Thicker than Blood
There was no sound coming out of the basement of Ryuseido, the normal Poppin'Party practice session put on hold as the five band members focused on their just as important school work they had brought home. Their instruments put to the side while they huddled up, helping each other with the homework they all got assigned. Some helping more than others. The excitable vocalist was sprawled over her book, crying exaggeratedly on how she couldn't handle it anymore. The irate keyboardist was shaking the former's shoulders, trying to get her to finish her work for all their benefit. The bassist was silently finishing her own homework, occasionally nibbling on the half eaten piece of pastry next to her book. The guitarist seemed to have fallen asleep herself, at times nodding as her body caught itself. And the drummer…
She was staring at a magazine on the floor that Rimi had brought. Specifically, at the cover. There was a longing look in her eyes, one that seemed to go unnoticed by the rest of her bandmates. Her own homework was a few steps away from being completed itself as she got lost in her own world.
"Saaya, what's wrong?" of all people, it was Kasumi that called out to her, drawing the attention of the other two.
The drummer blinked her eyes rapidly, as Kasumi's words finally registered in her mind. More so the sound of her voice itself than the actual words, as she turned to face the band leader. "What's wrong?" she asked back, a bit confused.
"You've been pretty out of it. I didn't want to call it out earlier." Arisa spoke up herself, looking concerned.
"Is it because of this?" Rimi stretched to reach the magazine she had brought. "I was just reading through it, I didn't know you'd be troubled. I'm sorry."
"No, no. I'm fine. Really." Saaya told them, sounding as genuine as she could be, for she was. "I was just, remembering something."
"Remembering what?" Kasumi asked, taking the magazine from Rimi's hands and riffling through the pages.
"It's nothing important, don't worry." She said, trying to placate her friends.
"Is it?" Arisa asked.
Saaya turned to the resident blonde, and the thoughts that had been circulating inside her mind came to the forefront. She chuckled nervously. "Well, I guess it is important. But it's not concerning, like before." She told them.
"Well, if you say so." Kasumi said, placing the magazine down on the table, cover side up. "You can tell us anything, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." She nodded, before going back to her own homework, followed by the rest of them. It was only a few more steps, and she was done. Her homework done for the day. Then, as if pulled by a magnet, her eyes trailed to the magazine again.
Again, there was a longing in them, and a hint of a smile formed on her face. Her hand moved to the magazine, grabbing it, and she just looked at the cover. The smile grew wider. The others noticed the obvious movements, but they refrained from commenting. Then, as if coming to a decision on her own, she nodded, looking to the rest.
"Guys, I have something to tell you."
They all gave her their undivided attention. "Is it, a big secret?" Rimi asked, getting a nervous chuckle from their drummer.
"It's not really a secret, I just never bothered telling anyone about it." Then her brows furrowed. "Although, I guess if it got out, it might be a scandal?"
"A scandal? What?" Arisa asked worriedly, her concern shared by the others.
"Well, not really. But I'm sure it's fine." She said, waving them off. She then drew in a lungful of air, slowly breathing it out. "Guys…" she then turned the magazine around, facing the cover towards them. A magazine that showed nine people, young women. College aged, with 3rd year high school being the youngest. Three in pink, three in blue, three in orange. Idols. Those who could sell out stadiums, achieving numbers Pastel*Palettes could only dream of, and they already could bring in numbers that dwarf the other bands. And the one posing in the middle. The one Saaya was pointing at. Brown eyes and hair, tied in a small bun to her left side, sometimes giving the illusion to a ponytail instead. She smiled merrily, her fingers giving a double V to the camera. And she looked familiar, even to them, who didn't follow the idol world.
"I have a sister." She told them with a smile. "An older sister."
The sound of a pencil dropping onto the table was the only thing audible as the three of them stared at her with their jaws hanging open. It was at this moment that Tae snorted awake, shaking her head and looking around, seeing the three still as a statue and Saaya holding a magazine.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I have a sister?" a seven year old Saaya asked, looking up at her parents who sat across from her in the living room.
Her mother, eight months pregnant, nodded with a thin smile on her face, looking ever more tired than usual. "Yes, you do."
"How… Am I adopted?" she asked them.
"No, you're not, Saaya." Her father spoke up, looking every bit nervous as he could. "You're our daughter. Without a doubt."
"Then, how?"
Her mother turned to her father, as if imploring the man to explain. He shifted in his seat, internally trying to find an excuse to postpone the talk. But when his eyes met Saaya's, his resistance crumbled.
"Before your mother and I, married… I was… married to someone else." He started, swallowing the lump in his throat. "But, unfortunately, we realized too late that… we weren't meant to be."
"He means they didn't love each other." Her mother explained. "Romantically, at least."
He nodded. "Even early on, there were troubles, conflicts. And we realized, that we couldn't be together. So, we split apart."
"But she was already pregnant with your sister."
"Yes, we knew that she in particular would have a hard time, especially socially. But, we both decided that it was for the best."
Saaya was silent as she digested the information, trying to really understand subjects she never thought of. Her parents waited for her to respond, her mother more patient than her nervous father. Her eyes began watering as she gazed to her father. "Do you… love mom?"
"Of course I do! With all my heart, dear!" her father almost shouted. "Your mother and I love each other very much. And we love you too dear!"
"Do you love my sister?"
"I…" he stopped, as if choking on his tongue. He grimaced, regrettably. "try to." He turned to look away.
Her shoulders deflated, tears slowly streaming down her face. "Why are you telling me this?"
At that, her mother's smile somehow grew brighter through all of this. "That's because your sister wants to get to know you."
"She does?" her eyes blinked, bewildered at the thought.
Her mother nodded, carefully standing up, with difficulty thanks to her pregnancy, and moved to Saaya's side. She rummaged through her pocket, and pulled out an envelope. A small pink envelope. "This came in just this morning. Addressed to you." Her mother said with a smile, handing the envelope to her.
Saaya's eyes were locked on the envelope, a good couple of seconds elapsing before she shook her head and wiped her tears, taking the envelope from her mother's hand. It really was addressed to her. She opened the pink envelope, delicately as to not ruin both the envelope and the letter. Taking the also pink paper out, she unfolded it and began reading. And through this, though her tears flowed again, a smile grew on her face.
"Kizuna Music Tada hitamuki ni oikakete ita. Mune no oku no omoi."
"Shimamu, you're really excited huh?" Mio commented, draping herself over the back of the bus seat to face the older girl. Who seemed to be in a world of her own, singing a song that she was listening to on her phone. "Shiburin! Shimamu's ignoring me!"
"Hai hai. Yes she is." Rin said, rolling her eyes at her friend's exaggerated cry. While Mio was sitting in front of Uzuki, she sat to the left of her.
"Yeah, why is Uzuki-chan so excited?" Nao asked, standing up from her seat in front of Rin. "Is she that happy to get back home? Or does she know something about the last venue we're performing at?"
"I thought you would've asked something else, Nao." Karen said with a knowing smirk, sitting from behind Rin.
"Hey, don't you go on spouting random things!" Nao said back, flustered with her cheeks reddening, eliciting chuckles from the rest of the group.
"Really though, Uzuki-chan's been real excited about the tour." Miho commented, leaning her head to the middle, sitting behind Uzuki.
"Yeah, she's been real coy with us for the past couple of months." Kyoko said, walking from the front of the bus and sitting herself beside Karen.
"She must be a huge fan of PoPiPa." Akane said, almost bouncing into Mio's seat. "I recognize that song from a mile away."
"PoPiPa? What's that?" Nao asked, keeping her feelings in check in front of the others.
"Poppin'Party. They're a pop-rock highschool band that make songs like Mio and I." the excitable idol explained.
"You sure know a lot about them Akane-chan." Aiko said, joining the rest of Positive Passion in Mio's seat.
"Of course! Their songs are a lot of fun!" she leaned forward, patting Uzuki on her shoulder, alerting the girl of the people that were now surrounding her. "Uzuki-chan! If you're planning on watching PoPiPa, I wanna tag along!"
"Oh, sure Akane-chan! But that's if they're playing." Uzuki replied, putting her phone back in her pocket.
"Do you have plans already, Uzuki-chan?" Miho asked, leaning forward from her seat.
"Mhm!" she answered with a nod. "I've told the Producer about it already, so I'll be heading out when we arrive. I'll be back for practice though, don't worry."
"Do you, like, have a secret boyfriend or something?" Nao asked confusedly.
"Haha, I wish." Uzuki said, waving the possibility off. "I'm just going to meet up with family that I hadn't seen in a long while."
"Oh, you have other relatives?" Karen asked.
"Yeah, a younger sister."
"Wow, I didn't know you have a sister." Kyoko said, before her mind finally caught up and her eyes widened. "Eh!? You have a sister?!"
Her surprise was shared by everyone else, except Mio and Rin. The girls of NewGen had already been dropped the bombshell of Uzuki's private life when the tour was still in its planning stage. Said girl seemed to not pay any mind to her friends' reactions. She then placed a finger on her lip in a shushing motion.
"But don't tell anyone, it's kind of a secret." She said with a coy wink.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
here's a little something i cooked up whenever i'm facing a massive block in my main story that i'm writing. just the idea of Uzuki and Saaya being half-sisters, by virtue of them being voiced by the same seiyuu (VA: Ohashi Ayaka). and like any other random idea that came about, it firmly wormed in and lodged itself into my brain until it wouldn't leave. so, here we go.
set roughly after the 3rd season of the Bandori anime, hopefully there won't be any discrepancies 'cause it's been a while since i last watched it (if you guys haven't watched it, you should).
the idolmaster side mostly takes cues from the Cinderella Girls anime as well, with a few elements taken from the game, and aged up since it's been a couple of years and it'd be weird that the game progresses yet no one gets older. another change is the order of who became the Cinderella Girl per year. Airi is still 1st, but Kaede is pushed to second. since we're following the anime timeline, it'd be weird how Ranko, one of the new idols introduced, got to be a Cinderella Girl so quick. she's third, followed by Rin, and then finally Uzuki, with Syuko pushed behind her. the idolmaster girls are all aged up by five years to accommodate this (with Airi being a Year 0 Cinderella Girl).
that about amounts to be the things that people should take into account in regards to creative liberties that i've taken with the original IPs.
don't expect this to get updated too often, since this is a side project (of a side project as well), but do know that i've already written up to four chapters of this.
well, with that out of the way, thanks for giving this your time!
drop a review if you don't mind, and i'll see you all next time!