R-DAY PLUS 3

"Collision Course"

Despite missing a few members, the girls on the rooftop started their morning routine. Seconds of waiting for the group to be complete could be better spent polishing their moves for the upcoming live show. Not to anyone's surprise, the ones present just happened to be the responsible ones: Eli, Nozomi, Maki, and Nico. Guess which of them is annoyed at the tardiness of others.

Right. It's Maki. "What's taking the others so long? I don't like being the odd one out here."

Chances are that they had already heard of how Hanayo came close to being violated in a dark alley. Secrets don't stay secrets for long among friends.

"I received a text earlier that Hanayo and Rin would be coming today," Eli explained. "Although I'm not sure if she should after what happened last night."

"Frightening, isn't it?" Nozomi said. "I told those girls not to stay out too late. Looks like I'll have to lecture them when they get here."

"Nozomi!" Eli replied. "The poor girl almost got violated. Give her some room."

"I…I wasn't talking about Hanayo, Eli-cchi," Nozomi answered.

Nico shared her opinion, which had to matter right now. "Regardless, we can't afford to be one less idol in the live show. It's not µ's unless there are nine of us."

"Wow, Nico," said a stunned Maki. "It feels funny coming from you."

"What does THAT supposed to mean, Maki?" came an angry Nico.

"Nothing we can do but keep practicing," Eli said. "As soon as the rest arrive, we'll go over the steps one more time. Our heart-to-heart with Hanayo can wait after practice."

The music reset and the girls got back to their groove. After the first several steps, however, a loud crash through the door threw them off (including Nico who was literally thrown off several meters). The ruckus revealed two of their fellow idols, Honoka and Umi, gasping for breath and sweating like crazy. It doesn't take a fortune teller to know that the girls have an emergency on their hands, albeit Maki may have her priorities a bit skewed.

"Took you long enough!" yelled Maki. "It's hard to practice when half of µ's is missing, you know!"

"We're sorry," replied Honoka on the fly. "But have you seen Kotori?"

"Kotori?" replied Eli. "She hasn't come in. I thought she normally goes with you two."

"Well, that's just it," Honoka panicked. "Kotori just flew away!"

Insert "everyone is shocked by sudden revelation" trope here, only for said revelation not to make any sense after everyone calmed down. Heck, the first thing Nozomi does is to prepare her punisher hands and crazy smile. "Looks like someone didn't get the memo yesterday. I hope you're ready, girls."

"W-Wait, Nozomi, I-I can explain!" pleaded a stuttering Umi.

With a sleight of hand, Eli stuck a tarot card on Nozomi's face and confronted the second-years on the former's behalf. No idea what card it was, but it sure postponed the inevitable. Where did she even get that, anyway?

"Okay, let's try this again," Eli continued. "What did you mean by Kotori 'flew away'?"

"Exactly what I mean," Honoka said. "We went to Kotori's house to pick her up when Umi and I saw her take off. I-I don't even know that was possible."

"Hold up," Eli said. "Are you suggesting that she can fly?"

"You aren't making any sense, Honoka," Maki replied calmly. "It's not like Kotori could just grow a pair of wings." And apparently, she hasn't heard of Red Bull.

"But I'm telling the truth," Honoka insisted. "Kotori just took off to the sky to gods know where!"

"Since she flew opposite of the sunrise, we thought she would be heading for Otonokizaka," replied Umi. "But since she's not here…"

Regaining her rhythm, a pissed-off Nico walked up to Honoka and Umi. "Stop screwing around, you two! Need I remind you that the upcoming live show is just as important as Love Live itself?! We have no time for your silly games! Get with the program!"

"If we can't get Kotori, there won't BE a Love Live for all of us," Honoka said.

The door swung open again and hit Honoka in the ever-vulnerable rear. As she cried out in pain, Rin and Hanayo came hurrying like the first pair.

"Is Kotori here?" Hanayo asked from out of the blue.

Maki's sarcasm kicked in. "And the plot thickens."

"Don't tell me you girls are looking for Kotori, too," Eli sighed.

"Not exactly," Hanayo explained. "We were passing by the shrine when we saw Kotori fly by. At first, I thought I was just seeing things."

"She seems happy about it, nya," Rin added. "Soaring in the sky without a care in the world…I'd like that so much."

Talking about their friend taking to the skies got them nowhere. Precious practice time bled as they put their heads together as to what to do next. With the live show just a couple of weeks away, the group became divided between helping the half-bird Kotori right away and doing the show without her. Both sides presented valid points. µ's simply isn't µ's if there aren't nine of them. But with the live show a couple of weeks away, any side quest would be a waste of time. On top of that, not all were sure what was really going on with Kotori.

Poor µ's are stuck between a hard place and an even harder place. But all that would change with an incoming blot in the sky that caught Rin's attention. "Huh? What's that, nya?"

The girls dropped the argument in favor of the unidentified flying object heading their way. Squints provided a closer look at the set of feathers, wings and tail looking for the air brakes in desperation. By the time they saw a clear face, it was too late.

"Kotori?!" shouted the µ's in unison.

"TORIIIIIIII!" a frantic Kotori flapped her wings, everything to slow her down.

"Everyone, get out of the way!" yelled Umi. The rest waited no second to do so.

Save for Nozomi pushing Nico right in the collision path. "You catch her, Nico," Nozomi said.

"Wha—hey! What are you doing, Nozomi?!" protested Nico.

"TOOOORRRRIIIIIIII!"

"Catch her for us and I won't fondle you for a week," Nozomi retreated as soon as Nico was in place.

"That's not worth the risk!" Nico yelled, but it was too late. Kotori's bird form, her human head in a bird's body, came into full view. "NICO-NICO-NOOOOOOO!"

Cue mushroom cloud.

~O~

The girls gathered around the little bird as soon as the dust settled, save for Nico who took the blow with her gut and fainted a happy girl. She's probably off into her own happy world of rainbows and fluffy alpacas where she's a goddess. Back in reality, however, the rest of µ's saw the strangest sight since entering Maki's dream.

Feathers riddled the entire length of Kotori's body, now a creepy hybrid of avian talons and human arms. Her wings stretched beyond her arms and body into what seems to be a fluffy wingsuit. Her head and hair remained human, but the five-foot-three (159 cm) school idol stood at just half of that. On top of that, constant "Tori!" calls replaced intelligible speech. This would probably make an awesome costume if it didn't threaten to turn the wearer into a bird, namely a Mokuroh (Rowlet).

Hanayo picked up Kotori and cuddled the latter to no end, forgetting that one of her friends had just transformed into a Pokémon. "I can't take it anymore! Come here, you! You're so cute!"

One of Eli's eyes twitched at the surreal. "This…this is Kotori, right?"

"Someone please explain what happened to her," Maki demanded. "I refuse to acknowledge the fact that modern science has reached the point of turning people into animals."

"I have no idea," Honoka replied. "She was just fine until last night when she started crying 'Tori!' and taking orders from Hanayo."

Hanayo held Kotori out for the rest of the girls to see. "I know she's turning into Mokuroh. No doubt about it. But…I have no idea how."

Their questions felt somewhat off. For some reason, something nagged at the back of their minds. It might be the million-yen question that begged to be raised at a situation like this, but they couldn't put their finger on it. The girls were silent, save for Kotori flapping her wings in joy for some reason.

Then, the much-awaited "Eureka!" moment hit all nine muses in a chain combo. "Where did this all start?"

Well, took them long enough.

"Come to think of it," Umi said. "This all started after she got her flu shot from the hospital. I believe it was Maki's family's hospital."

"Who's her physician? I might just know," Maki asked.

"Well, that's just it," Umi replied. "I never asked Kotori about it. I didn't think it matter."

"There are dozens of doctors working there," Maki said. "We'll just be wasting time looking into all of them one by one. We need a name." She immersed herself in deep thought as the dialogue went on around her.

"Maybe someone who looks like a mad scientist?" said Honoka.

"Define 'mad,' Honoka," Eli replied.

"You know? There are tons of those in movies," Honoka explained. "Raising corpses from the dead? Making a juice that turns you crazy? Fighting an army of mantis men?"

"My, that is horrendous," Nozomi remarked.

It didn't take long for Maki to snap out of her thinking trance. "I might have an idea who to look for."

"Really?!" said the girls in unison.

R-Day plus three. The potency of the concoction has well exceeded projected parameters. In less than 72 hours, subject has drastically changed its physical form, drawing ever closer to match the base specimen. Given this time frame, complete transformation is achievable within—"

Maki: I can hear you over there, doc. You have some explaining to do.

…also, rooftops don't provide a good hiding place.