A/N: Welcome back to Save The Last Dance! And yep, this is the third chapter that'll be uploaded today. Like I said, I absolutely love writing this story, and I've had these three chapters sitting completed for a while.

Anyway, enjoy Chapter 9 - A Second Chance!


Chapter 9 - A Second Chance

To the sound of uproaring applause, the group had been presented with a trophy commemorating their victory, which Honoka had accepted, before they left the stage, and headed to the backstage area. There, they began to talk amongst themselves, but Adam's eyes had been drawn to Nozomi, who had done the same to him.

Walking over to each other, the pair gently embraced, smiles on their faces. When they separated, Nozomi looked up to her ex, tears of joy in her eyes. "We did it. I can't believe that we actually pulled it off!" She exclaimed, causing Adam to smile. "Yeah, we did." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. However, he felt something was wrong when he felt her tense. "It's just a shame it won't happen again." She said.

Taking a step back, Adam looked at Nozomi in surprise. "Why'd you say that?" He asked, causing Nozomi to sigh. "Our deal. You kept your end of the bargain. I'll pay you and Jamie in the morning, then you'll never have to see me again. But, I want you to know, it was fun while it lasted." She explained, before walking past him. Raising a hand to the back of his neck, Adam sighed. "Here goes nothing..." He thought.

"What if it wasn't the last time?" He asked, causing Nozomi to stop, and turn back to him. "What did you say?" She asked, causing Adam to look round to the rest of the group, and when he saw that everybody was talking amongst themselves, he gently gripped Nozomi by the arm, and guided her into another room, kicking the door shut behind him.


"Adam, what's going on?" Nozomi asked, as Adam looked to her. "I know you didn't sell out Komuro. ? told us he killed him. You had nothing to do with it." He explained, causing Nozomi to raise an eyebrow. "Wait, ?? As in ?, the hitman?" She asked, getting a nod from Adam. "Yeah. He was who we were protecting today. But fuck him. I know I've got no right, but I wanna apologize for how I've treated you the past two years." The Mentor stated, causing Nozomi to smile.

"Thank you, Adam. That means a lot." She started, before noticing that her ex was standing stiffly. "Is there something else you wanted to say?" She asked, concern lacing her tone, making Adam scratch the back of his neck again. "Yeah, there is. I was hoping that, despite all this, you would consider, maybe...giving me a second chance?" He asked, causing Nozomi to widen her eyes, before she looked to the ground. "I promise, I will never hurt you like that again. What do you say?" He continued. "Well, I would say..." Nozomi started, before, out of Adam's sight, she smiled. Shooting her head up, she placed a hand on the back of his neck, pulled him forward, and gently kissed him, which admittedly caught Adam off guard.

"What took you so long?" She asked, pulling back. Smiling, Adam cupped the girl by the cheeks, leant forward, and kissed her again. The moment their lips connected, the pair's eyes closed. As she snaked her arms round her love's neck, Nozomi could swear that there were fireworks going off in the background. Then again, that might have been the audience outside. Eventually, the pair broke apart again.

"We should get back to them." Adam said, getting a nod from Nozomi. "Alright." She replied, taking his hand. "Let's go." With that, the pair left the room, and returned to the others.


"Well, well, well! Look who decided to show back up!" Riddick called out, drawing the group's attention to the pair as they rocked up. Immediately, every pair of eyes locked onto the pair's hands, which were still joined together. "So, something you wanna tell us?" Ryan asked, a cocky smirk on his face. "Not particularly." Adam replied, only for Nozomi to giggle. "They'll figure it out eventually, Adam." She said, causing the boy to scowl, before she turned to the rest of the group. "If you must know, Adam and I, we're together. We've decided to give our relationship another go." She explained, causing the members of μ's to smile, as the Militia laughed. "What's so funny?" The purple-haired idol asked, shooting a look to the street dancers.

"We'll be honest with you, Nozomi." Umi said, walking up to her purple-haired friend. "We've seen the looks you two had been giving each other for a while now. It was only a matter of time until you two got back together." She continued, making Nozomi smile. "So, you guys approve?" She asked, making Adam scoff. "What are they, your parents?" He asked, making Nozomi shoot him a look. "They're family, Adam." She said, making her boyfriend smirk. "Fair dos." He said, as Honoka stepped in front of him.

"Look after her, will you?" The ginger asked, making Adam raise an eyebrow. "You break her heart, we're coming for you." Chuckling, Adam extended a hand. "Deal." He said, as Honoka took his hand and shook it. Nodding, Honoka walked back to the rest of μ's, as Adam looked over to the Militia.

"Hold on a fucking second..." He stated, before looking from the street dancers to the idols. "Where's my brother? And Ayase?" At this question, each of the group looked round the room, and sure enough, Jamie and Eli had vanished.

"That's a good point." Kotori stated. "They were here a minute ago." Nodding, Adam looked round the room, until his eyes locked onto a door that led to a cupboard. Smirking, he walked over to it. "What are you doing, Adam?" Umi asked, drawing the Mentor's attention to her. Instead of saying anything, Adam simply raised his foot, and slammed it against the door, before stepping to the side. After a tense second, the door flew open, and two bodies fell out, both of them crashing to the floor.

"Well, well, well..." He said evilly, looking down at the forms of Eli and Jamie, the latter of which was on top of the former, who in turn had her hands connected behind his neck. "What do we have here?" Scowling, Eli glared at him, as both she and Jamie separated, and got back to their feet. "It's not what it looks like." The blonde said, only for Adam to chuckle. "That hickey you're sporting says different." He stated, pointing to her neck. Her eyes widening, Eli whirled round and started beating on Jamie. "I told you not to leave a mark!" She said, only for Jamie to scowl. "And I didn't!" He called out, making Eli look to Adam and Nozomi, both of whom were sporting wide grins. "You two suck, you know that?" She said with a scowl, making Adam laugh.

"C'mere." The boy in black said, holding out an arm to Eli, who hesitantly stepped forward. Wrapping the arm round the girl's shoulder, Adam pulled her into a hug. "Welcome back to the family." He whispered into her ear. "You've got a second chance here, Eli. Take care of him. You break his heart again, I'm coming for you. Understand?" He said, getting a nod from the girl. "Crystal clear. Same warning to you and Nozomi." She shot back, before they parted. Looking to his brother, Adam saw him pull back from Nozomi. Clearly the pair of them had hugged as well, likely doing the same thing that Adam and Eli were.


"Well, isn't this cosy?" A voice asked, causing the group to whirl around. "Mum!" Kotori stated. Sure enough, standing before them was Yoshie Minami, who was accompanied by a woman in a black suit.

"I must say, congratulations to you all! I'll admit, I was sceptical when you told me your two groups were working together, but you've just proved me wrong." Yoshie said, causing the group to smile, before she looked at her companion when she cleared her throat. "So, these are the girls who prevented the closure of Otonokizaka?" The besuited woman asked, looking to the members of μ's. "Yes, they are." Yoshie stated, before the other woman looked to the Militia. "And what about the male dancers? What do they have to do with this? They aren't affiliated with your school." She asked, causing Yoshie and the idols present to look to the street dancers.

"Well, you see, the Militia? They're our..." Honoka started, only to be cut off by Yoshie. "They're my trial students." She stated, drawing confused looks from the rest of the room. "Trial students?" The other woman asked, causing Yoshie to nod. "Remember, I proposed the idea to make Otonokizaka a co-ed school. And I chose these boys to be the trials for that idea." She explained, just before Adam stepped up.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked, before Yoshie leant in and said, "Send me the transcripts for your entire crew." Smiling as she pulled back, Adam nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Smiling at that, Yoshie turned to her companion. "Shall we be off? I think the children will be celebrating their win. Best leave them to it." She asked. Nodding, the woman looked to the dancers, and bowed. "Pleasure to meet you all." She said, before turning and walking out of the room. Smiling to the children one last time, Yoshie soon followed close behind her.

As soon as the door closed behind Yoshie, μ's members had turned to the Militia. "Seems you're students of Otonokizaka now, eh?" Honoka asked, causing the boys to smile. "Seems like it." Riddick said. "So, what does that mean for you two?" Umi asked, looking to Adam and Jamie. "Won't going to school interfere with your bodyguard duties?" She continued, making the siblings look to each other.

"What 'bodyguard duties'?"Jamie asked, causing the group to look confused. "You lot didn't seriously think we'd be continuing being bodyguards after today, did you?" Adam piped up, both he and his brother laughing when the rest of the group looked at each other in confusion. "Our boss made us protect the son of a bitch who was really responsible for our client's death, and I guaran-fucking-tee he knew 'bout it. So no, Jamie and I won't be returning to being bodyguards." He continued, before stepping up to Honoka.

"From now on, 100% of our attention is on the Militia. Which brings me to my next point..." He said, before extending a hand to the leader of μ's. "We're able to perform well enough on our own, but I felt our best performance ever was out there tonight. And I'd bet good money we can go even higher if we continue to work together. So what do you say..." He started, making the ginger look to his hand, "Partners?"

Looking to her fellow idols, Honoka saw that they all were smiling at her. "It's your call, Honoka." Umi stated, as Kotori nodded beside her. "Alright." Honoka replied, before turning back to Adam. Taking a deep breath, she eventually reached out, and clasped his hand in her own, giving it a firm shake.

"Partners."


A few days later...

Otonokizaka High School

As the crowd of girls walked into Otonokizaka's grounds, they were surprised when they caught sight of their very own idol group, μ's, walking into the school, accompanied by the members of the Militia, who were all wearing uniforms, which had the Otonokizaka crest on the blazers. But what really surprised them, was the fact that they saw Eli and Nozomi were walking hand-in-hand with Jamie and Adam respectively. As the group of dancers approached the front door to the school, they stopped when they saw Yoshie standing there.

"Welcome to Otonokizaka, boys. Pleasure to have you joining us here." The grey-haired woman said, as she shook each of the Militia member's hands, with Adam's being the last one. "Pleasure's all ours, Auntie Yoshie." The Mentor said, causing the idols to look at him in shock. "'Auntie'?" Eli asked, before Jamie looked to her. "I'll explain it later." He said, just as Yoshie cleared her throat.

"Okay, so here's how this'll work; The Militia will be split into pairs, and then, they'll be assigned to a trio of μ's, who'll be responsible for helping them integrate into the school. Understood?" She asked, before all of the students nodded. "Splendid. So..." She started, before looking to Blink and Hybrid. "Ryan and Cameron, your transcripts suggest you'll be better off if I put you in the first year class." She explained, making the boys look to Maki, Rin and Hanayo, before nodding. "Sounds like fun." Cameron replied.

"Next..." Yoshie continued, looking to Doc and Quake. "Carlisle and Riddick, based on your transcripts, I feel it's best to put you with the second year class." Looking to the three founders of μ's, Carlisle smiled. "We look forward to working with you." He said, causing the girls to smile. "Same here." Umi stated, before Yoshie moved onto the brothers.

"And, to nobody's surprise, that leaves you two. You'll be with the third years." She said, causing the boys to exchange glances with their girlfriends, who embraced them in a hug. "Just try to keep out of trouble, eh?" Yoshie asked, causing Adam to look to her, one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, I know, look who I'm talking to..." Yoshie said, before checking her watch.

"Class starts in 5 minutes. You'd better hurry."

Their eyes widening, the group hurried into the school...


A couple hours later...

"Fucking kill me." Cameron groaned, as the Militia sat down in μ's clubroom. "Hard day, Hybrid?" Riddick asked jokingly, causing the boy to glare at him. "Get stuffed, Quake." Cameron spat. From beside him, Ryan let out a chuckle. "Cameron's just struggled in each class we had today." He explained, which drew a laugh from the rest of the group. "Spend too much time dancing?" Jamie asked, making Cameron shoot him a look of pure contempt.

"Oh? How, may I ask, are your studies going, Harbinger?" He asked, making Jamie's smirk turn to a scowl, just as a ringing blared out in the room. "That's mine." Adam said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Flipping it open, he took one look at the caller name, and his face immediately darkened. "Oh, you gotta be shitting me..." He growled, before answering the call, and leaning back in his chair.

"Who is it, bro?" Jamie asked, making Adam look to him. "Three guesses." The younger brother said, causing Jamie to groan. "Oh, for fuck..." Returning his attention to the call, Adam said, "Yeah, this is me. Give me a sec.", before he lifted his phone away from his ear, put it on speaker, and placed it on the table. Gesturing to the rest of the group, he put his finger to his lips, getting nods from the other dancers, who got the message. "Alright, you're good." He told the phone.

"Alright, then. Care to explain what the fuck I'm looking at?" The voice of his and Jamie's boss (well, former boss) boomed out, making Adam raise an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He stated, although he had an idea as to what the man was talking about. "Put on the news then." The phone shot back, before Adam looked to Nozomi, who had tapped him on the shoulder. "Look." She said, holding her phone out to him.

Looking to the device in his girlfriend's hand, Adam smirked at the headline he saw:


"INFAMOUS HITMAN KILLED IN GUNFIGHT:"

"Well...how 'bout that?" He asked in a laughing tone, as he read the report out loud;

"During a shootout with a local crime family, the infamous hitman known as ?, wanted for over 30 high-profile assassinations, was killed by a shot to the head. ? was being escorted from the premises, after giving testimony against the family, when the criminals attacked. Quickly retaliating, the police and ? managed to make the criminals retreat, but ? was killed in the process. However, despite his criminality, ? didn't die in vain, as his testimony was the last piece of evidence needed to arrest the head of the crime family, who was sentenced to life in prison..."

"And I should care, why?" He asked the phone. "Are you fucking kidding me?" The man on the other end growled. "You two were supposed to protect him. That's a good client we lost. I want the two of you to report to HQ immediately. Understood?" He continued, before, with a scowl, Adam picked up his phone and placed it to his ear. "No, here's what gonna happen; I'm gonna hang up this phone, and you're never gonna come near me, my brother, or anyone connected to us again. You put us on the job of protecting the asshole that caused us to hurt the women we love, and for that, I hope we never cross paths again. Cause I promise you, if we do, stitches won't fix what I'll do to you. Got that?" He demanded, causing the other man on the call to pause for a second. "Did you just threaten me, Robertson?" He said in a dangerous tone. "I don't make threats. I do make promises. And I'll tell you one more thing. I keep my promises. Don't call this number again. Only warning." Adam shot back, before hanging up the phone.


"Prick." He stated, navigating through his phone to delete his former employer's number, before flipping his phone shut, and replacing it in his pocket. "So, ?'s been topped. Shame. We never got a chance to 'repay' the fucker." Jamie spat, making Adam smirk. "Doesn't matter." He replied, sitting back down in his chair. "The wanker had it coming." This made the members of μ's look at him in concern. "So, it doesn't bother you that he's dead?" Umi asked, making Adam smirk. "Bother me? If I'd had the chance, I'd have shot the fucker. Which reminds me..." The boy in black stated, before standing up, and reaching behind his back. "Jamie, I'm gonna need yours as well." He said to his brother, who nodded and stood up as well.

"What are you two...?" Eli started to ask, but she was cut off by the two boys pulling a pair of pistols from behind their backs, and placing them on the table, along with what looked to be ID cards.

"Here you go." Jamie said, sliding his gun and card over to Adam. Nodding, Adam picked up the weapon, and disengaged the clip that was loaded into it, before tossing it into his bag. Next, he pulled back the slide on the top of the gun, which caused the loaded round in the gun to fly out. Throwing out a hand, he caught the bullet, then tossed the now empty gun into the bag, followed by the bullet. He then repeated the process with his own gun. Afterwards, he snapped the ID cards in half, before tossing them into the trashcan sitting in the corner of the room.

"You actually brought them to school?" Umi hissed. "What's wrong with you?" "Will you relax? They were silenced, and we'd even put the safety on. Nobody would have gotten hurt." Jamie stated, causing Umi to round on him. "But..." She went to protest, only for Kotori to place a hand on her arm. "Umi, I'd say let it slide. From what we've just seen, it looks like they won't be using them again. Am I right?" The grey-haired girl asked, looking to Adam, who nodded. "Hole in one, Miss Minami." He said, making the girl in question smile. "Actually, if we could move onto a new topic..." Nozomi stated, drawing the attention of the group. "There's something we wanted to bring up to you boys before, but we never found the time." She said, making the boys look to each other in confusion...


A few minutes later, up on the rooftop...

"So, let me see if I got this right..." Jamie started, as the rest of the group looked to him. "You want us to address you by your names only? No formalities?" He asked, getting a nod from each of the girls. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Eli replied. "If our two groups are going to be partners, it'd be best if we treated each other as equals. What do you say?" She continued, directing the question at the group of boys as a whole. "Sounds like a good idea, Eli." Adam said, drawing a smile from the blonde. "Thank you, Adam."

"Alright, me next, nya~!" Rin exclaimed, making the group laugh at her antics. "I look forward to working with you, Carlisle!" She said, making the blonde boy smile and nod to her. "Same here, Rin. And to you as well, Hanayo." He stated, causing the brown-haired first year in question to erupt in a furious blush. "Oh, t-thank you, Carlisle. I look forward to working with you as well. Same to you as well, Ryan." He stated to the boy in grey, who nodded. "Nico..." He said, drawing the attention of the third-year, "Let's kill it next time we're on stage, alright?" He asked, getting a nod from the idol. "You got it. You in as well, Cameron?" She asked, causing the boy in blue to smirk. "Sure. So long as Honoka, Umi, Kotori and Maki are." He stated.

"Sure!" Honoka exclaimed.

"Of course." Kotori said.

"Looking forward to it." Umi stated.

"I...I suppose, if I must." Maki said bluntly, before looking away from him, twirling a strand of her hair round her finger, causing the group to chuckle.

"Well, I guess I'm up now." Jamie stated. "Looks like it, Jamie." Nozomi said, making the boy sigh. "Look forward to working with you, Nozomi." He said, making the purple-haired girl smile at him and nod.

"So, now that we've got that out of the way, what now?" Honoka asked. "I guess we start getting ready for our next show." Nico said, which caused Eli to place a finger on her chin as she looked round the area. "The roof's a good idea, but it'll get a bit cramped if we're constantly all up here. And we can't expect the Militia to always work in the clubroom." She said, but due to the fact that her back was turned, she missed the looks that were shared between the Militia.

"We know a place." Cameron said, causing the idols to look at him...


Later that day...

"So, this is where you practised for your street performances?" Nozomi asked, as she and the rest of μ's looked over the building. "Yep. Owner's a good friend of ours. Come on in." Adam said, as he opened the door, and walked in. Looking to Jamie, who gestured inside, the girls hesitantly followed the Mentor inside, only to be greeted by...

"This is a studio?" Umi asked, as she looked round the massive space they entered into. "Yep. It's not much, but it works." Jamie stated, as he and the rest of the Militia entered behind the idols, shutting the door behind them. "It's perfect." Eli said, before a door opened on the far side of the room, and a tall, bearded man walked out.

"Mentor!" The man exclaimed, walking over to Adam, and pulling him into a one-armed hug. "Was wondering when you'd be coming back round!" He said, as he pulled back. "Good to see you too, man. I meant to say, good job with the tracks at Love Live!. We owe you for that one." Adam said, but the man waved a hand dismissively. "Helping a brother out is repayment enough." The man said, before his gaze landed on μ's.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, Adam, but are these not the lovely ladies that danced with your crew at that competition?" He asked, getting a nod from Adam. "Yep. Allow me to introduce you to the members of μ's, the idol group of Otonokizaka High School. There's Honoka Kosaka, Kotori Minami, Umi Sonoda, Hanayo Koizumi, Rin Hoshizora, Maki Nishikino, Nico Yazawa, Eli Ayase, and finally, Nozomi Tojo." Adam explained, pointing out each girl to the other boy, who nodded, and bowed to the group as a whole.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies." He said, as the girls all returned the bow. "Nice to meet you!" They all said. "Girls, allow me to introduce you all, to Scott Johnston, AKA the Monitor. He's the one who remixes all the tracks the Militia dances to. In fact, he was responsible for that killer track that we danced to at Love Live!" Adam explained, causing the girls to look to the other boy, who clapped Adam on the shoulder. "It wasn't nearly as impressive as Adam here's making it sound, I promise you." He stated, before Nozomi stepped forward. "Thank you." She said, extending a hand to him. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to give such a good performance." Smiling, Scott took her hand, and shook it. "My pleasure." He said, releasing her hand.

"So, what brings you all here?" Scott asked. "Well, you see, μ's and the Militia are partners now. So we need a bigger practice space than Otonokizaka's rooftop. Could we maybe use this space?" Jamie asked, causing the other boy to nod almost immediately. "Sure. I got no issues with it. Just so long as you clean up after yourselves. I had to pick up the mess the Militia made after a party one time..." He said, before shuddering. "No worth thinking about." Nodding, Eli spoke up. "Don't worry, we'll keep the place as we found it." She said, which made the Monitor smile. "Then feel free to come and go as you please. Adam has a key, so just ask him whenever you need it." He explained, which made the idols look to Adam, who held up a key.

"Alright, so let's get started!" Honoka stated, getting a "Yeah!" from the rest of the dancers...


A/N: And thus, we enter into the next stage of our story! Just a heads up, this story will be split into 'Arcs', if you will. And the story, up till now, along with the next chapter, are part of what I call the 'Formation Arc'. Yeah, this is gonna get complicated.

I'll see you all in Chapter 10 - Never Miss A Beat.

Madman out!