The Nijigasaki School Idol Disaster of 2005

by mewmintfan1999

In 2003, the school idol group Muse had met their terrible fate, leading to their disbandment. Two years later, The Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is formed, but are looked down upon. A strange rumor begins to form surrounding the Idol Disaster, and Yu Takasaki and the other girls set out to solve this mystery, with the help of former Muse members. *Originally published on AO3*

2. Umi and Kotori

June 27, 2005

Tokyo University

1:27 PM

"Mm… That's not it."

"Hey, Umi-chan. Looking through that book again?

"Oh, hello, Kotori. Yeah."

Kotori glances at the book. She notices the faint rips on the edges of the pages, along with numerous bookmarks and highlights.

"You know, Umi-chan. I'm still surprised. I've never seen you so indulged in a book that way. So many bookmarks."

Umi ruffles her hair. "I'm surprised myself too."

Kotori sits beside Umi's desk. It had a 2004 Apple Mac computer, sticky notes all over the frame. Three stacks of textbooks took much of the space, and a Motorola cell phone was placed by a photo frame, which faced the opposite direction, hiding the photo itself.

"Umi-chan? Why's that photo frame facing the other way?"

Umi shot a glare at Kotori.

"…Oh, I get it. Sorry."

Kotori excused herself and left.

Umi ruffled her hair more. "Urgh.. Whenever that picture comes to mind… Why can't I get over it yet?" Umi hastily grabbed the photo frame, staring at it with somber eyes as the memories of that photo flooded back into her memory.

…

"Everyone! We are… Muse!"

…

"I'm Honoka Kosaka!"

…

"This is our last song for today!"

…

"Before we end, I have a message for you all."

…

"NO!"

"Umi-chan! You all right?"

Umi felt someone hold her hands tightly. She slowly looked up to see Kotori looking back sadly.

"You're bleeding, Umi-chan."

"Huh…?"

Kotori picked up a piece of broken glass from the floor.

"Don't pick up that photo, Kotori."

"Huh? Wait, is that-"

"I SAID DON'T!"

Kotori flinched, releasing the photo to fall onto the ground.

Umi ruffled her hair once more, apologizing to Kotori. She then went back to reading the book. That's when Kotori snatched it from her.

"What are you doing?"

"School Idols: From Fad to Disaster."

Kotori looked at Umi with a stern glance.

"Please stop reading this, Umi-chan."

"Why? I need to find out-"

"I don't want to hear it. After what happened just now, I realized this has been hurting you way more than I thought. And yet you're still stressing yourself out with it. It's been two years, take a break already, please."

"But…"

"You need to relax for once. I'm going out to dinner with Maki, Nico and Eli tonight. And you're coming too. No buts."

Kotori's face warmed up in an attempt to cheer up her friend with the invitation.

"Okay, I'll go."

"Great! Now please take your mind off of this and focus on your real studies. I'll clean up the glass for you, okay?"

"Fine, and also, could you throw out the photo? I can't bear to look at it anymore."

"Sure."

Umi pulled out a mini hairbrush, quickly combed her hair, and began studying through her course textbooks.

Meanwhile, Kotori had tucked the photo into her right pocket.