Chapter 3: UTX Days

Kousaka Yukiho and Ayase Arisa both stared at the modern, high tech building that is the UTX academy. A large digital screen is displayed prominently over the main entrance, featuring the school's idol group A-RISE.

"The Heart Fragment is… here?"

"Horosho!"

"Wait a minute, Matcha!" Yukiho was flustered at the thought of stepping foot into such a prestigious school. "Just how are we supposed to go in there and look for the Heart Fragment?"

"Can't you just walk in-chichi?"

"No, we can't just walk in," Yukiho countered. "This is the most prestigious school in Akiba! The most famous school idol group, A-RISE, is there! We can't just waltz in like that!"

"Then why don't we sneak it-popo?"

Arisa giggled at the thought of sneaking in. "We could wear their school uniforms and pretend to be students there. It sounds like fun!"

"No it's not!" Yukiho shook her head, wondering what had gotten into those three all of a sudden. "What happens if we got caught?"

"We could say we wanted to get A-RISE's autograph!"

"You're really serious about this, aren't you, Arisa?"

Arisa nodded. Yukiho looked at Matcha and Paka. They both nodded as well, displaying the widest grin that their faces could possibly make. Yukiho sighed and gave in.

Yukiho was surprised at her own resourcefulness. Somehow they had managed to procure fitting UTX uniforms for the both of them, and had managed to get inside the main entrance. The first obstacle was to get past the automated gating system. UTX students flashed their student identities via NFC-capable phones at the gates, which then let them through. Yukiho and Arisa had no such credentials.

"What do we do?" Arisa looked at Yukiho with hopeful eyes.

"When no one is looking, let's jump over the gate!"

"I… I don't know if I could do that."

"Sure you can, just follow my lead!" Yukiho glanced around her. There were not many students around at the moment, but still enough witnesses to foil her plan so she waited. After a while, A-RISE's latest song started to play on the large display outside, so students all rushed outside to watch the music video.

"Now's our chance, Arisa!" Yukiho dashed towards the gate and athletically leapt over it with ease.

Arisa nervously shuffled towards the gate. "I… I can't do it, Yukiho-chan."

"Hurry up before someone sees us!"

They heard footsteps. Someone was running into the building.

"Quickly!" Yukiho reached over the gate and grabbed Arisa's hand, and then somehow she miraculously managed to haul her over the gate. They quickly rushed inside and slipped around a corner before they were spotted.

While catching their breath, Yukiho peered around the corner to see who it was. She nearly let out a gasp in surprise. On the other side of the gate, her sister Kousaka Honoka was panting, completely out of breath. Kira Tsubasa, leader of A-RISE, had dragged Honoka into the building with her. Shortly after, Koizumi Hanayo and Yazawa Nico, both members of µ's, followed.

Yukiho and Arisa found themselves wandering down corridors aimlessly. Whenever they encountered students, they smiled and waved. Despite their age, they seemed to have blended in somewhat.

"This is going nowhere at all," Yukiho exclaimed in frustration. "Are you sure this is the way, Matcha?"

"I'm sure of it-chichi!"

"But I think it's that way-popo!"

Yukiho facepalmed. "Now it's in two places, isn't it?"

"Umm… why don't we split up and search for the fragment instead?" Arisa asked.

"Good idea-popo."

"Let's do that-chichi!"

"Fine, let's do that. I'll go upstairs. Arisa, you can go that way."

Arisa nodded in response.

"Be careful, alright? If you run into any trouble, call me at once!"

Arisa nervously made her way through a crowded corridor. A class period was over, and students were pouring out of their classrooms. Feeling uncomfortable in such a crowd, she looked around for a quick way out and spotted the entrance to the ladies' restroom. She immediately made a beeline to it.

The restroom was currently empty, and Arisa took some time to admire how clean and spotless UTX restrooms were. After what seemed like an eternity, she gathered the courage to leave the restroom. Before she could step out, however, the door opened and her eyes widened in shock when she recognized the girl who walked in.

"Arisa?" Toujou Nozomi, a good friend of Arisa's sister and also a member of µ's, stood before her.

"Umm… ah…." Arisa struggled to find an excuse, but nothing came to her mind.

Nozomi looked over her shoulder, then satisfied that no one else was coming, she closed the door and smiled. "The cards predicted I would come across something interesting today." She held up a tarot card of the Star.

"Well… err… I got lost."

"I'm sure you have your reasons to be here, wearing the UTX uniform and all." Nozomi gave Arisa a reassuring look. "Don't worry about it, I won't tell Eri."

"Th- thank you, I suppose."

"You shouldn't be here on your own, you know. Did you come with a friend? Yukiho, perhaps?"

Arisa simply nodded.

"In times like these, you should be together with your friend. The strength of your friendship is an important bond that you must cherish. Alone you are weak, but together you potential can be limitless."

Arisa wasn't sure how to respond to that non sequitur, so she remained quiet.

"It looks like the coast is clear now. I'll be taking my leave now. You should hurry back to Yukiho as soon as possible."

Nozomi left the restroom first, then Arisa after waiting for a minute. She then looked around, wondering which way to go.

"Paka-chan, I don't suppose you know where Yukiho and Matcha are, do you?"

Paka made a sort of grunting sound, as if concentrating hard. "I think they're this way-popo!"

Yukiho stepped into one of UTX's auditoriums. It didn't seem like anyone was around at the moment. She walked past the rows of empty seats and made her way towards the stage.

"Do you sense anything here, Matcha?"

"There is a fragment nearby, I think-chichi."

Matcha was pointing towards the backstage area, so Yukiho climbed onto the main stage and made her way to the back. There were plenty of props arranged neatly along the walls, mostly stand-up pieces of terrain such as trees, bushes and even a large M4 Sherman tank. It doesn't look like this auditorium is used for musical performance; A-RISE must have another auditorium of their own elsewhere in the building.

"Over there-chichi!"

Yukiho walked over to where Matcha indicated. It was a large, open wooden trunk. Piles of small stage accessories, lighting equipment and props were stored within. Slowly sifting through the items, something pink caught her eye. Lying near the bottom of the pile lay a tiny glowing Heart Fragment. How did this end up here, she thought. Perhaps someone thought it was a special effects prop and kept it here.

"You've found it-chichi!"

Yukiho pocketed the fragment and dusted herself. "Let's go find Arisa and Paka."

She walked back out to the stage, only to find a man sitting in one of the empty seats. He clapped his hand slowly. "Congratulations, you've found a fragment. Now if you would kindly hand it over."

"Windgeist!"

"At your service." He bowed gracefully at the mention of his name. "But pleasantries aside, I'm in a sort of a hurry so if you please."

"There's no way I'm going to hand the fragment over to you without a fight!"

"Oh? If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get." The apostle beckoned Yukiho to come at him.

Yukiho hesitated. Matcha was quivering in her arms.

"Aren't you going to transform into a Precure and fight me? No? Oh right, you can't transform without your partner. That's just too bad, isn't it?"

Yukiho defiantly raised her hands and clenched her fists, still prepared to put on a fight if she had to.

The Storm Apostle snickered. "Oh come now, do you expect to fight like that?"

"Let me guess. You cannot summon a Nazuuma without a Heart Fragment, can you?"

Windgeist did not answer.

"Then here I come!" Yukiho leapt down from the stage and charged straight at the apostle. He was taken aback by her sudden aggressive move, and simply stood there and shifted his stance, preparing to defend himself. Just as she was about to make contact, she suddenly veered away and ran towards the exit.

"Fools! Tricks!" Windgeist quickly shot a gust of wind at Yukiho, knocking her off balance but she managed to make a defensive roll and stumbled out of the auditorium. She quickly recovered and ran down the corridor as the Storm Apostle gave chase.

Yukiho fled past a number of corridors, leaping down stairwells and trying her best to avoid crowded areas. She was about to reach another flight of stairs and leap down when she nearly ran into Arisa and Paka.

"Yukiho!"

"Arisa, run!" Yukiho grabbed Arisa's hand continued running. Arisa nearly stumbled and fell, but managed to balance herself and keep up with Yukiho's pace.

Despite gaining the lead in distance, their luck ran out as they reached a dead end. A large glass window stood before them, and they could see the rest of Akihabara outside. They were still several floors up, so the window was not going to be their way out.

Windgeist caught up to them before they could backtrack. "It looks like the end of the road for you two."

Before they could respond, the Storm Apostle unleashed a powerful gust of wind. His attack sent the two girls crashing through the window and out into the open. Gravity soon took its toll, and the girls found themselves falling towards the city.

"Quickly transform-chichi!"

"Hurry up before we hit the ground-popo!"

Under a freefall, it was difficult for the two girls to lock hands but out of sheer determination and luck, they managed it.

"Dual star halation!"

The two Precures landed on their feet, cratering the street in the process. They quickly leapt back onto the rooftops, eager to avoid witnesses. Once they were satisfied with their location, they turned and looked back at the UTX building. Windgeist was still standing at the broken window, waving his fist menacingly at them.

He seemed to utter something, perhaps a curse, and then disappeared.

Yukiho finally let out a sigh of relief. "Let's go home, Arisa."

"Did you find the Heart Fragment?"

"I sure did!"

The following day, Arisa had come to Yukiho's room to watch the first round of the Love Live tournament. Yukiho's mum had just brought some sweets and tea for them to enjoy.

"Isn't it almost time for the performance?" Arisa glanced at the time.

"You're right!" She quickly regained her vigour and grabbed her red notebook computer, laying it open on the table.

"I'm so nervous!" Arisa peered at the screen anxiously. "Do you think they'll do alright?"

Yukiho looked at Arisa and smiled. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

The first group to perform was A-RISE. Their song, "Shocking Party", was very energetic and catchy, garnering a significant number of up votes from viewers. Even Yukiho and Arisa was impressed by the performance.

Next up, µ's. "Door of Dreams" was a quite a contrasting piece compared to "Shocking Party", but it had a beautiful quality of its own that put a smile on the girls' face. Seeing their sisters perform live was a very uplifting experience for both of them, and they knew how important this performance was. It was the preliminaries for Love Live, where only four groups in each region will be selected for the next round of the tournament.

"So who are you gonna vote for?" Yukiho teased Arisa.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Arisa smiled back.

And so they both cast their votes and called it a night.