Nico had Maki figured out, a little.

She was autistic or something. It made her feel guilty about some of her thoughts. Not most of them, but some.

But her blunt manner actually worked, where civilization and decency took too long.

The first song they co-wrote was actually not only much better than anything Nico had been able to come up with - it was noticeably an improvement on most of Maki's work. Of course that work was already impressive for an ichinensei.

And her unsympathetic approach to physical therapy worked, too.

Maki and her locked themselves in Nico's room and turned on the music.

"Your daughter and I are going to hurt her a lot. I've had it done and I've helped one of our doctors do it for practice. Your kids don't need to hear her cry in pain."

Maki was a big believer in low-dosage pain management.

Weirdly, Maki wiped Nico's sweat off after their sessions and gave her a back rub. Then she kissed her. The same amount of time every time.

I guess "we can't be together" means "where anyone can find out about it." Nico thought to herself.

Nozomi had come to some of the same conclusions Nico had, apparently. She had no further hard words for Maki. Eventually, she confirmed it.

"She's doing her best, I see that now."

Maki informed Nico that, since they were both overloaded with work and overstressed, they should practice relieving stress with each other. Nico had to admit that Maki was, at least, a very pretty alien. Once a week, they visited the Nishikino household. It was always when Maki's father was not at home. They spent that time in Maki's bed.

"What do you think about when groups create girl's love teases in their songs to get attention?" Maki asked once, out of the blue.

"It's - it's tawdry," Nico answered. ("Da ... Dasai desu!)

"Good," Maki said with a smirk.

Then they proceeded to write just such a song. Maki had only been checking to make sure Nico could put up a credible objection to it, so the fans wouldn't be certain they were a couple.

Nico mostly dressed as she had for Nozomi's video about idols at Otonokizaka - the understated style was very similar to Umi Sonoda's, She only occasionally moved back towards her old style.

"You have a lot of anger inside," Maki said another day. "We should try rapping for you."

The Mu's came up with very fresh ideas, quite inspiring. The A-RISE members were pros, and knew exactly what worked with the fans. And Maki was like a living computer sometimes. If Nico had had these sorts of resources, her original group might have risen on its own to A-RISE levels, dragging Otonokizaka part of the way with them. But that was the ironic part.

Neither Nico nor Maki cared that much about Otonokizaka Academy - though Nico did feel nostalgic that her mother had attended, looking exactly as she did now.

But the combined buzz between that school and UTX had turned the corner. Otonokizaka had a reprieve, and would be taking in first years next year. And, luckily, it would be a somewhat bigger first-year class than Rin and Hanayo's was.

As Maki had predicted, Nico missed two lives, but was in fine shape for the third one. That marked her debut with A-RISE. She was a mystery, and the move mystified the fans.

As Maki put it, "You're going to be famous, soon. I mean, in a medium-sized pond, big fish way. I don't have much use for diaries, myself, but you should write something, like a journal, and remind yourself how it feels."

"As a curiosity, I mean, but it's still famous," she :

INTERLUDE - NOTES FROM THE AO3 EDITION:

This is being reworked. Among other things:

A perfect new cover image.

I decided chapters are too long for the look-ahead chapters to be italicized. I'll let the dates at the start of each chapter speak for themselves.

Like virtually all of my stories, it isin't really edited, except for spelling and grammar, just posted as I write it, on site. But when I've been away for a while, I feel free to revise the whole story if I feel like it.

Nico Nico:
... Or NicoNico, formerly Nico Nico Douga, is a real thing, kind of the Japanese YouTube. It's where Eli would have put µ's video up in the series. It's where I had µ's put up a "Get Well Nico!" video when I had her injured in my Reset Diary series. More people should mention it. Not doing so is a little like not knowing what LINE is. I can only imagine Nico Yazawa's reaction to it being named Nico Nico. :)

Maki's Age:
Maki probably skipped a grade, which they're reluctant to allow in Japanese schools, but does happen. Again, her parents being pushy big wheels would help smooth the path for that, along with Maki's hardworking personality and intelligence.
Lots of doujins point out that Nico is two years older than Maki - same age gap as Umi and Alisa. If Maki were the oldest first-year, she'd be one year and a couple of months younger than Nico. But in reality, she's the youngest third-year, and two years and a couple of months younger than Nico. So my take is also compliant with any doujin that's mentioned it.
Therefore, my Maki, and, I maintain, the one that met Nico at UTX in the manga and was later persuaded not to transfer from Otonokizaka to UTX after Principal Minami's announcement, is not only fresh out of junior high, but only 14 years old. Hopefully that explains her spoiled personality a bit.