A few disclaimers to get out of the way right off the bat before we move into the story proper. If there's any A/N or disclaimer section I'd want you to read, it's this one, because if you don't you WILL be starved of critical context going into this story.

First, this story will be running off an EXTENSIVELY modified version of the anime timeline. Elements from the manga will also be incorporated as I find room to fit them in, to help make the world feel more homogenous. Notably, I had intended to initially write this story with the All Stars game timeline incorporated into the story, but shortly after I began writing this story, the game was shut down. Thus, the anime and manga are the only sources I'll be drawing from during writing.

Second, Love Live! Superstar! and Link! Like! Love Live!will not feature in this story at all. This is for two reasons – first is that the anime isn't even complete yet, and the third season has yet to be released; second is that events in the anime imply the story is set at least 25 years (or one full generation) after the events of Love Live! Sunshine!, which doesn't work with the story I want to tell at all.

Third, this will be a more serious SI fanfic. I'm generally a more reserved, introspective, analytical, and logical person and I happen to have a lot of real-world interests in complex and esoteric fields, so I will be throwing some very high-lore concepts at you every now and again that may not necessarily relate to the story at all. I do this because it will ground my character, and myself by extension, a bit more in reality. I want my character in this story to be a genuine reflection of myself, and these touches I add in the story will help you to get an understanding of how I operate and think about things and how I approach situations in life.

Fourth, I happen to be in the relative minority of people who think the Love Live! tournament format doesn't make sense. I also happen to be in the extreme minority of people who actually has tournament experience thanks to the past three years I've worked in eSports, so I'll be bringing that knowledge to full bare, along with research into other musical tournaments such as Eurovision, to overhaul Love Live! into a competition that actually makes sense given the context of the story.

Fifth, the events of the story and the story itself will both be slow burners, as I'll be taking the time to reflect upon my own situation in life as I progress in the story. Updates on this story will be more infrequent than my other stories, and will generally take longer to write because I want to give this story and my role in it the attention it needs in order to flourish.

Sixth, I'll be trying out an entirely new writing format for this story – normally, I left-align everything, but I want to try writing a story where everything is centered like this disclaimer is. Just a stylistic experiment for now, but I think I might like it and switch to it further down the line.

Seventh and finally, for those who've read my DDLC story, I'll be doing the same thing here where the title of each chapter is the name of a song or lyrics I happened to draw inspiration from when creating the theme and writing the chapter.

All that said, now it's time to get into the Prologue. This will set the scene of my character and establish my thought process as events bring him into the Love Live! universe. Enjoy, folks.

Also, an easter egg referencing a very popular fanfiction on the site (not related to Love Live!, it's literally the most popular fic in another fandom) is hidden within the chapter. Let's see who can find it first!

The theme song for this chapter is Wash It All Away by Five Finger Death Punch.

Prologue – Finding Your Resolve
Part 1: Wash It All Away

Thursday, January 16, 2025 8:43 PM – Amarillo, Texas, United States of America

I yawn as I slowly trudge through the liquid concrete below my feet, scraper in hand as I level out the soon-to-be-solid surface. My knee-high rubber boots chafe uncomfortably against my calf and the inside of my knee as I finish my line of the large pad my crew and I are laying down. Above us and off to the right, a bright heat lamp shines down on the pad to both keep the crew warm and slowly cure the concrete as it settles into what will soon be its permanent resting place. I set the scraper off to the side and move to one of the tables set off the construction area, sitting down and grabbing my non-carbonated energy drink and taking a long draw, sighing in relief as the cool liquid goes down my throat.

One of my senior operators collapses into the chair off to the side and sighs as he pulls out a candy bar and a Monster from the bag he'd brought in earlier in the shift. He cracks the cold energy drink open and takes a sip himself as he opens the candy bar, breaking off a part of it and passing it to me. "Thanks, appreciate you," I say as I gratefully take the piece, throwing it in my mouth.

"Man, gotta wonder why they thought it was a good idea to hire a team of just fifteen people to lay out the foundations for an actual skyscraper. We ain't never done this difficult a job before," my coworker complains half-heartedly, his voice lacking any heat that would indicate actual frustration.

I chuckle as I take another sip of my energy drink to wash down the candy bar. "Probably because the company has never bought out a contract for a job this big before. But hey, that's all down to how hard we've been working this past year and a half. We did everything we needed to so we stood out versus our competitors, and now we're getting the huge jobs because people rate the quality of our work that highly. Hell, has it really sunk in for you that we're halfway across Texas from headquarters right now?"

My coworker laughs loudly. "Nah, I guess it ain't yet. I will say though, being out here in the freezing winter eleven hours a day laying down concrete ain't pleasant. Boggles the mind just how many pouring trucks roll through every day while we're workin'." He turns to me, a jealous and teasing glint in his eyes. "Say, where'd ya get the idea to bring that heavy-ass winter coat? We don't get weather cold enough for that in Houston."

I laugh. "No, in fact we don't. But we're closer to the mainland so we don't have the coast to block the worst of the weather that comes our way in the winter. Plus we're much further north now." I think for a moment, then realize something. "You got transferred to my crew like two months ago now, right?"

He nods. "Yep, ever since the idiot lead on my crew ran into one of the pours with his truck."

I laugh. "Right, so I don't think I ever told you, but I was born and lived a good deal of my childhood back in Ohio. I'm used to the temperatures hitting subzero in the winter so when we got word we were coming up here for a job, I knew I needed to go grab a heavy coat. Hey, at least it isn't snowing right now. These rubber boots do not keep heat in very well."

My coworker grimaces. "Tell that to the idiot who thought it was a good idea to stick handwarmers in his boots."

I blink, then loudly slam my hand against my face. "You're fucking joking." Then it sinks in just how stupid such an idea is, and I lean forward in my seat with near-uncontrollable laughter. "Wait, is that really why he got sent to the ER?! He said- he said he had athlete's foot!"

My coworker nods, now chuckling a bit himself. "So I think I get the idea since you're from up north, but is that why you've shown up every day the past two and a half weeks wearing pantyhose under your uniform?"

I calm down, wiping a mirthful tear from my eye. "You noticed that, huh?" He nods, giving me a skeptical look. "Well, it's a little trick my family's passed down for working outside in cold weather. My grandfather used to work at the docks over in Mass and he would stay warm by putting a pair of pantyhose on under his pants whenever a blizzard blew in. I was skeptical myself for the longest time until I finally decided to ignore my ego screaming in my ear and give it a try. Turns out it actually really helps. Besides, you know I don't care much about my image so our idiot greenhorns can say what they want about it. If the alternative is standing out here freezing to the point of hypothermia every day, you best believe I'd rather look like an idiot."

My coworker laughs. "True that. I just put on a pair of big fluffy socks whenever it comes time to put the rubbers on."

I grimace. "No thanks, I'd rather keep my comfortable pajama socks for the RV only."

After a couple minutes, the rest of my crew gathers around the table. I stand up, dusting off my jeans and turning to them. "Alright, we've emptied out all the concrete trucks now and it's just a matter of laying the tarp down and waiting for the concrete to settle and then we can get out of this cold-ass city and back in front of our space heaters." Some of the less fortunate among us laugh at the reference. "As promised, y'all got done with everything early so we'll head over to Domino's, grab a couple pizzas and sit down to eat, then head back to the hotel for the night. First though, let's get to work cleaning up the work area. Y'all know how I am about housekeeping so let's make shit look good, aight?" The crew gives a quick, resounding affirmative. "Aight, let's get to it then."

After another fifteen minutes, all the trash has been cleaned and the tools put back in the porta-shed, and we all pile into the work trucks. One of the older members of my crew complains as I get into the driver's seat. "Why you driving, Damien? Thought the agreement was for Enrique to drive us out tonight."

I turn to the crewmember. "Plans changed when I read a report on the news that said the roads are gonna be iced over tonight. Most of y'all don't know how to handle black ice if you hit it, but I have, several times. I'd rather see us home safely than risk a wreck. If it's that big a deal, Enrique can drive us out tomorrow and the day after, sound good?" Any argument my coworker may have had for me promptly dies in his throat, and he settles into his seat. "Aight, seatbelts, everyone. No one rides with me without a seatbelt, you know how it is." The crew in the truck with me grumbles but complies, and I start the truck.

A short while later, we're all sat down at the Domino's, eating out of the pizza boxes. I'm reading a fanfiction story on my phone when I get an emergency alert. The first thing I notice is that the alert takes up my entire screen. That's not normal. I glance at my crewmembers and hear several other phones ping at virtually the same time, confirming something out of the ordinary is going on. Something I'm fairly sure is-

Any happy feelings in my heart are immediately drowned out by the words PRESIDENTIAL ALERT ISSUED. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND TUNE INTO OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR FURTHER DETAILS. At the same time, tornado sirens start sounding outside, and the familiar high-pitched static hum of an EBS alert starts up on the TV screen nearby.

It only takes a second as the alerts start, but in that fleeting moment, my heart drops into my stomach and a feeling of numb dread washes over me. Don't tell me… A glance at the now black TV screen confirms my suspicions, and the world starts to fade away around me. Numbly, I register most of my crew screaming in terror and immediately taking off out of the building, one of them ripping the keychain for the work truck off of my belt. Only two others remain.

I refocus slowly as the TV begins to play the message I already know will spell my end. "This message is broadcast by order of the President and the Department of Homeland Security. At 9:26 PM U.S. Central Standard Time, the North American Aerospace Defense Command detected incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles confirmed to be carrying nuclear warheads of unknown yield. Known targeted cities include Washington, D.C.; New York, NY; Dallas, TX; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Pittsburgh, PA; Chicago, IL;-"

I sigh and hang my head low, idly keeping my eyes on the monitor. I don't need to see Amarillo listed to know we're getting hit; the sirens have already proven that fact well enough. Soon enough, the TV passes through the city on its list. "St. Louis, MO; Denver, CO; Amarillo, TX; Boston, MA; Phoenix, AZ; and Columbus, OH. If you are located within 100 to 200 miles of any of the listed locations, take shelter immediately. Warhead impact is estimated to be in the next 30 to 45 minutes. Keep a radio and tune into local emergency channels. If you do not know your local emergency channels, look them up now. Internet service cannot be guaranteed after impact. Shelter in place and do not move until an all-clear is given. A location underground is optimal. Failure to follow these instructions will result in severe injury or death. This message will repeat."

My other two coworkers, the ones I'd spoken to directly, sit hunched in their seats, dark expressions overshadowing their features. Can't really blame them. They just found out the collapse of diplomacy has just doomed them to a fiery death. They both look at me. The older gentleman, Alex, who's been with my crew since I joined the company, clears his throat roughly. "Hey, Damien, you think your family is gonna be okay?"

I ruefully shake my head. "My dad has been in Columbus for two years with my grandparents, so they're all getting hit. My brother and his family have lived in the Dallas area since he got out of the military, so they're not escaping either. And we're nowhere near a shelter sufficient enough to handle a nuclear blast."

The younger coworker, Dominic, grows angry and starts shouting. "Dude, why the hell are you so calm about this?! WE'RE GONNA FUCKING DIE! And you're just… you're just sitting there like you knew this would happen!"

I sigh heavily. "If it were any other way to go, I'd probably be terrified. But to be honest… I've seen the signs for years. The slow collapse of our country's reputation on the world stage, the militarization and active mobilization of the other countries in the world. Ties being cut leaving us to fend for ourselves. Other countries starting wars with each other over land and resources, leaving people all over the world in destitute living conditions. It was always building to this. In all that time, I've had time to make peace with the end of the world.

"Am I happy about my death? Of fucking course not. I'm pissed at the powers that be letting their egos get the better of them and dictating how billions of people are going to live for millennia to come. I'm frustrated that I never managed to move to Japan like I wanted to, but that's my own fault for not taking the opportunities I had in front of me. I'm sad that my family is going to be utterly destroyed by this. The worst part? I hate the fact that all the people who can get into shelter and live through this are going to be all the same people who are just gonna start this shit all over again in a few thousand years.

"But, at the end of the day, I knew this was coming. No matter how much I tried to warn other people, they never took me seriously. I bet they're laughing hysterically remembering those times, wishing they didn't think I was an idiot now that it's come back to bite them. But now that it's time for the reckoning to begin, I can at least die with some measure of dignity knowing I did what I could to stop it in my own small way. So no, I'm not happy I'm going to die, and everyone I know and love is going to die, but I can at least take comfort in having made peace with our inability as a species to overcome our intrinsic condition."

Alex grimaces. "Jeez, that's morbid. You're barely twenty-six, right? You shouldn't be thinking about shit like that at that age. Get ulcers before you turn forty."

I shrug carelessly. "Well, we're all about to die anyway, so the hell does it matter, y'know?" I turn to Alex ‒ Dominic having already run out of the building futilely. "So what about you? Got everything out of your life you wanted?"

Alex shrugs, taking a sip of his Dr. Pepper. "Did the best I could, but what else can you expect? Was raised with strong ethics, did good in school, got into a good university later than most but it was worth it. Spent a lot of time raising my family. Was gonna take this job and eventually move with the experience into engineering, but I guess that ain't happenin' now. I don't like the fact it's gotta end like this, but you put it 'bout perfectly, ego caused this and ego's gonna cause it again later on down the road. And I think I've done enough in my time that I don't really have any regrets to go out on. Whaddaya think is gonna happen after all this?"

I quirk an eyebrow, focusing on my conversation with Alex in spite of the absolute chaos now occurring just outside the pizza shop. "You asking if I'm religious?"

"Yeah, may as well considering that's about the only thing a lot of people are gonna take solace in with this whole mess." Alex points out.

"Point," I concede. "Well, no, I've never been religious in the traditional sense; that is to say, I don't practice any particular faith or way of life. I always found it weird how all these different religious groups have variations on their scriptures that say what you can and can't do to get into whatever amounts to their version of the afterlife or purgatory. Being a science and logic-oriented kind of guy and looking at that makes me think about the ways they describe various apocalyptic scenarios and think, 'if any of this has any measure of truth, the world would have been destroyed in some catastrophe tens of thousands of years ago'. Instead, I choose to believe that all of the deities described in our many religions and many more that aren't peacefully coexist in a dimension outside our reach as mortals. They watch over reality and help make sure everything follows a natural process, I guess."

"Huh," Alex ponders. "Never heard being agnostic described that way before. Maybe your generation could have turned things around if the situation had been different."

I laugh. "Maybe. We always were the generation that never generally just ate up what our parents tried to feed us. I learned to think for myself and examine and judge everything under my own lens and criteria not long after my father got tased and tossed in a cell overnight for being an insensitive asshole. Haven't changed that way of living since. It's probably the reason I'm here being calm about this whole situation now; I never believed what the world tried to tell us. I'm always about doing research and getting to the logical baseline of a matter. The truth itself is more important to me than anyone's particular perception of it, because people tend to lump their emotional experience in and then it's not objective anymore."

Alex nods. "Sounds like you're one of the few these days that has their head on straight. Takes a lot to know just how bad things can be and still have enough hope and optimism to not be crushed by that kind of knowledge."

I nod solemnly. After a few minutes of silence, Alex pipes back up. "So, you had any flings recently?"

I shake my head. "No, I've been celibate for a few years now. Not by choice, unfortunately."

Alex looks at me with an eyebrow raised, clearly puzzled. "That don't make no sense. Just cause you don't get none don't mean you can't still be with someone. Unless it's one o' them situations."

I nod. "Yeah, something like that. You end up scaring pretty much everyone off when‒"

Anything else I would have said gets cut off as the reckoning begins. The nuclear blast blossoms in the downtown section of the city as a massive soundwave shatters every window in the building and ruptures my eardrums from the immense pressure. In the next instant,

P̷͎̠̙̔̌AIN̷̤̦̠̈́̿̐̔͘ ̷̰̊͆̓͜P̶̡̛̥̬AI̷͉̦̅͊͐Ṇ ̴̺̜̖̈͂̈̈́̒PȦ̵̡̳̠̻̋̈̓I̶̢̋̓̅̃N P̴̩̂̐̅̑̿A̴̦͌́I̶̧̩̼̚Ń̶̝̯̱̓̿̾P̴̲̻̓̐͠A̷̺͌I̷̱͑͊͛͝NP̵͙̣̾͒̃AI̴͎̠̤͆̂̓ͅN̵͈̝̹̥̞̓

Everything fades away.