I've been excited to post this since I finished it, and since I started it last month when it began – this is the first time I've ever written a challenge fic, and I just finished watching THE IDOLM STER Million Live! too so the intended recipient gets to see a fresh take on an idea that I just had.

I'm not gonna bloat the word count with bullshit though, so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Enjoy, folks!

Dedicated to danjim10 (7ColoredSong).

"Come on, Maki-chan, I wanna get out of Hokkaido already!" Nico impatiently complained as she bounced on the balls of her feet near the front door of the two's duplex apartment. "I don't want my manager calling me and telling me to go to another last-minute photoshoot!"

"Just give me a second, I'm still trying to get my shoes on!" she heard Maki call out from their bedroom. Nico and Maki were definitely chaotic, but although neither would openly admit it, they'd rather it not be any other way between them. The uncertain energy and spontaneity had given the pair some of their favorite moments in life, not just during their time in Otonokizaki High but in their college life as well, long after μ's had gone their separate ways. The two had decided to move to Hokkaido when Nico received an offer from a talent agency whose top brass had been in the audience at the third Love Live! where μ's gave their last hurrah two years ago; that same agency was the one she was in a rush to leave the town to avoid, as they'd proven to have a bad track record of scheduling Nico's various appearances, both as an idol and as a newfound model.

Maki glanced out the window at the serene view of the water near the beaches below and gave a small smile before she finally finished pulling up her other boot and stood up. She winced as she felt the ankle supports dig into her heel but did her best to ignore it as she grabbed her over-the-shoulder purse and walked out the door to their bedroom.

Grabbing her suitcase as she walked down the hall, she met with Nico in the apartment's foyer, where Nico was busy messing with an application on her phone. Nico glanced up and blushed faintly as she saw Maki's outfit. "You look great, Maki-chan!"

Maki bashfully glanced to the side, appreciative of Nico's comment. "…Thanks, Nico-chan."

However, no sooner had she felt this gratitude than Nico decided to butt in with her trademark bluntness. "Now c'mon, we've gotta get to the train station before we get stuck here doing another stupid gig!" Nico said as she grabbed Maki's hand and pulled her out of the apartment. Those empathic feelings were now replaced by annoyance, Maki decided.

"Hold up a second, I've gotta lock the door!" Maki exclaimed.

Nico stopped, turning to Maki with a gleam in her eye. "With what keys?"

Maki blinked and checked her purse, blanching upon realizing she didn't have her keys. For a moment she was about to rush back into the apartment in a panic to find them, but she stopped and turned to level a heated glare upon Nico, who was pretending to innocently whistle as she stared out at the streets below their apartment. Maki growled and tried to lunge at Nico, realizing what Nico had done, but Nico's melodious laughter rang out as she dodged. "Dammit, Nico, give me my keys back! We don't have time for this!"

"Hurry up! We have to get to the hotel and drop our stuff off or we'll be late to Makuhari!" Nico called out as she energetically rushed off the Keiyō Line train, Maki privately grumbling to herself as she followed suit. The two had just arrived in Chiba, where they would be staying for the duration of their visit to Tokyo, and Maki had been in the middle of a rather peaceful nap on Nico's lap until the former had darted up pretty much the instant the conductor had called for departure at Kaihinmakuhari.

"I'm coming," Maki muttered under her breath, not quite happy that she had been so suddenly and violently woken up. She gently rubbed her eyes to try dispelling the tiredness as she grabbed her luggage and stepped onto the station platform. She saw Nico energetically waving to her and started jogging to catch up, both to get to the hotel and as an excuse to hopefully help her wake up more.

As Maki returned to Nico's side, she began to wonder about something. "Hey, Nico-chan? Why exactly haven't we heard about these All-Stars from Love Live before? In fact, why have so many idol groups been coming directly from talent agencies these days? I figured you'd know since I don't keep as much of a pulse on the scene as you do, what with my studies and all."

Nico put a finger to her chin in thought. Cute, Maki thought to herself. Despite having been dating for the past five months now, Maki couldn't help but be enthralled by Nico's charm.

After a moment, Nico turned back to Maki. "Honestly? I don't know. Though I have noticed a trend of the agencies picking up school idols from right out of Love Live before the competitions have even finished. The competition itself has also seen a drop in both participation and viewership, so maybe the ecosystem is moving past tournaments and into active scouting."

Maki nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. School idols weren't well-established when we were still in Otonoki. Sure, you had big groups like A-RISE that people knew about, but idol culture didn't have any room for us back then. Maybe now things have changed; with so much exposure to the media, school idols get chances at breaking out into professional careers without even needing to join Love Live. So maybe the tournament format just isn't needed anymore." Maki took a moment to think to herself. "Though I don't think it will go away that easily. Haven't you and Honoka been going back and forth about that up-and-coming idol group from Numazu? They're in Love Live right now, right?"

"Oh yeah, the Uranohoshi girls!" Nico exclaimed as she was reminded of the other idol group she had kept an eye on. They had made a major stink in the Hokkaido region after someone at one of their concerts had uploaded a video of their live performance to YouTube, and said video combined with the PVs the group had started uploading to their official channel had caught Nico's interest. "I think they just picked the name for their idol group, but I haven't yet checked the tournament pages to see it. I'll have to do that after we get out of the concert. I heard they just uploaded a new subunit song too!"

Maki smiled at Nico's enthusiasm. "Don't forget, we still have to meet Honoka, Kotori, and Umi for desserts after the concert. Try not to get too wrapped up in idol developments."

Nico laughed. "I remember, Maki-chan. Now come on, we need to get to the hotel so we can put our stuff away!" The two picked up their pace as they turned down the street and toward the hotel. However, neither of them noticed their conversation had been observed by someone who was also debating on heading to Makuhari for the ALLSTARS performance.

Tsubasa Ibuki thought to herself as she walked down the street toward the coffee shop where she was supposed to meet the Producer to discuss potentially joining 765 Productions as an idol. She still wasn't really sure about the entire thing, or whether or not she should take him up on his offer, but she could now say having overheard the two girls' conversation that she was at least a little more intrigued. From what she managed to pick up, it sounded like being an idol was a bigger deal than she had initially thought it would be.

There were now two things on her mind as she made her way to the coffee shop. First; what was this Love Live? And second; those girls seemed oddly familiar from somewhere, but Tsubasa couldn't put her finger on exactly where she'd seen them before. She had the feeling she was missing some important context here. She thought to herself for a moment as she entered the coffee shop. I guess I'll just have to ask the Producer. He'd probably know more about it than me.

Maki silently fumed as she and Nico rushed toward the Makuhari Event Hall. Just as she'd feared, the two were late to the concert, which wasn't something Maki had wanted to happen. She'd had to spend a lot of her savings and pull strings to get the front-row seats she'd booked for herself and Nico–multiverse only knew she'd be hearing words from her father about that‒and she had a bad feeling that because the event was already overbooked, they'd already lost the seats.

As they approached the entry gate, one of the security guards stopped them. "Hey, wait a minute, ladies, you gotta have passes to get into this building."

Nico froze as she realized she didn't have her pass and she nervously glanced to Maki, who sighed. She opened her purse and pulled out the passes, handing them both to the guard, who took a few moments to look them over. "Everything looks good, here you go. Though the event's about to start so I'd suggest you hurry."

The two girls nodded and quickly ran up the stairs to get into the building. Unfortunately, the signs had already been taken down so they couldn't figure out where to go. "Crap, why do these newer buildings have to be laid out so stupidly?!" Nico loudly complained as she and Maki tried to figure out where they were supposed to go to get to the concert.

As they were looking around, they heard a voice call out to them. "Do you ladies need assistance?" They turned around to find a man wearing a bespoke navy suit standing in front of them, a gentle smile on his face.

Maki decided she should handle this conversation. "Yes, thank you. That would be greatly appreciated. We're here for the 765PRO ALLSTARS concert."

The man nodded. "That works out. If you ladies will follow me, I was heading that way myself." After a moment, his eyes widened as he realized who he was standing next to. "Wait a minute… the two of you are Nishikino-san and Yazawa-san from μ's, right?"

Maki's eyes widened in surprise while Nico gained an appraising gleam in her eye. "That we are! I'm surprised you knew who we were, it's been a couple years now since we all disbanded!" Nico cheerfully replied.

"Ah, well… I'm actually the new producer for 765 Productions so I know a bit about the idol world, and it's hard not to know about the school idol group that banded together and pulled off a miracle to save their school."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, Mister Producer! As you know, I'm‒" Nico was stopped as she was about to perform her trademark pose by Maki.

"Come on, we have to get to the hall!"

Nico grumbled. "Why'd you have to ruin my introduction?! You're the reason we're late!"

Maki growled. "Well, excuse me for trying to make sure I looked good for our vacation! I thought you'd appreciate the effort I put in a little more!"

Nico froze, but before the situation could go any further south, the Producer chuckled. Both girls' eyes darted toward him. "Now, now, ladies, let's not get wrapped up in the details. I'll show you to‒" The Producer was stopped by his phone chiming. He quickly checked the notification before frowning. "Ah, it seems my superiors need me, so I can't take you all the way to the hall, but if you continue down this corridor and take the fifth door on your right, the event hall will be straight ahead. Have a good evening, Nishikino-san, Yazawa-san." The Producer quickly took his leave, and Maki sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry for being a bit harsh, I just wanted to make sure you could enjoy this, Nico-chan."

Nico smiled warmly. "Thanks. I… guess I could have cut you a little more slack. Now let's go watch us a concert, huh?"

Maki smiled and reached out her hand, and Nico took it. "Yes, let's."

As the two made their way into the concert hall, it seemed one of the idols was giving a short speech before the songs began. Nico took out a pair of binoculars to check their seats, and frowned as she saw the seats had already been given to someone else. Nico put the binoculars away and turned to Maki. "Well, our seats got passed off. Looks like we're gonna have to stand."

Maki sighed heavily, lamenting the wasted money. "Well, let's just go stand on the balcony. Besides, I guess it works. That way we have less chance of being recognized. I'm here to have a good time with you, not sign autographs all night."

Nico chuckled. "Yeah, you've got a point there. I wouldn't mind doing it myself but we're here because we want to enjoy the show tonight."

The two made their way over to a balcony on the left side of the stand, overlooking the stage and the center section on the ground floor. Nico leaned against Maki, and Maki blushed lightly. However, they weren't able to enjoy their contact for long before a voice forcibly separated them. "Is it alright if I join you?"

The two's heads snapped over to the newcomer. She looked like a city girl, with wild orange hair, a half-cut shirt that exposed some of her midriff, and a pair of denim jean shorts. She smiled lightly at them. "I apologize if I'm interrupting."

Maki cleared her throat. "No, it's fine. You didn't have a seat either?" The woman shook her head. "You can join us then. Right, Nico-chan?"

"Sure, I don't mind!" Nico cheerfully replied.

A moment later, the first song began, and the three's attention was diverted to the stage. Maki and Nico's eyes immediately widened at the production. Gobsmacked, Maki turned to Nico, who sported an ear-to-ear grin. "What is this production?! The special effects are better than anything I've ever seen!"

Nico giddily nodded her head, eyes transfixed on the stage as she eagerly drank everything in. "I know, right?! This is why I've been following this idol group since they started performing last year! Plus the idols are super skilled, I can tell they put their heart into their performance!"

The woman who had joined them looked askance at them as they talked about the performance. "May I ask how you know so much about all this?"

Maki and Nico turned to the woman, and Nico replied before Maki could stop her. "Oh, we're former school idols ourselves!"

The woman looked surprised, while Maki glared at Nico. "What are you doing? We're supposed to be keeping our heads down!" Maki heatedly whispered. Nico had the decency to blush and mutter a small apology.

"It's okay, I won't say anything," the woman replied. She leaned against the railing and watched the performance for a minute before she asked a question, her eyes still fixed on the stage. "How does someone find what it is they want to do?"

Maki and Nico both turned to the woman at the sudden, introspective question. "You mean like a passion?" Maki asked?

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that. I've just never had anything to drive me before. It feels like I don't have a purpose." The woman replied.

Maki grinned. "In that case, watch the concert closely and keep an open mind. I'll check with you again after the concert's over to see what you think."

The woman hesitated for a moment but nodded. For the next forty-five minutes the concert sped ahead, Maki and Nico becoming enthralled in the choreography of the girls on stage, the special effects no doubt set up meticulously beforehand, and the atmosphere of the crowd as the show continued, Nico even getting a bit fidgety, wanting to dance along to the songs she had already heard from the ALLSTARS before.

As the concert wrapped up, the woman turned back to Maki and Nico. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your start?"

Nico laughed as she turned. "You mean being a school idol? I'd wanted to do it since middle school, but it took until third year at high school for me to actually be successful with it. I just kept pushing as hard I could and one day, I met the other members of μ's. The rest is history!" Nico looked at the woman, who had an eyebrow raised. "Though… I'm gonna guess that wasn't quite what you were looking for."

Maki chuckled. "Well, for me… I was very much a loner in high school until I met μ's. I always kept up on my studies away from everyone else because I was under a lot of pressure from my parents, and the only passion I had was music. I played the piano and still do, but I was afraid of what other people would think of me for playing. It wasn't until our leader essentially bullied me into joining that I realized I couldn't just hide away from the world forever. I had to do what I wanted to while I still had the chance."

Maki turned to the woman, a genuine smile on her face. "I think I know what you mean when you say you don't have a purpose. Just try new things and see what you enjoy the most. Then, when you find that thing, pursue it and work as hard as you can to make the most of it. Opportunities don't come often so you have to take them when they're offered to you. That's what Honoka-san taught me more than anything. We can't be afraid of change, we have to embrace it, because it's going to happen whether we like it or not."

The woman turned back to the stage for a moment, the idols having just left as the lights brightened and people started filing out of the event hall. "I guess you're right. There's no point just waiting around and hoping something will happen." The woman turned back. "Thanks for the advice. My name's Ibuki Tsubasa, by the way."

"Nishikino Maki." Maki replied.

Nico smiled brightly. "And I'm Yazawa Nico, it's nice to meet you!" After the introductions were traded, Maki and Nico left Tsubasa to her own devices, intent on heading to the hotel to change before going to see Honoka, Kotori, and Umi.

A few minutes after they left, the Producer walked onto the balcony and stood next to Tsubasa. "There you are, Tsubasa. What did you think?"

Tsubasa looked to the stage. Remembering Maki and Nico's words, she smiled as she turned back to him. "I think idols are all right after all."

The Producer laughed. "That's good to hear. I hope now you'll consider my proposition. Come on, let's leave. The staff are closing everything up."

Tsubasa took one final look at the stage and her smile changed to a warmer, more genuine one. "Right. Seems I've got some work to do."