Prologue 1: Ikkini

IF there was a more annoying girl at UTX than Yazawa, Nishikino Maki could not think of who it could possibly be.

But no, that didn't work. After all, she WASN'T at UTX, was she? Just pretending to be there. That was the problem, after all.

Now that she'd finally met the girl, to say she was unimpressed was far too mild. A flat-chested midget, she dressed like a Lolita cosplayer, and talked like someone voicing a child character in an anime. Much more, Maki felt like she smelled the stink of failure on Yazawa. She seemed like someone who would not only mess up her own life, but yours, too, if you gave her even a single chance.

But - Maki looked over at Rin and Hanayo, who waved. There was also her two friends. Not very close, but as close as she could claim. And there were her parents, talked by principal Minami, her mother's close friend, into thinking Otonokizaka, while backwards technologically and without any modern amenities, would be a stronger recommendation for a good pre-medical program. And they all wanted her to pick that crumbling Charles Dickens throwback over a real high school. Seeing Maki talking with the Yazawa girl, it was clear Rin and Hanayo, who waved at Maki again, were starting to get their hopes up. Which undid all Maki's work in dashing their hopes earlier that spring.

She also had to admit she MIGHT be being unfair to Yazawa. She looked at her again and shook her head. No, same loser. Kind of scarily ambitious and perhaps schizophrenic or something. Maki felt like if Yazawa spoke about herself in the third-person one more time, she'd get slapped until she stopped. But then again, how would she explain that to Rin, who had the same aggravating habit?

And on the surface, Yazawa was, actually, sort of impressive. Apparently she did some sort of child care, got good grades (in not very hard classes, Maki's inner future valedictorian interjected), had managed to start a school idol (ugh!) trio that won a competition of some minor sort. And she'd been scouted by the unfortunately famous ARISE trio at UTX, Maki's chosen school. As a hobby, and to placate her parents, Maki had gotten accepted at a half dozen schools, including both UTX and Otonokizaka, so it was up to her. Hah!

In reality, she was under pressure to pick Otonokizaka even from the headmistress of the UTX first years (each year at UTX had its own)! Apparently she was an Otonokizaka alumna, knew it was struggling to fill its classes, and didn't want to poach any students from there without replacing them. So when ARISE had petitioned to let Yazawa transfer to UTX (and even arranged a scholarship for her), since the first-year headmistress was also in charge of transfers, she forbade it, unless a student at UTX transferred to Otonokizaka. With some wheedling, she'd agreed that if an incoming student who'd chosen UTX could be persuaded to change to Otonokizaka, that would suffice, and Maki became that sacrificial lamb.

Maki had gone with Rin and Hanayo to see Otonokizaka, out of morbid curiosity, and unluckily for her, Yazawa had heard her trying out the piano in the music room with her friends listening. After that she'd apparently told the ARISE girls that if she ended up stuck at Otonokizaka "for a while," she'd "at least have her own composer."

Apropos of that bit of derangement, Maki had been paying zero attention to Yazawa's babble for a while now, but suddenly the words "my Maki-chan" jumped out at her. She tensed up, set her jaw, and started to pay attention. Apparently, Yazawa's joy at finally getting in to UTX would be lessened somewhat by the fact that "Nico's Maki-chan" would be going the other way. Not that Nico didn't appreciate the sacrifice, because Nico did appreciate what Nico's Maki-chan was doing for Nico. Really, Yazawa was like a living Pokemon, only capable of uttering her own name. But this couldn't be allowed to stand.

"What did you just say, Yazawa?" Maki interrupted. "Because it certainly sounded a lot like you said I was YOUR "Maki-chan." So first of all, I am and will remain "Nishikino-san" to you. Second of all, I am not, in any sense used since the Dawn of Man, yours. Are you into girls, Yazawa? Is that what that was about?"

Yazawa stuttered and said of course the number one idol couldn't be that way. In fact, she wasn't dating at all, her busy life and idol career demanded she forego that …

"Then, I guess annoying me is your way of saying you really can't leave your dear old Otonokizaka - where you're apparently a dull, uncut diamond shining comparatively brightly in a coal bin - so I should be on my way to UTX before I miss out on some of my pre-college courses."

At that point, the little loli fell all over herself apologizing. Suddenly, Maki felt a little twinge of guilt. She suddenly remembered Hanayo, who was an idol otaku, saying Yazawa's success with her trio was inspiring because her family was desperately poor, and something about her not having a father. Was the satisfaction of browbeating someone so pathetic really worth it? She didn't allow herself to speculate how well she would have handled Yazawa's situation, but it did make her back off a bit.

She sighed. She looked at Yazawa. She looked up. She looked over at Rin and Hanayo, who waved yet again. She thought of her parents.

"Look, Yazawa. I have no idea what someone like you could ever do for someone like me. Almost certainly, simply avoid me in the future. But if it ever comes up, by some dark miracle, you will be reminded that you owe me. Greatly."

She pointed at UTX. She tore a piece of paper out of her notebook, scrawled a note on it, and handed it to Yazawa.

"Go. Go, go. Get out of my sight before I change my mind."

With another sigh, she turned away from Yazawa, who stood there flabbergasted, and trudged over to where Rin and Hanayo were waiting. Of course, she didn't look back to see if Yazawa had the brains to obey her command or not. Her two sort-of-friends were over the moon when they realized she was heading away from UTX and waiting for them. Their joy did not make it all worthwhile. Nothing did.