Hello~ And welcome to my fanfic! I don't expect many to read it but if you do, and you like it, then I whole-heartidly thank you! Because lemme tell you, I'm kinda scared to post this. So what's the deal that's happening is that.. I.. love Love Stage, but I -well - didn't like Ryouma... So if you decide to read this I'm gonna give you a fair warning and say that Ryouma will not be in this version of the story. In fact, what you'll be reading is a re-do of the story... sans Ryouma and instead another character I created has been inserted in his place. That being said, you'll be seeing a lot of familiar parts in this fanfic, especially in the beginning 2 chapters since the story with the new character won't really kick off until the next one.

I kinda went overboard and already wrote some 15 chapters, so there won't be a delay between chapters provided people want to actually continue the story. So... I hope you enjoy!

10 years ago

The afternoon was brilliantly bright and sunny. The white stones of the church were reflected luminescent against the blue sky. The scene outside laid out the makings of a wedding, but not by normal means. Along with the well dressed audience, bride and groom, there were also cameras and a full film crew. The wedding was not so much a holy matrimony as it was the set for a commercial. To add to that, the bride and groom were already married. They had even brought along their eight year old son, dressed formally to be one of the younger extras in the shoot.

As with many productions, hiccups had a liking to spring up at poorest times.

"The actress playing the girl can't make it?" The director asked the assistant.

"Her flight's been canceled. She won't make it on time."

"Do we have a back up?"

"Not from the extras we have here. The manager found a replacement but it'll take her three hours to get here."

The director considered the information, but by his expression, it was a grim option. "The sunlight will be all wrong by then!"

Nagisa Sena, the bride, had been sitting on a chair in the shade as a make up artist hovered around her applying final touch ups. She was within hearing distance of the conversation.

"They're asking if you could just change the plot of the commercial." The assistant offered.

"Easy for them to say," The director replied, exasperated.

"Director?" The bride spoke up from her seat. "Would you like to use my son?" She pointed to the boy standing beside the groom. He was immediately alarmed at the suggestion. He'd only been brought along as a background extra, not a main role. The thought terrified the boy.

Before he knew it, he was handed over to the costume and cosmetic department. His suit was replaced with a pink dress and sash, dress shoes, a string of pearls, and his hair done up into two ponytails. Even at the age of eight, he felt and looked horribly embarrassed. If any spectator didn't know better, he would have easily been mistaken for a girl.

A woman was talking to him, oblivious to his onset of jitters. "Ok! Let's go over the script. You're going to catch the bouquet the bride throws, then smile at the boy next to you."

The poor boy could hardly form a coherent sentence in his growing panic. He had little time to flounder an excuse to change back into his suit when two others joined the readying group. One was an older man, also in formal attire, and the other a young boy standing at his side. He hardly looked much older then himself, the boy noted, although he did stand a couple inches taller. He was a brunette boy with eyes so blue, they might have challenged the sky.. and won. By the calmness of his expression, he seemed much more mature than how he was handling the situation at that moment. When they made contact with his, he was almost startled by their direct gaze.

The man at the older boy's side looked down at him. "Say hello." He coaxed in a gentle tone.

The blue eyed boy glanced up at him, the looked back towards the nervous 'girl'. "Good morning," his voice was soft, perhaps in response to his nerve-wracked appearance. "I'm working with you, right? It's nice to meet you."

The poor boy stammered a reply, but it was hardly more than a broken string of syllables. The brunette looked at him curiously.

The audience had gathered around the stairs leading to the church's doors. Everyone was in place. Adults in the front, while the boys were stationed towards the back where the bouquet was marked to fall.

"And... action!"

The church bells began to ring and the doors swung open, revealing the happy couple as they walked out to greet their guests as man and wife. The bride tossed the bouquet of pink flowers towards the audience. The poor boy knew all he had to do was catch it, then look to the boy next to him. However, it seemed the simple act of catching the object was going to be easier said than done, as the bouquet arced down and missed his outstretched hands to land on the floor.

His nerves were already shot. Failing a simple instruction was too much for the poor boy. The brunette had been about to inquire on their well being when something at the boy's feet caught his attention. It seemed the poor boy's bladder had become overtaxed as well.

10 years later

The rest of the memory faded away, or perhaps it had abruptly stopped, as dreams tended to do when the dreamer finally awoke. Izumi Sena, no longer a nervous wreck of a ten year old - now a less nervous wreck of an eighteen year old - lay on his back staring at the ceiling. The last wisps of the dream like memory were fading but it didn't stop the strange, uncomfortable twist of second-hand embarrassment he currently felt in his stomach. Why, of all times, did he have to suddenly have that memory spring up? He had been going on just fine without having to recall that traumatic train wreck of an event. The boy sat up in bed and put on his glasses. He shook off the last grips of drowsiness and looked up.

"Good morning, LalaLulu," He greeted, not a person, but a poster across his room on the opposite wall. A strategically placed vision which would be the first thing he would see upon waking up, surrounded by other LalaLulu memorabilia. A shrine to the ficitonal magical girl, and no better way to start his morning.

When Izumi opened the door to the dining area, he was first greeted by the sound of his mother's voice. By her tone, she was complaining about something. Their assistant, Rei, was used to dealing with this behavior and was speaking calmly in response.

"Are there still no job offers for me? Why?"

"Because you turned down that last offer, Nagisa-san."

"But I don't want to work with him again." She pouted.

Izumi took a seat at the empty, set place at the table. Breakfast was a simple serving of miso soup, toast, eggs, and ham. His mind tuned out the complaints of his mother as he greeted a monotone,"Good morning,"

Nagisa smiled, looking at him before something on the TV caught her attention. "Good morning- oh!"

The television was usually turned on during meal times to provide idle entertainment and topic fodder. Programming had switched over to a commercial break, but by the time Izumi thought to look up at the screen, he wasn't sure if what was playing wasn't just an extension of whatever movie had been on. The camera work was too sharp and precise to be a typical commercial. The theme looked fanciful, the woman on the screen was dressed in flowing layers of soft fabric. The following seconds were of various cuts and close ups of this woman getting ready, with the finishing touch being a spray of perfume in a decorative glass bottle. After arriving at a ball fit for a fairy tale, she caught the eye of a Prince Charming. As they embraced in a dance, the Princess lifted her eyes to glance at the camera. Then the scene faded as the image of the perfume bottle on a plain backdrop appeared.

Nagisa had been momentarily mesmerized by the commercial. "Oh, my favorite perfume released a new fragrance. I'll have to remember to buy it soon. I believe that was the new face of the company. Isn't she lovely?"

"She is," said Izumi's father, Seiya. "but not as lovely as you are."

"Perhaps, I should get back into modeling. Do you think I'd be able to?"

"It would be like you never even left, dear."

Nagisa had started her career as a model for small fashion companies. As with many models, they often transitioned from photos and fashion to television. Now, his mother mostly starred in dramas and movies.

Seiya had once been an actor, debuting in opera and stage musicals, but left the stage light to become the President of their talent agency 'Sena Productions'. After marrying Nagisa, they had their eldest son Shougo, who - like mother and father - was the lead singer in the band CRUSHERZ. Along with his Grandfather and Grandmother, a singer and dancer respectively, the Sena family seemed to fall under the category of being a 'show-biz' family.

Their assistant Rei Sagara was in charge of management with Sena Pro, and often worked alongside the Sena family to find job offers and contracts.

And then there was Izumi, who vehemently refused to go anywhere near a camera, and chose instead to attend the local college. As most students his age did. However, this decision didn't seem to sit well with the family.

Nagisa looked over at her son. "By the way, Izumi? Have you been seeing that vocal coach?"

Izumi tensed at the mention. No, he had not.

"Shani-san agreed to give you dance lessons as well," Seiya added.

Though he had only touched half of his plate, Izumi found his appetite had fled out the door at the double attack he was receiving. He was inclined to follow suit.

"You're already eighteen years old, so you need to-"

"Wow! Just look at the time!" He cut over his mother in his haste to change the subject. "I'd better get going! Have a nice day!" He grabbed his school bag from the chair and rushed out of the room.

"W-wait-!" Nagisa called after him but it was too late. "Oh, honestly. What is he going to do with his future? He's starting to act like an otaku..."

"He's not acting," replied Rei. "He is an otaku." He phone rang, to which he responded by answering it quickly.

-x-

Though his family kept pushing him towards show business, Izumi knew for certain it was something he could not, and would not, ever be able to do. He got stage fright every time the teacher called on him in class, how could he be expected to handle being the main character of a drama, or on stage singing? It simply couldn't be done. Not everyone in the Sena family had to be famous from performances. There were other ways.

In light of his obsession with a specific magic girl anime, Izumi had become inspired to follow along that pathway. He would become someone who could create art with a stroke of a pen. To entrap and enthrall audiences with fantasy worlds and villains and charming characters. He aspired to be someone like Miyabi Saotome, the artist behind LalaLulu.

Although, in hindsight of his failing grades, he often wondered if it was a wise decision to practice drawing manga in the middle of class lectures. Still, he found better concentration at school than he did at home. Even if his drawings seem to be lacking something. He wasn't sure what. In his mind, he was close to being ready to send his art in to a magazine for publishing.

In the end, he ended up spending hours after class at the manga club, where rather than drawing or writing manga, they would instead only read it. And Izumi himself was caught in the net of the new Young Zeta magazine issue.

By the time Izumi arrived home, it was completely dark outside. He had spent the whole afternoon and evening reading manga. If anything, he tried to at least study how manga looked to better his drawing skills, but in the end, he always got too caught up in the story itself to pay any attention.

Upon opening the front door, he hadn't been prepared for, nor was he expecting, a welcoming party. His mother, father, and Rei stood together in the living room with unusually bright smiles.

"Welcome home, Izumi-san."

"We've been waiting for you!"

"You're late today,"

Judging by how their morning went, Izumi hadn't had any inclination that something was waiting for him when he returned home - he might have had incentive to not read manga until the sun went down had he known. He failed to comprehend their meaning until Rei pushed a button on the remote control to play something that had been paused on the television.

That same dream, that same exact memory, played on the screen in its full, violin wedding march glory. His mother and father exiting the church to the cheering audience. Bells ringing. The bouquet was thrown over outstretched hands but, of course, Izumi was the on to catch it. A pleasant female voice spoke, "Have a wonderful wedding at any age," As bride and groom road away in an open carriage, Izumi did as scripted and looked to the brunette boy beside him and smiled as the words 'Happy Wedding' faded onto the screen. Izumi went rigid when he saw himself, eight years old wearing a pink dress and pigtails, catching the bouquet.

"T-this is-!"

Rei turned off the television via the remote and spoke in a strangely serious tone. "Ten years ago, the three of you starred in this commercial for the bridal magazine Happy Wedding."

"Izumi was so cute! And Seiya-kun was so young!" Nagisa gushed dreamily.

"You haven't changed a bit, darling."

"To commemorate their tenth anniversary," continued Rei, "Happy Wedding wants to film another commercial. The concept is: 'A Wedding Ten Years Later.' It'll show the children who caught the bouquet, now getting married themselves ten years later. They want to keep the same casting as before, so this offer is for all of you."

Izumi, who had still been shocked by the vivid recollection of the commercial played before his eyes, was brought back into reality.

"I'll do it!" Nagisa said cheerfully. "It sounds like fun!"

"If you want to do it, I'll do it too, honey."

"W-wait a second," Things were suddenly moving far too fast for Izumi. "By 'all of you,' do you mean me, too?!"

"Of course." Rei replied.

"No, no, nonono! There's no way I can do this!" Izumi replied, panicked. "Can't they just use a girl who looks like me instead?"

"There's a problem with that," answered Rei. "The thing is, the actor who played the boy in the commercial made a specific request. His involvement in the commercial is to have the exact same cast as ten years ago."

"B-but, you could still use someone else.." Izumi offered feebly. "He'd never know!"

Rei, not halted by Izumi's constant backpedaling, went on. "He specifically mentioned that he remembered the girl's unique eye color." While Nagisa and Seiya congratulated themselves on having a job offer with the good-standing company, Rei was the only one who remained business-like. "Those are the circumstances. It would be greatly appreciated for you to appear in the commercial."

"Hold on a second!" Izumi's voice was surprisingly loud, even for him, but he had to be heard over the excitement his parents felt. The room instantly became quiet. "Aren't you all forgetting one vital little fact?"

"What vital fact?" Rei replied.

"I'm a guy!" Izumi retorted. "I might've passed for a girl ten years ago, but now-"

Rei placed a hand on his head, cutting him off. A strange act, made stranger as he proceeded to walk around Izumi in a close examination, complete with hands pressed to his chest and shoulders, before Rei said decidedly, 'No problem. With your short stature and skinny frame, you'll still pass for a girl!"

Izumi, visibly irritated by Rei's nonchalant attitude towards his ordeal shouted, "Shut up! I've had it! I'm not doing this commercial!" He turned to leave towards his room.

"Please wait- " Rei pleaded. "This commercial is an excellent start for your entertainment career-"

"Like I've said..." Izumi enunciated to make his point crystal clear. "I am not going into entertainment! I don't want to!"

"Then what do you plan to do with your future?" Rei asked. "You went to college without any particular goals, and your an asocial otaku with zero people skills. As you are, you could never get a job in the real world!"

His words stung. Izumi felt rather childish listening to Rei berate him in such a way. His parents merely looked on as an audience "I-I'm going to become a manga artist..." His voice lacked any conviction.

"A manga artist?!" At this, Rei's composure shattered. He no longer seemed like the proper business man, speaking in a calm tone with reasoning words. "What chance do you think you have with those crappy drawings that look like they were drawn by a drunk, in the dark, with his left hand?! Life's not that easy!"

Izumi was shaken, so much so, Rei's temper immediately calmed down in realization that his shouted words were probably spoken too harshly.

"Rei, you stupid, horrible jerk!" Izumi shouted. Through his lenses, small dots of tears lined his eyes. "I'll never be in your stupid commercial!" Poor Izumi dissolved into angry tears as he turned and bolted through the door and to the stairs to his room.

Knowing he had not handled that situation correctly, Rei sighed at the amount of effort he just added to his already impossibly long list. He was out of his league in convincing Izumi to do something he really didn't want to do. His parents were no better. Therefore, there was only one person who really understood how Izumi worked. He flipped open his phone and dialed in the number.

-x-

Izumi collapsed onto his bed, trying to hide his tears in his pillow. He felt crushed. Not only did his parents constantly push him to do something he didn't want to do, now Rei was added in the fight against him. He didn't want to star in a stupid wedding commercial.

The next day, Izumi had left for school with a new burning intensity within him; he would prove to Rei how wrong he was, and that he was capable of living his own dream of becoming a manga artist. As he sat in class, tuning out the lecture of the teacher, he scribbled away in his notebook. The drawing, however, didn't seem to correspond to his passionate thoughts and looked.. well... off. He had joined the manga research club to learn how to draw, but it didn't seem to be working.

He hadn't noticed the door to the lecture hall had opened. It wasn't until he noticed all the other students were looking at the visitor that he, too, looked over. Instantly he felt surprise and disbelief. A very distinct man stood at the doorway, clad in black jeans, jacket, a white shirt, and a facial appearance that clearly stated he was a Sena.

The teacher was at a loss at the intrusion. "Wh-who are you?"

The man ignored the teacher's question as his yellow-blue eyes scanned the room full of students. Finally, he found who he was looking for at the same time Izumi stood up to get a better look.

"What are you-" he started to ask as his brother rushed up the stairs and pulled him into a hug.

"I found you, Izumi!"

The scene, though oddly touching, was a little awkward as the other students looked on in wonder. Slowly they began to become excited.

"Is that Shougo?" Asked a female student.

"No way."

"It really looks like him, though."

Before any solid questions could be asked, Izumi took hold of his brother's hand and hauled him down the stairs right out the classroom door he left open. He didn't stop running until they were away from the classrooms and hallways. Once outside, he finally let go of his brother, who needed to sit down to catch his breath.

"What were you thinking?!" Izumi demanded. "What did you come here for, Shougo?!"

Shougo sat on his feet, knees bent, with his head rested in his palms. He looked up at his little brother the same way one might look at an adorable puppy, regardless that he was currently fuming."I came to see you, Izumi."

"Why couldn't you just wait for me at the house?!"

"I'm supposed to be working right now, so this is the only time I could sneak out! Then I had to look all over the school for you!" He whined, like the situation of walking around a school was exhaustive.

"Why'd you have to pull a stunt like this? Without even wearing a disguise!" Izumi went on.

"I was wearing sunglasses..Though, no one was fooled. I guess your big bro just has too much.. what do you call it? Aura? I just can't keep it all in."

Izumi was stunned, not by his brother's supposed 'aura' but by how he was the older one, yet the least responsible of the two.

"Anyway, Izumi-"

"No."

"But I haven't said anything yet,"

"Rei asked you to come here, didn't he?"

"Guess the jig is up. That makes things easier. You should do the commercial. You're so darn cute, Izumi, you should totally be on TV!"

"You only think that because you're my brother." Izumi said indiginantly.

"Plus, if you do the commercial, I'll give you this super special alarm clock." Shougo held up a hideously pink, oblong shaped alarm clock with a speaker on the front beneath the clock face.

Izumi lacked an instant reaction, as even he was surprised his brother would think he'd do something just for a dinky alarm clock. He stood with his arms crossed, unimpressed. "You think you can bribe me with a thing like that? Are you making fun of-"

"Now, now." Shougo said patiently, " Just see what happens when I press this button.

'Izumi-kun! Good morning! Go out there and do your best today! Love-love, LalaLulu!'

Immediately Izumi recognized the voice, but he couldn't believe what he had heard. LalaLulu's voice was coming out of the alarm, and not only that, she had addressed him directly, name and all. The audio repeated as Shougo held the alarm clock above Izumi's range of reach as the poor boy leapt helplessly for the alarm clock.

"I asked the voice actress to record this special wake up recording for you!" Shougo boasted. He prevented Izumi from reaching the clock by placing a hand on his head and holding him in place. "So if you want this-"

"I'll do it!" Izumi shouted. Shougo was surprised at the change of heart. "If I think about it, dressing up as a girl in a wedding dress is kind of like cosplay!" He rationalized. "And I've always wanted to try cosplaying!"

"I see! Good boy." Shougo was impressed with what a little alarm clock to manage. "Then, here you go."

"Thank you, Shougo!" Izumi held the alarm clock to his chest. He felt even closer to Lala-Lulu.

I'll be fine doing it just this once. It's for LalaLulu, after all.

-x-

A white van waited outside a multi-story building, the back door had been slid open to await their passenger. Once they arrived and climbed into the back passenger seat, the door slid shut and the van was on it's way to their destination. After a few moments of silent driving, the driver, their agent, spoke up.

"We got the greenlight for that commercial."

The brunette looked up from the window. "Really?" Their voice sounded neither disinterested nor entirely enthused, more rather controlled.

"When you gave them that condition, I wondered if you weren't keen on appearing in it."

They flipped open their phone and pushed a few buttons to access the gallery of photos. Upon finding the one they desired, they stopped and stared idly. It was a photo of the young girl in the pink dress, the first and last time they saw her. "If I don't like something, I usually say so right away, don't I?"

The agent smiled wryly. "That you do. You're very clear on those matters. Oh, on the way to Sakamoto's would you like to stop by that cafe? I saw somewhere that they brought back that drink you liked."

They smiled, glassy blue eyes looking out to the passing scenery. "That sounds like a fine idea."