Chapter 9

Rin stirred, blinking as she looked around. She noticed quickly that her girlfriend was absent. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was still early – especially given it was a Saturday. She pulled herself up and clambered out of bed. She stepped out of the bedroom and heard the tapping of a keyboard from Hanayo's study.

Hanayo was sat at her computer, typing quickly, eyes fixed on her monitors. She did not seem to notice Rin's entry, until Rin stepped up to her and hugged her from behind. "R-Rin-chan! I didn't hear you come in."

"Evidently..." Rin leaned down and kissed the top of Hanayo's head. "Nya… What are doing up so early?"

"There was an attack on those Yakuza guys yesterday. The police have taken loads of them into custody, and two of their highest-ranking members were killed." Hanayo pulled up some news articles on the subject, which showed the information she had just described.

"Wow… maybe after the hospital the police got some more leads on them."

"No… there are no reports of any police casualties. There's no way it was the police. It must have been them."

Rin bit her lip, "Nya… You think so?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense."

Rin sighed quietly before kissng Hanyo's head again. "If you're sure..."


Eli sighed as stared at the screens around her. She was far too tired to still be working. She had about four hours sleep after the team returned from their mission, before she had to take over the control room from Kotori. Ever since, she had been monitoring the reactions online to the Yakuza building being suddenly taken down.

'Idoliser' had been busy again, not that Eli had been surprised. She was, as ever, uncomfortably close to the truth of the matter. Others online were concocting their own theories, which varied wildly in how close they were to reality.

It was not as though Idoliser was always close to the truth, but the frequency with which she picked up on where the Banshees were involved was frightening. Of course, she sometimes assumed their involvement when the Banshees had nothing to do with it – sometimes Yakuza did just happen to fight each other, sometimes major criminals were killed by someone else. But her accuracy was certainly North of 50%.

There was a knock on the door and Umi entered. Eli had guessed it was her before she saw – the others would not bother knocking. "Good morning Eli."

"Good morning." Umi held two mugs of coffee and offered one to Eli. "Thank you."

"How're our online friends," Umi asked, a strange expression on her face – worried, melancholic.

"Same old, same old." Eli sipped her coffee, staring at Umi over the rim of the cup. "What's on your mind?"

"Eh?"

"Your poker face hasn't improved in the two years I've known you."

Umi looked irritated by the comment, then shook herself. "Yeah… there's something that's worrying me."

"What is it?"

"Nico's last concert..."

Eli raised an eyebrow, waiting for Umi to continue.

"Honoka's sister was there. So were Idoliser and Hoshizora..."

Eli furrowed her brows, realising where this was going. "Everything, for all of us, started that night."

"Yes. If it weren't for that, you, Nozomi and Nico wouldn't have signed up, Maki wouldn't have joined to be with Nico and Honoka, Kotori and I..." Umi bit her lip.

"What happened to Honoka's sister?" Eli asked. "I have a vague idea, but… I was never told the details."

Umi frowned. "Well she went to the concert with several friends, including your sister…"


Alisa Ayase entered the hospital, smiling at a familiar receptionist. "Here to visit again Alisa-chan?" the older lady asked.

"Yes, do you know how she's been doing?" Alisa asked, blue eyes frowning while the rest of her face pulled together a smile.

"Much the same I hear, poor dear. She'll be happy to see you though."

Alisa nodded, "I hope she is."

"Well, just sign in here please..." The receptionist handed Alisa a form with a list of guests. She signed it then headed further into the hospital.

The young woman caught a few people looking at her as she walked. Over the years, she had come to look quite similar to her older sister – emulating the blonde beauty made Alisa a little happy, although it did give her a nasty reminder when she looked in a mirror. Remembering the sister she had lost left her feeling that little bit more empty.

But she had to be strong, for her own sake, and for Yukiho's…

She knocked on the all-too-familiar door, hearing the familiar voice calling "Come in!" Alisa slid the door open and stepped inside.

Teal eyes looked up at Alisa from a chair. A glowing smile appeared, framed by a long brown fringe. Yukiho jumped to her feet from the desk chair she had been sitting at, "Alisa! You came to visit!"

Alisa smiled, less brightly than her friend. "Hi Yukiho."

"Come in, come in. I'll get us some tea. Oh, and Mum brought some sweets last time she visited, I'll get those too."

Yukiho hurried to a little kitchen-area, putting on the kettle and opening the fridge to get the sweets. Alisa always found it strange that the hospital had rooms like this – it could have been a regular studio flat.

The doctors had always said that Yukiho was fine to look after herself, as long as she wasn't exposed to anything which could remind her of what happened. Alisa sat at the low table in the centre of the room, as Yukiho brought the tea and sweets over.

"Oh, just a second..." Yukiho went over to the desk she had been sitting at and tapped away at a few things. Alisa caught sight of a music player, which had been playing some of Nico-Nii's music, before Yukiho closed it.

"So, how have you been?" Yukiho asked as she sat down opposite Alisa.

"Okay, busy with university," Alisa replied.

"I get that, my courses are pretty crazy, even though they're all online. How's your family?"

"Mum and Dad are fine. We saw Grandma a couple of weeks ago, she's doing well."

"Glad to hear it. What about Eli-san?"

Alisa gritted her teeth a little, breathing slowly to keep herself calm. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"That's a pity. I haven't seen nee-chan in ages either."

Alisa held the passive look on her face, as she always did. She was used to doing this, going along with her best friend.

"Oh, have you heard from Sakura-chan and Yumi-chan? They never come and visit."

Alisa clenched her fist…

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Wake up..."

Alisa slowly pried her eyes open. Her head hurt, she had been thrown backwards by… something. An explosion? Yes, that was it…

She looked around, spotting Yukiho nearby, knelt over something. Then Alisa registered the blood, and the broken body of their friend which Yukiho was clutching.

"Alisa?"

"Eh?"

"You spaced out," Yukiho said. "Something wrong?"

"N-no..."

"You sure?" Yukiho moved over to Alisa's side. "You look… really upset."

"Eh?" Alisa realised that she was crying and shaking.

"Alisa..." Yukiho hugged her friend. "It's okay, I'm here..."

Alisa leaned into the hug. "Thank you Yukiho."

"Anytime, Alisa-chan."

Alisa smiled. She loved this, the feeling of Yukiho's arms around her. The warmth of the other girl enveloping her.

Why did love have to be so painful?


"She doesn't remember her friends' deaths?" Eli asked, surprised.

"Any time she remembers, she has a fit. It's the same with Honoka, and by extension any of us. The same for you, or Nico. She has blanked out the pain in her life, because it was too much for her to handle."

"And Alisa's stayed with her..." Eli frowned, "I wonder how she's holding up."

"Six months of therapy, then she was okay."

"You looked it up?" Eli asked, startled.

"Stumbled on it when I was checking Yukiho's details. Your sister is doing okay."

"But not well?"

Umi shook her head, "I can't answer that, I'm afraid."

Eli leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "God, I wish I could be there for her."

"I'm sure you do, but this is the choice we made."

Eli looked back at Umi. "Why did you make it?"

Umi sighed, "Mostly because of Honoka..."


"Now ladies, you all behave and wait 'til your families pay up, and there will be no problems, you get me?"

Umi glared at the man who spoke. She was knelt of the floor, tied up next to Honoka and Kotori. Umi had positioned herself in front of her two friends, particularly in front of Kotori.

"That's quite the spirit girly. I'm impressed, you really want to protect your little girlfriend there, don't you?" The man laughed. Umi's eyes were drawn to the pistol he held. "Don't worry, as long as you don't cause trouble, I won't hurt her. But if you do, I think she'll be the first. Oh, except that other girl isn't worth much, so I guess I'll do her first."

Umi looked at Honoka, who was shaking, staring at the floor, fear in her eyes. Umi glared back at the man who just laughed again.

The three women had been jumped while they were walking home from university. They had been knocked out and Umi had woken up in a van, tied up and gagged. They had been driven out to a flat on the edge of town and taken inside under cover of darkness.

There were five assailants total – the man's four comrades were in other rooms of the flat. He had been left to 'take care of' the girls.

Umi continued her glare, until a loud crash sounded somewhere else in the flat. The man stood, startled. "What the hell?"

A series of bangs sounded, followed by thuds. The man stood and aimed his pistol at Umi, staring at the door.

The door was thrown open and two figures in dark clothing and black helmets burst in, rifles raised.

"Shoot and I kill the girl. Drop your weapons!" the man shouted as the pair burst in.

The pair looked at each other and slowly started putting down their rifles. One of them spoke "I hope you realise you aren't getting away with this."

"Well as long as I have these..." he did not finish his sentence as a bullet burst through one of the room's windows and struck him in the head. He collapsed forward, dead.

The two in black quickly stepped over to the girls and removed their bonds. "Sorry, but we need you to come with us. You'll be safe, I promise."


"I want to join!"

"What?"

Honoka gave 'Swan' a determined look. "I want to join your group."

Umi stared at her friend, surprise writted all over her face. "Honoka..."

"I… are you sure?"

"Yes," Honoka said, voice firm, certain.

"I'll… have to talk to some people..." Swan turned and left the room.

"Honoka, what on Earth are you thinking?" Umi grabbed Honoka by the shoulders and stared her dead in the eye. "Why are you…?"

"These guys… they're the same as the people who hurt Yukiho." Umi saw Honoka's fists tighten. She was close to a panic attack, but was fighting it back, Umi could tell. "I won't let them hurt other people like they did to her. I'll… protect them."


"What were we supposed to say to that?" Umi asked, staring at the dregs of her coffee.

Eli shrugged, "I don't know. I was surprised when you all wanted to join up, but..."

Umi laughed a little, "Honoka always dragged us into everything. Not that Kotori or I objected."

Eli nodded, "I can understand that. But back to your original point: everything started from Nico's last concert. So?"

Umi bit her lip, "I don't have proof. Heck, I don't have much evidence aside from this one massive coincidence. But I think that somebody set us up."

Eli raised an eyebrow, "You mean..."

Umi nodded, "Someone wanted us to be the Banshees."

"Then… who?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you one thing."

"What?"

"You told me that Nozomi picked the name 'μ's', right?"

"Yes."

"And you are familiar with who the muses are in Greek Myth, right?"

"Yes… nine goddesses of music, right?"

Umi nodded, "Yes, nine."

Eli gasped, "You don't mean…?"

An alert flashed on the console. Eli looked at the monitor and hit a button, "Tsubasa? What is it?"

"Eli, Idoliser has just been taken by the Yakuza, along with Hoshizora-san."


A/N: So I missed a week due to being busy over the bank holiday weekend. Oh well, here's the next chapter.

Lots of background stuff, and no NicoMaki this week... huh... Well...

I may have spent much of the last couple of weeks reading NicoMaki stuff on AO3 (I am vaguely tempted to cross-post this to there, as it seems a bit more active for Love Live, we shall see if I can be bothered).

But yeah, hope you enjoyed, reviews are appreciated and all that jazz. Now to go and prepare for another work week... urgh...

'Til Eternity Ends

E.D.