So. I am REALLY sorry for the delay! Time really does fly! I'm just really busy with school right now, so I'll just keep updating as soon as I can. Hopefully it'll never be take as long as this last update did. I'm currently working on an engineering project with my university so it's been really hectic and busy. It felt good to write again, and I realized how much I really enjoy it. Again thank you to all those who have favorited/followed/read the story up until now! More notes at the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: Kotaro Yazawa

Dear Diary,

I really miss Daddy. Today, I actually got a callback for this talent agency. That sounds like a good thing right? Well, it is because it means that at least someone thinks I have talent, but they're asking that I take dance lessons with a specialized dance instructor. I don't mind doing that, but I was looking at the prices for these instructors and they're so expensive! There's no way I can afford that! The talent agency is new and low on funds also, so they told me that I would have to pay for the lessons all on my own. I didn't even mention it to Mommy. I can't put that on her shoulders, she's working a lot as it is and I know she's struggling to pay the bills as it is. I won't let her feel guilty about not being able to pay for my lessons. I told the agency I couldn't do it. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but I did it. I felt almost sick to my stomach and embarrassed as I watched them literally throw my file away and pick up another one. I'm assuming the other file they chose was a replacement candidate, probably someone who can afford it. I'm happy for them though, I'm sure it made them happy to be chosen, I know I was when I got the phone call. I wish Daddy were here, when he was around we never had any problems paying the bills and Mommy was home most of the time. Maybe if he were here I could have joined that agency and become a really popular idol. Well, I'm sure there will be other opportunities so no use in being depressed over this one.

"The three groups are as follows. Group One will be Eli, Nico and myself. Group Two will be Umi, Nozomi, and Rin. Last but not least, Group Three will be Honoka, Kotori, and Hanayo."

Maki stood at the foot of the table in the school clubroom. The seated Muse members had eagerly been awaiting the announcement of their assigned groups. Once Maki had finished talking, she nervously awaited their reactions. She knew that the groups seemed to be almost randomly assigned, especially Group Two, but she had big plans for all of them. She already had some melodies planned out and stuffed in her music folder, and with those written melodies she had been able to best choose the members most suited to sing them. It turned out that the members seem to fit into place perfectly when separated into three groups. Now that their general audience had been introduced to their voices individually, it would be easier to spot each person when they sing their parts in the songs. People had responded incredibly well to their solo pieces, so well that many idol agencies had contacted each of them trying to convince them to join their agency as a professional idol. Of course, all the girls had politely declined, and Maki couldn't help but smile as Nico wailed to the rest of the girls about how she dreamed for something like this to happen to her. It made all those sleepless nights worth the sacrifice. Now, it was on to the next step. After a moment of silence, the leader of Muse spoke.

"Kotori-chan! Hanayo-chan! Let's do our best!" Honoka grinned at fellow members in her group.

"Yes!"

"Eh? I'm separated from Kayo-chin?! I'll do my best too nya!"

"It'll be nice working with you two, Nozomi, Rin." Umi gave a small bow.

"Well then, I think the two of us can keep Nico in check don't you think?" Eli winked at Maki.

"Hey!" Nico pouted at the Eli and Nico who both shared a small laugh after Maki's statement. "So Maki, who are the centers of each group?"

Maki blinked in confusion, and blushed slightly. "Oh…I never really thought about it actually…"

"Just go with your instincts, Maki-chan." Kotori nodded at the red head, "You can't go wrong. After all, these subunits were all organized by you. Only you know who the centers should be."

"Since Muse changes its center with each song…maybe we can do the same with the subunits?" suggested Honoka, "I mean we had a problem deciding the center before and that was the perfect solution."

"That's true…I mean in all honesty, the songs were written in the same style as our other Muse songs, with everyone having a chance to sing on their own. Each group can make their choreography the same way too, so there isn't really a need for one person to be the center."

"But if you had to choose, who would they be?" persisted Nico.

"Well…maybe Eli, Umi, and Honoka?" Maki paused and added under her breath, "Nico too."

No one seemed to have heard her last two words.

"Me?" Honoka gasped. "Uwaaaaa! Thanks Maki-chan!"

"This isn't making anything official you know!"

"Still." Honoka wiped a fake tear from her eyes. "You think so highly of me."

"D-Don't overthink it."

"Umi-chan? You look awfully pale." Nozomi poked Umi's cheek playfully. "Earth to Umi-chan!"

"I can't do it." Umi's eye twitched nervously. "I didn't want to do it before…and I don't want to do it now."

"I told you. This isn't anything official!"

"But Umi-chan! You sang by yourself! And you did great! You were so amazing!" encouraged Kotori, ignoring Maki completely.

"I think you could have been the center of our group too, Maki" added Eli, "After all, you are the one that knows the most about this whole project."

"That has nothing to do with it. Besides like Honoka suggested, we don't really need centers."

"Maybe not centers…but leaders at the very least." Hanayo piped up. "I mean while we don't have an official center, but Honoka is still our leader. That's something we all decided and what has worked for us."

"That's true…ehehe does that mean I won't be the leader of our group then?" asked Honoka.

Maki rolled her eyes. "Obviously you'd be the leader of your group. You're the leader of Muse. Besides, I think the same people I mentioned for the centers would work as the leaders. Of course, I don't really mind. I'll leave it up to each group to decide."

Eli clapped her hands. "Alright. Let's break into our teams! We have a few things we need to decide within out groups."

Maki raised an eyebrow questioningly. "What's that?"

"Well first of all, we need to decide our leaders like you suggested. Second…" Eli paused dramatically, "Our names!"

"OOH!" Hanayo eyes gained her fascinated, crazed fangirl look. "Our name is going to crucial! We can't go wrong! It needs to depict all members and properly work with our style of music. When we chose Muse it worked out perfectly because of Nozomi…but Nozomi can't choose all our names." Hanayo looked at everyone seriously. "Think well! Don't mess this up! This is what everyone's going to know us by!"

"Uwaaa! That's so much pressure!" Rin jumped up from her seat and threw herself on Umi's lap. "I'll leave it to you, our leader nya!"

"Rin!" Umi turned to Nozomi pleadingly. "Nozomi…"

"We'll come up with it together" Nozomi game Umi a warm smile. "Now, shall we break then?"

"Alright." Maki reached into her pocket to pull out three small mp3 players. "I have three songs for each group. I have these labeled according to group so while we're at it, maybe we can start writing lyrics to these too. I have the music created already, all we need to do is add the voices."

Eli clapped her hands again. "Alright. Break!"

"Ughhh! Why is coming up with a name so hard!" Nico lay with her back to the floor staring at the ceiling of their clubroom.

Each group had left for a different part of the school campus. Group One, Maki's group, had stayed in clubroom while Group Two, Rin's group, had left for the student council room since Nozomi had access to it. The last group, Honoka's group, had left for their usual practice spot on the roof.

"That's because you keep coming up with dumb names."

"I do not! 'Nico nii' is a perfect name!"

Eli sighed. "For the last time Nico, we are not naming our group with anything that has to do with 'Nico nii'."

Nico pouted. "Well let's think. How would we describe ourselves as a trio?"

"A first year and two third years" grumbled Maki.

"I would say two mature people and one child," added Eli.

"NO. That's wrong." Nico sat up abruptly. "We all have that cool type beauty!"

Maki raised her eyebrow incredulously. "I don't really buy that."

Eli thought for a moment. "I can see where you're going with that…I mean those 'cool' types always have an aura of maturity about them right?"

"Yes! Exactly! We all have that quality!"

Maki rolled her eyes. "I love you Nico, but you really aren't the cool type."

"I think Maki and I might have it at the very least…" said Eli thoughtfully. "But how does that help us in deciding a name?"

"Well we just a need a name that depicts cool, mature, and elegant people."

"Hmmm…like a lady?" asked Maki, not wanting insult Nico by pointing that the petite third year was neither one of those qualities.

"Yes a lady! To make it sound more interesting, let's try looking up how to say 'lady' in other languages! Maybe one of them will work!"

"Sure, I guess it's worth a shot." Eli walked over to the computer in the clubroom. After a few moments of typing and searching she turned to the other two girls. "Ready?"

"Of course," replied Maki looking as bored as ever.

"Alright. So in Spanish we have 'dama'. At least according to the internet." Eli looked at them expectantly. "Well?"

"That's not…too bad I guess." Nico closed her eyes in concentration. "On second thought…next!"

"French is similar, its 'dame'."

"Nope!"

"'Signora' in Italian."

Maki frowned. "That sounds too much like a formality."

"They probably are formalities. I don't know for sure though, since I don't speak any of those languages."

"Just choose a random language. I don't know, maybe Arabic?"

"Ok." Eli typed away on the computer. "Oh, well this is interesting."

"What is it?" Nico stood up to stand next to Eli at the computer.

The raven haired third year's eyes widened. "Eli, click that webpage."

"The baby names one?"

"Yeah."

Nico leaned in towards the screen. "So, apparently, a baby name is 'Bibi' and the meaning in Arabic is 'lady'…"

"Bibi?" Maki blinked. "That sounds…really cute actually."

"So it means lady, which we're trying to add in the name…and it's cute?" Eli smiled. "It's actually quite perfect."

"It really is…I actually really like it…" Maki turned to Nico. "What do you think Nico-chan?"

Nico closed her eyes again to think. After a few moments she opened them and gave them a grin and a thumbs up. "It's perfect!"

"So…Bibi it is?" Maki asked.

"Yes…but let's have a twist! Let's capitalize both B's for fun!"

"Alright…so BiBi it is!" Eli clapped her hands to signal their final decision.

(Author's Note: I literally just googled "meaning of Bibi" and found that it meant lady? I do not speak the language at all, so if this is inaccurate, blame Google.)

"BiBi, which consists of Nico, Eli and myself. Lily White, which consists of Umi, Rin and Nozomi. Printemps, which consists of Honoka, Hanayo, and Kotori." Maki thought about the day's decisions as she walked away from the school building.

She had declined Rin and Hanayo's invite to eat with them because she had other, more important things to do. Rather than head home, she headed in another direction for her next item of business. She needed a way to talk to the man in prison. He had a lot of potential to be Nico's father, because it would explain his lack of presence in her life and explain why "spreading her smile across Japan" would be a good way to reach him although Maki wasn't exactly sure how up-to-date people were in prison. Arriving at the police station, she hoped it wouldn't be too much trouble to speak to this Kotaro Yazawa. If it was just a matter of filling out some simple request forms, she could handle it, if not, she would have to try to find another way. The fact that she was in no way related to the man in question would make it even more difficult to convince the police to let her have contact with him. She also had another Kotaro Yazawa that she investigating that would involve some sort of police involvement. This one was the one the list that was reported missing. If she could find out who filed the missing person report, then she could see if he was Nico's father. If he was, it would have been Nico's mother who reported him missing, or at least another relative of Nico's. Maki finally arrived at the police station and entered briskly, trying to look as professional and mature as possible. After taking a quick glance at her surroundings, she approached the receptionist who was typing away furiously at the computer, her nail polish reflecting the ceiling lights.

"Good evening, I was wondering where who I could speak to about getting in contact with one of the inmates at the prison?"

The receptionist looked up and scanned Maki's appearance, looking skeptical at her school uniform.

"Do you any direct relations to the inmate in question? Are you on their list of contacts?"

Maki felt her throat tighten. "I don't. I just wish to speak with him."

"Are you a law student or something? Psychology student?"

"…I am not. I just want to ask him a few questions."

"Well if that's the case you can file a request to speak to him. However it could take few weeks for that to process and to get to him. After that, we need to process his approval, if he approves, and notify you to schedule an appointment. In all, it would take at least a month. And, "the receptionist indicated Maki's school uniform, "if you are a minor, you would need your parents' approval."

Maki inwardly groaned. "This really isn't looking good. I doubt my parents would let me speak to a random guy in prison."

"Nishikino-san! Hey! What are you doing here?!"

Maki turned in surprise and couldn't help herself. She gaped at the person calling her name. Standing outside an office door was none other than Tsubasa Kira, the leader of the popular school idol group A-RISE. She was wearing her school uniform and waving at Maki. After a moment of watching Maki's face stay in shock she walked over to wear Maki was standing in front of the receptionist.

"Hello! How are you? What are you doing here Nishikino-san?"

"You know her Tsubasa-chan?" the receptionist smiled affectionately at the leader of A-RISE.

"Yes, Nishikino-san is in a school idol group called Muse." Tsubasa smiled at Maki, "Come with me! I'm hanging out in my dad's office right now while he's talking to prison warden."

"You dad's…office?" Maki blinked in confusion. "Your dad works here?"

"Yeah, I come visit him to bring him food sometimes when he has to work late. Duty calls you know."

"Right…what exactly does your dad do here?"

Tsuabasa grinned and winked. "That's not important. But if you must know, he's the chief of police." She opened to the door to the office she was previously standing by and gestured to Maki to take a seat. Tsubasa took the seat of the chief of police, the most important man in the station.

"The chief?"

"Yeah, that's why he works such long hours."

"I see…" Maki was starting to feel a little nervous. Clearly, Tsubasa was full of surprises.

"You came at a perfect time Nishikino-san" Maki swore she saw a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I did? Oh and you can call me Maki…"

"Yes Maki, you did. I was actually going to go sneak into your school to talk to a member of Muse about this. It is something very important."

"Well I'm probably not the best person to talk to. If it's anything about our groups then you should talk to Honoka about that, or even Eli."

Tsubasa's cheeks reddened slightly and she shook her head. "No, it can't be Honoka. Anyone but Honoka."

Maki raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because it's not about our groups…it's about Honoka."

The red head first year frowned. "Did you two get into some sort of fight or something? I really can't see her being really angry about something though. She's really not that type."

"No no no…it's just." Tsubasa paused. "I can't tell you unless you agree to help me."

"Well I can't do that unless I know exactly what you want."

The two idols stared at each other before Tsubasa finally spoke. "What exactly are you doing here anyways, Maki?"

Maki hesitated. "Well…I just wanted to speak to a prisoner about something…"

"But that's no reason to come over her…wouldn't you just go straight to the prison?"

"That's the thing…I don't know the guy…"

"At all?"

"Nope."

Tsubasa blinked in confusion. "Then why do you want to speak to him?"

"I'm just doing a bit of research, that's all."

The green eyed girl thought for a moment. "Oh, well then you would probably need some sort of permit right?"

"Yes, that's what the receptionist was telling me earlier. And I need my parent's permission…which I don't think I will be able to get…besides, I don't really want to get them involved in this."

Tsubasa took a deep a breath. "Ok, I have a deal for you."

"Huh?"

"I'll get my dad to waver the permits and let you speak the inmate. We won't ask you what you're up to either, it seems like it's a private matter and I know you enough to know that you probably don't have any ill intentions."

Maki gasped and stood up excitedly, "You would do that?"

"Oh of course." The brown haired girl grinned. "If you agree to help me."

"Well, it can't be too bad can it?" Maki closed her eyes for a moment. "Ok, I'll help."

"Oh that melody sounds nice, play it again one more time, please." Tsubasa leaned over Maki who was seated at the piano playing a new melody she had written.

Maki flushed. "O-ok…"

Before she could begin, Tsubasa stopped her by placing her hand over Maki's. "On second thought, perhaps we should try to have someone singing it? Maybe Honoka perhaps?"

"Honoka left." snapped Nico, glaring at Tsubasa.

"What's gotten her so angry?" Maki watched Nico's hostility curiously. "I thought she was a big fan of A-RISE. Shouldn't she be happy Tsubasa's here?

"She left?" Tsubasa turned to the piano player. "Well, you know, I actually need to get going too. I'll talk to later and maybe stop by tomorrow?"

"Ok."

The leader of A-RISE stood up and waved good bye as she walked out of the music room. After a few moment of silence, Nico walked over and took Tsubasa's place on the piano bench.

"What was that all about?"

Maki sighed. "I told you guys. Tsubasa is in the middle of a writer's block and needs some inspiration to write a new song."

"You two seem really close though. I mean, this is like her third day in a row coming here."

"Do we? I'm just helping her out that's all."

"She could at least acknowledge the rest of our groups' presence. The only person she really talks to is you, and maybe Honoka."

"Honoka? That's good then."

"How is that good?"

Maki blushed and looked away. "I don't know."

"Hehehe." The two girls looked up to see Nozomi leaning against the wall, presumably having watched the entire exchange. "I must say though, you two have been acting awfully suspicious."

"We have not!" the piano player insisted desperately, knowing that once Nozomi suspected something, it would be difficult to convince her otherwise. Continuing, Nozomi smiled mischievously. "It's almost as if Tsubasa was trying to…well I don't know…get close to someone perhaps?"

Maki's eyes widened. "N-no…not at all, I'm just helping her out that's all."

Nico looked at Maki curiously, "Are you interested in her, Maki?"

"No!"

Nozomi played with her own hair thoughtfully. "It's not Maki's interest that's important here though. It's Tsubasa's interest that really matters.

"So you're saying Maki doesn't have a say in this?" Nico turned to her fellow third year. "I mean if Maki doesn't like Tsubasa, then she should just tell her upfront and get it over with."

Nozomi winked at Maki who looked as if she wanted to run out of the room at any moment. "Well, it's like I said. It has nothing to do with any feelings of Maki. It's all about Tsubasa and her interest." Nozomi smiled knowingly at Maki. "Right Maki-chan?"

"How does Nozomi know everything?" Maki cleared her throat. "Right..."

"Maki-chaaaaaan!" The door slammed open and the leader of Muse entered. "I was wondering if I could go over some of my lyrics with you to make sure it makes sense with the melodies you have written." Honoka skipped towards Maki excitedly.

"Wait…what? I thought you left?"

"Eeeeh? Well, I guess I did leave the room, but I just went to roof because I was working on the song. Besides, you were busy with Tsubasa so I didn't want to interrupt you. I just saw her leave the school so I came down to see if you were still here."

Maki rubbed her forehead looking stressed. "Next time Honoka, feel free to stay with Tsubasa and me. I'm sure she would love to hear your opinions. You do have a lot in common after all."

"Eeeh? Me? I wouldn't want to intrude. I mean, she's here for your help not mine."

"Believe me, I'm sure she would love to have you there."

Honoka looked doubtful, but smiled eagerly either way. "Alright! Maybe next time!"

"Now, let's go over your song. This is for Printemps right?"

"Yes!"

"Alright let's hear it!"

Maki sighed as she tiredly walked away from her school. It had been a long day, and the third day since Tsubasa started dropping by. She wondered how long this was going to last, she had agreed to help the girl, but she didn't know for how long. Regardless though, it was worth it. With a simple call to her father Tsubasa had managed to get Maki access to the inmate she wished to speak to and the contact information of the family who had filed a missing report on the other "Kotaro Yazawa" she had on her investigation list. After calling the family in question, Maki was able to conclude that this Kotaro was in no way related to Nico. It was a good thing for Maki, because if the police were never able to find this man there was no way that she would be able to. Today, she was going to visit the prison to speak to the Kotaro Yazawa that was an inmate there. All Maki had to do was help Tsubasa get closer to Honoka. Apparently, Tsubasa had been trying to become friends with the orange haired girl with the hopes of eventually asking her out. At first, Maki was skeptical about her ability to actually help, but Tsubasa came up with the plan of stopping by after school under the pretense of working on a song with Maki. She felt her phone vibrate from within the pocket of her school blazer. Pulling it out, she looked at the caller id displaying Tsubasa Kira.

"Hello?"

"Hi Maki! How do you think today went?"

"I don't know, the same as it's been these past couple of days I guess."

"Hmmm…well, I was able to talk to Honoka a lot today, too bad she left, otherwise I would have asked her to hang out afterwards."

"About that…she actually didn't leave. She just went to another part of the school to give us privacy."

"What? But that completely defeats the purpose of all this!"

"I know. So I kind of tried to hint at her that you wanted to spend time with her."

"Oh…you didn't make it obvious though, right?"

"I at least tried not to. By the way, I'm pretty sure Nozomi figured you out."

"What? How? Is she capable of telling Honoka?"

"Nozomi just knows things sometimes, and I don't think so. Why don't you just ask Honoka out and get it over with?"

"I can't do that! Honoka and I have to get to know each other first! Otherwise it's like a total stranger is asking her out!"

Maki sighed. "But you're not a total stranger, you're the leader of the popular idol group A-RISE."

"Which is exactly why I need her to see me as a friend first! I don't want her to say yes, if she does say yes, because I'm a well-known school idol. I want her to say yes because she genuinely wants to be with me."

"Well if anything, you should make it more obvious that you want to hang out with her, not me. Apparently it looks like you're interested in me, not Honoka."

"Did Nozomi tell you that?"

"No, Nico did."

"Hmmm…that might be a good thing. It could make her jealous!"

"This isn't some sort of romance movie. And Honoka probably wouldn't be jealous, she would just cheer you on."

Tsubasa sighed. "I love that attitude of hers."

"Clearly." Maki approached the prison. "You spoke to your father right? All I have to do is show up at the prison today and they'll let me in?"

"Yeah don't worry about it. He even showed them a picture of you so that they'll recognize you easier. All you have to do is walk in and they'll help you out."

"Ok, thanks. I'm just arriving now so I'll talk to you later."

"Sure! Thanks for everything! Can you just send me Honoka's phone number? I want to start texting her but I didn't get a chance to ask her for her number today."

"Will do."

"Ok, bye!"

"This is the last Kotaro Yazawa on my list. If this isn't him, then I'll have to start taking a different approach."

Maki entered the prison and was immediately greeted by a security guard.

"Nishikino-san?"

"Y-yes, that's me."

"We've been expecting you, I'll let them to bring Yazawa-san to the visiting room."

"Thank you. Can you show me where that is exactly?"

"Of course, right this way."

Maki followed the guard to a room with tables and seats and several police officers scattered around the room. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Please sit here and Yazawa-san will be here momentarily."

The first year took a seat and began to rehearse her questions inside her head. At this point, she was beyond nervous. She could feel the palms of her hands getting sweaty and her heart beat faster. After a few moments she saw a man enter the room escorted by two guards. He had long black hair with bangs that covered his eyes. His skin was pale and he looked around the same age of her own father. So far, he fit the description of Nico's father.

"Nishikino-san? I don't believe we've met before." The man took a seat across from her and brushed his hair out of his face to reveal striking blue eyes. Nothing like Nico's and her siblings' ruby eyes, but those matched her mother's eyes.

"We haven't. I just wanted to ask you a few questions…if that's alright with you." Maki was thankful she sounded a lot more composed than she felt.

"Ok, ask away. I don't really have anything to hide at this point."

The red head took a deep breath. "Do you have any family? A wife? Kids?"

"Yes I do, well an ex-wife at least. I have four kids."

"Four? Nico, Cocoro, Cocoa, and Cotaro." Thought Maki.

"How old are they?"

"Different ages. The youngest is probably around four right now."

"And the oldest?"

"Maybe just starting college. I'm not sure."

"That's about Cotaro's and Nico's age."

"Do they have any hobbies that would, I don't know, stand out?"

"Not that I know of."

"What are their names?"

Kotaro Yazawa crossed his arms and eyed Maki suspiciously. "I don't know if I feel comfortable telling you that. Anything about myself I don't mind. But these are my kids. They have their own sense of privacy and I don't know if they necessarily want some random school idol knowing their father is in prison."

Maki's eyes widened. "How do you know about me? About how I'm a school idol?"

"We are able to watch TV here, and I've seen your group on the news before."

"Were you able recognize…anyone else in my group?"

"No, I wasn't."

"Maybe he just didn't recognize Nico?"

"I know you don't want to tell me the name of your children, but can you tell me their genders?"

"Sure, three girls and one boys."

Maki took a sharp breath. This was getting too close.

"Is the boy the youngest or the oldest? Or in between?"

The man looked at Maki directly in the eyes and answered. "The oldest."

Ah, so I realized that the name of the chapter really implied that Maki would actually be finding Nico's father but...no. Sorry!

Anyways, thank you for being patient with me and as always please review! I really do love reading your reviews, it encourages me to keep writing and definitely puts a smile on my face.

I will update as soon as I can, and I promise, I will not abandon this story! (Thank you to the reviewer that left that sweet review about not abandoning the story. I must admit, seeing it really made my day and pushed me to update this sooner...even if it did end up taking me a long time to update anyways)

Thank you!