Of the 24 students at the concert hall, only four of them were unsurprised by the large, plushie cat sitting at the end of the hall.
"His name is Nyochio!" Muni bragged. "I made him myself!" She crossed her arms and smiled smugly. All the others eyed Nyochio with varying looks of surprise, interest, and concern. Some of them thought he was cute, some of them were impressed to think that Muni had created him, some thought it was a little childish and embarrassing, others thought that he didn't look that cute…
Kurumi, though, stared up at the giant plushie with wide, clever eyes. Already, a plan was formulating in her mind… I shall steal a cat!
Later that night, she found the rest of her unit. "Hey, guys, I found our first challenge!" she cried, holding up a small flyer.
"Where did you get that?" Haruna demanded, immediately suspicious. No one else received such a flyer!
"I, uhh, found it," Kurumi smiled innocently. "I just happened to be walking past one of the offices and I saw that it said D4Fes Challenge."
"So you stole it?! Kurumi! That's cheating!"
"But just look at it!" Kurumi pleaded, shoving the flyer at Haruna. "It's supposed to be a secret, surprise challenge anyway! We were just lucky enough to get a head start!"
Haruna studied the flyer intently. It looked legitimate, all the proper logos, watermarks, headers, and signatures were in their proper place, and the wording was both formal and friendly, which was usually the tone these challenges took. Everything seemed to check out! But the exact mission at hand… It was a little… odd. It was asking the units to see which of them could steal Nyochio from the concert hall the fastest. It claimed that the exercise was a synchronization check to see which DJ unit was the most cohesive, but it was still strange…
"Oh! Miiko heard that sometimes colleges do this stuff as pranks!" Miiko clapped excitedly. Someone she met on one of her many travels told her that at the university he attended, there was a large statue of the Birth of Venus near the heart of campus. There were four large fish statues that surrounded the Venus sculpture, but the story was that every year, at least a few brave and stupid students tried to steal the fish statues.
"One year, they found one of the statues on top of the astronomy tower, somehow. Another year, the fourth one was never found at all!"
So perhaps this mascot-stealing game was reminiscent of what those college students did? It wouldn't be the first time a D4Fes gave them an unusual challenge that involved working with and against various other unit members.
"Hmm, then that means RONDO and M4 may provide fearsome competition," Haruna tapped her chin thoughtfully and Kurumi had to bite her lip hard not to burst out laughing. Poor, sweet, reliably-gullible and overly-driven Chairman took Kurumi's bait, hook, line, and sinker. That flyer was entirely forged. As LL's resident VJ, Kurumi excelled at art and technology more than any of the others. It was a skill that came in handy trying to create something that would convince even the Chairman that stealing Nyochio was something they simply had to try.
Half an hour later, the quartet was back at the darkened concert hall, sneaking in as quietly as they could.
"I feel rather like a thief in the night," Haruna admitted. "You are certain we shan't be punished for coming here unannounced after hours?"
"If it was against the rules, Chairman, the door wouldn't have been unlocked," Kurumi said smugly. Although she was, admittedly, surprised to find the concert hall still open, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Hey! Who are you calling Chairman?!" Haruna complained. The others hushed her frantically. Their mission was to steal Nyochio before any of the other units could. That meant they were allowed to be in the concert hall late at night, but Haruna still had to be quiet and stealthy.
"Ah, sorry," Haruna slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes darting around in mortification. Thankfully, it didn't seem any of the other units heard her.
The four crept through the music venue, trying to remember where exactly they'd seen the giant Nyochio.
"Everything looks so different at night," Miyu sighed, shaking her head.
"Do not worry, Miyu, you have nothing to be afraid of!" Haruna was quick to promise her, resting a hand on her shoulder and smiling. Miyu smiled back and Haruna suddenly looked away, blushing slightly.
"Hey, if you two love-doves are done flirting, I found Nyochio!" Kurumi interrupted their tender moment with a devilish smirk on her face.
"Kurumi!" Haruna turned even redder, but once she realized what Kurumi said, her eyes widened.
Sure enough, Kurumi found the correct hallway branching off of the main lobby. At the end of the hall, Nyochio still sat on his decorative pedestal, adorned with items and photos that made it look more like a shrine than anything. He was even perched on a tiny throne, wearing a crown.
"Sheesh, they sure do love this cat!" Kurumi snickered, fingers twitching as she reached out greedily for her prize. She could only imagine Muni's face in the morning when she realized that she'd been pranked by the VJ of a rival unit!
"Wait! Guys! Hurry! Someone's coming!"
Kurumi felt her stomach drop. Someone's coming? But who?! No one's supposed to be here except us…
"Can you see which unit it is?"
Kurumi waited for the answer with bated breath. Please just be a janitor a random administrator or something…
"It's… It's… It… looks like… Muni?!"
Crap! That was the worst possible outcome. Kurumi wanted to hope Muni wasn't there for Nyochio, but luck wasn't on her side at the moment.
Thinking fast, Kurumi leapt away from Nyochio and gestured for the other three to follow her to safety.
"Wait! But if we hide, what if Muni comes to take Nyochio and we aren't here to stop her?" Miyu asked, skidding to a halt.
No, Miyu, please not now! Kurumi despaired. She wracked her brains desperately, trying to think of something, anything! And fast!
Then help came from the most unexpected of places. "Fear not, Miyu, for I have a plan!"
Before Kurumi knew it, she was frantically making a makeshift Nyochio to replace the one they were stealing. Of course, it was so cheaply and clumsily made that it would fool no one, but at least from a first glance, one might think Nyochio was still on his throne. Kurumi managed to find some spare cloth and costume parts near the auditorium, and she got to work stuffing and shifting things around until she was able to cobble together something that was at least Nyochio-shaped.
At the same time, Haruna sprinted from the concert hall with the real Nyochio tucked tight under her arm. She giggled nervously to herself.
"This… This… was kind of… exciting! Hehehe, fun, even! What a novel experience…" She wondered idly if she would be in trouble for looking suspicious. Even if she had permission to steal Nyochio, seeing a high school girl running down the streets after dark with a giant stuffed cat in her arms was sure to raise eyebrows. Haruna, though, was too exhilarated and anxious to care. All that mattered to her was getting back home ASAP.
Miyu and Miiko were still at the concert hall, distracting Muni. They pretended to look for music they left behind from rehearsal earlier.
"H-hey! What are you guys doing here?" Muni was instantly on high alert, having not expected to run almost smack into two of the LL ladies.
"I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I left my music here after rehearsal and I would like to have it back because I was going to make some annotations on it before practice tomorrow morning. Or, I suppose this morning now," Miyu gave Muni her sweetest and most innocent smile.
"Mmhmm! And Miiko wanted to come along to help! The others are back home," she lied. "I always thought getting to go places at night was cool, though, because it's all spooky and stuff! So that's why Miiko is helping Miyu with her missing music!"
"Riiiiight…" Muni raised an eyebrow and looked them both up and down, leaning away from them. The theft of Nyochio was the furthest thing from her mind, but even though she knew the LyriLily girls were a little… odd, they still managed to surprise her to no end.
So THIS is what Catholic school does to a person, huh? I'm glad I had to go to Yoba…
Miiko and Miyu kept stealing glances at one another out of the corner of their eyes, smiling nervously.
Is it working? Is she buying it? Are we buying Haruna and Kurumi enough time? And where are the other units?
"S-so, what brings you here so late at night?" Miyu asked next. "Is there anything we may assist you with?"
"Whu-? No!" Muni looked flustered by Miyu's generous and earnest offer. "I was also checking things for tomorrow's rehearsal," she admitted shyly. As the VJ of her unit, as well as someone helping the stage and set crew, she wanted to make sure everything was prepared ahead of time.
"Ah, great minds think alike, I suppose! Your dedication to the D4Fes is most admirable!" Miyu smiled.
"H-hey! Wh-what's with all the compliments?" Muni pouted. "You tryna get something outta me?"
Miyu and Miiko both inhaled sharply, but this time, it was Miiko who came to the rescue. "Now, now, Muni, you know Miyu isn't like that!" She said, shaking her head in disapproval. Miyu blushed and looked down, ashamed. Muni did the same thing a second later.
"Right, sorry…" She rubbed her arm in embarrassment while Miyu floundered. She appreciated Miiko sticking up for her, and it was a clever ploy that she executed perfectly, but being called honest while she was in the middle of distracting Muni…?
Miiko was quick to take over the conversation, knowing exactly what had Miyu so suddenly tongue-tied.
"The music might be in the auditorium because we went there earlier to see what it looked like; we should all go together now!" Before anyone could protest, she took Muni and Miyu's hands and all but dragged them to the auditorium, conveniently moving as fast as she could through the area where Nyochio used to be. Then, Miyu and Miiko pretended to shuffle around the auditorium, searching for their music. It was easy to pretend to find it, holding up blank sheets of paper but making sure they were far enough away from Muni that she couldn't tell that they were blank.
Alibi solidified and mission accomplished, they bid Muni a quick goodnight and goodbye before exiting the premise immediately, leaving Muni to watch them go and shake her head in confusion and amazement at how fast they fled.
So THIS is what Catholic school does to a person, huh? she thought again. I'm glad I had to go to Yoba…
The next morning, of the 24 students in the group chat, only four of them were unsurprised by the selfies of themselves with Nyochio. Kurumi posted them with the caption, "He's OUR mascot now! This is a hostile takeover! #LyricalLily #BestBand! This is both threat and promise!" She even sent a video of them dancing with the stolen Nyochio while "I Shall Be a Cat" blasted in the background. It didn't take long for the other 20 students to flood the chat with questions, amusement, laughter, and cries of outrage, surprise, confusion, and disbelief. It was soon mirrored in the voices of Haruna, Miyu, and Miiko as well.
"You mean… there wasn't any secret challenge?" Miyu asked.
"You lied to us?!" Haruna's eyes flashed as she put her hands on her hips.
"Well, it certainly was clever!" Miiko smiled and clapped. "Though Miiko wishes she could've helped. That would've been even funner!"
Kurumi was laughing too hard to reply, squeezing her stolen trophy proudly. She knew she would receive a lot of tongue-lashing later from multiple people, but it was SOOOO worth it! She darted off before Haruna could grab her, and as she fled the scene, she snatched up a camera and a couple pairs of sunglasses. She wanted at least a few more victory photos before she was forced to return Nyochio to his throne/shrine.
"Kurumi!" Haruna shrieked. Miiko and Miyu watched the chase scene snickering. Kurumi only called out tauntingly over her shoulder, squeezing Nyochio just a little bit tighter. He may have only been a plushie, but in that moment, it almost looked as if he was smiling…
AN: Inspired by a recent tweet from Hazuki Tanda, Miyu's VA. The LL ladies were posing with Nyochio.
And fun fact, the fish statue story was taken directly from my college (Indiana University).
#AllYourNyochiosAreBelongToUs
