she felt that somehow she had gained some "respect" from her fellow members with that little speech. So far, her interactions with the group had been smooth, quiet quotes and silent glances towards them. She wasn't funny like the "first years", or dorky like Shuka or Anchan, her faces weren't funny as Aida-san or Komiya-san, also she wasn't as sharp as Arisa or as experienced, Arisa Komiya was indeed a true professional in this industry, which made them look as little girls playing at being Idols.
She felt that she didn't stand out in the group, but maybe that was a little too early to make that statement, this was their second meeting after all, but with that speech, she had gained some points.
Soon they started leaving the room to fulfill their personal schedules, but before leaving the building, Shuka caught up to Nanaka, shyly grabbing her arm again.
"What?" she said in a goofy tone, not trying to sound harsh, she turned and gave her a smile.
"Eto…Thank you..." Shuka said shyly, her cheeks turning red.
"You are welcome" Nanaka gave her full teeth smile.
"I think you are not like me, an unknown person…" said Shuka shyly and troubled, mumbling her words, Nanaka erased her smile and looked at Shuka with concern. "...You are a radio personality, you have other Seiyuu jobs...You are not like me, or Aiai, or..."
Nanaka interrupted her with one finger on her lips.
"Stop." she said coldly, Shuka stopped and blinked. "Stop that."
Nanaka took her finger off Shuka's lips, took a breath for the second time in less than 15 minutes and smiled.
"Shuka-chan, I'm just like you, we all are, stop pitying yourself, it's not going to take you anywhere. This is your debut in the Seiyuu industry, like it's mine in the "idol" industry, and for the rest of them it's their debut in something too, we are all the same, and we all will be growing in this journey, together …"
Shuka smiled, cheeks turning red again.
"Why aren't you the leader?" Shuka said mocking her, Nanaka just snorted.
"Seriously?"
They looked each other without saying anything;
Nanaka thought that was a joke.
How could she really be a leader? Was Shuka making fun of her? But she sounded quite serious. She questioned Anchan's abilities to be the so famous "leader" thing, but then again, was that really important? If they were meant to make a group, they would all be treated as equals, as their predecessors had been.
Of course, this was their second meeting, she didn't know them well enough to have an opinion of how good Anchan's leadership was going to be, she was one of the youngest among them, why didn't they give that responsibility to Aida-san for example (being the oldest), or to Arisa (being the most experienced one).
No, they had given the main role to Anchan for God knows the reason, if the staff had chosen her, it meant something.
And they'd have to bear it.
She blinked and then smiled sweetly at Shuka; then grabbed her bag tightly.
"I don't have the energy it requires, I think Anchan fits that spot quite well, she will learn eventually how to do it; I have the pretty words, but I lack energy." she giggled about it, but Shuka gave her a sad smile.
"Suwawa, why did you want this role?"
There was something in Shuka's tone that made Nanaka sad. After all, this was something she never imagined doing; an "Idol".
She lacked energy, she was calm, she was quiet, she was the opposite item in the Seiyuu industry, yet she was there.
She blinked again, gave Shuka a tiny smile, and suddenly bowed, signaling that she was leaving and saying a soft "goodbye". She turned around.
"Because I was desperate to change myself."
Nanaka left the building leaving an astonish Shuka in the main entrance, once again. She had left Shuka there, in awe, and lost for words.
.
-o0o (Skip in year, 2017) -
Certainly, leaving Shuka behind full of questions and in awe, was Nanaka's specialty.
And not because she wanted that to happen, because it just happened.
She was just returning home from a promotional photo shoot for Dengeki G's Magazine. It had been a long day, and she felt really tired.
Not only because of the long hours that the photo shoot had taken to be finished, but because she had had some issues with Shuka and Aina that day.
She left her bags and stuff at the entrance of her home, too tired to tidy up, almost crawled to her room, to her bed, and laid flat on it.
She undid her hairdo for the third time that day, and not for pleasure issues.
Looking at the ceiling with a bitter expression, she thought about how all this had started, it was supposed to be like any job she had done before, but bigger, more exciting. She had never hesitated in her actions, she was always calm, diligent, gathered, almost calculating anything. Nerves of steel!
But now she was troubled.
At first, Shuka had been like a little sister to her, and she was cute of course. She had taken her under her watch because Shuka was the youngest among them, and somehow, from the very beginning, meaning since the audition, Shuka felt secure with her by her side.
Somehow the staff had figured this out and made this situation something twisted, and later on, they made it worse by forcing Aina to stick her tiny being into the equation.
It made her sick.
Being the way she was, so carefree, so much into her own pace, of course, she had hurt Shuka with all this, even if they had talked about this so many times now, they still had fights, "open hearts" and delicate situations between the three of them.
And all because of she, Suwa Nanaka, was so diligent at doing her job that she was actually doing it so well, that her personal life was sinking like the Titanic.
Her phone rang bringing her out of her Suwa world.
She lazily grabbed it from her pocket.
It was a message from Aina.
"Suwawa are you ok? Something happened with Shukashuu? (ó﹏ò｡)"
Nanaka frowned, how good could her masquerade be?
She answered lazily that everything was fine, that she didn't need to worry.
She took a deep breath, looked at the ceiling once again, blinked a few more times, took a mental note to not forget her contacts, she blinked again, and smiled at the memory of that day's meeting where everything had started to take shape.
Shuka's shape.
Blinking for the last time she took her phone; opened it, then closed Aina's chat to opened Shuka's, and with quick fingers typed.
"I think I can't get the new song's choreography right, would you teach me? Please~ (´ ʃ ƪ )"
It took like 3 minutes for Nanaka to get her answer. She couldn't help but grin about it.
"Sure, come tomorrow about 6 pm. I'll be looking forward to it.¡¡( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و!"
-0oo0-
Notes:
This series intends to be "long", sometimes there are lots of details to develop, we hope it doesn't bored people out... : x
This was just an introductory chapter, the real and complicated things will start on next chapter : )
There is an insert story called "Feelings Under a Mask" - If you wanna know the "NanaShuka" relationship deeper- and of course it's related to this story, if there is something you don't get it, be sure to check this out, it has mature content so you have been warned.
Cheers!