Unlock My Dream
Ch 1: Unexpected Live?
Sunlight filtered into a classroom at Star Rise Academy, an idol school that was education to middle and high school students. The sound of chalk against blackboards echoed softly throughout the building, the shouting of 'Aikatsu' as students ran laps around the track field and the murmurs of students eating in the cafeteria.
But in the middle of all of it, was Sayuri Matsui. She excelled in her academics and fitness, her voice was sublime and angelic. Her fiery red hair tied into a high ponytail as she was in her dance class, where all the idols made sure they were in great physical condition for any events and live shows that they may be preforming at. Across the intercom, a voice belonging to the headmistress echoed across the entire school.
"I would like all students to report to the auditorium for a special announcement!". 'A special announcement? I wonder what she has planned for us.'
Taking a drink of water from her bottle, she walked into the auditorium with the hundreds of other students and sat down in one of the cushioned seats. In the side of her vision, she caught the scent that reminded her of coconut. Sitting down next to her was her classmate and best friend, Koizumi Aya. Her best friend was a 2nd year middle school student, while she herself was a 3rd year middle school.
"Hey, what do you think the announcement is?" she asked excitedly.
"I'm not sure, but it has the entire school in a buzz!", she replied.
The entire auditorium fell quiet as the headmistress walked up to the podium.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Headmistress Akane Takahara. As you guys know as fall and winter set in, we'll be having our annual Autumn Live Festival, and Winter Dream Cup, in which students may audition for a spot and have a chance in winning the Silver Wish Cup in the spring against Four Star Academy and our new rival school, Star Harmony Academy. Starlight Academy will not be competing against us this year as they are in the preparing for their Star Dream Cup, which will be broadcasted live.", she began.
"We also have decided to elect a student to create her own brand and reveal it during our autumn festival." She finished as the entire room was filled with excited chatter.
"The student who will be doing the brand reveal… is Sayuri Matsui." she ended the sentence.
As soon as the name was revealed, the whole auditorium erupted into applause.
Sayuri felt her heart immediately sink. She felt the envy-filled glances from her fellow classmates, but there wasn't a single hate filled remark.
"Congratulations, Sayuri! I can't wait to see what design you come up with!" Aya exclaimed.
Suddenly, her heart sunk even lower.
After the announcement, she locked herself in her dorm room. She had sunken into a depression that was so heavy, she just sat at her desk wishing it wasn't her that had been chosen. She didn't want to be seen and prodded with questions that she didn't know how to answer. She laid there for two days.
She never felt so low. She heard knocking on her door. For the first while, she ignored it. Scared to answer it, the voice identified itself instead.
"Sayu-chan? It's Aya. Open up, please..." Aya pleaded. She was the only one who called her by that nickname.
Tears stung Sayuri's brown eyes as she opened the door a bit. She didn't want her friend to see her in this state.
"Are you okay?" she whispered, concerned for her friend's well-being. She looked like she hadn't slept for a week. Her hair was tangled, her eyes were dull and deprived of life.
Sayuri just shook her head and slumped to the floor. Her sketch book laid empty and scratched out names covered a sheet of paper. All but one name had an angry red line through it. [Lunar Wish. Rose Queen. Apple Festival. Scarlet Sky. Star Dream]. She felt that it was the perfect name. She longed to shine along the stars of the school. It was her dream, and one she hoped to fulfill.
Aya stayed with her for the next few hours, making sure her friend was okay.
"Why did she choose me?" she questioned. Aya turned her warm blue gaze to her crestfallen friend in the floor. She decided to be honest.
"That's because you're one of the most talented idols in Star Rise Academy. Headmistress Akane was a top idol too when she was a student. You're sweet, you're kind, you give everything your best even if you don't succeed. You deserve to have your own brand and a spot in the Silver Wish Cup." She explained. Sayuri looked up at her friend and smiled slightly.
She sat at her desk with her head buried in her arms, wads of crumpled paper laid scattered around the room. She was supposed to announce the debut of her new brand 'Star Dream' but couldn't think of the perfect design. Getting up, she walked to the mirror that was attached to her wall.
"What are you doing to yourself, Sayuri?" she asked herself in defeat. She attended Star Rise Academy, or SRA as most people called it. She was friends with the students from neighboring school, Four Star Academy. She turned her head to look at a poster on the wall above her bed of a girl with fiery red hair posing against a brick wall with the cursive signature that read "Rhythm" on the bottom corner.
Walking out the door of her room, she figured maybe going for a walk would give her a shock of inspiration. She decided to drop by her Headmistress Akane's office to see what she would recommend. Turning the corner, she strolled up to the two giant double doors and knocked gently.
"Come in." a feminine voice rang from the other side. Swallowing her pride, she pushed the door open and walked up to her desk. Her headmistress looked up from her stack of paperwork and looked to see who it was.
'It's probably another first-year student who got lost trying to find classes or needs a schedule changed.' Akane thought to herself. The person in front of her shocked her. Standing in front of her was her school's current top idol, Matsui Sayuri, and looking rather troubled.
"Sayuri? What seems to be troubling you? It's rather rare that you ever end up in my office unless I call for you to discuss upcoming auditions and live events." Headmistress Akane inquired politely.
Sighing and swallowing her pride, she confessed she had been having issues trying to think of the perfect design for her new self-started brand, and that the revealing live was two days away. Confessing it's been making it harder to concentrate on her idol activities and work, she let her know that she was hoping to get advice.
"I understand. You're the first student from Star Rise to have their own brand as well as brand reveal event. It's natural to have difficulties at first. I'm going to give you some references that you should be able to talk to and get a couple sparks of inspiration from." She sympathized with her student a lot.
She had used to be a top idol of the school when she was younger as well, eventually stepping down from the idol world to become in charge of Star Rise Academy. Writing down a list of names, she handed a piece of paper to her.
"I wish you the best of luck, Sayuri. You can do this. Have faith in yourself and your designs. They've never let you down." She smiled at her.
Sayuri looked at the names written down. Some of the names she was familiar with, and some of them she wasn't. 'Kanzaki Mizuki – Love Queen/Love Moonrise Top Designer, Kazesawa Sora – Bohemian Sky, Nijino Yume & Nanakura Koharu – Rainbow Berry Parfait, Shiratori Hime – My Little Heart, Shirogane Lily – Gothic Victoria, Kanzaki Rei – Royal Sword, Elza Forte – Perfect Queen'.
Debating against the list of people, she started marking out the ones she knew wouldn't answer due to their work schedule. Kanzaki Mizuki, Kazesawa Sora, Shiratori Hime, Kanzaki Rei, Elza Forte. Pulling her Aikatsu mobile from her pocket, she dialed the number belonging to her the Tundra Songstress, Lily. She prayed she wasn't being an inconvenience.
Lily was sitting on her bed reading her books enjoying the company of Yume, Laura, Mahiru, Yuzu and Koharu around her. They were relaxing together as it was one their only off day together. Turning the page to the book she was reading, she heard her phone start vibrating from its resting spot on her night stand.
"Who is it, Lily?" Yuzu chimed cheerfully as always, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth.
"It's Sayuri." She said astonished. Clicking the accept button, she answered the call.
"Hello?" Lily inquired. She hoped her friend wasn't too troubled.
"Hey Lily. It's me." she breathed. Every word felt like a ton of bricks. She felt horrible for having to bother her friend. But deep down on the inside, she felt that it was needed.
Clicking the speaker icon on her phone, everyone in the room was suddenly quiet and fully alert.
"Sayuri-senpai!" They all hollered out in joy.
Her heart began racing a mile a minute. She was overjoyed when she heard all their voices.
"You guys! I'm so happy to hear your voices right about now." She told them, a tear stinging her eye.
"What seems to be the matter?" she heard Koharu ask politely. She was the second half of Rainbow Berry Parfait, a cute-type brand created by her and Yume. Sighing heavily, she let them know that her brand reveal event was coming up in a little over 48 hours, and how she was fighting to find the right design.
Yume remembered how it felt seeing scattered and discarded designs on her sketch paper laying on the floor. Before she could speak, Lily spoke softly to give her a piece of advice.
"Creativity is the mind set free. Have faith in yourself. It's your greatest ally.". Her spirits seemed to lift after that.
In the background, she heard Yume and Laura hollering out to stay strong, Mahiru and Yuzu both hollering to breathe, and Koharu's soft voice reminding her that sometimes struggle is needed to progress.
"Thank you, everyone. I think I finally have a design in mind." She thanked them as she ended the call.
Running across the courtyard, she rushed to the girls' dormitory and unlocked her room with her key card, apologizing mentally to the designs she crumbled up. 'I can do this. I just need to have faith in myself.'