Let's get right into this.

"Blah" — Speech

"Blah" — Speech in another language

'Blah' — Thoughts

[ Blah ] — Text

*Blah* — Sound effects in speech

(Blah) — Author's notes

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Love Live! School Idol Project. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Prepare for the Other Side part III

Beep Beep Beep Click

The hand slowly drifts away from the phone. "Urrgh." Nico throws off her blanket and slowly rose from her bed. She stretched her hands over her head and yawned. Then she slowly went to the bathroom to do her daily routine. With that done, she leaves her room and makes her way down to the kitchen.

Once there, she pours coffee powder into the machine and turns it on. As she is waiting, she eats a banana and drinks some orange juice. She finished her banana when she hears someone coming down the stairs. The idol turns her head to see Maki standing at the kitchen doorway in her doctor's uniform.

'Let's try it out.' Nico smiles, "Good morning."

Maki raises her eyebrow at that, but went along with it. "Morning."

"Would yu like som coffee?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Nico picks up a banana and offers the fruit to Maki. "Here."

Maki sighs, but accepts the fruit. "Thanks. Why are speaking English early in the morning?"

Nico shrugs. "Nozomi told me to use English on every chance I get. Makes it easier to learn."

Maki peels the fruit and takes a bite. "Hmm."

Ding

Nico moves to the coffee machine and pours the hot beverage into a cup. "Need anything for your coffee?"

Maki shakes her head, "No."

Nico gives the cup to the doctor. "Here."

She accepts the cup "Thank you." The doctor takes a sip. "Ahhhhh."

Nico leans on the refrigerator and gives Maki a few moments to enjoy her drink. "Thanks for helping Hanayo with the translation."

"I wasn't doing it for you."

Nico shrugs. "Regardless. Thanks."

Maki looks at the clock and gulps down her coffee. "I got to go." She places the mug on the table and quickly made to the front door.

Nico follows Maki and waits at the door as the doctor puts on her shoes. "You're always welcome to come again. I think Hanayo and Rin would like it."

Maki pauses, but opens the front door. "I'll take it into consideration." She makes her way to her car.

Nico waves at Maki, "I'll see you tonight."

Maki misses a step but she recovers and speeds up her walking.

Nico chuckles at the scene and closes the door. She walks back but sees Nozomi and Eli walking down the stairs. "Good morning to you two."

"Morning Nico." / "Good morning Nicocchi."

Nico comes into the kitchen area with the two of them behind her. "Coffee is ready."

"Thank you."

Nico takes out ingredients from her refrigerator and places them at the kitchen countertop. The guards got their steaming mugs and sat down the table. "What are you making Nicocchi?"

Nico washes her hands and the ingredients. "I was thinking of cooking breakfast as a thank you for yesterday."

Eli smiles, "That sounds great." Nozomi taps her shoulders and points at a piece of paper. They then discussed the plans for today.

Nico instinctively reached for the knife but hesitated; she can feel her fingers trembling as they are near the handle. 'Come on! Not now.' The idol takes a deep breath and takes a quick peek to her left; Eli and Nozomi are in their conversation. She grabs the trembling wrist with her other hand. 'Stop. Shaking.' After a few tense seconds, her hands become still.

Nico sighs in relief and slowly takes the knife out. She places a tomato on the cutting board and raises the knife. Just as she was about to cut the fruit, her hand twitches and the blade cuts into her fingers. "Ah!" She drops the blade and grabs hold of her wounded digits. "Fuck! Shit."

Nozomi and Eli are already by her side with some first aid. Nozomi gently takes Nico's hands to the sink and turns the faucet on. Nico hisses as the water washes away the blood.

At the same time, Eli had taken the knife and places it at a far distance. Once done, Eli prepares gauze with some saline. Nozomi turns off the sink while Eli comes to Nico's side and wraps the soaked gauze on the cut. Nico hisses again as her blood lightly stain the gauze. "Are you alright?"

Seeing their concerned gaze, Nico snapped and tore her arm away from them. She stomps to the living room and paces around. "This is fucking stupid." She squeezes the gauze in her cut. "Why does this always happen?"

"Nicocchi..."

Nico turns to see her guards with that gaze again. "Stop. This is- this is some dumb thing. It'll pass."

"Nicocchi, please talk to us. You can't bottle this—"

"Okay. We can pretend this never happens." Eli walks and sits on the couch. "You're our boss, but I care for you deeply. So whenever you're ready, talk to us."

Both Nico and Nozomi stared at Eli in shock, although for different reasons. Nozomi sat on the other side of the couch and smiled. "I know I have been... nosy lately. But I never wanted to make you uncomfortable. Whatever you want, we will do as you say."

Nico looks up and stares at the ceiling for some time. She then sighs and looks back at them. "How can I say no to that?" She walks over and sits on the middle of the couch. She plays with the gauze for a while before she speaks, "...I guess it started after that... event. Every time I see a knife I just..."

Nico clenches her eyes at those memories, but she opens them when she feels Eli's hand on her shoulder and Nozomi's hands on her knee. "Thank you. Every time I see a knife I just remember that night. I hate it. I hate that I shake or lose focus because of a knife."

"You're doing great by talking to us Nicocchi." Nozomi counsels Nico. "You're a strong person and I know you can overcome this. You can take this step-by-step."

Eli rubs the idol's shoulder, "If this happens again, please talk to us. It's no good to hold it in because it'll build up and explode." Eli looks away before looking back at Nico. "You might make a choice on impulse."

Nico's shoulders finally relax. "Thank you. This really helped."

Nozomi smiles, "It's no problem Nicocchi."

Nico perks up at the last part "I've got it." The guards look at Nico as the idol has a finger pointed at Nozomi. "Your nickname is going to be Nozi. Get it?" She raises one palm up, "Nosy." She raises the other palm up, "Nozomi." She then palms her hands together. "Nozi."

Eli suddenly guffawed at the name, causing Nozomi to pout and whine. "Elichi."

Eli tries to stile her laughter, "I'm sorry. It just fits so perfectly."

*Ahem* Nico stands up from the couch. "While it's nice to bask in my genius, can you girls help me with breakfast? Rin and Hanayo are going to wake up soon." Nico walks back to the kitchen.

They both grinned at each other and followed after Nico.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Muse Company

Nico knock on Kotori door, waiting for an answer. "Come in." Nico opens the door and sees Kotori working on her workbench. The designer finally looks up from her work. "Nico? What brings you here?" Kotori stands up to greet her.

Nico walks close and gives her a quick hug. "Eli and Nozomi are getting their stuff so we have some time to kill." Nico opens her bag with her gloved hands and brings out a sketchbook, "Also some advice?"

"Of course." They walk to an empty table and open the book to look at the sketches. "Oh wow, some these look really nice. Did you draw them?"

Nico nods in pride, "Uh-huh."

Kotori tilts her head, "Don't you have someone to make the costumes for you?"

"Nah, I make most of my costumes so I only hired designers when I need it."

"Ahhhh." They go back to the book and discussed the designs.

After talking about the changes on the designs, Nico looks at Kotori, "Thanks for the help."

"It's no problem."

Nico puts the book back in the bag and looks around the room. "So what made you go for this job? You could make a lot of money if you went for clients."

Kotori plays with one of the armored suits, "I was about to, but Honoka convinced me to do this." Kotori then traces one of the dresses, "But I still get commissions sometimes, so it's not all bad."

"So how long have you known Honoka?"

"Ever since we were kids."

Nico widens her eyes at that, "Oh nice." 'Childhood friends huh.'

There is a knock on the door. "Come in."

Rin comes through and waves at them. "There you are Nico. You practice is in a few hours."

"Thank you Rin." Nico stares at Rin's clothes for a while. "Say, what do you feel about dresses?"

"Eh?" Rin shrugs. "I guess they're okay."

"You guess? Okay?" Nico shakes her head and walks over to Rin. "Dresses are dazzling and cute." Nico smirks and looks back at Kotori, "Want to do a mini fashion show?"

Kotori stars at Nico for a while before she smiles, "I'm sure we can find something to fit you in Rin."

Rin waves her hands, "Eh? No, it's fine."

Nico tugs Rin over. "I insist."

Rin shudders as she sees their smiling faces.

An hour later...

Nico shows some pictures to Rin, "See?"

Rin stares at the camera of the various pictures of her posing in dresses. "Wow..."

"You're very cute Rin." Nico quickly pockets her phone and gives the camera to Kotori. "So—"

Umi opens the door, "Miss Yazawa."

Nico turns to Umi, "Ah? Umi? What's up?"

"We about to go soon."

"Alright, see you at the car."

Umi nods and her gaze stay on Kotori for a while before she leaves.

Nico turns to Kotori, "I'll call you for a commission soon." Nico and Rin walk over to the door.

Kotori waves at them. "Until next time."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Several days later...

The SUV rolls up to the front of the studio and the crew gets out. Nico just got out when Rin pointed something above her, "Hey Nico look."

Nico follows Rin's finger and thought she was pointing at the billboard with the sphere on it. But she smiled because Rin was actually pointing the one next to it; it is a picture of herself in a Christmas outfit on a billboard. "Awesome." After a few seconds of looking, Nico goes into the studio with her guards.

Once inside, Nico smiles at her dance instructor, "Yo Aya." She hesitates at Aya's frown and looks around, "Where's Ami and Maho?"

"I'm sorry Nico, but they can't make it."

"What? Why?"

"Their father is in the hospital and they want to stay with him over the month."

"That—" Nico blows a loud sigh; she can't fault them for that. But frustration still seeps into the idol. "Is there anyone else?"

Aya shakes her head, "They're either booked or with their family."

Nico crosses her arms, 'This is not good. There's only a few weeks left.'

Aya then stares at Eli and Nozomi for a moment, "How about them?"

"Them?" Nico turns to her guards.

Aya walks up to them, "Do either of you have dancing experience?"

Nozomi smiles at the instructor, "I practiced dances as a shrine maiden when I was in high school."

Eli was hesitant to answer, "I used to do... ballet."

Aya smiles, "Could you two be Nico backup dancers?"

Nozomi grins, "That sounds like a good idea."

Eli slightly tensed up, "I don't think we should. Our job is to protect her."

Nico jumps in front of Eli and clasps her hands together. She looks up and begs, "Please. The both of you are my only hope."

Ahem

They all turn to Umi standing by the door, "While uncommon, the both of you are still doing your job. You two will be the closest to Nico on the stage. Rin and I can stand guard in the backstage. It all works out."

I... I..." Eli averts her eyes to not stare at the bright red orbs. Her shoulders drop and she looks back to Nico. "Okay."

"YAY!" Nico jumps and hugs both of them, catching them by surprise.

"Alright." Aya claps her hands to get their attention. "It's good we got two new dancers, but we need to get them up to speed." Aya motions the trio to follow her. "Let's get started."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Home

As suspected, Nico has everyone from the last time in her house; Hanayo, Rin, and Maki are upstairs translating while Nico is reciting her songs in the area next to the kitchen. "...And done." Nico got up and stretched, "That'll be it for today."

She turns to Nozomi and Eli sitting on the couch watching the news. "Yo."

Nozomi turns off the TV and looks behind them. "Hey Nicocchi."

Eli nods at her, "Hey Nico."

Nico sits on the lone couch. "Thank you for doing this for me."

Nozomi shakes her head, "It's not much."

Nico raises her eyebrow, "Are you kidding? The both of you got the routine down fast."

"We watched your dance practice so we knew your routine."

Nico snaps her fingers. "Oh yeah, you girls said you had experience before." Nico then tilts her head, "But what was the change to this?" Nico sees them hesitate and the mood turned somber. "Shit. Sorry forget I ask—"

Eli raises her hand, "It's alright. I actually want to tell you. It's just..."

Nozomi places her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I can go first."

Eli shakes her head, "It's okay." Eli takes a breath and exhales. "My parents put me in ballet class when I was around 5. It was there that I really like to dance. So my parents took me to advance class and competitions."

Eli takes another breath before continuing, "It was until I was 13 when things took a turn. Because I didn't win in a competition, my parents treated me differently and I didn't feel like dancing anymore." Eli scrunches her pants. "Even though they don't say it, I could feel the disappointment from them."

Eli realizes what she is doing to her pants and puts her hands together. "I waited until I graduated high school before I joined the military." Eli dryly chuckles, "Of course my parents wanted me to go to college. My uncle heard about my situation and showed everyone a compromise. There was a special program where it trains and teaches at the same time. It took some effort, but I got in."

Nico thin her lips, "Is that what you meant in the morning?"

Eli nods. "Yes. I excelled in the program but after a while I didn't want to stay. So I finished my contract and left to travel here. It was here that I got involved in an incident of Maki and I got hired by Honoka."

"Whoa..." They fall into a few moments of silence.

"I guess it's my turn." Nozomi shifts to get comfortable before beginning her tale, "During high school I live in an apartment while my parents were on an indefinite stay overseas."

'Indefinite.' Nico's mind whirls, 'That would mean...'

Nozomi continues, "My parents send me the 'bare minimum' of money so I had to take a part-time job at a local temple to pay for rent." Nozomi shrugs, "It wasn't until I graduated that my finances got a little... dicey. And so I joined the defense force to get paid." Nozomi chuckles, "It was there I actually met Umi and she offered me a job when my contract was over."

"Damn..." Nico shakes her head at this, "No offense Nozi, but your parents are real shitheads."

Nozomi shrugs again, "None taken."

"But there are some good things that happen." Nico walks in front of them. "You two get to meet the super awesome Number 1 Idol." The idol puffs out her chest out.

They stared at her for a few seconds before Nozomi breaks into a fit of giggles. A moment later, Eli chuckles after her fellow guard. Nico has a grin plastered on her face, 'At least they're laughing.'

Nozomi wipes a stray tear, "You sure do make things interesting Nicocchi."

Nico points her thumb to her chest, "Keep following me and I'll keep you interested."

Eli smiles, "We'll be glad to."

.

And Le Fin.

Some notes:

- I finally got the nickname.

And so the day comes closer and closer to the concert.

Anyway, see ya later.

Thanks for reading

Constructive criticisms are appreciated

Bravo Tango out.