And here we go; The final chapter. I might be writing more stories in this AU later, but for now, I'm done (and if you want me to, make sure to tell me (review, PM, you decide, though I'd prefer PM^^).
First and foremost, "Thank you who have been reading this story!". I know there's probably a hundred ways to state that in a less generic way, but it's how I feel. I'm so happy this story got the amount of attention it did (I didn't even one person would like it enough to want more).
This story started out mainly as an idea of what would've happened if Chieri would have graduated, and a practice for getting better at writing, which I feel like I have. To be honest, when I started to write this story, I really disliked Chieri. Now, however, I dislike her a lot less. I dunno' why, and it feels weird to say it, but I guess my dislike of her got sated a bit when I wrote this story almost completely without her taking part in it.
One thing I wanted to explore more though, was the Takamina/Kanata situation. It didn't become much in this story, but maybe I'll be able to explore it more in a later story. We'll see.
Enough of my rambling now, and here you go, the final disclaimer for this story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own AKB0048 nor it's characters.
Finale: Return of the Gods
As the concert ended, the idols flew back to the Flying Get completely exhausted – both physically and mentally. One of them, however, was in a worse state than the others. Nagisa, having performed with high fever, barely made it to the hangar before her legs gave in below her. She would've hit the floor if it wasn't for Takamina, who had suspected Nagisa to use up way too much energy, and had flown close to her. Even if Takamina was shorter than Nagisa, she could easily catch her.
"You did great out there." She said. "But from now on, you'll have to take it easy, at least for a few days, for the fever to subside completely."
"No…" Nagisa struggled to speak, even if she was only barely conscious. "I don't wa…"
"You need to take a rest." Takamina stated firmly. By now, the other understudies had gathered around Nagisa as well.
"Nagisa, I agree with Takamina-san." Yuka stated, bending down.
"Me too." Orine said. "You took a great risk to preform like that."
"It's not that we don't appreciate what you did, or aren't happy about it." Mariko said, putting a hand on Nagisa's left shoulder.
"You were a bit reckless." Kanata finished as she got back with a wet towel, which she placed to Nagisa's forehead.
"Though you're hardly the one to talk, Kanata!" Mariko laughed.
"Probably not." Kanata agreed.
"Nagi-Atsu, you blew them away!" Sonata cheered. She was, of course worried for Nagisa, but her cheerfulness was greater. "I mean you turned into a ball of light! And you went into the DES ship, and, and and…" Sonata babbled on. She was that happy.
"I agree, Sonati." Suzuko said, and then turned to Nagisa. "I agree completely with Sonati…"
"As all of us." Makoto interrupted. "I mean, you were truly amazing!"
"As I was saying," Suzuko continued politely, and Makoto apologized hurriedly. "while we all agree that what you did was great, we do also all agree that you should rest now." The others nodded.
"I didn't do all that…" Nagisa managed to squeeze out. "I was lucky."
"I think the others have already established that you weren't." A voice said, and everyone turned their eyes to the open hangar, where the DES that had betrayed it's comrades had landed, and beside it, stood Sono Chieri, adorned with diamond-shaped lining in her hair and eyes and all. She walked over to the group, but was only focusing on Nagisa. "You kept on telling me that you was the one behind me, but look at yourself now. You're Maeda Atsuko. A successor to the original face of AKB. And on top of that, you've become Centre Nova, the fixed Centre of 00. You can't get much more radiant than that."
"If you wouldn't have graduated, the one with a fever would've been you." Nagisa stated, even if she only saw a mess of colours, mainly light blue where she knew Chieri was; The details all blurred together.
"I don't think so." Takamina said. "No offense Chieri, but the one to become a successor, is the one with the soul closest to a certain original member at the right time."
Nagisa didn't even get the chance to object.
"Now, off to bed with you." Chieri said, and made an attempt to help Nagisa to rise up, but Takamina stopped her.
"You have got a lot of explaining to Tsubasa to do. Me and Yuka can take her to the nursery rooms."
"Right." Yuka nodded, and the two helped Nagisa up, before leading her away. The other idols quickly went to the showers to rinse off the sweat from the performances.
"Wow." A new voice cut in. "You really couldn't stay away, could you? You left so hurriedly, I almost thought you'd never associate with 00 again."
Chieri spun around. Yuko stood there, grinning. "Of course not. I love 00. "
"And you still gave up your dream." Yuko's face turned grave. It wasn't a question.
"It wasn't a fair competition. I wanted to be elected with my own efforts, not my…" She choked on the word 'father', and changed. "… not donations and commissioned popularity. I wouldn't have been living my dream if I had stayed, only everyday guilt."
"I guess so." Yuko stated. "But how are you planning to live your dream now?"
"I'm not sure. Help 00 in every way I can until I figure it out, I guess. Why are you asking?"
"Because Nagisa took my chance to live my dream for god knows how long." Yuko said. "I'm still aiming for Centre Nova… I haven't felt this far away from my dream in a long time. I guess I could use the advice."
"I see." Chieri said. She wasn't mad at Yuko for feeling that way; She could understand it. She had been in 00 far longer than any of the current understudies (including herself, even if she wasn't an understudy anymore), and then Nagisa comes out of the blue and snatches the title straight under her nose.
"I guess you could always become a photographer…" Yuko said thoughtfully.
"Excuse me?" Chieri asked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Miichan once told me that those with Centre Nova potential can catch others in their most radiant situations. If you become a photographer, then we'll be able to know for sure if you have, or had, whichever you prefer, the potential of a Centre Nova."
"I'm still not sure what you mean. I already graduated, so what good would it make to know that?"
"I'm just a bit curious. I want to know if my gut feeling was right those past months ago. Now hurry to Tsubasa. You don't want to keep her waiting. She can be a bit, uh, unpredictable, when she get irritated." Yuko walked past Chieri, rose a hand, with her cheeky, now slightly mischievous, grin back in place.
And of course, because of that grin, Chieri wasn't sure if she was supposed to take Yuko's warning seriously or as a joke. Still baffled, she slowly made her way to the control room, to meet Tsubasa.
A week later, Akibastar hadn't seen much change in terms of infrastructure, but the concert hall was almost restored to it's former glory; it was only a few glass panes left that needed to be fixed in place on the big crystal on top of the tower (which Miichan several times had apologized for to the workers for breaking when 00 jumped into Akibastar – not that it was needed), and the plans for 00's next concert was in the final stages of planning. On all of the announcement boards around it, a the most prominent message addressed this concert. It showed a headshot of Nagisa from a concert during her understudy time, to a dark pink background and golden letters.
"Goddess Succession!
The Journey of Motomiya Nagisa"
It read, as well as two dates. The first one was in only a few days, when the official succession concert would take place inside the concert hall, and the second was only the next day, when a free concert would be held as an extension of the succession concert. All of the members were going to participate, and all of them had at least to songs to appear in, even the understudies, after all, it was the first concert on Akibastar since taking it back.
Akibastar itself was like a hive; Buzzing with news, rumours, and downright information leaks. Even if Chieri never appeared before the public eye, somehow, word had gotten out, and at the moment, one of the more frequent questions asked to Tsubasa and the idols when they made public appearances was about the truthfulness of those rumours, and they always gave the same answer, literally – they had been asked that question so many times now, that the answer came by itself.
"I'm not in the position to state that." Takamina replied to the reporter who had asked.
"But can you not even state if Sono Chieri-san is on Akibastar? The public need to know."
"I'm sorry, but I can't." Takamina may have been one of the more patient of the idols, but even her patience was running out. "I'm not in the position to state either 'Yes' or 'No' in this question. That right belongs to Tsubasa-san and Chieri alone. The only thing I can state, is that Sono Chieri won't appear on stage as a 00 member. Whenever she wants to ever enter the spotlight, is up for her to decide."
"So she is at the Flying Get?" The reporter asked.
"I can't answer that, I'm sorry." Takamina said once again, and an alarm clock rang, signalling that the time for the interview was over. Saying thank you and goodbye out of courtesy, and then she left by jumping on her flying board which was parked only a few metres away, and soared up into the sky to return to the Flying Get.
"Is Nagisa all right?" Yuka asked the other understudies took a break from dance practice, while Ushiyama went to do something he wouldn't tell them about, but said that he'd be back in a few minutes.
"I went and checked on her earlier, but she was still sleeping. Her fever won't budge." Orine replied worriedly.
"She'll be fine." Mariko said. "After all, she isn't Centre Nova for nothing."
"Yeah!" Sonata agreed. "Nagi-Atsu won't die!" Suzuko furrowed her brows.
"Sonati, I don't know of any soon-to-be-successor who has died only days before their succession." She said reassuringly, mostly to Makoto who had stopped in her tracks when she had heard the word "die".
"Do you really think it was good of Tsubasa-san to place a date when she hasn't even woken up yet?" Kanata said. Not that she was doubting Nagisa, but Nagisa was still their friend, and Kanata didn't want her up and walking too soon.
"Yeah." Chieri said as she walked through the doorway, wearing… workout clothes..? "Nagisa'll do it. Don't worry too much about that."
"Chieri?" Yuka asked. "Why are you here..? I mean here, wearing those clothes?"
"I've been helping arranging Nagisa's succession concert, and when we finished the setlist, we decided that I'd stand in for Nagisa during practice, since I know a lot of the dances already, and that would make it easier for Ushiyama to focus on the whole image, since no part will really be missing from the whole image, even if Nagisa isn't currently here."
"What?" Orine asked, not really believing it.
"Really?" Sonata asked. Chieri smiled back.
"Really." This answer did - of course - cheer Sonata up a lot.
"Realsies!" She jumped up, and in less than a second, Kanata was trying to pry a clingy Sonata off of Chieri.
"Cherry's gonna dance with us again. Cherry's gonna dance with us again!" Sonata cheered, refusing to let go of her grip around Chieri's waist.
Nagisa slowly opened her eyes. White. That was the only impression she could get. It was like if she was in a big, empty, completely white room without borders and walls. When she looked down at herself, she saw a nice-looking, clean cut white dress of a pretty, thin, flow which barely reached her knees. She put a hand to the place where her ribbon usually was, and sure enough, she found one, and even if she couldn't see it, she guessed it was white as well. She did also find a pair of incredibly beautiful and simple - yet expensive - looking shoes, even though she had no idea how a pair of shoes could look both plain and expensive at the same time.
Just as she finished looking at her clothes, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, and saw an woman who looked to be either in her late teens, or early twenties walking through a door, which stood by nothing. She was dressed in a similar fashion as Nagisa, and to be honest, she was rocking it.
"Hello, Nagisa." The woman said.
"Who… Who are you?" Nagisa replied. "How do you know my name?"
"I know your name very well, Nagisa." The older woman smiled. "We all do. We were all so excited when we felt you breaking through. Then, somehow, we felt you leave for a moment, and Hikari decided to try and get to talk to you, to find out why. When she finally succeeded in doing so, you were already on your way back here."
"Hikari?"
"Ah, I forgot." The older woman smiled. "You know her by another name. Maeda Atsuko the 13th."
And at that moment, out of the same door that the woman had entered, the previous Acchan entered, similarly dressed as Nagisa.
"Ah," she said, as if she hadn't expected Nagisa to be there. "Nagisa. Hello there."
Nagisa couldn't do much but stare. What exactly was going on? And, before she got the chance to ask, another girl entered. Looking at them, Nagisa realized that all three - four counting her, had pretty much the same haircut. The girl who had entered, looked really alike the first woman.
"You must be Nagisa." She said, and smiled, her big, brown eyes sparkling with warmth. Then, first one more, then two, and three. Girls of different ages and looks entered the room, and when the gathering finally stopped, Nagisa counted them to be 13, excluding her. They lined up in front of her.
"Ah, so you're Nagisa?" The last one to enter said. She had gorgeous, long, slightly curly black hair, and striking blue eyes. "It's great to finally meet you. Hikari here," she nodded in the direction of said girl. "never told any of us that she was going to meet you. If she had, I would've followed."
"Wait. Slow down. Hold it." Nagisa finally got out. "With that visit you've been talking about," She turned to Hikari. "Is that the dream I had before Chieri, Sonata and Yukirin were captured?"
"Yeah." Hikari nodded. "But my visit wasn't really needed. I mean, I was going to talk to you about the name of Acchan, but then, when you were already on your way here again, you kinda made me drop my words, and made me come a weak cover-up instead."
"So that was what 'Sing on top of your lungs, and make your presence known!' was?"
The other girls laughed, while Hikari looked a bit embarrassed.
"Really, Hikari?" One of them said. She had been the third last to enter, and had short, silvery hair, not the 'old-people' silvery, but pale blue hair which looked silvery in the light. "You said that?"
"Um, I'm sorry, but I still don't know all of your names.." Nagisa said interrupting their laughter.
"Oh, yeah. We haven't introduced ourselves yet." The one with silvery blue hair said. She turned to the other girls. "Start from first to latest?" They nodded.
"I'm Maeda Atsuko." Said the first woman who had entered said. Nagisa facepalmed mentally. How the Kirara's didn't she recognize the original Acchan? "I lived on earth before it was destroyed."
Before Nagisa could say something along the lines of "I'm sorry, but shouldn't you be dead, like, several years ago?", the next girl continued. It was the girl with the black hair and blue eyes.
"My name is Shirayuki Yume." She smiled. "And I was one of the first few successors of AKB0048, with the name Maeda Atsuko the 2nd."
Again, the next introduction came before Nagisa could ask anything. Shouldn't this girl also be dead, a few years ago?
"I'm Amamiya Nora," The next girl said. She had long, wavy, golden blonde hair, and dark green eyes. "You probably know me as Acchan the 3rd."
"I'm Maeda Atsuko the 4th, " The next girl said. She was the one with the silvery blue hair. " or Shizuka Hime."
"I'm Tachibana Sakura." The next girl said. She had the hair to match her name, short, curly, pale pink hair, and a pair of purple eyes. "Or Maeda Atsuko the 5th."
"My name is Ueno Aika." The next girl said. She had short, blue hair and eyes to match. "You can probably guess that I'm also the sixth Acchan."
"Yukimura Kazue." The next girl said, her golden eyes sparkled with happiness and pride. She had long, red straight hair. "I was Acchan the 7th."
"I'm Minami Hoshi." The 8th in the row smiled at Nagisa. She had dark brown, curly hair, and violet eyes."Or Maeda Atsuko the 8th. It's so nice to meet you."
"My name is Ito Aki, or Maeda Atsuko the 9th." The next girl said. She wore her long, wavy curly hair in a high side ponytail, and teal eyes.
"I'm Fukui Ai, or Acchan the 10th." The next girl in the line smiled. She had short, curly, purple-ish pink hair, and yellow eyes.
"And I'm Kagome Kotone. I became Maeda Atsuko the 11th." The girl who spoke had long (seriously, it could easily rival Yuka or Chieri's hair), turqouse, wavy hair, and grey eyes.
" I'm Hoshina Furea." The girl who had entered third smiled. "Or Acchan the 12."
"And I'm Katagiri Hikari." Hikari said. She smiled. "And you already knew I'm Atsuko the 13th."
"Um, I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I'll be able to remember all of those names." Nagisa bowed along with her apology. The other Acchan's laughed.
"We don't expect you to." Aika said after she managed to gather herself. "After all, we won't be meeting again for a long time."
"What do you mean?" Nagisa asked.
"You see, Nagisa. This place," Atsuko gestured around them. "Isn't really real, and it looks different for every successor of my name. I imagine it's the same for the other successors, but I do not know. Right now, you are actually probably sleeping, and your mind has travelled here, partly because of the fever of succession, and partly because of the complex patterns of dreams."
"Wait… Do you mean that I'm not really here?"
"Yes, and no." Acchan smiled. "Your mind is here, and is partly controlling this place, as it could be compared to a feverish dream, but at the same time, your soul has resonated with everyone else's here as well, which is why you're here."
"So, I'm here because I'm becoming a successor?"
"Yes." Hikari replied. "And as a matter of fact, your succession concert is due in a few days."
"Which is why," Hime grinned. "we're going to teach you the choreography for all of the songs."
"...Excuse me?" Nagisa asked. "I'm sorry, but would that work? I mean, if I'm not here by body, then how will I be able to learn it?"
"Don't worry about it." Hoshi said, and the surroundings changed. Nagisa found herself in one of the dance practice areas, and she looked at herself, and found her usual practice clothes. A glance at the previous Acchan's told her that it was the same for them.
"Now that we're changed and ready, let's get this started, shall we?" Atsuko smiled. "I guess we'll do Iiwake Maybe first?"
"Since it is the succession song, yeah." Ai said. As she finished the sentence, music filled their ears. The older Acchan's walked up, so that they filled most of the positions of the song. Nagisa, of course, was centre as that was the position she would dance in the real world.
As the 'lesson' went on, Nagisa did her best in following the movements of the other girls (which she, for the record, wasn't too bad at), and got occasional pointers from them.
Nagisa's first impression when she woke up, was that it was night, and she was lying in an open shrine-looking building. It was nothing more than decorated pillars and roof, and a floor. As her eyes got accustomed to the light level, she realized that she wasn't outside. In fact, she was underground, in a big cave filled with blue, faintly glowing crystals. Nagisa saw Tsubasa sitting on the ground a few metres away from the building, apparently meditating or something similar. For some reason, the thought of Tsubasa of all people, sitting on the ground amused her.
Only a few minutes later, Tsubasa opened her eyes and looked straight at Nagisa.
"Ah, you're awake." She said smiling. The older woman got up, and walked over to Nagisa. "That's great. How are you feeling?"
"I feel great." Nagisa said, as her eyes trailed up to the ceiling of the temple-like building, and she realized it was true. She was back on Akibastar, becoming a successor, and had no ailments at all. Her fever had completely faded, and it was replaced by an indescribable feeling in her chest. And she was happy.
"So I take it your fever has faded?" Tsubasa asked, and put a hand on Nagisa just to make sure when the younger nodded.
"What place is this?" Nagisa asked, looking out over the large, sparkling, underground lake. She realized that it was sparkling because of the numerous Kirara's which floated around in the cave.
"This is the Kirara sanctuary, or the Caves of Succession." Tsubasa held out her hand as one of the Kirara's approached her, and landed in her palm. "And these are the Kirara of Succession. They show us who is the closest to a certain member, and who is the closest to succeeding."
As if on cue, several of the Kirara's approached Nagisa, and formed a mirror. First, it showed only her own - slightly surprised - face, and then it turned to the face of the original Maeda Atsuko.
"Acchan..." Nagisa mumbled.
"Yes," Tsubasa said. "The Kirara's of succession chose you as the one with the soul closest to the one of the original Maeda Atsuko."
"What's going to happen now?" Nagisa asked after a few minutes of just looking at the lake.
"Well, it highly depends on what you want to do. As a successor, and further-more, the Centre Nova, you don't really have the boundaries you had as an understudy. But in a nearer future, your succession concert is due to start in an hour. You really woke up in the nick of time. The songs are..."
"I know the setlist." Nagisa said, sparing Tsubasa of repeating the long list. "When I was asleep, I guess I kind of visited the previous Acchans, and they taught me all the dances."
"Ah. I see." Tsubasa said. "That's something I've heard before. Your new uniform is being brought down here as we speak. Is there anything you want to get done before the concert starts?"
"No, not really. I do already know pretty much everything I need to know at the moment. Unless I'm allowed to meet my friends before the concert."
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here. Even if they do already know you're Acchan, and that you've been moved from the nursery, even if they do not know you're awake quite yet, it's still for the best if both you and they wait a bit longer. Your soul hasn't completely recovered from the mending with Acchan's and it will do so the quickest here, so close to Sensei-Sensei. If something happens while you are still not completely a successor, then you might lose the radiance you have." Tsubasa said, sighing.
Nagisa smiled somewhat bitterly. "I don't know why, but it doesn't surprise me."
"Do you want to see your fans' messages to you?" Tsubasa asked after a minute.
"Of course!" Nagisa exclaimed, before lowering her voice back to normal conversational tone again. "I mean, if it's allowed."
"Your phone was brought here along with you."
"But you said I wasn't allowed to contact my friends, what different are fans?" Nagisa asked, clearly confused.
"I said you weren't allowed to meet them before the concert. I never said anything about texting them." Tsubasa smiled out of nostalgia as she felt the Mariko wibe in her chest once again. It wasn't as strong as before, but still. She handed Nagisa her telephone. "Though if you do text your friend, expect to be bombed with questions. You might not even want to reply to all of them though. And I'd keep it simple and only send it to one person, but target it to them all. That way, you won't have to write several separate texts."
"Okay, thanks." Nagisa said. Tsubasa just smiled and walked back towards the opening to a passage from the cave.
Flipping up her phone, Nagisa immediately found 27 missed messages. A few from the successors, but most of them from her fellow understudies, and the occasional from Chieri and her family. Reading through them quickly, she smiled, with tears brimming in her eyes, out of sheer joy. She opened up a response message to Chieri.
Hello, everyone.
While I'm only sending this message to Chieri, it's for all of you. I woke up just now, and am feeling great. Honestly. I'm pretty much set for the concert later, and am currently waiting for my uniform to arrive, and simply wasting time. Thank you all for your messages. Thank you so much.
I'd appreciate if you'd wait with your questions until after the concert, so that we can talk face to face. Technically, I am allowed to leave this temple-thingy, but doing so could result in complications, and I'd rather not risk it right now when I'm actually becoming a successor. That's the reason I won't be meeting you until the performance itself. I just thought you wanted to know. Besides, that'd ruin the "surprise" of who I'm going to become, wouldn't it?
I'll see you soon.
She read through what she had written, before correcting a phrase that could tell them too much, after all she wouldn't want to spoil them with what succession is like, for when it's their turn. Then she sent the message. She sent a similar message to her parents, and Takamina, confident that the message would get relayed to the other successors.
Having finished that, she opened up 00's main fan page, and almost dropped her jaw when she saw the amount of encouraging messages, and well wishings in general. She instantly made a mind note to address that in her speech. After having read through several pages of the guest book, she went on to another 00 fan site, and then a fan-blog, so on and so forth for the next 55 minutes. Time flew by, and when Tsubasa came to get her, she got a bit surprised at first, and then she received her uniform, and they left the cave together.
The lights in the sky were dimming down, and the 00 theater was already packed full with people. There was a light chatter going on in the room, but it quieted down as the understudies appeared on stage and the lights went up.
"Welcome everyone to Motomiya Nagisa's succession concert." Kanata's voice said. "In a few moments, Nagisa will appear on the stage, and until then, you'll have to settle with us!" The audience laughed. All of the understudies had gotten a huge popularity boost, and everyone was already arguing back and forth which of them would become the next successor. "Please listen to AKB Festival!"
The understudies positioned themselves according to the music as it started playing.
A few minutes later, Nagisa stood underneath the stage on a newly installed board which would rise up during her speech. She was wearing a ballgown, which as soon as her first performance this day, would fall to pieces, revealing her in the uniform of Maeda Atsuko. She had a monitor, and could see the performance, as well as the audience, and she couldn't help but feel proud of them.
"How are you feeling?" A voice said. Nagisa turned around, and smiled. Chieri, of course. Since she wasn't officially a member of 00, and more like a staff member, she had the rights to get pretty much anywhere she wanted in the areas involving 00.
"Proud." Nagisa said. Her microphone wasn't switched on, so she could talk without risking getting heard. "I mean of them." She gestured to the monitor, showing their friends.
"I'm proud as well." Chieri smiled. "To be honest, I didn't come here to only to chit-chat. I want you to have this." She took off the flower that she had in her hair, and now, without it, Nagisa couldn't help but feel like something was missing on Chieri's image.
"But won't that reveal that you're here at Akibastar, and with 00?" Nagisa asked. "I mean, you've wanted to be so secretive about it up until now. Tsubasa told me that that particular subject annoyed her and Takamina to no end during interviews."
Chieri smiled. "Of course it will reveal me, but I'm alright with not hiding anymore. I've done it far too long. Besides, this way, I won't be taking your show."
"Thank you." Nagisa said after a smile, and Chieri stepped forward, and attached the flower to Nagisa's bow (which she had refused to leave behind with her name).
The current song ended, and Chieri smiled.
"I guess this is your cue, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Nagisa said as she switched on her microphone. The stage above her went black. And Nagisa spoke.
"Thank you all so much for coming to Motomiya Nagisa's succession concert. To be honest, I didn't even know about what they had dubbed it until early today, and now I'm flattered." She could hear a laugh from the audience. "Honestly, I do not know why my parents named me Nagisa, however, I believe, that I wouldn't be who I am today if I hadn't gotten that name. I love my name, and through it, my parents. I love my friends, many of them will preform here today, but I do also have friends elsewhere whom I've depended a lot on. Today, I will return the favour. From now on forth, I will become a pillar everyone can lean on. I will support 00 with all of my might, and do my best to live up to your expectations. I do not know if I'll disappear any time soon, or if I will at all, but I can tell you this; I will make sure that I'll go with a smile and that I won't have any regrets."
At her sudden approach of the risk that all Centre Novae risked, several screams of negative feelings echoed in the hall, and she could feel the board she was standing on rising up, and she knew the spotlight was directed right at her.
"But, let's not think about that at the moment!" She said cheerfully. "My name up until now may have been Motomiya Nagisa. While I will still be her to an extent, today, I'm succeeding!" At her words, the dress she was wearing fell apart into small, tiny fragments which sparkled in the light. As her previous dress disappeared, her new successor uniform was revealed. "My new name, is Maeda Atsuko the 14th!" As she announced it, the cheers erupted like a thunderstorm inside the concert hall, and Iiwake Maybe started. The newly crowned Acchan danced the first steps alone, and then the other successors joined her, Yuko at her left, and Takamina at her right.
The songs came and went in a blur to Acchan, as did most of the MC's, and as she started to feel tired from all the routines, she couldn't help but still give her all for the fans.
When it was time for the final song, all of the members went onstage, with the successors on the edges, understudies in the middle, and Atsuko in the centre.
"This concert," Acchan said, "symbolises more than my succession. It is the start of something new, and an end to something old. To me, this concert is precious, because it does symbolize 00 coming home. Because of this, I feel that this final song, Sakura no Hanabiratachi, is fitting, as it was the first ever independent single AKB released."
The song started, and the understudies, who stood on the flying-boards in the stage, flew up, and lined up by the edges of the hall, and the successors took their place at the middle of the stage. Dancing and singing fully in sync, the idols had never felt that much unity.
I did originally plan for the chapter to end after the concert had closed, and Nagisa truly to realize that she's actually the new Centre of AKB0048, but when I wrote the ending, I felt like this was a good "And they lived happily ever after"-ending (though we all know that, knowing DES, there are troubles ahead for our beloved idols)
In the scene where I've written about Nagisa's dream/vision/kindofthing, I've named the previous Acchan's by their real name (aka. their original names, not Maeda Atsuko [insert-number-here] )to help distinguish them. Besides, if you imagine 13 girls spending a long time together who shares a name, where only a number differs, then it would get confusing immediately (especially since the original Acchan was there as well), so I figured that they would use their original names instead.
And on a related note, Acchan the 13th original name. I believe that it is Hikari, not Atsuko, since Takamina states, in one of the episodes (Episode 7 of Next Stage (Mimori Revoultion)) that her name is Hikari (and is not referring to the current Yuko, since Takamina said only seconds later "That was what Acchan the 13th was like.").
And for the other Acchan's helping Nagisa with the choreography, I found it a bit weird that new successors pretty much wake up in the temple, and then pretty much go straight up on the stage, just to perform flawlessly.
If you're interested, here's my list of names for the previous Acchan's, if anyone's interested:
Acchan the 1st - Maeda Atsuko (Duh.)
Acchan the 2nd - Shirayuki Yume (Shirayuki means "White Snow", and Snow, unless polluted by something, is a really pure substance. Yume (which means "Dream") represents the new start of AKB, and the dreams for the future)
Acchan the 3rd - Amamiya Nora (Amamiya means "Palace of Heaven", the place where stars belong (the sky). Nora isn't actually a japanese name (but japanese people shouldn't have too much trouble pronouncing it), and the swedish meaning of this is quite straightforward; It means "Shining one" or "Radiant one".) In my headcanon, she wasn't entirely japanese, and one of the first Centre Novae ever.)
Acchan the 4th - Shizuka Hime (Shizuka means… Hime means "Princess")
Acchan the 5th - Tachibana Sakura (Tachibana means …, while Sakura means "Cherry Blossom")
Acchan the 6th - Ueno Aika (Ueno means "Of above" (Ue=above No=Of) Aika means "Love Song")
Acchan the 7th - Yukimura Kazue (Yukimura means "Snowy village" (Yuki=Snow Mura=Village). Kazue means "Harmonious")
Acchan the 8th - Minami Hoshi (Minami means south, and Hoshi means star, which would translate her name into "Southern Star")
Acchan the 9th - Ito Aki (Ito means "Wisteria", and Aki means "Bright" (in this case))
Acchan the 10th - Fukui Ai (Fukui means "Fortunate". I don't have that much of a thought behind it, so make of it what you want. Ai, on the other hand, doesn't (in this case) mean "Love". It means "Indigo")
Acchan the 11th - Kagome Kotone (Kagome means "Park". Same as with the surname above. Kotone basically means "Harp Sound".) In my headcanon, she was kind of tomboyish before she became Atsuko the 11th, but was still better at singing graceful songs than powerful and/or angry.
Acchan the 12th - Furea Hoshina (Well, it is canon that Furea is the 12th Acchan (read the AKB0048 Episode 0 manga), so I can't really state much here.)
Acchan the 13th - Katagiri Hikari (Reasons for her being named Hikari is listed above this, and I've decided to keep Katagiri as her surname, since I have no better suggestion myself.)