Maki led Eli and Umi into the piano room.
"Here it is," Maki said as she sat in front of the piano.
"Wow, this room is amazing," Eli remarked.
Maki shrugged. "My mother wanted me to enjoy piano as much as I could before I eventually had to stop, so she gave me a private room to play."
"But," Umi started. "Do you still play?"
Maki shook her head. "I haven't been in this room since I was in high school."
Eli gasped. "But you loved playing!"
"Eh...not anymore. I don't really have the time."
"Do you think you'll still remember how to play?" Umi asked as she sat down the couch next to Eli.
"I guess we'll just have to see," Maki said as she lifted the piano cover and removed the red cloth.
Let's play some Chopin.
Maki pressed the first key of Chopin's Nocturne op.9 No.2, noting how familiar the ivory keys felt under her fingers.
Relying on muscle memory, Maki waltzed through the entire 4-minute song without a single mistake.
Eli and Umi clapped elatedly.
"You still remember that entire song? After so many years?" Umi asked.
Eli smiled. "That's talent for you."
Maki stared at her fingers. You've been hiding this from me the whole time? Maki accused her fingers. And all this time I thought I forgot everything!
After a few moments of silence, Maki spoke up.
"Let's start."
When you think about it, writing a song is not an easy feat.
First, you write the lyrics, then you make a melody, then you find the chords and add all the other instruments.
Maki was not a fan of writing lyrics.
"Umi, would you like to do it?"
Umi shrugged. "We need to decide on a theme first."
"How about something we might have done in the past?" Eli suggested. "Oh, wait, that's a bad idea. We all changed too much."
"We did," Maki agreed. "So how about something completely new and more mature?"
They sat together silently, deep in thought.
"You know what," Umi started abruptly. "Let's get some ideas."
"Good idea, Eli said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I'll turn on A-RISE's newest song."
Eli set her phone on the low coffee table and Maki leaned over to get a better view.
The video started with a shot of Kira walking down a dark hallway wearing fancy leather boots. After a moment, she turned to the camera and smirked.
And then violin music started playing.
"Wow," Umi said. "They look...cool."
Maki said nothing and stared at A-RISE on the screen.
"Definitely high-budget," Eli stated. "Their dancing has gotten much better, too."
The video ended and Eli turned off her phone.
"So...what do you guys think?" Umi asked.
"I like their concept," Eli said. "But I don't think it would be suitable for us."
"I think we should go for a happier concept. Mature, but happy," Umi stated.
"Hm, how about a futuristic μ's type of thing? Maybe we can take a video of each other during work?" Eli suggested.
"Oh, I like that idea!" Umi said.
Maki frowned. "But how would you film me during operation?"
Eli waved her hand dismissively. "We'll figure something out. Umi, do you think you can write the lyrics now?"
Umi nodded and jotted some notes onto her notepad. "So our theme is...future? Present? Moving on?"
"Moving on," Eli agreed.
"Okay. I think I can write something up in an hour or so. Do you guys want to plan out the music video while I...?"
"Sure," Eli said.
Umi started writing notes furiously as Eli turned to Maki.
"What do you have in mind?" Maki asked.
"I don't know," Eli admitted. "I want to film our everyday working scenes. I want our fans to know how far we've grown."
"Wait..." Maki trailed off. "So are we officially idols again or what?"
Eli pursed her lips. "Didn't we already talk about this?"
Maki blinked. "What?"
"I guess you weren't listening." Eli sighed softly and stared at Maki seriously. "Basically, we are now part-time idols, in a sense. We have shows, we have new songs, but they won't come out as fast as they might've been when we were school idols. This is because we all have our own jobs in addition to being idols."
"What? Eli, there's no way I set aside my job as a surgeon. Even if I'm not physically in the hospital, I'm going to be on call for a large period of time-"
"Which is why I re-scheduled your work times." Maki's mother smiled from the doorway.
"Mom-what?" Maki looked incredulously at her mother. "Is everyone in this without me knowing?"
Maki's mother smirked for a split second and then her facial expressions twisted into one of empathy. "Maki...I know you. I know how much you loved music ever since that day when your friends came to your father to convince him to let you become an idol. I know that is this the right career path for you."
"No, it's not!" Maki protested. "Then what was the point of my years of study in America-"
"Maki, think rationally," Eli insisted. "Idols are probably only famous for a period of time. Once it's all over, you'll have the education you need to return to a normal job. In fact, the people who should be the most worried about their jobs is Umi, Nozomi, and I since we are actively working under a strict boss. You, however, have the flexibility to do whatever, since your boss is literally your family and you'll always be guaranteed a job in your hospital."
Maki stayed silent for a few moments and let everything sink in, barely noticing her mother backing out of the room or the fact that Eli had left her side and started conversing with Umi.
An idol? Again? No, no, that's a bad idea. I've changed so much! I can't go back being a cute idol! I'm a 25-year-old woman!
Maki, a voice in her head said. There are 30-year-old idols in this world.
But I'm a surgeon! I can't just stop! Surgery is my life and passion!
Maki, can you really honestly say that you have a great passion for cutting people up and fixing up their innards?
No.
There you go. You once enjoyed being an idol before right? So be it.
"Maki, you've been staring at the floor for a while," Eli said.
Maki snapped out of her thoughts.
Eli chuckled. "Are you alright?"
"I'm..alright. Um, what are you guys working on? Maybe I can help?"
"We were just working on some lyrics. Maki, since your English is good, maybe you can help us write a few English lines," Umi suggested.
"Sure."
The 9 young women were gathered in Maki's piano room a few days later, to come up with ideas for a music video.
Honoka had this secret smile on her face that kind of told Maki that she was not going to enjoy whatever idea Honoka had.
"Okay, so here's my plan for the music vid!" Honoka squealed. "It's the ultimate plan."
"Alright, continue," Eli prompted.
"So basically, I'm going to be working in the store making Japanese sweets while I call Kotori, who is sketching designs for new uniforms for Rin and Hanayo's shop, and then Kotori sends a picture of the design to Hanayo, who is working in her store, and then-"
"Phrase proper sentences, please," Maki muttered.
"-Rin and Hanayo forwards the picture to Eli, Umi and Nozomi who are in their office together, and then suddenly-"
"What about me!?" Nico whined.
"-Nico, who was walking around Harajuku suddenly gets hit by a random car and almost dies and Maki does surgery on her!"
"What? Why do I have to get hit by a car?" Nico wailed.
Maki scowled. "And why do I perform surgery on her? Realistically, I would just let her die."
Eli laughed. "That sounds just about right, Maki, but for the sake of the video I suppose you would just have to suppress that desire."
Eli turned to Honoka. "And I think your idea is great, by the way."
"I think it's great too!" Rin exclaimed. "But I wanna be the one driving the car that hits Nico!"
"Omigosh, that's a great idea," Maki blurted aloud. "Make sure to smush her guts nicely, Rin."
"Will do!"
Honoka enthusiastically took notes. "This is gonna be a great music video!"
Author's Note: There's really no excuse for the amount of time it took me to write this chapter.
So I'm going to ignore the fact that I haven't updated in about 3 months and continue producing chapters again like nothing happened^^