Hey guys, it's me again! I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit short, but I'm getting ready and writing down ideas for the next chapter, which will be be a big one, I hope! Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own UTAPRI, it's characters, music, or anything related to it. I only own my OC, Mallory Nakagawa, and her designs!
"I can't believe it's finally out." Mallory whispered to herself as she grinned in excitement, laying on the couch that settled in one of the many lounging rooms of the Master Course Dorms. In her hands was a copy of the current month's issue of IDOL START, the magazine that she had posed pictures for. "I hope the pictures came out good..." Mallory muttered to herself worriedly, not having opened the magazine yet in trying to surprise herself. The wait was killing her, but the thoughts of how it turned out was pushing her away from the excitement she had tried to build for herself all week. "No turning back now; remember, it's an exciting part of your journey." Mallory whispered to herself, before opening the magazine slowly, flipping through the pages until she had made it to her number. With slight hesitation, she took a small breath, before opening the magazine to look at her page. Her eyes widened, seeing the page in all it's glory. Her full body picture she had taken was shown, and from what she could tell, she looked fine. A smile graced her lips as she looked at the page, suddenly feeling tears well up in her eyes as she quickly wiped them away. This was what she had dreamed of all her life, to be just like her older sister, and make her mother proud. She waited for the tears to stop before she continued to read her page, the grin never leaving her face. She set the magazine fast as she took out her cellphone, calling a number. She heard a few rings, before she heard someone pick up.
"Hey dad, how have you been?" Mallory asked, a smile clear in her voice, nodding when her father answered. "That's good. Just to let you know, I think you should pick up an issue of IDOL START when you have the chance." She gave a laugh as she heard her father question her, glancing at the magazine page of herself. "Why? It's a surprise of course!" She laughed and gave a grin, pure joy brimming through her.
"Ne minna, doesn't Mal-chan look so cute?" Ranmaru gave a groan as he heard Reiji continue to gawk over the issue of IDOL START that he was looking over, for around the third time in a row.
"Give it a rest already. I still don't understand why you gush over her," Ranmaru gave a small huff, looking back at Reiji, "besides, it's just a magazine interview, it's not like it's anything amazing." Reiji gave a confused look, the magazine in his hands before he gave Ranmaru a small grin.
"You say that Ran-Ran, but weren't you the one who bought the magazine?" Reiji gave another grin when he saw Ranmaru visibly twitch in his seat, a small dust of pink on his cheeks.
"I-I only bought it because I knew you would complain to me the whole day! Besides, it's just to see if they got their information right on her, that's it!" He gave a small growl afterwords, settling in his seat with his arms folded across his chest, legs crossed over the other. Reiji gave a small smile as he continued to look over the article, settling down in another seat.
"I only gush over her because she's come so far. She's been training and practicing every day of every week so far, and has wanted this for a long time. She's finally getting what she's wanted, so of course I'm gonna be proud of her!" He then gave a goofy smile back to Ranmaru as he held he magazine, "Plus she's so adorable that I can't gush over her!" Ranmaru gave a small growl, watching the male across from him as he gave a roll of his eyes. Ranmaru looked at the clock in the room, glancing back at Reiji.
"Isn't Nakagawa and Camus about to do a lesson now?" Reiji gave a nod, setting the magazine down.
"Yep, I think a dance lesson today. After, we can tell her the great news!" Ranmaru gave a groan at Reiji's enthusiasm, but gave a nod of his head. They had a surprise for their student, they only hoped she would be ready for what was to come.
"You think you can copy that?" Camus asked his student, watching Mallory reply the moves in her head that her teacher had just done. The dance she was learning was meant for two dancers, and Camus had needed a partner for an upcoming live he would be doing. As well, it was the perfect opportunity to teach her.
"Yep! Just say the word and we can start!" Camus gave a nod, walking over to the CD player that he had brought over with him. He pushed the play button as music began to fill the room, before walking back over to his spot next to his student.
"Today I'll be teaching you not just to dance, but how to dance while singing. It's common with idols to use in concerts or lives, however it can be difficult for first timers. You'll simply dance to the music while I'll sing and dance, and then we'll go through each step." When the music began to change, the cue began as Camus gave a nod to Mallory, before beginning to sing.
While under the influence called 'love,' rather than being embraced by corruption,
It's fine if my "self" was stained with a song. Ooh…Majestic love.
Mallory began to dance the moves that Camus had gone over with her, watching him every so often as he sang his song, noticing how good he rally was. He began to dance as well, each note so far on key. The song was rather faced pace, but it was nothing Mallory couldn't handle so far.
Time that's overlapped is surely holiness, breathing beautifully
If I can reach your lips…it'll be lesson time, into the lovely night
A fleeting rhapsody, a heart of ice…are confusing me
Will you make me melt? …Oh, my precious…
Mallory heard the cue for the first chorus as she walked step by step with her instructor, before the two began to dance in a waltz, as Camus wrapped an arm around Mallory's waist like when he had shown her, the two's movements in synch with each other, with no steps off beat.
While under the influence called 'dreams,' from a prison of frozen love,
I felt nothing born in the heat of this majestic love
The aurora rains down, the two of us will believe
In eternity… I'll kneel only to you in this majestic love
The two then broke apart as Camus gave a kneel towards Mallory, at just the right moment when the line had been spoken in the chorus, before the music continued, the two in synch with each others movements, step by step, beat by beat they continued like this. Mallory kept her head in check as she steadied her breathing, wondering how much practice Camus had with dancing and singing, the two together seemed almost overwhelming. She simply continued, hearing his deep voice reverberate within the dance room as Camus continued his song, simply taking steps for the next chorus.
I'll teach you the tenderness of night, close your eyes…
A voice counts, one, two…silently. You'd best be quiet
Let's cast away words, this cold kiss…grows warmer
God, if you'll allow it, let time…ah, let it stop
Snow white purity, blooming in your stainless heart,
This feeling, this desire, this prayer, they're immersed in this majestic song
Shining, glistening in a single tear,
It's like these emotions pieced my heart, reviving in me…
The next chorus was finished as the two began to dance together once more, side by side, their movements in synch as they looked into each others eyes intently, the music flooding into their ears. The sound of cello playing was heard in the music, Mallory noticed, as she remembered that the instrument that Camus specialized in was the cello. It fit him rather well, considering he was a count, and that he was always so elegant in what he did, and how he said things with finesse and grace. Just like his singing and dancing, he always stayed cool and collected, and was always diligent. She heard the cue for the next chorus as she walked towards the other side of the dance room, simply standing in an elegant pose, the one that Camus had instructed her to do, as he advanced towards her.
As stars dance in the sky, my frozen hand
Mallory watched as Camus walked behind her, his hand gliding over her shoulders lightly as he sang.
Still has yet to understand the warmth of 'bonds'
Mallory nodded her head slightly as she heard each word that Camus sang, remembering the beats and the cues as best as she could, before she remembered the next cue. She tilted her head to look up at Camus as his hand that passed her shoulders gently graze his hand against her cheek, an intense look in his eyes as the next lines passed his lips.
Could you teach me…?
Mallory swallowed lightly then, a strange feeling of something she wasn't sure of welling up inside her, her eyes widening lightly as she stared back at Camus's icy blue eyes. She felt as if something had shot through her, her heart starting to beat faster, as well as her cheeks getting warm. What the heck was this? And why now of all times? Before she could even register what was happening, Camus was already singing, and she had gone of beat for a few moments. She quickly got back to her place, following Camus as he continued the rest of the song, cursing to herself in confusion.
While under the influence called 'dreams,' from a prison of frozen love,
I felt nothing born in the heat of this majestic love
The aurora rains down, the two of us will believe
In eternity… I'll kneel only to you in this majestic love
The music ended as the CD player stopped the disk as the two stood to catch their breath, with Mallory bending over lightly to rest her body, hands on her knees.
"Glad that's over." Mallory thought to herself as she stood back up, cursing to herself, wondering what the heck had happened during that last chorus.
"You did well, though you slipped up at the end." Mallory winced slightly as she gave a small nod to Camus, taking another breath.
"Gomen Camus-senpai, I didn't mean to. I...got distracted, it won't happen again." Camus gave a small nod, stretching his muscles lightly.
"You're learning Nakagawa-san, you can mess up. You'll learn from your mistakes and perfect it as time permits." Mallory gave a small nod, jumping when she heard the door to the dance room suddenly open, seeing Reiji run in with a grin on his face, with Ranmaru slowly walking behind Reiji, a frown on his lips.
"Yo Mal-chan!" Reiji exclaimed with a grin, walking over to the girl as he held the magazine in his hand. "I saw your article in IDOL START, congratulations!" Mallory gave a small laugh, giving a small bow to Reiji.
"Thank you Rei-chan, I'm just as excited as you are. Though since I already recorded my single, and I made it into IDOL START, I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do next." Camus glanced at Reiji and Ranmaru, knowing what they were going to say. Reiji gave a grin as he held up the magazine in his hand, opening it to the last page of the booklet.
"You're gonna sing at a live of course!" Reiji motioned towards the page he was showing, depicting an announcement page for IDOL START's Annual Idol Festival. "IDOL START is having their festival to announce their new idols that have been featured in the magazine this month!" Mallory was in shock, her face showing surprise as she snatched the magazine from her teacher, looking over the page over and over.
"B-But I thought they had cancelled it!" Mallory exclaimed, making sure her vision, or her hearing, wasn't impaired in any way. "They said that they couldn't find a proper venue in time to host all the new idols!"
"It seems a certain someone decided to have it be hosted at his own amusement park." Ranmaru said back, arms folded across his chest as he watched Mallory with amusement, almost pleased by her panicked state. Mallory looked again at the paper, scanning it over and over until she gave a glare at the paper, twitching lightly when she noticed a certain name on the paper.
"Saotome..." She muttered with a small hint of disdain; of course he would pull some sort of stunt like this. When did he even have the time to get his own amusement park? Mallory simply gave a sigh, she didn't want to know how her boss had the time to get a theme park for himself, but suddenly shook in surprise. "W-Wait, I only have a week to prepare! I'm not gonna have enough time to do anything with my lessons tied into all this! Plus I have to make a clean track of my single, and make a stage outfit for the show, and practice my dancing-" Mallory stopped rambling when she felt a hand come to her shoulder, turning to see Camus's blue eyes staring down at her.
"Calm down Nakagawa-san, there's nothing to worry about. For this next week you do not have any lessons; we're giving you the time to prepare until you're ready for the concert. Relax, and you'll do fine." Mallory gave a small nod, taking in a deep breath to calm herself, before glancing down at the magazine again. She looked at the paper, a worried look coming to her face.
"Do you...Do you think I'm ready for this?" She looked up at her teachers, wonder and confusion filling her eyes; did she have enough training? Had she practiced well enough, hard enough?
"They wouldn't have invited you if they didn't think you were good enough." Ranmaru said with a small frown, leaning against the nearby wall. Reiji gave a nod, looking at Mallory with a grin.
"They heard your single and want you to be in the concert, that's gotta be proof enough!" Mallory gave a small nod, a smile coming to her lips as she grasped the magazine lightly in her hands. She looked up at her teachers, giving a smile before she bowed to all of them.
"Thank you," her smile never left her face as she stood up straight, "Without you help, I would have never gotten this far; I would still be up at that office building if it wasn't for you guys." Reiji gave a grin as Camus simply gave a nod, a small smile coming to his lips, as Ranmaru simply gave a glance away from her, his cheeks dusted a light pink.
"It's what teachers are for!" Reiji said as he gave Mallory a pat on the head, as Mallory gave a moan of complaint, but a smile still graced her lips. "You should get going to your room and start preparing right away, don't let us keep you." Mallory gave a nod, taking her things as she waved goodbye to her teachers, before making her way out of the dance room and rushing to her room to get things started.
"I can't believe I finally got that done." Mallory sighed heavily, muttering to herself as she looked at the design in her sketch book; after many re-dos and much deliberation and what kind of materials she was going to be using, she had finally come up with a stage outfit for her song. Now all she had to do was make it; if only it were as simple as just saying it.
"Making the ruffles will take a some time, I should probably get started with those first." Even as Mallory said that, her eyes glanced towards the clock up on her wall. It had been about two and a half hours since she had spoken with her teachers, maybe a small break was in order. "I guess it can't hurt to take a break; don't want to stress myself out." She scooted out of her seat as she stood up straight, stretching lightly as she moaned in content at the feeling of her muscles getting some sorely needed attention. She muttered to herself that tea would be good, and began to make her way out of her room, closing her door and walking down the hall to the lounge area, where the kitchen was located. As she walked she heard the front door to the dorms open as she saw a tuft of cyan colored hair walk in, a smile coming to her lips as she waved. "Mikaze-senpai." The male turned after he had closed the door, seeing his student waving towards him.
"Nakagawa-san." He gave a simple nod, watching her carefully with another one of his rather dull expressions, though she noticed that he looked more...focused? Or rather, more observant than usual.
"Um, I was about to go to the lounge to make tea. You wanna join me?" She hoped that he would, secretly, and she wasn't sure why. The same strange feeling she had felt with Camus was coming back again for some reason, and she shifted on her feet nervously, smiling lightly at Ai. Her held a small frown on his face, blinking for a few moments, before walking over and following her, simply staying silent. Mallory gave a small laugh as the two walked to the lounge, Ai sitting at the wooden table as she observed Mallory, simply watching her movements.
"I had heard that you'll be doing a live concert next week; congratulations are in order." Mallory turned to look at Ai, taking out the tea-pot and other necessities as she smiled.
"Uh thank you, but how did you know?" Ai gave a small noise, looking over his phone with a look of annoyance as he displayed the screen to Mallory.
"Reiji decided that it would be fitting to text me over ten times about the matter; while I was at an interview no less." Mallory gave a nervous laugh, grimacing slightly.
"Kotobuki-senpai would do that..." She trailed off lightly, starting to boil the water as she glanced back at Ai. "Sorry about that, he was just so excited that he probably just couldn't wait." Mallory then began to pour the hot water into the tea-pot, before filling it with the necessary amount of tea leaves and herbs, before bringing both the pot and tea cups over to the table. "He's eccentric like that; always wanting to give people good news with a smile." Ai simply gave a small sigh, shaking his head lightly.
"He should learn to keep that in check; he can always be so loud sometimes." Mallory poured Ai a cup of tea, handing it to him softly as she poured her own cup, before settling the pot down and seating herself in a chair across from Ai. She gave a small sigh of content, relaxed as she drank her tea quietly, glancing at Ai every few moments before she spoke.
"Mikaze-senpai, is something wrong?" She had noticed that he was in rather deep thought, ignoring his tea and glancing off to the side. "Did I make you the wrong type of tea?" He glanced back at her, shaking his head lightly.
"It's nothing for you to concern yourself with Nakagawa-san." Ai stated firmly, though he glanced at his tea, before looking back at Mallory. "Nakagawa-san, what does it mean to you when you warm up to someone?" Mallory gave a small noise of confusion, rather surprised by the rather odd question.
"Hmmm, well...I guess that means when I warm up to someone, I think that would mean that you're getting use to being around someone. You may think of them as annoying or strange or something, but it doesn't bother you like it did before. I guess you could say that you like being around that person, and maybe even you'd want to be friends with them. " Mallory gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "Well, I mean that's just what I think." She gave a smile as she looked at her tea, then to Ai. "It's kind of like with Quartet Night in a way."
"How so?" Ai asked, rather intrigued by the similarity that his student had made. She put a finger to her chin in thought, trying to find the right words.
"Well, you guys are all very different; none of you are the same. You may not get along all the time, or be nice to one another sometimes, but you all pull through for each other and harmonize in your music. It was also like that with Ranmaru and I; he and I were always arguing and fighting, but now we get along...well, kind of. We still kind of annoy each other, but it's all out of fun." Mallory gave a grin at Ai, taking her tea-cup in her hands. "Why'd you wanna know anyways?" Ai simply gave a shake of his head, folding his arms across his chest.
"I simply just wanted to know your opinion, nothing more." He kept his true intentions to himself, not wanting to confuse the poor girl. In truth, he was still rather perplexed by what he was feeling, not even knowing what it was; hopefully it was nothing too serious. "Nakagawa-san."
"Hm?" Mallory asked, looking at her teacher curiously. His cyan colored eyes looked into her brown eyes, showing an emotion she couldn't exactly pinpoint; it was a strange swirl of different ones she couldn't pick out.
"Are we friends?" The question startled Mallory, blinking in surprise at the question. She set up her cup down as she looked at Ai, thinking to herself nervously. She scratched her cheek lightly with her forefinger, glancing at the side.
"Uh...well I kinda thought we were. Though I thought you cared more about your work and teaching me rather than being my friend, considering most of your students had quit after only being with you for a month." She looked at Ai, a nervous smile on her face. "In truth, I didn't really think you wanted to be friends with me, considering I'm your student and all." What exactly was she supposed to say next? Do you want to be my friend? Did he even want to be after all that stuff she had said? "Well, we can be friends, if you want I mean; you don't have to if you don't want to!" She gave a nervous look, not wanting to annoy her teacher.
"Then we're friends from here on." Ai simply said, taking his tea-cup in his hand. "From now on, you will call me Ai." Mallory jumped lightly, rather surprised by the sudden levity of the relationship. Calling Ai by his first name seemed rather odd, considering she was still his student, but on the other hand, she was also his assistant, so it was ok...right?
"Are you sure?" She asked, looking at the cyan hair-colored male across from her. He simply gave a nod, drinking some of his tea before he set his cup down.
"As well, I will be calling you Mallory; is that clear?" His eyes pierced through her, showing his authority over her through his rather strict stares, and she gave a small nod.
"Y-Yes, I understand...A-Ai." Mallory stuttered slightly when saying his name, feeling rather odd when saying it. She would have to get used to saying his name more often in the future.
"Good. Mallory, refill my tea-cup please." Mallory jumped lightly when she heard Ai call her by her name, feeling that weird feeling her chest again, for the third time today. What the heck was this feeling? It was nagging her to no end and she couldn't understand what it was. She took the pot in her hands and slowly refilled Ai's cup, making sure not to spill. As she did, she glanced at the male across from her, his expression rather calm and collected like always, and she continued to look at him. She stared into his eyes, feeling as if she was being pulled in by the sheer beauty of his stare, though she snapped out of it when she had heard Ai call her.
"Y-Yes Ai!" Mallory exclaimed, her face flushing lightly; she had hoped she hadn't been caught looking at him.
"You're spilling the tea." She looked down and gasped when she saw the tea had spilled from Ai's cup and began to spill on to the table, creating a rather large puddle.
"I'm sorry! I'll get something to clean this up!" Mallory exclaimed, setting the pot down as she ran out of her seat to get something to clean up the mess, and simply wanting to hide her face; why was it when she was with Ai, she got all giddy and nervous? They were just friends, as they had just established today, so there was nothing wrong. She wasn't feeling anything more for her teacher then friendship...right?
"The design looks great Mallory!" Tomochika gushed, looking at the paper and it's considerably thought out details. "You even put down all the accessories and make up you're going to wear?"
"I just wanted to be sure about everything I wanted for it; no use in being indecisive on the day of the live." Mallory said, feeling a well of nervousness appear inside her every time she had mentioned the festival coming up. She gave a shiver, hugging herself for comfort. "The festival is in a week, and I'm already feeling so nervous and stressed." Tomochika gave a pat on the shoulder to Mallory, sitting next to her on her bed.
"Hey you'll do fine Mallory; it's your first ever live concert, you should be thrilled and excited!" Mallory gave a nervous look to Tomochika as her friend gave a laugh, "Just you wait, when you get up there and sing, you're gonna have the time of your life, trust me." Mallory gave a smile to Tomochika, going under her bed to take out her CD player, and her single that she had recorded; thanks to Ranmaru, they had fixed the mistakes and touched up the song a bit, as well as added a few new elements to the song.
"This song needs something more; you're not gonna be able to impress the judges when it sounds so plain." Mallory gave a small huff at Ranmaru, the two in the mixing studio as they went over the track; Ranmaru had suggested they add things, but Mallory was rather hesitant.
"Well, what do you suggest we put in it then?" She asked, leaning in her chair as she glanced at Ranmaru. The male rewound the track to the beginning chorus, pointing to the time stamp.
"Here and in each beginning chorus, we should add something to give it more flair; maybe electric guitar. It would add to it rather then make the song a girly mess." Mallory gave a glare to Ranmaru.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Ranmaru gave an annoyed glance to the girl, playing the song back for her.
"How do you hear this and not get sick? It's good, but it's so cute that it would get the audience tired of it after three times of listening to it. You need to add something that gives it life, something that'll give it enough emotion and energy that people will want to listen to it over and over." Mallory heard Ranmaru's advice, and gave a frown, but agreed with him, to herself of course. The song was good, and she liked it, but if she wanted it to sell and for people to enjoy it, some changes would need to be made.
"Fine, we'll add the guitar; I'm sure you'll be handling that?" She asked, seeing his guitar settled against the wall next to him. He gave a smirk, leaning in his chair with confidence practically radiating off him.
"Of course, who else would you trust?" Ranmaru asked, his confident look directed at Mallory. She gave a sigh, about to give a witty comeback, but she saved it for another day. He was helping her, and the two were somewhat getting along, that was good enough for her. As long as the song was something that she could be proud of, then she would have no problems.
"Maybe Rei-chan and Mikaze-senpai could help too; I'm sure their instruments could help with the song too." Mallory said, giving a sigh when she saw that Ranmaru had already started to pick away at his guitar to get the right chords.
"Kurosaki-senpai and I had just finished the new version of the song; you wanna be the first one to hear it?" Mallory asked with a smile, as Tomochika gave a cheerful grin, a small noise of delight meeting her lips.
"Of course I do!" She took one of the ear buds in her ears, as Mallory took the other. She was rather nervous with someone hearing it for the first time, and she wondered what people would think of it when the festival came around. Would people like it? Hate it? Would they not even care about it? She discarded the thoughts out of her mind, staring at the CD player in her hands, giving a smile to cheer herself up. She was going to be in a live, and sing her song that she made all on her own; that was something she should be proud of. She gave a grin to Tomochika, who was bouncing lightly on the bed in excitement.
"Ready?" Mallory whispered with a smile, before she pressed the play button.
So what did you think? Mallory gets to be in her first live concert, and sing her song! How exciting! I just had to put that Saotome had an amusement park, because let's face it, considering all the money and influence he has, I'm sure somewhere down the line he would have built a amusement park for the sake of just being able to.
Also for you lovelies that have wondered after you read this chapter, I have actually drawn out what Mallory's Stage Outfit is! Her design that she mentioned in the chapter can be seen on my profile, but please excuse my terrible drawing skills that you will sitness, for I have not practiced in FOREVER!
Also if you fine readers or any curious people that wish to know, her single, which was mentioned in the last two chapters I believe, can be heard on my profile as well. Unfortunately, I am not a song writer and can not write my own songs because my brain capacity does not stretch that far. XP
I used a song from an anime series that I truly enjoy just as much as UTAPRI called IDOLMASTER. If you heard of it then you know what it is and know why I love it! I will be using more songs from this series for Mallory's singles, but all of you know of course that I do not own any of these things, only my OC and her designs! I hope you enjoyed, and I hoped your excited for the next chapter ahead!