Just something I had to write down, because I was getting inspired. However, this is the first time I've written something for the Uta no Prince-sama fandom, so here it is. X3

Anyway, I was watching this game show called The Chase, and I was always wondering how STARISH would do in the show, so I decided - hey, why not write something out of it? 0w0

Just a little note as well - as I'm more used to the game incarnations, I'll be using them, so if someone appears OOC, it's probably because I'm using the game incarnations of the characters. I know for sure Nanami will be OOC, but it's because I'm not using anime Nanami, I'm using game Nanami.

There'll be a couple of twists and turns, but anyway, here it is. Hope you enjoy~


For a while, one Otoya Ittoki was extremely worried. Though he appeared fine and continued performing as usual with his singing and dancing, in all honesty, he felt anxious and unsure of what to do. Many times he tried to smile and just carry on so that nobody would worry about him, but even then, everyone was starting to feel a bit worried for him.

So for that, after some recounting in her head, Haruka Nanami went up to him and asked him what was wrong.

Though told nothing and met with a smile at first, Nanami wasn't deterred. In fact, she was more determined to find out what was wrong.

When asked continuously about it, Otoya finally confessed to Haruka what was wrong.

He found out that the orphanage he came from was going through some financial problems, and could possibly close down.

Several times, he was wondering how he could help as it seemed things were going so low at the place he grew up. After having a heartfelt conversation with her, Nanami suggested that they talk to the rest of the group to look for ideas on how to help and raise money. Once that was done, everyone was worried about the situation, too.

Little did they know that someone was listening to the whole thing.

It was upon short notice, however when they got the news, there was a mixture of emotions.

There was excitement, but also nervousness. Primarily, those were the two most distinct emotions.

At least, that was what Haruka Nanami, composer of STARISH thought.

Shining Saotome had gathered her and the boy group around his desk one day with some important news. Everyone wasn't sure what the news was, as the man was quite whimsical and spontaneous.

However, coming in, they still hadn't expected it.

"You've all been giving performances for a while!" Shining Saotome bellowed brightly. "Busy and hard! However, obviously that's not the only thing when it comes to being successful idols!"

Everyone just nodded to let the man continue.

"This year, they picked Tokyo to hold the convention for the world's quiz geniuses," Shining Saotome continued. He was grinning widely, "Some pretty smart minds around the world are there!"

The next bit was what got them.

"I was able to talk to one of the brilliant and beautiful minds for the show known as The Chase in other countries, and they agreed to allow STARISH to play for a good cause!"

Otoya immediately perked up at hearing this, and felt so hopeful, "Really?!" That big, bright grin was spreading out on his face as his eyes were twinkling with hope.

"You can save the orphanage, Ittoki-kun!" Nanami was smiling herself as she clapped her hands together.

"Don't think it'll be that easy, though!" Shining Saotome was waggling his finger as he then stood up straight. "Do you know of the show The Chase?"

"I've heard of a little bit of it," this time Ren spoke up. When everyone looked in his direction, he continued, "I haven't seen it for myself, but I hear it's not easy to win it." Seeing how Otoya seemed to falter slightly, he quickly added, "But have no fear, Ikki, I'm positive we can do it!"

"We can just research about it," Tokiya this time spoke up in his cool tone. "And watch a few clips on it as well to see how it works, and what to expect."

"Always having the answer on you!" Shining Saotome laughed as he this time flew over and patted Tokiya's back. "Good! Great! Wonderful! Now…it'll happen in two weeks, so make sure you prepare yourselves! Okay, everyone?!"

And with that, he sent them out of his office.

Immediately, everyone was starting to wonder about this show called The Chase. Considering nobody heard of it, they assumed that it could possibly be a show that showed overseas.

And indeed, when they all gathered in Nanami's room, they were able to research the show. Needless to say, it was quite intriguing to say the least.

"Here it is!" Nanami pointed at the screen of the laptop. Everyone scooted closer to take a look as she read aloud, "The Chase is a quiz show that was broadcasted in Britain."

"Britain?" Otoya questioned. He smiled, "Maybe we can ask Rei-chan about it! He loves things from England!"

"That's true," Tokiya agreed. He turned back to Nanami, "What else does it say?"

Nanami squinted her eyes a bit before continuing, "Contestants play against a professional quizzer known as the "Chaser", who attempts to prevent them from winning a cash prize."

"No wonder it's called the Chase, then," Syo remarked as he frowned a little.

"Definitely sounds interesting," agreed Masato. "But if they are professional quizzers, then it will be a difficult feat for us."

"You got that right," sighed Syo. "Last time I checked – I don't think any of us were professional quizzers. I guess, we just have to hope they ask us stuff we know, or easy questions."

"I'm sure we could do it!" laughed Cecil. "What else does it say, my princess~?" he leaned close to the rose-haired sweetie. Naturally, this prompted the other boys to immediately barge and yank him away in irritation.

Nanami cleared her throat quickly before everyone could get distracted, "Here's how it's structured!" When everyone got silent to listen, she continued, "A team of four contestants individually attempt to amass as much money as possible, which is later added to a prize fund if the contestant survives their individual chase."

"A team of four?" echoed Natsuki as he tilted his head. "That sounds nice~ so can Syo-chan and Cecil-chan be in a team with me, then?"

"No thanks!" Syo scooted away while Cecil laughed, "Of course! Not to worry, Otoya." He patted the redhead's shoulder, "I will help get money for the orphanage for you!"

"Thanks, Cecil," Otoya nodded. "But, I want to join, too. I may not be the smartest out of all of us here, but the orphanage means a lot to me, so I want to do it."

Tokiya sighed before shaking his head, "I think you should let me have that last spot."

"I already told you," Otoya was speaking more firmly, looking a bit annoyed at the blue-haired male's cut-in. "I'm going to play."

Masato then urged Nanami to continue, "There appears to be more. Could you please continue reading, Nanami-san?"

"Thank you, Hijirikawa-kun," Nanami smiled gratefully. This caused the blue-haired scion to blush slightly at her pleasantly polite response. She always was quite a lady, in his opinion. Clearing her throat again, she continued, "The Chaser's job is to catch each contestant during their individual chase – eliminating that person from the game, and preventing the money from being added to the collective prize fund."

"So we're going to get chased by the Chaser," Otoya took a deep breath.

"In a chase of wits, it seems," Masato murmured.

"And again, we're dealing with professional quiz masters," Tokiya said seriously.

"Any contestants who survive their individual chase, later play collectively as a team for an equal share of the prize fund against the Chaser," Nanami finished the paragraph that summarized the game.

"So basically, a team of four is all against one Chaser," Tokiya surmised as he rubbed his chin. "Each member faces the Chaser one-on-one, then if they survive their run, they go to a final chase."

"Each member's sum of money is added to an amount," added Masato, also appearing to be deep in thought. "Which is then brought to the final chase if they survive."

"What does that say, Haru-chan?" questioned Natsuki as he pointed at a bigger paragraph.

Nanami replied, "Cash Build and Head-to-head rounds. Each contestant comes up one at a time, and is given one minute to answer as many questions as possible with each correct answer worth…" Here, she squinted her eyes, unsure of the symbol.

"That stands for pounds, little lamb," Ren's voice was silky and smooth. "One thousand pounds."

"This element is known as the "cash builder"," said Nanami.

"How much is that in yen?" questioned Otoya, now puzzled. "One thousand pounds."

After some silence, Tokiya then spoke up, "Around one hundred and eight-five thousand yen."

Cecil looked quite happy to hear that, "There you go, Otoya! I'm positive we can do it!"

"The finances are a lot," said Otoya. However he felt more confident that this was going to work out. "But yeah! This definitely will help!"

"After the minute is up, the money earned from the cash builder is placed three steps down on a seven-step money board," Nanami continued reading on. "The contestant may remain at this step, and play or the money in their bank. However, the contestant may also be placed one step lower down the board for a lesser award, or one step further up the board for a greater award, with each award's value being set by the chaser."

"The Chaser seems to have a lot of power in this," Tokiya noted. "They can choose the amounts on both higher and lower end of the spectrum."

"The lower award can occasionally be a negative amount of money," Cecil this time read aloud. He arched both eyebrows, "What?! Can they really do that?"

"It does sound unfair," Otoya agreed. "But, I guess we just not choose the lower amount then. Unless the Chaser gives us a decent amount."

"If the contestant elects to play for the greater reward, the Chaser starts two steps behind," said Nanami. "And the contestant must answer six questions correctly to reach home. If the contestant chooses to remain at the standard starting position, the Chaser is three steps behind, and the contestant must answer five questions correctly to reach home. However, if the contestant chooses to play for the smaller reward, the Chaser is four steps behind, and the contestant must answer four questions correctly to reach home."

"Obviously this wasn't going to be easy," Otoya sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "So basically, it's risky…"

"Either play for bigger money, but get close to the Chaser," said Tokiya slowly. "Or play for the lesser amount, but stay further away." He shook his head, "Once more, considering that the Chasers are quiz masters, this will not be easy."

"Once the contestant nominates their starting position, questions must be answered correctly in order to reach the bottom of the board, and bank their money," continued Nanami. "Both the contestant and the Chaser are given the same multiple-choice question with three possible answers. Each must then secretly press one of the three buttons on their keypad to lock in their answer. When one person locks in their answer, the other is given five seconds to lock in, or else be locked out."

"Since it's a quiz show, I guess they'll be asking us all kinds of things," Syo said.

"Do you think they'll ask about cats?" Natsuki sounded a bit excited at the thought.

"Who knows?" Ren shrugged his shoulders. "Probably anything, really."

"For every correct answer, the contestant will move one step towards home," Nanami was scrolling the page up a bit. "Also, the Chaser moves one step down the board for each correct answer towards the contestant."

"So that's how the chase is," murmured Masato quietly. "A true match of wits."

"No movement is made, either by the contestant or the Chaser, if an incorrect answer is given. The Chaser's job is to catch up to the contestant and eliminate them from the game by capitalizing on the mistakes the contestant makes, before they can reach the bottom of the board. If this happens, the contestant is out of the game, and no money is added to the team's total," Nanami looked at little worried at this point, but she shook her head – reassuring herself that the boys would try their hardest.

Especially since the goal would make them more determined.

"Just don't get caught," Cecil nodded. "Got it!"

"However, if the contestant reaches home, their money is put into the team's prize pot, which will be contested for in the final round. In the case that the contestant chose to play for a negative amount and wins their head-to-head round, the contestant remains in the game, but the team's total pot is reduced by the negative value. This is repeated for all four contestants."

"Who would even play for a negative value?" Syo looked incredulous. "That's just stupid!"

"Not really," Masato spoke up. Everyone glanced in his direction. "Someone could possibly just want to obtain the money, so they not only get closer to home, but since they make it, they would have to have part of the final amount."

"But that's not fair," Cecil frowned. "Not at all!"

"Just…nobody play for the negative amount," Otoya was shaking his head and waving his hands about. "Just, don't."

"The contestants who successfully outrun the Chaser proceed to the Final Chase," concluded Nanami. "If all four contestants are caught by the Chaser, the team's prize fund is set to four thousand pounds, and the team nominates one contestant to proceed to the Final Chase."

"Well, that answered the question I thought of," Tokiya remarked. "I was wondering what would happen if all of us got caught. At least they don't just send us home."

"One last shot, huh?" Otoya was staring intently at the screen.

"Four thousand pounds is around seven hundred and forty thousand yen," said Tokiya. "I bet it's not enough."

"Nowhere near enough," sighed Otoya, now feeling a little nervous. Still, he would be damned if he would go down without a fair fight.

Not for something he cared for.

"There's a Final Chase segment, too," Nanami spoke up before reading its contents aloud. "In the final round called 'The Final Chase', the remaining contestants have two minutes to answer as many questions as possible. "The contestants choose one of two question sets - A or B – with the other set being put aside for the Chaser. Also, the contestants are given a head-start of one space per contestant participating in the round."

"So, if four stayed in, then they'll be four spaces ahead?" questioned Cecil.

"I'd assume to," responded Tokiya. "Go on."

Nanami nodded, "The contestants must press their own buzzer to answer a question, and only the one who pressed the button first can respond; if any other contestant responds, the question is thrown out. The buzzer is not used if only one contestant is in the Final Chase. Every correct answer moves the contestants ahead one space."

"And one step away," nodded Otoya.

"After the two minutes are up, the Chaser is brought in, and is told how many spaces the contestants collected. The Chaser is given two minutes of quick-fire questions to attempt to catch the team. If the Chaser gets a question wrong, or is unable to answer it, the clock is briefly stopped, and the question is thrown over to the contestants; if a correct answer is given, the Chaser is pushed back one space. If the contestants answer the Chaser's question correctly whilst the Chaser is at the starting line, an additional space is added to the requirement for the Chaser."

"If a Chaser can't answer the question, we have to try and answer it ourselves," Syo murmured. "What if we get it wrong, though?"

"If the contestants get the Chaser's question wrong, the clock simply continues on, and the Chaser will continue answering their questions," said Nanami. "If the Chaser succeeds in catching the contestants before time runs out, the contestants lose the prize pot and leave empty-handed."

"Which is what we do not want!" Syo declared.

"If the contestants are not caught by the Chaser, the prize pot is split equally between those contestants participating in the Final Chase. If there is only one contestant remaining, he or she wins the entire prize pot," Nanami this time took a deep breath from all of the reading she had done. "Phew!"

"That truly was quite a lot to read," nodded Masato. "Perhaps some tea would help?"

"Or a massage, little lamb~?" Ren inched closer coyly.

"I can give better massages," Cecil bumped him away as he inched his hands close to the girl's back. "Agnapolis is known for giving good aromatherapy and chiropractic practices as well!"

"Hey, don't do that to her, you jerk!" Syo snapped as he bumped him.

Seeing Otoya looking a bit nervous now, Nanami spoke up, "Ittoki-kun, are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay," Otoya spread a smile on his tanned face so that she wouldn't worry.

"It's okay to be nervous," Nanami gave a weak smile herself. "Honestly, I'm pretty scared just from reading this…I'm not that good with trivia myself…"

"That is why, Otoya," Tokiya said sternly. "If we have to form a team of four contestants, allow me to play."

"I can just drop out," Natsuki offered. "Syo-chan and I can drop out."

"It sounds really interesting," Syo admitted. "But…I don't know if I can help with trivia. But, if you need an extra player, I'm game!"

"As am I," Cecil reassured. "I'm certain we can do it!"

"Allow me to play as well," Masato offered. "I will do my best to assist you in helping the orphanage."

"Though I'm probably not the best with this," Ren said slowly before chuckling. "I will also try hard. So, don't think you'll be doing this alone, Ikki."

"Guys…" Otoya breathed. He could feel a stir of emotions mixing from within him – he was very touched that everyone was so willing to help him. And for something that truly was dear to him, too. He nodded before swallowing down the lump in his throat – grinning widely, "Yeah! We can do it!"

Nanami was clapping her hands, looking very delighted at the redhead's spirits being lifted. "Now, why don't we go see Reiji-senpai?" she suggested. "He liked things from Britain, right?"

"Oh, right! Let's go!"

Meeting with Reiji, the man got extremely excited when they mentioned The Chase. He immediately took out a hard-drive and quickly showed them episodes of the show while telling them some fun facts in between.

"It's such a good quiz show!" Reiji looked practically excited. "The four Chasers are always so clever! It truly is brilliant!"

"Four Chasers?" questioned Tokiya.

"Yep! Four Chasers, Tokkii," beamed Reiji. He pointed as the screen continued playing, "They always introduce them before showing who the Chaser for that episode will be. I heard that many of the Chasers from all around the world are gathering to Tokyo for a convention!"

"Chasers all around the world?" Cecil looked surprised.

"Oh yeah!" Reiji was nodding. "The Chase was popular enough in Britain, that it spread to other countries. Australia, America, China, Germany, even Norway, Russia and Turkey have their own versions of it!"

"Wow," marvelled Natsuki. "That sounds amazing."

"I really want there to be one in Japan, too," sighed Reiji a little sadly. "But looks like we don't yet…maybe someday, though." He then spoke more positively, "So, you guys are going to be playing The Chase at the convention? That's amazing!"

"It's for charity," Tokiya responded.

"That's really nice," Reiji looked quite happy. "After all, that's also part of being an idol. So what kind of charity?"

"It's for an orphanage," said Ren this time.

"Ah, well best of luck to you, guys!" Reiji gave a thumbs-up. "Because the Chasers are definitely no pushovers."

"Yeah, we figured," Otoya nodded – his crimson orbs glued to the screen as he saw a man with short, dark hair and slanted, golden eyes glare back. He could feel a shiver run down his spine. "What do you suggest we do in preparation for it, Rei-chan?"

"All I can advise is to study as much as you can, really," Reiji admitted. "Because it's trivia, you don't know what they'll ask you – they can ask you anything. So, really, play up to your strengths, but also study about other things, too. Like geography and science."

And so that was how that night, Haruka Nanami ended up having seven very tired, yet determined, boys sleeping all over the floor and desk in her dormitory.

Quietly and gently, she gathered blankets and wrapped them around their bodies, giving small smiles.

She was confident that they would do exceptionally, and be able to help Otoya get money to save the orphanage.


Next chapter will be tomorrow, so expect it. X3

Anyway, what shall happen to Nanami and STARISH? Will they be able to make it through the Chase? Will they be able to get the money for the orphanage Otoya used to be from?

Tune in next time~

Peace out!
- Hebi-Kazechi-10