AU Yeah! August 2: College

Performance major Yazawa Nico finds out that the mentor program she joined

is shutting down. Can she help save it without losing her sanity - or her heart?

Second-year Performance major (Vocal and Dance) Yazawa Nico started a list on a fresh sheet of paper of Things That Didn't Help. Then she crumpled it and threw it towards the wastebasket in frustration. Watching it bounce off the rim, Nico told herself she wasn't there on an athletic scholarship anyway. She took out another piece of paper and drew a line down the middle. She wrote "Things That Don't Help (Naturally)" on the left side and "Things That Don't Help (But Should)" on the right side.

So. Left side first.

It didn't help that Nico had joined the "Girl-to-Girl"mentor program and committed a lot of her precious energy to it, only to be informed it was shutting down after the semester.

It didn't help that fellow Performance major Kousaka Honoka had talked the other girls in the program into putting all of its remaining eggs into one basket — creating a school idol program at their affiliated high school, Otonokizaka Girl's Academy.

It didn't help that one of her few friends - Nico was too busy for friendship, usually - Toujou Nozomi saw the mentor program as mainly an excuse to hit on high school girls.

It didn't help that Dance and Poetry major Sonoda Umi had a mentee that agreed with Nozomi, and led Umi by the nose.

In that light, it didn't help that it was called the "girl to girl" program. But maybe she should blame Nozomi and Kotori (and Rin) instead of the program, which was the victim here.

It didn't help who Nico had drawn as a mentee — a girl so aloof and uncommunicative Nico had assumed she was somewhat autistic at first.

Thinking of the girl, it also didn't help — how would Nico write this down? Her stray thoughts about the surly, breathtakingly lovely genius Nishikino Maki wouldn't look good written down, even to organize herself. So she wrote down "Maki is hard to keep a professional relationship with." The word relationship didn't help anything, but she went on.

It didn't help that Honoka had already talked her mentee, a senior named Kira Tsubasa, and her two friends into forming an idol trio.

It very much didn't help that their attitude to the rest of the mentees was "form your own group!"

Another thing she couldn't put down: that when she saw Nozomi's mentee and main prey Ayase Eli dancing, it gave Nico a sick feeling in her stomach. She couldn't even write down "mismatched mentors" as she was definitely grateful, even as awful as trying to work with Maki was, that Nozomi had drawn her instead of Nico. She doubted her ability to tamp down feelings of envy and inferiority, especially as Ayase seemed to be very challenging. Nozomi could just laugh and beg off, saying she had little training in anything but jazz dance, and she would just be Ayase's coach and teach her how to navigate college life. "And of course, teach her other, far more important things, Nicocchi!" When Nico said Nozomi must like them young, Nozomi simply winked. "Of course, which is why the tiny, childlike Nicocchi is my backup girlfriend!" Having said that, she stood back smirking and enjoying a Nico tantrum.

Tired of feeling depressed and wanting to feel angry for a change of pace, on the right side she noted:

It didn't help that Umi's mentee-jockeying-for-girlfriend Minami Kotori had a mother at the college who was in charge of the whole program. God knows why the person running it was so blasé about losing it, but she seemed to be.

It didn't help that in middle and high school Nico had managed to charm practically everyone at will. Now that she was in college, and with serious, even aggressive competition, things had become so difficult it had soured her disposition and made her come off as constantly stressed and tired.

It didn't help that Dance scholarship student Hoshizora Rin - and Nico reminded herself to put on the left side that Rin agreed with with Nozomi on "hitting on high school girls" as the main value of the program — had gotten a tentative commitment from Literature Club vice president and closet idol otaku Koizumi Hanayo to join "if the others do."

It didn't help enough that Minami had made a partial commitment "If that's really what Umi-chan wants — to take care of Kotori and help her change costumes and move her into the correct poses, and so on. Please take care of me!"

Honoka's success with A-RISE, as her mentee trio was called, actually hurt, since it sucked up all the enthusiasm for an idol group, leaving Nico, Nozomi, Rin and Umi in the lurch.

What the right side added up to was something to be written in double-sized letters on the left side:

IT DIDN'T HELP THAT NOW EVERYTHING WAS BEING PUT ON NICO DESPITE HAVING THE MOST UNCOOPERATIVE MENTEE OF ALL!

Okay, maybe that looked a little unhinged when she wrote it that way.

At any rate, Nico folded the paper once and stuck it in her notebook. She gathered her things and went out to visit the high school, and Maki.

They didn't get along at all, and Maki couldn't think of anything impressive about her "mentor," even if she tried. But today, she sensed that Yazawa-san was almost at her wit's end. Guiltily, she reflected she was probably the cause. Then, self-righteously, she reminded herself that a mentor program was for the good of the girl being mentored, not her peers, and not her mentor. And if she did something absurd like dancing around shaking her ass with a bunch of high-school idiot girls, and it affected her grades — well, for one thing, her promised one year to relax and study music at the women's college before resuming her real education somewhere else would go out the window. So she'd be behind in her pre-medical studies, unable to use her experience as an idol, and would actually be set back musically as well.

She hadn't gotten that all out, of course. Almost any of it. But Yazawa-san, despite seeming ridiculous, wasn't entirely stupid, and Maki decided she'd figured most of it out. The downside was that she was clearly the kind of girl who preferred living in a fantasy world where things worked out. In that respect, she was a lot like A-RISE's Kousaka-san.

A-RISE! Who in their right minds would call what they did music? Maki had really set herself against the school idol idea after seeing them. Sure, they were having fun. But if school life so far had taught her anything, it was that fun was beside the point. Fun was for people not doing anything serious with their lives. Fun was a trap. The most fun she would allow herself would be her musical year in college — as long as she kept making top marks.

Still, she took pity on Yazawa-san, and simply kept playing as that girl sat against the wall. She noticed in her peripheral vision that Yazawa-san had started to tear up a little. It wasn't the first time. It took a couple more pieces before she seemed to snap out of it and be soothed by the music. You couldn't deny she had feelings for it. Maki was impatient with most people, because they didn't really get music. Say what you would, but one, quiet Yazawa Nico might be her ideal audience. The crowds were the bad part of a recital. Expressing yourself was the best part, although seeing other performers' crestfallen expressions sometimes pleased her as well if she'd been in a bad mood the day before.

It was around the time she normally stopped practice. Time to end this stalemate.

"Yazawa-san."

The girl being addressed stood up and came over to the piano.

"Just a second, please wait."

With that, Maki texted her parents that she was going to skip juku tonight, which she was allowed to do periodically. The juku preferred to be called rather than texted for some reason, so she did so. Yazawa-san obviously heard her tell them she was skipping — the Nishikinos only paid for the sessions she attended and her commitment was to one more than 50% of sessions a term.

She turned to Yazawa-san and said, "Let's go to the kissaten by the station. We probably need to talk."

When Yazawa-san didn't say anything (or move), she took her hand and gently pulled her to the door. Maki hated excess talking at best, and particularly doing so if it had no effect.

The whole way to the shoe lockers she kept a grip on Yazawa-san's hand, then grabbed it again after that girl changed shoes, and pulled her towards the door. It looked like she didn't trust her "mentor" to not run away, but in reality, she simply wanted not to waste words, and so far, the childish-looking college student had been cooperative.

When they got in, Maki ordered parfaits. She suggested strawberry and looked at Yazawa-san, who nodded. Then she ordered Americano coffees for both of them, and paid for everything. She led Yazawa-san to the back, where they seated themselves facing each other over the small table.

Maki told her straight out that she realized that she was the last holdout. That the other girls in the program at the women's college were putting pressure on Yazawa-san to get her mentee to sign up. In fact, she pointed out, she was getting pressure here herself from Kotori, who clearly saw the school idol group as a good way to break the ice with Sonoda-san. And a little from Hanayo, who was too polite to push her, but clearly wanted this. It was hard to disappoint someone so nice.

Even Tsubasa had volunteered the services of her mentor to the cause, although she'd laughed at the idea that they needed a rival idol group at such a small school. Maki smirked when she pointed out their willingness to immediately and unconditionally dispense with Kousaka-san, and what that implied about how valuable A-RISE was finding her.

Interestingly, Yazawa-san made a skeptical face. That reminded Maki of the rumors that Tsubasa had been seen hitting on Kousaka. However, it wasn't necessarily the case that she would trust her idol group, which she had immediately gotten very enthusiastic over, to a potential girlfriend, even if she was a Performance major. Maki had often reflected on what a grab-bag the whole mentor thing was. Hanayo and Kotori had at least gotten useful mentors, not so much her and Eli and Tsubasa. Come to think of it, as a fellow costume designer, Yazawa would have been a better mentor for Kotori than Sonoda. Had Maki and her switched at the start, both would have benefitted. Technically, Yazawa was also a composer, but ...

Yazawa had yet to say her first word today, but Maki went on, anyway. She might as well use up some of the talking she usually withheld in one go. Simply lay things out and state them plainly.

She told Yazawa-san what she was trying to achieve at school. What her schedule was like. The deal with her parents for an "off year" studying music at the women's college. Yazawa looked more downcast than she had before. It was pretty simple: there weren't enough hours in the day, and the whole thing would do Maki no good.

But that was exactly when everything changed. Yazawa never looked more childlike than when she was trying to bear up and be brave. She cleared her throat, told Maki she understood, and that they should work on a few things for Maki's off year, going forward. Maki could clearly see she was holding back tears.

Hanayo had told her if the program shut down now, none of the girls would get any college credit, nor anything that they could put on their resumes. And without any personal satisfaction so far, Yazawa would have flushed her time down the drain, basically.

Although her mind was fully made up, looking at Yazawa's face made something in Maki's heart twinge.

The last time she'd felt like this was probably Yazawa's first visit to the piano room. She'd stood in the doorway talking before coming in, and the creepy college student Toujou Nozomi had literally come up behind her and grabbed her breasts, then groped them, blatantly. From the look on Yazawa's face, this action by her alleged friend at college was shocking and unpleasant for her, too. Maki grabbed Yazawa-san, pulled her out of Toujou's grasp, yanked her inside, and all but slammed the door in Toujou's face.

"We're busy. Go away," was Maki's rude message yelled through the door.

True to her ways, Toujou just laughed and yelled "I bet you are! Take care of your body, Nicocchi!" before they heard her footsteps leaving. Yazawa had already been red-faced, but that quip just made it worse. Maki, only used to being coaxed, had had to coax Yazawa-san into talking to her. What a pain!

The twinge became blood rushing to her head, making her feel a little faint. She refused to consider what might be going on. Suddenly, she didn't want this conversation to end the way it had been planned to. Yazawa-san was too nice, too accepting of her fate. Was it really true that only the mentee mattered?

It felt a little like being possessed must feel like — if there was any such thing, which there wasn't. Maki found herself asking if Yazawa-san could come over to the Girls' Academy and stay for more time. She even asked to exchange numbers, which, unlike the other four girls, she'd never bothered to do before.

Yazawa started a texting conversation with her next-oldest sister, Cocoro. Apparently, she'd been given Nico's room, and was doing some of the child-care that the older girl had done before going to college.

Yazawa-san had a precarious situation at college, it turned out. Most of the time she slept on a futon in Nozomi's room (which somehow troubled Maki). When Toujou wanted to bring a girl for the night, Yazawa had to crash with Kousaka, Sonoda or Hoshizora Rin, and since Kousaka and Hoshizora had roommates they basically had to share a bed with her. Sonoda also had a single room, but her schedule was quite early, and she and Yazawa-san weren't as close as she was with Toujou.

At any rate, another element was that once or twice a week, Yazawa-san returned home to do the housework and watch the younger children. When Cocoro came home, she would sleep either in her room, which was Yazawa's old room, or bunk with the two younger children in their room, if Yazawa-san had to be up late studying.

As Yazawa-san explained all that while she was still texting Cocoro, she said she could come to the Girls' Academy and stay longer, and only go home once a week. She asked Maki if she could come home with her then: they'd be able to use Cocoro's room to study and work together, but they'd have to share the bed. Maki said as long as the time worked out, she wouldn't quibble over that. But she added that Yazawa-san had an open invitation to spend the night on a futon in her room while they were working together.

With that out of the way, the ball was in Maki's court again. Yazawa-san was clearly surprised at the turn their conversation had taken.

"I want Yazawa-san at school to coach me in this idol nonsense. I promise you I would never practice or learn any of it on my own. No interest."

Yazawa-san clearly couldn't hide a big smile. Maki would normally have been annoyed, but she had already figured out why she wasn't. It didn't mean they didn't have to make everything clear.

"But," she said, "when it comes to composing, if I have to do that, we will dispense with this mentor nonsense. Yazawa-san will be my composing flunky. No more, no less."

She looked at Maki uncomprehendingly.

"Look," Maki began. "In terms of years of learning, when you talk about composing, I am like a college student and Yazawa-san is more like a middle-schooler at best." She actually took Yazawa-san's hands in hers. "What I want from you is this, we work on a song or two together, so you learn the ropes. After that, if I don't have time to do much, I will sketch out a song and have Yazawa-san do most of it. Also when a song theme is suggested, Yazawa-san should write something and give it to me. I will tear it up and rebuild it into something listenable. In fact ... are you done?"

Yazawa was looking at her again in surprise.

"Look, the school is not shut down yet and I have a key to the music room, and permission to stay and play late. We can start your staying over in my room tonight, in fact it's better since my parents are out of town and not on call. And my place is far closer than the college, and has no curfew. Let's at least start on a song, right now. I wasn't kidding when I said I had zero time to waste."

And so it went. On the way she insisted Yazawa-san throw out themes for a song. They settled, for whatever reason, on a duet where two classical tsundere girls were drawn to each other against their will. When they got inside the music room and Maki began throwing out musical phrases, Yazawa-san insisted the tempo be almost doubled. She was actually able to sketch out her desired run at the speed she wanted with one hand on the piano. After that, Yazawa-san sang various runs off of Maki's sketches, and Maki corrected her. She made Yazawa sit at the piano and improvise a bass line, which she tore down and corrected after she sat down in Yazawa-san's place. After a while, they had a song about half-finished, but very promising, with both of them suggesting lyrics, but Maki doing most of the music and Yazawa-San most of the words. Maki shut the piano, and Yazawa-san stood up to get ready to go.

Maki tugged at her sleeve. "Nico, let's go sit over there for a minute and talk, okay?"

Nico noticed it was the first time Maki had ever used her personal name. Something big must still be up. She sat next to the girl against the wall. Maki scooted closer until they were pressed against each other on the side.

"Look," Maki said.

"I think I can do this, but it won't be all that satisfying for me. I think to stay with it I have to want to do it. And to do that …"

She took Nico's hands in hers again. She stared directly into Nico's eyes.

"Nico, I want more. Much, much more. More for me. More for us." She emphasized the last word.

With that, still imprisoning Nico's hands, she leaned over and kissed Nico on the lips. After a while, she broke contact and smiled at Nico.

Nico was still in shock, especially because being kissed by her high-school mentee had felt very natural and pleasant. Well, face it. She'd had to fight practically drooling over the girl. Although she wasn't chasing girls like Nozomi was, Nico was almost equally sure of her sexuality. It did bother her how passive she was. As the older mentor, shouldn't she be making the moves, or raising mature objections? And as she thought that, Maki kissed her again, more passionately.

When they came up for air, Nico had embarrassingly let out a couple of moans. Were you supposed to be moaning into high school girls now? Also, it almost felt like Nico was going to faint. Her thoughts kept getting cloudier.

That's probably why she only peripherally noticed Maki stripping off her jacket and shirt and crawling forward until her middle was pressed on top of Nico's. Maki tangled her fingers in Nico's hair and practically pushed her tongue down Nico's throat. Now they were both moaning, and Maki was muttering words like "Yes!" and "More!" The fluffy, blank feeling came back with a vengeance.

When Nico was able to notice very much again — another break for air — she felt cool air on her chest. She was wearing nothing but her panties. Maki wasn't wearing anything, and Nico felt her lift Nico's rear end and pull her panties off, leaving her equally naked. Then she started kissing Nico wildly, all over, and the fluffy cloud fog enveloped her mind, leaving all rational thought behind.

A half hour later, Maki was locking the piano room. She and Nico were both stark naked in the school corridor, carrying their clothes. They trooped in to the bathroom where they helped clean each other off. It was a task Nico found embarrassingly intimate. That said, for the first time since she'd met her, Maki had a very sunny smile that didn't leave her face. They dressed, and Maki paid for a short taxi ride to the Nishikino manor.

She pointed out that where they were going, she had another piano to use. And a bed.

When they parted ways on the train platform the next morning, Maki kissed Nico and thanked her "for the motivation."

Nico decided not to second-guess her elation. Sixteen, Maki might be, to her nineteen, but she had a girlfriend! She was probably a huge hypocrite, given how critical she'd been of Nozomi, but who the hell cared? Not only a girlfriend, but this girlfriend — who happened to be the most beautiful girl in the world. And a musical genius. And a genius. And hers.

Oh, and the program was quite possibly safe. So who was the #1, crowd-pleasing performer in the universe? "You're looking at her!" she told her reflection in a store window. Observing that, and then observing Yazawa literally skipping down the street for a bit, all three girls in A-RISE laughed uproariously. If anyone was watching them, they'd have seen Tsubasa take out her phone and whisper something to her friends, Toudou Erena and Yuuki Anju. And then heard them laugh much, much louder. Tsubasa had seen Maki and Yazawa come back to her school very, very late. And she knew just how to tease them.

Nico was definitely a crybaby of sorts, Maki observed. Here she was, tearing up again. Then again, both of them, being equally driven, had a good, hard understanding of how painful loneliness could be. If Maki were less stoic, maybe she'd be crying a little, too.

Remembering the night before, she decided pushing Nico down was even more fun than winning a piano contest. Something about dominating and ravishing the little thing pleased her in ways she'd have never imagined. Probably better not to mention that for a while. For the first time ever, as she boarded her train she was absent-mindedly whistling.

Because Maki was responsible and efficient, Nico arrived at the college with plenty of time to warm up for her first dance class. Owing to the hot, muggy weather, they took a couple of quick lukewarm showers every day. Drying off in the locker room, she caught up with Honoka, Umi, Nozomi and Rin. Honoka looked excited, which wasn't uncommon. She brought out her phone and said, "Wow! Tsubasa-chan says her school has one of the Seven Mysteries now!"

"Which one?" Rin asked, enthusiastically.

"The music room ghost!" Honoka replied. "Apparently, yesterday, at night some students who had to work late on a project passed by the piano room and they heard loud, unearthly moaning!" Nico's eyes widened at that, but she avoided any contact with the eyes of the other four girls. Nozomi, however, noticed her stiffening immediately.

"Oooooh!" Honoka exclaims. "Now, that's scary?"

"Oh?" Nozomi said, raising an eyebrow. "There's a scary detail?"

"You bet," said Honoka. "According to Tsubasa, the ghost was heard moaning Nico-chan's name. And over and over, too! And then it screamed!"

It wasn't often a girl laughed so hard she literally fell off the bench, but that's what happened to Nozomi at that point. The sight of the twisting of her sexy, voluptuous body made the other four girls a little uncomfortable, especially Umi. Nozomi laughed so hard it was hard to catch her breath. But Nico was looking like she was waiting for the other, rather painful, shoe to drop.

Rin, who had become less innocent owing to constant naughty thoughts about Hanayo, caught on, then. So did Umi. Rin laughed, but Umi just made a strangled noise.

Nico forced herself to look over at the pure girl. On her face was an accusing glare that said she felt totally betrayed. Umi had been fending off hot-blooded little Minami Kotori for weeks, and counting on Nico to be the other voice of sanity and ethical conduct in the program. Quite obviously, that had been far too much to expect.

"I'm ... sorry, Umi!" Nico said, sadly. The girl finished drying herself quickly, then dressed equally rapidly and left without a word. Even worse, what Nico said made Nozomi collapse on the floor in laughter again, and Rin joined her.

The light started to dawn on Honoka, finally. "Wait … Ummm … Nico-chan and Maki-chan? ... Like ... that stuff? For real?"

"No, no no! Of course not! I mean ... No … Um ... maybe?" Nico said, stuttering a little. She turned to Nozomi accusingly. "I probably didn't do anything different from what the rest of you did!" she exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Ooh, Nicocchi, you naughty, naughty girl!" Nozomi said, coolly, sitting up on the floor. "I'll have you know I and the pure and cute and clever Elicchi have not even kissed yet. Ah, but seeing as how Nico has set the precedent for molesting our charges ..."

"Hanayo and I did kiss!" Rin said. Nico felt incrementally vindicated for a few seconds. "On the cheek!"

Honoka was still texting with Tsubasa. She figured telling Nico that Tsubasa had just been teasing her, with no idea how accurate her little scenario would turn out to be, was a bad idea. So she smiled and encouraged Nico to cheer up. "After all, Maki-chan is very cool and beautiful — "

"For someone barely old enough to drive," Nozomi continued.

"Stop that, Nozomi-chan! Anyway, and her songwriting is essential to our plan to save the program, so Nico is sacrificing her purity for us all like a heroine in an anime." The way Honoka phrased it put an idea in Rin's head, and she sat on the floor near Nozomi and whispered to her. Nozomi nodded her head rapidly.

"Rin has raised a good point. I feel like I am picking on Nicocchi too much. Perhaps ... Rin?"

"Maybe Nico is not to blame. Maybe the forceful Maki-chan gave her no choice!"

"Yes, that's very possible. The prince, Maki-chan, princess-carries Nicocchi to her boudoir in the music room!"

"Her hot-blooded, passionate kisses reduce Nico-chan's willpower to zero. Her resistance weakens even as she beats her delicate feminine hands on Maki's chest!" Rin was quoting one of Hanayo's romance mangas.

"'I know it's wrong' Nicocchi says, 'But I can resist no longer!'"

"Make me a woman, Mistress Nishikino!" they said in unison, falling back to the floor.

Nico had the worst luck, Honoka mused. From the way her face had turned even redder, and she was almost gasping for breath, Honoka realized that, yet again, the teasing had hit a bullseye. Well, maybe this would help Nico make up with Umi-chan.

From the expressions on both Honoka's and Nico's faces, Rin and Nozomi realized that also, a little later. Nico and Honoka made it to their next class on time, but the two laughing girls ended up being a little late.

As she headed to class, Nico texted Maki. Belatedly, she remembered Maki warning her as she saw her off to "say nothing. Loose lips sink ships. Treat your college crowd like a police interrogation unit."

She didn't regret apologizing to Umi, but should have followed her out and said it away from the others, she decided. And of course, accusing the others of being just as bad had been a huge error.

"What did we learn from this, Nico-chan?"

"That Maki is always right."

There was a pause. Maki had sent a screen capture of their conversation with "Maki is always right" highlighted.

Then came another text. "As long as that's established, Nico-chan, I say all's well that ends well."

...

"And my parents are still out of town."