Hello again.

"Blah" — Speech

"Blah" — Speech in another language

'Blah' — Thoughts

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*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.

Bonds are stronger than Blood

"Father!?"

Nico jumps and almost drops her phone from Nozomi's outburst. She stays in place and waits for any other sounds; it seems that Nozomi's voice devolves into whispers. Keeping her eye on the mini-stairs, Nico shuffles closer to Eli and whispers, "Do you know why that asshole has Nozi's number?"

Eli turns to Nico and shakes her head, "Unfortunately I don't know." The blonde shakes her head, "Anyway you should order. I have a feeling we all need something to eat."

Nico grumbles, 'Who's the boss here?' But she goes on her phone and orders three bowls of ramen. Nico sits down on the couch and places her phone on the table. 'Damn this is so awkward.' She feels the couch shift and Eli sits beside the idol as they wait for Nozomi to finish her talk. It was ten minutes of waiting that Nico scratches the back of her head. 'What should I say to Nozi...'

Just after that thought Nico hears footsteps and turns her head to see Nozomi walking up the mini-stairs with her head down. The guard looks up and her shoulders twitch; it seems she forgot they were there. "A-Ah did you already order the food yet Nico? I'm hungry." She tries to keep up appearance with a smile.

Now Nico knows something is up. With her eyebrows pinched, the idol walks up to her purple-haired guard. "Nozomi, we're here for you."

Her smile falters and sighs, "...It's my father... He—"

Ding

Nico turns to the door. 'Tch. Seriously?' She sighs and looks back at Nozomi, "Take your time." The shorter woman lightly touches the guard's forearm, "We'll wait for you." She tilts her head to the door, "C'mon. Let's eat."

Nozomi smiles for real this time, "Thank you Nicocchi."

.

. . . . . . . . . .

.

The next day

Office

Umi opens the door to allow Nico and the rest of the guards to shuffle in. The idol sees Ryu busy at the computer. 'Jeez he's always on the computer.' She snaps a two-finger salute, "Yo Ryu. What's the plan for today?"

Ryu looks up from the computer, "Ah Nico." He swivels the chair to fully face them. "For now, let's talk about yesterday's interview. Do you want the bad or good news first?"

Nico brings a chair close to the table and sits down, "Hit me with the bad first."

Ryu clasps his hands together, "The public's opinion of you... have lowered." He turns the monitor to show Nico and her guards a graph. He points a bigger bar, "This was before the interview and video." He then points to a smaller bar, "And this is after the interview."

"Oh nya."

Umi sighs, "It was bound to happen."

Nico stays silent as Eli and Nozomi rub her shoulders. Ryu waits for a few seconds before continuing, "A poll was taken on what the people and fans think of you. Most seem to support you, but there are some who... have strong feeling against you."

Nico sighs, "Just give it to me Ryu. Might as well take it now."

"Some citizens see you as a gajin-lover and a disgrace to Japan while some fans felt betrayed by your announcement video."

"Haaaaa..." Nico places her hand on her face; even when it's only a small amount of people, it still hurts to hear it. Nico remembers what Umi had said, 'What a mess.'

Nozomi rubs Nico's back, "There there Nicocchi."

Eli looks at the producer, "What is the good news?"

"Right." He begins typing on the keyboard. A video pops up on the monitor; it was yesterday's interview. "Apparently someone leaked—" Ryu quickly glances at the guards— "a video of the interview. This anonymous leaker was able to translate the video into multiple languages." Ryu scrolled down the page:

Nico_Knees: We got your back Nico!

#1_Fan_of_The_#1_Idol: Nico showed that ho in her place.

Weeb_Vet: Thank you Nico for noticing us!

Nico stares at all the positive comments from her domestic and international fans, 'Oh my god.' Her eyes start to feel heavy from all the support. The idol stands up and puffs out her chest, "Alright Ryu, what's the game plan?"

Ryu pivots the monitor back to him, "For now you'll be taking a week off so things can cool down."

Nico deflates, 'I got hyped up for nothing.' Eli pats her back for comfort.

"Oh, before you go, you have fan mail." Ryu points at another table where there is a box full of mail.

"Oh right. I almost forgot about them." Nico makes her way over and picks up a couple of mails. "There's so many." She drops the mail back to the box. "I'll read them at home."

Eli walks over and picks up the box, "I'll carry these to the car." The rest of the guards start their way to the door.

Nico smiles, "Thanks Eli."

Ryu waves at Nico, "Enjoy your break. I'll call you if something pops up."

Nico waves back, "Thanks and see ya."

.

. . . . . . . . . .

.

Home

Nico waves at Umi and Rin, "Welp, you two can go back the company."

Umi raises her hand, "But—"

The idol waves off her concerns, "It's all good. I'm not going anywhere for the day. And besides," Nico steps over to Umi and leans near the guard's ear, "You get to do some shameless stuff with Kotori."

Umi jerks her head back, "You-I-That's-" Umi's cheeks are dusted with pink. Umi walks to her car, "Let's go Rin. I'm taking you back to the office."

Rin jumps at the announcement and follows Umi. "Oh!" Rin turns around and waves at Nico. "See ya Nico."

Nico waves back, "See ya. Oh and tell the others I said Hi." Nico turns around to see Eli and Nozomi slack-jawed. "What?"

Nozomi chuckles and shakes her head, "Always surprising us Nicocchi." Eli picks up the mail box and they walk inside the house.

"What?" Nico chases after them and closes the door. She sees Eli dropping the box in the living room and Nozomi in the kitchen. The idol walks over to Eli, "Hey what was that about?"

"Hmm? Oh." Eli scratches the back of her head, "Umi is very stubborn about staying with clients and that was the first time I saw her leave like that." The blonde tilts her head, "What did you say to her?"

"H-Heh. That's a secret." 'Holy crap that was effective.' Nico smiles, 'The possibilities.' She looks down at the box, "Oh right." Nico rips an envelope and take the letter out:

Dear Nico:

Stay strong and I will always support you.

Sincerely,
Mami

"Awwww thanks Mami." Nico places the letter down and takes another envelope and rips it open:

WHY WONT YOU LEAVE JAPAN!

"What the fuck?" Nico tosses the letter to the side in disgust. After a few seconds, Nico sees Nozomi and Eli sitting next to her and taking an envelope. "Hey what are you two doing?"

Eli rips it open, "We're helping you with mail." She tosses it to the side.

Nozomi opens her envelope, "We're sorting the bad from the good." She hands the letter to Nico.

Nico tentatively accepts the letter and smiles, "Thank you."

.

45 minutes later...

"Phew." Nico leans back as she finished the last letter. She looks to the side to see two piles of letters: there is the fan-mail and the hate-mail; the hate-mail is the bigger pile. Nico shakes her head, 'Just like Umi said.' She picks up the fan-mail and gets up. "Can you do me a favor?" The guards nod; Nico points at the hate-mail pile, "Can you throw those away? Thanks." They nodded again as Nico starts her way up the stairs and into her room.

.

Nico's room

Once inside, Nico walks to the closet and slides open the door. She crouches down and takes out a box. 'Hah. It's not even a day and I'm already tired.' She opens the lid and there are many folders inside the box. Nico picks up an empty folder and a pen to write down the date on said folder.

She puts the fan-mail inside the folder and places it back in the box. Just as she was about to close the box, Nico see the first folder; it was her first debut. 'Might as well look.' She picks up the folder and takes out the letters. As she combs through them, one caught her eye:

Hey Nico,

I know the show didn't go the way you like, but I believe in you. I believe you can become number 1 and I will always support you.

Koizumi

Nico chuckles as she falls on her bed. 'Oh wow. What a blast from the past.' She places Hanayo's letter on the bedside table. 'Maybe I should tease her about it.'

Knock Knock

.

.

5 minutes earlier

Living room

Nozomi and Eli are shredding the hate-mail and throwing them in the trash. Just as they finished with the last letter, Eli turns to Nozomi, "I think you should tell Nico."

"I-I think now isn't a good time. She's already busy as is."

"Nico has the week off from work. And besides, I would have reminded her if you didn't say anything."

"Aww, you're so unfair Elichi. *Sigh* Alright." Nozomi smirks at Eli, "You were never this assertive before. You really care about Nico.

"S-She's just our boss. Of course I care about Nico." There must be some pink dust on Eli's cheeks.

"I can also see that she cares about you Elichi."

"Nozomi," Eli puts her hand on Nozomi's shoulders, "She cares about you too." Nozomi paused at the sincerity of Eli's voice. "Now stop stalling and call her."

"Alright alright." Nozomi chuckles as she walks upstairs.

.

.

Now

Knock Knock

Nico sits up from the bed, "Come in."

The door opens and Nozomi's head peeks in. "Hey Nicocchi. Are you busy?"

"No. What's up?"

"Well, it's about last night."

'Oh shit. I forgot about that.' Nico stands up, "Is everything okay?"

Nozomi opens the door completely and waves her hands to placate Nico. "Everything is alright. I just... want to talk about it."

'Phew.' "Alright."

Nozomi waves Nico over, "Let's go downstairs. I want to tell Eli as well."

Nico follows Nico down to the living to see Eli sitting on the couch. She takes a seat as Nozomi stands before them. 'I hope it's not too hard on Nozi.'

Nozomi fiddles with her shirt before she sighs, "As you may already heard, my father called me. He saw me on TV and wants to meet me with my mother." Nozomi shrugs, "I told him I was busy and hung up."

Nico raises her hand, "How did he get your number?"

"I gave it to him." Seeing their confused stares Nozomi elaborated, "I gave it to him after my contract was complete."

"But why? They're a bunch of assholes."

Nozomi shrugs again, her smile falters for a while. "I guess I had hoped that we could reconnect." Nozomi sighs, "I should have changed my number."

They lapsed into silence as they processed this information. Nico gets up and walks over to place her hand on Nozomi's shoulder, "You should meet them."

"Eh!?"

"Eh!? But I thought—"

"I know what I said. But even though I think they're assholes, they're still your parents. I think that this is the perfect chance for you. You could either make up with them or break it off from them." 'I hope they break it off.' Nico almost jerks at that stray thought but she focuses on Nozomi.

"But what about you? It's my job to protect you."

"Then me and Eli will be somewhere close." Nico places her other hand on Nozomi's arm. "Look I don't know what's it's like to have those kinds of parents, but I know enough that you should deal with now rather than bottle it up."

"I..." Nozomi looks at Nico and Eli. "I...alright."

"You got this," Nico pats Nozomi's shoulder. "Set it up and we'll be there for you."

.

. . . . . . . . . .

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The next day

Shopping mall

Nozomi could not help but giggle at the sight in front of her; both of them are wearing sundresses while the idol is wearing a big sunhat and sunglasses. "Oh you two look so adorable." The purple-haired guard quickly fished out her phone and took a picture.

Eli tries to wave her hands in front of her face, "S-Stop. Try to be serious about this." Although her voice doesn't sound too serious.

Nico looks at her phone, "It's almost time." Nico puts a hand on Nozomi's shoulder, "Good luck. We'll be close by if anything happens."

Nozomi nods, "Alright." She begins her way inside the shopping mall. After several seconds of walking, she is close to the meeting spot. 'Ah, I didn't want to meet them, but Nico is right. I need to this and bury it so I can move on.' Finally she walks inside to see the two people she hasn't seen since she was in high school.

She sees that they already ordered food without her as sits down in front of them. "Hello father. Mother."

Her father puts his chopsticks down. "Nozomi." Her mother continues eating.

After a long moment of silence, Nozomi opens her menu to look for some—

"Quit your job."

Nozomi jerks and drops her menu, "...What?"

"Quit your job. You're embarrassing yourself associating with that... idol. A bodyguard?" He shakes his head, "What a disappointment. You're coming with me so you can stop being a fool."

Nozomi could only stare at her father:

Shock

Confusion

Anger

'This is the first thing he says to me? After all these years?' Nozomi lowers her hands to her pants, 'I should have known.' She takes a deep breath before she steels herself. "No."

"...Excuse me?" Even her mother stops eating.

"After all these years, we finally meet again and this is the first thing you say to me? You're only worried that I might embarrass you?" Nozomi shakes her head, "No. I quite like it here. I have a job that I like and friends who care about me."

"...How disappointing. You're no longer my daughter anymore."

Nozomi felt like being slapped in the face at being disowned. She was in a roller coaster of emotions but Nozomi couldn't help but quip, "It's alright, it's not like you were a great father to me." Nozomi quickly reacted and raised her hands to protect her face from the plate; she could feel the food stick to her clothes.

Mr. Tojo is standing with his eyes narrowed at Nozomi. He reaches inside his suit and places a 10000-yen note on the table. He frowns as he walks out the restaurant with Mrs. Tojo following him.

Nozomi bends down as she tries to clean up the food. 'Ah, Nico would be mad at the food wasted.' She then hears a commotion causing her to look up to see Nico and Eli walking towards her. "Ni—" She catches herself from calling out the idol's name in public. Nico bends down to help clean while Eli talks with a waitress.

They finished cleaning and made a quick exit out of the place. They kept walking until they stopped at a secluded area. Nico turns around and tries to wrap her arms around Nozomi.

But Nozomi catches the idol's arms, "W-Wait Nicocchi. I'm dirty." Surprisingly Nico is able to overpower Nozomi and wraps her arms around the guard's waist. The mess on Nozomi's clothes stains Nico's dress, "Nico—"

"I'm sorry I made you do that."

"It's..." Nozomi inhales as she feels a hand on her shoulder, "It's fine Nicocchi." Tears trail down her face, "It hurts but I'm free."

.

Fin.

Man I come back from this story and I make it with drama. I'm sorry Nozomi that you had to go through with that. Alas, I must go back into hibernation.

Thanks for reading

Constructive criticisms are appreciated

Bravo Tango out.

Earlier

"That fucking asshole!" Nico jumps out of her seat.

Eli was faster and hugs Nico to bring them behind a pillar. "Nico stop."

Nico struggles against the blonde's grip. "That asshole threw a plate a Nozomi."

"I know!" Nico stopped struggling. "I know, but you can't cause a scene right now. Nozomi wouldn't want you to lose your career because of her. She would be devastated."

After a while, Nico finally relaxes, "Alright. Alright." Eli releases Nico and they peek around the corner; Nozomi is on the ground picking up the food. "Let's get her out of there."