Chapter 4: Mini Boot camp: Maki approved.

"Maki said 6:30 right?" Honoka whined out as her and Umi were nearing the clinic that Maki's family ran.

"Yeah, although she could have involved more than the two of us." Umi countered "At least well all know where we stand.

"Oh look I see it."

The two of them finally noticed Maki's large house. From what Hanayo had described to them it was just as big as was described. There was a sheer since of presence when it came to the Nishikino household. Whether it was the beach house training camp, or even mentioned her other properties, Honoka and the others did feel a twinge of envy around Maki. Though it hasn't affected the overall perception of her as a valued friend and music composer.

"Come on let's get this over with." Umi reached for the intercom and pressed the call button. Static chipped on before a voice was heard.

"Hello."

Within a minute both Umi and Honoka knew who the voice belonged to.

"Hi, is Maki there?"

"Oh, Umi, Maki said she invited you guys over here, just a minute."

A beep then came as the gate opened up. Without so much as a nod both shuffled on in to the door. Maki was waiting on the couch as her mom showed Umi and Honoka in.

"Evening guys." She greeted them with tea and treats set out on the table.

"Hi, so what are we doing here exactly?" Honoka questioned looking at the treats and other items on display.

"Well I'm taking a little personal time since it was obvious you guys need a little practice in acapella."

Umi looked at Maki questionably while sipping tea. "We sing pretty good already what more do we need."

"Well if we do sing pretty good I think we need to establish a range." Maki brought up while standing up.

"Can you guys do a scale run quick, just so I can see where we're at for a start?"

Both Honoka and Umi vocalized the scales while Maki looked on questioning their techniques.

"Ok, Umi is an alto and our dear leader Honoka is a tenor, so that makes things interesting."

The three girls grabbed the teacups and headed for the piano. Maki sat down and began to play out scales on the piano. Umi studied the keys carefully while Honoka just seemed interested in the sound. Maki turned back to look at them ready to bring in the next step.

"Okay guys, I need you to repeat what I just played out, but do it using only your voices."

Umi went first as Maki did 5 runs and with each run through it was evident that Maki had her work cut out for her as she kept breaking pitch and tone. Maki sighed and then motioned Honoka to do her runs. Although she figured it be a climb with her what she heard almost floored her.

"Honoka." Maki barley managed to get out. "You almost sounded like the piano for a minute there."

The words of encouragement almost made her fall over in embarrassment. Maki drilled them for nearly 3 hours on the ins and outs of sounding like the instrumental versions of their songs. Until finally they had at least locked down a tempo.

"OK, I think that we can call it quits." Maki went to the kitchen to grab them some water while Honoka and Umi slumped out on the sofa covering themselves with crumbs.

Within 5 minutes of them recovering Maki sent them off and then sent identical texts out to the next two participants.

At the worst possible moment her fellow companions got said text. Hanayo and Rin were watching a movie when both their phones went off at the same time.

"Kayo can you get that…" Rin mentioned while munching popcorn. Hanayo checked the phone carefully and shook her head in surprise at the message.

"So we're next?" was her lone thought as she sat back down.

The next day saw Hanayo and Rin in the same training regiment, with both being labeled as sopranos. Each found part harmony in the background of the scene.

"Guys its key that we sound like the song." Maki mentioned as she mentioned their positions in adjacent to the room. "Sound carries, and we need to as well, no backing track will help us, we need to be our own backing track."

Rin looked flustered as Maki went on about position. She turned to Hanayo, looking like she was ready to drag her out of there.

"Kayo, are you getting any of this?"

"Oh, yes I am." She mentioned while doing a vocal run through of wonder zone.

Another 3 hours later and Maki sent them off. The next day as Eli, and Nozomi trained Maki kept picturing herself having to struggle with the remaining two she had yet to coach.

"If these two are the easiest, then Kotori and Nico will be next to impossible."

Eli who had a background in theater including ballet knew how to project, and was almost at home performing like that. Nozomi was just as off kilter as the others however and it took nearly until 1 A.M the next morning to finally get them in sync.

"Guys, wonderful night thank you for the best practice so far…" Maki mentioned as she went to bed. "Can you guys text Nico and Kotori and tell them to stop by tomorrow?"

Eli and Nozomi walked out into the night both yawning at the thought of having to do that again soon. They sent the texts and grabbed a cab back home.

For Maki, her prediction about the others were right on the money as they barley managed to squeak by.

"Come on…" Nico whined "How is that not sounding like a bass."

"Nico," Kotori mentioned "We got to take her criticism with a grain of salt. I mean you did the same for us back when we joined the club."

"Yes, and that's a whole lot different than singing acapella. If we treat this other than a showboat of who we are then were no better than those singers on that show in the US."

Maki and Kotori stopped dead in their tracks the moment they heard her bring that up.

"You mean Glee?"

"Yes, we can out sing anyone and when we take on those Barden Bella's well prove it."

"Maki," Kotori mentioned whispering "Is Nico always this overconfident."

"No this is just what she does best."

That aside allowed them to discover their range as mid range baritones with nary a problem elsewhere. As Nico and Kotori left later after their practice was done, Maki looked over at a notebook of the notes she was taking. With only 4 weeks until they would have to leave for competition somehow if this small mini boot camps taught her one thing, it was that whatever needed to be done to get just as good as the Bella's they needed to do it fast.

"If we have to do a mash-up we might as well quit right now.

Across the sea at Barden, the Bella's who were running laps were all thinking the same thing.

"We have this in the bag."