Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!
A calm, yet chilly winter night. People moved quickly through the streets. Cars and taxis travel quickly yet safely to hurry home. Many of the shops that lined this busy street have already closed. Only a handful remained open, as they transitioned to their late night activities.
Though this street was filled with many different business, there were a number of people that got to live here as well. A few buildings were specially designed. The ground floor was the public part, where whatever kind of business the owners had would run, while the floors above where for living space.
One of the lucky owners of these fancy buildings was standing by the window on the second floor, looking down on the streets. She watched the last few stores that only ran daytime hours close and their staffs disperse. A group of them were walking, then suddenly stopped in front of another store. The woman watching from above smiled. She knew exactly why they stopped. The store was known for playing music videos for trending songs and artists. Currently, the TV showing through the window was showing the same music channel that the TV in the woman's living room was showing. The song playing was one she knew quite well. In fact, five years ago, she was responsible for Snow Halation's creation.
Kousaka Honoka. She is one of the three original members of an idol group called Muse. The group was founded five years ago to try and save their school from closing down by boosting the school's appeal. She, along with the other eight members, set out to be school idols. Of course, none of them could have anticipated some of the events to follow them.
The highlight of their group would be their victory in Love Live, a competition for school idol groups. Shortly after, they would halt their unit's activities, as three of their members were to graduate at the end of the year. They did not perform until all nine of their members graduated. Once they did, though, Muse would leave behind their school idol careers, and become professional idols. Just starting to break through into international popularity as school idols, their fans shot their professional careers forward. Two years since then landed them here, as one of the biggest names in Music in the world.
Most of their fans were aware of and supported the group's decision to not perform while their members weren't all out of school. But many have wondered just what kept the group together for those three years of absence. Being popular both as a group and as individuals, some might think a few members would have tried their hand at a solo career. During any type of interview, all nine members would say Muse had a strong bond connecting every member. No one knew the actual truth behind those words, though. They knew between the nine of them what kept Muse together through that down period. It was love, obviously.
Of course, this love was quite a bit unusual from most other's concept of love. Even in an all-female group, it still crossed people's minds that romance could blossom within the group. But no one would ever guess that in this group of nine, eight of the members would all fall in love with the same girl. Even further from expectations was that the one in question said yes to all eight confessions, and managed to hold together all eight relationships. Somehow, that mutual love is what brought all nine of them closer together than ever before. Of course, they had to keep this part a secret from the public. Romance, especially this kind, is dangerous for the media to get a hold of.
These confessions took place even before the oldest three members graduated. But because of that, Muse was able to stay together. As the oldest three graduated, they either continued with school, researched music and idols, or looked for places they could stay that would fit all of them. As the next three graduated, they did similar things, joining the oldest three in their work. Once the final three graduated and followed the others as well, and after half a year to let the others finish up with their studies, they were able to resume their idol activities.
"Honoka-chan," came a gentle voice. "Dinner is almost ready."
Honoka took one last look at the group below before she turned away from the window.
"Thanks, Hanayo-chan," Honoka said.
Koizumi Hanayo. One of the three youngest members of Muse. Easily one of the kindest and gentlest members of Muse. She used to be a very reserved girl, but being part of Muse had eventually gotten her over that. Though one of the things she was never shy about was her love for school idols. Of course now, she's redirected most of that passion to Honoka, as well as her idol career.
Hanayo walked up to Honoka's spot by the window. She grabbed hold of Honoka's arm that wasn't holding her hot cocoa mug. The look she gave told Honoka all she needed. Honoka gave Hanayo the sweet kiss she was asking for. Satisfied, Hanayo rested her head on Honoka's shoulder.
"Ah, Kayo-chin that's not fair," came a new voice, causing both of them to look up. "You were just supposed to call Honoka-chan for dinner nya."
Hoshizora Rin. Another of the three youngest members, and Hanayo's best friend. Easily the most energetic member of Muse. She shares a few of qualities with Honoka, like their unbreakable determination, cheerful attitudes, and thirst for fun and adventure. Uniquely to Rin is that she has this habit of acting like a cat on occasion. Ending most of her sentences in nya is an easy way to notice. Almost only to Muse though is she incredibly reliable. Especially to Honoka, she acts like a loyal pet, and occasionally enjoys Honoka petting her like one.
Rin had quickly made her way to Honoka's other side. Carefully, as to not knock the mug out of Honoka's hand, Rin latched herself onto her other arm, resting her head on Honoka's shoulder as well. A soft sound, almost like purring, followed. Honoka took Rin's little hint, and managed a kiss onto the cat-girl as well. Together like this, they made their way to the dining room, or at least they tried to.
"Well, well. Look what we have here," someone said as she blocked their way to the hallway.
"Ah- Maki-chan/Maki-nya" Hanayo and Rin said in unison.
Nishikino Maki. The last of the youngest members. She is Muse's sole composer, and a gifted pianist and singer. She came from a wealthy family of doctors. But with some encouragement from Hanayo and Rin, and with joining Muse, she followed her heart and stuck with her music. Originally sporting a cool, indifferent attitude, Muse had changed that part of her personality, and for the better. Considering them now her closest friends, she was closer and more comfortable with Muse's members than she first thought she'd ever be. While she happily composed the music for Muse, her solo piano and singing skills were specially reserved for Honoka whenever the young composer got the chance.
"Hanayo, you were only supposed to call Honoka over," Maki said, folding her arms. "And Rin, you were only supposed to check on them."
"I know... but..." Hanayo said.
"I guess we couldn't really help ourselves," Rin said with a nervous smile.
"Clearly. And Honoka, you spoil them too much sometimes."
"Eheh... well to be fair, I spoil you all in some way all the time," Honoka said.
"True... but..."
"Now, now," Hanayo interrupted. She looked at Rin, and together they both let go of Honoka. "How about we even things out and move on?"
"Yeah," Rin agreed. "Dinner will get cold if they have to wait for us."
"Well... alright." Maki stepped up to Honoka and got the kiss she was waiting for. "You have to listen to the song I'm working on later though, okay?"
"Alright, I got it," Honoka agreed.
Satisfied with that, Maki turned back around, and together the four of them made their way to the dining room. It was quite busy once they reached the dining room. Along with the usual nine of them, there were a number of extra people here tonight. Some just to discuss a few things, and some staying longer to eat dinner with them.
"Ah, Honoka," a voice came. The four turned their attention as two familiar faces along with some of the guests moved their way.
"We'll go keep the other guests occupied," Maki said. Honoka nodded, and Maki and Rin walked away.
"I'll go see if they need help in the kitchen," Hanayo announced before excusing herself. With the three of them dispersing, Honoka turned her attention to two more members of Muse leading the guests.
One of the two was Sonoda Umi. She was one of Honoka's two childhood friends. That also made her one of the three founding members of Muse along with Honoka. She is responsible for writing the lyrics to Muse's songs. Outside of the songs, she was one of the main members responsible for organizing and running Muse and their careers. She alongside one other person handled most of the business aspects for Muse, but as Honoka was the center of the group and was always recognized by the others as its leader, they would go to her for the final decisions. As responsible and efficient as Umi can be though, romance was another thing entirely. However, Umi is content with any amount of quality time she can spend with Honoka, and Honoka's compliments and appreciate for her help pushes Umi forward.
The other of the two members approaching was Ayase Eli. She is one of the oldest three members of Muse. Eli is Muse's physical trainer and choreographer. She is also the other half of Muse's business and strategic brains alongside Umi. During their high school years, Eli was one of the most popular students due to her kind and caring personality as well as her beauty. That popularity seemed to have followed through, as she is a big part of Muse's publicity. Like Umi, she's very responsible and level-headed. She almost acts like a second-in-command for Honoka, guiding her through decisions and helping wherever she can. But unlike the blue-haired archer, Eli was a little more versed in romance. Though, she still lets her guard down when it comes to Honoka. Not that she minds much as long as she's honest with the one she loves.
"Honoka. Most of the concert will be as we planned. But they need to ask a few last things," Umi announced.
"That's right," the taller of the three men said. "There is a new sound system installed just for this event. So we need you to come a few days before to test everything out."
"Alright," Honoka responded. "Would we be able to use the week before the concert for rehersal?"
"As long as you pay a little extra, that should be fine."
Honoka eyed Eli. "We can afford the price their asking," Eli informed.
"Alright," Honoka turned back to the business men. "We'll do it then."
"Great. Also, the day before, bring all outfits and accessories in. They'll be stored safely in the dressing room and it'll save time on the performance date."
"Sounds good. Thank you very much."
"No, no. Thank you all for using our venue for this event."
Umi finished making a note about the dates, and she and Eli showed the men back to the front. Once they were gone from the dining room, Honoka let out a sigh. Just as she did, she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders. However, Honoka just relaxed, especially as the hands started massaging her.
"Feeling a bit stressed?" the voice asked behind her.
That voice belongs to Toujou Nozomi. She is Eli's best friend, and the oldest member of the group. She acts like it a lot as well, as she plays a kind of motherly role for the younger members a lot of the time. She has always looked out for the others, even before she joined Muse, and always looks to help them out with any trouble they might have. As she was lived in her own apartment during high school, Nozomi had handled the housing situation for Muse as they were just graduating. She used to volunteer at a shrine nearby to their school and her apartment often, but has had less time after becoming a professional idol along with the rest of Muse. She still pays visits to the shrine on occasion. Of course, she brings along Honoka every time. Shrine visits should be with loved ones, she believes.
"Ah... not anymore," Honoka said happily.
"That's good." Nozomi finished up her quick massage and hugged Honoka from behind. "You should always be happy, after all."
"Eheh, thanks Nozomi-chan."
"Ah, Honoka-chan, Nozomi-chan," someone called out as she stepped out of the kitchen.
It was Minami Kotori. Honoka's other childhood friend, and the last of the three founding members of Muse. Kotori is one of Muse's two designers. She is one of the kindest members alongside Hanayo. When Honoka, Kotori, and Umi graduated, Kotori joined Muse's other designer in her idol research, and they came up with many costume ideas. She also had a hand in planning a few photo shoots for Muse in preparation for their concert. While she has a bit more of a passive voice in Muse, she's pretty different when she's with Honoka. According to Honoka, Kotori was one of the hardest of the eight to predict when spending alone time with her. Yet it was fun all the same.
"Dinner's about to be served. You two should take a seat," she told them.
"Ah, that smells good," Nozomi said as the scent from the bowl Kotori was carrying reached their noses.
"But of course. It's my recipe after all," came a voice behind Kotori.
Walking to Kotori's side with a tray of food was Yazawa Nico. She was the same age as Nozomi and Eli, and was the ninth and final member of Muse. She's the other designer for Muse alongside Kotori, as well as their main chef. Though she was shorter than everyone else in their school years, she's grown quite a bit, almost catching up to the groups average height. Though conscious of her size, she was still a very proud individual. She's also a very popular face to Muse, with her signature Nico Nico Nii~ catchphrase. The closer she grew to Muse, the less she competed with them to try and look like best member. Of course, now she competes with them for Honoka's attention.
"That's true," Nozomi said. "Nico-chi's cooking is outstanding."
"Yeah. And everything looks great!" Honoka said.
"It'll taste even better," Nico said proudly. "Now sit down, so we can get to eating."
The four of them walked to the dining table. Honoka and Nozomi took their seats while Nico and Kotori placed the dishes they were carrying onto the table, then went back into the kitchen for the last two dishes. Honoka sat at what could be considered the head of the table, while Nozomi took one of the side seats.
"Thanks again for letting us stay to eat, Onee-chan," Yukiho, Honoka's younger sister, said as she walked up to Honoka's seat.
"Yes, thank you very much," Arisa said beside Yukihio. Arisa is Eli's younger sister, and Yukiho's girlfriend.
"Of course. The more the merrier," Honoka said with a smile.
"Everything looks great," Yukiho said as she looked at the spread of food.
"Yeah. Nico-chan made a lot of specialties today. Why don't you sit here?"
"Is it alright?" Arisa asked.
"Of course," Eli said. She and Umi had returned a few moments ago, and Eli took the small time that Arisa and Yukiho were talking to Honoka to sneak up behind them.
"Onee-chan!" Arisa said, hugging Eli.
"Are you sure?" Yukiho asked.
Eli nodded. "Guests are allowed to choose their seats first. Muse's rule."
"Thanks!" Arisa and Yukiho said in unison.
They sat down in the two closest seats to Honoka's right. Eli and Umi found seats a little further down the table. Of course, they would have liked to sit closer, but there were three other guests that were also dining with them tonight, and they took the three seats to Honoka's left. In all, there was fourteen people at the table. They were all also quite familiar with each other, as the last three guests were none other than A-Rise.
A-Rise was a school idol group for another high school. The members are Toudou Erena, Yuuki Anju, and their center Kira Tsubasa. A-Rise and Muse competed against each other in two Love Live competitions. A-Rise had won the first competition Muse took part in. But the following Love Live, Muse would beat A-Rise in the regional final, and eventually move on to win the entire thing.
Despite being competing school idol groups, the members of each were quite friendly with each other, and very respectful. This remains true even to this day, though without the school idol competitions. The two groups interacted quite often, occasionally with tips or supportive words to each other. Though, it was mostly just for them to all hang out.
"Hey, Honoka?" Tsubasa asked. She was in the seat directly to Honoka's left. "About the thing we're here to discuss."
"Ah, can it wait a little longer? We should get dinner started first. Nico-chan?" She saw Nico nod from her end of the table. She looked at everyone and said, "Alright, let's eat!"
Everyone took turns getting food from the dishes in the middle of the table and putting it on their plates. Because of how many there were, Nico had prepared two of each dish so both ends of the table could have some. As everyone finished grabbing what they wanted and started eating, all the conversations began.
"Sorry about that," Honoka said to Tsubasa, taking a bite of food.
"No problem," Tsubasa replied. Her eyes widened as she tasted her food. "This is amazing."
"Isn't it? Now, you said you wanted to help us out with the Christmas concert, right?"
"Yeah. Actually, we were thinking helping Muse out more than just for the concert."
Honoka tilted her head. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, we've talked recently, and the three of us are interested in working with Muse. Or working for you, whichever could work out."
"But... why? I mean, it's not like Muse and A-Rise compete against each other anymore. And you're such a talented group."
"Well... I can't tell you all the details... at least not yet, or here. But A-Rise isn't going to be active for a while. And we don't exactly want to be sitting around the entire time."
"So you want to work here while A-Rise isn't performing?" Honoka asked.
Tsubasa nodded. "It would be really nice if we could."
"I don't know... I mean. Even though Muse is self-ran by all of us, we aren't in need of extra workers or anything..."
"But," Yukiho joined the conversation, "it couldn't hurt to have extra help anyway, right?"
"I guess that's true, too," Honoka agreed.
"Tsubasa," Anju said beside her. "Why don't you tell her the real reason?"
Tsubasa turned to her left. "Are you sure?"
"Well, I think it would be better. There's no reason to lie to them anyway."
Tsubasa considered for a few seconds. "Honoka, is there somewhere we can discuss this in private?"
"We can go to the third floor. It should be safe enough, even if we don't go into the rooms."
"If you two are going, let me go too," Yukiho said. "I actually have something I need to ask you privately as well, Onee-chan."
"A-alright. Let's go then?"
The three of them stood up, which did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table.
"Where are you three going?" Umi asked.
"There's something that needs to be discussed privately," Honoka told them. "Do you all mind if we step away for a few minutes?"
"If it's that personal, then there's no reason for us to stop you," Nozomi said, with everyone nodded their agreement.
"Thank you. If you'll excuse us."
The three of them made their way upstairs to where the bedrooms where. Deciding it would be better in the end to be in a room, Honoka led them to her room. Once they were inside, and Honoka closed the door behind her, Tsubasa let out a big sigh.
"Tsubasa? Are you okay?" Honoka asked.
"Y-yeah... Sorry. It's pretty hard for me to talk about this." Tsubasa took a deep breath. "You see... the truth is A-Rise isn't just inactive, but we're jobless. We haven't been selling well the last couple of months. Eventually it was bad enough that our company dropped us."
"W-what? No way..."
"It's true... it's been like this for a few weeks now."
"Wow... I'm sorry..."
Tsubasa shook her head. "It's not your fault or anything. But that's why we would really like it if we could work with you or for you. We don't really have anywhere else to turn to. We don't mind not performing anymore, but we really need a job."
"I see..." Honoka felt pretty bad for A-Rise. She came to a decision. "Well, I can't promise much right away, but I'll talk to the others about it. I'm sure we can work something out for you three."
Tsubasa perked up. "R-really?"
"Yeah. It may take a little time to work things out though."
Tsubasa ran up to Honoka and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much!"
The hug lasted a few seconds longer. Eventually, Tsubasa regained her normal composure. She went ahead back down to dinner so that the Kousaka sisters could talk privately now.
"Actually, what I have to ask is similar to Tsubasa," Yukiho said.
Honoka raised an eyebrow. "You want to work for us too?"
"Yes. Arisa too. It's not as easy as it used to be to find jobs, you see..."
"Say no more." Honoka placed a hand on Yukiho's head. "I'll see what I can do for you two as well then."
"Heh, thanks Onee-chan."
Though she didn't run and nearly cause Honoka to fall over, Yukiho still gave her sister a tight hug. As they were about to leave the room, Honoka's phone started ringing. As she checked the address, it turned out to be their mother. Yukiho said she'll go on ahead. As Yukiho made her way out of the room, Honoka answered her phone.
"Hello?"
"Honoka-chan!"
"Hi Mom! How have you guys been?"
"Aside from missing our daughters, we've been fine."
"Mom..."
"Hehe, don't worry about us, sweetie! How have you been?"
"Great! Everyone is happy and Muse is continuing to make music."
"I can see. We just bought your latest album. You girls have only gotten better every day."
"Eheh, thanks mom."
"So has everything been working out well? The others aren't fighting over you too much right?"
"Nope! Everyone's been getting along really well."
"That's good. Because I really need to talk with you about that."
"Huh? What about it?"
"Well sweetie, you know that regardless of the relationship, you can only legally marry one person."
"...Oh... This again..."
"I know it's not fun to talk about. But as your mother, I just want you to think of your future."
"I know. But with how busy Muse is, I've had no time to really think about that."
"That's fine. But as long as you give it some thought. You need to have plans ready for when this is all over."
"Thanks Mom. I'll give it some thought."
"Alright. Well I should get going. Visit soon, please."
"I think I have time after our concert and before New Years."
"See you then. I love you Sweetie."
"Love you too, Mom."
Honoka heard the call end. She put her phone away and sighed. She knew her mom would remind her about it again at some point. But right now she didn't want to upset anyone. Though that's what got her into these eight relationships in the first place. Deciding she'll give it some thought before bed, she left her room and went back downstairs.
Hey guys, nobodD here!
Looks like we're doing this again, huh? I did promise those of you who read The Center of µ's a sequel some time after season 2 of the anime ended. Well, here's the start to a hopefully very fun, very fluffy, and very crazy sequel story. The final chapter of the last story skipped five years ahead. This first chapter picks up right there, and does a lot of reintroduction to explain some of the things that happened in that time gap. The end of the next chapter will trigger the start of everything fun and silly, hopefully X3
If you happen to be wondering why I suddenly decided to start this up. Well, I've actually had a lot of ideas for this beginning the last few days. And after talking with my beta, I got the ideas for this story down. I'm not sure how many people have been waiting for this, but I got excited to start the sequel after that. So, here it is. XP
Also, don't worry, I haven't abandoned my other story either. I'll be writing chapters for both, though no planned order for the updates. As always, I'll update as quickly as I can when a chapter is done. Bear with me, please.
I hope you'll look forward to more~