I know it's been a while since I've updated! I usually try to update at least once a week, but school has been a bit crazy lately so I'm pretty behind on everything right now. I actually had this chapter about halfway done for about a week, but I just couldn't find the time to finish it until today and I didn't want to post a chapter that was too short either.
More notes at the end of chapter, for now please read and hopefully enjoy!
Chapter 2: Secrecy Creates Curiosity
Dear Diary.
Today was another audition. That's two in just three weeks! I'm glad we live in a city where talent flourishes and people seek out those who demonstrate it. I admit, the first audition was a disaster, I was so nervous that my voice was shaking, I couldn't even say a single sentence without stuttering. The second was better, much better. I was really nervous at first, but one of the judges was a real idol! She was so pretty and poised, and so nice! Before my audition she came to give every applicant a hug and a good luck speech. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. That is what a true idol is. That is what I want to be.
Daddy will be so proud.
"Maaaaaki-chan! Helloooooooo!"
Maki eyes scanned the walls of the clubroom, carefully examining the features of each poster with idols on them.
"Maaaaaki-chan!"
She wondered if the idol from Nico's second audition was one of those faces that smiled at her from those posters.
"Maki-chan!"
Maki blinked. "Huh? What is it?"
"What's got you so distracted today Maki-chan?" The orange haired leader of Muse crossed her arms. "You're usually the one that's the most attentive. Are you ok?"
Maki rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. A girl can doze off every now and then."
"You of all people should know about dozing off, Honoka." A strict voice sounded from behind Maki sounding slightly apprehensive.
"Eheheheee, that's true huh?"
Umi continued, "You should learn some more discipline, maybe some extra muscle training would help."
"Ehhhhhh? No way! I'll die!" Honoka pretended to faint in her chair.
Throughout the whole exchange Maki continued to gaze at the posters.
"Are you interested in the idols in the poster Maki-chan?" spoke a soft, sweet voice. Hanayo, the second most knowledgeable person about idols seemed excited that Maki had finally taken some sort of interest in them. If there was question about idols, she would be able to answer.
"I'm just curious, were any of these idols around about five years ago?"
Hanayo looked surprised. "Five years ago? No, most idols age out of their units by then, only the idols that start young and continue as solo artists usually last for more than five years."
"So it's not possible? What's the age limit for an idol's popularity?"
"That depends…"
"So idols don't have the much time in the spotlight then?"
"No! I don't mean that! I just mean that they often age out of their idol units. They can still join another unit more suited to their age, or go solo."
"What about school idols? Are school idols really popular? Even to the general public? Could a school idol really be famous all throughout Japan?"
"Of course! Look at A-RISE! They're famous all across Japan!"
"I see…"
"Why the sudden interest in idols Maki-chan?" inquired Kotori who had just succeeded in stopping Umi from scolding Honoka any further.
"She's been reading my notebooks that why." Nico responded for Maki wiping a fake tear, "I'm so proud."
"N-n-notebook?"
"Yeah, I'm sure I had one notebook in the box I gave you entirely dedicated to the aging out process." Nico said confidently, "Just wait till you read it, all your questions will be answered."
"O-oh, yes, of course, those notebooks. I…I've been reading them like you asked." Lied Maki.
"Hmmmmph. See everyone, I've tamed the stubborn Maki." Nico held a smug expression.
"What are talking about?! Tamed? I'm not some type of animal!"
"Maki's like a cat nya!"
"Don't encourage her, Rin" Maki snapped. Rin just laughed.
"Hmmm, the cards tell me that it's something else, isn't that right, Maki-chan?" Bright green eyes watched Maki intently.
"Nozomi…if there's anyone in this school that might know something…it would be her."
The red head tried to send a message to the group's fortune teller with her eyes. Nozomi only winked in response.
"Hehe, don't worry about Nozomi, she's just kidding." pitched in the blond beauty of the group. Eli now turned to Nozomi, "I think I'm going to head on home now, are you coming with me?"
"Mmm, sure. If Maki doesn't want to talk to me about something instead."
Eli turned to Maki, surprised.
"U-um…Yes…If you would. Please walk home with me, I do need to ask you a few things."
Nozomi gave a wide smile. "Of course Maki-chan."
"Ehhhhh?" interrupted Nico, "Who said this meeting was over! We still have some decisions to make about the upcoming performance! We said we would finalize everything today!"
Nico crossed her arms and turned around to face the window.
"Nico-chan." Kotori said with her soothing voice, "One more day wouldn't hurt, besides, it gives us all more time to think of the best decisions."
There was a pause and some shuffling around. Nico took a moment before answering reluctantly.
"Alright, meeting adjourned."
A giggle sounded from behind her.
"What?" grumbled Nico, still facing away from the group.
"They're already gone nya!"
"So, what is it that you want to talk to me about Maki-chan?"
Maki took a deep breath. "It's about Nico."
"I figured as much. Are you finally going to confess?"
"W-w-hat?!" spluttered the first year, her cheeks turning the same color as her hair. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh? Was I wrong? That's quite rare. I thought you were ready to confess."
"C-c-confess?! That would mean that I…that I like Nico…"
"Don't you?"
Maki was silent.
"Hmmm, still in denial? I could have sworn I sensed some sort of determination coming from you."
"…"
"It's ok, whenever you're ready, I'll be here to help you." Nozomi said gently, "But if you don't want to talk about confessing to Nicocchi, then…what do you want to talk about?"
"It's about Nico's father."
Nozomi stopped walking. "Nicocchi's…father?"
"Yes, do you anything about him? About why he left?"
"Why he…left? How do you know anything about Nico's father? Did she tell you herself?" Nozomi asked quizzically. She furrowed her eyebrows together as she frowned.
"Well no…she didn't exactly."
"Then?"
"…"
"Maki-chan…what's made you so interested in Nico's father?" Her tone was serious.
"I…I read her diary!" blurted out the first year, incredibly embarrassed.
"Nicocchi's…diary?"
"Yes…it was gifted to her by her father, Kotaro Yazawa." said Maki weakly, feeling the guilt build up inside her again.
"Oh dear."
"But I'm going to make it up to her! That's why I need to find her father for her! She wrote in her diary that the reason she became an idol was so that her smile would reach her father someday! That's why I need to find out all the information about him so I can find him and bring him to our next big concert! It's Nico's dream!"
"Find him?"
"Yes, find him." Said Maki, annoyed that Nozomi wasn't understanding the situation.
"Have you…talked to Nicocchi about this?"
"Of course not! It's going to be surprise! And I figured that if I brought her father to her that maybe…maybe she won't be so angry about me reading her diary."
Nozomi made a face. "I don't think any of this is necessary Maki-chan…"
Maki turned to face Nozomi. "Why? I'm sure she wants to see her father again."
"Well of course she does but-"
"So you do know about him!" interrupted Maki excitedly, "Please tell me everything you know!"
"…"
"Nozomi?"
"I can't do that." Nozomi's face was grave. She turned her head away from the first year. "I can't tell you anything about her father."
"But why? I just need to know a little bit more about the situation…" Maki tried to reason, "You are the most knowledgeable person I know! If you don't tell me, who will?"
"Well…maybe you just aren't meant to know…" mumbled Nozomi beginning to look very uncomfortable.
Maki frowned. Nozomi was acting strange. The third year was usually bold and teasingly knowledge. It was more likely for her to taunt someone with a piece of information rather than outright withholding it. Of course, she knew that this was a more serious matter, not something to be teased about. Still, Nozomi was acting suspicious, as though something was really holding her back from saying anything.
"Do you want to tell me?"
"Do I want to?"
"Can you tell me?"
Nozomi thought about her answer carefully. "No. My answer is no to both questions."
Maki huffed. "Why?"
"It isn't it my place to tell. It isn't even my place to know."
Maki rubbed her forehead feeling stressed. "What's the big deal? I just want to know why he left, it really isn't that complicated."
"Then how do you know?"
Nozomi sighed. "It was an accident that I found out. That's all I will say."
"Is Nico hurting because of him?" Maki whispered.
Nozomi paused and looked up at the sky. "She loves her father very much. He never hurt her. You don't need to worry about that." She turned to look at Maki seriously. "I only say that much so that you don't overreact over this situation. Just because I won't tell you anything doesn't mean it's something worth looking into. I'd say just respect the family's privacy."
Maki was quiet. She knew she had already invaded Nico's privacy by just reading the diary in the first place. Was she really taking this too far? But the thought of how Nico would react to seeing her father in audience…it couldn't escape her mind. At that moment, Nico's dream would have been fulfilled.
Nozomi stopped walking.
"This is where we part ways. I live in the opposite direction."
"Oh, right…of course, thank you for talking with me Nozomi,"
Nozomi took Maki's hands gently and looked straight into Maki's eyes.
"Give Nico time…ok?"
Maki looked away.
Nozomi smiled weakly. "I'll see you tomorrow!" Letting go of Maki's hand she turned to walk away.
"See you tomorrow Nozomi!"
The third year simply waved in response.
"I can't stop now"
Maki tentatively held Nico's diary again. She was sitting on her bed with the diary, deciding on her next move. She had neglected to eat dinner, this issue was bothering her too much. Her phone sat nearby on a pillow, daring her to just call Nico and ask her everything, even if it would reveal herself as nothing short of a creepy stalker reading her diary.
"There's still so much I haven't read. I could stop here. I should stop here."
The red head closed her eyes in concentration.
"What's wrong with me? This is wrong, Nozomi's right, I should respect her privacy."
She took a deep breath. Her eyes remained closed.
"I just…I just want to know…I want to help."
She opened her eyes again looked down at the diary in her hands. This was the key. This was the answer and maybe the diary even held some recent entries, ones that spoke about her experiences and thoughts about Muse. Maybe some that spoke about her.
"I know. I'll just read it little by little. That way, it'll be like Nico is telling me her secrets at her own pace."
Maki snorted at her own thoughts. Even she knew she was being foolish at this point. But, for some reason it did make her feel better thinking that she would read only a few entries at a time. She opened the diary again and began to read a few entries. These didn't seem to be too important, it just spoke of her daily life and how much she loved idols. The only significant part of these entries were her announcing that she was going to start taking extensive notes about idols. Maki could only guess that this is when she started to create her massive collection of notebooks that she had given Maki to study.
*Bzzzzzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzt!*
Her phone vibrated loudly against the pillow. Maki felt her heart stop, immediately assuming the worst.
"Nico can't have found out…"
She answered and cautiously said "Hello!"
"Maki-chan?"
It was Hanayo, not Nico. Maki couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She mentally scolded herself for overreacting to just a simple phone call.
"Ah, hello!"
"I was just wondering…I got a couple tickets to see this idol group perform tomorrow so I thought you might be interested in going with me? Rin is coming too, so we can make this like a first year outing or something!" Hanayo sounded excited.
"O-oh, that sounds like fun."
"It will be!" Hanayo said, clearly confident with this statement. "Since you were looking at the posters in the clubroom this afternoon I thought you might want to see one of the groups in the posters perform! It'll be a magical experience! And they'll be selling concert exclusive merchandise which must be even more amazing than the posters we have already posted up!"
At this point, Hanayo had started to talk faster, "We could get ideas for selling our own merchandise, and maybe they'll even let us record our own videos of the concert. Maybe we'll get randomly selected to get VIP backstage passes and get to meet the group!"
Maki laughed, "I highly doubt the randomly selected part."
Hanayo sniffed, "A girl can dream."
"Well, I'm in. What's the name of the group?"
"George."
"George? Like the name? Like the male name George?"
"Yes, haven't you heard of them? They're quite famous on the internet at least. Social media especially."
"And I thought Muse was a weird name at first…"
"Well, I'm still looking forward to it, regardless of the odd name. Thanks for inviting me."
"No problem! See you tomorrow!"
"Of course, good night!"
"Good night!"
Maki hung up. She felt good. Going to a concert was an excellent distraction, and it was something that Nico would have liked to do too. Going to one was also another way of learning more about the petite third year.
"Plus it will give me a chance to see if it really is possible for Nico to reach her father by using her platform as an idol."
This entire concert just screamed excellent opportunity. She would also get a chance to hang out with Hanayo and Rin, which was another plus side. She smiled and closed the diary. This was enough for today, tomorrow she would read more. She got up from her bed and grabbed her laptop from her desk.
Time to do some research.
First, she took her primary source of information, the diary. She flipped the pages quickly, skimming its contents without really processing the words in search of the specific word of 'daddy'. Finding that the diary did not yield any more information regarding the man, she decided to turn the strongest tool available to her at the moment.
The internet.
Her first search was the name 'Kotaro Yazawa', and of course, many pages showed up, probably listing every Kotaro Yazawa in existence. She clicked the first one, finding out that this Yazawa was rich and married with two successful sons about to take over his corporation following his retirement.
Definitely not the man she was looking for.
She continued scrolling through the people that actually showed up through her internet search. Of course, she know that this alone was the most basic, and unrefined way of looking for a person, but it was a start. She took out a pen and paper and began to write down the promising Kotaro's that had even the slightest chance of being Nico's father. Amongst the top contenders were a man who was reported missing in Tokyo, a man who had released a music demo but gained little popularity, and a man who was in jail. Maki reasoned that the man in jail was a strong contender because it would explain his absence in Nico's life. Nozomi had said that Nico's father loved her very much and never hurt her, so it would make sense if was actually forcibly taken away from her. Plus, the idea of having a family member in jail could easily be shameful, which would explain the odd secrecy that surrounded Nico's father.
"Well, maybe I should visit the prison?"
It didn't seem like such a bad idea. She jotted down her next few steps.
1 Speak to the man in prison. Ask him about his family.
2 Try to get a hold of the people who filed the missing person report in Tokyo
3 Talk to musician who released the demo.
Maki nodded in satisfaction. This wasn't the most elaborate plan, but it was a good start. All of these situations would make sense as a cause for the disappearance. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. This was enough work for today. Crawling onto her bed again she turned off her bed lamp and stared at the ceiling in the dark. She still felt guilty, but this guilt was becoming exhilarating. It was somehow thrilling to be secretive, and sneaky. She groaned.
"I must be going crazy."
SO. George really is an idol group in the Love Live universe, they were another school idol group that were competing against Muse in the rankings. I don't think they weren't mentioned but you could see their name on the computer as Hanayo scrolls through the rankings.
I always thought their name was hilarious and weird so I couldn't resist mentioning it here.
Anyways, a BIG thank you to all of you who have read/followed/favorited this story!
Please review! I love reading reviews!
Again, thank you for your time, it really means a lot and I will try to update the next chapter soon.
If you're interested in KotoUmi you can check out my other ongoing story called "Umi's Love Story"
Thanks again!