Chapter Four
Hanayo sighed wistfully. She felt like she had received a message from the gods themselves. Before her was a poster for a supposed idol concert by three second years. Hanayo recalled the leader of the trio, Kousaka Honoka, along with the other two, confronted her of all people to join the idol. What a ludicrous thought. Anyone who knew her was very aware that she was an introvert; therefore not the type of girl who would be an idol. So of course Hanayo denied Honoka's request. How could she have said yes? But then again, what if she had said yes?
A couple of weeks ago, Hanayo dragged Rin one morning to UTX for a chance at seeing the members of school idol group A-RISE. The group consisted of Kira Tsubasa as the leader, Yuuki Anju and Toudou Erena. They were ranked the number one school idol group in Japan, having won the first Love Live competition.
Hanayo more than loved A-RISE, she wanted to be them. They made being an idol look easy. They danced with grace and finesse and sang in tune with each other every single time. There wasn't another idol this in sync with one another.
Hanayo could hardly fathom doing what they do, half as well. She still remembered Rin said to her in passing years ago in elementary school; 'if you ever decide to become a super idol, I'll be your number one fan.' She smiled blithely at the memory.
"C'mon, Kayo-chin," Rin called, startling Hanayo, "let's head home."
"Uh, but I, um- alright," the introverted girl stammered.
Rin looked at Hanayo quizzically. "Is something the matter?"
Hanayo shook her head and then smiled. She shouldn't think of those ludicrous thoughts. Becoming a school idol was just a fantasy. Her relationship with Rin was real and tangible and much more important. Still, she kept her dreams at the back of her mind.
"I'm fine. Should we get ice cream?" Hanayo suggested.
"Sounds good, nya," Rin replied.
"Say, have you decided on what clubs you'd want to join yet? So far, either the track team or the softball team looks promising. How about you, Kayo-chin?" Rin asked.
"Well... I guess nothing's really caught my eye yet."
"Join a sports team with me then! We have to be together, nya."
"Um, I'm not the best athlete but I'll consider that."
"Whatever you decide, I'll do it with you," Rin promised earnestly.
Maki sighed, "God, I'll probably live to regret this decision."
The first year attached the MP3 file to the email and sent it. Once the deed was done, she shut her laptop.
"Hopefully that satisfies them."
Maki didn't know what possessed her to actually take the time to anonymously compose a song for Honoka's idol group. Not that it was a difficult task for her. It was pop music; all that required was putting the lyrics to a simplistic and idiotic chord progression. She couldn't stand the thought of doing that though so she went above and beyond that.
If anyone asked why she did it, she would either deny it or say she did it just to get them off her back.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed beside her, catching her attention. She arched a brow when she saw that it was Rin calling.
"Hello?" Maki answered.
"Hey, what's up?" Rin asked.
"What do you want?" Maki asked tersely.
"Am I not allowed to just say hi?"
Maki rolled her eyes but still smiled to herself. "Well, hi. I'm sure you already know I'm no good at small talk."
"Yeah, I realized," Rin replied with a chuckle. "Anyways, I already told Hanayo, but I have great news."
"News about you or news about me?"
"About me. I talked it over with my mom and… she agreed that I'm old enough to start taking estrogen soon!"
"Whoa, that's awesome. Excited?"
"Yeah, mostly nervous though. I'll be going through a lot of changes."
"Eh, don't sweat about it, it'll be worth it in the end."
"Thanks. Have you thought about joining any clubs?"
"Who me? No way." Maki idly twirled her hair with a finger, more out of habit than anything.
"What? Why not? You like to sing, why not join the school choir?"
"No, that sounds lame. It's preppy girls like Sana who join a club like that."
"How about the track team? Hanayo and I were thinking about doing that."
"Even worse. I hate sports. I don't know, I'm just not really the type of girl that does clubs."
"How come?"
Maki sighed, "It's not important. Anyway, how have things been for you at school? Anyone causing you trouble?"
Rin shrugged."Same as usual, I guess. Some of the girls still pick on me. Today Sana tripped me in the hallway again."
Maki clenched her fist. "So help me, I'll make her life miserable. She's lucky I even let her breathe the same air I do."
"It's not a big deal she's just a pest!" Her voice cracked on the word 'pest' and she groaned aloud, slapping her hand on her forehead.
"What's wrong?" Maki asked, worried.
"My voice is changing so it keeps cracking every now and again. It's embarrassing."
"Trust me, it's not as bad as you think it is and it happens to the better of us, but... if it makes you feel any better, I could give you some voice training?"
"Voice training?"
"Yeah, I actually, um, did some research on MtF transitioning and it says that even if you do start taking estrogen, it doesn't help with your voice like testosterone does. So I figured I could give you voice lessons to help keep your voice sounding feminine."
"Whoa, that's so nice of you! Why are you doing this?"
"What? I was curious, okay? Nobody at Otonoki gives a shit about anyone, honestly. You seem like a somewhat decent person and worth giving a shit about to me," Maki replied casually.
Rin blushed at the sentiment. Maki could actually be quite caring when she wanted to. "I really appreciate it. I don't even know where I'd be right now if I hadn't met you."
"You can pay me back by kicking Sana's ass for me," Maki half-joked.
Rin giggled, "Not if she kicks mine first."
"Let me tell you, the first thing to know about Sana is that her bark is much worse than her bite."
"Hmmph. Another day, another dollar," Maki murmured to herself sarcastically. School was exhausting as per usual.
She put her satchel on over her shoulder and was on her way home. However, she didn't make it more than three steps when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulders. Filled with curiosity and a hint of annoyance, she turned out. She frowned when she saw that was that ginger girl who tried recruiting her, along with her two lackeys.
"Yeah…?"
The ginger girl, Honoka, smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "So I got an email last night…"
Maki arched a brow skeptically. "Okay? What's that have to do with me?"
"Don't play dumb, silly. We all know it was you who sent us that email."
Maki huffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Who else could've written our new soon-to-be hit song?" Honoka asked.
There was no point in hiding it now. "Well, so what if it was me then?"
"Please join u's! You won't regret it!"
"Absolutely not," Maki answered.
"This morning and after lunch I saw you looking at our poster so you must be at least somewhat interested," Kotori said as-a-matter-of-factly.
Maki gasped and her cheeks reddened. She was certain that she was alone when that happened. She waved her hands frantically in front of her. "I was just glancing!"
Honoka giggled, "That sure was a long glance."
"Honoka, please go easy on her," the one called Umi chastised.
Maki knew she would end up regretting helping them. She willingly gave them an inch but they kept demanding a mile.
She cleared her throat to compose herself. "I already told you no. I barely tolerate pop music and my future's already been decided for me. Why waste time being an idol sellout when I should be focusing on my studies?"
"This would so not be a waste of time! We're doing this because we want to save the school from closing and we think you'd be a huge asset to us. Reconsider?"
Maki scoffed and turned around. "I refuse. Do it on your own. Whether you fail or succeed it'll still mean nothing to me." She left as quickly as she could.
Honoka whined with a pouty lip, "So mean!"
Kotori shrugged her shoulders, "I'm sure she was just having a bad day." Honoka and Umi were amazed at how their friend managed to always keep a positive attitude.
"Amazing! Now that's what I call a mansion!" Rin exclaimed, her mouth agape.
Warily, she walked up the large steps to the front door. She was about to knock when she noticed an intercom next to the door. She timidly pushed the button and waited.
"Yes?" she heard the voice of an older woman.
Rin cleared her throat. "Um, hi, I'm a classmate of Nishikino Maki's. She's probably expecting me."
"Just a moment."
Seconds later the door and opened and Rin stood erect. She was greeted by a short woman in a maid's outfit.
Rin bowed respectfully. "Good afternoon, miss."
"Miss Nishikino's just up in her room. I'll escort you, it's quite easy to get lost in this house."
The first year was led up the stairwell and down the hallway until they came to Maki's door. They found her sitting at her grand piano, writing on sheet music. Rin couldn't say that she was shocked. The maid left the two girls to carry on her business.
"Maki, you never mentioned that you were loaded!" Rin proclaimed.
Maki blinked. "Oh. Surprise? I don't like telling people upfront because then they'll probably only be around me because of my money. You understand, right?" the redhead explained.
"I guess that makes sense," Rin said with a shrug.
"Now, are you here for the voice lessons already?"
"Yeah. You busy?"
"Not anymore. Let's sit on my bed," she replied, setting her sheet music aside.
Rin plopped her body down on the comfortable king-sized mattress and Maki joined her but in a more graceful manner. Rin laid on her stomach with her head resting on her forearms. She had never felt a bed this cozy in her life; she almost sunk down through the mattress.
"Alright. Hit me with the first step. I'm ready."
"Okay, first I need you to think of a voice that you really admire. It can be anyone's, someone who you're close with or a celebrity," Maki explained.
Rin thought, idly kicking her feet. The sweetest voice she knew came from none other than Hanayo. There could be nothing more angelic on this planet. Hanayo was always shy about speaking out or especially singing. Rin could recall one time where she accidentally walked in on Hanayo singing her heart out while she thought she was alone. If she could, she would've listened forever.
Maki's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Do you have one?"
With a winsome smile, Rin nodded.
"Good. Now I want you to think of the different qualities of the voice; what makes it unique. The first step to getting better at anything."
Rin nodded again.
"Okay. Typically with guys they speak from the chest and when they go through puberty the testosterone in their bodies helps their vocal cords thicken. For girls, we tend to speak in a head voice. Do you sing at all?"
Rin blushed and shook her head. "N-not seriously."
Maki rolled her eyes. "Relax, I'm not telling you to sing for me. Anyways, we should work on the pitch, articulation, fluency, and tone for your voice. It's not gonna be easy, especially since you've already started going through puberty."
"Whatever it takes, I'm in," Rin said confidently.
Rin yawned, nodding off every five minutes as the student council president droned on about school rules and other boring things. It was easy to fall asleep, it wasn't her fault that the auditorium had really comfortable seats.
"... and that concludes the new student orientation. You are now free to check out the student clubs, so please look into those if you are interested," Eli concluded her speech at the podium.
Rin rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she and the entire student body stood up from the seat and dispersed into the hallway and outside.
"Hey, you seem like the type of girl who's probably into sports," The brunette girl holding a stack of flyers supposed.
Rin smiled, "You're not wrong."
The girl handed her a flyer. "Come join the basketball team! Tryouts start at four!"
"Thanks," Rin said.
Rin looked around the schoolyard until she found Hanayo looking at her phone with her back turned. Rin smirked and tip toed over to her without making a sound. From behind, she placed her hands on her shoulders and hissed, giving the shy girl a near heart attack.
"Don't scare me like that!" Hanayo exclaimed.
Rin giggled. "Today's the big day, Kayo-chin! Have you decided on a club to join yet?" she asked eagerly.
Hanayo boldly gave Honoka and her friends her word that she would be there to support them at four o'clock on the dot. She wasn't going to let anything stand in her way. Of course that was easier said than done, however.
Hanayo fiddled with her fingers and timidly stammered a reply, "Um, well-"
"Wait, are you thinking about joining that idol group, what are they called, Moose or something?" Rin asked, placing a finger on her chin.
"Uh, actually I-"
"How about we check out the track team? Or the basketball team? The possibilities are endless! C'mon, you said you wanted to try out some sports!" She grabbed Hanayo by the hand and dragged her in the direction of the basketball courtyard.
"W-wait, Rin! Someone help me!" Hanayo cried but to no avail. Once Rin had her mind set on something it was nearly impossible to pull her away from it.
"We don't wanna be late, nya!"
That was exactly what Hanayo was afraid of.
This was quite the dilemma; on one hand, if she misses the concert she'll disappoint Honoka and her friends, but if she does go then she'll disappoint Rin. There was no way to win in this game.
"Hmmph, still empty. Just as I expected," Eli said glancing at a clock on the wall. She made sure her camera was on, positioned correctly, focused, and ready to record.
"They'll see for themselves how foolish they've been."
"Um, excuse me, I don't think you're supposed to be up here…" Eli heard a timid voice behind her.
"And who the hell are you?" Eli challenged, glancing over her shoulder at the girl.
The girl had short tangerine colored hair that went just above her shoulders. She cleared her throat. "Well, I'm supposed to be operating the soundboard for the concert."
"Then just pretend I'm not here."
With a sudden burst of confidence, Hanayo impulsively tore her hand out of Rin's grasp. Rin looked at her perplexedly.
"I'm really sorry Rin, but I have somewhere to be and I promised I wouldn't miss it."
"Huh? But what about tryouts?" Rin asked.
"I'm sorry. I just have to support u's in their first concert and I can't be late." Hanayo spun on her heel and made a beeline for the auditorium.
Rin, still confused, ran after her best friend.
Maki meandered through the hallway aimlessly after she left the assembly. She tried walking past the bulletin board without even sparing a passing glance but she couldn't resist. She backtracked and looked at the colorful idol group poster for the umpteenth time that week.
"Why is it that I always find myself drawn back to u's?" Maki murmured to herself.
It was the day of their performance and Maki was considering watching it. Not out of her own enjoyment though, merely because she was curious to see how u's would butcher her composition.
Maki jumped slightly when she felt someone brush against her arm. It was a girl, a whole head shorter than her, with two twin tails. She glared intensely at the idol group poster, scrutinizing it to the finest detail.
"Can you believe this?" the short girl asked.
Maki blinked. "What?" She looked around and saw nobody else. "Are you talking to me?"
"Do you approve of this? It's an abomination. One of them even had the audacity to try and offer me a flyer. Ugh, I have to go see this for myself."
And just like that, the girl was strutting away, her hair bobbing behind her.
"What in the world?" Maki said. If the girl had some kind of personal vendetta with u's then why would she bother seeing their concert?
Maki looked back at the poster one last time with a heavy and dragged her feet in the direction the other girl went.
"I say…! Hey! Hey! Hey! Start! Dash!"
Hanayo watched the stage in awe as the girls of u's sang and danced their hearts out despite the fact that the auditorium was filled with empty seats. Having the curtains unveil an empty house was a shock at first, but it didn't matter to them at all; they put in all the hard labor for an idol concert and now they were going to show off the fruits of their labor regardless of whatever people cared to watch them.
Hanayo's heart pounded and she could feel the vibration in her ears like tom drums. She knew at that moment that performing on stage with them was where she belonged.
Behind her, Rin ran through the door, straight for Hanayo.
"Kayo-chin, I-" Rin's attention was drawn to the stage as well, captivated by the music and flawless choreography. She gasped at the amount style and panache they put in their performance.
Eli groaned frustratedly with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows permanently furrowed. She stared intensely at the girls on like they could have a slip up at any moment. The girl at the soundboard timidly glanced up at Eli and swallowed.
Eli had expected u's to just give up right away when they saw that no one wanted to watch their concert, but they kept going. Foolish, yes, but Eli couldn't help but admire their resilience.
Not far, just outside of the auditorium, Nozomi stood, leaning on the wall with a small satisfied smile on her face. It was just like her tarot cards said about 'nine muses gathering together,' almost like a prophesy.
Hiding just around the corner, was Maki who fought to stop her foot from tapping to the beat of the kick drum fought to stay out of Nozomi's line of sight. It pained her to admit that Muse's performance actually sounded more than halfway decent unlike she had initially expected even if she couldn't see it. Maybe they actually had been serious about being idols.
When the song concluded, Maki joined the others in the auditorium, avoiding Nozomi's gaze, to give u's an applause. Just to be courteous.
"Wonderful!" Hanayo quietly cheered, vigorously clapping alongside Rin. They heard footsteps behind them and gasped when it was none other than the intimidating presence of the student council president.
The girls on stage stopped praising each other and stared down the president.
"So what now?" Eli asked condescendingly.
"We'll keep performing!" Honoka replied daringly.
"Why? It's not like you'd make a difference," Eli retorted.
Hanayo looked away dejectedly while Rin glared.
Honoka stomped her foot. "We'll keep performing because we want to! I love singing and dancing. Umi and Kotori probably feel the same too. I don't regret a thing! I want to pursue this more than anything. It doesn't matter if we never catch people's attention, it doesn't matter if we never have an audience cheering for us, but we'll never give up!" She stared down Eli and didn't back down for a second.
Eli gave one final glare then turned on her heel and marched out of the auditorium without a word.
"What a bitch…" Maki muttered to herself.
Honoka put a smile back on her face as soon as Eli was gone. She took Umi and Kotori's hands in hers and she ran with them off the stage to meet her audience.
"Thank you all so much for coming to watch us, the three of us are so grateful!" Honoka claimed.
"It was great!" Hanayo exclaimed.
"You rocked!" Rin added.
Maki shrugged. "It was a solid performance."
"That was certainly a rush," Umi remarked.
"Absolutely, I'm still buzzing!" Honoka said.
"Um, excuse me?" Hanayo interjected shyly.
"What is it, Kayo-chin?"
She couldn't back down now. She clenched her fists. "I… I want to be an idol."
Rin's eyes widened. Honoka gasped and took Hanayo's hands in hers, jumping excitedly. "Of course you can! We'd love to have you in our group!"
Hanayo beamed at Honoka, and then Umi and Kotori. She glanced expectantly at Rin who was caught off guard.
"What are you looking at me for?" she asked frantically.
Hanayo threw caution to the wind and spoke her mind. "I remember, you told me that whatever club I decided to join you would do it with me, right?"
"I… I did say that… but c'mon, you already know I'm not the idol type, I mean look at my hair!" She gestured to how her hair barely came past her ears.
Maki sighed exasperatedly. "Oh, you're joining u's alright, because I'm joining with you."
"I knew I'd get you to join some day!" Honoka claimed.
"Hey, this has nothing to do with you!" Maki said.
"But I…" Rin began. She really did promise Hanayo that she would join any club with her. She has never lied to Hanayo before and she didn't want to start now.
"Fine. I'll join," Rin finally gave in reluctantly.
"You will?" Honoka asked.
Rin nodded slowly, still not entirely sure of this decision. "Yeah. I mean, my friends are in it so how bad can it be?" she said, mostly trying to convince herself.
